“It's just a daily” - Renaultsport Clio 182
Discussion
Today’s fix - Climate control
In the early days of having the car back, one day I put the heater on high in the morning and when attempted to drop the temp as the cabin warmed up it strangely continued to chuck out hot air. Even with the AC on full and previously the AC was ice cold.
Oddly enough the next day it was working fine, so whatever the issue, it was intermittent and needed investigation.
I suspected it was something to do with the stepper motor on the heater matrix and a quick search had shown others had suffered a similar fate.
This evening I managed to get time to remove the stepper motors, these are a bit of a t
t to get to as they’re tucked up under the drivers dash area. Upon removing the motors, sure enough the drive lug had broken right through.
Lucky enough I had a sprung hose clamp that was exactly the correct size. It’s super strong now and I dare say the motor would now fail before the drive lug would ever break again.
Boxed it back up and Roberts ya mother’s brother, winning.
In the early days of having the car back, one day I put the heater on high in the morning and when attempted to drop the temp as the cabin warmed up it strangely continued to chuck out hot air. Even with the AC on full and previously the AC was ice cold.
Oddly enough the next day it was working fine, so whatever the issue, it was intermittent and needed investigation.
I suspected it was something to do with the stepper motor on the heater matrix and a quick search had shown others had suffered a similar fate.
This evening I managed to get time to remove the stepper motors, these are a bit of a t
t to get to as they’re tucked up under the drivers dash area. Upon removing the motors, sure enough the drive lug had broken right through.Lucky enough I had a sprung hose clamp that was exactly the correct size. It’s super strong now and I dare say the motor would now fail before the drive lug would ever break again.
Boxed it back up and Roberts ya mother’s brother, winning.
frayz said:
Thank you sir,
Yes its getting there, bit by bit. Its never too late to get yourself in one of these. Providing they have been mechanically cared for then they pretty much go on forever. Parts are inexpensive and for the most part, readily available.
Even with a near 600bhp Impreza and a Cayman R, there something about driving a little Renaultsport Clio that is just so damn right. They're utterly wonderful little things to drive.
If we had room for a third car, I’d be all over one. Unfortunately parking on new house build developments is a little as they can get away with and the garage is full of tools and mountain bikes.Yes its getting there, bit by bit. Its never too late to get yourself in one of these. Providing they have been mechanically cared for then they pretty much go on forever. Parts are inexpensive and for the most part, readily available.
Even with a near 600bhp Impreza and a Cayman R, there something about driving a little Renaultsport Clio that is just so damn right. They're utterly wonderful little things to drive.
Tonight’s job,
Update the exhaust brackets with some newly fabricated stainless items and fit the PhillipM honeycomb exhaust Bush.
The mounts are a known point for corrosion and are NLA from Renault. When they were available they were apparently £110 a piece and the 182 needs a pair of them. Luckily a lad on the ClioSport group had a small batch fabricated in stainless and black powdercoated. As you can see, my old ones weren’t actually in that bad shape, but all stuff on the car has a life and now seemed as good a time as any to update them.
Also took this opportunity to fit a new honeycomb exhaust Bush. The standard bushes from Renault are frankly a joke, I’ve seen more robust dried flowers in my time.
When I first owned the car, there wasn’t any other option but try and fudge something yourself or keep buying the pants OEM stuff.
Years ago I cut out most of the old mount and put a universal poly exhaust hanger in with some zip ties.
To be fair this has stood up for the last 7 years or so. However because it’s solid, you do manage to make the boot floor in to a bit of an amplifier and the NVH comes right into the cabin.
Now there’s a better solution with the honeycomb Bush, I thought I’d fit one. I must have gotten used to the sound inside the car because this has made a significant reduction in resonance inside the cabin.
Update the exhaust brackets with some newly fabricated stainless items and fit the PhillipM honeycomb exhaust Bush.
The mounts are a known point for corrosion and are NLA from Renault. When they were available they were apparently £110 a piece and the 182 needs a pair of them. Luckily a lad on the ClioSport group had a small batch fabricated in stainless and black powdercoated. As you can see, my old ones weren’t actually in that bad shape, but all stuff on the car has a life and now seemed as good a time as any to update them.
Also took this opportunity to fit a new honeycomb exhaust Bush. The standard bushes from Renault are frankly a joke, I’ve seen more robust dried flowers in my time.
When I first owned the car, there wasn’t any other option but try and fudge something yourself or keep buying the pants OEM stuff.
Years ago I cut out most of the old mount and put a universal poly exhaust hanger in with some zip ties.
To be fair this has stood up for the last 7 years or so. However because it’s solid, you do manage to make the boot floor in to a bit of an amplifier and the NVH comes right into the cabin.
Now there’s a better solution with the honeycomb Bush, I thought I’d fit one. I must have gotten used to the sound inside the car because this has made a significant reduction in resonance inside the cabin.
PhillipM said:
If your exhaust uses the standard bolt + washer up the middle of the hanger you shouldn't need tie wraps, not that they hurt anything.
Noise levels better? Surprising how much the boot floor resonates from the exhaust noise and movement, it's like they designed it to be a speaker.
Unfortunately my exhaust doesn’t have that bolt setup mate as it’s a BTM/Yozzasport. To be honest it was nice and snug in there, I just added a pair of zip ties as a belt/braces. Noise levels better? Surprising how much the boot floor resonates from the exhaust noise and movement, it's like they designed it to be a speaker.
Yeah I didn’t really think it resonated that much inside till I drove it with the new bush. It’s a significant drop in noise, frankly far greater than I ever thought possible.
Well chuffed, thanks.
pincher said:
Ah, thought you were down my way. Was just after some inspiration on what to do with it, that’s all. It’s completely standard with only 36k on the clock and needs a bit of a refresh inside and outside.
I’d be keeping it as standard as possible, sounds like a car worth hanging on to. I was looking at your username for a couple of minutes thinking it looks familiar, I thought I'm sure he had another car on the forum, one which stuck in my mind. The only two cars that have ever done that are an M1 which someone currently has on here and 'The Bomber'. A quick google search reveals you are indeed Mr Bomber!
I'm glad to see you're investing your time into something else, can't go wrong with a 182. I've got my service, MOT, insurance and tax renewal all in the next 8 weeks, so it's going to be a pricey few weeks for me.
Any plans to take it on track, or just purely using it on the road? (This is what I've done with mine).
I look forward to more udpates.
I'm glad to see you're investing your time into something else, can't go wrong with a 182. I've got my service, MOT, insurance and tax renewal all in the next 8 weeks, so it's going to be a pricey few weeks for me.
Any plans to take it on track, or just purely using it on the road? (This is what I've done with mine).
I look forward to more udpates.
pincher said:
Ah, thought you were down my way. Was just after some inspiration on what to do with it, that’s all. It’s completely standard with only 36k on the clock and needs a bit of a refresh inside and outside.
Yep, keep it stock or whatever changes you do make, keep them simple and bolt on and safely store the oem parts. My recommendation would be to just get it to full bill of health, so change all fluids, get the belts done if they haven't yet been serviced and just refresh things such as dampers/bushes.
Some upgrades are to be expected such as a tasteful steering wheel retrim and maybe stainless steel exhaust
Leicester Loyal said:
I was looking at your username for a couple of minutes thinking it looks familiar, I thought I'm sure he had another car on the forum, one which stuck in my mind. The only two cars that have ever done that are an M1 which someone currently has on here and 'The Bomber'. A quick google search reveals you are indeed Mr Bomber!
I'm glad to see you're investing your time into something else, can't go wrong with a 182. I've got my service, MOT, insurance and tax renewal all in the next 8 weeks, so it's going to be a pricey few weeks for me.
Any plans to take it on track, or just purely using it on the road? (This is what I've done with mine).
I look forward to more udpates.
Haha,I'm glad to see you're investing your time into something else, can't go wrong with a 182. I've got my service, MOT, insurance and tax renewal all in the next 8 weeks, so it's going to be a pricey few weeks for me.
Any plans to take it on track, or just purely using it on the road? (This is what I've done with mine).
I look forward to more udpates.
Yes i am indeed Frayz with "The Bomber". Incidentally that car is now being broken for spares as ive had a lot of bad experinces with the people surrounding it and just want out. This is my original 182 so shes just my daily hack, no plans to build a track car, although i have plans to drop a decent drivers seat in it as IMO that's the only downside of a 172/182.
I also have my Cayman R so no need to try and extract performance from the Clio which to me, is mostly perfect as is.
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