The Blue Banger

[MLB]

Good morning!

Thought I'd start a project thread to keep track of the work done to my Arctic Blue Clio 182 non cup.

Been on the hunt for a Clio for a while and decided I'd probably get bored of a fully sorted one rather quickly so bought a bit of a banger in need of some TLC!

I have little experience with working on cars except the occasional oil change but usually learn quickly so with a bit of swearing, brute force and a couple of beers I hope I'll be able to make a nice road/track car out of it.

Still making a list of all the things I want to do, but first stop was to book the car in at Birchdown to sort the timing, oil leak and low hanging exhaust.

Picking it up today and then start on the following list:

• Service, oil, filters, spark plugs etc
• Replace Apex springs
• Install camber bolts
• Wheel alignment
• Find and stop water leak
• Regas airconditioning
• Check the heater thingy that splits
• Clean and grease driver door check strap
• Clean and paint bonnet catch
• Fix or replace ECU mount
• Clean seat rail drivers side
• Braided brake lines and high temp brake fluid
• Replace number plate light
• Scrub down sticky plastic door pulls

I keep on top of polishing and waxing my other cars but nothing special planned for the Clio, started to buff out a couple of wet sanding marks and I'll give it a good clean but the paint has got so many scratches it'll need a respray to get near showroom quality again.

The cleaning list is:

• Seatbelts
• Wetvac carpets
• Doors and seats
• Wheel wells
• Remove door trim and bullets for cleaning
• Engine bay

 

[MLB]

And of course a couple of pics as it would be boring without!

At Birchdown last week

Before and after of the wetsanding marks

Some swirls removed

 

[MLB]

Bit of work done yesterday,

Picked up a second hand set op ps3 tyres on original Clio wheels. They need a refurb but at least the tyres are better than the triple autogrip ditchfinder combo!

Replaced the air filter and pollen filter. Found a lot of dirt and mud in the plastic tray next to the pollen filter so cleaned that and hope that was the source of the water coming into the cabin.

Obligatory throttle body clean pic:

As the Eibach Sportlines haven't arrived yet I thought I'd take the driver seat out to clean and dry the carpet and sort the airbag light.

Well guess again, bolts in inaccessible place under car = easy, stupid plastic clip under seat = stops me.. Ran out of time and didn't want to force it, but how does one open this clip??

Got George out anyway and just dried the carpet as well as I could, definitely need a bit of a scrub next time!

And lastly popped out the number plate light, it's plastic is faded and yellow but it was just a loose connection so at least it's working now.

 

[Jekyll]

The number plate lights can be had for a few quid from Renault bud.

 

[MLB]

I'll have a look, thanks! It was a faulty connection so at least it's working now but the plastic look yellow and faded. Another thing on the order list!

 

[Jekyll]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Renault-...971595&hash=item2cdc0a612c:g:nOgAAOxyOBJRBpJg

 

[MLB]

Perfect, order placed including an LED bulb. Thanks for the help.

 

[Jekyll]

Your welcome.

This place is great for help so any questions, fire away and someone will have the answer, pics, etc.

 

[MLB]

Update time.

Spent lots of time and not got much done, yay for doing a project car without any Clio knowledge. I have however watched a lot of YouTube video's and not broken anything, bonus!

My main goal was to check bushes and brakes but getting underneath the car I realised that I have no idea when something is worn and has to be replaced.. So I'll just be posting pictures and hope the nice people who do know anything about cars can help!

ARB bushes, my guess: replace!

Seems like two different track rod ends, is this bad? They still ok? Seems not to have a lot of play in them.

Wishbone bushes, seem OK.

Plastic piece that breaks and gives you hot air, intact!

After consulting the leading expert in brake stuffs regarding brake discs, pads, fluid etc I got on to do a couple of minor jobs.

First off, the cruise control button wasn't staying in place so bent the metal pin in the switch a bit so it now works again, my kind of job this!

Then replaced the crappy non working ugly stereo unit for a similarly ugly looking cabasse auditorium unit, which is also very sticky but at least this one works. Now I've got some tunes while driving and the quality is almost bearable!

 

[Jekyll]

You can just change the head unit face for a non sport/non sticky one. That way you still have a decent stereo but without the stickiness.

ARB bushes are a pain to change unless you have a ramp in my experience.

 

[MLB]

While working on some things in the car I couldn't resist getting a couple of my detailing products out, it's just plain filthy inside..

First off, hoover! It's actually a really nice pice of kit once you've figured out how to attach the hoses..

Couple of before and afters to give an indication of what happens when you don't care about cleaning once in a while :

50/50 with 14 year old dust behind the panels

My wife loves it when I clean, it means there's not only half a car on the drive but also half a car in the kitchen

Beer helping with the truly horrendous seat belts:

Want to know what they looked like? Enjoy:

And last but not least a parcel arrived with the number plate light, thanks @Dr Jekyll !

Think that's it for now, the clio is still in pieces, continue cleaning and the brake project next week!

 

[MLB]

@Dr Jekyll I have found a couple of threads regarding the ARB bushes being a pain to change.. So that'll be a lovely couple of hours on my back under the car. I can't wait..

Now waiting for a proper breaker bar to get a couple of bolts off, then replace the apex springs for eibach sportlines and get the brakes sorted so got a couple more important tasks to sort first anyway!

 

[MLB]

So put the interior back together again, car smells nice and clean inside now and has silver seat belts again.

Always nice to find part of a dog or cat in a car!

Bucket three..

Got the rear Eibach Sportlines fitted:

Fronts to go on next week, but waiting for the new top mounts and bearings and eibach camber bolts to arrive. Saves me getting everything off the car twice.

And next week I'll be installing all this goodness. Big thumbs up for @George@RTR_Parts for being so patient with me and my many questions. Great service and quick delivery, can't wait to see what difference it makes compared to the standard brake lines and pads!

 

[Jekyll]

I presume 2500s? They are a good upgrade from standard.

 

[MLB]

Yes they are 2500s. Brake pedal feel is quite soft at the moment, no history of last time the fluid has been changed so this should be a good improvement over what's on now.

 

[George@RTR_Parts]

No worries @MLB happy to help Mike. Tidying this up nicely mate ?

 

[MLB]

Ahhh I feel like a proper car mechanic now, replacing stuff that doesn't really need replacing!

Four hours in the cold wind on my back and replaced these actually rather fine looking black beauties with powerflex bushes.

At least I'm sure they're OK during my ownership!

Now time for a cup of tea and then put this gem in, many thanks to @182_steve for the quality product and swift delivery!

I looove bubble wrap!

 

[182_steve]

No problem at all Mike, glad you like it...……. and glad it got there in one piece!!

Just had a read through the thread, coming along very nicely indeed matey!

 

[MLB]

More work done, replaced the top mounts and put Eibach camber bolts in while putting the front Eibach Sportlines on.

Think I'll replace the track rod ends next, they seem to have quite a bit of play in them but got an alignment done so first drive and enjoy the Clio for a bit!

It was looking a bit sorry for itself so gave it a quick wash. Finished with Gyeon wet coat. Not too bad I think!

 

[MLB]

One step closer to the Clio having brakes again. Took everything off, first bleed screw came out instantly, one rounded off and two sheared off so my suspicion of no recent system bleed has been confirmed.

No proper tools didn't help either so after a couple of hours struggling with cheap stuff I gave up and ordered some Halfords advanced tools.

Shiny new tools!

No wonder it didn't want to come out..

More shinyness!

Expecting my left turning drill bits to turn up this weeks and hopefully replace the rear bleed screws next week.

 

[MLB]

Well after three months of silence finally an update.

Decided to replace the rear brake calipers instead of sorting the damaged seals and rotten bleed nipples.

After bedding in the new DS2500 pads the wife and I went out for a lovely day of driving to Demon Tweeks to pick up some helmets. Sadly on the way back we were greeted by an all too familiar warning light, more lights, no speedometer and then no lights.. Yay alternator failure!

Ordered a new alternator and took half the car apart but found the main retaining bolt missing.. The whole thing had been held in by one bolt and the tension of the aux belt.. New bolt ordered but snow and work meant the Clio (kindly renamed 'the shed' by my wife) sat on the drive in parts for a couple of weeks.

Told her it's not a shed, it's Art!

So, Art needed an MOT end of February. Fitted the new alternator, replaced both washer fluid pumps and fitted new wiper blades.

Good news, after one headlight adjustment it sailed through without advisories!

Next on the list:

• Change gearbox oil
• Change power steering fluid
• Fit new thermostat
• Fit polybushed dogbone
• Order and fit Yanoo kit to sort the extremely sloppy gear stick
• Find a nice set of alloys with some sticky tyres

 

[David Ramsey]

Love stuff like this. You got any pictures of the interior now it’s all clean?

How hard were the front and rear belts to remove?

 

[MLB]

Thanks! Don't have any pictures of the whole interior really. Most of the cleaning was behind panels to get the car to smell fresh again. Still need to get an alcantara cleaner for the little bits in the doorcards. Waiting for some warmer weather to take the seats out and redo the carpets with the extractor as it won't dry in the current weather.. To give an idea of what I've cleaned:

Before

And after

Just keep at it with a couple of brushes and cheap cloths and you collect a couple of buckets of black water from cleaning behind seats, under carpets etc.

Didn't remove the rear belts as they were fairly clean but the fronts were quite easy. Just remove a couple of bolts, twist and turn the bottom rail out of the plastic sill and they're out if I recall correctly. Pretty straightforward anyway!

One thing which took me a while to figure out is that when you have the seatbelts out, they don't pull out if not held upright as they lock when upside down.

 

[MLB]

As the weather was finally calm and dry this morning I fitted the polybushed dogbone and changed the pas fluid.

Used the hose and sealant tube trick for the pas fluid, worked a treat!

Didn't notice a great difference, suppose the old one wasn't too worn after all but with the yanoo kit next at least I'm happy it's all done.

Had a look at the coolant as well as I wasn't going to do a system flush when changing the thermostat but it seems the fluid in the system is orange and needs a change anyway. Only had 5 liters of type D so ordered another 5 liters and went for a drive instead of doing more work on the car!

Still an amazing little thing to drive, forgot how much fun it was and with the upgraded brakes I feel like I can push it way more than our BMW on the back roads! Also think I found the cause of a groaning noise when turning the steering wheel at low speed, seems to be the ball joints, adding new wishbones to the list!

• Change gearbox oil
• Fit new thermostat, flush coolant
• Order and fit Yanoo kit
• Find a nice set of alloys with sticky tyres
• Fit new wishbones
• Replace worn ARB bushes

 

[MrBlonde]

What's the PAS fluid trick?

 

[MLB]

The easy way to change your power steering fluid

One of the jobs I have been meaning to do on my 182 was to change the power steering fluid. I looked at the pipes beneath the car but the unions were difficult to get at so I looked for an alternative method. What I did was to use the nozzle off a tube of silicon and a length of plastic...

www.cliosport.net

Basically stick a tube down the pas fluid reservoir over the return hole and it drains itself.

I've ordered some 7x9mm tubing and silicon sealant spare nozzles, five minute job.

MACHINETEC PVC Tube Clear Plastic Hose Pipe Fuel Oil Water Car Aquariums Air | eBay

MACHINETEC PVC is a High Quality clear flexible pipe hose tube tubing suitable for a variety of low pressure uses including Hydroponics air line fish ponds ponds, aquariums water food fuel petrol, 2 stroke granular powder oil & dairy etc.

rover.ebay.com

Pardon our interruption...

 

[MLB]

Dropped the gearbox oil a couple of months ago and was in for a nasty surprise..

Couple of nasty bits of metal came out so glad I replaced the oil, but I'll need to get it rebuilt. Will get the arb bushes and wishbones replaced at the same time.

Because of work and the gearbox being knackered I've not driven Art much, but finally got round to doing a full coolant flush and replacing the thermostat yesterday. While it was up I did an oil and filter change as well.

No wonder the engine temperature fluctuated while driving!

Crappy red stuff replaced by the proper green stuff now!

• Rebuild gearbox
• Fit Yanoo kit
• Find a nice set of alloys with sticky tyres
• Fit new wishbones
• Replace worn ARB bushes

 

[MLB]

Just a small easy mod, fitted some Citroën mist type washer jets, best thing was, no rusty bolts that snapped or rounded off!

Unclipped in seconds, bit of polishing while they were out and new ones work a charm!

Polishing

Before and after

 

[MLB]

Had lots of noise coming from the brakes and found the left front disc and wheel were way hotter than the right side.

Got a refurb kit and slider pins from Biggred and took the caliper off, don't know why I didn't refurb the calipers when they were off earlier this year for the cost of it but done now anyway, hope it's sorted it and it's not a bearing on its way out!

 

[-KarL-]

Looking good! got a link or part number for the washer jets?

 

[MLB]

Thanks! Yes I do, here you go, link.