I've been meaning to do a bit of a project/diary thread for a while now for LM61 VEO. She's been in my ownership for 9 months now and what a 9 months it's been! I bought the car on 62k. It had a miltek, panel filter and a map by RSTuning (running just over 300bhp). I had the all the belts done within the first month for piece of mind. Bought some fresh rubber (Pilot Supersports). New discs and pads (all standard, which I ended up having quite a few issues with due to a bad compound on the pads, there's another thread I made for that if you'd like a read)...and went and did some driving! After a few months of some great drives round Snowdonia and Derbyshire I decided to uprate the brake fluid and pads to rbf600 and some CL5+. The difference was night and day. The pads made a horrific noise when cold but once fully bedded in after some heavy braking they shut up a bit. The standard seats were very comfy but didn't give an awful lot of support when cornering so looked into getting some Recaro's. With prices for second hand Sportsters being £1000+ I had a look into some Pole Posistions. Thanks to Neil on here I found a company (ADN Motorsport) that provided the full set up with mounts and sliders for not much more than some secondhand CS's. I'm over the moon with the seats, surprisngily comfy and offer massive support. Not much of a compromise when considering the pros! Also around this time I thought I'd go for an alcantara steering wheel. A mate of mine has one on his M3, feels mega and gives it a bit of an 'expensive' feel (if that can be achieved in a Renault). Had the gators done at the same time, really happy with how it all came out. Looks great and feels spot on. I had no intentions of making it look like a Trophy R but it started to head that way. Not a bad thing I suppose! More recently I did a full front end refresh (there's a thread on this also). All within around 3 months I had new dampers (standard). New springs (H&R) which have been superb, no different to standard I'd say. And every bloody link/rod/bush you can think of! I went a little overboard but it made the car feel superb! The car had been on a few great drives round Wales and it felt mega! I'd come from a few different cars: x2 mini coopers s's (R53/56). Golf mk5 GTI. E92 M3. It's on another planet compared to all of these in driving terms (yes, including the BM!). It was a recent trip to Anglesey (5th November) that's pushed me into making this thread. The car really did come alive. It needed for nothing bar some track rubber (recommendations welcome!). I was very impressed! Here's a few pictures during my ownership. Thanks for having a read.
Recaro runners/mounts and ktec frames. Put some vinyl over the ktec logo cut outs on the side to cover them up. Prefer them plain
Yeah the alcantara and the short shift are really good. Give the car a nice feel. Gear change feels quality and mechanical, the alcantara gives it a nice touch. Cheers mate
The seats are spot on @Bowen. They come with little cushions that fit behind the alcantara so you can get a decent lumber support
Did you have the steering wheel done in black or dark grey? Looks like a good match to the seats and the rest of the interior!
Bit of a story behind this. I originally got the dark grey. After a few months the material came lose so Jack @ Royal steering wheels said he'd re-do but in the black as the black is 'better' quality than the grey. To be honest it came back and did seem much better. The material is definitely thicker. It all turned out for the best as the seats turned up and the black matched the seats pretty well indeed!
http://adnmotorsports.com/shop/en/r...-con-angulo-arco-exterior-pilotocopiloto.html Got the lot from this place mate
Car looks awesome mate! just bought myself an Oyster grey 250. absolutely love the interior on yours!
Bit of an update from the past couple of weeks. I was getting a squeaking through the steering which you could also match with a creaking coming from the drivers front wheel. I was scratching my head as to what it could be with all the stuff I'd had replaced... Turned out to be a bottom ball joint, it was only fitted in March time so must've been a faulty one. Mark Black replaced it free under warranty so big thanks to him. Other news.. Noticed some condensation in one of the front lights. I took it off the car, dried it out over night (take the rubber caps off the back to let some air circulate) re sealed all the way round the seem the next day with the stuff in the picture below, only £5 from screwfix and seemed like a decent enough product. Let's see if it does the trick! I was getting a weird 'zzzinging' noise coming from the rear when the car was dropping down from the higher revs, sounded like metal on metal. Thought it was the exhaust heat surround but turned out to be stones stuck in the rear diffuser/exhaust. Nice and quiet now!
Yep it's a good feeling!She's running nice at the min. Best make hay while the sun shines eh! Little trip to north wales is on the cards I reckon!
After many trips to north Wales and Derbyshire I thought I'd go a little further a field to find some new driving roads. I'd read a review on the new boxter 718 in evo mag. The roads where the test was carried out looked unreal. They've been the spot for a couple of the evo car of the rear tests plus many other car tests. The road I headed to is the B6357 on the boarder of England and Scotland. It was a bit of a shlep from Manchester but it was worth every minute sat on the M6 (which once past Lancaster has some stunning views!). I came off the motorway near Gretna, passed through a couple of villages and followed signs for a place called Newcastleton. Once here you join the B6357 and stay on all the way to Bonchester Bridge. It's 14 miles of mega, mega driving! I couldn't believe it! The road dips and dives, there's technical sections where you're in second just giving bursts of throttle then back on the brakes to fast sections flat out in third and fourth. There's different surfaces, the scenary changes each mile from forestry to open moorland. It's truly stunning! I followed the road to a place called Hawick then took the B6399 back toward Newcastleton. I reckon the loop was 4 miles or so. I couldn't resist the drive back down the B6357 though so had another blast! The whole drive was brilliant! Couldn't recommend more! There was no traffic at all, this was 12 noon by the time I got there too. Just a few logging trucks which let you passed if you show a little respect! Anyway enough of me getting over excited. Here's some pictures. Enjoy!
Oh man, those roads look unreal... I bet that was a blast! Thanks again for the advice on the steering wheel, mine came out great.
Yeah I keep thinking this but would rather spend the £200 on enjoying the car. When I've got some spare cash I'll grab a pair!
The roads were superb mate! And glad I could help with the wheel. The alcantara gives a lovely feel to the car. There's only 2 parts of the car that you're in contact with most of the time...steering wheel and gear knob. An alloy gear knob finishes it all off nicely!
Do what I have had done and some others too. Put hem in the oven, heat and separate them. Spray the the inserts black and reseal with the stuff you've used. Cost me £12 for paint from Halfords.
I've got a headlight that's letting water in at the min so it's constantly steamed up and full of condensation. Got a second hand one coming I got cheap so might use the old one as a test mule to do this! It's does make the car look miles better. What temp for the oven to separate?
Sound mate. Supportive and comfortable. They come with small pads to put behind the alcantara so you can play around with these to give your back some proper support. Nope just pole posistion mate.
Update from the last week.. New clutch/DMF/slave fitted by Mark Black. Also fitted a standard lower engine mount. The whole job has made the drivetrain feel superb! Bit of a kick in the teeth (and the wallet) after xmas but ahh well. Also, from a few weeks back when I was getting the creak through the steering which turned out to be lower ball joint... same thing happened to the near side a few days back. Must've been a bad batch of lower ball joints as they were changed at the same time about 10 months back, that's now sorted too. Still need x1 Michelin PSS 235/40/18 if anyone can help us out. Cheers
How much did you pay for new clutch setup out of interest? Did you ever stick headlight in oven? What temp did you stick it in the oven at? Still contemplating recaro pole positions over standard recaros!
Paid £660 for the setup. I got £100 back for the flywheel so £560 in the end. All from Renaultpartsdirect.com. Headlight wouldn't fit in the oven haha couldn't be bothered sitting there with a hairdryer for an hour doing it either so staying as they are for now mate. Can't recommend the pole positions more. Great seats! No idea what they are like compared with the standard recaros in terms of comfort etc but they've been spot on. I'm over 6ft too and they sit a lot lower than my standard cloth seats which is miles better.
I haven't done an update for a while so thought I'd share the latest news. Just got back from a 2450 mile trip to the French Alps and Germany. The trip was great. Biggest one I've done in the Megane up to now and she was faultless! Had a service done before I left and changed the brake pads as the CL5's broke in two! Swapped them for PF Z rated which have been superb. Miles better for the sort of driving I'm into. The CL's were clearly a track pad. Also had PS4 tyres fitted about a month before so really got a feel for them over the past 10 days with all the miles and different conditions. They've been mega! I'd come from PSS so was a bit sceptical going to the PS4 but I'm really impressed. The tyres coped with some real abuse on the tight, twisty alpine roads. No wheelspin or understeer and great feedback through the wheel. Plus in the wet and cold they still performed brilliantly! Great all round tyre. I was getting up most morning at 7am and driving the local mountain roads. Getting a little carried away most days and having to calm myself down. I could have probably phoned the insurance company on the way down some of those cliffs if I'd have come off the road to tell them I was about to crash! After a week in France we drove to Stuttgart via the Black Forrest (incredible driving roads again!) to visit the Porsche and Mercedes museums. After that we went to the Nurburgring en route back home for what was meant to be a couple of laps at least. When we woke up on Monday morning the conditions were horrendous! 4 degrees, pissing down and foggy! And it was my first time round! Got on the track for just gone 8am, did one lap and called it a day. We saw 2 other cars the whole time. Turns out 15mins after we came off the circuit, they closed it because of the weather! That place is nuts though! Can't believe the speed some people go round! The undulations and bumps and blind crests! Wow! Seriously scary place. Here's some pics from the trip!
