BEEFTECs Black R26

New to the forum and new R26 owner - Bought my R26 about 3 weeks ago and thought i'd start a thread as i've done a couple of bits already.

Previously had a Clio 197 which was a great car, but I fancied a bit more power. The 197:





So I found a new low mileage R26 for not alot more than the 197 was worth and bit the bullet. As I bought it:



First job was to clean the engine bay. Unfortunately didn't take a pic of how it looked before but it looked like it hadn't been clean from new, everything was generally grimey and tatty, engine cover covered in sloppy oil spills etc. When looking at these cars I had thought i'd remove the engine cover as usually i'm not a fan off too much plastic in an engine bay, but once I removed it it became clear why Renault chose to put one one - These engines look so untidy!

Engine bay was hoovered (Really!) to remove all the dust and old leaves and stuff in there and then cleaned with Autoglym Engine and Machine cleaner. I also touched up a couple of little bits of surface rust I found under the trim and painted a few bolts that had surface rust on them too:



Engine cover and the trim was taken off, cleaned and treated the black trim with Gtechniq C4. Back in:



Would still like to remove the engine cover permanently but I think to do that i'd end up spending a load of time and money on powdercoating bits and bobs and buying chrome covers for stuff etc. Probably not worth it so think eventually i'll just get the engine cover painted to smarten it up abit

 

Next thing bugging me was how faded the rear trims were:



Also didn't like the Megane badge so that was removed too.

Trims were removed:



Cleaned and treated with Gtechniq C4. This is good stuff and I had great results with it on the Clio grills, but on these although it improved them a lot they're still not that black in flesh, so may have to look at painting them instead. Anyway, after treating them:



Next was some more noise... My Clio had an induction kit and de cat exhaust so it sounded great, if anything it was a bit too loud. So the R26 seemed almost silent! I have the back seats down most of the time, so think an exhaust will be on the cards soon.

For now though, I went for a homemade induction kit and a Forge dump valve:



Thought it'd be an hour or so to fit but I was wrong. Practically skinned my arm getting at the hose clip on the turbo and the original hose clips for the boost pipe all faced the wrong way too so they were a pain to release. Original airbox wasn't exactly easy to remove either - Brute force on that one!

But anyway, got it all in at last. Still got the top boost hose to fit but couldn't be bothered at the time so that can wait:









Sounds great! The turbo induction noise at low revs is nuts and the dump valve is great too, although pretty chavvy I have to admit

 

Loving it so far. Better day to day than the clio, more practical and better on motorway. Nice to have some torque behind me now rather than having to downshift twice before I go anywhere!

To be honest i've not properly thrashed the R26 on some nice roads yet as the tyres on it were on the legal limit when I bought it and we had a wet couple of weeks in August so didn't push it. Got new tyres fitted now so will be taking it out for some nice drives and see how it compares round the bends!

 

Next addition was a HID kit. Was a bit gutted my R26 didn't have Xenons, but HIDs are just as good so in they went. Should of taken some photos of the process as its a bumper off job obviously but not too bad, a couple of hours work.

Went for 35w 5K HID's in a slim ballast kit, same as I did to the Clio. Colour is a close match to OEM Xenons and quality of the kit seems good.

Also fitted some CREE LED's for sidelights (don't flicker like some cheap LED's) silver indicator bulbs and some Osram Nightbreaker ultimates to the high beam so i'm definitely sorted for some country lane drives after work now the evenings are getting darker!



Think the headlights could do with a polish as they look almost dusty but they're not. Can't imagine its dust on the inside as they're pretty well sealed, so may try some plastic polish on them in future.

 

Being black, the car shows up all the marks on it and there were a couple of scuffs I wanted to sort. I viewed the car in the rain and although the previous owner pointed out the scuff I didn't realise how bad it was and it was pretty obvious in the sun:





Another thing that was pretty obvious in the sun was the vast amount of serious swirl marks on the car!





Clearly previous owners have either washed it with sandpaper or taken it to machine car washes!

So I had a week booked off this week anyway so a couple of days were put aside for a detailing session.

Car was thoroughly washed then decontaminated with Tardis tar remover, Iron X and Meguires Clay, which improved it straight away but also helped to highlight a few other areas of minor scratching:



Also had the outline of the Megane badge to remove too:



So then it was into my mates garage, masked up and polished. I used Farecla G3 Scratch remover which worked really well on the scuffs and scratches, although did take 5 or 6 passes on the worst areas i'll admit. I also ordered some Gtechniq P1 polish and a couple of their polishing pads as I was impressed by the trim restorer.

I got good results with the polish, seems to have removed at least 75% of the swirls. Whats left now would probably need a machine to remove. I should point out that I did it all by hand which amounted to 6 hours of just polishing! I was practically disabled the next morning! Think I may look into a proper DA polisher for next time...



I then applied a coat of Collinite 476s which buffed up lovely and should easily protect the finish into next year over winter:



Then rolled the car out to see the results:







Really happy with the results and the scuffs?

Front is vastly improved, only the deepest areas remain now which would probably require wet sanding to remove I think:



Rear is all gone:

 

You may also notice the new tyres have been fitted. Went for 225 width Michelin Pilot Super Sports after research on here. I did fancy the Yokohama AD08R's which I had on the Clio and were fantastic tyres, but the steel reinforced sidewalls did make the ride pretty harsh so thought i'd give the Michelins a try.

Not had a change to fully thrash them yet as the only driving i've done with them on I had mine and my mates Kayaks on the roof for a trip up to the lakes for the rest of my week off :cool:

The Renault roof bars I got off ebay for £40 worked a treat though:





Future plans for the car at this stage? An exhaust and R26R spoiler will probably be put on, a short shift mod will definitely be done and i'm also looking into a nice double din headunit as the standard one is pretty pants and the radio signal is shocking, so maybe DAB will be an option!

 

Cheers mate!

Thanks, yeah it was a killer! Waxing was the easy bit on mine, literally just wipes off if you wipe it off at the right moment.

Gona see if I can maintain the finish through normal washing, if I end up putting more swirls in it i'll get a DA I think and polish it more often haha

 

Thanks mate, yeah read up a lot on tyres before I bought and they sound like a sound choice!

The car came with Pilot sport 3s on, front were on about 3mm and rears were on the legal limit, so granted not great tread but still I thought they were pretty shocking. Even on a mildly damp road second gear was useless.

 

Well i'm getting used to the Meg now, which for me means i've found a few bits I want to change.

First was the gear shift. As you'll all know, really long throw with barely any feel to it. So i went to Boardy to have a quick shift fitted; took about 30 mins or so - Was actually made much easier with the cone filter, as it was just a case of undoing one jubilee clip and removing the cone filter to access the linkage.

Can just see the modified linkage in place:



Standard Shift:



Short Shift:



Feels really good now, it couldn't be any shorter, its just clicks back and forth through the gears, with more feedback as well - Great little mod!

Also fitted some Heko wind deflectors and some new numberplates as the old ones were all peeled. I like the look of wind deflectors and its stopped all the water pouring off the roof and straight into the electric window switches!



Also bought some Mr Pink brakes pins and some Ferodo DS1.11 pads, so might fit them tomorrow maybe we'll see.

Other plans i'm not 100% sure yet, driving position needs a bit of work. Really want to get the recaros sat a bit lower and might fit a 197 steering wheel as they're much chunkier and look a bit sportier IMO too.

I definitely want some more noise too so i've been looking at exhausts - Real shame that RS Tuning don't make their 3" system anymore, so looks like KTEC is the next best 3" system around. But now i've done a bit of research and found that the standard exhaust flows up to 300bhp, im not sure I want to spent £500 on an exhaust really.

Currently thinking along the lines a Decat and cutting the middle box out and see how that sounds!

 

Yeah, I got a quote of £80 to chop the middle box out at my local longlife exhaust place. Wouldn't mind seeing if they can put some different exhaust tips on too as mine look pretty tatty and one of them sits at a bit of an angle.

Think i'd prefer middle box chop as I personally don't like the whistle, and pops are more my kinda thing

 

Yeah think I'll go for a box chop and see how it sounds before splashing money on a new system.

Today I gave my front brakes a service - It was surprisingly pain free! When I bought the 197, the brakes had been neglected and the pins were totally seized and I ended up taking it to a garage, who still took over a day to remove them!

But on the R26, the brakes have obviously been well looked after. The pins could be tapped out really easily and still had grease on them, so must have been done fairly recently.

Heres the brakes as I started. Not too bad but definitely a good point to strip and clean them:



Also noticed the drilled holes in the discs were blocked with dust so I spent some time clearing those out:



Under the arch definitely needed a good clean though:



The shock absorbers in particular looking fresh off the bottom of the sea!




So the callipers were stripped and thoroughly cleaned. Was nice to find that the pistons and dust seals look practically new!





Then all the arch was given a proper clean out. The hubs and suspension components were scrubbed clean - Didn't realise these cars came on Eibach springs?



After cleaning, the shock absorbers were really looking tatty, so I gave them a wire brush, to remove the surface rust and flaking paint. Then treated the rust with Hydrate 80 rust treatment and gave them a coat of underseal to tidy them up and protect them. Afterwards the arch was looking much nicer:



Brakes were then rebuilt with Mr Pink pins and Ferodo DS1.11 pads:



Went out for a quick drive to test them. So far not enough to fully judge the pads as they need bedding in. But initial bite from cold doesn't seem too great - Maybe a sign they are too much of a track based pad for the road. I did a couple of heavy brakes and the car seemed to pull slightly to one side - Think again they need bedding in before I can judge.

I'll go for a drive tomorrow night and get them bedded in and go from there. If not, the standard Brembo pads looked barely worn so i'll stick those back in if I don't get on with the DS1.11

 

Well I spent a while debating which intercooler to go for - Airtec (£450) Forge (£500) Pro Allow (£550) - But in the end, decided to just go for an ebay jobbie since numerous people on here are running 300bhp+ with them!

It arrived in 3 days, shipped from the Netherlands. Well packaged and quality of the welds really not as bad as I was expecting.

Its a couple of inches taller and a good 10-20mm thicker than standard so should provide a good increase in cooling.



Fit wise it dropped straight on, no filing or trimming required, hoses lined up fine and it sits level so I really can't complain at all:







Also fitted a set of black TPI wheel bolts which is a vast improvement:



I've also noticed recently that i've been getting misting/fogging of the windscreen - On the outside! Took a bit of head scratching but then realised that the felt bulkhead piece was quite damp. So I took the wipers and scuttle trim off to find this:





Both scuttle drains blocked with a couple of litres of water in them . The felt bulkhead piece was sodden and a bit mouldy so likely that they've been blocked a while!

So I scraped the blockage out, removed all the old leaves and sludge and gave the drains a blast with the hose so they're flowing freely. Also oiled the pivots and joints on the wiper mechanism as I had this seize up on my clio, and on the megane half the wiper linkage was underwater, so it needed doing.

Next change, i've got a 197 steering wheel to go on which i'll probably do this week, then it'll be a decat pipe in preparation for a remap.

Also debating a 250 turbo but we'll see!

 

Went up to Top Gear in Stockport yesterday, they're my local longlife exhaust place.

£80 lighter and an hour later, I've got the middle box removed and replaced with a stainless pipe, welded in place. Not great pics:





Its made a good difference, get plenty of gurgles at low revs, pops at high revs and pops and bangs on high rev down shifts! Can't go wrong for the money and i'm sure it's gona sound pretty mental once i've got the decat fitted! Video:

 

You gota click it, its a link

 

Another little edition today - Clio 197 steering wheel. Only fitted this as I came from a Clio 197 and so the R26 wheel just felt feeble in comparison, even though I got used to it.

Pretty simple to fit, just an earth connection to change and its plug and play. Feels loads better and looks sportier in my opinion!




Also put a couple of vids of the exhaust on Youtube now, so easier to view... but I have no idea how to embed them in my post

[video]https://youtu.be/p9vR620tuVU[/video]

[video]https://youtu.be/SMgvhDEeqRo[/video]

 

Yeah i'm well impressed for£80!

Don't need my back seats down all the times now!

 

Yeah pretty simple, the airbags are a bit tricky to unclip off both wheels, then you've got to change the earth from a ring connector to a spade and thats it, the rest is the same.

Yep, thanks for the advice. You were right about cutting the connector off close - Not alot of wire to place with!

I think i've read that the 200 wheels have the same ring connector and the 197 wheels need a spade connector putting on. Either way, its an easy fix.

Nope, sorry not me!

 

The clio steering wheel and short shifts are great mods that improve the driving experience.

Think last thing I want to improve is the seating position - I still feel like i'm sat high up in the car and over the top of the steering wheel / dashboard.

I've got another set of recaro mounts, just need to find a local fabricator that can modify them for me. I think 25-30mm lower would make all the difference!

 

I live in Sale, work in Wilmslow so rarely go into Stockport. Drive into Bramhall quite often as my mate lives there.

 

Thanks mate!

Next piece of the puzzle, 3" RS240 de-cat pipe fitted with titanium heat wrap:





Fresh gearbox oil, as the driveshaft has to come out to fit the de-cat pipe. Had this oil in the 197 and it improved the cold start shifting a fair bit so gone for the same again:



Also bought a pair of gold magnetic plugs for the Oil sump and gearbox oil plug to fit at the same time. Had these on cars in the past and its surprising how much much stuff they can pick up out of the oil:



Now just need to get booked it to have it fitted!

 

Yeah for a tenner the wraps worthwhile I think, must help keep under bonnet temps down a bit.

Didn't realise that with the driveshafts, but i'd like to change the gearbox oil anyway - Don't really believe that any oil should be 'for life' as Renault reckon!