Project: Clio 182 RB

[Eddie.]

I had been searching for a few months for the perfect FF RB for me. I was pretty particular about what I wanted and what was important to me. It turned out to be 3rd time lucky as this was the 3rd one I viewed. It's in great condition and was an unbeatable price so I snapped it up there and then.

I had to wait nearly 2 weeks to drive the car while I sold my previous one, now I am finally driving it I thought I would start a project thread, so as to keep track of anything that gets done to it.

So to start off, a few photos of the RB as it stands today;

DSC06413 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06417 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06427 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06424 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

I would like to get the engine bay all tidied up and colour coded in time, looks a bit drab at the moment:

DSC06431 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

In terms of plans for the future I am not too sure on the whole. I want to keep it relatively standard, although this opinion will no doubt change!

What I do want to do is as follows: (in no particular order)

• Add the Gordini stripes
• Alloys refurbed
• Lowered + spacers (big maybe on that one)
• Few scratches around the car need respraying and blending
• Replace the seats & steering wheel, maybe recaros and the 197/200 wheel
• Straighten the slightly wonky exhaust, or replace for a Scorpion
• Decat
• Possibility of stripping the rear seats and smoothing the floor off with some carpet faced MDF
• Discs and pads replaced
• General housework in the engine bay
• Paint correction

As I said some of the above is short term, some long term, some not even sure if it'll ever happen, but it's what I have in mind for now.

Anyway the first thing that needs doing is a damn good clean so I went down to see the guys at Shinearama in Broadheath industrial estate. First off what a great company, so helpful and at no point do they seem to sell you any bull. They sorted me out with a nice box of goodies, filled with a selection of (hopefully) excellent new products, chosen by myself and Jon.G all ready and waiting for a 2 day detail this Thurs/Fri.

Got there this afternoon and after some changing hands of cash and a quick dash home I had a good root through,

DSC06433 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06434 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06438 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

I am still waiting on my G1 and C4 from GTechniq but this will be sorted hopefully by then end of the week.

The product list is;

• 2x Stjarnagloss Buckets + Grit Guards
• Euro Sheepskin Washmitt
• Valet Pro Drying Towel
• Sonus Buffing Cloth
• Megs Foam Applicator Pads
• Megs Microfibre Applicator Pads
• Autoglym Polishing Cloths
• Dodo Juice Born To Be Mild
• Megs Quick Clay
• Finish Kare 1000p
• Collnite 476's
• Wolfs De-ironiser
• Autoglym SRP
• Autoglym EGP
• Autoglym Car Glass Polish

I also have a load of other bits and pieces from my old car that I may use some of.

So fingers crossed for dry weather Thurs/Fri. I will have some pictures up of the detail and also of Trax after the weekend.

 

[Ash']

Nice stash of detailing gear you got there . I'm currently saving to get myself a Rotary and some more products. Tidy RB, one of my fave colors on the 182 . Plans sound spot on too!

 

[Eddie.]

Luckily we have a rotary at work that they hardly ever use so I will borrow that as and when. I won't be using it until next year though, pointless what with the crappy NW winter already on it's way in! Cheers though, I was so set on an RB, I just cant see any other colour, it looks great with Jon's trophy too

 

[Ash']

I dont blame you for being set on a RB great choice! whats first on the list to do next then bud?

 

[Eddie.]

Getting it detailed and sealed for winter, then soon after, stripes, painting the calipers and then don't know.. want to make sure everything is mechanically perfect before I start playing with anything.

 

[Ash']

Getting it detailed and sealed for winter, then soon after, stripes, painting the calipers and then don't know.. want to make sure everything IDE mechanically perfect before I start playing with anything.

Sounds good! You'll have a great base to start from then. It's what im in the process of doing atm, self servicing the car, fixing little niggles and getting bits color coded etc.... After all that is out the way i can start making better progress

 

[Eddie.]

Yeah yeah, just want a blank canvas really, getting everything straight will be a good natural start point and then I know its done and can be altered ect..

 

[Ash']

True, true I shall be keeping an eye on this thread . Good luck mate

 

[Eddie.]

Right, as promised some photos and a run through the 17 hours of detailing myself and Jon.G did on my RB.

Thursday morning was a late starter, but by 11 we were up and running. The weather was good, a little too sunny as a lot of the car was getting pretty hot in places, despite my attempts to chase the shade around my driveway! Jon.G came over with his pressure washer and snowfoam kit, amongst some other bits.

First up grab some quick 'before' shots, the car was actually pretty clean, so the aim of the detail wasn't to clean, but more to seal the car.

DSC06439 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06441 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06446 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

As mentioned Jon had kindly brought his PW and snowfoam with him so first up was to get that on the go...

DSC06471 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

...Followed by a rinse...

DSC06482 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

2 Bucket method and another rinse followed by some Wolf's Deironiser

DSC06483 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06495 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06491 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06497 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

After this the whole car was clayed, washed again and then dried, followed by a full SRP treatment, then finally a coat of FK1000p before putting it to bed and going for a Dominoes.

The next day was much better, cloudy yet dry with little chance of rain, we got started straight away, with a lot still to do. First off I needed to finish the paint off so after a quick wipe down, I applied a good coat of Collnite 476's Wax. This gave the car a lovely warm feeling, very impressed by this particular product and would reccomend to those who havn't yet tried it.

Now that the paintwork was finished, I moved onto the wheels and calipers. We removed the front wheels first and they were in a right mess, baked on brake dust and tar meant that it took 3 treatments of the Deironiser to get them clean.

Before:

DSC06582 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

Deironiser doing its thing:

DSC06587 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

After:

DSC06599 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr


With the wheels cleaned I gave them a good coat of FK1000p to seal them and hopefully make future cleaning much easier.

The calipers were also in a minging state, so a wire brush and some choking on disturbed brake dust got them smoothed off:

DSC06596 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

Followed by 2 coats of Hammerite Smooth Yellow paint:

DSC06604 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

Once this was done I used a tyre gel that the guys at Shinearama suggested to me. Exactly how legal it is I don't know, but it is made in Hungary and is shipped from the land of VAG and therefore dosn't have as many irritating regulations that products made/imported from the US have. Anyway I would reccomend it, its isnt the glossiest but the finish does seem smooth and even. It's a doddle to apply and apparantly it will last a lot longer than many of its rivals, ask for "1Z Vinyl Gel" It's also worth noting that I would say grab some latex gloves, as I got this all over my hands and it stung for a few days after...

So with the wheels done and back on the car all cleaned and sealed, I moved onto the plastics. I had wanted Gtechniq C4 for the trims, but the delivery never came, so I went for the Wolf's Trim Restorer. Similar sort of thing really, a liquid that is rubbed on with cotton pads. £20 for a bottle probably thrice the size of the C4 seemed a bargain too. Anyway it was really good and I'm glad I went for it. Very easy to apply and after a really crappy week of weather, the plastics still look great!

One thing Gtechniq did manage to get to the store was the G1/G2 glass treatment kit. First off the bottles are tiny, so care must be taken not to spill any, I learnt the hard way! The product itself is excellent, apply the G1 and allow to cure, then buff off after applying the G2, takes a bit of work but it's been so worth it. Above 50 odd mph, wipers just are not needed as the water beads so well and so quickly! If it lasts as long as claimed, I will be very impressed!

So that's that, not the most comprehensive write up ever but it covers the bases, as said earlier the total detail took 17 hours over the 2 days (some of this was eating greggs though!) I am really happy with the results and hopefully this means cleaning over the winter shouldn't be too bad!

Few photos of the finished result:

DSC06613 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06615 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06627 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06616 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06617 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06621 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

SONY DSC by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

SONY DSC by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

SONY DSC by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

And one from a mini meet with Jon.G and his T, and my missus and her Beetle.

DSC06637 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

That's it for now, the stripes will possibly be happening soon, and I have found some seats that I would like, but some research is needed first...

 

[sofaboy]

Looks good Ed, Cant wait to see where you go with this if you need a hand with anything just give me a holla, and sorry I woke you up on the way home the other day.

 

[Eddie.]

Nice one will do... Woke me up! I couldn't sleep with that exhaust!!! Did they let you over the bridge at Trax? I forgot to ask?

 

[sofaboy]

Nice one will do... Woke me up! I couldn't sleep with that exhaust!!! Did they let you over the bridge at Trax? I forgot to ask?

Nope they threw me through the sodding tunnel again. Luckily my arsedometer didnt twitch so i went through dragging arse everywhere.

 

[Eddie.]

Clowns! At least the appreciation tunnel got a good sound

 

[Stefan.]

wow, that looks immaculate. did you do any sprucing up on the inside? or just a hoover out jobby.

 

[Eddie.]

Nothing on the inside, nor are the door shuts cleaned, or the engine bay, that'll be a job for another day!

 

[littleand]

very smart mate, looks awsome!

 

[Eddie.]

Got my "Renault F1 Team" decals today and like a child I got straight onto fitting them,

Really happy with the outcome, sets off the blue perfectly and matches the calipers too

I know it's been done 1,000,000,000,000,000 times before but meh, I like it

DSC06758 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06761 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

 

[Jamie Goorwitch]

Love it mate! Sutble and looks the nuts! Well played

 

[Jon.G]

They do finish it off well. That side repeater looks out of place though?

 

[adamf92]

That looks fecking awesome, done a proper good job there guys!

Likewise, I would stick with the f1 sticker only on the bonnet, it also advertises the stone chip nicely

Seriously though, this is mint.

 

[Eddie.]

That looks fecking awesome, done a proper good job there guys!

Likewise, I would stick with the f1 sticker only on the bonnet, it also advertises the stone chip nicely

Seriously though, this is mint.

It's not a stone chip, its a dead bug! But i can see where you're coming from! Haha

 

[DB.]

Stunning example!

 

[oscar13]

show room standard that.

 

[Eddie.]

show room standard that.

Nice one! Unfortunately it really isn't in showroom standard! Much as I'd love it to be! But then I am very picky, once the alloys are refurbished and a few mini dints are knocked out, it'll look much better

 

[Eddie.]

Right update time:

I had been wanted the stripes for some time now as some of you will know. Having done some research and eventually buying them from 'kirstys_graphix' on eBay, I got round to doing them last night!

I used the pictures of the 182 Cup in RB with stripes on, from Whites detailing, as they had the most definitive photos, also I used some from here too, to work out the exact position of them.

First up I have to say Kirsty is wonderful, she was extremely helpful and sent me the stripes along with a squeegie (sp) all ready spaced, for £35 posted, can't complain really!


The stripes arrived as follows:

DSC06769 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06772 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

I started on the bonnet, finding the centre point, masking it out, and then masking the stripes on, still on their backing paper:

DSC06774 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06776 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

Same for the boot:

DSC06777 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

And then the roof (thanks to the girlfriend for getting some "in action" shots of me while she was playing with the camera!)

DSC06778 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06779 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

Once all that was done, I again started with the bonnet.

To apply the stripes I marked up parallel lines to the backing paper, and then removed the stripes, leaving a template, sprayed a light mist of detailer onto the paint, then lay the stripes on, positioned them accordingly, and slowly squeegied (<<< even a word???) the detailer and air bubbles out.

Now the finished product is good, on a scale of 1-10 I would mark it a 7. They're not perfectly straight unfortunately, some accurate measuring today at work had them about 4mm out. On the whole though I like them, and I think they look good for a first timer!! The roof section I will probably do again, I managed to get a few creases in and now can't really get them out

Anyway, some finished photos:

DSC06789 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06785 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06786 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC06797 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

Next up I need some Diadems, and think that's it for this month as my MOT & tax is due

 

[fletch8]

Car looks good mate but not a massive fan of the stripes (thought I would be to be honest)

 

[Eddie.]

Car looks good mate but not a massive fan of the stripes (thought I would be to be honest)

Yeah no worries, I know they're a real marmite thing, I personally like the rareity factor, but they may come off if they attract too many arseholes!

 

[fletch8]

Haha, I mean I've seen rb's with them on and thought they looked great, I just prefer your simplistic look before hand

 

[Davis]

Looks great!

Good effort on doing the stripes yourself! Stripes make RB!

 

[Adamm.]

wow good effort on the stripes. mine need to be redone as there abit tatty now.. come do mine?? haha. everything else looks awesome mate.

 

[Eddie.]

wow good effort on the stripes. mine need to be redone as there abit tatty now.. come do mine?? haha. everything else looks awesome mate.

Tbh mate, I wouldn't want to do them again, it was pretty hard work! Enjoyed it mind, but its not as easy as I thought it'd be!

 

[Eddie.]

Went on a rolling road meet the other day to see what the car was producing as standard, a start point if you like so I could see what (if any) gains I get from any power modifications I might make.

Unfortunately the results were, optimistic, we think the cars were possibly sitting on the chassis or something (I don't really know what was wrong tbh!)

Anyway the graph:

YJ54DUL by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

So 185 BHP @ fly
155 lbft

Obviously a little high, but everyone said take 15bhp off and that seems to make it a little more realistic!

Will probs take it up to RSTuning to get an accurate result at some point

 

[JonnyClio]

Car looks absolutely stunning mate, RB is definitely the best colour for a 182 and I agree with others that the stripes are necessary on an RB

 

[Eddie.]

Been a while since my last update, mainly because I lost some clio love in my quest for wanting a Z3M. I've put that to one side for now and have started a few bits I wanted doing. The washer jets that have been causing me such a headache will hopefully be fixed tomorrow.

I also bought some alcantara A-piller covers and handbrake cover. Think they look really tidy in the cabin and they have spurred me on to get some parts done myself, all in time though...

DSC07908 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC07909 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

DSC07910 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

Rest of the handbrake needs doing really, but I'm not sure how I will do that. Need to find somewhere that sells alcantara in the right colour first!!!

 

[Eddie.]

Another small update, I gave the car a boxing day clean seeing as it's been springtime weather here in Manchester. Nothing amazing to report, but I did buy some Metal Polysh by Megs, the exhausts were filthy and needed something doing with them so thought I would give this a try. Very impressed tbh!



Quick shot of the exhausts midway through, so the lefthand one has been polished up. Got lovely results, really smooth finish, and it's a doddle to apply!

DSC07932 by Eddie the Kid, on Flickr

 

[Jon.G]

Looks good that, I'll have to borrow it

 

[Eddie.]

Looks good that, I'll have to borrow it

I thought of you and also Jesus might want to borrow some?!

Neil has already put dibs on first borrow though!

 

[Eddie.]

After much umming and ahhing about the stripes and if I like them or not, I woke up this morning and thought sod it, they can go, so hairdryer out and 20 mins + a quick wash later, the car looks much better for it tbh.

I do love RB's with stripes, but only ever in photos, everytime I see one in the flesh, I think it looks pants. Havn't bothered with a photo, you all know what an RB looks like!

 

[Jon.G]

FLOL. Didn't hang about with that choice.

I was actually going to clean mine today, but its raining now.

 

[Eddie.]

Yeah it started raining while i was cleaning it! Typical, I know just thought may as well do it instead of going on about doing it! haha

Looks awesomes now though