Restoring Little Bluey - my 182 FF ClioSport in Racing Blue

[Mr Underhill]

Small updates today. Firstly the paintwork isn’t happening for a few months now due to our bodyshop having too much on.

Belts arrived back from Kolour Koncept. Only took a week from sending off to getting back. They’re not great at replying to Facebook messages but I can’t fault the workmanship and speed in which they turn things around.

These are the belts i sent away.

These are the end results.

I thought they were a bit too White but when you stick them next to the originals (belt
on the left) they’re not a million miles off.

I’ll stick them in and see how they look.

Now the paintwork’s delayed I thought I’d stick my rear badges on.

Off with the cheap Ali Express badge and on with the Clio badge.

Unfortunately the badge was hiding some chips and scratches so the tailgates going to have to be painted now. 😬

Finally put the original RenaultSport badges on. Slowly coming together.

Next jobs will be to look at the interior and the horrible sticky plastics.

Quite a few challenges lie ahead, especially with the stereo. Watch this space 😉

 

[Louis]

This is why I try and do everything myself.

So after I had my geo set up at work, I took the car over to Tyrespot in Darlington.

Unfortunately the guy I was going to use came down with Covid so I reluctantly took the car to them. I say reluctantly because I’ve had issues with them in the past over wheel alignment.

Long story short they had 2 attempts at setting my tracking on my BG Clio and on both occasions the car drove in a straight line but the steering wheel was a mile off centre.

After trying to tell them they basically told me I haven’t a clue what I’m talking about and to go away. In the end I made a kit, used some string and did it myself. I had it checked at another garage and it was almost bang on.

Anyway I digress. So on the way home, after they did the wheel/tyre swap, about a mile into the journey I noticed a knocking sound which progressively got worse. More under decelleration than anything.

I thought something had come loose, given I’d stripped the car back completely, so pulled over. Nothing obvious and after pulling back and forward on the wheels I thought I’d try and make it to my storage unit a few miles down the road. Anyway it got worse so I pulled over and had the car recovered.

Now I never said anything in my last update because I didn’t want to embarrass myself 😂

Anyway I’ve just gone down to the yard armed with jacks and toolkit and the video explains the rest.

Someone needs sacking for that. Theres no excuse to not torque up the bolts after fitment.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Someone needs sacking for that. Theres no excuse to not torque up the bolts after fitment.

I have written to their head office and sent video evidence, proof of recovery etc. I’ll let them decide what to do.

The manager’s a proper clever arse. I wouldn’t care he asked why i didn’t do the swap where I work and I explained the service manager was too scared to damage my newly refurbed alloys.

His parting words were if you want the job doing right blah blah. s**t his pants when I called him on Saturday morning and told him what I was going to do.

Never had a wheel come loose in 40 years of driving, trackdays and rallying. I could’ve killed myself and destroyed my car.

 

[Mr Underhill]

A bit of love hate going on with the belts. Originals aren’t too bad so I’m going to soak those and see if they clean up. I suppose they match the piping on my car mats 😂

 

[ajracer]

Don’t beat yourself up about the belts Jon they look good.
Original owners aside we are all used to the grubby grey look so they do seem a bit bright.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Don’t beat yourself up about the belts Jon they look good.
Original owners aside we are all used to the grubby grey look so they do seem a bit bright.

Yeah and add in 17 years of sunlight. I dare say the colour’s probably not a million miles off from when it was new.

 

[Mr Underhill]

New rewebbed belts were doing my head in so set about trying to clean my old ones.

It’s not that I don’t like the quality of the new ones, it’s just that they remind me of Rylan Clark’s teeth 😂 they’re that white.

Bought some Vanish, filled a large bucket with hot water and soaked them for a few hours.

It certainly helps having them off the car I can tell you.

I then gave them a blast with a karcher to get the last bits of grime out, then a good rinse in clean warm water.

They’re currently hanging on the washing line and look pretty clean. Happy days! 😁

In other good news I managed to find myself some really good side skirts off a Monaco Blue 172. The lad was really helpful in agreeing to post out for me. The lengths I go to looking for parts is beyond obsession. 🤪

One things for sure, I’ll never tackle another one of these cars again as getting certain parts is a nightmare.

 

[Mr Underhill]

No real updates on little Bluey other than I've put about 600 miles on her, she's not broken down and nothing's fallen off. 😅

I've put the paintwork and interior back until the end of the year as I have other priorities .i.e. getting my house finished before winter comes and we all freeze to death. Only I could do a self-build with zero experience, other than my son-in-law, purely for kicks and to say we did it 😆

The BG is getting some TLC after the house, and before the RB, so she'll survive her 6th winter on the road.

 

[Mr Underhill]

A nice day to give the RB a quick check over, assisted by my grand-daughter, before storing her away for winter.

It’s been good to stick a few miles on her and enjoy over the summer, but a new company car means she’ll not see the roads again until spring.

 

[Mr Underhill]

With the Black Gold 182 now with its new owner, I can focus solely on the RB and get the paintwork to a high standard.

The car's booked in for work in late January, which was the earliest I could get her in, so I'm going to swap a few interior parts in the interim period.

I'm still on the lookout for a good-condition Climate Control Unit as some of the icons on mine are worn. There are a few on Ebay from Poland, but i'd prefer to pick one up locally if anybody can help.

There are two part numbers and I'm not quite sure which applies to mine. These are :

8200352853	Equipment level = E2;Air conditioning type = Regulated air conditioning
8200352852	Equipment level = E3,E5;Air conditioning type = Regulated air conditioning

The difference is E2 and E3,E5. My local dealer doesn't know either. 🙈 I guess I'll have to take it out of the car and check myself if I can't find the answer online.

The other part i'm looking for is the Cold Feed pipe which runs from the air-box into the actuator. See screenshot.

If anybody has a good condition one of those drop me a DM.

And lastly a frontend Friday shot after I'd cleaned up the engine. Thanks for reading.

 

[SharpyClio]

When I did mine I just bought one that came up and didn't even realise there was two, the part number on my spare is 8200352852.

Which buttons do you need? On my spare some of them are okay and might be of use?

 

[Mr Underhill]

When I did mine I just bought one that came up and didn't even realise there was two, the part number on my spare is 8200352852.

Which buttons do you need? On my spare some of them are okay and might be of use?

The buttons in general are all pretty poor, to be honest.

 

[SharpyClio]

To be honest yours are in better condition than the ones on mine. If you can find a UK unit it’s actually easy to swap the buttons so you can keep your original one and just swap the buttons over.

 

[Mr Underhill]

A trip down to see the RB today. A check on the dehumidifiers revealed some moisture that’s been captured. Not a lot but every little helps.

Next up was to remove the Air Conditioning Control Unit. It’s a bit scratched up, sticky and the buttons have worn away. I also removed the stereo and a few other bits of sticky trim.

I managed to pick up a second hand unit off Stuart Robinson at renomotive. I’m not sure if it works but the buttons and fascia are in good nick. Just the usually stickiness to remove.

So I decided to use the current unit and switch the buttons over and give the fascia a clean up. Thanks to @SharpyClio for the tip 😊

It’s a pretty simple job taking the unit apart. Just some tabs to lift on the unit itself and a few on the circuit board. The buttons just fall out.

A good clean with a mild scrubbing cloth and some elbow grease soon gets the gunk off.

Et voila! One nice and clean Air Conditioning unit ready to go back in.

Next job is to tackle the stereo 🙈

 

[Mr Underhill]

Stereo de-gunked. It was horrible 🤢

Came apart pretty easily, a few screws on the side to remove the front panel, then 3 screws to remove circuit board, then buttons. Forgot to take pics 🤦🏻‍♂️

Sadly it meant losing the stickers but it’s better than the alternative.

Just a couple of bits of plastic trim to clean now, then that’s the interior sorted.

 

[SharpyClio]

Such a satisfying job. Going to look spot on. 👍

 

[Mr Underhill]

Such a satisfying job. Going to look spot on. 👍

Yeah it is. So nice to be able to use all the functions of the stereo. None of my other Clio’s had the original stereo.

It’s the little things that count.

 

[Brigsy]

Looks spot on, massive improvement.

 

[Mr Underhill]

The cold dry sunny weather meant an opportunity to get the RB out and blast the cobwebs off.

I haven’t driven a Clio 182 since I sold my BG in November, but the one thing that immediately struck me was the height of the drivers seat 😳 I soon got used to it again.

She’s going in next week for some paintwork then that’s the project complete. I’m still astonished how many people come over and comment on it. Such a lovely car! 🥰

 

[16V F7R]

Awesome 😎 and ya can’t beat a cheeky cold, dry, salt free winter thrash.

 

[Andy P]

Looks spot on. I like how you have so much enthusiasm to make it perfect,


I haven't driven my 172 since November when the alternator packed up at Oulton. Took the bumper off today to make a start on replacing it, only to be met with a nice rusty bumper bracket and a pulley that seems to be glued to the alternator, I have the Pure A/C delete kit so need the pulley off of the old alternator. It can stay like that for now!!

 

[Mr Underhill]

Looking forward to finally getting the paint up to scratch tomorrow.

For what needs doing, a lot of people probably wouldn’t bother but after putting all the work in the underbody and engine, it seems mad not to get the exterior sorted. Plus the paintwork lacks a bit of lustre.

Jobs to be done.

Paint the tailgate as the previous owners must have Scratched the paint taking the Clio badge off.

The bumper needs some stone chips doing, so might as well get that sorted.

At some point in its life, somebody must have left something under the bonnet and slammed it down. It left a dent, which is difficult to see but I know it’s there and it does my head in 😂.

The scuff plate on the drivers side has been chewed so I’m replacing that with a new one.

Finally, I’m replacing the sill skirts as they’re properly chewed up at the ends. I managed to get a really straight mint pair off a lad last year, so getting these painted as well.

The mint ones, just in a different colour

Once the paints corrected, it’s going in for a full detail and ceramic coating.

 

[SharpyClio]

Looking forward to finally getting the paint up to scratch tomorrow.

For what needs doing, a lot of people probably wouldn’t bother but after putting all the work in the underbody and engine, it seems mad not to get the exterior sorted. Plus the paintwork lacks a bit of lustre.

Jobs to be done.

Paint the tailgate as the previous owners must have Scratched the paint taking the Clio badge off.

View attachment 1628509

The bumper needs some stone chips doing, so might as well get that sorted.

View attachment 1628510

At some point in its life, somebody must have left something under the bonnet and slammed it down. It left a dent, which is difficult to see but I know it’s there and it does my head in 😂.

View attachment 1628512

The scuff plate on the drivers side has been chewed so I’m replacing that with a new one.

View attachment 1628511

Finally, I’m replacing the sill skirts as they’re properly chewed up at the ends. I managed to get a really straight mint pair off a lad last year, so getting these painted as well.

View attachment 1628516

The mint ones, just in a different colour

View attachment 1628517

Once the paints corrected, it’s going in for a full detail and ceramic coating.

Thought about getting some PPF on the bumper and bonnet? Save the stone chips?

 

[Mr Underhill]

Thought about getting some PPF on the bumper and bonnet? Save the stone chips?

It crossed my mind. I’ll need to research who does it round my neck of the woods and cost it out.

 

[02teasda]

It crossed my mind. I’ll need to research who does it round my neck of the woods and cost it out.

Car will be mint when you get those little niggles sorted Jon. Auto skins is just around the corner they do PPF no idea on cost though

 

[Mr Underhill]

Car will be mint when you get those little niggles sorted Jon. Auto skins is just around the corner they do PPF no idea on cost though

It's around a grand for PPF and it's not worth it. I can get a bonnet and bumper painted for £300 if necessary.
It's only an 18-year-old Clio at the end of the day.

 

[Ali]

Sticky button fix looks much better! I don't relish the job though!

 

[Mr Underhill]

Paint prep is coming along nicely.

The techie noticed some peeling when he lifted the rubbers on the passenger door, so he thinks it's been painted before. So we'll get that done while we're at it.

A few people have suggested protecting the front end with PPF after the work has been done, but at £1,000 is it really worth it?

I love the car but at the end of the day, it's an old Clio, not a classic supercar or expensive toy.

Even if I never drove it, stored it away and the prices went through the roof in 20 years' time, It would hardly be life-changing sums anyway.

Besides, I'd be 78 then and probably have an electric wheelchair or fertilising the roses.

And me being me I'd probably get bored and turn it into another track weapon.

No, these cars are meant for the road, so I fully intend to drive and enjoy it.

Thank you for reading.

 

[NickReilly063]

Great work going on there 👍

 

[SharpyClio]

PPF is great and self healing or a bit of heat and it just goes back to perfect again. It’s an investment as you know in 10 years time the paint work will still be mint.

It a tough call on older cars to be sure.

cars going look amazing when it’s done, time to enjoy it then!

 

[Mr Underhill]

Great work going on there 👍

Cheers Nick. I’m fortunate in that the lad who’s working on it restores classic cars and also maintains the Bosses collection for him. I’d be nervous sending it to anybody else tbh. Perks of the job I guess.

 

[Mr Underhill]

PPF is great and self healing or a bit of heat and it just goes back to perfect again. It’s an investment as you know in 10 years time the paint work will still be mint.

It a tough call on older cars to be sure.

cars going look amazing when it’s done, time to enjoy it then!

Understood but I’m already way too deep in the thing already. You have to be realistic and I’m known to be impulsive, so this time next week it could be gone 😂

 

[ajracer]

Small red circles drawn on photos of minor imperfections in body panels and talk of paint correction!
Looks Like almost a total respray to me! Lol.
looking forward to the results chap.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Small red circles drawn on photos of minor imperfections in body panels and talk of paint correction!
Looks Like almost a total respray to me! Lol.
looking forward to the results chap.

And the good news is I’m only paying for the little red circles 😉 I’ve had people pawing over the car and they never noticed them. 99% of people wouldn’t have bothered. But they’re not me. Even the lad I bought it off said “paintwork, what paintwork” 😂

 

[Mr Underhill]

Well, she's out of paint. Amazing work by the lads. The thing hasn't got a mark on it. I'll clean all the crud off at the weekend and fit the new skirts.

Then just waiting on a date for the detailing.

Not sure if I want to drive it now 🤔

Interestingly, one of the techies who worked on the prep used to work at the docks signing these in. He definitely had a soft spot for them.

 

[RustyMojo]

Well, she's out of paint. Amazing work by the lads. The thing hasn't got a mark on it. I'll clean all the crud off at the weekend and fit the new skirts.

Then just waiting on a date for the detailing.

Not sure if I want to drive it now 🤔

Interestingly, one of the techies who worked on the prep used to work at the docks signing these in. He definitely had a soft spot for them.


View attachment 1630043View attachment 1630044

He worked for CAT then back in the day. These came in at Southampton IIRC? Car looks great Jon

 

[Mr Underhill]

He worked for CAT then back in the day. These came in at Southampton IIRC? Car looks great Jon

Cheers Russ.

 

[NickReilly063]

Looking amazing Jon - well worth all the effort in my view, however it does make you think hard about getting it out in bad weather.

Looking forward to an image when it's all back together / detailed.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Looking amazing Jon - well worth all the effort in my view, however it does make you think hard about getting it out in bad weather.

Looking forward to an image when it's all back together / detailed.

Thanks, Nick. I've just asked one of the lads to wash all the crap off and it's night and day to what it was before. I know I'll drive it, but will probably just bring it out on nice days. I have plenty of other car options.

The painter has talked me out of detailing it for now and said I should leave for a few months. So in the meantime, I'm just going to go over it with some nice wax. What do you use on yours?

 

[NickReilly063]

Just basic polish that our Guys use at work - once they look like that it's very easy to keep them looking stunning - very impressed with yours and a great colour.

Looking forward to getting mine out to finish the front end off with the new fogs splitter and badge. Since this picture I've now replaced the rear badge's and the rear bumper trim due to a very small mark in the drivers corner.