Tim's Forged LY R26

Better start a project thread!

I've had my R26 for 2 years 8 months now and covered over 41k miles in that time.

I bought the R26 in November 2010 mainly because I'd run my Monaco into the ground. It had a healthy appetite for oil drinking over a litre per 1000 miles, so basically in 35k miles and 3.5 years I had managed to kill it. It even spat oil out on Matt@TDF's rolling road

I'd enjoyed using it on the Renaultsport trackdays with the R26's being the only cars faster so decided to buy one for myself.

Oulton Park Renaultsport trackday


April 2010 (probably looking at it's best)


Final spec of my 172 was:
JMS remap
JMS induction kit
JMS matched inlets
Ktec stealth exhaust
Silenced decat
VMaxx coilovers
Ktec uprated engine mounts
DS2500 front and rear pads
Tarox G88 grooved front discs
Goodridge brake lines
Cup spoiler, 307 splitter and Mazda 3 Mps aerial
OZ F1 wheels with R888s

Problems when I traded it in for £1800 were:
Oil leaks from bottom end and rocker cover (drank 10 litres in last 12 months)
Oil leak from the gearbox
Dephaser rattling
Exhaust blowing from the Cat to exhaust gasket
Laquer peeling on bonnet and front bumper
Wheels kerbed
Xenon lights clouded up and condensation inside
Aircon not working as radiator leaking
Brake pads very low
Rear shocks leaking
Rear numberplate light didn't work
Boot didn't look
Seat didn't match as one had blue Renaultsport writing and other silver

As you can see from that list of problems I did well to get £1800 for trade in and the mods sold for over a grand.

I looked at a two standard R26's both up for £10k, a 2007 Ultra Red 07 plate and a 2007 Liquid Yellow 57 plate. Decided on the LY as it was same price, lower mileage 27k versus 34k, 6 months younger still in warranty and most importantly had xenon lights which were an optional extra.

It was a two hour drive to see the LY up in Lichfield just off the M6 toll but worth it. It drove superbly so much quicker and more refined than the 172. Part of me wanted to keep the 172 but the problems meant it had to go and I was happy with the trade in value. It was almost due it's 3 year service so got a hundred quid off the price and put a £500 deposit down straight away.

Pictures from the advert














I collected the car the following Saturday on 27th November (bit sad I remember dates like that tbh). It drove great on the way home, tried out the power on the M6 Toll getting well into three figures and handled well on the B road to village were I live.

I'll post more up tomorrow evening, my project thread on Cliosport is a bit fragmented so I'll try to get everything in order this time.

 

Thought I'd better post some updates....

I hadn't bothered to update this thread as I fell out of love with the car. I did consider selling for a new car but decided instead to make my R26 into a "new" car.


You'll probably read this and think I've gone a bit crazy (and I'd partly agree with you)

Alloys were annoying me so last December I fitted my spare alloy (which was brand new) and three brand new alloys bought from Adam @ Renault Wolverhampton





Rear calliper seized a few days later so needed new offside rear calliper, R26 discs and brembo pads as well!







In March the front brakes needed doing. I had been running Tarox F2000 grooved discs but didn't fancy paying £250 for a set so went with Brembo HC discs and DS2500 pads from G 172 on Cliosport.








I then decided to do a full suspension refresh in April as it was a bit tired approaching 90k and also I was going on a Nurburgring trip.


Cooksport springs, R26 dampers, new top mounts, and new drop links were purchased.










I'm pleased with how the car sits on the Cooksports and they really work well with the new R26 suspension.




In April I went to the Ring for first time.


Trip was good but autobahn highlighted that the engine is tired as it struggled to do 150mph when it used to easily do 160mph and still be pulling.





The car performed well on the Ring and did 6 laps with best in low 9 minute region.


Best I filmed was 9 minute 26 seconds while having to slow for yellow flags for part of the lap.





I purchased a new ITG filter rated for more power in June so I can alternate filters. Main reason being for convenience as that it takes a while to clean the filter properly.







June was also the trip to Le Mans 24 hour race. Car worked perfectly and didn't go into limp mode this time.







A few weeks ago 4th gear went on my gearbox.


The DMF and R26 clutch is being replaced with RS Tuning SMF and R26r clutch.







I then decided it was the ideal opportunity to drop the tired engine and replace it with a brand new forged F4Rt engine.


Brand new engine purchased from Fred@BTM. It's never even been run so really pleased with my purchase.












Parts for the forge build purchased.











Coolant hoses I purchased June 2013



I've sprayed the block black and rocker cover, inlet etc are off being powder coated in 9007 Grey Aluminium by Tadley Powder Coatings.



Agency Transmissions have since diagnosed that it needs new 4th and 5th gears so it's going to be more expensive than I anticipated with rebuild costing £750.


Gearbox is due to be finished by Tuesday so hopefully I'll be able to start running the engine in towards end of next week.


Engine is being built by A Welsh Motors Ltd in Basingstoke which is run by a friend of mine.




Spec is going to be as follows:


Brand new F4Rt engine
Hybrid turbo
Wossner 82.7mm pistons
PEC rods
ARP bolts
Supetech valves
Clio headgasket for 8.5:1 compression ratio
Forge coolant hoses with Evans Waterless Coolant
RS Tuning SMF
R26r clutch
3" decat


and car already has:


3" Ktec exhaust
630cc injectors
Forge hardpipe kit
Forge intercooler, actuator and recirc valve
ITG induction kit (with uprated filter)



Plan is for it to be running 330 to 350bhp.

 

Powdercoated parts are back, pleased with the finish, colour is RAL 9007 Grey Aluminium and has a slight metallic effect which is good.






















Supertech valves in the new head. Sorry for the blurry pic.







Rods and pistons ready to go in the block.

 

I collected the gearbox from Agency Transmissions on Thursday 4th September on my way to Birmingham for a meeting.

Work paid for the mileage and saved on courier cost so win win



Safe to say I properly smashed the gearbox up. Maybe I should learn to heel and toe.... some mechanical sympathy etc


One of the oil rings snagged and needed to be replaced and the new rings took two weeks to be delivered so it's be a bit frustrating to say the least!

Popped into the garage to check on progress and the engine is now built up.



New 3" decat from RSTuning to replace the 2.75" Miltek


RS Tuning SMF Flywheel looks great as well


Gearbox waiting to be fitted

 

Visited Merlin Motorsport and ended up buying a 1litre Mocal catch tank, ITG breather filter and Odyssey race battery.

 

Engine and gearbox in the car.







There was an issue with it getting spark so it only fired up briefly but it did sound good!

 

Some more photos

 

First run didn't go well as the rebuilt gearbox was still f**ked!

It was rattling when not under load, same noise as when I stopped driving it.

Gearbox went back at Agency Transmissions and they've now found that one of the teeth on the pinion was damaged. Bit annoyed it wasn't noticed the first time.

Turbo was sent to CR Turbos to be hybrid'd last week.

 

Got my hybrid turbo back from CR Turbos yesterday.











Gearbox and turbo will be fitted on Tuesday.

 

I stripped down the old engine this morning.

Oil has been leaking from the oil breather and rocker cover.


Started by removing the cam belt, you can see there was oil on the tensioner and cam belt cover.


Removed the oil breather and rocker cover




Cylinder head removed


Bores look ok and you can still see honing marks.


Then flipped the engine over to remove the sump and discovered this. Oil pickup was blocked with what appeared to be gasket sealant.


Cleaned the pistons and upon inspection two were cracked. One with a large piece missing, not sure were that went or which cylinder as there is no obvious damage to the bore!




The other two pistons were in good condition and all the rods were all straight (surprisingly considering it ran 330lbft for a long time).

I guess the oil pickup blockage has been starving the engine of oil causing the piston damage and the excessive oil consumption.

I'm definitely glad I've got the new engine now as it looks like I was lucky the engine didn't blow up!

 

Thanks for the comments.

Hopefully the gearbox is sorted now and it'll be running this week.

 

Cheers

Thanks Naith, got the injectors waiting for you.

Thinking of organising a drive Sunday morning if you're about.

Going to pick up the box tomorrow and order the blue springs.

Anyone know if it's safe to fit the blue springs before it's remapped. Thinking it'll be easier to change the springs before I refit the hybrid.

RS Tuning have proved 630cc injectors can flow 400bhp it's rest of engine that's the limiting factor http://www.meganesport.net/community/showthread.php?51359-408hp-R26.R!&p=593015

I agree though as I doubt it'll make 350bhp!

 

Ok mate, will do!

 

Thanks I'll do that then.

 

Update

Finally got the car back on Wednesday 90 days after it went into the garage

The engine is running well, feels strong and sounds the great as well, 275 miles have been completed so far with no issues engine or gearbox wise. The running in oil has been changed on first start, 25 miles, 125 miles, and next change will be at 325 miles then at 525 miles on to Millers Nanodrive which I bought from Opie Oils this week.






I have been keeping the revs below 3k but after 250 miles I did one half throttle pull in 6th to 4k rpm. It felt like it wants to just pull and pull, it's quite an event now almost deafening! I'm really looking forward to getting it mapped at RS Tuning on Wednesday 19th November so I can drive it properly again!


This is how the engine bay looks at the moment and a pic of the hybrid turbo.




Odyssey battery is cable tied in at moment but I've bought this holder for it. Going to mount the Mocal catch tank on it, weld it to the battery tray and get it powdercoated black. I'm also going to get all the black plastics carbon dipped as it looks great on my friends Type R.



Also purchased a stud conversion kit from Ktec which I'll fit next weekend.



And a GoPro so I'll get some video of the noise it makes up some point.

 

Yes, it's a lot lighter and starts engine with ease. Only issue is I'm getting a low battery warning even though the battery and alternator appear to be fine.

I'm hoping for around 330bhp.

 

Not much of an update but...


Almost up to 325 miles now so it will be going in for it's last lot of running in oil tomorrow.


Tonight I took it through the gears up to 5k rpm for the first time. The thing just flys now, so much quicker already and power delivery is so smooth it's unbelievable. I think it might even accelerate quicker now using only 5k than it was before flat out!


It doesn't even feel like it needs a remap which surprised me as I wasn't expecting much difference at the moment. It might just be highlighting how tired the old engine was with it making only 265bhp and less than 300lbft.


Now I've explored the rev range a bit more I can notice the lightened flywheel. It makes a massive difference as you can feel it wants to rev much faster now. I'd recommend it to anyone that needs a new clutch or dmf (not worth the expense otherwise imo). The R26r clutch doesn't feel much different to standard clutch so no downsides to that upgrade either.


Hopefully this weekend I'll get the stud kit fitted and it'll be detailed professionally if his dent guy is available so expect some decent pictures

 

Update

Back in November I had a disappointing trip to RS Tuning where we discovered the timing was out, cam cover sealed with wrong type of sealant and a few other niggles like a leaking water pump.


The car went back to the garage the following week for the cam cover to be resealed, timing corrected and other problems sorted. I also had the original R26 cams from the old engine put back in which turned out to be different from the cams which came with the new engine. We didn't fit them originally because I was told by a Renault specialist the cams in my new engine were the same and the old engine hadn't been dismantled.


I headed to Surrey Rolling Road at the end of November to see what it was making.





Slightly better than the 237bhp at RS Tuning but still not good. Emailed the graphs to Paul and he responded saying something still doesn't look right.


This left me stuck really as I wanted to get the car checked over by either Dan@SJM or Rentech but I was so busy at work in December wasn't able to take any time off.


It then suffered a major electrical failure just before Christmas, at this point I feared the R26 would never see it's true potential


Some members on here suggested I should burn it but I had already spent more than the value of the car at this point so it was a case of fix it whatever the cost.


The problem was causing the doors to constantly lock/unlock, rev counter and speedo not to work, radiator fan to constantly run on high speed. Dash was showing Braking Fault, Steering Fault warning, Check ESP, and STOP. ABS and power steering wouldn't work sometimes as well which was fun fighting against. Then to turn off the engine I had to stall it and then disconnect the battery to turn off the lights and radiator fan.


Renault replaced the UPC fuse computer which fixed the problem until I washed the car. The car went back to the garage that built the engine and he discovered a pin on the ecu plug was bent (probably my fault when I fitted the Odyssey battery). This seemed to fix the problem and the car was fine over the Christmas break.


Then in January I was driving up a very wet M3 motorway and the problem came back :mad:


I decided to take it back to Renault as they replaced the UPC and they gave me a quote of £180 to check the wiring etc to diagnose the problem. The wiring was all ok and they diagnosed that the alternator was causing voltage spikes which was interfering with the UPC. The alternator was then replaced (which in a way I was happy about as at least it now matches the new engine lol) at a cost of £600 including the £180 diagnosis.


During replacing the alternator Renault discovered that the water pump was leaking which pissed me off as that was one of the problems the garage was supposed to fix back in November!!


The new alternator solved the electrical failure but the car was still giving an alternator fault code and Check ESP when driven so they ended up getting Renault UK Technical involved who tried and failed to solve it. They tried a new battery, spark plugs, coil packs etc but nothing would clear the faults. It was then referred on to Renault France but they washed their hands of it as they could tell from the injector readings it has been remapped.


This was now the end of January and the car had been with Renault for two weeks. We decided as there was nothing else they could do that I should take it away and see what happens.


Since then the Check ESP comes on occasionally under high load but no more electrical problems.


Fast forward to this week I booked it in with the garage to replace the water pump under warranty. As I wasn't confident in their ability to time the engine correctly (despite seeing the horseshoe tool slotted into the cams) I decided to book it in with Rentech in Portsmouth on Thursday to check the timing. Long story short they discovered the timing was out again (looked the same as at RS Tuning) and corrected it.


Driving home I decided to go the cross country route from Portsmouth to Basingstoke to test it out and I could tell there was a bit more top end.


This morning I went to Surrey Rolling Road to see if the Rentech correcting the timing had actually made any difference.





Nice to see it bang in a 294 first run :cool:





Here are the graphs:


294bhp and 325lbft at the flywheel



AFR's not too bad considering it's running a forged engine and hybrid turbo on just a 630cc injector base map



245bhp at the wheels so almost as much as the flywheel figure when the timing was out.



Comparison to the old engine and replacement turbo on the 630cc base map.





I'm just glad that I have finally got a car with a healthy engine and turbo for the first time since 2012!


It's been a long and expensive journey but hopefully it'll come to a good conclusion on Friday 6th March at RS Tuning.

 

Thanks Steve, hopefully see you on track soon.

I think they've been locking the crank in the wrong position. They've got the correct tools so only explanation I can think of.

 

Cheers Greg

Think that's what they've been caught out by. Yes, standard cams.

Thanks Will.

Mapping next month then off to the Ring for long weekend in April.

I'm not naming them as my friend is the owner. He's a VAG specialist so not used to timing F4R engines.

 

No, not Portsmouth based.