Hello! Having sold my very track focused Fiesta ST150 after 2 years of ownership, I set about finding the cheapest RS250 on the internet. Why the cheapest I hear you ask? Well, it's all my budget could stretch to, also I'm a bit of an ammature mechanic so fixing problems and niggles doesn't put me off. Yes, I'll probably end up sinking way more into this than if i'd bought one all completed - but that's not half the fun, is it? Much in the same way you see an animal being mistreated and feel inclined to show it not all humans are bad people. I'm a sucker for cars that have not been looked after, as such big red flags like intergalactic mileage and no service history are overlooked and the cars imperfections are seen through a rose tinted lens. So here is Project RSPCA.... Cosmetically she's in good nick, although mechanically she needs attention and the interior needs a damn good scrub. All being well this will be an ongoing thread, where I can document it's transition into a nice weekend, track and ring car. For now I've done an initially assessment and will be ordering parts over the coming weeks ready for it's transformation. She definitely needs; tyres, new front discs and pads, a replacement / rebuilt gearbox, investigation of numerous oil leaks, a new accelerator pedal and investigation into an Injection System error on the dash - fun times are ahead! If anyone recognises the plate and can fill in some history then please do. I'll reward you with a handshake and pat on the shoulder once COVID restrictions are lifted.
Good for you Eddie! I like your spirit! I really hope you enjoy the project and don´t found several problems on it. I´ll take the first seat to pay attention to this thread. Cheer up man!!
H Eddie and welcome Mine was a high (ish) miler but with full Renault service history, i didn't touch the engine till it was at 112k miles but inside it was immaculate, but as it was stripped it was forged. Hope you have deep pockets, mine has swallowed a lot of money in the last two years, but now i feel its where i want it to be. Good luck keep us posted
Ok, So it's been a while since I updated you all on Project RSPCA and things have progressed somewhat. In the last two months I have: Fixed the sticking throttle pedal, turned out the bracket it was bolted to was bent, so I bent that back and it's working properly now. Acquired a refurbished Cup gearbox with LSD that's being fitted at the moment (along with a new clutch and flywheel) Purchased CLIP from APMotorsport and started scanning. Bought new 17x8 Rota Slipstreams and PS4 tyres for daily use. Bought ex-BTCC 17x9 wheels and had them machined. Bought new BC Racing coils. Fixed the washer jets. De-chavved it a bit. Contracted hepatitis when cleaning it. Ordered new spark plugs, coolant, gearbox and engine oil, cabin and oil filters. Not gonna lie, she's hurting my back balance at the moment, but I know that after all this I'll effectively have a nice dependable car. Here's a quickish run down in pictures: Turns out the tyres that were fitted were not only ditch finders but absolutely buggered on the inside edge, how this didn't pop on the drive back I'll never know. This was all on one wheel: Previous owner didn't want to go to the effort of remove cables, but just cut them instead. I've always subscribed to the "if you're going to do something, do it right" school of thought, so this just hurts me inside: If the above hurt me, this just made me feel a bit sick inside. How people let their cars get into this state, I'll never know: I took advantage of the black friday discounts at Driftworks and picked up some new 17x8 Rota Slipstreams and 235/45/17 Michelin PS4 tyres from Blackcircles. I appreciate they may not be to everyone's tastes, but I like the chunky look and they're just for daily duties till the BTCC wheels are ready to be mounted for track / ring days: Started the process of de-chavving the car, removing these horrible stick on black covers to reveal the lovely shiney original badge. Then spent a solid 4 hours with a heatgun removing the black vinyl roof, again not my tastes and looks much better without. And now for something fun / interesting... I knew that the T-piece for the front washers had broken and recent bought a 3D printer with a friend, so thought I'd set about making a replacement. First design was a bit too weak, so beefed it up and voila! All in it took about 1.5 hours to design and print successfully - well happy with that As it's made from PLA it won't stand up too well tot he water, but I'll redo in ABS when we upgrade the printer. The gearbox and coilovers are being fitted today and my mechanic has highlighted that the clutch and flywheel are toast - so they're on order now for fitting in the next few days. Hopefully more updates in the not to distant future
not see anything like that for while, that interior and tyres/wheels is shocking not sure how even do that kind damage to tyres, still should be all good once you've 'decontaminated' it
Thanks Poppa! I gotta admit I felt a little sick cleaning the boot out, congealed things like that don't sit well with me! I hit most of the interior with disinfectant and bathroom cleaner over the Christmas break just to try and cut through the filth - but like you say, it'll be all good when it's done. My friend through the tyres might have been left deflated somewhere and then experienced a series of heat cycles maybe? I'm not so sure I know what caused it at all, but was super happy to get them off and yeeted (as the kids would say) into the local recycling centre. In other news, the clutch has been delivered this morning and hoping on flywheel before the weekend.
Doing a fantastic job there It amazes me that people will get a car then just not look after it. Still it has a good owner now look forward to reading more as it progresses Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Brilliant work! That’s a lot of mess you’ve already sorted - good on ya! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sorry for the lack of updates on the Megane, with the lack of planned track days I'd lost a bit of motivation to get the Megane fixed - I'm someone who works best with a tight deadline. If it can be done in 5 minutes, I'll leave it to the last 5 minutes - right! After discovering the suspect oil leak down the drivers side of the engine, I traced the source up to the cam dephaser solenoid and what looked to me a completely perished seal. Cue an expensive seal from Renault and a few minutes with a chisel breaking and tapping the old one out. It looks as though the previous rubber one had gone through so many heat cycles that it'd turned brittle and plastic-like. If anyone can comment on the vertical scratching on the solenoid body and whether it's actually an issue? As it's below the seal I'm inclined to say it's ok, but willing to be corrected...
In the wider update, new flywheel, clutch and gearbox are on and it's feeling LOADS better than the old non-LSD box. The MOT runs out today and that's left me with a list of things to fix before I can put it through, namely errors on the dash and possible bushings. I really need to get it on the ramp in the next week and work out what's not right, then get the errors cleared - oh the joys of buying the cheapest RS250 I can find
Seems like somebody used a screwdriver or something to get out the valve. As you said, the damage is over the seal, so you wouldn´t have problems. If the scrathes are so deep, maybe the valve can´t works. Cheer up with the proyect! I can see lots of patience in you!!
They look to just be in the baked on oil, but it's the pattern and frequency that boggles me - how are they even possible?! Thankfully I don't think they're deep enough to affect the valve and it's operation. Just odd! I must admit the car is testing me a bit, but most of that feeling is because I can't get out on track and use it to the limit. I enjoy a blast at the weekend, but it's never the same as going flat out on a 'safe' space like a track - hopefully lockdown ends soon and we can get out.
The project rolls forward at it's glacial pace... I set about changing the discs and pads as I knew there wasn't a hope in hell it'd pass an MOT with the current lot fitted. The more I poke about with this car, the more I KNOW it got a shady MOT last year. I've never seen the amount of disc wear the rears had before, it was obscene. Anyway, fitting the discs and pads didn't go to plan as a rear caliper wouldn't wind back and I couldn't knock through the pins on the front. I reached out to BCS Automotive in Nottingham for a refurb, but the £735 estimate just seemed crazy high! So, to YouTube I went! I've purchased a full rebuild kit from Frentech and will be dropping off at a powder coaters next week for recoating. Whilst the brakes are off I set about the next job, replacing the cabin/pollen filter. Whomever at Renault decided it would be a good place to tuck it up behind the dash needs a slap - It took 90 mins of wrestling to remove the clutch pedal and remove the old filter, although I'm VERY glad I persevered: More updates soon! Also, I've not booked onto a couple of track days this year to give me something to focus on and work towards. Donington on the 28th June for an evening session and Anglesey on the 2nd August. Is anybody attending?
Come on Eddie!! Replacing that filter are 10 minutes at max...ups! hold on, hold on, I forgot I haven´t pedals in that side! Just joking man, must be a pain in the ass with the pedals in the way. Cheer up!
Yeah, you're right I could have done and that may have been easier. However, I wanted to have a crack at fixing the ones I had rather than passing the problem onto someone else. I should add that the quote was for front and rear calipers and for them all to be painted Liquid Yellow instead of the standard red. A bit of powder coat and the Frentech kit will sort me out though You're VERY lucky to have the pedals on the other side! From the condition of the last one, I think the previous owner didn't even attempt it!
Wow!! Holy moly they are BAD!! Did yours have any advisories in the previous years? Mines been all clear for the last 3 years - absolutely no chance all this has happened in the last year though!
no advisories at all but it had only been through 2 mot's at that time . thought back caliper was sticking as chewing through inside pads so decided to replace all discs and christ I got a shock when I pulled these off, from the outside the discs looked great but no wonder it chewed through inner pads'
