Megane Ricardo's Budget Track 225

[Ricardo]

This is just a thread about my black Megane I purchased 3 weeks ago, since then I've been sourcing and colating parts to turn this hopefully into a half decent track car. It scrubs up ok, the bodywork isn't perfect but it seems a good Base to go from. I can deal with the dents later on, luckily all the parts bought have come up at just the right times. So this is where I'm at now with it

 

[CRM]

Road trip!!!
Lovely car.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Beautiful collection you've got there @Ricardo

 

[Moggy]

if you want to loose those trophy wheels now you have the r26.r wheels.... remember you welsh friend

 

[Chris Smith]

Looks good, going to be a great track car when finished

 

[papps]

Great thread @Ricardo !!! - some epic vulture work already , funny what can happen when you wave cash in front of someone as well (wheels ) - I know they aren't the lightest etc, but I do LOVE the .R wheels - they look great in black as well imo

You're going to be ready for the track in no time at this rate

Harnesses sorted yet? I know an MSA approved clio that is just being broken - 2 1 year old black harnesses available, can put you in touch if you need, sadly he rolled it at KH on Saturday

 

[Ricardo]

Great thread @Ricardo !!! - some epic vulture work already , funny what can happen when you wave cash in front of someone as well (wheels ) - I know they aren't the lightest etc, but I do LOVE the .R wheels - they look great in black as well imo

You're going to be ready for the track in no time at this rate

Harnesses sorted yet? I know an MSA approved clio that is just being broken - 2 1 year old black harnesses available, can put you in touch if you need, sadly he rolled it at KH on Saturday

Haha I've been really lucky so far, coilovers and wheels were owned by the same guy. They popped up on a thread so I called him, negotiated a price and picked up the coilovers Saturday gone. I couldn't turn the wheels down, I managed to sell the R26 wheels to a friend to cover some of the new wheels cost. It's all coming together nicely, quite lucky really as it could have been weeks, months when two offers like this come up.

The next phase will be fitting all the parts as well as stripping out the interior. The Recaros will go up for sale, I've already had a few people showing interest so again that's going to cover some of the outlay.

Harnesses, I've made a phone call today. I can't reveal anything yet but I should be hearing back from someone tomorrow about a set. Once I do I think I would have pulled off a right result, failing that I might have to go with your option. What make are they? A shame they're for sale in such circumstances.

 

[Ricardo]

Road trip!!!
Lovely car.

Matt you do know this Megane would have been winging it's way over to you if you'd been in Kent. Or a weeks holiday in France working on the Meg!!

 

[Adey]

Looking awesome ric. How you finding the car in general?

 

[papps]

The next phase will be fitting all the parts as well as stripping out the interior. The Recaros will go up for sale, I've already had a few people showing interest so again that's going to cover some of the outlay.

Top stuff mate - there's the full workshop .pdf's on here in the Resources section that has like a full 90 page document on how to strip the interior basically - Modern - Megane trim removal

You'll need to take the dash out if you want to remove the pax airbag and bracket (sadly it weighs a lot less than I hoped, maybe 3.5kg including the bracket).

I managed to get rid of my recaros for £600 (they were cloth) to a chap in the Scottish Clio Community - I had 3 or 4 biting my hand off for them - try one of the clio groups on facebook if you are having any difficulty in shifting them....

 

[Ricardo]

Looking awesome ric. How you finding the car in general?

Thanks mate appreciate that. I've only driven it twice and both times were fairly sedately. Driving it home after buying it and last Sunday just to stick 15 quids worth of V Power and to take some photos. It's a nice place to be, it feels fairly quick, smooth on acceleration. I guess the torque and power pulls it, there's no sense of hanging it out in gears and revvving the hell out of it like the ol Clios.
It's going to stay fairly refined in looks interior and exterior. Everything behind the front seats will come out, the cabin will stay the same bar one bucket seat and harness for now. I'm hoping it will be a tidy track car that will do the job with the parts I've bought for it.

 

[Brigsy]

Need to sniff out an r26 box for it next mate with all those goodies

 

[Ricardo]

Need to sniff out an r26 box for it next mate with all those goodies

The spend up has been a bit frantic this week, good timing on the wheels and suspension. I just need to slow myself down as I'm overthinking what I wanting to do with it. There's no big rush, I have the main parts I wanted, the others I can order from companies.

Once the dust has settled I'll drive it for a while, enjoy it, then see about the gearbox.

 

[Ricardo]

Not often this happens but managed to have my other cars next to each other. The Clio is for best and the Megane is a 130bhp 1.9dci work horse.

 

[RTS Motorsport]

IMO, the best place to start before ANY modifications or upgrades is to do a complete check/overhaul of all servicable parts. With any car thats seen a few miles and years on british roads, it will have wear and tear. You deffo seem to have a good platform to start with, so my first point of call would be to give the car a major service. Oil, Coolant, Gearbox, Brake Fluid, Cambelt etc. I would then turn my attention to the brakes. Whether they look new or not, replace the pads with brand new good quality items and if budget allows, discs and braided lines. Not the cheap crap on ebay either. Go with a name you can trust.

Finally, before you stick your coilovers on, replace any slack or worn bushes. It will maximise the benefit of your coilovers and no doubt offer an improvement over how the car handles at present

 

[Ricardo]

It's going in for a complete checkover this week sometime by a friend who works for a well known Renault specialist. Completely agree with everything mentioned, the biggest job the cambelt has been done. I made sure I had the receipt in the paperwork, funnily enough done by the same Renault specialist company.

Plans are to upgrade and/or replace things that need attention.

 

[RTS Motorsport]

Good plan. Biggest problem you see with trackday cars is poor maintenance and prep. I was an avid trackday enthusiast before moving onto sprinting and Time Attack and you saw it all the time.

Being an engineer, im maticulous and anal in prep and maintenance. You will always experience issues beyond our control, but doing as many preventative measures as possible will reduce the possibilty of a great day being cut short

 

[Ricardo]

I hope it doesn't come across that the spangly parts are all I'm interested in and that I'm happy to spend money on those than important areas such as the wear and tear/service items.

Every department in time will be looked over, and will be documented in this project thread. I guess an ongoing blog as such.

 

[RTS Motorsport]

Not at all bud

 

[Ricardo]

Not at all bud

That's cool, I can't wait to get stuck in and start having the bits fitted to it.