2008 Renault Sport Megane 175
Discussion
Always enjoy reading these threads, but never seem to get round to making one, so here goes...
Backstory - for the last six years I've had an MG ZT CDTI. Driven over 100k miles in it, done a lot of modifications, fixed it when it went wrong (quite a bit). A saloon sounds practical, but with a massive sub I had no boot space, and my dog didn't enjoy sitting on the passenger seat. I was bored and wanted something else.
It was quick enough in a straight line with 170HP, and while it handled well, I wanted something a bit more fun - but due to the mileage I do it needed to be a diesel.
I thought about lots of options - but the only one that really hit the spot was the Renault Sport Megane 175.
For those that don't know - the Megane 175 is (in my opinion!) a proper hot hatch - the same fancy suspension and brakes as the rest of the Renault Sport Meganes, only with diesel engine (as found in the X-Trail and Trafic / Vivaro vans, but we won't go there...) instead of a petrol - this was important to me as most other "sporty" diesels are actually just a trim level and don't have much in common with the actual petrol performance versions.
There weren't many variants to narrow it down to, but somehow I still did - they came in four colours - silver, black, red & blue - but only wanted red or blue. There were two "packs" - cup (even stiffer suspension, different steering and ESP calibration) and lux (leather seats, keyless, climate control) - and I wanted both. I also wanted a low-ish mileage (under 100k) as I was going to pile on the miles, and ideally around £3-4k. There were only ever thirty something cars sold in the UK matching this criteria, so unsurprisingly after a year or two of looking I didn't find one!
I tried to be flexible and saw a couple - the first was a repaired write off but the sellers story didn't add up. The second was in poor condition externally and even had some rust on it.
Finally, I found one on Facebook fairly local, that met most of the criteria - red, cup, 80k, in budget - fantastic! Ad was sparse on detail, with two rubbish pictures of the outside only. For some reason I persevered and it took over a month to get more information out of the seller.
I arranged a viewing, only to HPI it to find outstanding finance. The seller managed to sort this (was an error) and I went to see it.
Took it for a spin and it seemed to drive ok - had an annoying "pinging" that the seller said was a worn shock that would need replacing for the MOT (due in a month or two). Asked for the service history and got given a receipt for a budget tyre and tracking.
Despite this - I knew it was the best I'd seen and so bought it anyway (was I mad?). Plan was to change the shock, get it MOTed, park it up until my car sold, then enjoy. Only once I bought it did I realise it only had one key card, and the emergency key (for if the card reader breaks) was missing.
Got it home, gave it a good going over and started to plan what needed doing.
Wheels were terrible, centre caps missing, various little bits broken, no mats, absolutely everything needed servicing as I had no proof of anything, original (8 year old) battery.
I hadn't told my girlfriend I was even going to see the car - the last she heard was the it had outstanding finance - so she was very pleased to see it on the drive when she got home... not.
I've seen shocks being changed before - undo pinch bolt, push down on arm, undo top mount bolts - done. Simple. Bought the shocks and got started.
First problem - on this car you can't do that. Pair of shocks is a five hour (book) job, which requires removing the hubs (!) and cutting the scuttle panel.
I start to realise I might of underestimated this a little, but then it gets worse - I find that the hub bearings are seized and as such when you go round a left hand bend, one of the two bolts that holds the hub to the car undoes until it basically falls out.
Luckily, the bearings are cheap (£20 a side), but fitment means properly removing and dismantling the hubs.
The guide online to do this job says you can tap them out with a mallet - I struggle with a 10 ton press. It's at this point I accept it's going to be a project, and at this point the MOT runs out!
I've missed my chance on the MOT - but I could use this as an opportunity to freshen up the suspension. So I go a bit crazy and replace:
Shocks (OE)
Swivel Bearings (INA)
Ball Joints (OCAP)
Front and Rear Arm bushes (Powerflex)
Track Rod Ends (TRW - OE supplier)
Anti Rotation Links (TRW - OE supplier)
All parts are a nightmare to remove, everything is seized solid. I had to cut the track rod ends off the inner tie rods - at this point I wonder how the car's tracking was adjusted six months ago!
At this point the car has no front suspension and is looking quite sad
I realise that now is also a good time to get the wheels refurbished
Before (they were scuffed, and large chunks of paint were missing)
After
The paint looked fantastic, and the price was great (£160). I'm normally not keen on dark wheels, but I think it works on this car - also the Cup pack is distinguished by grey mirrors and wheels, and it would be a shame to lose that. Unfortunately, I found out that one wheel has been repaired (welded) AFTER it had been refurbished. Had I of known, I would've swapped it for the spare. The nuts were looking a bit rubbish, so I asked for those to be painted at the same time as the wheels - stupidly I assumed it was obvious that they should be the same colour as the wheels, but they came back having been painted black. Oh well.
I also catch up on the servicing - I'd underestimated how much work this would involve:
Fuel Filter,
Gearbox Oil,
Engine Oil & Filter,
Air Filter,
Pollen Filter,
Brake Fluid
While changing the brake fluid I also put some braided brake hoses on, and replaced some worn engine mounts with a mix of replacement and powerflex items, fit a short shifter, a new stereo and a bluetooth kit - all essential on a car parked on axle stands with no front suspension.
Having had the car for over two months, it's back on it's wheels for the MOT. I drive it down to the MOT station and am amazed that despite having had it all apart - it drives straight and true. I know it needs tracking, but it's handy that it's not a pig to drive until I can get this sorted out. Unfortunately - it fails on inner tie rods - I should've change them when I had everything apart. So, back home, new inner tie rods and an uprated steering rack bush, and another £30 day insurance policy and I finally get an MOT. Only since having taken the track rod ends off again, the tracking is now miles out. Ooops.
At this point, I can now actually sell my old car - and once that's gone the Megane is now pressed into daily service.
Various new niggles are discovered - a horrible knocking noise, doesn't ever get to temperature, various dash lights not working, tracking out, wipers need changing, seems to steam up easily.
So out come the spanners again - drop links are the only part of the front suspension not new, so they get replaced - but the knocking turns out to be the top mount bolt being loose (despite being torqued correctly).
Thermostat gets replaced, although its clear any job on the engine will be difficult - the engine bay is very cramped
Thermostat involves removing the battery, ecu, undertray, wheel, arch liner and officially even the wiper arms and scuttle (although I avoid this). Luckily this allows me to cross off coolant replacement from the outstanding service list.
My last car used LED lighting for window switches etc which I thought was standard - but on this car most are filament bulbs. I don't even realise that certain things are meant to light up because none of them work. So far I've changed the window switch and heater panel bulbs - I've found out that the traction control button is meant to be backlit, but the bulbs gone so theres still more to do. The bulbs aren't designed to be replaced but luckily someone clever has worked out how to do it so at least it's not expensive.
Steamy interior turns out to be blocked plenum drains - again and easy enough fix.
At this point I actually get on to drive it a bit, and take some rubbish pictures
My dog approves
I then continue driving it until it desperately needs a clean
And then someone takes the wing mirror off, which was nice - temporarily bodged back together with the mirror glass from my old car, some newspaper, masking tape and sellotape
I also fitted an obscenely priced gearknob as the "pointy" previous style was horrible to use
It's been a long journey - the parts spend is now (just) in four figures which is a bit embarrassing on a car that I bought fully working - but hopefully I've saved myself some work in the future. Luckily I've been able to do all the work myself so no labour, although I've used it as an excuse to buy a lot of tools.
Now I've had the chance to drive it - it's growing on me. It's very practical, the handling is on another league compared to my last car - even on the ditchfinders it's come on ("CatchPower" and "Lanvigator"). The interior is very cheap, and it's a bit of a pain to work on (especially the engine) - but if I want a small car with good handling, I have to accept a compact design and complicated suspension.
Over Christmas I've taken the whole interior out to fit some new speakers, a dash cam and a reversing camera. I have a lot of plans, probably too many to tackle all at once - but the main focus is going to be on the interior & electrical, and power - the chassis and brakes are excellent, but with only 175HP it's not actually that quick in a straight line.
If you've got this far, you should probably go and lie down now.
Backstory - for the last six years I've had an MG ZT CDTI. Driven over 100k miles in it, done a lot of modifications, fixed it when it went wrong (quite a bit). A saloon sounds practical, but with a massive sub I had no boot space, and my dog didn't enjoy sitting on the passenger seat. I was bored and wanted something else.
It was quick enough in a straight line with 170HP, and while it handled well, I wanted something a bit more fun - but due to the mileage I do it needed to be a diesel.
I thought about lots of options - but the only one that really hit the spot was the Renault Sport Megane 175.
For those that don't know - the Megane 175 is (in my opinion!) a proper hot hatch - the same fancy suspension and brakes as the rest of the Renault Sport Meganes, only with diesel engine (as found in the X-Trail and Trafic / Vivaro vans, but we won't go there...) instead of a petrol - this was important to me as most other "sporty" diesels are actually just a trim level and don't have much in common with the actual petrol performance versions.
There weren't many variants to narrow it down to, but somehow I still did - they came in four colours - silver, black, red & blue - but only wanted red or blue. There were two "packs" - cup (even stiffer suspension, different steering and ESP calibration) and lux (leather seats, keyless, climate control) - and I wanted both. I also wanted a low-ish mileage (under 100k) as I was going to pile on the miles, and ideally around £3-4k. There were only ever thirty something cars sold in the UK matching this criteria, so unsurprisingly after a year or two of looking I didn't find one!
I tried to be flexible and saw a couple - the first was a repaired write off but the sellers story didn't add up. The second was in poor condition externally and even had some rust on it.
Finally, I found one on Facebook fairly local, that met most of the criteria - red, cup, 80k, in budget - fantastic! Ad was sparse on detail, with two rubbish pictures of the outside only. For some reason I persevered and it took over a month to get more information out of the seller.
I arranged a viewing, only to HPI it to find outstanding finance. The seller managed to sort this (was an error) and I went to see it.
Took it for a spin and it seemed to drive ok - had an annoying "pinging" that the seller said was a worn shock that would need replacing for the MOT (due in a month or two). Asked for the service history and got given a receipt for a budget tyre and tracking.
Despite this - I knew it was the best I'd seen and so bought it anyway (was I mad?). Plan was to change the shock, get it MOTed, park it up until my car sold, then enjoy. Only once I bought it did I realise it only had one key card, and the emergency key (for if the card reader breaks) was missing.
Got it home, gave it a good going over and started to plan what needed doing.
Wheels were terrible, centre caps missing, various little bits broken, no mats, absolutely everything needed servicing as I had no proof of anything, original (8 year old) battery.
I hadn't told my girlfriend I was even going to see the car - the last she heard was the it had outstanding finance - so she was very pleased to see it on the drive when she got home... not.
I've seen shocks being changed before - undo pinch bolt, push down on arm, undo top mount bolts - done. Simple. Bought the shocks and got started.
First problem - on this car you can't do that. Pair of shocks is a five hour (book) job, which requires removing the hubs (!) and cutting the scuttle panel.
I start to realise I might of underestimated this a little, but then it gets worse - I find that the hub bearings are seized and as such when you go round a left hand bend, one of the two bolts that holds the hub to the car undoes until it basically falls out.
Luckily, the bearings are cheap (£20 a side), but fitment means properly removing and dismantling the hubs.
The guide online to do this job says you can tap them out with a mallet - I struggle with a 10 ton press. It's at this point I accept it's going to be a project, and at this point the MOT runs out!
I've missed my chance on the MOT - but I could use this as an opportunity to freshen up the suspension. So I go a bit crazy and replace:
Shocks (OE)
Swivel Bearings (INA)
Ball Joints (OCAP)
Front and Rear Arm bushes (Powerflex)
Track Rod Ends (TRW - OE supplier)
Anti Rotation Links (TRW - OE supplier)
All parts are a nightmare to remove, everything is seized solid. I had to cut the track rod ends off the inner tie rods - at this point I wonder how the car's tracking was adjusted six months ago!
At this point the car has no front suspension and is looking quite sad
I realise that now is also a good time to get the wheels refurbished
Before (they were scuffed, and large chunks of paint were missing)
After
The paint looked fantastic, and the price was great (£160). I'm normally not keen on dark wheels, but I think it works on this car - also the Cup pack is distinguished by grey mirrors and wheels, and it would be a shame to lose that. Unfortunately, I found out that one wheel has been repaired (welded) AFTER it had been refurbished. Had I of known, I would've swapped it for the spare. The nuts were looking a bit rubbish, so I asked for those to be painted at the same time as the wheels - stupidly I assumed it was obvious that they should be the same colour as the wheels, but they came back having been painted black. Oh well.
I also catch up on the servicing - I'd underestimated how much work this would involve:
Fuel Filter,
Gearbox Oil,
Engine Oil & Filter,
Air Filter,
Pollen Filter,
Brake Fluid
While changing the brake fluid I also put some braided brake hoses on, and replaced some worn engine mounts with a mix of replacement and powerflex items, fit a short shifter, a new stereo and a bluetooth kit - all essential on a car parked on axle stands with no front suspension.
Having had the car for over two months, it's back on it's wheels for the MOT. I drive it down to the MOT station and am amazed that despite having had it all apart - it drives straight and true. I know it needs tracking, but it's handy that it's not a pig to drive until I can get this sorted out. Unfortunately - it fails on inner tie rods - I should've change them when I had everything apart. So, back home, new inner tie rods and an uprated steering rack bush, and another £30 day insurance policy and I finally get an MOT. Only since having taken the track rod ends off again, the tracking is now miles out. Ooops.
At this point, I can now actually sell my old car - and once that's gone the Megane is now pressed into daily service.
Various new niggles are discovered - a horrible knocking noise, doesn't ever get to temperature, various dash lights not working, tracking out, wipers need changing, seems to steam up easily.
So out come the spanners again - drop links are the only part of the front suspension not new, so they get replaced - but the knocking turns out to be the top mount bolt being loose (despite being torqued correctly).
Thermostat gets replaced, although its clear any job on the engine will be difficult - the engine bay is very cramped
Thermostat involves removing the battery, ecu, undertray, wheel, arch liner and officially even the wiper arms and scuttle (although I avoid this). Luckily this allows me to cross off coolant replacement from the outstanding service list.
My last car used LED lighting for window switches etc which I thought was standard - but on this car most are filament bulbs. I don't even realise that certain things are meant to light up because none of them work. So far I've changed the window switch and heater panel bulbs - I've found out that the traction control button is meant to be backlit, but the bulbs gone so theres still more to do. The bulbs aren't designed to be replaced but luckily someone clever has worked out how to do it so at least it's not expensive.
Steamy interior turns out to be blocked plenum drains - again and easy enough fix.
At this point I actually get on to drive it a bit, and take some rubbish pictures
My dog approves
I then continue driving it until it desperately needs a clean
And then someone takes the wing mirror off, which was nice - temporarily bodged back together with the mirror glass from my old car, some newspaper, masking tape and sellotape
I also fitted an obscenely priced gearknob as the "pointy" previous style was horrible to use
It's been a long journey - the parts spend is now (just) in four figures which is a bit embarrassing on a car that I bought fully working - but hopefully I've saved myself some work in the future. Luckily I've been able to do all the work myself so no labour, although I've used it as an excuse to buy a lot of tools.
Now I've had the chance to drive it - it's growing on me. It's very practical, the handling is on another league compared to my last car - even on the ditchfinders it's come on ("CatchPower" and "Lanvigator"). The interior is very cheap, and it's a bit of a pain to work on (especially the engine) - but if I want a small car with good handling, I have to accept a compact design and complicated suspension.
Over Christmas I've taken the whole interior out to fit some new speakers, a dash cam and a reversing camera. I have a lot of plans, probably too many to tackle all at once - but the main focus is going to be on the interior & electrical, and power - the chassis and brakes are excellent, but with only 175HP it's not actually that quick in a straight line.
If you've got this far, you should probably go and lie down now.
Edited by Jakg on Wednesday 26th July 13:47
Edited by Jakg on Wednesday 26th July 13:47
Edited by Jakg on Sunday 12th November 20:43
Edited by Jakg on Sunday 12th November 20:45
Nice! Brings back some memories, some good, mostly dreadful. I had a 2008, red, 5 door LUX version that I did 45,000 miles in on 2.5 years.
A few memories;
Engine wise it was great, nothing went wrong, nothing needed replacing, it did 40 + mpg day in day out no matter how it was driven.
It went through track rod ends for fun.
If it was powered by electricity then chances are it broke at some point. All 4 electric window switches had failed on the day it got thrown back at the finance company (thankful of the 50% return clause on the HP agreement. Heated seats, cruise control, lots of bulbs and a t/c issue (randomly turning itself off).
Rattles. Lots and lots of rattles. Ultimately the reason it went. Renault even took the dash out under warranty to try and fix it.
But it was comfy, fairly quick and the handling was pretty special, lift off oversteer with ditch finders on the back was a particular highlight.
I sold it in 2011, a new owner rang me a few months ago as he got my details from the history. Sent me a picture and despite all it's issues it was still a cracking look car when cleaned.
Enjoy.
A few memories;
Engine wise it was great, nothing went wrong, nothing needed replacing, it did 40 + mpg day in day out no matter how it was driven.
It went through track rod ends for fun.
If it was powered by electricity then chances are it broke at some point. All 4 electric window switches had failed on the day it got thrown back at the finance company (thankful of the 50% return clause on the HP agreement. Heated seats, cruise control, lots of bulbs and a t/c issue (randomly turning itself off).
Rattles. Lots and lots of rattles. Ultimately the reason it went. Renault even took the dash out under warranty to try and fix it.
But it was comfy, fairly quick and the handling was pretty special, lift off oversteer with ditch finders on the back was a particular highlight.
I sold it in 2011, a new owner rang me a few months ago as he got my details from the history. Sent me a picture and despite all it's issues it was still a cracking look car when cleaned.
Enjoy.
Really enjoyed this the thread.
You took a chance and a dishonest private seller screwed u big time.
I think I would avoid Renault's and I've owned 3 clios. First one... A 98 model was brilliant, cheapest year of motoring to date, brilliant shed. Second one was ok but had a intermittent limp mode problem. I wrote that car off on some black ice and a country road. Third one I bought in a rush and it had a duff gearbox. Lost about 900 in two months on that. Ouch.
You took a chance and a dishonest private seller screwed u big time.
I think I would avoid Renault's and I've owned 3 clios. First one... A 98 model was brilliant, cheapest year of motoring to date, brilliant shed. Second one was ok but had a intermittent limp mode problem. I wrote that car off on some black ice and a country road. Third one I bought in a rush and it had a duff gearbox. Lost about 900 in two months on that. Ouch.
GrantB5 said:
Sounds like you have had a ball ache with this.
Now all that work is done I'm sure you will start to enjoy the car, until something else pops up.
Nice motor
That sounds like a pretty accurate summary - "works fine until it doesn't"!Now all that work is done I'm sure you will start to enjoy the car, until something else pops up.
Nice motor
On that note - I now have a "CHECK INJECTION" message so more work required
benjijames28 said:
You took a chance and a dishonest private seller screwed u big time.
Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I don't think he knew - he wasn't a mechanic. My girlfriend, for example, wouldn't notice that her thermostat was faulty - but I would.As this thread doesn't seem to have bored everyone to sleep, I'll put some more updates up.
The spare wheel provides support for the carpeted boot floor. In my case, the spare wheel isn't secure, so the floor is uneven and makes funny noises. I'd seen online some suggestions to use foam to help secure the wheel - I used some carpet underlay. Unfortunately, at this point I noticed that the spare wheel is flat (dead valve), unusable (sidewall separating from tread) and unfittable as there's no jack or wheel brace. I've now go to decide whether I want to fix it all, or just ditch it and use the space for something else.
I fitted my reverse camera - on my last car I had a cheap eBay one with night vision LEDs (I think they were infrared so you couldn't see them, but helped illuminate) which was actually really good. I spent a bit more and got a CCD one this time (vs cheaper CMOS), again with nigh vision LEDs - but the "night vision" LEDs are actually just LEDs, and despite saying CCD the quality is rubbish. Perhaps I got conned...
Before the MOT I gave all the lights a good going over to make sure it wouldn't fail on something silly - and I noticed that only one rear fog light worked. I know that some cars only have one - but I could see a bulb through the cluster so I assumed it was meant to. Took the light unit out to find a holder and bulb - but no wiring. Seems an odd way to do it. I prefer two (I find it helpful to illuminate when reversing at night) so wired it up off the other one.
I know this will be a bit divisive, but I'm also into car audio - currently I've put a new headunit in, but long term the plan is decent speakers, some deadening, a sub and an amp or two. Unfortunately, this isn't an easy car to do it in. I've got a set of Rainbow components to fit, but I hadn't realised the rather odd door card design - on my last car, in the door was the outer skin, then the window, then a weather seal, then the speaker, and then a door card on top.
Here there is an outer skin, window, no weather seal, and a kind of water deflector built into the door car which wraps around the speaker. The idea is that instead of keeping water out of the door, it's just directed away from sensitive components. Unsurprisingly - Megane's are known for having leaky doors!
The water deflector is designed around the standard (tiny) speaker, so my Rainbow units don't fit - I need to get creative to mount them in a way that they can still be protected from the weather.
Edited by Jakg on Wednesday 26th July 13:53
Vitorio said:
Any plans for performance increasing mods rather then just fixing it/doing backlogged maintenance?
As you asked:I feel that of the three areas - handling, braking, engine - the engine is the weakest and so where I need to focus my upgrades - this is because the rest of the car was designed with 225+HP in mind.
One of the things that sold me on the cup version were press reviews when new - better handling than the non-cup version, and yet paradoxically better ride comfort - so I'm keen not to significantly alter the suspension (lowering, coilovers etc) and lose this.
Power:
(Slightly) larger turbo - there are some bolt on turbos from other cars that are a little larger
DPF Removal,
Decat,
EGR Delete,
Remap
The above should see around 230HP - the idea is to get it all done at once to save time and money, but first I need to get all the parts.
I'm also looking at intercooler and pipework upgrades - but this isn't a priority.
Handling:
I've sourced an R26 rear beam, which features an anti roll bar where mine does not - I can also polybush this.
I would like to uprate the front anti roll bar - but this is quite a bit of work so on the backburner
Braking:
I'd like to fit Megane 250 brake calipers and larger discs, but to be honest this would be purely asthetic - because a lot of people track Meganes this upgrade both seriously improves performance, but also seriously hurts the wallet!
In reality I'll probably just buy a new set of calipers all round to refurbish and paint and then swap them over. I may also change the pads / discs - I don't know whats fitted but based on the rest of the car I don't have high hopes.
Sounds like a well thought out plan JakG
Interesting to see the this RS model doesnt have a rear ARB, then again, presumably it doesnt need it stock.. and its nice to have the upgrade potential.
A quick google found me that that engine should be near 210 with a remap, so the extra mods/bigger turbo etc.. should certainly get you close to 230, if not over. Power wise a semi modern diesel can do more with that volume, but its get expensive (i know of an alfa 147 with a 1.9 16v JTDm making ~260hp, running water injection among other extreme mods)
Interesting to see the this RS model doesnt have a rear ARB, then again, presumably it doesnt need it stock.. and its nice to have the upgrade potential.
A quick google found me that that engine should be near 210 with a remap, so the extra mods/bigger turbo etc.. should certainly get you close to 230, if not over. Power wise a semi modern diesel can do more with that volume, but its get expensive (i know of an alfa 147 with a 1.9 16v JTDm making ~260hp, running water injection among other extreme mods)
I kinda like how these look almost exactly the same as the petrol model(s). I think the only difference, visually, without looking under the bonnet or hearing the noise, is the rear spoiler i believe. Ford have done something similar with the new Focus ST diesel.
I, myself, would struggle to call this a proper hot hatch though as that lies with the 225/230 model. But, these fast diesels are certainly appealing in many ways though and definitely hold their own. From what i've heard, a simple remap transforms them as well.
I, myself, would struggle to call this a proper hot hatch though as that lies with the 225/230 model. But, these fast diesels are certainly appealing in many ways though and definitely hold their own. From what i've heard, a simple remap transforms them as well.
I did look in this area before getting the Panda.
I needed 5 doors, and they do a few different options in this area - There are RenaultSport Meganes in 5 door of both Derv and Petrol flavour.
I found it to be a bit of a minefield as to when Renault stopped making them with sellotape and actually put some effort in (some time around 2006) and then they are a fun, but can still be horrifically unpredictable in terms of reliability
Wish you the best of luck - I've been known to take leave of my sense when buying a car, ignoring the lack of history and potential costs, but I think deep down we all love an excuse for a project
I needed 5 doors, and they do a few different options in this area - There are RenaultSport Meganes in 5 door of both Derv and Petrol flavour.
I found it to be a bit of a minefield as to when Renault stopped making them with sellotape and actually put some effort in (some time around 2006) and then they are a fun, but can still be horrifically unpredictable in terms of reliability
Wish you the best of luck - I've been known to take leave of my sense when buying a car, ignoring the lack of history and potential costs, but I think deep down we all love an excuse for a project
bungz said:
Lurchers 
Does yours like cars? Mine pukes everywhere
I've now got a greyhound as well. Both love cars!Does yours like cars? Mine pukes everywhere
I think it helps that the lurcher has been in a car a lot since he was a puppy, and the greyhound is an ex-racer so is used to going places all the time.
Any excuse for a picture...
On a car related note - top mount has completely failed and actually come off (!). Not happy. Will have to change it this weekend. As I touched on above - on most cars it would be pretty easy, but not on this.
Wheel off, caliper off, disc off, track rod end off, anti rotation link off, drop link off, split bottom ball joint, remove driveshaft from hub, disconnect ABS plug, unbolt top mount from shock turret, remove shock assembly, compress spring, remove top mount... and repeat.
The top mounts were one of the few components I didn't replace. Typical.
bungz said:
This is exactly how I figure owning a quick Megane would pan out, nice core car with a decent engine but everything else needing attention!
I don't think that is limited to 'quick' Megans, three people I know with 'ordinary' Meganes have had nothing but trouble with them.A shame, we currently have an Espace, a Clio and a Laguna - all of which have been excelent cars. Where did Renault go so wrong with the Megane?
Jakg said:
On a car related note - top mount has completely failed and actually come off (!). Not happy. Will have to change it this weekend. As I touched on above - on most cars it would be pretty easy, but not on this.
Wheel off, caliper off, disc off, track rod end off, anti rotation link off, drop link off, split bottom ball joint, remove driveshaft from hub, disconnect ABS plug, unbolt top mount from shock turret, remove shock assembly, compress spring, remove top mount... and repeat.
The top mounts were one of the few components I didn't replace. Typical.
This is what I spotted the other day.Wheel off, caliper off, disc off, track rod end off, anti rotation link off, drop link off, split bottom ball joint, remove driveshaft from hub, disconnect ABS plug, unbolt top mount from shock turret, remove shock assembly, compress spring, remove top mount... and repeat.
The top mounts were one of the few components I didn't replace. Typical.
The ring in the middle of the shock is the top mount - the top mount on this car doesn't actually do much work (the spring doesn't rotate - only the hub turns with the steering) which I guess is how I didn't notice. Still drove fine!
Had a crack today - was expecting it to be an epic as removing them the first time took me several days (albeit in small chunks).
Tools out, wheel off and up in the air
Disc and caliper off
Remove drop link, driveshaft, anti rotation link, track rod, top mount, abs sensor and unbolt bottom ball joint (that was a time saver) and it starts to look very empty
Surprisingly only took me an hour to get this far.
This is how it looks once I pulled it out - you can see how the hub pivots here
And into the shed to strip it down and fit the new top mount
Compressing the spring took me another hour (!) as I couldn't get it lined up right and then all bolted back together - about 3-4 hours all in. Much quicker than I expected (although still slow I know!)
Had the rear door cards off recently and noticed very noisy without them. No real deadening on the panel which explains it. Added a layer of silent coat to stop vibrations and then a layer of carpet underlay to absorb noise.
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