Trying to turn around an RB 182

[paul72s]

Hi folks,

Back in 2005 I had a Black Gold Clio 182 that was great - six months old and my first proper hot hatch. Sold it after a couple of years and had quite a few things since then but I always remembered the 'go-kart' like fun of the Clio.

Roll forward to a month ago and I needed a car to do the work commute but also fancied trying some track days. The 182 seemed a no-brainer given the cost of them and their capability on track.

So I then threw away all the experience I'd learned over the years and bought the first one I saw near me. On Ebay....

Advertised as 98k on the clock with an exhaust rattle, recent cambelt (no mention of dephaser) and service with a full MOT.

I picked the car up after a brief test drive that confirmed the car pulled well. Although there were some horrible tints on it and scruffy paintwork around the bumper and it stank of 11 years of smoke I paid the cash and brought it home.

A clean and inspection then showed a few niggles:

Clutch judder
Filthy interior
Engine moving in bay quite a bit
Sounded like a diesel when warm
Oil looked well used
Gear lever had crazy amounts of slack
Seatbelts mouldy and stained
Landsail tyres all round
brakes discs scored
slight hairline crack in exhaust back box

At this point I realise I've either bought myself into a big mistake or a project.

So I'm pushing on regardless of all economic sense.

First up was a deep steam clean to the interior and a Snappy wheel retrim ordered. This was to to at least make me feel better when driving it! Also removed the stuck-on fake carbon wrap from the dash inserts and resprayed them silver. New mats and Gear knob/gaitor brought it up nicely.

Old interior:

New interior:

Next up I'll post the exterior spruce up and some mechanical discoveries..

 

[tom182]

I like this thread. Similar to me! Have had a 172 and 182 in the past. Both immaculate but expensive. I've just bought a ph1 for £500 with all sorts of bad points that need work but I still love it!

Got all the belts and dephaser done yesterday at Rentech. Apparently the tensioners looked like the original ones which for a 90k 15 year old car was not good! Running much better now.

All the bits for my suspension refresh arrive tomorrow from someone on here stripping a track car.

The it's just cosmetics...needs a bumper respray and allows refurbished but that will have to wait.

Good luck, I'll watch with interest!

 

[paul72s]

Cheers,

It doesn't make financial sense and I've already blown the budget but I love getting bits sorted on it and feeling it come back to what I know is there somewhere.

 

[paul72s]

So I decided to sort the engine mounts first on the grounds that all the noises related to the engine and exhaust may go away and any left will be easier to isolate.

I put the K-tec set on the off-side, gearbox and Powerflex dogbone mount and went for a test drive. This stopped the clutch judder nicely but now I could only hear a constant grinding noise which I had though was the exhaust. Nope - another trawl through the Cliosport forums and I was suspecting gearbox bearing.

I took it to a trusted local specialist who confirmed the gearbox needed overhauling so in it went to him for the work.

I then got a phone call from him a day later telling me to get down there. He wouldn't work on it until I'd noted that the existing work underneath hadn't been done by him. So far this was chemical metal used on cracks in the high-pressure power assist lines, a missing washer from a hub nut and the exhaust hanging by some twisted coathanger underneath.

I asked him to keep going and make good what he found. Which also turned out to be missing bearings from both drive shafts!

To cheer myself up I still had a few bits to install I had already ordered to sort other things out:

Yanoo stiff shift kit:

Aluminium footrest, exhaust brackets and the gearknob and gaitor already in:

 

[Gus]

Coming along nicely ! Steering wheel will make a huge difference.

 

[tom182]

How much is the gearbox rebuild costing out of interest?

 

[paul72s]

I've got it back now and the full strip down and rebuild of the box with new bearings (synchro and gears were ok) was £380. The other bits were extra - new power steering pipes and drive shafts etc.

 

[Akay]

Get the updated centre hanger, its a red rubber and lasts longer.

 

[Crybert]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is spending money on an old Clio!

 

[paul72s]

Since the gearbox was done the car drove a lot quieter. I had a new clutch put in while the box was off the car too. It seems though that as one thing gets fixed the other things that need done become more noticeable. The dephaser rattling when warm is driving me nuts.

I've booked the car in at Birchdown in two weeks time to get the belts and dephaser done. There's a whining noise that sounds like a supercharger going on too so I'm guessing I may be looking at a power steering pump.
While I wait for that trip down the motorway I'm busying myself with the smaller jobs. I got the gear linkage off underneath the car and fit the yanoo kit.

It took a couple of hours or so but wasn't too hard to do as the instructions were nice and detailed. I did regret buying cheap circlip pliers though, they must have lasted all of five minutes.

The Yanoo kit with the brass bushes has transformed the previously sloppy gear lever and has made the changes nice and positive. The only issue I had was the first time I tested it I had moved the gear lever before i put it back together so I lost first gear. I'd also lost reverse - something I only noticed after I drove onto the gravel part of my drive and parked the car nose up against the hedge.

As I was on my own I coudn't push the car back off the gravel so had to fix it on my back on gravel. It was like a bloody Indian bed of nails.

All sorted now though! And the re-trimmed wheel always makes me feel better about the whole car and what's left.

 

[George@RTR_Parts]

Welcome back mate. Steering wheel looks well. I laughed at the coat hanger holding the exhaust on, hate when people bodge things

 

[CKNOBoy]

Good thread so far - it's like me and my new one. Bought for 850 last weekend - 130,000 miles, crunching gearbox and needs new top mounts.

What we do for Clios, eh?

 

[Smiffyboy1990]

Nice to see these Clio's being saved from the scrap heap

Great work so far.

 

[Iain C]

Good work. Least you know it will be a good car once you've sorted these bits.

 

[Gus]

Wow that steering wheel is stunning. Have you got a machine polisher?

 

[paul72s]

Cheers,
I don't yet but it's on my Christmas list.

 

[paul72s]

Thanks for the reply's guys, appreciated.

Quick update on the exterior of the car. When i bought it the paint was in poor condition overall but particularly the bumper which had paint flaking off. You can see this in the pic below, around the reg plate light the yellow primer is showing through.

On further inspection the bumper has had a really poor respray at some point. This means I'll likely have it done properly but in the meantime I rubbed down the worst bits and touched them up. I also stripped the bumper insert and front grille, primed and sprayed them satin black.

I installed a Fabia splitter to the front. Some bits needed trimmed off it to fit around the some bolts underneath but it was really easy to do.

A thorough wash, clay and then I put some white stripes on.

Now these are very marmite so I got a fairly cheap set to try them out. The jury is still out with me so they may get taken off in a week or two.

I then committed a bit of a sin by getting the T-Cut out. Not the best way I know but it brought the paint back. It won't be getting used again. A couple of coats of Autoglym SRP and the car now looks like this:

 

[paul72s]

As I do more on the car the 'to do' list just gets longer:

Belts and pulleys (in a fortnight)
Suspected power steering pump replacement
Turini wheels (white maybe)
Half decent track tyres
Brake discs and DS2500 pads
Steering feels vague in the centre - a new rack maybe
Front seats - would love some trendlines but they may be out of budget.
Scorpion exhaust

I'm going to have to take my time on some of this lot. Cheap car to buy, expensive to fix up. Thinking of Croft for a first track day, hoping they will let me use my bike helmet. Going to look into fabricating a headrest bracket for the old gopro too.

 

[Gus]

Out of curiosity why do you think the power steering pump needs replacing. Is the steering quite heavy?

 

[paul72s]

The whine from the engine is coming from the drivers side and I originally thought it was a pulley off the auxiliary belt. It seems to get louder though when turning so I'm suspecting the power steering. The guys at Birchdown will be able to diagnose it for sure.

 

[Welsh.Dan]

Hate it when good cars get owned by knobs who mistreat them.....
Glad to see it's in the hands of someone who cares!

Fair play to you, lot of time and money to bring it back up but it's looking superb already!

I would only get a gen Renault pump. Don't get a refurbished one! I had 2 refurbed fitted! when mine failed, first one lasted 1k miles and 2nd whined like he'll as soon as I fitted it. Like a supercharger sound.

Fitted a genuine one and it's perfect now. Live and learn.

 

[coverman]

The justification for resurrecting, or even expensively maintaining, 1*2's is that newer(albeit more powerful) cars are all simply too large and too heavy to enjoy on the road.

 

[imprezaworks]

I hope it was very cheap. From what ive read i would have been pissed doing all these jobs, but each to their own mate.

 

[jamesycc]

Good effort. Its all about making it your own and getting satisfaction from doing as much of it as you can yourself.

 

[paul72s]

Cheers,

It should have been cheaper from what I've found so far but I've already got a car that I daren't maintain myself in case it 'harms it's value' which is annoying, so this is a great way to get stuck in.
I'll make sure I ask for a genuine Renault pump if thats whats gone too, don't fancy getting the same job done twice..

The idle was dropping really low and wandering quite a lot so at the weekend the plenum came off (a lot simpler than expected given the amount of sensors and pipes coming off it) andI removed the spark plugs to find these:

 

[paul72s]

Not come across Denso plugs before but they have now been replaced with these:

Straight away the idle is more settled and it runs smoother.

Also took the opportunity to change the rear exhaust mount while the sun was out (not looking forward to working on this through winter) and the centre mount where the wire bodge job had been.

old mount (some type of metal strip on this one):

New mount:

Next decent update should be my trip to Birchdown.

Then I'm shopping for brakes.

 

[STEVE.M]

ND Nippon Denso plugs are about as much use as Champions.
NGK all day long.
Reinforce that exhaust mount with Tiger glue or at least some silicon,or it will be banging/hanging by November.

 

[Iain C]

Denso are ok. Oem for some honda cars. I'd only run the correct ngks on the clio tho.

 

[paul72s]

Update time following my trip to Birchdown.

I left the car with the guys in the morning - they loaned me a car so I could occupy myself for the day which was great. I ended up at Cheshire Oaks outlet centre which was not so great. After being bored stupid for hours I headed back. The car wasn't quite ready as, surprise surprise, previous work on the car had been bodged, leaving chewed bolts in place.

An hour later though the guys has made good all the fixings and the car had a new dephaser, PAS pump and both belts. They also mentioned the timing had been out..

The drive back was awesome, no more whining noise, noticeably more power and I had far more confidence to take it over five thousand revs. I'd recommend Birchdown any day of the week.

As is the case with this car, when one thing is sorted the next issue bugs me. Now it's the steering which I know could be sharper.

I got back under it and changed out the steering rack bushes for Powerflex one's. The old one's were definitely allowing movement of the rack as I could see it when shining a torch into the engine bay while the missus turned the wheel.

Getting one of the new one's back on was a pig of a job on my back - I had to pry the rack quite far out to get the space but it went on eventually. The old one's looked like this:

This didn't make a massive difference though so I'm now awaiting a set of track rod ends and inner tie rods for both sides of the car.

In the meantime I noticed one of the fog lights was rusty. It must have a leak somewhere so I bought a second hand unit from Renparts and got stuck in to what I thought was a nice 'easy' job.

Nope. One of the screws was seized on tight so the torx head just chewed up. They seem to be made of some kind of cheese.

Out came the drill and once the head was off the mole grips removed the rest:

The picture above shows what I've found with a few fixings on this car - water finds it's way onto the threads and rusts it solid.

After that was sorted the rest was nice and easy.

Old:

New:

 

[paul72s]

The trip down the motorway really highlighted another issue - the exhaust drone's. After a couple of hours it really annoyed me so I've ordered a Scorpion RS192 system. This will likely be my next update as I'm going to fit it myself.

Also got a replacement throttle pedal (yet to fit) from Sprayshack as I wasn't comfortable with the gap from the brake when heel and toe'ing on downshifts. Looking forward to having that on, if I can sort the brakes and tyres in November I might make it to my first track day this year (fingers crossed.)

 

[Daz.]

Good work sir. The biggest transformation will be the wheels.

I'd avoid white myself..

 

[paul72s]

Finally got around to fitting the Scorpion RS192 exhaust last week. I managed to fit various jobs in between almost four weeks of constant rain.

New Gasket on the Cat:

Shiny new exhaust (there were a couple of small dings in it from transit which is a bit disappointing)

I haven't got a picture of it fitted yet as I've been adjusting it to get it centered. It's pretty much there now so I'll get one taken.

The exhaust sounds superb although still quite loud at the rear. I didn't have a parcel shelf which won't be helping.

 

[Ben]

Coming along nicely mate!

 

[paul72s]

This week I've been sorting the brakes. They felt poor and the disks quite scored so new one's arrived from Kam Racing:

Brembo HC Front and Rear
Ferrodo DS2500 Front pads
Mintex 144 rear pads
HEL Braided lines

I wanted to paint the calipers as they were poorly done in yellow at some point:

Off they came and after cleaning I started to spray them silver

The retaining screws on one of the discs had been mangled by someone at some point. In the end I had to drill the heads. Usually this would lead to enough thread to get some mole grips on but not this time.

I drilled a pilot hole and used a thread extractor. It came out easily so I was chuffed at this point.

New lines, discs and pads on:

After another few days of rain I got fed up of waiting so today I went out in waterproofs to finish the job. It did not go too well.
The offside bleed nipple sheared right off. No problem I thought - just drill a pilot hole and use the extractor again.

The extractor bit the remains of the nipple and snapped right off, nicely plugging the hole with a far tougher bit of steel!

In the end I have removed the caliper while i try to think of a solution. It may be a new caliper

 

[paul72s]

On the plus side - I've got these in the hallway waiting to go on :smiley:

 

[montana]

Nice work on this, seems you have had some pretty big jobs done so should be good for a while now!

 

[VR46-G@Z]

Fair play to you this is love and dedication! Great to see an abused RB being saved! You'll deserve every minute of enjoyment after all this work, very impressive!! :up:

 

[paul72s]

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated.

It's a keeper now for sure, so once I've given it a suspension refresh I fancy some toys. A new stereo and under seat sub maybe? When I turn the stock stereo up the interior sounds like it's trying to eat itself!

I'm guessing I might have to silicone the interior panels or something. Not sure yet.

 

[theburns1]

Really enjoyed reading this thread, good to see you keep tackling the issues and not getting carried away with shiney bits. Keep up the good work and we'll done for saving a bodged 182

 

[Darius]

love progress like this awesome work