Renault life. Sunday collection

[loserone]

3 minutes ago, Brigsy said:

Id imagine it can be done on Renolink or Ddt4all. Id have a go - with the disclaimer, if it all goes wrong no responsibility🤣

Setting 1 was even better for fast driving. Just needed a bit more at low speeds with the sticky tyres.

Might give you a nudge if I'm over that way, you Teesside ish?

[Brigsy]

32 minutes ago, loserone said:

Might give you a nudge if I'm over that way, you Teesside ish?

No bother at all, just give me a shout. Redcar. 

[Brigsy]

Updates

Basically done nothing to the megane r26 since Anglesey track day, apart from clean and drive, it all works so there was no real need to do much.

Renewed insurance for the year with Greenlight. Still cleans up decent and using the di vessel for rinse really makes the yellow pop.

With a Spa Francorchamps trackday coming up in the next few weeks i made an effort to get it jacked up and checked over last week.

Small list to do.

1. Steering rack bush on passenger side. To be fair this had developed a little bit of play before Anglesey, but time was not on my side to change it. Its pretty minor but will do it.

2. Both rear wheel bearings have developed minor play. This pains me as the discs and bearings were changed for quality snr before Anglesey and torqued to the correct spec of 220nm. It could be due to the semi slicks and extra load on the bearings, but this will be the 3rd passenger side and 2nd drivers side rear bearing swap its had in my ownership. Ive fitted tons of bearings with success so its not a technique issue, and stub axles look/measure fine.

I went a bit tighter on rear hub nut torque yesterday which took the play up to a degree but looks like ill be changing them.

Discussed this with people i trust and its apparant that the quality control on snr has slipped/bad batches. As bad as the usual chinese crap.

Apart from the above, everything else seems good. Half days work at worst for the minor jobs.

Whilst on the jack, i changed the oil for fresh valvoline synthpower 5/40 and purflux filter.

Engine bay wiped over.

[Brigsy]

Changed the steering rack bush on the r26 on  Saturday, easy yet fiddly to do. Its not my first go as done the one on the blue 225 several years ago.

All come apart easily. Tierod tool to remove inner.

Inner tie rod was still in great nick with no play, which is a good thing as its only done around 10 thousand miles and now £100 a side from Ren for new.

Old bush in situ.

New bush fitted. 2 person job as its a bit of a nightmare to get back in..needs a bit of persuasion. Loads of silicone grease to lube.

The bit of play in that area is now gone. Steering was a little stiff initially but a good run out lastnight sorted that out.

As that only took an hr or so replaced the rear speakers. Ive upgraded the speakers all round for pioneer custom fit, doing the front door and tweeters last week. Rears however, bit of a carry on with half rollcage fitted. Managed to pull the rear part of doorcard out, getting hand in to change them over.

Quite an improvement all round, stereo sounds decent now. Front drivers side door speaker was knackered, and rear passenger was not connected, rest had rattly cones. Its no high end system but improved to acceptable levels.

Geo to do..i marked it up so its still pretty much there, id imagine it will need a small tweak. Will do both rear wheel bearings first to remove any play.

Thanks for reading!!

[Brigsy]

Updates.

Bought a centre console with cloth armrest a while back to replace the povo r26 centre console.

Unfortunately it was not complete, and was missing the gearstick surround, obd cover etc. I thought the non armrest centre console parts would fit but totally different so put it to one side.

Found the right parts at u pull it a few weeks ago and finally got round to fitting today, and give it a quick hoover out.

Refitted the r26 plaque to the new centre console.

Small upgrade. Armrest is standard fit on our ph1 225, no idea why ren made the r26 so povo spec.

Rear abs rings also arrived, so i changed the rear wheel bearings last weekend. Half hour a side so not the worst. Ive went ft on the hub nuts this time, and appears to be no play. We will see how it is after Spa.

Test drive after rear wheel bearing change, all good.

With Spa on the horizon ive bought some of the good stuff, vp racing madditive octane booster. The megane r26 is mapped safely on tesco momentum 99 octane which is fine in the uk/uk trackdays and no additives needed. Abroad however, the euro98 seems to be poor in comparison.

Last year at Spa i ran Total excellium spa102 octane in the morning. €3.77 a ltr which hurt the wallet, but could tell the car was running good. With a full tank of that causing serious wallet pain, i filled up with euro98 in the afternoon. You could feel the car holding back/pulling ign on the Kemmel straight which is not good, if you like your pistons. I added half a ltr of vp racing madditive and car was back to normal again.

So if anybody does euro trackdays, its worth taking some octane booster incase all you can access is poor fuel. Germany not an issue as Aral102 is cheap on the pump.

Also cleaned the inside of the blue dci clio. Comes up ok for 205k, drivers seat is a bit knacked now so will look at changing it once a decent set come up locally. 

Also been mocking uo my Nortech manifold on my spare engine. After Spa ill start progressing with this as the manifold and g25 550 turbo setup are destined for the kangoo.

Thanks for reading!!

 

[FakeConcern]

I just caught up on this, such a great interesting read, thanks for posting it all!

[Brigsy]

On 19/10/2025 at 12:55, FakeConcern said:

I just caught up on this, such a great interesting read, thanks for posting it all!

Welcome mate. Thanks for the good feedback😊

[Brigsy]

Updates.

Had the megane 250 out at the weekend to custom code the rs monitor v1. Massive thanks to Turborenault members for doing the research Cossie1 for sharing the information and Mart for doing the business on the custom coding.

I modified a proscan Elm327 cable with switchable can h/can m so i could access the bic module via can multimedia to code.

I then spent all week scratching my head trying to get Ddt4all to work, using the megane r26 to test.
Im no stranger to getting obscure diagnostic programs to work but after installing 4x different versions, none seemed to work right on mk2 meg being honest, very unstable and not confidence inspiring. I even upgraded my diagnostic laptop to a modern lenovo thinkpad which made little difference to how the software ran.

New diag laptop representing.

I was going to use Renolink and modified an obd splitter lead to plug in my obdsx cable, however when i tried Ddt4all on the mk3 250 on sat, it worked absolutely fine which was suprising allowing the script to be written without issue.

Original screens on rs monitor below, this was a factory fitted option from new on ours. Basically a load of crap data apart from boost, ait and oil temp which were spread over 2 different pages.
 

Wrote the ecu with the custom coding using Ddt4all.

 

We have filled the first page with the useless info. This is the 'Pub' page. I mean who actually looks at brake pressure?!😅

2nd page has the decent data thats worth looking at. The 'Drivers' page.

All the good data on one page, Boost (recalibrated to 2000mbar allow higher readings to suit current setup), Intake temp (now starts from 0-80deg, Oil temp and Water temp both scaled so optimal running temps in the middle of the gauge. Its actually worth using the rs monitor now to keep an eye on things, like an onboard scangauge. All works great, its a nice update.

Give it a quick run out to test all good. Needs a wash, wheels are pitted. Next weekends job.

[Brigsy]

Took the r26 down my mates garage for geo on Sunday. They were super busy as short on staff but geo ramp was free. Asked my mate if it was ok to have a crack at it myself and he said crack on. So i did.

It was a nice easy job to do, i have seen my mate do it a million times before so knew the drill..only thing i struggled with initially was seeing the geo screen but that was fine when i put my glasses on!

Set toe only to ten mins toe out overall. I could lie and say i got it right 1st time, but steering wheel was a degree or so off to the right on first attempt as i think i knocked the steering clamp when getting out. 2nd attempt and i got the band perfectly straight. My mate give it a once over as a 2nd set of eyes and said all good. Asked when im starting working there now im time served 😅

Took for test run and it drives great. I thought this is ready for Spa.

Get home and pop to the garage later on in the evening. Walk past the meg and can hear hissing.

Fucker. Luckily it was fixable, ive had it repaired successfully. Be a shame to bin a michelin with loads of tread.

Thanks for reading!!

[Tickman]

Tremendous work with the screens making something useful to yourself.

[loserone]

I can't decide if this vinted gem is for @Brigsy or @PSAPerv or clio_stu

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/7397180459-renault-radio-headunit-22dc25862b-casette-tape-player-boxed?referrer=catalog

 

[Brigsy]

On 24/10/2025 at 08:49, Tickman said:

Tremendous work with the screens making something useful to yourself.

Cheers mate. Its been nice to learn how the coding works, been wanting to do it for years.

On 24/10/2025 at 19:13, loserone said:

I can't decide if this vinted gem is for @Brigsy or @PSAPerv or clio_stu

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/7397180459-renault-radio-headunit-22dc25862b-casette-tape-player-boxed?referrer=catalog

 

Oldskool one that! Clio mk1?

[Brigsy]

Updates.

250 out for a few bits yesterday.

First job was to fit a Properfekt recirc valve. I had fitted a blanking plate before mapping and had noted the car flashing up spanner light for a split second on high rpm throttle lift/throttle close & hitting rev limiter and throttle close. Basically the spanner light/check injection flagged so briefly, i had to record the dials on my rayban meta glasses to freeze the frame to see what was going on.

I datalogged the car as it was with blanking plate a while ago and noted when throttle close at high rpm (5500rpm+), the pre throttle boost sensor would spike 3050mbar for a split second which triggered DF0004. As it was intermittent, spanner/eml did not store permanently so was only lingering in the background.

Datalog below showing gas pedal position zero (light blue) but 3054mbar spike on boost sensor (red trace).

After emails with Chris/Efi it was agreed that it could be due to no recirc fitted/blanking plate, with the boost spiking pre throttle body with throttle closed, with hard cut rev limiter also having an antilag kind of effect. Chris said he usually sees around 2500mbar spike with throttle close on the stock 15t turbo.

So with this in mind i looked at options, intially i was going to refit oem but decided to give the Properfekt recirc a try. Its supplied with 2x springs so i put the harder one in to suit increased boost.

Fitted, forgot to take pics but its buried in the turbo area.

Took it out for a datalog after fitting, and the recirc has indeed fixed the problem. No massive spike on pre throttle boost sensor on high rpm lift or rev limiter.

Comparing old logs vs new. 2x laptops sorts the men out from the boys 😅 

Eml issue is now resolved (with extensive high speed testing yesterday, the car goes like f**k too) added bonus the recirc actually sounds pretty decent with compressor surge at low rpm and quiet at high rpm, much better than oem recirc noise. Being honest, i prefer the reliability of blanking plate but with the higher 1.5-1.6 bar boost levels on a small ish turbo, its prob a good idea having a recirc.

Anyway with that done and boxed off i got onto the next job. The underbonnet sound deadening had suffered on the corner and was a bit floppy and looked shite.

I made enquiries about buying a new one from ren but NLA, so only option was 2nd hand. Found a good used replacement in U-pull it ages ago, used trim tool to remove the push fasteners that hold it to the bonnet and it fell to bits so no good/fail. With this fail in mind when the next good one came up, i then drilled the heads off the fittings to remove it intact. I removed the fittings with trim tool sacrificing the original mat, and fitted the good used one.

Much better, im sure you will agree.

Ive been meaning to wash it for weeks and with weather changing took advantage of a dry day.

Used my Di vessel to rinse. The bodywork is unreal nick for a 15 year old car.

[Brigsy]

With this done i done some more coding to the rs monitor.

The boost gauge was still going to the top and we had adjusted it to 1800mbar assuming it was using gauge pressure, but all it showed was 1800> on full boost

Note peak reading line maxing out the bar graph.

As i had been logging with Rstuner im used to reading the data in Map absolute instead of gauge pressure. Im quite used to this due to reading standalone ecu map sensor data.

To explain very roughly how this works as it can be confusing after using gauge pressure.

1000mbar on map pressure is "absolute" - its including the vacuum which starts at 0mbar- 1000mbar. You see 1000ish mbar at sea level with engine off (atmospheric)

 

0mbar of map pressure = full vacuum

 

1000mbar of map pressure = atmospheric 0psi

 

2000mbar of map pressure = 15psi of boost

 

1000mbar gauge pressure is 1000mbar of boost above the atmospheric mark of "0mbar"

 

-1000mbar of gauge pressure is full vacuum

 

0mbar of gauge pressure = atmospheric 0mbar.

 

1000mbar of gauge pressure = 15psi of boost

 

Some ecu's work in map pressure - some ecu's work in gauge pressure depending on setup. Renaults of this era always use map absolute as above.

 

Anyway back to the point

 

My rsmonitor boost gauge seems to read in Map Absolute compared to later ones reading in gauge, there is no minus readings on mine. So it was always exceeding upper range as we needed 3000mbar to show full range of map sensor readings as peak on Rstuner is 2600mbar.

 

So with this in mind i adjusted the upper limit to 2800mbar to give slight headroom. Using a convertor to work decimal to hex with 1200 ofset (winging it being honest, ive just learned how to reverse engineer the hex code a bit)

New code uploaded with ddt4all.

Tested and working with readings not maxing out the bar. Note peak line just under full range.

Used Rstuner to confirm readings were good when on the move. All works fine, Rs monitor reading is rounded to nearest 50 (i.e. 2500, 2550 mbar) which i might change to 10 or 1, if refresh/sample is quick enough..i think renault used 50 rounding to keep it clean.

 

Anyway works great. Pretty pleased with that!

 

Thanks for reading!!

[Brigsy]

Washed the r26 whilst i done the 250 yesterday. Brake dust on the wheels/side of the car was horrendous.

Much better. Just under 2 weeks until Spa Francorchamps, cant wait.

[Brigsy]

Updates.

Spa and Nurbugring trip done!

Set off Wed afternoon, short trip to Newcastle for the overnight ferry to Amsterdam.

Pre trip pic.

Looks low as on its arse with tools, 4x track wheels etc.

Arrive at the port.

18 Hour prison.

After a s**t nights sleep due to noisy b******s arrive in Amsterdam Thurs am. Steady drive down to Spa, a test day was on so had a good walk round and enjoyed the views.

Best circuit in the world imo..

Entrance pics.

After the walk round, went to check in the hotel which was a short drive, 7 mins from the circuit. It was supposed to be a shared house, the owner however give us a free upgrade to the wooden chalet which was mega.

WIth that sorted it was dinner time.

500g steak on the hot stone at Domino steak house in Spa.

[Matty]

Neck stuck out theyre the best looking hot hatch ever

[Brigsy]

Friday - Spa trackday.

Weather forecast was dry and sunny, which did not dissapoint. Get to the circuit early am, sign on and get set up in the garage.

Went out on road tyres for sightseer laps and 1st few laps when open, as the ambient temps were still low and wanted to see if any damp spots on the circuit so road tyre grip would be best to avoid any code brown moments early on. Being honest, the car was flying on the pilotsport5 but knew they would fall off a cliff fast and It looked dry as a bone so came in and changed to Ar1.

On entrance to the pits, a clio 172 breaks down blocking the pit lane. So end up getting out the car and giving him a push and the mrs drives the r26. Fcuk me that small incline on the pit lane is hard work pushing a dead clio. All this way away from home and im pushing a broken down french car, at least it werent mine😅

After wheel swap, filled up the tank in prep for hot laps. I still had around half a tank of tesco 99 in so decided to brim the tank with excellium 102, as the 98 is iffy at best from experience.

"Wont cost much for half a tank"

33ltrs for €134. Felt arse raped, did not learn from previous year 😅

Went out on the circuit straight away with the idea of doing a few moderate paced laps to scrub in the new set of Ar1 fitted to the track wheels. Out of the pit lane, moderate pace into Eau rouge, Kemmel, turn in at Les Combes and back end f***s right off at low speed due to lack of heat and that new tyre sheen. Luckily was on it with the driving, got it back fast and continued for a couple of progressively faster laps to get some heat in.

Pit selfie. Prescription sunglasses were the correct eyewear as the sun was blinding coming up eau rouge.

Pic entering pit lane. Note incline on pit lane which nearly give me a heart attack pushing the clio on my own.

Got the tyres nicely scrubbed in and they switched on fast.

[Brigsy]

Had an excellent day and the r26 performed without fault.

Driving standards were terrible overall with too many wannabe race drivers overtaking mid corner etc, was dissapointing in that respect. Loads of red flags in the pm but ended up getting a fair few clean laps in without traffic which were awesome.Went out for 6-7 laps at a time, approx 25-30miles a stint. No issues with the car, it just takes it lap after lap.

[Brigsy]

Following on from the Spa trackday on the Friday, went to the Nurburgring on the Sat. Its only 1hr 20 or so from Spa, so no brainer for a sightseer.

 

Arrived mid morning. Weather had cleared up from and the sun was out. 1st stop complex.

 

Track was only open 2:30-4:30pm so had a bit of lunch then over to Brunchen to watch. No laps, as the car was full of gear.

Brigsyspec racing stickers carefully placed in various locations across germany. 

Next stop Adenau, fill up with Aral 102.

 

Checked in our apartment in Adenau which was awesome.

It was St Martins Day, and there was a parade/fair on which lots of the locals participated in, so half the town was blocked off which was a pain as the apartment was on the main road so had to drive round some barriers to get there :whistle:

 

As per Nurburgring there is nothing to do on an evening apart from drink and eat. Stocked up on some bits from Rewe

PistenKlaus for steak on the stone. Ive been to the pk loads of times over the last 15 years, and apart from one miserable waiter a few years ago, its been consistently good service and food. Did not dissappoint.

Strudel for after

On the Sunday Am had a bit of a sleep in, as needed to be in Amsterdam by 4pm so no rush to get going. Weather was wet, which was dissapointing as wanted to do some fast autobahn driving.

Anyway quick stop at ED tankstelle at Döttinger Höhe. 

Interesting one. Pulled up and there is a few people parked up and stood about as usual. Mrs says "cars getting a bit of attention". A lad comes over and says hello and asks how Spa was. Get talking and he is from Brazil, his friend follows me on insta and sent the lad a pic over of my car from my story update. Small world eh!

Anyway buy more crap from ED and get rolling. Autobahns were wet so 130kmh speedlimit in force initially which was a bit dissapointing, but 80mph in wet conditions is better than uk 70mph. A few miles in and the conditions improve so the speed boards change to unrestricted, and can make a bit of progress.

 

Traffic was a bit busier than usual so no vmaxx, just steady 130-140mph for a number of miles following a german Range rover sport.

Autobahn driving is one of my fav things on these tours. Nothing better than getting your foot down a bit and making progress.

Sadly next min your in Belgium and it feels like your stood still. Even slower in Amstsrdam with 100kmh limits through daylight hours.

Get to the ferry early ish albeit hitting mega traffic in Amsterdam. Upgraded room on the way back to a sea view cabin and actually had a reasonable nights sleep.

Up early am with the boat announcement alarm clock. Almost back on uk soil.

Boat docks in Tynemouth 9:15am.

Get rolling and back home 10:30am.

852 miles, done. Great trip.

[Brigsy]

Updates.

Give the blue dci egr a once over on Sunday as looks a bit more black smokey than usual. Ten min job to remove and examine, looked pretty clean so straight back in. Offered up the egr blank whilst apart, it seemed to be a loose fit and i could imagine it leaking so sacked that off..original egr working is good enough.

 

Whilst there i changed the airbox for one in better nick. My airbox was well worn round the induction pipe and was causing noise/resonation on overrun and reversing when engine was loaded. The new airbox was in much better condition so fitted that and the new induction pipe that was also in good nick. This cured all airbox rattles and the engine sounds loads quieter.

 

Airbox fitted, its no show winner under the engine cover😄

 

Have also ordered cambelt kit, water pump and aux kit. Cambelt has done 64k so its about due. Xmas job, when i get a spare half day.

 

Orange clio is in the mrs bad books. She used it the other day and the pedal/limp fault was present for most of the journey..best get it fixed soon or there will be hell on😄

 

Ive ordered a replacement pedal, will try that first. If no joy, i have an old 182 interior loom to chop the wiring out of to replace bits, and ill check out the white plug of doom for corrosion.

R26 had a wash after Spa. The brake dust was all over the sides of the car (race pad life) so give it a dose of iron fallout remover pre washing.

Washed all the rubber marks off. Its pissed down consistently since washing it as expected.

Also fitted an auto dimming rear mirror, this is a plug and play upgrade.

Well it should have been but the original mirror was tight as fuck and accidently pulled the bracket off the screen. Luckily it did not crack the screen, amazon to the rescue for loctite 319 mirror bond which has set rock solid. On the plus side the auto dim is good and was worth the hassle.

Thanks for reading!

[Brigsy]

Updates

Fitted a freshly retrimmed steering wheel to the megane r26 from Otto Retrims. Ive had this one done in alcantara and perforated nappa with yellow stitching and band. 

Quality is excellent as usual and nice change from the full leather one i had previously.

Have sent gearknob away for retrim in nappa with yellow stitching to match.

Hit the switch last week on a turbo for the Kangoo compact, and a nice new Pulsar g25 660 arrived yesterday.

Still need to source a couple of small items but almost ready to fit. 500hp or bust.

Thanks for.reading!!

[loserone]

38 minutes ago, Brigsy said:

500hp or bust.

fucking hell  

 

Those Otto retrims always look ace.

[Lacquer Peel]

22 minutes ago, loserone said:

fucking hell  

 

Those Otto retrims always look ace.

 

[vtec-e]

8 hours ago, Brigsy said:

500hp or bust.

Should be enough for pottering down to the shops at the weekend 😄

[Brigsy]

It was undriveable at 380hp so the only sensible solution was to add more power😁

With the new ecumaster black running the show, i will be able to have boost by gear and traction control so it should tame it a little, and larger turbo should be less agressive in power delivery.

Being honest the highboost map will just be for bragging rights on the dyno, to see what the setup can do.

With adjustable boost maps 20psi / 400hp on the street should be the sweet spot. Enough to embarass a few hot bmw's and audis

[Brigsy]

Updates - Dci fixing

Mrs was out in the blue clio dci on Friday and i needed to go out. Id normally jump in the r26 but its got no gearknob on it as its at the trimmers. Rest are sorn apart from the orange clio dci which is in limp. Best fix it eh!?

Usual fault stored when scanned with clip.

I bought a new accelerator pedal to fit so had the parts in stock, so should be an easy fix. Could i f**k get the pedal/bar off to swap over, my small puller has went awol so give up before it all broke.

With the defective pedal on the bench, i stripped the cover off to see if repairable. Its 5x posi screws and the cover comes off. The tracks on each potentiometer appeared to be worn but not beyond serviceable. I levered the contacts slightly to add more tension, and cleaned everything up and refitted the cover.

Cycled the pedal through a few presses with ign on and all good. Done 30mile or so yesterday and no limp, appears to be fixed. Simple repair, will see if it lasts.

[Brigsy]

Blue clio dci gets some tlc.

The blue clio dci seemed a bit slower and black smokey recently, bit intermittent as sometimes fine. Not sure if it was actually slower or felt slow after a week of driving the megane r26 fast as fcuk everywhere at Spa/Germany, but yeah thought it was worth a quick look at.

Stuck torque on it to look at live data and noted it was making boost ok but bit lazy getting there. Basically when i changed the turbo a while back, i noted boost pressure was a little lower but never done anything about it as its no rocketship.

Anyway had a dry morning so got the smoke kit out to leak test, just incase any boost leaks had developed.

The boost circuit on dci65 is super simple with no intercooler. Smoked it up and no leaks at all, air tight with the crankcase smoking up as the rings naturally let a bit by even with good compression.

Smokin.

With the boost circuit declared leak free, i took the egr out and inspected, pretty clean. Took the stainless steel pipe from egr to inlet off to check for soot restrictions and also pretty clean.

Cleaned both and got the mityvac out to check wastegate crack pressure, which was just under 15lbs, cranked the actuator up a bit so just over 15lbs. Also fitted a new airfilter as the old one was not great/12k old.

Took for test run and boost is up a little bit. Feels normal ish, was hard to tell if any better as been driving the megane all day. I will monitor and see how it goes, get the feeling egr might be playing up intermittently or maybe fuel system is a little bit tired. Might be worth logging fuel pressure at some point to see if anything is obvious?

 

Anyway overall runs good enough. Thats all that counts really. 

 

Thanks for reading!!

 

[Brigsy]

Sunday collection thread! 

Probably the most boring collection on the forum, but anyway.

Some of you might have noticed that the passenger side arch on my yellow megane r26 is rusty. Mk2 meganes dont rust?! They do when they have had a new rear qtr fitted badly in the past and its full of bog.

Ive been looking for a solution for ages. I found a full rear qtr at not alot of fcuking money, but problem is the inner arch panel is also rusty. This will require repair or replacement and its nla from renault as expected.

With the above in mind i thought the easy solution would be buying another bog standard spec megane mk2 3 door to cut a qtr panel off as loads about and cheap, well a lot cheaper than the rs models. Ok'd the repair with a good local bodyshop who are willing to take it on before looking.

Started looking on FB, Gumtree etc for a full car to buy to cut up. I looked at a silver 08 reg one local and it had a dent/scrape across the arch but no rust, rest of the car was scrap. Being fussy i passed on it, regrets as would have been perfect with a bit of work.

I then kept an eye on facebook market place. Mostly overpriced bags of shite with dented to fuck rear qtrs, rust and/or high priced.

Went to Lincoln to view one which looked good initially from pics. Got underneath the car and rust🫠car was a non runner so with recovery and sale price, i would have been around £600. Not good enough to use.

From what ive viewed, ive come to the conclusion whatever mk2 megane 3 door base spec that are still on the road are mostly piles of shite, prob due to age.

Also tried breakers. Most are unwilling to let you cut the qtr or take the shell to cut. Been messed about a bit as i had my name on a mint qtr panel on a breakers car but it got weighed in so give up on that one.

3 months worth of looking and nowt had come up which worked. Had the mrs looking for me and she spots a cheap 56reg silver megane 225 on Gumtree. Only down the road, fire the seller a message through the week asking if still up for sale and answer is yes. Price is a bit higher than i wanted to pay, so its got to have a good rear qtr and decent engine and gearbox to claw some money back from breaking it.

Arrange viewing for 12pm today. Get up, bit of food, diagnose blue clio, quick poo and out the door. Its sunny and dry for a change so go in the yellow megane r26.

The car is inHartlepool which is only 35mins or so away from me, and i know the area from working around there previously. 

Arrive at the sellers house and the solver 225 is outside. Look at the rear qtr straight away ignoring the rest, looks spot on which im absolutely amazed at so im now interested.

Looked round the rest of the car having a laugh with the seller at a few bits. The advert was honest stating various issues including knackered front arm bushes etc, various electrics not working, handbrake fooked, clicky cv joints etc so i already know that its going to be a knacker. I accidently lock the drivers door on the keyless,  and it wont open from outside.

Note it looks like the car has ran through temu with loads of stick on shite. Open and close boot and numberplate light falls to bits. Open bonnet, engine is typically oily megane rs and it has a forge blow off valve. Try to shut bonnet and bonnet catch bounces so me and the seller have to free it off manually so it will close.

Fire it up, and engine sounds sweet. No warnings on dash or nothing, was expecting check injection or airbag lights at minimum.

Take it for a quick test run round the block. Seller says its been mapped and do note it does go pretty well with one wheel peel on damp roads/shit tyres and the essentials work ok, brakes, goes etc.

Go back and money changes hands, fire some temp insurance on it and set off on home journey. No pez shots as it had qtr of a tank in.

Drive home was rather uneventful. I couldnt be arsed trying to work the chinese spec crap double din stereo so opted for turbo noises. Nothing falls off, temp gauge solid on 1/4 like they all are etc. Brakes derust fast, brake pedal feels fine.

My mrs was following me in the yellow megane r26, so we have a little race down the local dual carriageway near home, megane rs vs megane rs. My yellow meg is 270hp and the seller claimed this was stg 1 with exaggerated 300hp, obviously not but can tell its been mapped as ive driven loads of megane rs over the years. The yellow meg pulled away from me, but not by a massive amount, taking a guess its probably around 250hp.

Anyway your probably thinking less talking bollox and get some pics up..this is what you get for sub £1000 megane 225.

Doesnt look too bad from a distance eh!? Tat all over and bodges.

Decent enough for the money, the engine seems pretty good and its rot free, it does seem a little bit of a shame to chop it up. But realistically, it needs fuck loads of work to make it good. I reckon it wouldneed £1-2k to put it 'right'. 

Chop chop soon, engine and box out and a few bits off and the rest is going over the bridge.

Thanks for reading!!

[vtec-e]

It does look too good to cut, strip and scrap, but I guess you cant save every older 'faster' Renault Sport.