More updates, and problems solved.
- Injectors sonically cleaned
- Coolant changed with Renault Type D
- Thermostat changed
- Rear tyres changed with Yokohama S-Drives
- Renaultsport mats added
Firstly, I sent my injectors off to
@dann2707 for a clean, you'll all have seen his work with this, and they were turned around quickly, big thanks to Dan once again. Way better service than these so called Pro's he's been dealing with :wink:. Can definitely tell the difference, throttle response is better, particularly at low revs, it also used to have a little cough/miss at low revs sometimes at full throttle which has completely disappeared. Just much smoother really! Would reccomend.
Last weekend, me and
@JamesBryan went about changing the coolant, my old stuff was looking seriously manky so with the warmer weather coming and a trackday coming up I wanted to change this and the thermostat to ensure everything was definitely as it should be. Absolutely fantastic service from
@George@RTR_Parts for sorting me a Thermostat out with only 36 hours or so's notice, it was a pretty last minute decision since I already had the Type D coolant left over from when I had my old car.
Coolant was dropped, radiator flushed etc.
BG 182 by
Niall97, on Flickr
Type D coolant I had left from when we changed my 1.2 coolant last year.
BG 182 by
Niall97, on Flickr
And the new thermostat in place, after we tested it in boiling water to make sure it was working as it should.
BG 182 by
Niall97, on Flickr
All went back together and went smoothly and was working as it should, system was bled, felt the thermostat opening when the top hose of the radiator went from cold to hot, all good!
Then, when we drove somewhere for food afterwards it only wanted to blow hot air despite being on minimum. f**k. Immediately put it down to the thermostat/coolant, but couldn't understand why this would be. We toyed with the idea of an airlock, but we had bled the system, but decided to bleed another litre or so just to be sure, and the problem persisted. We decided to call it a day, coolant temp was all good on the gauge, but still took it easy on the way back just incase until I knew the problem.
Next day and
@Louis' had made a suggestion on CSOC on Facebook about the little star cog in the driver's footwell cracking (common apparently), so I set to work getting to this to at the very least rule the problem out. Majorly fiddly job, awkward location, pedals and the steering column in the way, but got the panel with the motors that control the flaps off, and BINGO, sure enough it had cracked meaning it wouldn't open/close the flap. Weird how this happened at the exact same time as the coolant/thermostat change (if anybody knows why this might be, do tell).
BG 182 by
Niall97, on Flickr
Nipped off to buy some cable ties, tightened two of these on around it as tight as I could (with just one it wanted to slip down, would have been bound to fail at some point, so with two they were going nowhere).
BG 182 by
Niall97, on Flickr
After a bloody faff and much swearing tying to get the panel back on and the cogs aligned with the motors, it all went back together and sure enough it fixed the problem. Lovely cheap fix to a seemingly worrying problem!
Next up, I purchased two Yokohama S-Drive's for the rear, I have these on the front already but at the time I had other things demanding my cash so could only replace the ones I absolutely needed to, so now I've sorted more pressing things on the car I'm glad to have got these, very much like having matching tyres all round so it was a big relief, it'd been bugging me for a couple of months.
BG 182 by
Niall97, on Flickr
Back together on the car, looks so much better, especially being the rear where the tyres are more on show, these look much chunkier and more aggressive than the old shitty mis-matched ones that were on previously from the P/O.
BG 182 by
Niall97, on Flickr
I also made another purchase that I'd been wanting to make for some time, Renaultsport mats. The old ones were horrible cheapo ones, curled to f**k, always sliding under my throttle pedal and were just a terrible fit. These Renaultsport ones aren't cheap for mats, but they fit SO well, absolutely millimetre perfect from edge to edge, and the quality is great, couldn't be happier with them. Another thing off my list of doing both little and large things properly, which is clearly a concept the P/O struggled with.
BG 182 by
Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by
Niall97, on Flickr
Finally, I met up with
@Christopher and
@Eddie. in Manchester to do some pics of the cars, check out Chris's new additions to his and to see Ed's cup for the first time! Both looking awesome as usual. Got a pic of the three together.
BG 182 by
Niall97, on Flickr
Next up is the trackday on Monday at Oulton Park, so footage and pics from that to come. Hopefully it goes well!
