Forged Megane 225 engine for a clio 197

Thankyou very much guys for the high praise well there arent any real updates on the car at this present time. The electrical gremlins are still giving us the run around. Ive passed it over to SC autos now, been there 3 weeks, so hopefully it shouldnt be too long. I doubt it will be 100% ready either for FCS im afraid, probably be running but not mapped or putting out the intended power.

 

Right haven't updated this in a while. This is mainly because not much has happened with the car. I havent seen it for 4 months and Steve has checked everything he could possibly do. new loom, ecu, sensors and more. Seems the problem could be trickier to fix than first thought. Therefore the car will be either transported back home for me to try and fix or another option is to deliver it to RS tuning to see if Paul can figure it out. This makes sense as he is only 1 hour away from SC autos rather than 4 hours back to me. If he fixes it I could then get it mapped at the same time to make sure its safe. Ill be phoning them in the morning to discuss whats best to do.

While the car has been off the road Ive decided to strip the old engine and gearbox so they can be used should something go wrong at a later date.

 

UPDATE:

I know its been a long time without a decent update so i apologise. Anyway today was a very good day, the culmination 2.5 years of hard work, I actually got to drive it. The car drives great and with the extra torque it is so much easier to drive even when limiting myself to 3k revs before getting it mapped. The gearbox is sweet as a nut and shifts soooo smoothly. Cant really put the Quaife LSD to the test until mapped and running intended power. Power delivery is so smooth with a lovely induction noise and typical turbo noises which we all love. The clutch is very tricky especially doing hill starts but i always knew this was the case with a 4 puc paddle clutch, I will get used to it over time.

Today I just gave the car a clean inside and installed my rear seats. I also wiped over the engine bay to remove any dust, Ill need to install the battery tray again, that will be a job for tomorrow.

In the week I plan on detailing the car and get it protected for the winter weather. Im also going to be installing the rest of the fuel system on the weekend ready for mapping at the end of the month.

Pictures as always:









Quick video:

http://vid1373.photobucket.com/albu...e Uploads/VID_50950402_010143_zps9hvsbwkm.mp4

Thanks as always

 

Thanks guys

Tonight The front of the car was taken apart again to fix a small coolant leak on the radiator hose, did the hose clip up a bit tighter and it seems to have solved it.

Then I took the car for a quick 50 mile blast around the local roads, didn't miss a beat. Still cant get over how fast it is with only revving to 3k, going to be an absolute animal once mapped

 

UPDATE:

Another week with the clio and all is going great. There are though a few problems I need to address first before mapping. First one being the problem of overheating that these conversions seem to have. It really showed up when we had that freak heat wave earlier in the week. The cause for this is I believe a mixture of things; 1, the radiator is too small, therefore a megane radiator is on the way as we speak and will be fitting that next weekend. 2. the ducting for the radiator is terrible, now that the bottom vent is filled by an intercooler and the top vents mainly for the engine intake, the radiator is hardly getting any air to it. To remedy this Im going to install ducting from the top vents down into the radiator. Also Ive noticed 200's with this conversion rarely get this problem, the reason I believe is the top vents on them is far lower down than a 197, hence they get far better airflow through the radiator.

Today I set about relocating the battery in the boot to make way for a cold air intake on to bring down them intakes temps a bit. I picked up some 25mm^2 cable, crimps, heatshrink and a 100A fuse from work. I crimped a large 35mm^2 ring tag on the existing wires for the battery, I then attached the cable using another ring tag and a m6 bolt which I tightened and loctited in position, 5 layers of heat shrink were then shrunk over the connection. Next up I drilled a 10mm hole into the bulk head with a suitable grommet and ran the cable into the cabin by the foot well, teh cable was then ran all the way down the car under the kick plate/side trim and into the boot where it was terminated at the battery, the earth for the battery was attached to the chassis in the boot. Looks so much neater now in the engine bay. I still need to secure the battery but for this time being this will be fine.

Tomorrow I am going to be installing my fuel system into the car in order for me to break the 300 hp mark.

Pictures:

 

UPDATE:

Bit of a late update as didnt have time yesterday. Well Ive managed to install half of my fuel system. I first set about wring in the pump. You use the green wire (12V feed) on the pump sender and run this to a 12V relay, so when the stock pump primes and turns on, the relay closes contact and the HP pump comes on. A 12V 60A cable is run from the battery to one side of the relay contact, then another 60A cable is run to the HF pump. I have also spliced into the green wire and installed a security switch and hidden it in the car, so when the switch is open the pump will not power on and hence the car will not start, i recommend more people do this, really easy, only took an hour or two and easy to find electrical components and could save your car from being nicked.

Next up was plumbing it up as much as I could, I ran the return line to the swirl pot and the overflow from the swirl pot back into the top of the sender unit. All torques motorsport grade fittings were used along with Teflon braided line. The swirl pot assembly was bolted to the floor using m5 cap head bolts with hank bushes being crimped into the floor of the car. The rising rate pressure reg boost reference was also connected using a T off of a vacuum line.

Next week Im going to fit the new megane radiator, finish the fuel system and build some aluminium boxes for the battery, hopefully my varley top battery will arrive this week.

Pictures:











Thanks

 

UPDATE:

This weekend the girlfriend was in Paris for the weekend, I booked Friday and Monday off and got to work sorting out the little niggly problems. First up was an oil change, pretty simple, no different from a clio oil change really. Topped back up with castrol edge and new renault filter. The old oil looked fine, no bits of metal in it

Ive always since getting the car back had a slight gearbox leak, would notice every morning when leaving for work there would be a small patch of gearbox oil on the drive. I did worry that it was leaking between the two casing halves of the gearbox, this would mean an engine out job to then have to open back up the gearbox and re-seal. Luckily it was found to be a duff driveshaft seal, got a new one ordered. This did mean that the drive shaft would need to be removed, a right pain in the arse job. The lower ball joint was undone along with the the tie rod and droplinks, the strut bolts were then undone and the whole hub assembly and driveshaft was slid out of the car. (Gearbox was drained before this) the old seal was pulled out and a new one installed. Driveshaft re installed and the hub was secured. The box was refilled with Fuchs Titan sintofluid and success, no leaks. While the driveshaft was out I removed the second lambda sensor and installed a wideband sensor instead (Second lambda sensor is only for emmisions) the cables were then ran into the cabin into an AEM afr gauge. This allows me to monitor the engines air fuel ratio on the go for peace of mind.

Today I set about installing a megane radiator, as I mentioned a few posts ago that i was suffering from overheating in hot weather. The megane radiator is huge compared to the clios. The old rad was removed and the megane rad mocked up, checking all the hoses would reach etc. Location holes were then drilled into the lower subframe. The top crash bar has to be trimmed a little in order for the rad to fit in the stock location. The rad was still a bit tight though, to cue this I spaced down the lower front subframe by 10mm, this gave me enough room for everything to line up correctly. The light however was fading and I had to stop work. I did manage to plumb up the system and bleed any air out of it. Tomorrow I shall finish the radiator setup and go out for a long drive to make sure its all running correctly and see if the temps remain lower than before.

Photos:














Thanks

 

UPDATE:

Haven't been on here for a while so thought id update with progress so far. First of all the radiator has made a HUGE difference, temps don't go above the 3rd marker even after some hard abuse and sitting in traffic. So I would definitely recommend fitting one if anyone is thinking of doing the conversion.

With most of the mechanical work finished for now, I set about making the engine bay a bit tidier, mainly around the crash panel and top of the bumper. I sprayed the top of the bumper satin black as the plastic was faded and no amount of trim restorer was bringing it back to life. I also bought some new oem stickers to go back on, looks like new! Now because the bumper has been on and off so many times the plastic had become really scratched and faded on the top of the slam panel, this wouldn't do. To remedy this I made up some real carbon trims to cover up them areas. I first applied masking tape to the area and carefully cut out the outline in the tape, I then peeled off the tape and this gave me a template. The template was used to mark out the carbon, I cut it out on a band saw at work using a fine blade, this gave a really nice edge. I then proceeded to sand and bevel the edges so there was no sharp edges. Holes were drilled for the bumper stops and headlight mounting holes. Fitted them in my lunch break and I think they look the part, really neaten up that hole area of the bay. I'm going to add some more carbon touches in the bay and around the car before next year.

Reading through the specs on the timing belt the other week I realised I had not torqued the camshaft pulleys properly, I couldn't leave this, as when pushing more power the last thing I would want is for the pulley to slip and potentially write off then engine. I took a saturday and basically changed the cambelt again. Both engine mounts need to be removed and the cam cover removed while supporting the engine with a jack. The cam slots were easy to get to as Ive got no battery in the bay now. Torqued the pulleys up to spec and turned over two revolutions of the crank and all was good. Engine timing was still spot on.

Before mapping which Ill get onto in a bit I needed to finish my fuel system, I linked up the tank to swirl pot line and the HF pump to rail line, Only took 30 mins. Then the pump was primed a few times and the engine was fired up, the pressure was then set to 3.5 bar like the stock setup and then I checked for leaks. However my god is the bosch 044 loud! Ill definitely need to make a box up for the fuel system with sound deadening for when I do long journeys, then the box can be removed for shows etc.

Right onto mapping, and unfortunately it didn't go to plan. Got to EFI for 10 and on the rollers. Scoff tried to access my ecu to use his own software for mapping, but there was a problem, my ecu appears to have a fast chips map on it which locks the ecu. This would be fine on a weekday as you could get a code off fast chips to unlock the ecu, but this was a sunday and fast chips werent replying. Im now on the hunt for a spare ecu now so scoff can reset it to factory settings and then map it properly not using henk software. Top bloke and really helpful, its just one of them annoying things I suppose, no one was to blame. We did however get the car on the dyno and do a few pulls, its making about 245 hp which isnt too bad, and its running safe which means I can give it more revs now, pulls like an absolute train, cant imagine what its going to be like at 350+.

More updates will be up shortly, with more touches being done and prep being done for another go at mapping and expo in november.





















Thanks

 

UPDATE:

Right first things first Ive been accepted for expo top 40. Kind of a shock as it was done on likes on there facebook page for at first "Top 20", you got the same people posting/sharing etc trying to get likes which is fair enough, I didnt bother which much of that and didn't get many likes so I wasn't expecting to get in so didn't really bother with the little bits on the car. However as theyv'e extended it to top 40 I now have a place so this means there is a lot of work to be done in a short amount of time

This weekend i started with tidying up the little bits on the car, first up was tidying up the calipers which were a bit ropey from being left around in a garage for ages. A bit of brake fluid had seeped out of the bleed nipple, this normally isnt a problem as I wash them straight after, However because it had been away from me for so long the brake fluid hadn't been washed off which then stripped the powder coat off them. I touched them up with renault capscium red which is a perfect match.

Next up was touching up some bits in the engine bay like the peeling paint on the turbo cold side. The boost pipes had also got scratches all over it from the conversion. I sanded it down with 2000 grit sandpaper and then used some autosol to polish them back up, the scratches have mostly been removed. The fuel system was then finished and I made up a sound proof box to go over it as the bosch 044 pump is loud!

Some 20mm spacers have been ordered which arrive tomorrow so Ill get them bolted on this week, should give the car a better stance and fill the arches nicely.

Also noticed that my topmount has had it which is causing a clunking noise, Ill get that ordered soon and then get it swapped over after expo. Also @Sean197 was kind enough to sell me a megane ecu so I should be in for mapping very soon.

Over the next few weeks I hope to detail the car and tidy up the last little bits, Ill update again next week with the new look with the spacers on.









Thanks

 

UPDATE:

Havent updated in a while, the reason for that is not much has happened modification wise.

Anyway last weekend I attended PFC expo and my car was displayed inside, some of you may have seen it. The week beforehand ment I had to get it clean. Spent the saturday before cleaning and correcting the car ready for the show, came out really well and swirl marks were pretty much removed. Also fitted some 20mm spacers which give it a better stance without being too crazy.

The show was pretty good and met up with some friends, good day out and the car got quite a bit of attention. Looks very shiny too.

This weekend was quite eventful, I took @Luke_197 to pick up his lovely 200 from being meg'd at two techs on saturday, great guys and they really know there stuff, so if you need a renault specialist down south give them a shout. What then followed was a great drive back with a few detours down some twisties, even though the weather was terrible. Car needs another clean now. Then had a passenger ride in Lukes 200 and man it sounds good and pulls like a train, considering taking my rear seats out now just for the increased exhaust noise and pops and bangs. Also now want a forge recirc like Lukes, you get a lovely turbo flutter when letting off which mine doesnt have.

Today I went round Lukes again and met up with @Yiannis197 , had a chat about clios and cars in general, cant wait for that drive out next year we were talking about!

Anyway now winter is drawing in its time to tidy up some little bits ready for summer like properly boxing in my fuel pump and making up a cold air feed, considering making up a headlight feed as I dont really like the bonnet vents. Also hop to actually get it mapped this year, buying a house has sort of put this on hold for the time being, but dont worry i wont be getting rid of the car, I love it too much and cant really think of a car which is as much fun.

Pictures as usual:


















Thanks

 

UPDATE:

These are becoming monthly updates now it seems, sorry about that :lol:

Anyway some bits have actually been done to the car recently, first of was boxing in the fuel pump to reduce the noise. Popped down to Wicks and picked up some MDF and then got some thick sound deadening foam from work to line it with. I firstly made up a box using wood screws and some battening, this was then lined with the foam and then covered in acoustic fabric from Halfords, its reduced the noise A LOT, you can still here it while in traffic but once you get moving I cant hear it at all.

Ive also in the last few weeks moved my filter into the gap where the battery used to be, it will be cooler in this location but ultimately my reason is it looks better tbh, cold air feeds make much little difference in a turbo charged car IMO. Got some aluminum bend tube and a coupler, as well as making up a custom bracket. The filter looks much better now and better use of the extra space created by moving the battery.

I also plan this week in tidying up the vacuum lines by ditching the fuel vapour recirc line and then making up new vacuum lines and tucking them, then Ill remake up the carbon sheet on the gearbox mount as it has broken in places.

I have been to a few good meets recently like goodwood piston heads meet and a few local ones, just trying to enjoy the car more now rather than always changing bits on it.

Pictures as usual:

 

I'll just run the vent to a venting catch can and then run the case vent to it as well

 

The foam is fire retardant and we use it at work to sound insulate induction heating power supplies which kick out a lot of heat energy. The swirl pot also barely gets warm even after a 4 hour mainly motorway drive for mapping the other month on stock injectors.

 

UPDATE:

Ive always hated how messy and all over the place the Megane engine looks compared with the clio variant. The clio has nice vacuum line routing and an inlet which hides a lot of bits. The megane's vacuum lines on the right hand side go all over the place with poor routing, even in a stock megane they look pretty crap to be honest. Most people just fit an engine cover and be done with it but I hate modern engines that are covered in plastic covers so I decided to re-route these lines.

First one being was the carbon canister line which are also prone to breaking at the throttle body. I don't really need the carbon canister as emissions aren't really a priority as its decat anyway, therefore I just removed this line altogether and made up a aluminium plug for the throttle body. The next one was the line for the recirc valve, this was simply just re-routed down underneath the inlet manifold and along the coolant outlet housing.

Now because the fuel tank venting line was removed I still needed to find a place for this. Therefore I fitted a venting non return catch can as Ive always planned on fitting one anyway, the fuel vapour line just runs to this now along with the crankcase breather. Getting it fitted required some trial and error to keep it from fowling on the gear linkages, once the catchcan was where I wanted it, I set about making some fixings up on the lathe to mount the can to the coolant outlet housing, I also knocked up a plug for the inlet pipe where the existing breather was routed to. I then used a bit of 10mm stainless tube and flattened each end and drilled a 7mm hole in each end, this then creates a very strong bracket/fixing. Knocked one up for the catch can and to secure the inlet filter more securely.

Pictures as always:























Thanks

 

UPDATE:

Not much happening on the car really in the last few months, havent even cleaned it since beginning of January, also just bought a house so funds are a bit tighter these days especially with house prices down south. The plan is though to get the car finnally mapped in April for my birthday. Anyway Ive done a few cheap mods this last month.

First being some Streamline carbon style grilles, I really like the design of these grilles but they are too pricey, carbon deteriorates quite quickly and their lead times are ridiculous. Therefore I set about making my own grilles in the same style. I bought some standard Clio mk3 grilles on ebay for £20, then I used a dremel to cut out the grill/fin bit. Then using various grade sandpapers I sanded the edges flat, I then set about flatting textured plastic down using 800 grit. Then i just set about using the standard painting procedure to achieve a nice gloss metallic black. Left this to harden over a week and then applied g techniq c1 to them for protection. Fitted them last weekend and tbh from a distance you cant really tell they arent streamline ones, they fit better also due to keeping all the clips in place, so no glueing needed! They should improve cooling a little as well due to there being to grille blocking airflow. I may now make up some ducts to direct the air into the radiator.

Since my nightmare with my wiring loom the passenger side xenon has never worked even when I changed over the bulb. Finally got round to sorting it this weekend. First swapped over the headlights to check the bulb and ballast wasnt faulty, it was all okay. Therefore the problem was either the wire, fuse or relay as I want getting any 12V to the headlight plug. I managed find the fuses for the headlight and relay in the fusebox and these were all okay. This means it must have been the wire ad surprise surprise the wire had no continuity from the plug to the fusebox, in fact it was completely missing from the plug on the fusebox, very strange...

Anyway I ended up running a new wire between the fusebox and headlight, all working now! really baffles me why that happened, that part of the loom didnt need changing at all.




















Thanks

 

UPDATE:

Really haven't kept this up to date recently so here goes.

For most this few months i have put more miles on the car however i developed a 4th gear synchro crunch. So two weeks ago i took the opportunity at taking the engine and gearbox out to sort a few niggles out as well.

-Fixed synchro ring
-Re routed the fuel lines
-Tidied up wiring and relocated fuse box
-Fitted new repadded clutch plate.
-Full service
-Bolt check
-Re-wrap the downpipe

Took about 4 days to complete the job, a day of this was spent fixing the gearbox and giving it a good service, all went quite well and the car drove fine. i also took the opportunity to make an upgraded lower dog bone mount to reduce the engine movement.

This essentially was preparation for mapping, this took place yesterday and the day went very well. Started by installing the 630cc injectors and forge actuator with 20psi spring. Then Chris @ EFI started his magic. Took a few pulls to setup the actuator (It was preloaded a bit to help it hold boost), at the end of the day it was producing 326HP and 305 Ft/Ib as I wanted to keep it torque limited. The last pull was a bit down on power at 321HP due to the ambient temps of 30C, so when cold I could see a increase of 5-10HP.

Wow, what can i say, this thing is now an absolute monster and is bloody involving. The clio box is taking it all in its stride and due to this it still regains the Clio's fun and playfullness driving characteristics. Even better B road basher now.

The car is still capable of more power of over 360HP but i wanted to keep it at this power due to the relatively unkown strength of the gearboxes.

















Have noticed a slight problem that the clutch master cylinder is leaking slightly but this will be replaced in the next few weeks, its only weeping slightly.

Thanks