Long story, so I’ll start with spec and photos and then go into the background. First though, a few mentions… Charlie and the guys at CGR Automotive. I first got in touch to discuss a titanium system (8kg with two silencers, 90dB it turns out – spot on for what I’m after) and Charlie was willing to spend a lot of time with me discussing various options with aspects of the car. Having had work done by CGR it’s fair to say they treat the car as if it was their own, and won’t let anything go out unless they’re happy with it themselves. A good example was the new seats – there was flex in the side mounts (something I’ve seen others mention subsequently) and he highlighted it and resolved it without me needing to pick it up, go “oh this is a bit cack” and then deal with it later. Same with the battery relocation - I've got a neat little bracket in the engine bar with a charging point mount and it looks very tidy indeed. The exhaust systems from CGR seem to get good reviews and I can add to that – really chuffed with my system. Looks the nuts, sounds more throaty than the Miltek I had previously, and has come in quieter with the extra silencer too. Top guys - they come highly recommended. John Kleis (Reading) were also really spot on with the audio work and had a similar approach – making sure it was done well and done right. They understood what I was after – something that was good, not ‘seafront loud’, and didn’t involve loads of extra weight. I now have a system I’m super chuffed with. Last but by no means least – and probably most deserving of the “going the extra mile” award, is Nick at Detail My Car (DMC). As well as the detail, he hydro-dipped various bits on the car (taking the trim off himself), and wrapped the roof. Another gent that doesn’t accept compromise, he cleaned my track wheels 4 times! Didn’t charge me any extra, but wanted to try and get a decent finish. Not only that, but after seeing the disappointing experience with my painted calipers, Nick ran around trying to find someone who would be able to service and blast calipers for him so he could hydro-dip them and the result is epic, and he went to all this effort without me even knowing. He’ll be doing the current set as well. Top bloke. Some pics... I'll sort some better ones at some point
Spec: RS250 ‘full fat’ with cup pack Engine (all work RST, bar the custom exhaust and battery which was CGR) · Hybrid turbo, 630 injectors, RST remap to 350/350 · Pro alloy intercooler kit · ITG induction kit · Forge recirc valve · Oil cooler · Vibra technics mounts · RS275 uprated gearbox mount, tapped with larger bolt · Battery relocated to rear wheel well and swapped for SuperB (same as Trophy R) and battery charging point in engine · CGR 3” titanium custom exhaust Interior · Pole position seats, Recaro sliders and side mounts…with seatbelt buckles from Trophy R (£200… thanks Renault) · Custom boot build with sealed sub, audison amp and front components, headunit change and stalk fitted to retain all radio controls · Rear seats removed; Trophy-R webbing and custom bar added · Re-trimmed alcantara steering wheel · Replacement speedo binnacle from Renault (so the speedo needle can actually be seen) Exterior (thanks again to Nick at DMC - Detail My Car) · Hydrodipped front bumper ‘blade’ and plastic, wing mirror cases, rear diffuser, badges, and exhaust surround · Carbon-effect matt roof wrap · HID lights · 18” TD Pro Race 1.2 (road) and OZ Racing Alleggerita hlt · New OEM wheel bolts all round · Painted black calipers with Renaultsport logo Brakes · Reyland 2 piece front brakes · XP10 (front) pads, the PF Z rated at the rear · Braided lines · Mr Pink pins Suspension · Intrax adjustable 1K2 coilovers with black Titan coating and anti-roll control (ARC), with custom mounts for the ARC canisters at the rear · Superpro front ARB and droplinks · AST top mounts and rear shims by Abbey Motorsport (to be installed - final touches on geo!) · Superpro bushes It has also had the 6yr service done with new water pump and dephaser, new hubs, new wishbones, new rear discs, gearbox oil replaced every 5k miles, oil changes every 2.5k, only run on Vpower, brakes bled after every hammering, and wheel arch liners replaced (running joke there, Renault must make most of their profits from front wheel arch liners) Things I wish I had known (just my opinions but others may find it useful): · TD wheels need spacers to fit at the rear. Only 5mm, but they’re needed. I don’t run them on track as I reckon longer bolts would be needed to be safe · The turbo bolts are rubbish and kept coming loose; now “Nordlocked” but yet to do a track day in anger to test these · Hybrid turbo is a waste of time IMO – more power but the power still stops at a little over 6k rpm. Stock is probably fine, or go for a garrett setup · The 6yr service with new belts, water pump etc should have been done at the time of all the other work! Ended up paying twice for the labour on all that · Should have refreshed the front suspension parts when I had coilovers done! · Use Renault coolant… I used Halfords OAT then had a mild panic when I read it should never be mixed. Was the same colour as the stuff that was in it Things I may do, if the car behaves itself: · Might go forged and swap to a garrett setup. No more torque but aim to hold the torque for longer (currently only manages 3000-4,500) and have the power keep coming in through to redline · Uprated TTV clutch and flywheel setup (needs to be designed first). I have a spare gearbox ready to be mated to it · Gripper diff · Work out a way of cooling the brakes And the backstory... I wanted a car for daily driver and track days / ring trips. I used to go to the ring a fair amount and did a lot of track days but work got in the way. Since it’s settled down a bit I wanted to scratch the itch. Power wise I wanted ~ 350bhp. I looked at the Cayman S but due to how impractical they were, didn’t think they’d work too well as a daily. High mileage / older models also represent an expensive headache should things need doing… but given how much I’ve now spent on the Meg, this may have been the better option! I’d owned an R26.R before so knew the Meganes were good fun. The mk3 was the only real balance so I looked for one with the cup chassis and the decent options – cruise control (I do a fair amount of motorway miles and can’t stand the 50mph limits using the accelerator), climate control etc. When I bought the car it had a milltek exhaust and remap. It was quick..ish… in 2nd… on the road...but lacked more poke in higher gears so I looked around at options and went to RST to get the engine done. The milltek was also too loud for my liking so wanted to get that changed at some point. The rear seats were unnecessary and I liked the old look of the R26R in the rear and bit of extra space the cargo webbing offers, so got a bar built and bought the webbing. The audio… oh my goodness. Obviously in the R26.R there wasn’t a radio and in these cars, there may as well not be one. They’re so bad it’s criminal. I’m no audiophile but I’d rather not listen to distortion and crackle when the volume is over half way… so I asked John Kleiss to help sort it out, and they did. As for looks…. The rear exhaust mount was black from dirt so as I wanted it cleaned up and I didn’t like the chrome everywhere, I thought about other options. Hydro dipping looked good so I opted for that. Personally, not sure if I’m a fan of the roof wrap… in some light it looks awesome but in others it looks a bit naff. The idea was to make the car quite plain. I went for a winter protection detail too. In terms of driving… After a couple of track days: - Front brakes get far too hot - The classic FWD car ‘nose dive’ under braking, with a rear end squirming around, was prevalent - Gear changes are not at all ‘positive’ and the throw isn’t ideal for track - Standard seats I was just sliding around in and using the steering wheel as something to steady myself - Wasn’t a big fan of the material on the steering wheel - Headlights were awful On suspension, KW are the solid choice but almost a bit of a boring option, and I knew Intrax were really good on the CSL and that they make immense coilovers. I opted for them instead and the ride on the road is hugely improved, with the firmer ride on track also spot on. There’s also hardly any roll in the car, so whatever they’ve done with the anti-roll control is really impressive. The ‘nose dive’ effect has also done. I am getting some AST top mounts to even out the camber – I had about a degree difference at the front between left and right, and the rear was out also. Brakes… they’re now epic to stop, but not sure on the heat issue as I’ve not pounded them since having the bigger discs. Gear change… looking at ways to improve that. Ideally don’t want the ‘race car’ look of the CAE but it may come down to that if they’re as good as people say. The car is now ‘finished’ for the most part (just ASTs and geo setup to come) and I don’t plan on any more upgrades for a while, just to enjoy driving it. Fingers crossed it remains healthy!
They need spacers. Else the flange of the centre of the disc (where the wheel sits) will push against the inside of the wheel First it pops out the centre cap, and if you tighten it then cracks that inside bit of the wheel It doesn't do structural damage to the wheel but you need a 5mm spacer to push the wheel out a little
Brilliant write up, love your dedication and tenacity to get it "right". Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
Great read Neil! In terms of gear change...just get the throw shortened. It cost me £40 and is probably the best mod I've done. Feels direct and mechanical. Can't recommend more mate!
How are the Z Rated on the rear Neil? I'm running a similar setup but with PF98s on the rear and the have destroyed my discs and paint
Absolutely fantastic Megane. Serious dedication and careful choices. My only "mmm rrrrr" is the roof.... saying that I'm thinking of getting mine done gloss black. Question, what ET are your wheels? (Both sets)
Cheers for the kind comments In response to questions... Jack - yeah the short shift mod has been advised against as it's a mixed review... I think I need to try someone's. I sat in Matt's car today and his CAE shifter made me gawp - he chucked it into third without any nonsense, and that's what I sometimes can't do with mine when under braking and also turning (not sure if it's me or whether the forces make something go out of line...) Jamie - Zs are totally fine and either those or stock were recommended by Ian at Carbotech. I find the car is well balanced (obviously biased to the front but there's no nose dive, though that may also be the suspension) so the rears do just enough. I remember having an MX5 with a BBK and the front was just way too over-powering Bowen - totally agree about the roof. I wasn't sure, but seeing it in some lights make me think it's definitely better and better than gloss, but in others I wonder if it just looks like a naff attempt to pretend I have a carbon roof Wheels are ET48 (Oz) and ET53 (TDs) and both are 8J A "clean" lap from Bedford today - road tyres, hence the squeal! https://www.dropbox.com/s/9vuswz9mityh6kc/bedford.mp4?dl=0
Re-read again and credit where it's due that's an epic Megane. Love the rear storage/battery/audio setup. Thanks for getting back about the wheel ET. Interesting about the 5mm spacer, is that just the wheels you've got or are all TD's like it as I've never heard that before? Thought about demons or black head light inserts?
I asked Mark at Rimstock and he said there was nothing different about those wheels. I should really take it to them to see what the reason is but it's a long way from me I have a HID conversion. I would have it the black insert headlights but now the HIDs are in there, I bet it would be a pain to put it all back together and I'm not sure it's really worth it
Was great to meet you Saturday Neil and thanks for the ride! Car feels really well set up and after having mine corner weighted today and weighed I can see mine really needs doing haha. Shame we couldn't get out on track as same time to see the difference but I noticed we where both hitting 130 at the end of the back straight which surprised me as you have another 40bhp on me.
Likewise, thanks for the pax lap That is interesting, but I felt like you were really hugging corners with the semi slicks so bet : 1. you exited with more speed 2. you're running the same torque so acceleration is probably just as good (I didn't get out of 5th) 3. you were braking later You were in 4th in some corners I was in 3rd, and overall I felt you were quicker into, round, and out of corners We'll say it's just the tyres and pretend it's nothing about the drivers ;-) I may have just purchased a spare engine ... RS450 for 2018...
If they're anything like the PS2s they will also last forever. I will probably end up doing a few track days and a lot of road miles before they're scrubbed to the wear markers
Great read this and I'd echoe what you're saying about how good the megane's are. Jake Hill (BTCC driver) was raving about them and I met another professional racer at Brands on Saturday with a 250 cup who was saying the same. It speaks so much about the durability of these cars as most owners have something to do with Motorsport. If I can offer you any advice I'd try your best not to get the AST top mounts from Curtis. Mine only made about -2 degrees but is completely stock suspension wise. I've done 2 and a bit track days since getting it aligned with fresh rubber and it's made a huge improvement with wear and grip. Last Monday I took it to brands and the turn in oversteer in the wet was almost too much! Far more than my track skyline gtr that's had more spent on the suspension than the methane cost!
Hah indeed... they're on order through Abbey motorsport, who will use Curtis. They can deal with him ;-) I'm not going for massive camber adjustment, it's more to level it out. I will go for -1.25 over winter then get it re-done next summer with some semi-slicks and perhaps aim more towards -2 degrees
Are they better than ast's and can go on standard suspension setup? Do you know the cost of these ones?
Ah really? Im sure when Intrax first released there 1K2 kit there was a Belgian guy running them with a fair bit more camber than stock and I'm sure it was on their own topmounts, I find it strange that a high end kit uses OEM stuff tbh
From what I've seen, im not sure that more camber than stock is needed. The intrax kit prevents roll and can go pretty stiff (I actually ended up running it fairly soft at Bedford) so it'll be interesting to play with it and see if it makes any difference
Was never really happy with the calipers that got painted and started to flake... Nick at DMC hydro-dipped my other set and I think they look epic And this is what a titanium exhaust looks like after a track day... @cgrautomotive got some kudos today when it went on the ramps and the guys were like... that's *very* nice
Cheers. There's not much really left to do I have a spare engine and gearbox so am thinking maybe Drexler diff, forged engine and GTX3071 at the end of next year
Small update... New thermostat is in; makes SUCH a difference to warming the engine and how it sounds. If in any doubt, it's worth doing Coolant change - didn't use anything like 7 litres, which is what RPD thought. Not entirely sure why that would be... if something goes BOOM then I guess i'll find out the answer Oil change (only about 1800 miles but why not) Got the AST topmounts fitted now. They had to be customised a bit in order to fit with the 14mm intrax shafts (apparently stock is 12mm, so my OEM topmounts must have been drilled out....) No idea if anyone will be able to tell the difference but here they are. I've noticed that it feels stiffer due to there being no rubber, whereas the OEM ones have that. Have also noticed a bit of a 'thud' noise from the left hand side so I'm hoping a shock hasn't gone... that would be very annoying
I guess you must be local to Newbury ? Not seen this one going around be looks very well thought out!
