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Mk1 / Ph1 Mégane Cabriolet F4R-t conversion

I dont remember having that issue, could you loosen all the sump bolts and nudge it over at all?
 
I tried that, but it didnt have much movement on it.
I had an hour on the gearbox holes this evening. Relying purely on the clutch alignment to dictate the position of the holes.
What I will do is get the rest of the holes drilled and tapped on the block, then loosen off all sump bolts, and try to pull it up to the box using the 4 lower bellhousing bolts which are on the sump.
If it feels like it's not happy about it, I'll template that face onto some tin, and make up a shim to sit between and fill the void.

The block drilled surprisingly well. Lots of cutting oil and a decent drill.
Threaded it with two-stage taps to get right to the bottom of the holes.
Quite a good little bit of progress.



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It was a bit of an eventful morning. After a lot of consideration of doing the engine removal and conversion on the drive way, I decided agaisnt it for a few reasons. But the main one being, I'd never get anything done because every single passer byer will want to stop for a chat.

Took a few measurements of the car, and width of the drive way. After a quick descision, I decided to remove the garden gate, remove the soil pipe from the downstairs loo, and cut the main one from the upstairs bathroom, which gave me about 20mm spare (1cm either side) to squeeze the Megane past the house and onto my patio.

Next purchse will be some form of shelter. I've been looking at the Clarke instant garages, but they come with a £300+ price tag.
Dont think I fancy risking it under a gazebo, it can get quite windy here.

Will hopefully get stated this week. First thing I need to do is get the bumper and bonet off as they are going away for paint. Then I am hoping I can get the engine, box and subframe out in one procedure. Once all the old bits are stripped off the subframe, I want to mount the new engine onto the subframe first. This should then give me chance to do the exhaust fabrication much easier. And if iI end up having to make a front engine mounting plate, having the whole lot out of the car will make it so much easier.


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Gate and soil stack back on, bins and oil drum back on the drive way. Project can now start! :D

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Tight squeeze!

Buy yourself a tent, put the car in it, it won't blow away with the car inside!



Good thinking. I actually bought a 3x4.5 Gazebo in the end. It should be here this week.
I sold the CAT off the Laguna for £331,00 and the CAT off the Megane for £155.00, so I didnt mind spending £220.00 on a decent storm proof pop up gazebo with sides. It will be a good upgrade for my 3x3 gazebo I use in the paddock when the Megane is done too. :D


Probably wont get much done for a little while as there's some bits and pieces to be done in the house and garden. Bit of give and take with the wife! Haha

But once the Gazebo is up and I've got some flooring down, it will be ready to rip the front end out in the next couple of months.
 
I took it to Whitstable Metals down here. But any decent metal yard should price off the same catalogue and give you a good price.
I was well chuffed like. The Laguna cost me £300 to buy, and £100 in juice to go collect it.
I made about £600 back out of breaking it (£200 profit after buying and collecting the car), and I've got a good £500 worth of engine out of it. :D

Got the gazebo up tonight. It's a proper tank! Pretty confident it's not going anywhere unless we get a tornado.

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A very long over-due update. And that is because it's be a very long over-due session on the car. Haha

Put the tent up. Then sh4t myself the day before Storm Denis, and took it down!
It's been down since. But obviously with lock-down, and the beautiful weather, it's been prime time to get some bits done on the car. The wife has been good as gold too. Plenty of day-time tinkering.

So on Monday. I got the Meg up on stands, removed as much as I could, as efficiently as possible, before unbolting the subframe, and lowering the whole lot down onto the floor. Beauty of a subframe mounted engine. :D
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Obviously, the issue occurred when I needed to lift the engine and box OFF of the subframe.
Engine crane I usually use is at my pals workshop, who is of course, all locked up. So rather than give myself bum-grapes, I got creative.
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Finished off drilling the holes for the bellhousing, bolted the JB3 box up to the engine, and got it lifted onto the subframe using the existing two gearbox mounts.
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Nothing I had / have was compatible with the F4R-t block to bolt up here;
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So I spent today in the shed, making up a very rough / raw bracket just to get the engine sitting correctly, and alternator placed in line;

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First trial fit;
I will be gusset plating / boxing in the square plate which the alternator rose joints are bolted to, to get rid of the bolts and spacers in there. My aim was to create a bracket which uses a completely unmodified engine block, and an off the shelf alternator, and belt, so replacing items at a later date can be done from the original Megane reg.
It's a shame the Megane alternator pulley is only 4pk, as the F4R crank pulley is like 8pk or something. Just looks a bit bodgey with the belt only sitting on 1/2 of the crank pulley.
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I also fired the jet wash around the engine bay to give it a quick clean. And began removing the ABS and brake pipes.
Ive got a couple of T-pieces, and a Laguna Master cylinder on the way. This will allow the pipes to leave the master cylinder towards the drivers side of the car, giving maximum clearance for the front pipe when the engine goes in.
Neal has been so helpful with this, as he had all the same issues with his F4R-t Ren-19 build. :D
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Can you tell me approx, what is the spacing between these two hole centres and what the OD is of the fittings in to the body of the master? This plastic bit would be ideal for what I need if it'd fit into the 197 brake master.

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I removed the brake MC and the rest of the pipe work, ready for the replacement unit to be fitted.
Brake fluid was a little suspect. Not sure if somebody has topped up with the incorrect fluid at some point, or whether is really is just that dirty / contaminated with water.

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Can you tell me approx, what is the spacing between these two hole centres and what the OD is of the fittings in to the body of the master? This plastic bit would be ideal for what I need if it'd fit into the 197 brake master.


Centres are about 27/28mm
Outer diameter of the push fittings is 15mm, and steps down to about 12mm. They have a shouldered push fitting on the ends of them.

Im not sure if the new MC ive got coming has this take off pipe on it, or just a res on the top. If it's got what I need, I'll post this one out to you. But cant be sure until the new unit turns up.
 
Im not sure if the new MC ive got coming has this take off pipe on it, or just a res on the top. If it's got what I need, I'll post this one out to you. But cant be sure until the new unit turns up.

It won't, they are a Renault part. But they are still available from Renault, used on loads of models.
 
Got the mount boxed up, gave it a quick dust over in some HT paint, and bolted it up
Welding isnt the prettiest as all I had in the shed at home was my old ARC welder. But it's strong, and does the job.

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This looks like it'll do the job!, good lockdown progress!

I think I'd really want another gusset/stiffening rib on it though. A big one that goes down between the 2 mount holes. Plenty of room for that.
 
Centres are about 27/28mm
Outer diameter of the push fittings is 15mm, and steps down to about 12mm. They have a shouldered push fitting on the ends of them.

Im not sure if the new MC ive got coming has this take off pipe on it, or just a res on the top. If it's got what I need, I'll post this one out to you. But cant be sure until the new unit turns up.
Much obliged for your help :)
 
I managed to get a few more hours in yesterday and make a little bit of progress.
Saturday afternoon, I covered the engine in GUNK and left it for a while, then hit it with the jet wash. Surprised how clean it came up, removed all the loose rust, and pretty much all the grime.
Then masked it up as good as possible, and dusted it over with some VHT black and Silver to tidy it up a little.

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Then yesterday morning, in the sun, I spent a little while running some new brake pipes. As I will be using a twin-port MC, I need to run a T-piece on each inner wing to diagonally split the brakes.
Hopefully the replacement MC and T pieces will be here this week so I can get it fitted up and bleed the system.
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At this point, I'd pretty much hit my limit in what I can do, due to requirement of parts, so decided to just stick the engine back in and see what I've got to work with. It's really no hard-ship dropping it back out again if I need to.
So I got the engine and subframe dragged into rough position under the front of the car.
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And began lowering the car down over it.
I found sitting the subframe on two blocks of wood to raise it up a little, then having the jack on the front cross member, with another block of wood, made it very easy to move the car around into position, rather than trying to keep moving the subframe.
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And it's in:
I would like to look into fitting a top gearbox mount. I believe the F7R Megane has a bracket which bolts to the passenger side chassis rail.
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The gap in which I have to work with, to fit a Master Cylinder, AND a 2.5" exhaust down pipe, is very small.
I'm fortunate enough to have read all of Neal's R19 thread, multiple times, and also badgered him on FB messenger at all hours of the day for advise on this. I knew what I was up against before I even got to this stage.
I've got some mandrel bends on order. I shall cut, and weld something that fits. Hopefully.
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Alternator can be moved back a good 1", by using a shorter belt, and modifying the rose joints. So if needs be, I can gain more room there for a radiator and / or boost pipe routing.
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Surprisingly, the heavier engine has not affected the ride height too much, if at all. Of course, there is about 6 million miles of wiring loom to go on yet, along with pipe work, FMIC, rad etc. But it shouldnt affect it too badly.
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Engine top cover fitted to test for bonnet clearance. It touches ever so slightly. Worst way I will leave it off. Although it does tidy it up. The F4R-t isnt a pretty engine!
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So, initial to do list is:

*Brakes*
Fit new MC (Laguna 2.0 item)
Fit T Pieces
Bleed up braking system (Rear bias valves will be something I'll look into once it's all running)

*Exhaust*
Fab up a front pipe
Make a flexi / joiner to connect it to the current middle section

*Wiring*
Start installing the Laguna wiring loom to see where I stand with what I do and dont need. There is A LOT of wiring.
 
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What a difference in todays weather.
Decided to brave the cold and wind, get outside and start looking at the wiring loom.
The difference in the size of the two looms is insane! Although there is a lot I wont need on the Laguna loom. Just a case of working out what once it's fully fitted and running.
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One thing I noticed was the F4R fuel rail has no regulator or return in it, so I guess that was done at the tank end on the Laguna. My K7M engine had feed and return on the rail, regulated by an FPR.
So I will need to come up with something. I'm thinking a T piece in the feed pipe, with an inline adjustable FPR in the return.
Neal tells me the R26 runs 3.5bar, can anyone confirm if the Laguna is the same?
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I've fitted all the coolant hoses up too. Everything pretty much goes in okay. A bit of shortening is required on some of the hoses to get it all sitting spot on, but I will wait until I've got a suitable rad and intercooler fitted before doing that.
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