Megane 265 full fat cup

Always nice to hear from you .

Rear shims have transformed the car, one of the best modifications I have, turn in and front grip has Improved so much.

I'm convinced that with cup shocks, lowering springs and adjustable top mounts the car has a good enough setup to keep up with most meganes with coilovers.

We're very fortunate that most track day providers do professional photos for free so I can get these pictures.

Update your thread next time, don't be boring

 

Not a huge update but it is a huge update....

I have a cage .

Looking forward to finally grabbing some bucket seats and harness. The cage is second hand but only 4 months old from SW Motorsports. Quality seems excellent and it fits like a glove.

 

Thanks for the reply, no real updates as such.

Ive tweaked the sound system a little but it wasnt an exciting update.

The previous owner had a focal ibus 2.1 sub and amp installed in the boot and then upgraded the speakers to focal which were powered by the amp. However all the wiring was spliced into and it wasnt the best of jobs.

Now stripped the car and added a rollcage the looks of having a sub in the boot was upsetting me . So ive pulled the the sub out, re soldered all the wiring back to standard and then I installed a Pioneer GM-D1004 mini amp. This has been a great upgrade which i can recommend to anyone, as long as you buy the right iso lead then it is plug and play.

Guide here if anyone is interesting:https://rsmegane.com/threads/250-26...x-removal-and-pioneer-gm-d1004-fitting.14928/

Cars now done for this year with track days but will do a few maintenance bits, plans are:

• New front and rear callipers, they have gone the typical brembo brown and i feel like they could do with a refurb. However brand new is about the same price.
• Bucket seats maybe this year
• Harnesses
• New road tyres, either PS4s or supersports

So things will come soon I promise

 

Another tiny update from me.

After playing around with the speakers, amp etc i decided to also try some cheap tweeters from halfords. After a very small modification they fitted really well and sound great. All i had to do was shave off a bit of the plastic inside the whole as the new tweeter was just fowling it, 10 seconds and the tweeter popped straight in and stays up. These are the tweeters ive used.

https://www.halfords.com/technology...ase-sxt1-200w-performance-tweeter-626566.html


Since fitting the roll cage the rear has been annoying me as there's no carpet where the rear bench was and it looks messy. Managed to find a full carpet on ebay, its really good quality and fits perfectly if you dont have a rollcage. However a very small cut either side has meant it fits in very nicely. looks so much cleaner.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114498953670?var=414691739154



Finally changed the tyres on my steevs, having track tyres on my daily wheels was becoming a pain. so loud, uncomfortable and due to the camber they really trammed on the road. Swapped them out for some new Goodyear eagle f1 supersports from costco. An absolute steal at around £450 for 4 tyres and they are very good. A much happier choice for road driving.

Finally ive purchased some bucket seats, picking them up next week from a friend who had them from new in his track car hes used once. They are basically brand new and will be a great addition, I just need to sort out some seat mounts etc and grab some resistors for the annoying warning lights that will appear. Ill update this with pictures etc in a week or two.

Winter is upon us so likely to be quiet for a few months, bring on track days 2023.

 

Hello All,


Ive been shopping .


Ordered almost a new set of Brembo calipers, the Nearside rear is currently out of stock so ill order that when its back in. Looking to do a full refresh and im going to be so happy to have red calipers again



Then puretrack came good on the hardware I need to install my bucket seats, ive ordered a set of side mounts, harness brackets and then some titanium pad shims for when I do the brake overhaul.





It took me a good bit of time to get the drivers seat setup correctly but after multiple angles and positions im finally in. Ive also managed to retain the seat belt plug so I can continue to use these for daily driving rather than the harnesses.


Its so much nicer being lower down and fitted into a seat rather than ontop of one, cant wait to try them on track next year. Also child seat fits nicely, the boy will be happy












Next update should include my Scroth harnesses, rear cargo net bar like the trophy r and then the brake overhaul.


Mot due in a couple of weeks also, better get those airbag lights gone

 

Ive actually been lucky enough to not have had any brake fade issues, the motul rbf660 and the winmax pads seem to do a great job. However I was going to the effort of having new calipers and the shims help dissipate heat which will help stop the new calipers going discoloured and brown. But will also improve braking

 

Another small ish update, purchased a trophy R style bar and net from JC Clubsport on facebook. They had a sale on so was only £140 and is a great edition.




I have also received a Evol top mount so will be fitting this in the next couple of days, let the vibrations begin

 

I have the lower one and the powerflex black engine mount and vibrations are OK. I believe the top torque mount is the one that gets the dashboard rattling.

I'll report back and let ypu know

 

Small update for the start of the year.

Firstly was to tackle the very annoying decat, it comes lose all the time. Ive used new studs, febi copper locking nuts and double nutted with no luck. So ive purchased some Inconel studs and locking Inconel nuts, also added on some locking washers that are meant to be good for stopping studs moving.

If this fails I do have some titanium lock wire nuts but wire locking is a pain in the back side so fingers crossed.



The last job was to fit the Evol top mount, all engine mounts are now solid. The job was fairly easy and no jacking up the engine to support it required. I think as i have solid mounts the engine doesnt budge but if you were doing the top first with standard mounts I think its worth supporting the engine.

I took the scuttle panel off which helped with access to the top bolt and access to the rear of my decat, this gives you ton of room.


Then its essentially un do two bolts, both 19mm, pull the old mount out and pop in the new one. the Evol mount has a cone shapped part that goes into the engine so make sure thats on the right way.



Heres a side by side



Bolts back up and if anyone is interested the top bolt is 115NM and the bottom is 105NM.





The old mount was very sloppy, no idea if this is normal or mines worn but its looked ok.


Ive only started the car and you do get some dash rattle, how bad I'm not sure but will go for a drive later and report back.


Next on the list, hopefully within the next 2 weeks is some coilovers, watch this space.

 

I've not but to be honest if this doesn't work I'll just wire lock them which will 100% sort the issue

 

So I've been out in the car and here's my feedback on the evol mount. Remember I already have the dog bone and the powerflex black series mount.

On start up there is some dash rattle a d you can feel more vibration than just having the dog bone. When your in higher revs or going at speed it's not to bad but around your 1-3k it's noticeable.

Where the dog bone vibrates and you feel it in your seat the top one you defo feel it in the steering wheel and at the pedals.

The car does feel stiffer and you defo get that race car feel especially if you have buckets and a cage.

For me it's perfect but if you doing 10k miles a year then I'd probably say stay clear as I'm sure it will annoy you. But then it's so easy to do swapping it back is easy.

Let's hope this makes the difference on track.

 

Looks like you have used bolts aswell rather than stud and nut. Will see how this goes, I'll give it a week and check them out.

 

no brackets at all, i understand this isnt helping but also know lots of people havent had issues where there decat has no brackets

 

Unfortunately mine, which was second hand and I believe miltek has no bracket or extra support hole.

 

Mines mk3 but then I did think this, I wonder if its been sold as Miltek but its a different brand. To be honest I only checked its condition and then popped it on.

 

A nice easy but fiddly job for this weekend. A common fault where the thermostat was failing. I'd notice that the car wouldn't get up to temp and limiter was coming on around 6k rpm.

Bought a new thermostat from RPD for around £40 and 1 litre of coolant.

It's an easy enough job but just fiddly. First you have to remove the battery tray which is a pain in the a**. Then I decide to remove the metal intercooler pipe and a few other bits.

Undo the 3 bolts, bottom one being the hardest and then pull the housing off and remove the thermostat and washer. Replace and do it all back up again.

I then ran the car for 20 mins with the cap off and topped up the fluid, probably only lost 0.5l. Hoping that was enough to bleed the system but if I have any issues I'll bleed it properly.

Car now gets up to temp and needle is bang on in the middle.



Old one on the right.

 

Finally I have a decent update.

Avo were doing a group buy with 30% off, how could I resist so I paid in full late November and they arrived early Feb.

I went for the "race" setup which removed the poly bushes for spherical bearings and Heavier weighted springs, 400lb fronts and 450lb rears.

As always with suspension work I dropped the car off to my good friend at BiB Performance, and im glad I did. Even though he has had my suspension apart 3 times it was still a pain in the back side, lots and lots of heat required.

At the same time the uprated lower ball joints had failed, i spoke to Rene who supplies them and he had said unfortunately they had a bad batch. Not a problem and he sent me two new ball joints which were replaced at the same time.
















Fitted with some adjustable drop links (fitted once the car was setup so to not add any preload to them)

Next step was to have me sat in the car and corner weighted. Not a bad weight with a heavy half cage and trim.



Happy with the 50.07% cross weight



Then finally alignment, went with -3 degress camber on the front, 0.05 toe out each side. the rear was already setup with shims previously with -2 degrees camber and 0 toe...... it should be great on track.

Wasnt sure on how best to adjust the dampening so went half way, rear went 9 clicks out of 18 and front went 12 clicks out of 25.... I can then tweak when I get it to the track.





The car is a fair bit lower, it doesnt scub but im not sure if its too low. We check the driveshaft and that was fine so no spacer required, i think its probably to do with the camber pushing it back in.








Ive only done 50 miles max but the it does feel great, firm but not uncomfortable and it 100% handles better. It has a nice weighted steering feel when turning the wheel 10 degrees onwards which I like.

If I had to pick at anything it would be the clunking noise coming from the rear... I was expecting this with the sepherical bearings... #RACECARLIFE.

Next jobs will be a full underside rust prevention clean and treatment and then the calipers will be replace and then will book a few track days.

 

Yeah I think there is an adjustable bit so if you installed the drop link first you could then adjust this. However we did the full setup first and then connected up the drop link so there was no preload.

My next track day I'll do a full review of them. B14 are good but I do think it might be worth the little extra to have the adjustability in height and dampening. Also the Avos on the rear is an all in one coilover rather than shock and spring separate which I believe might be a better design.

The rottweiler is Shelby, this is Neil's dog who is the owner of BiB performance. She's epic.

 

A small update, my harnesses have finally arrive from Schroth wooo..... excuse the mess, its far to cold to hoover.

 

Exactly, I will change it at a later date depending on how things progress but yes for a track day it will work well.

As I wanted buckets and harnesses to stop me being chucked around I needed something to secure the harnesses to. I don't like the idea of securing them to the rear seat belt locations due to the angles so I opted for this.... mainly because it was a bargain second hand but like new cage.

 

Update time readying the car for some up and coming track days.

Due to not having the time ive dropped the car off to my good friend to have the work carried out.

Parts:

New Calipers all around
New front "Mr Pinks" caliper pins
New front discs
Front Winmax 6.5 pads
Titanium pad shims from pure motorsports
New rear brake lines
Fresh Motul RBF 660
Lanogaurd treatment

Fronts:

Thank god i decided to change the discs, thats some crack. I went for plain discs this time as i believe for track use they are probably the better ones. Its down to the slotted warping and cracking more often than the plains.

New Winmax 6.5, I wanted better initial bite and generally more agressive pads so these fit the bill. the W5 are excellent I'm just expecting a slight increase with these.

Also added some titanium pad shims to help keep the heat down which should help the callipers going purple so quickly
New pins by Mr Pinks just to make life easier, the standards are a pain and never come out well.







Then the rears, half the reason I let BiB performance do this is I had a sneaky suspicion that the brake pipes will be a pain.... and I wasn't wrong, new pipes ordered. All fitted with some new shiny callipers. Pads are almost new and discs are half worn at most so no need to change.






The last job which has been needed for quite some time is some prevention and treatment to the underbody. The car was stored in a car shed in the country side by the previous owner, unfortunately the lovely British weather hasn't been so kind.

Lots of grease and a lanogaurd treatment all over, this should help further corrosion etc.

 

Yeah it's a proper renault brembo hc. Roughly around 7k miles about 18 months. This would have include about 5 track days