Project 182 - "Nigel"

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Rob S
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Post by Rob S »

Clever clever man.
I do like a bit of ingenuity.

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RX7
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Post by RX7 »

Can you get it to flash like the Knight Rider stripe ;)

Good work though !!
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russ979
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Post by russ979 »

RX7 wrote:Can you get it to flash like the Knight Rider stripe ;)

Good work though !!
Gareth.......................NO,NO,NO,NO........and definatly NO!:)
Back to the 182, I think its funny ive never meet the guy who owned the clio for the last twelve months, But from what ive found it leave me to think he was/is a total pillock and everything he touched on the car was a botch. Still if he had`nt of been an idiot then it probably would not be sat on my drive now?:hurray:

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russ979
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Post by russ979 »

Rob S wrote:Clever clever man.
I do like a bit of ingenuity.
Thanks Rob! What are you after?:D

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Daniel
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Post by Daniel »

Russ, you certianly dont piss about :) good work :kissass:
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Nik
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Post by Nik »

Fog light looks good Russ ;)
I may be getting older but I REFUSE to grow up :D
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maff
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Post by maff »

Ok, I promised Russ I'd keep this up to date, so here goes.

With the winter over the Shoguns 19mpg was proving too much for my pockets, awesome as it was through the winter months, having got me to work with consumate ease, saved my little brothers wedding reception from snow drifts and generally been bloody usefull for taking stuff to the tips and DIY shopping, it more than paid for itself, but it became clear it had to go, and when the water leak was confirmed as HG failure it sealed its own fate.

So what to replace it with, well i'd done the 4x4 thing, what I needed was new enough to start every key turn without worying, frugal enough to run the 250 miles to work and back every other week without breaking the bank and fun enough that that same trip would become a grind. A bit of research showed as far as small newish hot hatches go a Clio 172 ticked all the boxes.

I rattled of a PM to Russ asking what to lookout for, and to cut a long story short, he offered me his little project for basically what it had cost him so far.... Perfect timing :) He'd done his back in and his little sprint project was on the back burner.

So I'm now the proud owner of a 182 with all the funky bits, for rather less than the price of an older 172, result!

First job was the fog light indicator flashing when you brake, turns out the terminals on the N/S (how about that Russ, was the other side after all!) lamp cluster had got a bit gungy, scrapped it all off with a screwdriver and re seated, all sorted.

Second job was to get the steering sorted out, it was wandering at speed and under heavy breaking. Off to Autotest, who did all the business and then sent me on my way... got halfway down the road, left and bend and the wheel centered offset to the left, right hand bend and it centered offset to the right, then the service and TC lights came on... Yipes! So very carefullt back to Autotest, and er... help!

Turns out the Steering rack bushes had had it and as they were tugging about to set everything up they finished them off, they set the tracking as best they good, reset the steering sensor and sent me on my way to with a "tow in and out is done, camber is ok, but we cant finish the alignment with dead bushes".

Next day and a call to Renault,
Me: "steering rack bushes for a 182 please..."
R: "is it an SMI or TRW rack?"
Me: "cant you tell from the chasis code?"
R: "nope, they randomly fitted them on the production line..."

Turns out its an SMI rack, so thats
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"Does the mullet make the man?"

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Stuart
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Post by Stuart »

That's great Maff :D
A thoroughly enjoyable read and some great progress too.
I think the only thing I'd add to your list, having tried a couple of Clios, is the 'learner driver of the female persuasion' seat height. Maybe a decent bucket seat would sort that right out, and I appreciate I am at the wrong end of the Gorilla scale to be comfortable in most small hatch backs. I've never driven a 182 but judging from your spritely performance the other night, the go quite nicely and handle very well.

Presumably the mods to this will be gentle ones? ( No sense in wrecking a good allrounder?)

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maff
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Post by maff »

you do sit a bit high, but aparently you can remove the anti vibration seat mounts to lower it 15 mm or so.

mods will be non existant for now its staying standards. (famous last words ) Russ already tried to tempt me to the dark side by throwing in an induction kit, but so far I've not fitted it...

decent tyres and the seat mod, that's it. honest.
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russ979
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Post by russ979 »

Nice write up mate!:thumbs: I did warn you the belts are a twat of a job, just think yourself lucky the cambelts been done:D.

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