After purchasing every new used car, there are things we want to change, improve and maintain. In this way I would like to record everything that happens to my Megane R26. This to help myself and others in the future. The car itself was quite ok, but still needed some improvements here and there. The first thing I noticed was the high seating position in the car. This was the first thing I wanted to tackle. Because I would like to keep the Recaros, I started asking around about the options for lowering the seats. Then I came across a guy in the UK who makes frames for various car brands to lower the seats. Unfortunately, his company escapes me, because I can certainly recommend it to everyone Here they are, seriously much lower than original. When disassembling the seats, a strange bag was found hidden away Everything fit perfectly with these brackets, only the lever to move the seat forward or back needs some adjustment. The original height. After installation. Very happy with the result. This immediately gives me a much better feeling of the car when I drive it. I haven't lowered the passenger side yet, but I do have the supports ready for this.
Next was trying to register the car for Belgian roads. Here in Belgium they are extremely strict, there were problems with certain papers and a sticker in the door handle that was unreadable. I was able to obtain a new sticker via Renault in Belgium. During the homoligation inspection they found that the CO emissions were not good. This could be correct because it has a Miltek exhaust without a cat. She also did not approve the exhaust and it had to be original from Renault. So I had to look for an original CAT and exhaust. Here is a photo of the R26 next to the Clio 4 Endurance on which I do all the maintenance work for the Belcar series.
After finding an original CAT of a 265 locally (These also fit an R26) and an original exhaust, thanks to Veban motorsport. these could be installed. As you already know, installing a CAT on an R26 is not a job that you can do quickly. To do this, the drive shaft and suspension must be removed from the right side. Because the car had "already" run 120k km and the suspension had to be partly removed, I made the decision to replace the wheel bearings, wishbones and swivel bearings the first time. Here we go. 265 Cat mounted. very little space. But by removing the drive shaft and tilt support at the bottom it worked just fine. I ordered all the pieces from RSdynamics. Very fast delivery and quality. I ordered the wheel bearings from the Renault dealer. Pure motorsport studs. New original wishbones where I have inserted powerflex rubbers. New drive shaft bearing (preventive maintenance). back on his own feet. It is good to report that the car had 4 new Renault Cup dampers with Eibach springs when purchased. As well as new top bearings.
In the meantime, the car has finally passed the strict inspection! The next thing I wanted to tackle is the front bumper and hood. The front bumper had damage at the bottom and the hood had a lot of stone chips. The front bumper had been poorly repaired in the past. I could no longer repair this properly. Looking for a second hand bumper. A week later I found a second-hand bumper, back at Veban Motorsport. After a few hours of sanding, the primer could be applied. Here I chose to spray wet on wet. This is a primer that does not need to be sanded and is ready for the basic paint after a 15 minute flash-off time at 21 degrees. A full layer of ultra red and 2 layers of varnish later we arrived at this result. Very happy with the result. I had the paint measured. Glad I did this because I hardly notice any color difference. This was it for a while. I will come back later with further updates to the car. Thanks to everyone for reading this far
During the holidays I still had some time to work on the r26. When installing the new RS240 exhaust, I noticed that I was missing a bracket on the rear bumper. Found this second hand. I also applied the R26 stickers. Very happy with the result, it makes the ultra red color stand out very nicely! what do you think ? Without or with stickers?
Update, Already 3 months since my last post. In the meantime, a lot has been improved and replaced. Have the brake calipers completely overhauled. This with anodized pistons at the front. Brembo HC discs at the front and Renault sport discs at the rear. RPF 660 braided brake lines and DS2500 on all 4 corners
The car was also purchased with a questionable stage 1 tune. I visited (henk) fastchip for this. Beautiful healthy results. -stock CAT. -Rs240 catback 3inch -Ktec air filter Nice curve. the outcome is measured on the wheels.
After all this it was time to do the first Ring trip of the year. Bad weather didn't make this the perfect trip, but I was still able to ride dry for a few laps. And also spotted some R26s. The black person from here?
