Ash's 182

[Ash1751]

Might as well name this project slow progress...
So after a month of ownership I finally got around to actually doing something!
How it was after I picked it up @69500 ish miles:

First thing to sort was to put PH/ClioSport stickers on the back, which I'll need to grab a photo of later, once I get another cliosport sticker as I messed up the application of mine as I'm not happy with it being at a slight angle!

So after completing my final exam on friday and with the nice weather I decided to sort out the headlights with some p1200,1500 & 2000 sheets & some scratch x. Not the best photos but anyway.
Before:

After:

Forgot to do a before photo of the second light and so didn't bother with the after. Looks much better now though. Still need to give the whole car a proper clean.

Now a few miles on it's due to get the cambelt/dephaser done on monday at Rentech.
Still to sort is the centring of the exhaust, converting to silvatec bulbs some point next week then service/mot a few months away.
That's it for now!

Ash

 

[Stay Puft]

Good job on the lights mate, need to do mine asap.

 

[Ash1751]

Thanks, might give them a bit more of a go over the next week, as somehow I missed a little bit! Stupidly forgot to put any sealant on too!

 

[Paris 182]

Really good result. This was my first job on mine aswell.

 

[Ash1751]

Today was a sort of success.
Managed to get Silvatec Bulbs in the front and rear. I had planned to take off the front bumper to do the fronts to make it easier, but no matter how much WD40 I put on two of the bolts they weren't having any of it!
Only thing is they don't seem to actually have barely any "orange" light given off which is slightly strange...

Old vs New bulbs:

Rear:

Front:
As you can see lights still need a bit more going over. Also still needs a clean one month on from when I got it!

 

[N4TH4N]

Lights still looking faded is it just me?

 

[Ash1751]

Not as faded as before, but yes they do need another going over

 

[GavC]

Silcervision bulbs are such a fantastic cheap mod [emoji3] What's next?

 

[JoeMarano]

Rear looks awesome.

 

[Ash1751]

What's next? Not much until my next pay cheque or two! Fuel and a wash at some point and that's about it!
I'd like to put Cooksport springs and then maybe turinis or team dynamics wheels on at some point but that's further down the line!

 

[Clio172Powell]

Nice Low mileage too!

 

[Stay Puft]

Definitely turinis mate!

 

[Ash1751]

Yeah I'm leaning towards Turinis I think. Saw a Trophy for the first time today and I did rather admire the wheels!
So today I cleaned up my headlights. Yes, a repeat of above! However this time I actually did them properly, spent more time and them and actually sealed them!
As you can see they weren't the best after last time and they'd also deteriorated a little!

Both done:

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While I was at it I had a little go at the rear numberplate light thingy

Rather proud of myself actually, hopefully they'll last now! :tongueout:
Tomorrow is cleaning day, as you can tell it's not in a great state with half the worlds population of flies and insects stuck to the front, bits of masking tape and other dirt around! Oh and by cleaning day I mean I'm taking it somewhere for them to do it! Lazy I know, but I don't have a bucket....that's my excuse anyway!

Whilst peering under the car (as someone with absolutely no knowledge of anything mechanical and such it was just that!) I noticed that two of the bolt things (technical term I'm sure) holding the heat shield above the exhaust have stayed in place as they should...but the actual tray has come off where the bit holding it on has seemingly gone through leaving it flapping. Any ideas how to rectify this?!

Also on my list of things to do is new numberplates. After a smaller one for the front specifically, but both are rather tired so could do with some fresh new ones!

Enough rambling for now....

 

[Ash1751]

Thought I might as well update this, even though not too much has happened.
Fatty's Induction Kit is the only thing that's actually changed:

besides the door incident: http://www.cliosport.net/threads/door-damage.783460/#post-10908235
which I'm still needing to fix.
Then, as you do after finishing the uni semester with a low bank account, cooksport springs were purchased:

Still need to fit them, which will happen some point in January. Getting spacers too but I haven't got round to purchasing them yet and still a bit undecided about which sizes to get.
Also have the new RS badge to affix to the rear after removing the current ones.
Still need to get the exhaust to sit better too.
Other than that, still enjyoing ownership. Not looking forward to the insurance renewal comping up in March though!

 

[Ash1751]

^^^^Yeah the renewal wasn't fun. 2k down the drain. So in the time I've owned it I've paid more in insurance than the actual cost of the car, but I don't regret it!

So finally months after I bought them cooksports are on:

Also a slight dent in the door where someone decided to open theirs into mine can be seen above, which is great. Also found some paint on the other side the other day. Joys of public parking.

Heading to Le Mans soon so thought I'd better clean it up a little:

Gave the exhaust some shine

and then also brought up the plastic surrounds. No idea if it will last that long but it looks better for now!

Then on Friday I'll be getting dark athracite turini's fitted with some new 205/45/16 Dunlop rubber.

Things left to do: debadge (and rebadge with new RS logo), front splitter and new plates. Then probably other stuff because there's always something else on the list.

 

[Ash1751]

Got new Dunlop 205/45/16 rubber all round and got my dark anthracite Turinis fitted at the same time.

Then gave the windscreen a quick spray and one of my wipers (finally) snapped (had been working it's way loose for a while and the wipers had been on there a while anyway) so have ordered some Bosch Aeroblades.

To do list is still as above, with the addition of TPI wheelbolts!

 

[Clio_fool]

Looking nice mate. How do you find the springs, are they harsh?

 

[dann2707]

Looks mega hot.

 

[JB21]

Looks good mate, can't wait to get a set of cooksprings on mine. How's the car on them?

 

[Ash1751]

Thanks guys.
Springs make the ride slightly harsher but not over the top. Yes you feel potholes and drain covers a bit more before but for driving on normal roads the car handles well and feels pretty well balanced. Haven't had the chance to have much of a go in it yet and has mostly been around Oxford driving slowly in traffic so can't comment on it too much! Also may be better if you have newer dampers maybe (mine have been on the car for 77k now) but who knows.
Also since fitting the springs there has been more tyre noise at the rear. Me and @optical (well mostly Gus) had a look at it the other day. There's no tyre rub and the bearings were fine, only slight rubbing from the rear pads on the disc but this doesn't sound like the noise either so I'm a bit stumped as to what it could be at the moment. Other than the noise there's no noticeable ill effects of it!

 

[Gus]

Forgot to say the other day but this place is great for the parking dent removals http://www.oxforddentcompany.co.uk/ they come out to you and remove dents and are cheap , if its only the one or two little door dents then its £25 ish but he did a load of them on my car £60 the other day and you cannot see them after.

 

[Ash1751]

Spot of debadging and rebadging today. The pins behind the Clio bit were a pain to get but got there eventually.

 

[Ash1751]

Then the least interesting of updates, new wipers resolving the current snapped one which was temporarily held in place with some tape!

And since I'm off to Le Mans on thursday:

 

[Ash1751]

Project slow continues:
Oil and oil filter change done today with a lot of help once again from @optical glad it was done as the oil level was on the low side and was overdue a change.

^That was about the sum of my contribution to the work, not really knowing which bits to take off otherwise!
Annoyingly the engine cover bolts (and the fuel rail guard for that matter) bolts were extremely tight making them difficult to get off and impossible in the case of the enginer cover. This resulted in the cover cracking when replacing the fuel rail guard so a new one of those will be needed at some point when the old one can actually be taken off!
After that was done we chucked it up on the ramps to get a skoda splitter fitted that I've had sitting in a box for a while

^I actually did some work this time to get some screws in, definitely could of done with an electric screwdriver to make them easier to get in though!

The darkness of the rubber exaggerates the grey/blue that the grill has become so definitely need to get that sprayed to a darker colour again. New plates are also still on the agenda. The more I look at them the more I dislike the washer jets so I'm putting washer blanks onto the list to do at some point, I'm undecided whether to do them in Titanium silver or as a carbon fibre finish as of yet. But knowing me that's probably months down the line anyway!

 

[Ash1751]

So despite all the things I currently have on my to do list, I've done something that wasn't actually on there...
I got a rstuner and the 98ron map!

Probably the easiest thing I've done so far! Actually, now I see why I did it!
So decided I needed a proper list of stuff to do, not just random bit at the end of other posts, maybe I'll actually get something done this way...

• New Plates
• Remove door dent
• Paint front grill
• Washer blanks
• Re do the front headlights - starting to fade again
• Cree Sidelights - Why I shouldn't look at others project threads as I just keep adding things...thanks Dr Jekyll...
• Brake/Brake line upgrade - planning on doing some track days next year
• Spacers? - Undecided on this for now
• TPI Wheel bolts - Probably the lowest priority due to questioning if I actually need to do this on a student budget!
• Gearbox oil change
• Probably something else, because there's always something else!

 

[Jekyll]

Your welcome!

Car looks loosely and clean BTW

 

[Ash1751]

Spent a lot more than I expected to on it, but oh well!
Thanks!

 

[Ash1751]

Cree sidelights done! A bit difficult to get out on the drivers side but otherwise easy!

Difference between the two

Not exactly the best photos in daylight but still! Highlights the need to go over the headlights again unfortunately!

 

[Ash1751]

Took it to Silverstone for the Pistonheads Sunday Service, probably one of the dirtiest cars there with no time to clean it beforehand! Definitely want to do a few track days next year so definitely looking at brake upgrades over the winter.

 

[Clio_fool]

Mixing with good company there mate. [emoji106]

 

[Ash1751]

Indeed. So much want for a GT3 RS!

 

[Ash1751]

I'm beginning to learn that if you're doing anything on a car it involves some issue and or injury to hands. Today was no different.
So I'd ordered new plates and thought fitting them would take about 2 minutes, which I may well have done if it wasn't for:

A screw which was no longer a screw. Ended up spinning the number plate around and then the screw snapped out!
Then this mess:

Old adhesive was quite happy where it was, despite tar remover and nothing to actually scrape it off with I eventually got through it by destroying my nails....

But I got there, now I just need to do the same with the rear plate...another time!

I've also got these lying around:

I decided on the carbon fibre ones after much indecision. However the last time I tried to remove the bumper there was another screw which didn't want to come out/over tightened (which seems a common theme for most of them on my car, annoyingly) and I gave up, so I look forward to tackling that at some point.

 

[GavC]

Love to see someone turning round a car for the better :blush: I'm eager to see photos of the carbon fibre washer blanks fitted, they look very cool!

 

[Ash1751]

Thanks! Yeah I'm hoping they don't stand out too much, but my theory is that the current washers are black and of a similar size they should go reasonably well. Else I may get a black badge cover for the Renault diamond but we'll see when I eventually fit them. Emphasis on the eventually! Otherwise may end up getting some more blank washers and get them sprayed, but hopefully I won't need to go down that route.

 

[Ash1751]

Soooo, the washer blanks still aren't fitted!
But the seatbelts are now clean at least!

Also having fun with an exhaust hanger at the moment which isn't budging. Rubber inside has collapsed so needs changing

 

[Jekyll]

Did you use vanish?

 

[Grier]

lucky you didn't knock the bucket over

 

[leedsboy]

Should have undone the bolt on the arm thingy that holds the bottom of the belt in place so you could have got that in the bucket too.

 

[MrBlonde]

What do you think of the rstuner map mate?,as this is what im thinking of doing next on mine or going to engine dynamics and getting a custom map by them on the rollers for a bit more cash.

 

[imprezaworks]

Do the latter