Project Nicole - 182 Track Toy Build

[Snakebelly]

Been a lot of progress but haven't had much time to update this thread so ill bring it up to date in 3 or 4 chunks.
Picked up the last of the powder coating amongst which were the front wishbones that look better than new.

The new oil pump turned up eventually so that went on which allowed the sump to be finally buttoned up with a new sump gasket, my Renault dealer parts guy now knows me by name!!

With the engine all buttoned up Nick at PMS made me a decent offer that allowed us to convert our purchase of the AC delete and PS delete to the full lightweight pully kit so it seemed rude to refuse......

Another afternoon in the workshop saw the engine and gearbox mated back together and the engine loom fitted back on.

And it was only a hop skip and a jump from there to having the engine and box back in slung from the gearbox mount and engine mount. Used a new genuine gearbox mount and have supplemented the engine mount with the polybush insert which they now do in the black 90 shore material as well as the 80 shore yellow.

More in a minute.

 

[Snakebelly]

Poor old Nicole has led a hard life it would seem and the abortion that was the current subframe bolt setup was just awful, low grade bolts with steel nylocs tacked to hacked up washers so it was off to the parts desk again for a full set of the original front subframe bolts and the funky captive nuts that go with them.

Got the front subframe all built up, we did have a manual rack that was sent off for refurb but good old Parcel Farce have managed to loos it so in the meanwhile we cleaned up the existing hydraulic rack, fitted new boots and drained it then fitted a loop hose.

As you can see the whole front end is now polybushed and again has new oe fasteners, managed to use a scrap of hose to keep the loop hose from kinking

didn't take long from here to get the front subframe back in place

And shortly after the parts lady delivered the new VVT valve seal for the rocker cover so the top half of the inlet went on.

So today we went back up spent a couple of hours checking everything, finalising the engine loom, the MAP sensor and air inlet didn't survive removal when the top inlet went away for powder coating so new pones have been fitted along with a new front Lambda sensor as when we picked it up it was showing a code for a front lambda sensor failure. Popped in the passenger side drive shaft so the gearbox would take oil and then realised that although we have tones of oil we didn't have the right gearbox oil, grrrrr there's always some thing! We did manage to get some power to it though after filling the engine with oil and the good news is that it turns over on the key and the fuel pump is definitely kicking in but for some reason it wouldn't start. At this point we had to call it a day so I'm back up to the workshop on Monday and will be trying out the CLIP I have just bought to try and diagnose why it wont spring to life, initial checks showed all the earths are good and the binnacle lights up as it should so am hopeful it wont be anything too bad. Hopefully an update will follow on Monday to let you all know she is up and running! cross your fingers for me!

TTFN
Mac & Dave

 

[Snakebelly]

Been a lot of progress but haven't had much time to update this thread so ill bring it up to date in 3 or 4 chunks.
Picked up the last of the powder coating amongst which were the front wishbones that look better than new.

The new oil pump turned up eventually so that went on which allowed the sump to be finally buttoned up with a new sump gasket, my Renault dealer parts guy now knows me by name!!

With the engine all buttoned up Nick at PMS made me a decent offer that allowed us to convert our purchase of the AC delete and PS delete to the full lightweight pully kit so it seemed rude to refuse......

Another afternoon in the workshop saw the engine and gearbox mated back together and the engine loom fitted back on.

And it was only a hop skip and a jump from there to having the engine and box back in slung from the gearbox mount and engine mount. Used a new genuine gearbox mount and have supplemented the engine mount with the polybush insert which they now do in the black 90 shore material as well as the 80 shore yellow.
More in a minute.

 

[Snakebelly]

Poor old Nicole has led a hard life it would seem and the abortion that was the current subframe bolt setup was just awful, low grade bolts with steel nylocs tacked to hacked up washers so it was off to the parts desk again for a full set of the original front subframe bolts and the funky captive nuts that go with them.

Got the front subframe all built up, we did have a manual rack that was sent off for refurb but good old Parcel Farce have managed to loose it so in the meanwhile we cleaned up the existing hydraulic rack, fitted new boots and drained it then fitted a loop hose.

As you can see the whole front end is now polybushed and again has new oe fasteners, managed to use a scrap of hose to keep the loop hose from kinking

Didn't take long from here to get the front subframe back in place

And shortly after the parts lady delivered the new VVT valve seal for the rocker cover so the top half of the inlet went on.

So today we went back up spent a couple of hours checking everything, finalising the engine loom, the MAP sensor and air inlet didn't survive removal when the top inlet went away for powder coating so new pones have been fitted along with a new front Lambda sensor as when we picked it up it was showing a code for a front lambda sensor failure. Popped in the passenger side drive shaft so the gearbox would take oil and then realised that although we have tones of oil we didn't have the right gearbox oil, grrrrr there's always some thing! We did manage to get some power to it though after filling the engine with oil and the good news is that it turns over on the key and the fuel pump is definitely kicking in but for some reason it wouldn't start. At this point we had to call it a day so I'm back up to the workshop on Monday and will be trying out the CLIP I have just bought to try and diagnose why it wont spring to life, initial checks showed all the earths are good and the binnacle lights up as it should so am hopeful it wont be anything too bad. Hopefully an update will follow on Monday to let you all know she is up and running! cross your fingers for me!

TTFN
Mac & Dave

 

[Snakebelly]

apologies for the duplication but some of the pics aren't showing for me have now discovered they wont show in ie 11 but do show in chrome!! very random. Anyone else have this issue?

 

[Tookers]

Really like what you guys have done with the clio so far. Looking forward to more pics! Im on google chrome on my phone and cant see some of the images in your posts, just shows a grey cross. Can see them in your reposts tho

 

[Clio_fool]

This is a great build, can't wait to see the finished car. You guys gotta bring it to csf next year!
Pics in the repost worked, others not so many. That's on tapatalk.

 

[Snakebelly]

No updates for a while as I have been too busy working and any spare time has been spent on Nicole. finally got some free time so the updates will be coming thick and fast.
Ordered some rubber isolation mounts from these guys: https://www.vibration-mounts.co.uk/ excellent service and range and very reasonable. Used the bobbins ordered to mount the ECU on the Nearside inner wing/strut tower.

Started on the battery relocation, one breakout box and a mega fuse mounted on the gearbox mount casting.

Did have to cut a small hole in the side of the fuse box to re route the main fuse box power feed

Wiring done as far as the bulkhead connector.

 

[Snakebelly]

Next job was to finish the front caliper refurb using the rebuild kit from Bigg Red which we also decided should include new pistons. not a difficult job but the dust seal is a bit of a pig.
Finished job.

 

[Snakebelly]

And Moving on....
Decided to use a pair of knackered old headlamp units to make some fake headlamps....yes I know.....
Cut the back out just leaving the front plastic and enough of the frame to still allow it to be bolted on.

Coat of Plastic Primer was next

Followed by moondust silver basecoat and some lacquer

The drivers side was a bit more complex, ordered a 6 inch speaker tube

Drew round it ont to tape then put the tape mask onto the headlamp and cut a hole, with a little fettling and l;iberal use of the heat gun the tube fitted nice and snug.

Glued it in with 5 minute epoxy to start with then used PU adhesive from the back, its never coming out now!
Quick coat of paint and the drivers side was also done.

And the finished articles loosely in place, you can also see in this short that we painted the front support panel and decided on a new radiator, the old one was rotten and they are so cheap it would have been daft not too.

Ill continue with more updates tomorrow.
TTFN

 

[Martin.]

Looks great in the last few photos. Quite a lot of the photos further up aren't showing though.

 

[Snakebelly]

Cheers Martin just checked the pics on an iPhone and the laptop and can see them anyone else having issues with the pics?

 

[MarkX]

Cheers Martin just checked the pics on an iPhone and the laptop and can see them anyone else having issues with the pics?

headlamp lens down are showing, all above aren't for me either. Painted headlamps look great

 

[Snakebelly]

Dont know whats going on with the pics as i have now tried several machines with different browsers and all have been good................. anyway ill persevere!

Next update

Managed to get a set of roll centre correction uprights of Mark (NorthLoopcup)

As you can see i had to run a tap through the wheel bolt holes to clear out the bits of powder coating.
Put the front end together with a set of BC Coilovers with the harder race springs and adjustable top mount,the calipers we refurbished ourselves and a new set of front disks off MTEC brakes who we have used for years for race and track cars with no issues. New front DS2500 front pads as well and a set of braided front lines.

And then fitted the fronts with a stud conversion kit

Used all new OE fasteners as even after putting the old ones through the electrolysis tank they were badly pitted.

then fitted up a set of Original 182 alloys we had powder coated shod with a set of Nankang NS2R's we had lying around.

Then picked up a 90 deg ali elbow of ebay to make up what i think is still referred to as the Fatty induction kit.

Just need to box in the filter behind the holed fake headlamp to create as much of a high pressure area as we can.

Possibly a further update later today.
TTFN

 

[Snakebelly]

Managed to pick up a spare rear beam to which we welded the PMS rear beam bracing kit, well as much of it as we could bearing in mind we need to retain the spring perch fro the BC rear setup.
Had it blasted down the road so it was clean to weld to and took a coat of red oxide like a champ.

Followed by a couple of coats of Ral2004 chassis paint which was a pain as orange covers badly at the best of times, would have been a nicer job to have it powder coated but didn't want to loose momentum.

Took a couple of days for the paint to harden enough to be ok to handle but then fitted the powder coated caliper mounts along with new Disc/bearing assemblies again using all new fasteners

another shot

The white schmoo is just some spray grease i used used after as a rust prevention measure not me getting over excited !!!
New Black series rear bushes were then fitted, you can see the paint was still a bit soft at this stage as some of it ended up on the sleeve outer

More Later
TTFN

 

[Clio_fool]

Great progress, how long before her first outing do you think? Last few posts pics were all good. [emoji106]