Good afternoon Chaps, I’ve put a deposit down on a beauty of an R26, 82k, full history, pretty standard apart from an exhaust. Should be picking it up on Saturday. I’ve had an RS Clio 200 before, what a motorcar - I miss that thing. First time ownership of a Meg so excuse any noob questions. Planned as a weekend car, so will be building a fast road with occasional track day in mind spec - nothing too mental (until the modification bear bites) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
May the boost be with you.... always! Cheers I’ve missed the friendly RS community! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Welcome to the club Bob, nice looking r26 there. Masses of knowledge available on here, any questions ask away.
welcome bob. As mentioned by myself in the PM,and others ,you have a key group of members here, that know all aspects of these cars. These cars are coming to a age now where things can get tired,so hopefully a lot of the refreshing work suspension and steering wise has already been done. key things to look for are non centering steering,stiff non centering gearshift,vague steering and tired suspension/ bushes. These cars have proved to be remarkably resilient to hard track abuse...but as with any car,if maintenance has been neglected,then the car will suffer.A R26 handling as it should is a delight to drive quickly.
[mention]Chapers2000 [/mention] [mention]Poppaboost [/mention] [mention]andrewjeffs [/mention] Thanks guys, I’m sure I’ll be looking at the underside of the Meg a fair old bit. I like to get everything tip top, so if it needs doing I’ll get it done ASAP. It Drove lovely on the test drive, but you can’t ever push it to hard without upsetting the previous owner (plus both of us wearing masks and gloves we’d have look like we were on the run from a bank job) Thanks for the heads up about the steering, gearshift etc. The gear stick felt a little sloppy compared to my old Clio. And didn’t feel like it wanted to self centre to strongly - is that a spring thing? Or a linkage thing? How are they for rust? I’m tempted to get it undersealed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
They dont rust..only place you will find it,is where stonechips blast certain areas of the underside..but minimal. If the gearshift is vague,then its not got the shortshift fitted,and the actuator need refurbing. Phil Watkins is your man..he runs a exchange service,where he sends you a refurbed actuator mechanism and machined linkage, with the legendary short shift modification that will transform the quality of the shift action. All actuators will be in need of attention now,as the bushing swells,and doesnt allow the shaft to glide smoothly. The shortshift is THE best mod for a mk2 bar nothing. I should know...i used to sell them worldwide when i ran the service!
Thanks so much for the info, nice to know I don’t have to worry about rust! What kind of money are the refurb’d actuators? I’ll add it to my list. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
She has been! Defo needs the gear actuator looking at, it doesn’t like to self centre too much. I’ve sent Phil a message - no response as of yet. Is it a straightforward job to swap out? Or do I need to have it up on stands and work underneath? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
no all done from above..battery tray out,and its under there.There is a guide knocking around on this site.
Thanks @Conoboy yeah she's sweet. I'm pretty sure its been modified at some point before - I'm planning to do a rear seat delete and move the battery into the boot... when I've removed the carpet to make a start I noticed some witness marks on the fixings for the seats and some scoring around a drill hole which was probably used for a ground point for the battery - so its possibly it wouldnt be the first time its recieved some weight reduction/relocation. The K-Tec carpet for the rear seat delete came this week along with an ITG panel filter, K-Tec intake hose, Heko's and a new washer fluid cap (every megane I looked at had a broken washer fluid cap... must be a weak point). I had the AC regassed as it was not working in the slightest, my clio used to suffer too if the AC system wasnt used often enough. Man the Meg is fast down a bumpy B road... much more so than the 200, but the engine is lacking a little drama compaired to the NA Banshee scream. I've got a set of Cooksport springs from @andrewjeffs and it may be a little while before I attempt changing those over (where has the nice weather gone?) but they are on the list. Anything else the R26 guys can reccomend would be appreciated
My first mods to the R26. The washer bottle cap was broken and annoying me so I replaced it. I love an ITG panel filter (it’ll do until I move the battery and fab an airbox in the engine bay) and removed the rear seats and installed the KTEC carpet. Oh and some Heko wind deflectors for the windows. Boom - a happy hour spent, now time for a drive. Although, Ive uncovered a few suspect older modifications... There is a forge blanking plate on the recirc part of the turbo. And a screw has been used as a bung for one of the vacuum lines on the intake... I’ll be replacing that ASAP. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Holy cow that’s a clean engine bay! I’m jealous! Mine looks a little more tired than that. I reused the old hose and cleaned it up a little. The new cap wasn’t expensive, nice to get little bits like that sorted. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks!! To be honest, previous owner did a good job having it clean and tidy. I'm just doing the same hehe. My hose is a bit dark at the bottom but I will be cleaning it with bleach by the time I purchase a new bottle cap or maybe I will change it for ones used for fuel in small carburetors like chainsaws or so.
