Supernaut's Cars - E36 323i / mk3 Megane / S1 Land Rover

[DVee8]

A Renault Clio 1.6 RSi

[Supernaut]

2 hours ago, Back_For_More said:

For sale! So the disc didn't come off then 😁

I'm guessing at 207 as the new ride..... Or you've struck tin/gold and found a decent AX..... 👍

Oh, sorry. The disc is actually on the E36.

It's still on there too. I just shoved the new pads on and I'm currently ignoring it. The discs on it aren't too bad anyway. It will be revisited with an angrier drill / some new drill bits at some point in the near future though.

[Tickman]

1 hour ago, Supernaut said:

I'm so confident nobody will guess it, that I'll say it qualifies for a post in the Forgotten Cars thread.

Bold statement on here with all us weirdos

[Supernaut]

9 minutes ago, Tickman said:

Bold statement on here with all us weirdos

 

21 minutes ago, DVee8 said:

A Renault Clio 1.6 RSi

That's the cat out of the bag, then.

My confidence was indeed misplaced.

 

For sale by the local fast Clio specialist, which a few of our local members are already familiar with.

He's going to sort out the gearbox mount and washer pump from his vast stock of parts (I may even end up with a powerflex gearbox mount) and tell me when it's ready. It's an absolute wee cracker. 64k miles and in spotless condition.

 

Just look at those seats. They're the proper comfy sports seats from a 172/182.

 

As I said before. If I was going to spend about £2k on a small runabout, I may as well get something interesting!

[Supernaut]

I have discovered that 110hp is perfectly adequate in a Clio, and it's impossible to drive it slowly.

[Matty]

Now that I really 👍 

[loserone]

Well done dude.  I'd really like to try this back to back with my similarly priced 182

[SiC]

Why did you not go the full hog and get a 1*2? I mean it's different and very rare now but still only a cooking model!

[Matty]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Why did you not go the full hog and get a 1*2? I mean it's different and very rare now but still only a cooking model!

Bonny thing in its own right though. Driven enough cooking clios from mk1 up but never a quick one. What was the 172 like Si? Nearly 200 brake in a clio sounds mental but the reality on a Nat asp engine is usually muscular not ballistic. My ST with the 2 litre duratec in it goes really well but it's not quick in the modern sense. That's why I like it to be fair. Feels like the cars I was running in my early 20s. Old school 80s 90s hot hatches already ten plus years old. A huge creamy wave of torque.

[Supernaut]

9 hours ago, SiC said:

Why did you not go the full hog and get a 1*2? I mean it's different and very rare now but still only a cooking model!

Because I didn't want to spend Clio 1*2 money. This is a nice tidy low mileage hatchback for the same price as a cooking model hatchback elsewhere on the open market.

[sdkrc]

Don't tell my friends and family but I really like the alloys. Top purchase

[loserone]

10 hours ago, Matty said:

muscular not ballistic

That's my view,  it's a very flexible engine 

[Lacquer Peel]

On 4/23/2023 at 8:26 AM, sdkrc said:

Don't tell my friends and family but I really like the alloys. Top purchase

I don't care who knows I really like the alloys!

The car is likeable too, Supernaut let me drive it on potholed Falkirk back roads and it is a good drive. 

It has a big engine 🤝 small car feel as expected and the engine is very tractable from low revs like a 172/182 but without the top end of those engines. It's plenty of power for a smol car I think but I'm used to slow old diesels. 

It doesn't quite have the lolloping suspension of older French cars but soaked up all of the bumps and potholes no bother. It feels solid with no squeaks or rattles and it is chuckable on back roads. 

Great little car.

[SiC]

On 4/23/2023 at 8:14 AM, Supernaut said:

Because I didn't want to spend Clio 1*2 money. This is a nice tidy low mileage hatchback for the same price as a cooking model hatchback elsewhere on the open market.

Interesting as I have seen quite a few £2k or thereabouts for a 172. 

[dome]

3 hours ago, SiC said:

Interesting as I have seen quite a few £2k or thereabouts for a 172. 

That's just the entry price. You still have to pay to play after that...

[320touring]

33 minutes ago, dome said:

That's just the entry price. You still have to pay to play after that...

A fucking Men.

 

This RSI will be capable of 90% of what a 1*2 is, be less needy, significantly less rotten due to no side skirts and be much rarer.

Lower mileage, well looked after, it's the thinking man's sporting Clio.

A bog stock 1.2 16v with 70ish bhp can be battered down a backroad happily - this 1.6 is more of that.

[juular]

I still maintain an adequately powered smoll NASP car with decent handling is some of the best everyday fun you can have. Anything with lots of brute force gets frustrating quickly as everyone drives so bloody slowly.

[Supernaut]

My first part purchase for it arrived today. All £6 worth.

It gets up to temp fine at low speeds, but seems to run slightly cool on the open road. Just like that Alfa 147 did...

It's a hilariously common part. Still fits current-model Dacias!

 

Oh yes, I was also informed that Renaults of this age just use standard ISO connectors on the radio.

They do indeed. The factory (!) radio is safely stored in my cupboard for now.

I may invest in another radio with bluetooth built in. I have quite a nice Sony unit in the BMW, and it's mechless too, so much easier to cram into smol 90s dashboards.

[Broadsword]

That is an exceedingly cool Clio. I always liked that shape best for some reason. Tiny car with slightly oversized engine is a sure recipe for win!

[Supernaut]

Alpine bluetooth head unit just won on ebay for £40. Woo!

 

I also have the Rexton on gumtree. For a tiny bit more than on here.

 

 

FFS.

Of course, this particular gentleman went quiet went I countered him with £1700.

I've seen how much some folk are asking for utter shit with no MOT, 200k+ miles and no rear window so I think asking £1,850 for it on gumtree is fair, right?

Example: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155519023967

Fucking lols.

[Supernaut]

Intake CHOOB.

The standard fabric intake tube had disintegrated. Generic flexi plastic hose to the rescue! I was even able to salvage the fitting that clips into the side of the battery tray to hold it in place. Said battery tray could do with a lick of paint, actually. I've already coated it in rust converter.

 

Tomorrow I shall be collecting some coolant, a syphon pump thingy, and a drain pan. I took one look at how to drain the radiator the "proper" way and went NOPE. This is all so I can replace the lazy thermostat. Luckily the location of the thermostat itself isn't too bad. It's almost visible in that photo above, just under the intake resonator box thingy. Said resonator box simply unclips and lifts out too, leaving a large void above the gearbox area to work in.

I've also ordered a pair of 13 cm speakers to replace the utterly blown sounding door speakers.

 

It's almost as if I like this idiotic little car, or something.

[Supernaut]

Deploy weird little vacuum pump thingy!

The hose on it was a perfect fit on the overflow on the thermostat housing. This let me generate a nice vacuum in there and I managed to suck out about a litre of coolant, which lowered the level enough for me to swap over the 'stat.

 

I ran that coolant through a sieve and poured it back in, then took it for a quick spin round the block with no intake:

It sounded DIRTY.

Look at that, a temperature gauge at halfway!

The heater is like a furnace now, too.

I had a slight mishap at first, though. The seal on the new 'stat seemed a bit loose in the housing (about a mm of play), but I shoved it in anyway. Nope! Coolant pissing out when the engine was running. I swapped the old seal onto the new 'stat and bingo. It works a charm.

Now to have my slightly belated lunch then shove in the two Pioneer speakers I got for the front doors.

I may even go for a blat round Dukes Pass, depending on time.

[Split_Pin]

I've got nearly a litre of that green Renault coolant here if you want it, from when I had the Duster. I'm unlikely to need it again.

[Supernaut]

6 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I've got nearly a litre of that green Renault coolant here if you want it, from when I had the Duster. I'm unlikely to need it again.

Oooh, a freebie is always nice!

[Supernaut]

Test lap of Dukes Pass completed.

Temperature gauge stayed rock solid in the centre. Heater is toasty AF now too. Coolant level did not drop (checked it several times).

The new speakers help the music I'm listening to not sound like it's being farted through a pair of Pringles cans from the other end of a room.

 

All I will say about the way this car drives is that the bolstered seats plus the overall handling provide so much confidence I achieved tyre squeal on some hairpins.

For something so silly to drive, it also manages to simply shut up and get on with it when I'm behaving myself. I've owned several cars that were great to drive hard, but horrible when pootling (Alfa 147 and Mazda MX-5 spring to mind). This just acts like an ordinary car until you change down a gear or two and boot it.

 

Overall; a good day. I'm going to have a drink now.

[Tepper]

Great buy! I reckon warm hatches like this are some of the most fun driving you can have in real world conditions.

[Ghosty]

This is the only context where giving yourself an RSI is a good thing.

[Supernaut]

8 hours ago, Ghosty said:

This is the only context where giving yourself an RSI is a good thing.

How about a slightly* more potent RSi?

I

I've heard rumours of one living in the Aberdeen area. I can believe it too, there are a lot of interesting things squirrelled away by the oilies up there.

 

Meh, pointless post is pointless. It's in my thread though so who cares?

[Supernaut]

For.

Fuck's.

Sake.

 

Half tempted to find the cheapest TPFT insurance I can, then resume kicking absolute fuck out of it until it explodes.

[Supernaut]

Ran some errands in the Clio yesterday evening.

The thermostat has definitely helped. The average for the last tank has achieved a bawhair away from 40mpg, and at least 3/4 of that was done with it running cool (thus rich) and 100% of it was done flat out.

I rounded off my evening with a thrash over Sheriffmuir. I crested one hill at a particularly enthusiastic pace to be rewarded with a dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree.

Got it home just fine, then tested the voltages on the battery while off and while running. All good.

 

Other local owners of smol fast Renaults have assured me TADTS and to tighten the battery terminals.

They don't look like the sturdiest, and the battery itself probably isn't as secure as it could be. So that's this evening's job lined up. Might even try cleaning the idle control valve and give the battery box a lick of paint.