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My orange lemon



My orange lemon:
Hello, this is Maurici, an Spanish petrolhead, living in Crewe, uk since few years ago… so apologies first of all for all the spelling and gramar mistakes you will find.

My love for the Renault Sport hot hatches, comes from quite a long a go. I had two Renault 5gtTurbo when I was 18, one of them became a Group A… then I had a Williams, and my road banger was a clio DCI. Then, I moved away from the fail wheel drive cars, falling in love with RWD cars, as light and fast as possible… with no roof, doors or useless things (I do compete with Seven-style cars) any my dailys were normally roadsters.

After selling my last roadster, a 3 litre Z4, and having had all shape and models of MX5 and Vx220 before, decieded to was time to give another go to my origins and go back to a hot hatch again.

I fancied an Organge CUP, and it was like magical. I opened facebook to buy one and the first I saw was an Orange 182 cup, 20 miles away by train, full service history and described like inmaculate. Some things seemed dodgy… Last owner had it only for 3 months, and the seller seemed very very dodgy… (I won´t go deeper here). But was worth a try.

Car was far from described, but the engine ran sweet, and the gearbox was surprisingly good for being an old JB… (remember the gearbox bit) so, knocked the price down, and got the car. I only saw two problems on it… the car was pulling to the rig, but I could not see any obvious sign of crashes, to worst case scenario would be a bent subframe, and the aircon didn´t work (and that didn´t bothered me at all).

Got the car, insured it, and started my journey home. Arrived at home with a massive differentia whining noise…
Went under the car and… SURPRISE surprise!!!

Paper covered with oil and graffer tape in the gearbox... That is not a good sign:
WhatsApp Image 2019-05-05 at 18.56.01.jpeg


But the worst was UNDER the paper....
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whenI saw the hole, nearly burnt the car straight away... but decieded just to park it, and have a though about it.

Next morning, decieded to investigate, how a fully operational gearbox could have this massive hole... as this normally means that something is tried to escape from there. And decieded that someone had trown the car over an axle stand while working on it. And... decieded to seal the hole, put oil and see what happens.

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That was my bodge (chemical metal with an aluminium plate to the shape underneath). 500 miles after, is still perfect. Of course, I´m on the hunt of a gearbox... but meanwhile this one works.

then... went to investigate why the car was pulling so badly to one side... and found the following... it is pretty obvious to me, that someone tried to fit 172 shocks in a 182 CUP... and while fighting with them, the car fallen down, cracking the gearbox... moment when they decieded to sell the car straight away....

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This bodge, left the car with 2 degrees of camber in one side, and +1 in the other... no wonder it was pulling. 80 quid later that was sorted with two OEM 182 CUP shocks.

Other than this two bodges, I have to say that the car is Spot On. All the electrical gadgets work, inside is in surpirsingly good condition, and ousdie is very decent with no rust at all underneath.

The service history stops just before the last owner bought it, so it means that with a bit of luck, its only been in the wrong hands for a few months.

Find a few pictures of the car after a quick clean up...

Next job: A clean to the brake calipers. It brakes well, but I´m sure the front right is sticky.

hope to see you around here... I may ask A LOT of questions, to bring this clio back to its deserved condition!

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Mbeau

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 172
That is a serious and dangerous bodge if ever I have seen one. I am amazed the box is still functioning as it can't of had any oil in it. They must have known that. The shock side of things is pretty easy to sort. Gearbox not so much.

Rest of the car looks pretty good though. Inferno is a great colour too. Hope you got a fair chunk off? Look forward to the updates.
 
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That is a serious and dangerous bodge if ever I have seen one. I am amazed the box is still functioning as it can't of had any oil in it. They must have known that. The shock side of things is pretty easy to sort. Gearbox not so much.

Rest of the car looks pretty good though. Inferno is a great colour too. Hope you got a fair chunk off? Look forward to the updates.
It still had just over 1 litre of oil left when i repaired the gearbox. The car did 30 miles since its MOT to my home... and im 90% sure that the gearbox was fine in the MOT, as they spotted a broken cv cover (repaired already) and leacky shocks... (they tried to repair it) and that is when i suspect they dropped the car and fucked the diff casing.
So... lucky me the box did run less than 30 miles with low oil, and that is not enough to breack a box.
The "bodge" ive done, and will be there till the clutch lets go, is perfectly safe. Not particularly elegant, but the stuff i used seals high pressure steam tanks, will hold a bit of oil at 100 degress all day long.
Yes. The car was cheap for being a 182 cup quite original and with full service history, but not cheap enough to cover this two bodges...
To be honest im quite surprised with the box itself... regardless of the issues it had. Is incredibly sweet.
My memories of the JB boxes from my early renault times were bad... really bad. This one is half nice to use...
 

Mbeau

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 172
Sorry, just to clarify it was the previous paper and tape bodge I was referring too along with one bolt it the incorrect shocks!

I totally understand what you have done as a temporary fix ?
 
Thanks for the welcomes.

Meanwhile... I found another intermittent issue... ESP and ABS lights switch on sometimes when cold. Normally ignition on and off sort it. Also the ABS pump sometimes triggers at very low loads. I've seen that may have to do with dirty ABS rings, faulty sensors, and brake pedal switch.

I would be keen to digg in to it. What OBD system are you guys using? Is there any "DIY" Clip version? I did work at a renault dealership and I know how to use it very well...
If not... How the Renault-Com works? any good? I normally buy the diagnose software or the DIY version of all my cars (Had Op-com before, BMW coding systems, NATS, WBS... but never had a go with a DIY clip). Any advice of where to buy or what to buy, would be really appreciated.

Oh. How can I process my paid membership to the club? maybe Im a bit idiot, but I can't seem to find the link. (edit... Found it and paid)

Thanks
Maurici.
 

George@RTR_Parts

ClioSport Trader
  need BRAKES? PM me
welcome along Maurici, had seen on facebook you had just picked this up mate, let me know if need anything for it
 

Daz...

ClioSport Club Member
  Inferno 182 Cup
Other than the gearbox it looks like you’ve got yourself a tidy motor there, colours alright too ;)

The ABS rings have a tendency to snap due to old age on these, that usually triggers the abs at low speeds.
 

Mbeau

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 172
If it has the 60mm hubs also make sure it has the correct ABS rings fitted(wider ones). If not that can also cause the problem you describe.
 

George@RTR_Parts

ClioSport Trader
  need BRAKES? PM me
Small world George... How are you? WTF r u doing in a renault forum? Are you allowed to sell stuff for french things? :p

Yes, I will need stuff... loads of them probably. Will contact you for one of your cheap deals! :)


Good mate, yourself. I've been on here years, I had a ph2 172 for 5+ years . Started as a Trader on here and have grown/expanded into the other models as I got my mx5s (can and do supply brakes and parts for pretty much every car model now)

Let me know if need anything,. I'm trying to get something organised with Adam, might be doing a trackday at Cadwell soon
 


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