Hi All, back in December you helped me out with the purchase of my new r26 - thanks for all the advice and opinions and special thanks to Chris who went to view the car on my behalf. Anyway I have been meaning to do a little post on the car but Xmas got in the way. Now that I am back in Tunisia I have a bit more time so here goes: The spec is 2007, 58k, stage 2 (or maybe 1) KTR remap, decat and KTR catback exhaust, H&R coilovers, KTR induction, pace intercooler, and new vreds. Supposedly running at 285/300. So I picked the car up from Brum. Very genuine and knowledgeable seller, but he stuck to his slightly high price, and as I live overseas and didn't have the time to view lots of cars I went for it. I knew from Chris that it was a bit of a “rough diamond” and that was confirmed when I arrived with a few obvious bits and bobs requiring attention (more on that below). The first surprise was that the windscreen washer didn't work on the drive home - not good on a 3 hr motorway drive when the roads were salty and wet! It was a quick bodge to sort it out using some pipe and connectors from Halfords but it was a bit of a pain to find it not working on the very first journey and it made driving a bit tricky. Here she is when I got her home: [/URL][/IMG] And here she is again after a mild detail: [/URL][/IMG] [/URL][/IMG] Nothing too strenuous as I plan to get the paintwork machined in due course – so it was a wash with R222 then a bit of claying on the nose and bootlid (which was really gacked up for some reason – perhaps due to the odd shape attracting gunk?) followed by a wash with poorboys suds, then a coat of PB blackhole, then a coat of auto finesse tough coat followed by a coat of AF wax (can’t remember which). I did the wheels too but couldn’t find my tyre stuff so I ordered some AF satin and did that after the photos were taken (good stuff btw). I also polished the exhaust with meguiars NXT, and gave the really quite mucky and corroded engine bay a quick wash with R222. Engine before and after is below. [/URL][/IMG] [/URL][/IMG] She’s come up ok, but the following are now on my exterior cosmetic snaglist: 1. Machine polish to get rid of the many small swirls, and scratches 2. Refurb the wheels. They’re not too bad, but I want them perfect. 3. Replace rusty wheel nuts and somehow sort out the rusty hubs (any suggestions welcome). 4. Repaint faded front brake calipers (suggestions pls for someone to do this for me!) 5. Try and rehang the front bumper to reduce the large gap between it and the bonnet due to intercooler I failed to take interior pics I am afraid and can’t do it now as I am out of the country, but overall it’s in good nick. The red stitching on the wheel is getting a bit worn and I will probably eventually get a royal retrim. Apart from that the centre console panel insert thing is a bit marked so might have to replace that in due course. In terms of the drive – well I am mightily impressed overall. It’s certainly got plenty of power and torque too, with no lag. No need to wring the crap out of it like I do with the elise either. It is a bit torque steery at full boost in say 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] or third, and due to that and the FWD it feels a little out of control when overtaking. Out of control is a bit over the top, but it’s a bit of a handful and difficult to make a smooth manoeuvre. The seller’s ad said it was stage 1 remapped to 285 (inc other mods) but I think he said it was stage 2 when we met. The coilovers are much more compliant than I was expecting. Firm of course, but not uncomfortably so, and the handling is excellent for a fwd. The LSD is simply brilliant – the nose really bites on mid-fast corners and there’s no washout/understeer at all as would be normal for a fwd. So onto the bad bits. Firstly, even though I knew I was buying a French hatchback, the squeaking and rattle from the trim really is quite bad. It seems particularly bad at the far edge of the dash/windscreen surround. Is this usual? Any quick fixes? It sounds to me at times as though the windscreen is about to pop out! I noticed after a few days that there was a bit of an exhaust smell in the cabin, plus a bit of a puffy noise from the front rather than the back. Investigation revealed some kind of exhaust leak coming from the engine bay, towards the back of the lump. Presumably this is from the exhaust manifold/turbo? It’s a bit of a pain, and is probably affecting fuel consumption/performance so it’s first on the fix list. It’s odd – I don’t recall noticing it when I went for a test drive so I was either drunk on the buzz of the purchase and didn’t notice something obvious, or it’s an unlucky case of something letting go soon after purchase. Apart from that my only complaint really is that the rear of the car gets bloody mucky bloody quickly doesn't it? Any recommendations for some good yet not too awful looking mudflaps? Thanks to advice from you on the forum I am planning to get the car delivered to RStuning for them to sort the exhaust leak, replace the rear discs and pads, check on the map (and possibly remap it if need be), give it a general check over, and replace the wheel nuts. Then I’ll need to get the calipers repainted somewhere and the paintwork polished. That’ll do for now (it will be tricky enough to get all that done whilst I am out of the country!). In the future I may try and tidy up the engine bay a bit, get some upgraded hoses etc, plus do the steering wheel, sort the centre console, maybe get an r26r rear spoiler etc etc….but we’ll see how things go. That’s it really! Any comments, advice, suggestions are most welcome. Cheers. Oh one more thing – the front of the car seems bloody low to me. It’s actually not too much of an issue on speed bumps etc (short overhang?) but I did manage to scuff up the rubber splitter thing on a country lane. Do you reckon I should get RStuning to hoik up the front shocks a touch?
Looks good, is this staying UK based or are you having it sent over to Tunisia? I assume you only work over there?
Thanks guys; I did enjoy it for a brief few weeks, but to answer your Q Feirny it'll be staying in the UK. I brought an alfa 159 3.2 ti (which Haomaru might be interested to know was originally unsold stock from Mexico) out here last year so the meg is now the UK "family car" with the Elise also in the UK as a weekend toy. It's a bit insane having two cars in the UK that I only use for a few weeks a year, but I think it's worth it.
Thanks Andy will try that out when I am next back in the UK. Cheers Chris thanks again. BTW did you manage to remember the place you mentioned that repaints calipers?
Be careful if you are adjusting the front bumper, all mk2 Meganes came with a large gap between bumper and bonnet. If you check the service manuals it should give you the correct gap, but it is meant to be a good finger width I think it is part of the saftey/crash features on the front end. If the shut gap between the bumper and front wing/headlight are good, then I would leave it well alone.
Thanks for the warning Ewan. The gap is a very chubby couple of fingers' width I would say. the gap along the front doesn't bother me too much, but some of the clips are missing, and the wing/bumper interface is not even parallel due to the over-rotation of the bumper outwards/forwards, resulting in a v shaped gap where the panels touch/rub towards the rear and have a gap at the front.
Very nice R26, I wish you lots of happy motoring! I had the same set-up on my lux and I also had problems with the front being to low. I did really like the stance of the car so I left it and ended up replacing the rubber a couple of times . In terms of detailing you've certainly picked the best colour :cool:
Manie just in case.....where did you get the replacement rubbery things from? I had a quick search but couldn't find them. I was thinking of gluing mine on actually......
... re the colour - I agree but have unintentionally now got three black cars! Before deciding to get an r26 I was hunting for an e46 M3 and that was going to be in either Interlagos Blue or Laguna seca blue.....When i gave up trying to find the right m3 and switched to looking for an r26 it was 50/50 between black and blue...but the black car came up first!
I wanted an ultra red or glacier white R26 but none where in the right condition/price range then a decent black one popped up so I had to have it
Na you're def better off in black mate. I personally can't abide white or red cars, with one or two exceptions!
An update on my car in case anyone's interested: It's been up to Paul at RS Tuning in Leeds (following the advice from you lot, thanks) and had a few things done: 1. Exhaust manifold leak mentioned in my post above was sorted 2. Front calipers were refurbished/repainted and re-stickered 3. Front suspension raised a few cm 4. Rusty wheel bolts were replaced 5. Rear discs replaced for r26r versions, plus new pagid pads 6. Braided hoses fitted & millers 300+ fluid 7. New wheel arch liners fitted 8. New lip spoiler fitted 9. Bonnet gap reduced 10. Service 11. Ktech map check.........resulting in stage 2 RSTuning Remap Paul said that the map on there was a copy of one of his early stage 1 maps but with some odd fuel and boost trims, and that it was only putting out 260/275. The new map is safer and puts out 275/300. Anyway Paul was brilliant; as I was overseas when the car was there I must have been a right pain to deal with but he put up with it very well, and I can't fault the work. Being honest I can't really notice the difference in power/torque, but I didn't drive it much between buying it and sending it to Leeds, plus I didn't drive it again for a few months after - it might have been different if I had driven it up there and then back the same day. The main thing is that I am now sure the map is done properly and safely. I also much prefer the raised front suspension - much more practical and it has improved the ride a bit without noticeably affecting handling. There's a bit more of an arch gap but to be honest I bought this car to drive it rather than look at it so I'm happy. I intended to get a short shift kit fitted at the same time but completely forgot to ask Paul until a couple of days before it was due to be collected, so this goes onto the to do list, along with a wheel refurb, proper polish to sort out the paintwork, replacement of centre console, & steering wheel refurb. Also need to get the suspension weighted and properly set up at some point. A couple of snaps of the stance and front caliper refurb below - I meant to take some decent photos to upload here but forgot until I washing it ready for storage the day before I flew out so I only have these quick snaps taken in bad light just after washing it. Also meant to scan the rolling road print outs but forgot and they're in the Uk now. Cheers [/URL][/IMG] [/URL][/IMG]
Cheers Steve. Yeah I'm a bit stunted and have to drive sitting on a cushion with stilts attached to my feet to operate the pedals, but I assure you I am old enough!
