Kangoo Compact Rs

Hi all, few pics of my Kangoo Compact fitted with mk2 r26 engine and running gear. Its a rare short version, same length as clio2.

Ive built this up over the last year or so, and i believe its the only petrol megane rs converted one in the world. Everything wired in as per oem and works great.

Brief spec

Megane r26 bottom end, cosworth pistons and cat cams rods.
250 head with 172 cams fitted.
20t hybrid turbo with billet wheel.
3"exhaust from turbo back with single rear stealth silencer.
5bar intank reg with dw65c fuel pump, meg 250 rising rate fuel system.
Megane Sagem s3000 ecu, throttle body adaptor made to run the r26 throttle, synced the immobiliser up to the Kangoo uch myself with Ren0link.

Mapped by Efi 375hp/338ft lb, torque had to be capped as stock 250 clutch was starting to slip.

Suspension/transmission wise, its running meg r26 front hubs/wishbones, 250 pk 4018 with lsd, megane brembos etc.

Some pics below

Limited to 62mph officer!

Currently working on suspension and brakes, the power has highlighted the tca bushes are worn out, awaiting powerflex bushes.

Still undecided what route to take suspension wise, front is currently new r26 shocks with kangoo h&r springs, which could do with being a bit stiffer. Rear is on custom springs and custom gaz shocks.

Thanks for reading!

 

Cheers all, its turned out way better than expected. Ive been having quite a bit of fun seeing off some pcp'd Bmw & Mercedes diesels off at the lights

Once suspension is done ill get it to Croft which is my local and give it a shakedown to see how it all performs.

Video of it on the dyno @ Efi



A few more random pics.

Pic when i bought it. £400 off facebook market place with half of a blown up diesel engine still fitted and overall very unloved. Cheap though as the compact dont come up for sale very often and around £2k when they do.

Engine sat in the garage prepared ready for dropping in.

Engine when first fitted in the engine bay. Scuttle is removable giving loads of room. Its basically very similar to a mk2 meg& mk3 clio engine bay. Dropped straight in with the right combination of engine mounts.
Exhaust underneath. My local Longlife exhaust made it up and done a great job. Its not even that loud with single silencer.
An6 ptfe fuel line made up. Had to drop the tank to access the sender. Kangoo sender is basically the same as mk2 meg, and meg dropped straight in, fuel gauge works perfect.
Toyosports bar and plate intercooler fitted to replace the one in the previous post. Chris said it works very well when it was on the dyno, ive not really seen charge temps move over a couple of degrees above ambient on the live data.
Rear load space, basically unusable as a van with it being so short

 

Cheers all. Its been a nice little project and ive enjoyed putting it together.

Not much in the way of updates, currently waiting for some powerflex bushes to arrive that have been on order since the beginning of the month.

Looking at suspension options too. Tempted to go for ast 5100’s for the front and see what they can offer for the rear. I think a coilover setup for the rear might be the best solution.

 

Updates

Clutch started slipping badly so had to pull it to bits and done a suspension overhaul.

Parts ordered from Kamracing, great service arrived fast. So started to crack on with the work and stripped subframe off.

First job was to clean up the track control arms and pop the bushes and balljoints out. 20ton press and knotted wheel on the grinder made short work of this.

New vibratechnics rear solid bushes pressed in, powerflex black up front and new trw balljoints. The rear vibratechnics bushes are a spherical bearing design with rubber boot, look pukka. The main advantage over powerflex rear bushes is that they can pivot properly like the oem rear bush allowing proper droop on the front track control arm. Best be good as they cost double the price of powerflex.

Coated in hydrate 80
Zinc primer, epoxy mastic and a gloss top coat



Next job was to upgrade the front arb. Stock Kangoo is 19mm ans r26 is 21mm so a decent upgrade. The bars look identical so relatively straightforward swap.

The easy way to do this would have been to use the r26 subframe which bolts straight onto the kangoo. The downside to the megane subframe is that it runs crap bushes in the subframe, and the Kangoo is solid mounted like a clio 197 cup racer subframe, so was worth sticking with it.

Kangoo subframe mounts


Stock arb brackets were no good as for smaller bar and very flimsy, and r26 would not fit as different.

Had a sniff round the renault parts bin and found the megane 3 bushes were for a 21mm bar and looked similar to kangoo. Slight elongate of the holes and straight on.


Next job was to change drivers side outer cv as clicking. Easy job just messy.


So next job was to pull the box out to replace dmf for new oem and fit the new rts clutch. Its the dual friction type which is tested and good for decent torque.

Pk gearbox a bit of a lump to remove but not too bad. Clutch did not look all that bad but noted that self adjusting mechanism on pressure plate was not set even though it was fine when fitted!? Dmf was shot play in all directions. I knew this was not the best as had a bit of vibration off it.

Crank seal i fitted with the proper tool still nice and dry. Actually cant believe its leak free.

Dmf/Rts clutch fitted, not self adjusting mechanism set properly.


Box back on, new oem renault slave cylinder fitted. Bled up straight away and a good clutch pedal. Not a bad job to do to be fair.

Thanks for reading!!

 

Updates,


Got it all back together and back on the road. Toe was miles out with new tie rods fitted so got that set and started running in the new clutch setup. Clutch feels good not too snappy and handling feels absolutely on point with refurbished suspension and 21mm arb, its absolutely transformed over version 1. Corners nice and flat.

Cleaned up as it was looking sorry for itself after a few weeks of sitting on the drive doing nothing
Black induction pipe to replace the red hose


Tank filled up
21mpg average round the streets

Been using it loads this week to get some good mileage on it, no issues to report.


Thanks for reading!!

 

Cheers mate, its great fun to drive. Been using it loads recently and no issues.

Currently looking at suspension options as i feel the current springs are too soft. Im looking at ast 5100's for the front and see if they can make me a custom shock/coilover unit for the rear.

 

Cheers mate. Its on megane r26 hubs so any 5x108 will fit, the current compomotives are made for megane r26. Ive always wanted to try a set of r26r wheels on it to see what it looks like

 

Small update

Had a little bit of sediment in the cooling system from where the engine had been ran on water by previous owner. Done a mega flush with a hosepipe 20 mins or so each way until the water was perfectly clear.

Front end off, ten mins work. Give everything a once over and no issues to report.
Filled up with fresh type d and bled. Also fitted a good used genuine renault header tank, to replace the flimsy looking aftermarket tank.
Its had a couple of heat cycles and still looks clean so job done.

I also picked up another compomotive to make another complete set. Many thanks to @youngarthur for sorting it out for me.



Im thinking get the spare set done in anthracite and sticky rubber, and keep road tyres on the white set and alternate between the two. Will see.

Thanks for reading!!

 

Updates.

Been chasing an occasional rough start on the Kangoo. Maybe 2x in 20 cold starts it fires up then idles rough and sorts itself out when hot. Typically when its happened i have not had access to diagnostics to log the data and no codes stored.

Fired it up from cold with clip on to log the sensor inputs, typically ran fine. Upstream lambda looks a bit lazy so have got one on order, also air temp is giving the occasional erratic reading so have replaced that for new oem renault.

Done a compression test to check the engine health as from reckoning up its done 25-30k miles. All 4 cylinders 160psi so nothing to worry about in that respect.

My new beru pencil coils arrived from Autodoc the other day so fitted them. Identical to oem Renault, without the price tag. £15 each compared to £55 each.

Started up and idles great with the new coils in. Just waiting for lambda sensor to arrive and hopefully thats it all sorted.

Thanks for reading!!

 

I have used it to move a bit of gear and some mobile mechanic work. Can't fit hardly anything in it though and 20mpg or less

 

Mpg is not the best on the mk2 sagem s3000 ecu, compared to mk3 which is a lot better. 30mpg on a run in this, might come up a bit with new lambda sensor.

Been out in it today and it runs a lot better with new coilpacks, throttle response is better low down.

 

Updates

Replaced upstream lambda sensor and its not had a hissy fit since, runs great again no more rough cold starts.

In other news ive been chasing what i thought was a boost leak for the last few weeks.

Just before Trax i noted that it did not feel as lively as just after mapping, it still went well enough and would still light the tyres up on boost in 2nd gear easily though. No warning lights or nothing.

Stuck torque on the obd for a quick and dirty check of what boost pressure the map sensor was reading - boost was quite low, spiking for a split second to around 1.3bar then straight down to 1.1bar. Almost wastegate pressure, when mapped it was set up for around 1.5/1.6bar.

Hooked up clip and done some logging to confirm torque was not telling lies.
Next step was to pressure up the boost circuit to check for leaks. Had it to around 2bar pressure and leak tested the inlet. No leaks, so comp tested it as above and all good.
I had a feeling this was n75 related or actuator. I run a 250 green dot actuator which are fairly strong but never say never i guess.

I had a new gen ren n75 in stock as bought it just incase before mapping. Fitted it and took it for a test run, straight up to 1.5bar and back to a handful on boost.

Torque steer is ridiculous once again, if you hit a bit of camber or a bump on boost you really need to hang onto the steering wheel. Its down to crap spring/shock combination which will be sorted soon. Ive narrowed it down to the fact it squats so much on the back, it makes the front lift 25-50mm which must chuck the toe out massively.

Good suspension and a bit more positive castor and a good geo setup should fix this.

Ps has pleasure of showing up a lad in a m135i when testing. I was making a little bit of progress and passed him, his neck nearly snapped, then from a 4th gear roll i pulled away pretty easy so much fun on the roads.

Thanks for reading!!

 

Had the Kangoo on the weighbridge the other day.

1380kg with 20kg tolerance on the weighbridge. Heavier than you would think, similar weight to meg i guess. Good job its got plenty of power!

Had a quick reckon up on power to weight and its around 270hp per ton. There is a large cast iron ballast weight bolted to the rear floor that i might bin which will shave a few kgs i guess.

In theory it should still be good for high 12sec qtr mile and approx 112mph terminal speed on the dragstrip. Assuming i could get a decent start which might be difficult on the current tyres

Anyway now ive got a rough reckon up on weight i can start looking at suspension and get it ready for trackdays next year as missed the boat this year.

 

Small update

Breather plate was leaking oil as the sealant had failed (as per most f4r) so took the opportunity to fit the correct meg 250 larger volume breather plate compared to the r26 one i fitted previously.

Its knacker tight to fit with turbo on but just managed to slide it in on an angle. Used a gasket instead of sealant this time, see how that fairs.


Also took the opportunity to remove the pcv valve that goes the breather plate, removed the pipe and fitted an 1/8 npt grubscrew and bunged the hole on the inlet with a samco end cap. Thats the last of the emissions crap gone.

Fitted a new Ramair proram airfilter. I had a foam one fitted previously, but not too keen on them now as seen a couple fail and damage turbos.
In other news had a chat to Cooksport/Ast about suspension options so will be looking into ordering soon.

Thanks for reading!

 

Updates

Had the Kangoo in for a map tweak at EfiParts, as changed a few bits since last map, new clutch, new oem n75 valve, air filter etc.

The short story is - clutch basically failed straight after mapping earlier this year, it was slipping on the last power runs and once fixed with uprated clutch it was quick for a short period of time then boost dropped a bit. Que fault finding and replacing a load of bits (Renault life?!) New n75 valve got the boost back up and felt quick on the road again but didnt really log boost.

Strapped on the dyno and first run was 335hp ish hp, down on power from last time due to lower boost pressure. Looks like the n75 valves can differ a lot from new, which might not cause too much bother on stock power but quite a difference on a mapped setup with raised boost.

A few more runs and more n75 duty was dialled back in to raise the boost pressure back up to around 22psi resulting in 378hp & 345ft/lb.

Feels mega quick again, and loads smoother power delivery which helps with traction. Great job from Chris as usual, it feels loads better to drive now.

 

Cheers all, ive not really used it in anger yet on the damp roads, too hard to get the power down.

I cant believe the variance between n75 valves. If this one fails im going to replace it with a mac valve and get the ecu recalibrated to suit, mac valve cheaper and usually very reliable.you

 

Long time no update

All has been well with the Kangoo.

Just before xmas i took it to Cooksport for a rolling road day/catch up with a few good friends. It was a long journey approx 600 mile round trip but no issues at all.

Had a run on the rollers whilst there

The main reason for the journey was to measure up a custom Ast rear coilover to replace the current separate spring/shocker fitted.

On the lift for measuring up.

A design was made and i put my order in, including front megane 2 rs coilovers/solid mounts. Spring rate of 70NM all round which should be decent for road use.

Waited patiently for them to arrive and a nice large box turned up this week.



Quality looks fantastic. Cant wait to get them fitted and set up for some fast road/track use.

Thanks for reading!!

 

Updates

Finally pulled my finger out and started fitting the Ast's, rears first.

Started with bushes as got some powerflex in stock


Done



Shocks trial fit and fit well. No issues bolted straight on.





Im no expert on setting up coilovers but ive went with the approach of leaving 1/3 shock travel for droop and 2/3 for compression when on the floor. Ride height slightly lower than before. It will be getting cornerweighted and setup at some point.



Remember that large ballast weight i talked about ages ago? Pulled it off earlier. I gunned the bolts off and it suddenly dropped with a bang luckily was not in the way. Its in 2 parts removed both bits, as light is fast?




Grabbed the scales to weigh it



53kg!! Thats 8.5stone in old money or 2 bags of cement with change!! Crazy saving.

So from last weigh in it was 1380kg, it should be down to around 1327kg which is quite a result id say.

Fronts to fit next weekend and driveshaft oil seal to change as weeping.

Thanks for reading!!

 

Cant see it affecting stability too much. Never makes any difference in a track car when the rear is fully stripped out, and id bet this weighs more at the back than most cars due to the amount of steel panel.

Ill try it out and see if any undesirable handling traits. However suspension setup will be the deciding factor if its loose or not i guess.

 

Yes sir. Owned for a lot of years its more or less original condition. Also Renault Extra, c1j efi, quaife lsd, 249hp, cup steels, leda suspension

 

No problem. I took the Extra to the Sanglier back in 2013 was awesome. Do you still have a gtt??

 

Updates

Front Ast's are fitted. I took an educated guess that megane 2 rs top mounts would bolt straight up and it absolutely paid off.
One issue i had noticed with the Kangoo is that the strut tops get covered in water, as they are under the scuttle panel which has loads of holes in. The oem ones were quite rusty, and not wanting these to follow suit as it might stand about a bit in winter, i needed a solution.

After sniffing round the clio3 has a strut top cover. Took another gamble and ordered one. Modified to suit and fits quite well, should keep most of the weather off them.
Coilover fitted. Was very straightforward bolt in no modifications required.
Next step was set the rideheight and camber. I can have this quite low but from a geometry perspective ive tried to keep the track control arms level and in turn that should keep the driveshafts a bit happier.

Had to dig some blocks out as too low to get the jack out initially
I took the same approach of setting the shocks so they have 1/3 travel for droop and 2/3 travel available for compression. Set camber at -1.5deg using some trigonometry and a spirit level. I also checked driveshaft plunge available at the rideheight, and there is around 12mm per side at least so thats all good.
Whiteline adjustable droplinks fitted. Probably didnt need these as the drop link height is adjustable on the coilover. Fitted anyway, set the arb with zero preload when at the correct rideheight. Tegiwa coilover sleeves fitted and everything coated in xcf50 corrosion block.
Initial rideheight set and cleaned the wheels as had black hand prints all over after removing several times whilst sorting rideheight. Its around 25mm lower than before and still has a bit of rake, with the shocks in the correct operating range. Rideheight is set level side to side at the moment, might not be optimal from a cornerweight perspective but ok for initial running.
Toe not set up yet as will do it on the local hunter so it does not kill the tyres before i get it set up properly.

Initial test run and the difference is staggering. No more front end lift on boost. Back end still squats but totally acceptable/normal for the power. Turn in feels really sharp and you can feel the lsd working great. It actually feels like a fast megane.

The best thing is that you can actually lay the power down in 3rd gear now without it wheelspinning all over. Its still got a bit of torque steer but 90% improved and you can safely overtake stuff on full throttle without thw worry of it wanting to swap lanes.

The suspension overall feels solid as expected with the top mounts, but very compliant for road use, no crashy ride. In comparison to the bc's i fitted to our old 250 cup, this is leagues ahead.

Ideally it could probably do with more positive castor but that will involve modifying the strut tops to allow more movement. Thats one to leave to the people who set the geo up for me.

Sits quite nice too.

Only one casualty, lost a centre cap out of my front wheel on test run. Got several spares so not to worry.

To add to the updates, Chris @ Efi reprogrammed my shift light last week. Im running clio 200 clocks and you could see the shift light flash on occasionally when clipping the limiter. After a bit if head scratching he sussed it out and i get the shift light flashing around 6900rpm with the limiter around 72/7300rpm. I believe im the first person to have a shift light working on megane s3000 ecu and clio 200 clocks. Nobody else has ever asked Chris to look at adjusting it, and as usual he managed it easily, excellent service.

Thanks for reading!!