12.03.2009 Little V3 package arrived today, dunno what to say really, those in the know will hopefully appreciate and those that arent, well they are good I guess is all I can say next to new, clean, crack in one plastic cover (which I can sort in minutes) and done less than 500 miles, so off to birmingham next week to get the buggers fitted.
24.03.2010 Not much to report as im currently paying off bits and bobs so not buying in till they are cleared so it's touch up and spring cleaning for the next few weeks till i get the KWs on... last year at oulton park during the BTCC we were fixing my door and i got a little pi55ed off so to speak and ripped my door pocket out, anyhoo since then i've been riding round with my elbow in the doorwell, aircon innit. as it is... got 'richngem' to fabricate and cut some carbon fibre sheet I bought from TDINorth in warrington (off one off their TA cars) for £20 quid and he sent me up a sample of it so far. we were going to resin it in but i prefer screwing/self tappeting for when/if i need to access the window regulators (which break weekly on the meganes) so 3 maybe 4 black screws will hold it in place on both doors, i like it test fitted.... yes its not the proper piece its a test piece as i had spare so no it looks rough, not fitted, etc. te green is marking tape, not mould total spend, £20 pounds. weekend clean coming up, rear track chipped alloy refurb, also got a stone to the door sill that is bubbling up so thats getting refurbed by my paint and wheel man in preston within the week.
The next post for some reason has lost all pictures, I used to use photobucket and the thing is shite, so apoligies. I'll add some images in but its nothing like the post it once was... 08.04.2010 Arrived at BTM for 10.30 am yesterday, fred wasnt there, we waited. Yesterday it was myself and rich(richngem) doing the work on my car whilst fred overlooked when needed. Rich was having aux/cambelt along with some catcams put in so fred was really busy making sure that was setup well whilst we cracked on. Neil (withoutabix) was in the area yesterday so he helped out all day too. big thanks guys as ever. basic stuff to start with, fred has a cig(4), rich consults his diagrams he's made and I go off in a sulk because i cut my hand and was hungrey. i had the rear of the meg setup with 'cup suspension so rich and i knew basically how to do the rears which were in fact easy.. and done within 45mins. i wont go into to many specifics but "FREDDDD" was shouted alot. basically the eibachs were jamming and wouldnt come out as we wanted. we eventually got them out and cleaned them and the mounting areas up, copper greased everything and then looked at the OEM top mounts (i'll be getting adjustables but lets take it one step at a time). front unit out, with snapped linkage and mounts Then disaster (as ever with TDK), the driverside ball bearings in the topmount had basically spilled out as we pulled the arm off the car, neil spent 20 minutes looking for little balls on the floor, found a few, fred smashed some random car part open and used the bearings out of that too. Job Done... So the Variant 3's.. night and day... if im honest, the car rides ever so slightly harder, but less rattle- ridden, the roll is none existant and traction has improved massively. i'll run the car at silverstone this week and we'll see then. the car needs corner weighting and maybe a tinyyy drop all round, but be told, im not dropping it to ghetto ride and look like a badaman. i've only had a small chance to drive it in the wet today (TC/ASR off) and it seems to unsettle itself under corner braking, squirms abit and move her fat arse... this by no means bothers me as megs as standard are like this and due to previous lack of weight over the boot im used to it but i think she needs tweeking and odd bits of setup. Which will no doubt take 32 years with the V3's. fronts are half way down, rears im not 100% but this is for now so i can get them bedded in for the next few weeks at least, oh and till i can afford adjustable top mounts. whats shocked me though is how you find yourself hitting the worry button before the car does, the grip is verging on scary, riad and myself did a little trafford park run this morning and into roundabouts i'd usually understeer into the pavement on, she gripped, gripped, gripped... thats it. Riad said there was easily about 10 mph into a certain corner (and thats in the wet!) so here she is, more additions to come this week, sorry for crap pics after but i've just been so busy and this alone has took me 5 hours to do as photobucket is on the blink and i've been mad at work.
14.04.2010 Ran the car at ISTS the weekend just gone for the FCS boys, the show wasnt very good but i'll leave my review of that for PFC so to speak.... Got the car out on track after silverstone decided access should be across a gravel carpark... the car was full of stones by this point and they were deposited on track entry, which i wasn't happy about. An M3 binned it and another car dropped its gutts on track too which didn't help... getting to the track also tore my splitter off and ripped the bumper off, luckily i had black tape in the car so just taped her up and cracked on... silverstone Stowe circuit, taking in sections of the new arena... talk about dust bowl, i set out on the warm up lap last of about 20 cars, twingoRS in front was going SO SLOW on warm up that we lost the rest of the field bar an elise and golf GTI, odd enough the twingo 133 pulls in after the warmup/pace lap too... leaves me a mile off the pack and on my own! anyhoo off we go and instantly the setup isnt right on the V3s. its by no mean bad and is a massive improvement over none coilovered variants just I could feel the toe out (losing grip, on sweeping bed exits, etc) and the geo just not setup right generally. but that will come with weighting, practice and reading of some books i have lent from the library I also spoke to an engineer from KW who said he'll happily offer advice and setup when i've had a laser alignment (no idea where i'll go but no doubt the forums will help there) I passed a championship elise on the second lap (white with blue/gold stripe), the next lap he passed me, i stuck with him for the rest of the session, a fact I was really proud of, as they are some car, they corner to a level thats scary. the meg when setup will hopefully keep me ahead... but we'll see I took a few cars on track over the half hour, well alot, but thats not what its about, I got passed by a racing Exige and VX220T and boy they were motoring, but all in all, TDK did me proud and showed that a well sorted hatch can often keep with some big exotica. just a little flyby... [video=youtube;yCyR1TbxYhQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCyR1TbxYhQ&feature=player_embedded[/video] Anyhoo no more parts will be getting bought until I have paid off some stuff in the next 2 months but i currently have some 197 skirts waiting to go on and have managed to do a deal to get my dash gauge pod covered in alacantera, which is nice, i'll update when they are on.
26.04.2010 Fitted my new rear carbon fibre spoiler this friday, was a MAJOR ballache as this one doesnt fit like the OEM renault one, the holes are slightly different. same with the cage from the same company, but hey ho I haven't bought from them and managed to fix both situations. I dropped 4 screws into the boot, took me 3 hours to do a ten minute job too. to top off a poo day Riad kicked the spoiler when I had it resting on the floor ready to go on, it chipped the lacquer a little but these things happen and it was an accident. excuse the crap pics, had a reallllllly busy weekend and it rained dropping half the volcanic ash on the car today so they are all round rubbish! its not that noticeable as the pics make out, I think the camera settings kind of bling it up a little when in reality its quite subtle if I'm honest. impressions... well its bloody light, 1.5KG saving over the renault one I'd say. I keep thinking it will rip off at speed, but CF is very strong and if it flexes then its ok because formula one cars wings flex and that gives them better top end speed its got rid of the centre hole that the OEM one has too, I wasnt sure at first, but its growing on me every time I look at it. Best of all I sold mine on and got this at a good price so it cost me less than a night out... I'll get some better pics this week when I fit the new induction setup and rip some more parts out.
18.6.2010 Took the car to the lemans 24hr last weekend and what can i say... she was amazing. pre trip i had the airbox out, refurbed it, tightened a few bolts and had the cage made to match the car also had some part worn dunlops put on the rear as the mich's were tired and inside would of died in france due to the camber the V3's give. big thanks to the tyre place in Nottingham, family run, very professional and cost effective, also told me i had small buckles in my rear tyres but new wheels soon so i'll grin and bear it... I fitted my vinyls for France which I made myself, I thought they stood up well... considering I payed nothing and did them all myself... sod paying £100 for a company to do it. without going into detail on the french trip i'll just say the car sang, ate miles and not a single thing went wrong well one major thing did but i'll detail that below, and tbf it was nothing to do with the car). cutting a long story short I had a new windscreen 4 days before I went to France, when I got on the toll road 30 mins into my journey I could hear a loud rattle/vibration, thinking it was something inside the car I continued on... it was only when i stopped at the services I realized that the trim had come lose on the top of the windscreen and was basically banging against the paintwork and roof of the car... realizing i was in france and had no support I could only gaffer tape it in, but the damage was done. shortly after, in what can only be described as the worst weather I've ever seen a large crack appeared in the windscreen... i had to live with this over the weekend and It was a little embarrassing. granted most wouldn't care but when you plan for months and a 4 day old windscreen fails at the worlds biggest motorsport event it kind of puts you down.... but everyone agreed it was a decent warwound back in blighty, i contact my broker and autoglass and get told that 'a local guy can spray it or look at polishing it out'... I laughed and walked out. After contacting my insurer direct and basically contacting trading standards and being advised by the small claims court, Autoglass have now agreed to replace the screen and pay for a respray/repair on the roof of the car... Its my job to now find a good repairer and invoice Autoglass... the meg did 1600 approx miles, played with some exotica, turned alot of heads and struggled to hell in the campsite with the flooding etc but riad sorted that by sitting in the boot and raising the front on the first night at the site i didnt get in to early and hence the pitch we had wasnt very flat... this ground tore my front splitter off and disconnected my front bumper, it also cracked my boot floor (which on the meg is plastic) lucky for me i have a spare boot floor in the garden and i screwed the bumper on when i moved the car to another side of the dirt-track on flatter ground.. not ideal but hey ho. this weekend i'll be getting quotes on roof repair and fitting the ducting into my foglight holes oh and i also got to 'race' i mean erm drive down the Mulsanne straight and Arnage on the sunday night (best feeling EVER) (apologies for the quality on the pics, photobucket has Massacred them and its the only uploader i use)
29.07.2010 what a mess.... been a while... she's in preston having her windscreen fixed, roof flatted and repainted and a whole new front bumper/undertray put on, the front bumpers been a mess since i bought the car so its about time a new one was added. i'll also be puting a circular CAF in to replace the rectangle one on as present, she'll look lovely. off to BTM to have the geo done again on her and new droplinks all round next weekend too hopefully if not the one after, plus fitting 197 sideskirts this weekend so all in all.... she's getting there.
01.08.2010 Ok seen as you all cried at suede ive got this... should be here in the week and the boss soon after, then i can butcher it with holes and buttons.
30.08.2010 Was meant to have the day out at The Oulton Park Gold Cup today, but my girlfriend, well i say that my now ex girlfriend was being nasty n moody so we knocked it on the head... i needed my petrol fix somehow so rang for mat-nos, oldhams finest fiddler(cars) and we decided to play... a marsbar to whoever notices the change... 2kgs saved whilst the car was jacked up we checked on my dead droplinks and tried to fix the centre heatshield which is rattling, on closer inspection one side of the shield the bolts have totally been sheared off, i think this may be the train track i hit in france at erm speed. i will sort it next week mind, clamp something to the remainders or weld some new plates on, we'll see. about 5 months ago i was bought skirts that have just been sat there, i never had the chance to fit them but mat offered them up today and we cracked on... haiiii i cannot wait to clear some small debts over the next few weeks and get saving for some FAT motorsport wheels i have created a detailed graph with red.dot and pmsl performance below to illustrate the fluid dynamics vs the output of the Co ed boost. the vorticies created by the darwin sideskirts now gives me 2% more downforce than a 197 diffuser maintained on cam with the f4r output at 20% AFR=PS3xzomg whilst upside down . so all in all a good day, loss of partner, a subway bought by matt, 1.69 spent on a rubber grommet and the car looking mean, hi5.
06.09.2010 Well, settle down for a read. (forgive my lack of technical knowledge, I'm learning more as I write) I was going to make a little thread about some nice little harnesses I bought ofF brown bear ready for some buckets when I'd saved for a month or so... but in true renaultsort style i took it to the next level... I've never been 100% on the power output on the car, sure the torque brilliant and the cars light, sits well and corners like a good'un, to cure this I took a trip to RST again in leeds to see if the stage 2 could be given a little more poke... Paul mentioned to me the other week that the maps had been tweeked so he should be able to work around the issue with the engine not making power. whilst there i saw some amazing new goodies that he'll be putting out there soon, I was tempted but its simply not an option until i start to earn some more money... i've never been one to talk about power figures, I'm in the mind of rolls royce and prefer, chill, ample, b00st and Banzai! but I'll give figures in here in the hope that is shows reality and could be of use to people in the future. Anyway.. after some messing about and finishing off some other cars i got on the dyno. the coilovers arent set 100% and the car needs the corner weighting sorting out again as on the dyno she was pulling all over, something I can live with as I knew it needed sorting out. so onto the dyno... first run... the car makes stock, on a stage 2 map... Paul looks worried, I thought he was joking. he tweeks and plays and asks how old the sparks are, old enough is the answer, so he bungs some of his own in to check, this instantly raises the low end power but again the car hits stock. So at least the sparks need changing regardless of the little problem I was thinking, little did I know... then we move onto the cambelt, it hasn't been done in a while, I was shown receipts for it being done when I purchased the car and that was four years ago, it needs changing asap is the answer to which i agree and know i need to sort as it might be the timing thats out. Exhaust issues and turbo failure are also ruled out. Paul wanted to rule out other things so he attached a booster to the battery and did a compression test with Wade (Hughesclio) who happened to be there at the same time. cylinder 1: 130 psi cylinder 2: 150+ psi cylinder 3: 140 psi cylinder 4: 70 psi And there in lies the problem, the compression on cylinder four is low, as in LOWWW. thats why the car has never made the power a stage two would and has/is gradually losing power, the severity of this shown by the fact a stage2 map (one that has been tinkered with for ages) only gives the car stock power. The car boosts at 1.3 bar and is still making over 30 ftlb torque so the turbo side of it is fine. Paul put the map up from his R26R and compared it to mine, the similarity between the maps was scary, they were exactly the same minus the fact mine was 55bhp down on his, but the curve, drop off and boost were identical. The general consensus is that there might be a water ingress into the cylinder head, as the car is losing coolant slowly (dumping the tank at Oulton in January, but only slowly since) something to do with it creeping into the chamber through a gap. Also one spark was discoloured and paul was certain of water present, along with mild frothing in my coolant tank during all the checks (no idea what it means, but it means something bad). in pauls words... 'its fcuked naithhh' I went to Leeds thinking I'd be in luck, came home with a bloodied nose. I drove home feeling sick, its a weird feeling when you crash/cars broke/stolen, im still sat here feeling sorry for myself if im honest. Even now I'm lost as to what to do. I've put too much time and effort into the thing to just break it for parts and at the same time noway can I afford a new engine (even if more work comes in) leaving Leeds gave me time to reflect... As it stands the car will go to fred@btm on the friday before Renault world series to have new sparks, i know it wont make much difference but i'd rather the car struggle less before it has blows/gets a rebuild/new engine. (If you have any lying about in Dieppe RUK, look after a brother ) Luckily RWS is a show and shine event, otherwise I'd be gutted, I have the car visually looking better than ever so on that front I'm lucky, on every other one I'm not so lucky.. lol After the show she'll be taken to BTM and endure a slow and painful strip of the heart. In my head I see it being the top of the engine coming off (which after seeing another meg engine this weekend is a bugger in itself) and the head gasket being changed along with the ring landings, cylinders (four is the problem) and all the internals will need looking at too. but due to cost it will be a long process, I have a decat lined up and the new RST uprated pistons will be sorted then too I hope (around the £600 mark) so the engine will be rebuilt strong and with the capacity, bar injectors (that arent working on megs properly still) and hybrid turbo, that can be added (if I have the time/ability/finance) to run more power.. During all this i'll run about in riads 172 which will be roadworthy very soon. the other option is to wait till finances suit and buy a well priced second hand F4RT engine (preferably with an R26 diff on it) and swap them, adding a decat and playing with the turbo wheels. then she'll see a solid 290/300bhp and 330ftlb torque all day. third option is to bin the car off... so yeh, FML. but at the same time I want to say a MAHOOSIVE thanks to paul for spending alot of time outside of the service I'd payed for trying to fix the issue, the care and knowledge is top drawer and also as ever to BTM who have said I can keep the car there whilst the work is done. as a friend said today, 'Phoenix from the flames Naith..' have to see...
09.11.2010 no update i hear ya'll scream... NOT well... spent the whole of sunday pumping the tyres up, fitting bits and bobs and jump starting the old girl for the norfbest meet. After 2 full cannisters of coolant she got home safely and conked out on the drive. luckily it happened at the best time as she's now ready to go to BTM and ripped to shreds. Picture by Riad Ariane. she'll come out a very different car. cant say how long it will take but i wont have her back until i have an engine fully fitted, decatted and with a limited slip diff inside her... whilst away the car will be stripped back and a single raceseat fitted. As i will still use the car on the road i will be keeping the passenger seat (The original renaultsport one, passengers/nana need comfort) the brakes will be off and i'll ask for some new rear disks, the rears have never been 100%, bedding them in at silverstone didnt help... fluids flushed and i will continue in my quest to find some 'proper wheels. I'm also fitting a 197 front splitter unless i can find a decent flat one much akin to the one that goes on the V6 clio.. Also asked for a steering wheel boss for my birthday so i can get the OMP wheel fitted and toss the airbag to the side. oh and here's the new brake caliper design, going onto powder coated lime green calipers, was gonna keep it secret but sod it i cant.... (thanks alexC) i'll keep people posted, as soon as i know more.
18.11.2010 On my birthday (last friday, 12th) i decided to take the car out for one last run before she goes to BTM in Birmingham, I was meeting BrownBear and Christopher for abit of food and a chat, cheers for that btw lads... on the way home i was driving along normal, exited a roundabout, warren about 100 metres behind, straight road and felt nothing like it before, the car snaps violently to the right like its swapping ends, the wheel had locked itself against the brake and with instantly felt like rear suspension failiure lifting the front N/S the back slammed into the curb.. now i'm no Alonso but I can pilot a wagon as well as some, but there was nothing i could do... I pulled continued for about 50 metres saw a locked tyre and sparks... Getting out of the car i could do nothing but laugh and hi5 warren, i mean its just my luck.. on my birthday... my first words after checking it wasnt the suspenion arm were 'Bearing failiure'... Anyway long story short, I drove the car another 100 metres down the road before she had no movement at all, the brake had seized to the disk, the pads were instantly ripped to shreds, the wheel had loads of lateral movement . I rang flux and arranged recovery, 2 hours later in rush hour some old boy arrives and spends the next half hour telling me, warren, riad, sy and jon (the jesus) random stories about all his women and how he enjoys racing MG's?! anyway got her home, up the drive after 20 mins effort and spent the weekend getting ruined. monday morning, lets have a good nosey. from -1.5 neg camber to plus 4/5. nice. (luckily i'm after some very special rims that hopefully will be ok to use..) I asked around on the sly, the general consensus was the axle needed replacing, I obviously thought (maybe through hope) that it was just the bearing that had gone inside the disk. So this morning 'mat-nos' comes over and we strip the rear down. At this point i'd like to thank renault for building cars and assembley that have about 6 combinations within a wrench and allen key set for a single applience (the rear brake unit) yes thats the bearing internals on the floor we stripped the rear assembly down with alot of cuts and trips for tools to my local motorsh1tworld, getting to the hub nut... it was not on tight, when i say not tight i mean its most probably the cause of the bearing moving about and causing it to fail, I now know its the bearing that failed as upon pulling the hub nut cover off the bearing internals fell out like sick. We eventually got the caliper housing off too and the disk, which considering the impact and the ABS marks is in good condition (obviously bar the bearing it houses). In theory we could press the bearing out and have a new one put in but for the price and safety of a new disk housing i'll just get a new disk ordered in, im hoping the Stub Axle isnt bent, on first impressions its hard to tell as the cars sat on an axle stand. For money and time more than anything I cannot afford it to be an axle replacement, but i dont think it will be. but I also dont fancy dying yet, so if theres a chance it could be mashed its getting replaced. and here she is...!!1! lol, stub axle on show, sat on an axle stand with carrier bags covering the assembly, hardc0re. tax runs out at the end of the month and whether its via trailer or slowly driven there she's off to Birmingham to hibernate, she's not coming back for a while... time to get the blanket out and say goodnight for the winter me thinks. thanks for reading
14.01.2011 And so it begins.... ALL wheels off, sat looking sorry for herself, not driven in 3 months. The wheels will go back on tomo and the OS rear has a disk so the wheel can click into the bearing and it will go on northys trailer for its journey south. in the event the stub axle is bent (i fear it is) i have sourced a whole rear assembly of a cup that will just be swapped over. oh and the engine rebuild, forgot about that. battery needs charging first. bless.. she'll be back, poor piece of shit.
20.03.2011 OK, cup rear beam and gubbings is all here now off pablo and will be going on within 2 weeks, its finding whether i can ghetto it on up the drive or it needs doing at BTM... i might get some new powerflex bushes built up too, emailing them this evening. the new beam, axle assembly is cup so its a little better than the one coming off, its also not done too many miles. i cant decide whether to powdercoat it lime green, it 'might' look s**t so not too sure yet... car hasnt been started, let alone opened since November the 12th 2010! The race battery doesnt last long at the best of times so i had alex and chris come over today and see if she'd start.... first fcuking time. GOAL. smooth as megan fox's arse, purred, then she pissed her coolant out. good times. Point being, shes still alive, covered in building dust and mortar, but she has a heartbeat. I've ordered in some cheeky parts too as the spring air blows in.... me =
20.04.2011 Okayyyy, its been long enough now and fcuk all has happened, I wanted to forget about the car and was ready to break it but i opened her up and sat in her the otherday and slapped myself. so with the new beam bought we set about swapping it over today to the new stub, axle, lines, basically everything. I say we, I mean mat-nos and 'curtis' who put alot more graft in than me, I was site forman i guess excuse orange in pics and on the car, been having alot of house renovations done and the car is FILTHY. the whole process took about two hours and as everyone got cuts and bruises we eventually dropped the old rear beam, arb and axle which had seen better days. when the rear wheel went back on to see whether it was just the bearing that was knackered it showed (with about 3 deg of positive camber) that the problem lay deeper, beam off and inspected the stub axle shows the true story of the damage.... Anyhoo, all rear components were removed and the new beam tidied up. The braided lines will be added back onto the new one tomo after they've been cleaned along with the KW springs and dampers/adjusters. And hopefully the calipers are erm, given a treat Anyway, the car will sit like this till sat morning when we add the beam back on, hopefully with new rear brake disks, the boot floor will be coming out too and replaced with a CF blank, to enable the exhaust to sit VERY differently... I also thinnk it only fair to explain the exhaust seen as its asked everytime i'm at a meet, the in depth accurate pic is below Also started the car up and she's got a massive misfire on idle, mat thinks all she needs is a good blast up the motorway but we shall be changing the thermostat on sat as the coolant stayed cold for a while and i'd cry if i tried driving it to freds and she boiled herself. theres a 99% change the bottom of the rad is knackered too and thats what makes her dump her coolant but, lets get the wheels straightened first ey... she'll be back soon...
29.04.2011 Someone wants to regain their crown.... full new phase 2 beam is on, curtis! and mat nos to thank for their sterling efforts, all 4 hours work as it wouldnt sit properly uintill we got angry and erm how do i say this, beat it in...the temp left rear disk i wanted to run was also cracked in the bearing so bought a disk from BTM this week, well from renault via BTM but whatever... its fitted in this pic just didnt have time to get the caliper and brake assemblys on unfortunately. going to build the brakes back up tomo, bleed them and get her dropped down. took the adjusters out from the back suspension so she'll look decked, not sure if i'll like it but its not hard to put back on so we'll see tomo.... shaping up nicely. hopefully run her round the block with a jerrycan of 97 tomo/sunday, Insure myself back on her and MOT her.... Hopefully....
03.05.2011 It doesnt rain... fucking pours... i wanted the car on four wheels sat ready to have the front taken off and parts layed ith to make her 'road going'. it was my plan to switch the insurance over this week back onto the meg but nooooooooooooo. when the bearing failed and the wheel went the side impact mashed alot of things up, we thought all the parts had been replaced. the caliper carrier however is bent, fitted to the new disk it rubs on the top and is wide on the bottom which tells the story of the bottom of the wheel hitting the curb the hardest and bending it. looking at the pic below it was so fcuking obvious too... i now have two options, i've emailed a guy on ebay breaking a 225 in salford, if he comes through then happy days as he'll be local. other option is a new carrier from renault, even after being 'looked after' it still rocks in at 80quid roughly. I'd need to soak the arms of the ajoining carrier and vice the bolts out too. whichever way i look at it, its a setback i didnt need. on the positive at least the new carrier wont be rusted up to the nines :clown: Beginning to wonder whether she'll be fixed anytime soon..
18.05.2011 Feel like all I'm doing at the mo is putting up the same pictures, but alas progress is progress for 'the pride of the fleet' cliospares came good with the caliper carrier i was after (thanks guys, great price too) truffs bought it over from doncaster and i test fitted it on monday... disaster, the carrier was sat about 7 inches further round towards the top of the disk.... (and yes thats a brand new disk, oxygennnnnzzZz1!1!) so i moaped about tiil today, realising the cars GOT to go to Birmingham this sunday/monday i had a play with it and realised it was for the otherside of the car and all i needed to do was unbolt the spacer from the carrier and turn it round.... DURRRR. got my neighbour to hold it whilst i did it, talk about stuck on, tighter than a mouses ear. eventually all off, rebuilt and ready for matt to check it on saturday before she goes south. exciteddddzzed. left to do.. brake bleeding, fire her up and see how far 20 notes worth of vpower gets me to birmingham... joy.
02.06.2011 Ok a big/small update.... the car made it down to b'ham after i'd taxed it and MOT'd it... so in essence its back. However on the journey the brakes failed on one side and the ride became that whereby the rear wanted to pull away from the rest of the car, i practically nursed it the whole way there, dangerous and not cool i know, luckily the roads were empty but i still got overtaken by caravans and lorries, shameful and embarressing. Anyhoo it made it to btm and is there now having its guts ripped out. Fred and Sam are using the car as a platform to launch Potatoworks... The hardcore/pikey arm of BTM. yes I'm scared too. Regardless, as of now there is just under 7 days till the car will go to france, put it this way it'll be on a french campsite this time next week. It might need a new engine, it might be a case of new head and bits, until its opened up throughout the next few days I dont know. What I do know is that its having a rediculously lairy full racing livery for lemans, official sponsorship from various companies who I'll obviously thank when the time is right and a few cheeky additions.... oh and some new studs and nuts from tweeks today (burpspeed eat your heart out) Thanks again to BTM for relaying the cars specifics so i could order in an idiot proof way told you I wouldnt give up on her, if you see her before i do next week, be nice to her! Mega update coming asap.
17.06.2011 Ok, where to begin.... this will take a while. I will no doubt miss bits due to my head still being fried but i want to share with others the time. effort and passion showed last week. It was always my intention to take the car to LeMans 2011. If the car wasnt ready i'd have not taken it. Got it to BTM about a week before we were meant to set sail to Calais. Freds workload was huge though and the car wasnt even touched till tuesday. I knew he didnt really have the time but if it wasnt fixed i wasnt going to go... if people think thats selfish, they havent been to leman before. So on tuesday morning with 48hrs to go we set to work. Myself and sam started pulling the car to bits under freds supervision. He was working on other cars so we were kind of left to it and because i've had the bodywork off her before it was no biggy. To motivate and make the car look half decent i got on with my stickers for LeMans half cut by me, the others done in an excellent fashion by the bryan brothers. this sums up freds stance during the 48hrs... Being a really messy engine it took ages to pull everything off. we worked our way down assessing where and what the cause for loss of compression was, alot of people have said what they think it to be and when it boiled down to it Fred was in the right. I wont beat around the bush, the cars had a tough life, it was one of the first to be mapped in the UK and has spent ages on the dyno. This obviously wears parts down. The main problem we found though was that cylinder three in the head was the weak one, yet when fred did his 'tests' cylinder one was the one that dropped all its contents. F4RT Head. As you can see in this pic the apparently fine cylinder one has dropped all its contents obviously something major is up.... Without going into detail to much the valve seats werent sitting in their seats properly. This annoyed fred as he'd pulled the pistons from the engine to check for scoring and damage and they were fine as he's always said they would be. So in essence we were left with a bare bottom block with a seperate head that needed all its valves reskimming. 24 of them and each need about an hour.... FFS. All along BTM had said it was the valves and their seats but hey ho. Fred called in a few other specialists for their opinion and it was the same, look in the pic below and note the build up on the exhaust side, granted it should get sooty and full of fuel but you could literally peel this off and feel it not letting the valves work properly... sump off Pistons checked, and checked again, no scoring or damage to the ring landings (is it?) Book time stood at 44 hours, We had Wednesday... On the way out of BTM on the tuesday night at 11.50pm fred had an idea. The Velsatis head is very similar to the meg (he thought)... A quick midnight call to Adam @ Renault Wolverhampton confirmed they are the same bare head. Fred had 3 Renault developed F4RT heads from Dieppe and bar a check or two would go straight on...
Wednesday 7am Fred 'Dont come near me till this afternoon, this is a BIG ask by even my standards so FCUK off i dont want anyone near me all day....' We left him with 10 redbull and some ciggies. Now I dont exactly know what happened in the time until lunch but when i arrived the engine looked like this. It had a new sump on as mine was bent, it had all the pistons pushed back in and new gaskets and thingys fitted, cams in and all timed up, the shiny new development head was on with new valves and valve seat, a far cry from the burnt and sooted ones that came from my head. fred showed me the new valves and how they should have a 2 tier level of colour, mine were a mess... 'overfuelling its tits off'... Throughout wednesday I carried on with the graphics and occasionally helped out, ie tightening the bolts on the top of my engine, so I could tell everyone I had done all the work :evil: Fred explained that he's also fitted a different 'BTM spec' headgasket that slightly raises the engine compression. On weds afternoon another of freds customers phoned in a mess as her BMW had broken down on the Mway.... 30 miles away. True to form of helping people fred set off and along with myself we towed her car back to BTM and fred fitted a new alternator... as you do. So another two hours lost but we were now getting to a point where we could not give up. Some of the LeMans lads arrived and fred sent them packing to their hotels as we had the rest of the engine to get in. I went to BAP engineering to pick up my severly buckled rear wheel which had been weighted, another thankyou. And sam set all the parts ready for them going back on. So cracking on the rest of the engine got built up during wednesday evening, at this point freds back, hands and head were fried, myself and sam werent in good shape but fred was f**ked. I learnt so much over the two days about engines but bar embarressing myself lets just leave it with the engine was pieced together slowly, a new water pump went on, a new radiator (leaking heavily), new cambelt and various other little bits. It was now Thursday morning 2am. We had to leave for the ferry at 7am.... Cams going back in... we were looking at Velsatis ones but due to a few unknowns we played it safe at went OEM. I'm sat there shaking in a chair biting my nails, fully aware that if the car doesnt fire and the compression is off then it wont go and indeed neither will I as the efforts to get the clio sorted would take days. Fred manually cracks the engine to get a flow into it and connects the battery. Now it being a dry lump i expected it to be a messy affair and fred warned me it might be. Exhaust reconnected... filled with oil and coolant, pipes, FMIC fitted, no leaks or drips, engine mounts on (that reminds me i need new ones)....
It fires first time. FIRST TIME. Everything else is added back on as the boss runs diagnostics on the engine, lights, bumper, bonnet, wheels... and the car goes outside. Fred takes it for a run, everything is fine. I drive it back to Solihull in certain gears and at certain speeds to load the engine without nailing it. It runs perfect, there is a a noticable high pitched whir from the turbo and the car just feels great. So much so i notice the massive instability from the rear (due to the wheel buckle and lack of allignment post new beam) and the fact its not happy going into gear, the box feels tight and metallic. but sod it, its going to France!!! jk comes along with his twin brother Captain Pikey to check how the work rent horse samuel has been getting on, together they decide on what part(s) will adorn the 'Wall of Shame' After an hours sleep everyone arrived at freds and we set off to Dover, Fred not joining us and getting a later ferry, sorry about that but i did try and wake you Met up with everyone on the M25, checked oil and coolant, all fine. On we go..... pull up at Dover ferry terminal, pull the handbrake cable and snap it clean off. The car has to have blocks on it during the ride over and again I'm the subject of much ridicule. During the weekend the car was great, started everytime, fred kept an eye on its oils and we even joined in abit with the Mad Friday frivolities /chav. The french and indeed LeMan crowd love the RS's so I kept her clean and did my bit for the brand as always(hope your reading this Jeremy Townsend). On the sunday in the rain we did a lap of the circuit post race, to hear the exhaust gasses popping under you change gear nursing your car into the Indianapolis Corner is a joy to behold, seen as fred was in a good mood he joined me and I even got a smile, I think it was due to me going through a police cordon to drive the Mulsanne chicanes though but was the drama over, is it ever.... On the return monday I was pulling out of the services and stupidly went from 1st to 5th gear, thinking i'd save fuel. The car shat itself and went into limp mode at the bottom of a hill. with only 2k rpm available we ended up trying to get up the hill at 28mph and losing spped fast. The car wouldnt make it and RenaultSport Megane's wont start in gear, why would i have to be in gear? No handbrake.... FFS. We pulled over, literally sh1tting myself, the cars only ever gone into limpmode once before like in 2008!!... So I disconnected the injectors, burnt myself, told riad to restart her and voila... back to normal. I then used alot of fuel to catch up with our party and get to Calais, dover and onwards to Manchester arriving back at 9pm, 13 hours after we left the campsite.. Job done. So to recap a rebuild in under a day, with untested/development parts beeded in with a 1200 mile trip to France and back. Seriously. Plans as of now are to... Get a new 225 rear wheel and geo setup to dial out the squirm and terrible ride. Fit wheel studs and bolts that we didnt get time to put on. (I test fitted them at BTM...) I need to solder the rear seatbelt lines together with a resistor to clear the dash fault then she'll show no faults new smaller front plate. Fit Forge Recirc and Actuator. flush the gearbox oil and lookinto a new flywheel as the cars really struggling into certain grears if not then a single mass flywheel to be specially made. Then breathe... the cars still a mess in certain areas but it was never going to be a day fix, it'll take time as i need to source bits and i aint a millionaire. But she drives, she's as fast as a mapped meg still and she'll continue to be fixed up. Thanks for reading and thankyou to Sam at BTM for his fantastic efforts and Banter, Elliot at GSF for theparts and last minute wednesday night dash for a Cambelt kit when GSF was closed(!), Adam @ Renault Wolves for going in early and sending over all the required Renault tech specs, All my Lemans boy... you know who you are for help and encouragement and obviously the clowns off CS for the pwnts and interest in whether she's make it, it was literally that tense I nearly cried, arsed if thats too emotional. And obviously the biggest thankyou and eternal gratitude to Fred. I know the boy recieves alot of justified credit on here but to do what he did in the timescale was unbelievable. even if it has sent fred loopy.
26.08.2011 Ok those that went to World Series would have seen us sardined in again this year. Wont be doing infield again as it wasnt a collectors area.... reete, the car... the engine is still fantastic, mappings not right but i've not had time to get it sorted since the rebuild. Regardless the BTM spec engine is fantastic. With the lack of work i've not been able to do much to the car but have done a little. Aiden (a chap off Meganesport) does short shift conversions for the megs, basically a cnc'd movement in the nipple that halves the meganes terrible throw Myself and mat-nos fitted it just before wsr and i did the traditional cleaning of airbox and airfilter which was thoroughly clogged up, joys of running a CAF. Well what can I say its fantastic, it gives the meg a shift feel and ferocity equal to that in our 172, you can literally punch the power in when before it was a long sloppy throw, a definite top cheap mod, especially when you see people spending silly money on things and this exchange basis mod is £35!! I've still not got round to fitting my studs and nuts i have, purchased some 6mm spacers too now to accompany them. I've always hated the idea of spacers thinking them cheap and tacky, I felt that offset and stance should be because you have massive motorsport spec wheels, when we replaced the rear beam for a ph2 cup one we had the problem whereby the cup beam is a little narrower, the offset is equalised by wider wheels that the cup/R26/trophy have. At the moment I don't so needs must.... They were provided by a friend in the motorsport trade and i'll have them on asa[/SIZE]p.. Bedded the shifter in on the way to Silverstone last weekend and the car (apart from the issues i'll state below) was great, the shortshifter is a proper mod. (photo credit to Harpham @ RWS 2011) now to the problem... the ride on the car is crap, i really need to get it to a geo specialist or someone who can see whats up with the rear. When I damaged the car it was on the OS rear, but the beam has been replaced. I had the wheel balanced for lemans and that helped but thats the weird thing, turning right which puts pressure on the OS is nigh on perfect, its turning left which is bad, bad as in i have to back off and take corners, especially sweeping bends and about 60/70% of what i could do. its scary as the car basically tries to step out and wobbles. granted the tyres will get changed soon and the KW's need totally resetting but its top on my list of priorities to get it sorted as bar cruising along its stopping me enjoying the car for what it is the brakes need about another 2 litres bleeding through to as there seems to be air in the servo. Hopefully got some work on the way so when bills are paid i will have a few cheeky additions i'm sure, its far from over.
30.08.2011 Reete, driving from oulton the front decided to lose its ability to hold the rear in line so i'm pulling the car from the road and sorting the back once and for all. then the droplinks at the front and general geo. when we fitted the rear suspension i STUPIDLY never fitted new hub to chassis plates. i have one here and p@blo sorting me another this week. sunday in between BTCC and my hangover i'll be sorting it out. so in essence i'm undoing all the rebuilding work i did on the rear lol... but after looking at various things it can only be that and i am NOT going to give up. being at oulton yesterday and sat watching bloody topgear all day has further added to my urge to fix it, enthusiasm naithan, enthusiasm... so this is the new part, its dirty not rubbish. well maybe it is but its straight. i think.
14.11.2011 All has gone quiet on here recently, truth be told the megs been the least of my worries, some will know I've been running the KA now for abit anyway. It was my birthday weekend just gone so i bought something i've been after for a long time after saving for abit. not only are they rare on megs, they are rare full stop. In 18", their offset sits at ET50, which in plain english means they will be wider in the arch sort of giving a touring car look, I honestly nearly squealed when i opened the box, they are absolutely stunning, r riad has took some proper pics but i'm putting these up now as i couldnt wait. I was noseying around demon tweeks last week and one of their experts ended up telling me the wheel is heavy, old and crap... old? brand new in box.... crap? used from F1 to lemans heavy? not that i need to justify it to that random or anyone but there we go... Huge thanks to Nic at Renault specialist breakers in Accrington, friendly service as always. Next week the wheels will be getting powder coated. Part of me loves the silver and the OEMness but its not what the car is all about. I know they'll look mean as hell in gloss black too, so there we go... the rear is off next week too and new chassis plates are going on before BTM fit the studs and nuts. Missed out on ebay by 50p for a rallyesque battery box, with the cold the race battery is bobbins, it cant hold its charge to save its life, so i'll be getting a clio battery (slightly smaller than the meganes) and running the wiring to the boot floor, thus freeing up some bay space where the new intake will go that i'm having built...
30.05.2012 Think the threads due an update, this ones not got much pics as I have just bought an iphone after losing 2 years of video and pictures on my blackberry for no reason. hatred wasnt the word for that phone, anyhoo.. this might take a while, i dont even know if i can be arsed updating anymore... i'll see how this goes down Just spent an hour writing this for photobucket to delete it all too so to say i'm pissed off is an understatement. This is the last time i'll post with photobucket, flickr from now on.. cars been off the road since september, about 3weeks ago after building up parts all winter I decided to have a go at fixing her. Parts, progress and mods over last few weeks.. * 18" OZ F1s fitted after being powdercoated satin black, rears shod in 235 ContiSport SP3s. * New smaller front plate from FancyPlates fitted. * Rear plastic mouldings sanded and sprayed. * Battery moved from bay to behind pass seat, Negi feed run to chassis point and posi created with a BMW E46 M3 cable, clio battery used. * In car TC switch toggle binned and replaced with 2 LED switches * F1 style rear LED foglight fitted under 3rd rear brakelight, not for road use and totally for my personal enjoyment. * Studs and nut conversion done to front hubs, marked and set in. * Bought a ScangaugeII * The HIDs are removed as they were illegal and frankly looked pap, replaced with E marked 55w Xenon bulbs which give a much more refined and crisper light. * All interior bits missing bolts and flapping have been sorted. * Enginebay dressed and all crap cleared from it, along with metals polished, slightly corroded metals painted matt black and earths set on chassis. Progress to make in next two weeks.. * This saturday the car goes in for MOT, the wiring to the rear seatbelts has been soldered with resistors to kill the fault on the dash. * Sat will also see the rear chassis plates taken off to be replaced with new ones, 99% sure this is whats causing the rear to step under left turning and at high speed. * Badges to be recovered and vinyls replaced. * Droplinks (all 4) and the track rod ends will be getting replaced saturday. * Sideskirts sealed to the underside of the car to remove gaps and stop water ingress. * Rear studs and nuts to go on. * Current gauges to be taken out and scangaugeII fitted. * Mapping as its 'rich as fcuk' at the moment and I cannot afford another engine rebuild. * Find a front archliner as i gave mine to my brother and haven't bought another. * Cover all the exposed metal in regards to the battery. * Pick up driverside window regulator from p@blo. SO pissed i've just lost a big writeup, so sorry if it seems half arsed, to be honest I dont know if i'll keep the thread going, see how the reaction is. Massive thanks to Christopher, Bifcaids, AlexC, Sofaboy and James Bryan for the help yesterday and to Mr Tom Doyle who has been there to watch over me and double check everything i've done so far. Sam@BTM for the studs and nut work too. If anyone is arsed I can get r kid to take some high res quality shots..
03.06.2012 Switched over to flickr now so hoping the pics will be clearer, cleaner and abit more insightful. So... set about sorting some problems on the car yesterday using a friends ramp. really happy with the progress made to be honest. didn't think the car would make it into the garage but after using alot of wood and hopes and dreams she snaked in. IMG_0014 by NaithanAriane, on Flickr IMG_0012 by NaithanAriane, on Flickr all the bits of rust above were powersanded and sprayed to protect it, looks like new underneath now tbh. Had the rear beam off in about 10 mins to bolt the replacement plates in, brake lines off and plugged plus all other ancillaries, licked the underside with protectant whilst i was at it too, so the car now has 100% Phase 2 cup rear end inc roll bar (thinking about it the only thing thats ph1 225 ff is the shell, side and rear windows!) Pulling the rear plates off theres no visible damage but the cushioning ring for the left spring has deteriorated and stretched, showing left to right stress movement, anyhoo we fixed it and replaced it. I then worked my way around the car removing any scum from stickers on the windows and headlights, such a small thing but massive difference. IMG_0039 by NaithanAriane, on Flickr Tom and riad then reckoned they could fix the handbrake, so i left them to it as the missus showed up moaning i hadn't seen her all day, hard to explain the meg handbrake but it failing is a common problem. basically the two cables hook onto a teether under pressure, if one is a little more slack the teether bends until it fails popping it off the cables. To my shock they fixed it and we timed it tight so it only needs two clicks to bite. Onto the other lift we removed all the rivets and connectors for the skirts and remounted them, miles better now and i'll seal them this week with some black sealant i picked up over the winter. i also sprayed my centre caps black (bar one i got stuck testing the fit) no biggy to fix though, having some green oz centres made up to finish them off this week. IMG_0004 by NaithanAriane, on Flickr IMG_0001 by NaithanAriane, on Flickr Also fitted the LED fog light, will take it off today to spray the surround too. The tracking is off on the car and the TRE's are shot so its hard to tell but already on the way home i could turn the car in at speed without the back wobbling. I still cant get over riad wanting to help and then helping, its like he's turned over a new leaf. Or maybe he just wanted to raid my wardrobe last night so was being extra nice lol... So MOT passed, car just needs taxing and a quick blast to BTM for some front work and mapping. IMG_0007 by NaithanAriane, on Flickr IMG_0057 by NaithanAriane, on Flickr Easy... Not like i've left it last minute or anything, again.
09.07.2012 Well... i'll update the last month or so. It might be disjointed and vague as my heads still mashed from it all but I'll give it a go. Before Lemans I got the car all ready engine, battery and lookswise. Obviously we managed to sort the rear out and fit the frankly briliant contisport SC3s... I took the meg to BTM for new trackrod ends, inner steering arms and droplinks to see if it would straighten her up. fred did the work to his usual standard whilst I continued with the decals for france. As soon as i was driving back home I realised something was far from right. It was ok leaving the workshop but the car would wiggle when turning left, and step, to the extent it was almost undrivable. Obviously it needed tracking as wheel was out too, so I put it down to that. Got home and booked into sheltons in manchester for the tracking, wasn't really impressed tbh. he did it but (as i later found) the levels were off and he left me with no printouts or info. horrible feeing when your in a garage and you dont feel welcome. Although whilst there I found out the meg has 2.5 deg of camber driverside with 0.5 pass side, It cant be dialled out either due to lack of top mount options. I left there, drove through trafford park and it gradually got worse again. Meganes have shown a trait with age, the bearing and hubs go. alot of the time the bearing can be regreased, but handling all the power is a tough one for the megs hubs so they tend to go... it may not be the hubs thats failed I thought but I looked into it, and thought it would be a process of elimination effort and managed to source a whole hub from p@blo along with a topmount if the camber issue is related to that and not the hub.. I didnt have time to fit the hub, drove to bham the night before the ferry and dumped the car at freds house, I was distraught, the car was a mess and I would just get in with a mate to travel down to france. Fred took the car out and tested it. Ive never seen someone else really drive the car, so to see and hear it was pretty cool. His reply was something like "its drivable that, just dont nail it, it'll defo get you there and back though''... he then proceded to nail it down some country roads quicker than I had been down the motorway, yeh it'll go to france.... Next morning i stopped off at protyre in warwick. they noticed that sheltons had not done a good job as levels were all over. the lad there sorted the car bar the camber, the rear beam sits really well too, got it to toe out at 0.2 after sheltons had about .5 difference across the front. Whilst fitting the hunter laser bits to the car though i noticed the lad had damaged two of my alloys, I havent contacted the since, However I feel like i should, i was just so stressed about getting to france i let it go at the time... Left protyre, would probably miss the ferry, and the car now runs.... Worse. I just had to laugh, I practically got back on the motorway and the thing was horrible. the steering was still at 2 o clock and when turning left the ESP light would flash, sat thinking about it that makes me think its the hub even more as the sensor is in there but I may be wrong. I basically got my head down, literally tightened my wrists and cracked on. The ferry from Dover left at 12.05, I was 101 miles away at 11am. I made it. Pulled up to park at dover ferry port dressed as lance armstrong then got made to sit in a police van. The breath test came back at 0, the officers told me to enjoy france and drive a little more slowly to which I apologised, tail between my legs and had a bag of doritos. "We've had reports of rallyesque driving through dover, we didnt get a proper description only its a multicoloured car with 83 on the side... it could be you we think. Regardless its not right and you should slow down" will stick with me till the day I die! haha... And yes I was in the wrong and it wont happen again before anyone gets 20p put in them and tries to shout at me. The Journey to France-3 by Riad Ariane, on Flickr The Journey to France-4 by Riad Ariane, on Flickr All the lads were dressed up as we set sale, got to calais and cracked on, in convoy at about 70mph the car was ok, constant pull on the steering and waving about under right turns but you kind of get used to it and live with it. Some of the LM lads are really good to convoy with, we stopped about 3 times on the waydown, i massaged my wrists and we basically cracked on. The Journey to France-9 by Riad Ariane, on Flickr The Journey to France-10 by Riad Ariane, on Flickr Race yah? by Riad Ariane, on Flickr I didnt clean the car once all weekend which is weird for me (i was too engrossed in the race and atmos), the feedback with the thing was just fantastic though, I even laughed at some kn0b at the PH meet telling his friend 'i dont know why he's ruined it, i have a cup and the setup is perfect from factory' RIGHT MATE. Mad Friday-24 by Riad Ariane, on Flickr Mad Friday.... was as good as ever, the french police were alot more relaxed this year. Did the odd burn out, drove the mulsanna again and met up with the PH lads for abit and parked the car till the sunday night, when due to a fcukup on others behalf I had to drive 5 hours to calais sunday night getting there at 3am, then to manchester from dover getting in at 11am after driving from 6.30pm the previous day none stop. but hey ho... Mad Friday-30 by Riad Ariane, on Flickr [video=youtube;LGoqp6nHjy8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGoqp6nHjy8&feature=youtu.be[/video] Mad Friday-32 by Riad Ariane, on Flickr LeMans 24 Hr-18 by Riad Ariane, on Flickr The old girl on the Mulsanne straight by NaithanAriane, on Flickr The MPG for the journey was very good tbh sitting at 29 thats with motorway and obviously the blasting about during mad friday, the engine sang. Obviously it rides horribly at the moment but the car did not miss a beat, was literally perfect. Its developed a lovely pop and bang on downshift blipping too that was no end of fun. Cars going into a friends garage this week to once and for all see whats up with it. We'll pull the front off and strip back to the hub, set the dampers up to a basic level. I've practically done a nickson and replaced everything. 2 new front tyres have been ordered and fingers crossed its not the steering column and is the hub as I have the full assembly sat here waiting to go on. July has seen the A pillars go to Alcantara Austin (pics when they arrive tomorrow), rear floor carpet totally cut out, scangaugeII fitted in dash. front intakes piped up, one OEM xenon projector sourced (now to find the other) August will see track (anglesey im thinking), more additions to the cage and hopefully I can sort a blooming nice bucket out, will need new disks too as they have done a good ol' slog. And of course new mapping, that will be done as soon as the car drives straight. The quest for a normal day with it goes on... oh and thanks to those who helped me as always, you know who you are. x
25.10.2012 For the last 3 winters I've not used the car and its just well, wasted. This year I am being different (scary how cheap trackdays are in dec/jan). The car was suffering from the above problems (for the lazy ones it was basically uncontrollable!) I was at a loose end but p@blo came to the rescue and sold me a new hub, I was about to update when ready to fit... My mate tom had the car up on his ramp and noticed that the lower arm bolt connecting to the hub was bloody finger tight....! I'd already wasted 100 on the cars tracking at this point, P@blo said he'd be happy to take the hub back and I could have a pair of driveshafts off him instead as a straight swap... So all the issues over the year and the trouble in LeMans was due to a loose bolt, thats life hey! Scary to think if that had gone though, well I dont know what would have happened but not thinking about it, Tom has said he'll check the car over after track, long runs so i know its safe hands if not being tinkered with at BTM. Basically bar a few nuts and bolts the only bit that needs sorting on the car. Bought myself a Scangauge 2 that sits where the clocks used to be, seeing realtime figures of what she's upto is great, due to this i've binned the analogue gauges off, water temps, inlets, boost, volts, RPM, the list goes on. Got some bits off the engine back from the powder coaters, waiting on some more as soon as they arrive I'll post it up. RS Meg powder coated parts by NaithanAriane, on Flickr I've replaced the front tyres and now I'm just waiting on fitting the shafts, cant track/align the car till then so its not 100 but took it out this sunday as Riad was doing some filming and wanted to involve it. Its a funny old thing how everything feels better when your car is good/repaired. Think its a petrol head thing but bar all the s**t I'm going through at the moment I was like a kid again. Just needs the shafts on now, mapping and a forge actuator. Oh and finally within the month I 'should' have projector bulbs in the front, wanted them since I bought the heap!!! Also had my A-Pillars done by Alcantara Austin, fantastic work, subtle and a must really if you want a cleaner/classier view forward, highly recommended. Obviously I took it around trafford Park for a spirited jaunt. That corner entry... <3 TDK OCT TP by NaithanAriane, on Flickr So yeh, she wont rot over the winter, the way the seasons are now we dont tend to have a winter nor summer so as long as she's water tight and trickle charged it'll be reete.
29.01.2013 Last few months have been hard, my life has been turned upside down and had to rebuild alot of personal stuff. I feared for my career and indeed car and was ready to break it, theres nothing wrong with the old girl I just didnt know whether i was coming or going and it filtered down into every aspect. However... The car simply gives me too much pleasure. Im having to spend alot of time away from home now and for the foreseeable future as my girlfriend is expecting a baby boy. The car will be getting its own unit and seen as i dont think i'll ever get rid (apart from the fact she's worth nothing now) I can work away at my hearts content in a little lockup/office space area. Over jan I picked up a heat shielded Decat, which I'll never obviously fit as thats highly illegal. hi. Decat by NaithanAriane, on Flickr Bought a single xenon projector a while back, then managed to have nicksons set off him which were alot more built up, they were clouded and not 100% according to him, the OCD in the boy must be on another level as they are literally perfect, only got round to fitting one before close of play and a quick pic after i got the bumper back on shows the state of progress.. Everyone has always said visually the car is 99%, the only thing letting it down has been lack of projectors over the years, well thats obviously not going to be a problem from here on out. a little mod i've waited for years but it makes the car look SO MUCH better, well it will when i fit and buy the xenon bulbs in february. TDK one eye by NaithanAriane, on Flickr Also managed another little mod that most would see as pointless, since i've had the V3s on the one thing that has always pee'd me off is that KW never supplied pin adjusters for the dampers. thanks to to brother Riad I now have pins sat in the holes I cut for the top of the damper, it finishes the look off and gives instant adjustability. I'm opening the DIY scuttle holes more this week though as its a little too tight a fit at the moment. KW adjuster by NaithanAriane, on Flickr Over the next few months i'll be moving the thing, obviously, and having her stripped back to hopefully fit an R26 diff i'm in the process of buying, the decat will go on, with the new driveshafts and i'll finish the wiring for the new Xenons. I've even bought red vinyl replacement stickers and subtle covers for the engine bay which will come spring look very different with a single colour in the bay. Even in stg2 state the poor old blower has slogged its arse off for years so i'm looking into a hybrid turbo to couple to uprated injectors. for once i can take my time and have her finally run/looking like the car I want her to be. There will be updates from here in, just not too often as i'm sorting sh1t out to secure for the future. If anyone would like me to update things like the welding for a battery tray im building or other bits and bobs then I will, I generally dont as it can feel like no-one is interested so why bother, but i will if anyone asks. TDK one eyee-1 by NaithanAriane, on Flickr She'll Rise.
27.03.2013 Excuse lack of progress guys... paternity and the weather being the main culprits. Been buying up bits and bobs and the second the weather turns i'll update, this update is mainly for those researching and who would ever consider retrofitting Xenons to a none xenon'd Ph1 225... In short unless you have mega monies or find a complete unit, dont bother! You need; 2 ballasts. 2 xenon bulbs. 2 ignitors. 2 looms to splice to existing system. Mesane 225 PH1 xenon by NaithanAriane, on Flickr You also need the slam panel mounted self levellers which for now i've not bothered with, although I will when they come up/I can afford them. A lad on megsport was selling the above bar the actual units and looms (I thought he was including the looms too but hey ho) Paid 50 quid for all the above. So for a setup that I can imagine costs hundreds I cant complain even if its just the ballasts that work (As they are meant to be mega money). As I stripped the units down today, the ignitors contact points to the bulbs have corroded a fair bit. Its only when you remove the rubber seal can you see, the pic below shows the burns to the rubber seal and until I connect the lights up in the next few weeks I wont know if they'll even work. As shown below. Megane Ignitors by NaithanAriane, on Flickr So next week or so its a call to Ads @ Renault Wolverhampton to source the looms which aren't meant to be too expensive. Wang it all together and see whats what. All in all its a massive ball ache, but its what happens when you want something your prepared to wait, well I am. Xenon issues by NaithanAriane, on Flickr
And after hours transferring it, it brings me to today, scary. The cars shaped so much of my life and its weird to see it change along with me over the years. I have a little un now and he's amazing, I am however stuck on the other side of Manchester in a complete shithole... The cars not with me but in a totally naith way its only inspired me to push on with it. I ordered the Ph1 Xenon loom from ads yesterday (£150) and it should be at my mums today from Dieppe, i'll fit it tomorrow and then get the car MOT'd... I missing FCS due to having to bloody babysit, and i'd not afford tax before then anyway but just so ya'll know... She still here, i ran her round the block the other day and she's going nowhere. I've even got a new Sabelt taurus XL drivers seat, just not mounted the bugger yet. Hope you've enjoyed the journey.
Just had a spin through all that fella. Good to see where it's come from and how she sits now. Makes me want mine back.
