Clio Big Steve's RB Clio 182 Cup Restoration

[andybond]

I finally got hold of a used pair of the correct grey insert Halogen headlights, as my Clio was fitted with some incorrect black insert ones.

Managed to smuggle them to @jas_racing and he's worked his usual magic on them:


Thanks for reading

Does Mr @jas_racing do headlight polishing and UV lacquering as well?

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Does Mr @jas_racing do headlight polishing and UV lacquering as well?

No i don't believe @jas_racing does. I asked him the same once @andybond and he said he finds it easier to re-polish a headlight if it becomes hazy again, rather than battle with lacquer chipping and then you having to deal with the lacquer as well as re-polishing the headlight. Made sense to me.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Bloody rusty Renault's.. who'd have them eh??

Was having a pick around the underneath of the rear of the car, checking that I'd not missed any scabs that needed attention before I packed away the underseal kit, and removed the fuel filler neck to give me better access to the rear offside arch. After I'd removed the neck, I had a closer look at the fuel door area, and saw something that caught my attention...

Tried to undo the bolts, but that wasn't going to happen... so I ended up drilling off the heads of the bolts. (At this point let me recommend some Cobalt Drill bits to you guys, they;re bloody fantastic for getting thru this old French steel without any effort!)

With the bolts removed, you can see they were never going to come un-done:

With the fuel door off, I could see the grot a lot clearer...

I then removed the rest of the filler-neck, and had a pick round with my scraper:

There was a lot more than first thought:

More painting needed.... BALLS..

Thanks for reading

 

[davemaygtt]

Good find Steve, not much of a hint at what lied beneath!

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Good find Steve, not much of a hint at what lied beneath!

It was that lower bolt that gave the game away.... feckers!!

 

[Chris Smith]

Would have just painted over the bolt haha

 

[jas_racing]

No i don't believe @jas_racing does. I asked him the same once @andybond and he said he finds it easier to re-polish a headlight if it becomes hazy again, rather than battle with lacquer chipping and then you having to deal with the lacquer as well as re-polishing the headlight. Made sense to me.

Yep - Lacquering headlights is more trouble than it’s worth in my experience.

 

[andybond]

Yep - Lacquering headlights is more trouble than it’s worth in my experience.

So just a polish and see where it goes?
( sorry got clogging thread up )

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

So just a polish and see where it goes?
( sorry got clogging thread up )

Yes mate! Sand the buggers down with some 2000 & 3000 grit paper to cut thru the oxidation, and then polish up with your DA Polisher and Compound

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

The rust converter had worked it's magic overnight:

So I gave it a little sand down with my small pneumatic Dual Action Sander to remove any knibs:

Then masked it up:

Before giving it a couple of light coats of zinc primer:

Will come back to this tomorrow.

The passenger door seal was next. It was a knackered thru a combination of corrosion bubbling up under the rubber:


...and getting bent when someone re-fitted it (badly):

So I replaced it:


Thanks for reading

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Scrape, treat, prime, repeat....



Also managed to get a couple of coats of paint on the fuel neck area:


Today marks 6 days straight I’ve been working on the car... chuffed I’ve got loads done!!

Thanks for reading

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Removed the masking tape around the fuel filler neck at lunchtime today and very pleased with myself at the results!!

I tried an old technique I learnt when I was painting R/C Body-shells of leaving the masking tape a little proud of the edge I wanted to mask, to help hide the line... and sure enough it worked a treat!!!


A jolly happy camper today

Thanks for reading

 

[Chris Smith]

Good results there Steve.

 

[DaveL485]

Thats actually pretty good mate, i'm impressed!

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Now the fuel neck is looking so spangly, I couldn’t go fitting the fuel cap back on looking so nasty:


I’ll be putting the fuel cap back onto the car with some flanged M6 Stainless bolts, so I won’t be needing the moulded-in bolt head retainers, so I cut them off with a nice sharp blade in a junior hacksaw:

Pleased with how they came out:

it was then a case of masking it up:

and a quick lick of paint:

Will see how that turns out..!?

Thanks for reading

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Managed to smuggle some grey insert OE Halogen headlights to @jas_racing and he's worked his usual magic on them

During the headlight restoration, @jas_racing found that one of the adjusters inside the headlights had broken up. A common problem on Clio 2's as the plastic material gets brittle being next to the headlight:

Thankfully there's a fix using a BMW headlight adjuster that's available on eBay for a couple of quid, and as you can see, it's a near identical match:

@jas_racing fitted them to the headlights and now they're all ready to go back onto the car:



Thanks for reading

 

[andybond]

that's available on eBay for a couple of quid

Skimlinked I assume ?

Great progress either way

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Been fighting with the front cross-member/radiator support for a few weeks now. Bloody thing was in shocking condition for a 2003 car! Looked like it had been at the bottom of the sea!! I've not showed pictures of the back of it, to hide it's embarrassment!

• Stripped the paint off around the rusty areas
• Then treated with Bilt Hamber
• Then heavily sanded down to look presentable
• Rust now converted with FE123 Rust Converter

Going to see if it will accept some paint this weekend...?

Thanks for reading!

 

[Spooky]

Looking really good Steve #mightstartmyownthread

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Looking really good Steve #mightstartmyownthread

#illbelieveitwhenimreadingit
#youreasbadasmart