Albi R27 452/500 (UPDATE 09.01.2013)

[jmaxphotography]

So here’s the story so far with my Albi Blue R27…


This is one of the images the Honda dealer in Liverpool had on their website while advertising the car.

I made the trip over to Liverpool to pick up my new motor at the start of December once a deal had been agreed in principle over the phone.


This is it while sitting in Holyhead (with little over 18,500 miles on the clock) while waiting for the boat back to Dublin (The easier route for us to cross the Irish sea).

In daylight at home the next day.

Shortly after arriving home I booked the car in to have the belts and water pump changed, as I knew this had not been done. I took it to Shelbourne motors as they were the best priced to do the work.


I’ve only had a couple of other problems with the car so far, the first one being what appears to be water marks on the stickers, but no matter what I do I can’t seem to shift them.

The second problem is the skin of the driver side Recaro is coming away around the bolster area. Again this hasn’t yet been sorted, but I’m sure it won’t be hard to do once I get around to it.

I ordered myself some Team Heko wind deflectors from JJ Automotive through eBay and they eventually arrived with me (after some messing about with Parcel Force) . When I opened them I was greeted with this…

I promptly got onto Jan from JJ Automotive and she agreed to send me out a replacement wind deflector free to charge.


Before

After

The Clio getting its Boxing day bath.


Before

After

At present I'm waiting to get the paper work back from the DVLNI to confirm my cherished plate has been transferred over, and a few other purchases to arrive in the post that will hopefully help to freshen the cat up.


The car currently has little over 19,000 miles on the clock and I can’t wait for the weather to pick up a bit so I can get to spend a bit more time cleaning and tidying up around it.


John

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 05.01.2013


Yesterday I received one of my eBay purchases in the mail.

I’ve now fitted it to the car but I’m not 100% sure if I like it or not.

Today the postman brought yet more of my many purchases I made over the Christmas period. I was never a fan of the standard grey clio mats that came in the 197, I felt they always looked out of place and cheap compared to the rest of the car.

I had contemplated going for the silver 197 or yellow 200 Renault sport mats but I just couldn’t justify the near £50 price tag on them. When looking through eBay I stumbled across these Renault mats that are just plain black and I think they suit the car perfectly.

John

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 08.01.2013


Delivery of some detailing products from Elite Car Care. Meguiar's Tyre Dressing Applicator Pad and Valet PRO Soft Wash & Detailing Brushes for dressing the plastic grills on the F1.

John

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 09.01.2013


So this is what the postman brought in todays mail…


Time to get the car smelling nice with a choice of California Scents.

Which one to choose first?


John

 

[Knuckles]

Cherry is epic!

i love Albi blue, good purchase mate :approve:

ive been told those watermarks on the decals are traffic film remover that stain them and sadly means new decals

 

[jmaxphotography]

Thanks very much, red was my first choice in a 197 but then this R27 appeared and I just had to have it.

i've played around with the sticker problem a bit and have managed to reduce the white spots, will post pictures later.

 

[Adam.P]

White spots should go away with some form of trim restorer. I've got some Poorboys which seems to work a treat on them.

Nice purchase though, albi looks awesome.

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

Very nice John! Love albi!

 

[jmaxphotography]

Thanks very much for the feedback guys.

@Adam.P I've managed to sort the stickers, hopefully.

 

[jmaxphotography]

Re: Albi R27 452/500 (UPDATE 11.01.2013)

UPDATE 11.01.2013


So today saw the postman bringing yet more goodies for the R27, this time in the form of LED’s to replace the interior, glove box, boot, splash and number plate lights.

I’ve fitted the interior and slash lights so far and I’m over the moon with them. Pictures to follow.


As you can see from the pictures below I have managed to reduce the white spots on the stickers. After plenty of searching someone suggested that I try and use Autoglym Fast Glass and a scrubbing brush on them. I tried this and then applied a cost of Auto Finesse Revive and all appears to be fine so far, so fingers crossed.

Today also saw me getting my new Pioneer DEH-X9500 Bluetooth head unit fitted.


Before

I decided to go for this head unit because it had the built in Bluetooth as I felt there was no where to really mount the Parrott 3200 Bluetooth kid I already owned that would look passable. As you can see I have also fitted the Megane surround, which is painted silver to match in with the surround on the climate control.


After

Also the paperwork finally came through allowing me to put my cherished plate onto the R27, I think you’ll agree it looks great on the car.

I’d love to hear what you think of everything I’ve done to the car so far, and also if you have any questions please feel free to ask away.


John

 

[Lawro]

That's lovely.. The R27 looks great in that colour and the decals look much better.

 

[Zorr]

Re: Albi R27 452/500 (UPDATE 11.01.2013)

UPDATE 11.01.2013


So today saw the postman bringing yet more goodies for the R27, this time in the form of LED’s to replace the interior, glove box, boot, splash and number plate lights.

I’ve fitted the interior and slash lights so far and I’m over the moon with them. Pictures to follow.

John

Considering this as well will subscribe the thread to see the effect in the dark.

 

[jmaxphotography]

Re: Albi R27 452/500 (UPDATE 11.01.2013)

Thanks very much guys.

Considering this as well will subscribe the thread to see the effect in the dark.

Will get photos of the car in the dark at some stage over the weekend hopefully.

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 12.01.2013

Today saw the postman bringing yet another delivery for the Clio (yes I am struggling to keep track of everything I’ve bought for it). This time he brought with him black wheel nuts.

I’m not sure what to do about the lock nut. I know McGard do a black lock nut, but I really don’t want to pay the stupid amount their wanting for them.

John

 

[Knuckles]

What does your plate mean?

i think you should push 202bhp out of the engine

how much did the wheel bolts set you back mate?

 

[jmaxphotography]

What does your plate mean?

how much did the wheel bolts set you back mate?

The plate doesn't mean anything in particular, it was just a nice 3 + 3 plate I bought years ago. As for the 202bhp, we'll see what the future holds

The bolts were abut £30 delivered off eBay. I thought they were coming from a company in England but turns out they actually came from a place about 20miles from me here in Northern Ireland.

 

[StevenMc29]

Lovely motor! Nice 3 digit reg too

 

[JaredHasNoBrain]

Omfg that Is just stunning, I love that colour so much
Just amazing! Either that car next or a 225 hopefully same colour!

 

[jmaxphotography]

Lovely motor! Nice 3 digit reg too

Thanks very much, bought it years ago. Thought it was better to have a nice 3 + 3 than a cheap personalised plate.

Omfg that Is just stunning, I love that colour so much
Just amazing! Either that car next or a 225 hopefully same colour!

Thanks very much. I've fallen in love with the colour myself, on a sunny day it is absolutely stunning.

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 13.01.2013


This morning saw me making a trip to somewhere I absolutely hate, Halfords. But it was a trip that had to be made; as I had to buy myself new mini blade fuses so I can replace the one that had blown while changing the number plate lights.

Always a nice way to start of a Sunday morning.


John

 

[Dan...]

Have you got a link to the LEDS? All the LEDSi buy to replace with my standard numberplate bulbs never work -.- ...

 

[jmaxphotography]

I got them from a trader on another clio forum.

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 17.01.2013


Yesterday saw another big decision being made.


I had a bit of money left from buying the car and I decided instead of spending in on something stupid that I would be sensible and buy a set of front tyres with it.


So the question came around, which tyres to replace the existing Continental Sport Contact 5’s with?


So I decided to not rock the boat and to just stick with Continental Sport Contact 5’s again as I haven’t been able to fault them so far.


So even though the tyres on the car don’t need changed just yet I now have a spare set for when the rubber on the car needs changed.

This morning I was at a bit of a loose end and the weather wasn’t really that great so couldn’t justify washing the car yet again, so instead I decided to grease the wheel nuts on the car as I could nearly guarantee it had never been done.

John

 

[bmh.01]

You don't grease wheel bolts, or anything that should be torqued and you want to stay done up for that matter of fact.

 

[jmaxphotography]

You don't grease wheel bolts, or anything that should be torqued and you want to stay done up for that matter of fact.

You grease them to stop them seizing FACT!

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 21.01.2013


So while I was replacing the standard 501 bulbs on the car for led bulbs I managed to do this.

So I went onto eBay to see if I could find a replacement and lucky enough I stumbled across one. Its arrived in this mornings post and I was happily surprised to see it was brand new and still in the original packaging.

This time around I took special care to remove the clear lens part of the light, as I really didn’t want to risk breaking another one.

Also in this mornings post was my touch up paint which I had ordered from The Scratch Doctor.

Due to the weather I haven’t had a chance to try it out and see how close the colour match is, but I will let you all know once I have tested the paint.


John

 

[Nyall]

Nice, I wasn't a massive fan of Albi Blue but seeing it on your 197, clean, it looks pretty tidy!

You do love eBay haha

 

[jmaxphotography]

Nice, I wasn't a massive fan of Albi Blue but seeing it on your 197, clean, it looks pretty tidy!

You do love eBay haha

Thanks very much. Yea I love eBay for finding all the small bits and pieces for my car. The bonus of it is that you don't have to pay the stupid prices dealers ask for stuff.

 

[chris-182]

love this colour, looks like you will be taking good care of it!

 

[jmaxphotography]

love this colour, looks like you will be taking good care of it!

Thanks Chris. Yea its going to be treated like it deserves to be.

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 27.01.2013


So while changing the glove box light bulb to a new LED blub I managed to blow the fuse. Of course Renault being Renault didn’t make it easy to access this bulb. In the fuse panel below the glove box this is one of the top two fuses, which just happens to be inaccessible through the hatch. I was stressing out about how I would get it sorted as not only had it stopped all interior lights working, but it had also stopped the rear wiper from working (yes I know, typical French wiring).


I them found a post online telling me to do the following:


Remove the trim to the left of the steering wheel.

Pull the panel away from the dash.

And there you have it, access to the fuses.

Fuse changed, everything was working again.


Highlight of my weekend was getting the R27 up to 37.3mpg. This is the highest I’ve managed to get since picking the car up at the start of December.

Yesterday the postman brought me yet another parcel. This time it was some Philips Silver Vision indicator bulbs.

Onto the fitting…


Before

After

While having the glove box out to fix the cable you my iPhone to the head unit I also thought I would try and fix the annoying rattling that sometimes comes from the glove box. I read somewhere that the rattling was being caused by glovebox vibrating against the metal bracket which it clips into.

So I added some padding to the clip on the back of the glove box.

I guess only time will tell if its worked or not.


John

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 03.02.2013


So I woke up to a lovely day yesterday morning and thought I would set about changing the sidelight bulbs in the car to leds.


Standard

Purchased through eBay I decided I would go for the same type of bulb that I had used for the interior lights as the 5 leds would give off more light than just a single led.


LED

I think that me done with the modifying and changing parts at the moment as I'm more than happy with the car in its present state. No all I have to do is maintain it with a high level of care and best of all drive it.


John

 

[Knuckles]

Looking good. Was that a bumper off job?

 

[jmaxphotography]

Looking good. Was that a bumper off job?

Nah I was able to get in enough to get a hold of the bulb holders to pull them out. Just had to take the cover off the batter and the fuse box to the front of it.

 

[Knuckles]

Ah, I'll give that a go, whack some night pics up, I may buy those LEDs you have

 

[jmaxphotography]

Ah, I'll give that a go, whack some night pics up, I may buy those LEDs you have

Yea will do, need to get some good night interior pics done too.

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 05.02.2013


For some reason I don't think the car will be going anywhere today. Always nice to wake up to a layer of snow on the car.

John

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 16.02.2013


So things have been a bit quiet recently with any progression on the R27. I'm mainly just been enjoying driving it.


Recently though I've managed to get the average mpg to show this.

So I'm a happy chappy on that front.


Today saw another purchase arrive in the post. With deciding to sell my black wheel nuts I was contemplating just painting the standard nuts, but then I was trawling through eBay and stumbled across these.

I they actually work really well with the colour of the wheels.

John

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 18.02.2013


So as I said in the first post when I purchased the R27 the skin of the driver side Recaro was coming away around the bolster area.

I have finally got around to fixing the problem and touch wood its been a good fix so far.

Also after reading lots of detailing posts I've purchased some Iron X to clean up all the iron based contaminants that have settled on the paint of the car.

Really looking forward to trying this product out and seeing what difference it makes.


John

 

[jmaxphotography]

UPDATE 21.02.2013


So after cleaning the car yesterday I decided to take a bit of time this morning paying attention to the finer details that are generally over looked (yes I know this is a bit OCD).


I started off with the gear knob, as I don’t think it had ever been cleaned.


Before

After

Even though it wasn’t overly dirty I gave the area in behind the mirror adjustment knob a clean too.


Before

After

Then I moved onto the doorsills.


Before

After

And into the door shuts, which I also don’t think had ever been cleaned (even though the dealer that sold me the car apparently gave it a full valet).


Before

After

Before

After

The rubbers around the doors had collected a lot of dirt too, so they were next on the list of too do’s.


Before

After

Then I moved onto the door catch and rubber. As you can see, even though the inside of the doors are cleaned at the same time as the rest of the car, behind them seems to collect a lot of dirt.


Before

After

Before

After

And the edge of the bump strip on the door seemed to collect dirt that isn’t picked up by a normal clean, so these were the last things to get looked at.


Before

After

I know there’s a lot more on the car that needs time spent on it, but I feel each of the items I looked at above have made a massive difference to the overall appearance of the car.


John