Renault life. Van life - Extra van does Croft Circuit

[Brigsy]

Updates.

Kangoo large turbo mockup continued. After dismissing the last return pipe as dogshit idea, purchased an all in one 600mm long stainless flexible oil return pipe to try. Typically the nut was larger than standard an10 so would not fit on the threaded turbo drain between the compressor cover and exhaust housing! Almost got the grinder on the nut but sacked it off, returned for refund and onto solution number 3. 

Solution 3 is another stainless flexible oil return pipe with flange that bolts straight onto the turbo oil return. Did not hold my breath when offering it up, however it looks like a good useable solution. Very oem like.

Job jobbed

 

All it needs is a short bit of hose joining to sump fitting. Need to order another straight an10 fitting, ill have shares in torques at this rate!

Water feed solution done. 90deg fitting was stupidly tight here, so changed for banjo.

Its not optimal but itll do. Ideally all the fittings need to be custom bent pipes tig welded together. I really should learn to tig weld and this would be a relatively easy job.

Started mocking up airfilter setup as larger inlet than current setup.All needs shortening, need to do some measuring on the vehicle. Ill prob get the join tig welded in the middle to make a tidy job.

Getting there, very slowly but some progress is better than none.

Thanks for reading!

[Brigsy]

Updates.

Extra van gets some loving. It only moved once last year and has been laid up ever since. To recap it needed a bit of work doing, inlet gasket was leaking on cyl 1 causing a bit of noise on boost and a fuelly mix coating the inlet, and down on power but not by much. I had the parts in stock, but lacking motivation id failed to do anything. Not a massive amount of work, inlet, exhaust and turbo off, but if you cant be arsed its easier said than done.

I have Croft booked for Easter Friday and its looking likely that my yellow megane r26 will be in the bodyshop, so with 8 weeks to go ill see if i can get this ready.

Made a start. 

45 mins later, inlet off and turbo moved out of the way.

1hr30 in, fully stripped. Its fiddly to work on but easy in some respects as its all done from the top.

On stripping the gasket off, noted cylinder 1 & 4 inlet ports had split the gasket and rippled the stainless side. All bolts were tight so it had not blown out due to lack of torque on the fixings. Never seen a c1j gasket fail like this, i assume its high egt, high emap (exhaust pressure) related and the cast manifold moves a bit.

Oem renault gasket not up to the job.

Interesting ripples on the stainless side due to movement, cracks visible.

Ive had these fail before but not like this. The new one has stainless plate both sides and supposed to be better. However might be time for a material change, i have a lead on a copper gasket.

Id noted the starter wiring was a bit tired last time id been underneath, heat had affected it and the plastic conduit was melted. The r5gtt runs a starter motor heatshield originally but they fall to bits and get binned, ive done thousands of miles in this without issues but the efi engine is a different animal and clearly needs some protection

With access good the heat damage was clearly visible, Not the best.

Touched it and everything fell to bits revealing 50mm or so of bare live wire. This has no fuse as standard, good job it never touched anything or could have been sketchy.

Heatshrink would not go over the angled connector to the starter + terminal so only option would be tape which is a bit bodgy. I need the angled connector and opted to splice a piece of new wire in. A quick rake about in the spare wiring and a bit of megane starter wiring found. Needed the angled connector for starter as access is tight, so crimped a straight joiner in, and chopped loom back which revealed an oem joint.

Hydraulic crimper gives solid joins.

Dual wall heatshrink x 2 layers.

Original loom cut and joined at oem joiner.

Dual wall heatshrink.

Fibreglass firesleeve added for heat protection.

Starter motor had seen a lot of heat. Ideally it needs a heatshield making but can wait to another day. Added some dei reflective tape i had spare.

Refitted. Added a heatproof ht lead cover over the firesleeve, should be adequate. Ill add a maxi fuse into the positive wire to batt to avoid any issues in the future.

With this done started cleaning up inlet. The fuel vapour is clearly visible with added bit of exhaust blow.

Quick once over with brake cleaner.

On with the rebuild. New gasket in situ, both sides metal so hopefully will last a bit longer. 

Back together. Give it a wipe over to clean.

Battery back on, primed up fuel system with ign on and off a few times and good to go. laptop on to check sensors reading ok.

Primed oil system up by holding full throttle as the adaptronic has fuel and spark cut for flood clear, its a good feature. Oil pressure come up straight away, so went for a start and it fired straight up.

All seems to be good, engine idles better with no air leaks.

Mot pre checks next weekend then will get it booked in asap.

[Brigsy]

Updates.

Had a spare hour on Sunday so done a bit more to the Kangoo turbo setup to keep progress moving.

Oil return finished with a short bit of stainless braided hose, an10 fittings and firesleeve. Its solid enough, but will prob make a small bracket to hold it when in situ.

Id say its all good enough to be fitted now. Just need a good day to get it done. Water hoses and induction pipe to be finished in situ.

With this done i moved onto fitting the larger bosch motorsport throttle body to my spare 250 inlet. The inlet port needed matching to get rid of a 3mm step. Bit of backyard engineering required.

Trace round throttle body with paper and oily finger to get a template, cut out centre with knife.

Transfer to inlet. Note 3mm or so difference which would cause a step.

i was going to die grind it, but found a worn down old flapper wheel that goes on a drill. It was worn on an angle from previous job which was perfect. 5 mins and done.

Im going to tidy up the rest of the inlet externally removing unecessary brackets and cutting clearance for the cam sensor before painting up.

Thanks for reading!!

[FakeConcern]

I really love your work on all these Renaults and it makes me want to turn Mrs Concern's Modus into a proper sleeper.

It's 1.6 petrol with 111bhp and already surprises other drivers with the turn of speed even that gives seeing as it looks like it does!

Makes me wonder if a turbo would fit to the existing engine or a Clio 182 swap would work.

The trouble is I'm too old to want to do it in reality, but would love it if I did if you see what I mean.

Meanwhile, I'll live out my fantasies through this thread!

[Matty]

1 hour ago, FakeConcern said:

I really love your work on all these Renaults and it makes me want to turn Mrs Concern's Modus into a proper sleeper.

It's 1.6 petrol with 111bhp and already surprises other drivers with the turn of speed even that gives seeing as it looks like it does!

Makes me wonder if a turbo would fit to the existing engine or a Clio 182 swap would work.

The trouble is I'm too old to want to do it in reality, but would love it if I did if you see what I mean.

Meanwhile, I'll live out my fantasies through this thread!

182 Modus would be hilarious in a good way! Hopefully @Brigsy takes on commisions 😄

[loserone]

225 duster next in the queue 😅

[stuboy]

On 04/02/2026 at 14:48, Brigsy said:

I really should learn to tig weld

this is one thing ive never tried and always wanted too.

[vaughant]

Nice touch on the wiring with the hydraulic crimpers....I think I'll need to order a set of those in general 👍🏻👍🏻

[Brigsy]

19 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

I really love your work on all these Renaults and it makes me want to turn Mrs Concern's Modus into a proper sleeper.

It's 1.6 petrol with 111bhp and already surprises other drivers with the turn of speed even that gives seeing as it looks like it does!

Makes me wonder if a turbo would fit to the existing engine or a Clio 182 swap would work.

The trouble is I'm too old to want to do it in reality, but would love it if I did if you see what I mean.

Meanwhile, I'll live out my fantasies through this thread!

Cheers mate! Ive been asked to convert a modus before to 225 power. Doable, and would be absolutely hilarious to drive and show up some modern stuff. The stock 1.6 also turbo converts well but not cheap to do. Never say never 😁

 

18 hours ago, loserone said:

225 duster next in the queue 😅

Be class that. Prob doable!

18 hours ago, stuboy said:

this is one thing ive never tried and always wanted too.

I need to get a setup bought. I can barely weld full stop but would defo like to have a go.

 

13 hours ago, vaughant said:

Nice touch on the wiring with the hydraulic crimpers....I think I'll need to order a set of those in general 👍🏻👍🏻

The hydraulic crimpers are mega, I originally paid around £25 for them years ago to do a 0 gauge batt cable. Make light work of bigger wiring and absolutely solid connections. The good thing, is you can always go to a smaller die size to crimp it tight as fook, wiring breaks before the connection in most circumstances.

[loserone]

1 minute ago, Brigsy said:

Be class that. Prob doable

There are some F4RT rally dusters used in desert rallys etc.  would be one hell of a weapon around here.

[FakeConcern]

22 hours ago, Matty said:

182 Modus would be hilarious in a good way! Hopefully @Brigsy takes on commisions 😄

Funny today on the way home from Arundel, the back box fell off the exhaust, well it was hanging from the rear most rubber mount and I borrowed some snips from a roadside van sales to cut it off as it was bouncing on the road and rear wheel.

Anyway it didn't make it any faster, but it sounded great!

[adey]

i really wanted to do a modus, though with full clio 172 cup suspension and 197engine with 6 speed. 2 buckets and full send

[FakeConcern]

7 minutes ago, adey said:

i really wanted to do a modus, though with full clio 172 cup suspension and 197engine with 6 speed. 2 buckets and full send

[Brigsy]

30 minutes ago, adey said:

i really wanted to do a modus, though with full clio 172 cup suspension and 197engine with 6 speed. 2 buckets and full send

Im sure it was KD who wanted to do a modus, he asked me about it a while back. Are they same front end as twingo or mk3 clio?

[adey]

4 minutes ago, Brigsy said:

Im sure it was KD who wanted to do a modus, he asked me about it a while back. Are they same front end as twingo or mk3 clio?

In my head they were mk2 twingo based, that said ive never been near one check. 

[FakeConcern]

Mk3 Clio I believe

[Brigsy]

3 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

Mk3 Clio I believe

If thats the case, you could prob fit clio mk3 rs front running gear including the perfo hub setup. Be class

[adey]

Just now, Brigsy said:

If thats the case, you could prob fit clio mk3 rs front running gear including the perfo hub setup. Be class

A quick search for wishbones would suggest its mk3 clio style for sure. 

[Brigsy]

1 minute ago, adey said:

A quick search for wishbones would suggest its mk3 clio style for sure. 

Defo be able to make a combo work. Never say never 😁

[adey]

Just now, Brigsy said:

Defo be able to make a combo work. Never say never 😁

Brigsys next build..... 😉

[Brigsy]

54 minutes ago, adey said:

Brigsys next build..... 😉

No more projects until the current ones are finished😄

[Brigsy]

Updates.

Car cleaning day today. Bit fucking fresh but yellow meg needed doing badly after yesterdays blast out/pebbledashed by the gritter so was covered in salt. Also with the weeks of rain all the cars were covered in a black residue and black lines all over the panels. Must have been some shite coming out of the sky or whatever.

Yellow r26 meg cleaned. 

Kangoo cleaned. Paint needs a light clean annoyingly, from whatever has come out of the sky. Was only washed 2 weeks ago too and paint has adequate protection on it. It can wait until weather picks up a bit.

Blue dci cleaned. Actually couldnt see out of the side windows due to 500ish miles of motorway this week for site visits.

Typically its pissed down again as soon as i finished cleaning😄

Took drivers seat out of the megane r26 as the lower bolster pleather is cracked/worn.

Its booked into Auto Trimming in dormanstown to get repaired tomorrow, same day service. They have done the same repair for me on one a few years ago and the price/quality is excellent. 

Thanks for reading!!

[Brigsy]

Monday update. 

Dropped the megane drivers seat off at auto trimming this morning, and done by afternoon. Great job as per usual.

Need to give the alcantara and leather a scrub as its super shiney in comparison. Not suprised after 140'000 miles of arse sat in them.

Thanks for reading!!

[Brigsy]

Updates.

Busy working on other peoples cars this weekend but still managed to do a bit.

Done a bit of car tetris to get the Extra van out of the garage yesterday.

A quick wash off and a run round the block confirms all seems ok. Will get it booked in for mot this week. 

Its mad to think it was 18 years ago when i bought this/converted to r5gtt running gear. I was in my mid 20's, now mid 40s 😄

Also more prep to my modified inlet manifold for my megane engined Kangoo. Ive removed a few unecessary bits of casting for brackets and plugged the hole for the breather with a bung. 

The bung is more or less interference fit, but not chancing that at 2bar of boost, dropping it off at the welders tomorrow to be tig welded.

Thanks for reading!!

[Brigsy]

Updates

Blue clio dci chucks the eml on.

On Monday this week it started up as normal, ran for a minute or so then dropped onto what sounded like 3 cylinders and eml on. I turned it off and restarted and it fired up as normal/no issues and was in a hurry so sent it. 50 miles later no issues so stuck can clip on it to diagnose.

Cyl 1 combustion. Not sure why it had a fit, this mirrors what the orange clio done a while ago and never repeated it. Ive done about 300 mile in it this week and no return so that can wait until it reappears and ill bang an injector in if it needs one.

Noted iat fault whilst scanning which is a new one to me. Cleared all and iat straight back up.

Extended dtc data says

Noted external air temp stuck at 25deg on live data so assumed related to pre turbo sensor as main iat sensor was reading ok and overall it was driving ok.

This week has been pretty hectic so no time to look, had a spare hour today so on it.

Engine cover off and looking at wiring to iat sensor, one side looked dodgy yet intact. Flicked it with minimal effort and it snapped off, could see corrosion on the wire so clearly the issue.

Connector depinned, wiring stripped and new connector crimped on/refitted.

Checked live data and sensor readings moving as expected and not stuck on 25deg.

Fault cleared and no return.

Issues resolved in 10 mins, easy fix. Ive said it before and ill say it again, temp sensors rarely fail on these old renaults so always check the basics before spending any money. 90% of the issues are related to wiring.
 

[Brigsy]

Kangoo compact update.

More mods done to the inlet manifold in preperation for ecu master black ecu upgrade.

Removed a couple of brackets that wont be used again to make the inlet look slightly better and tapped the oem map sensor hole to suit an adaptor for a takeoff for the new ecu. Also removed the electronic breather crap, plugged with a bung and welded. 

Needs a final clean and paint up before fitting, but another small job ticked off the never ending list.

Thanks for reading!!

[IronStar]

If I keep reading this thread I'll end up with a crashed Clio and dodgy Kangoo.

Mega work you're doing!

[Brigsy]

22 hours ago, IronStar said:

If I keep reading this thread I'll end up with a crashed Clio and dodgy Kangoo.

Mega work you're doing!

Cheers mate! 

You definitely need to engine convert a renault at some point to tick the box😁

[IronStar]

8 hours ago, Brigsy said:

Cheers mate! 

You definitely need to engine convert a renault at some point to tick the box😁

At some point for sure. It looks like a proper fun!

I think I need to buy a proper garage and storage first. Otherwise mrs Star will probably launch me into the lower orbit for needing to rent YET ANOTHER parking space. 😄

[Brigsy]

Extra van update.

Coated the bumpers and all plastic trims on the Extra. In the past i done them with bumper gel, it never lasts more than one wash though and the trims go back to looking s**t.

Ive tried most of the good ceramic bumper coatings and some are pretty crap durability wise, however had mega success with Cerakote ceramic trim coat wipes on the kangoo, so decided to do it properly.

Before 

After

Its a bit glossy for some people, but personally i dont mind it. Goes off fast too, cured in an hr, prep is dead easy just scrub the plastics if necessary.

Got it out today for pre mot checks.

Plastics look mega.

Main reason for getting it out today was for mot pre checks. Being honest, it was checked after Cliosport festival Anglesey trackday in 2024 and its done hardly no miles since so didnt expect any issues, and all looks OK. Still solid in the right places for a 29 year old van.

920kg and it flys up on the jack.

Side exit exhaust.

With mot pre checks done, i started doing some pre dyno checks. Its booked in EfiParts for a map tweak later this month. Been meaning to do it for 6 years but never get round to it.

Anyway quick smoke test on the boost cct, to confirm no more inlet leaks. All good, no leaks.
 

Will get some road miles on it this week after mot, then look at oil change and brake fluid flush.

Kangoo compact update.

Megane 250 inlet modifications done. I removed another unused bracket on the front, cut the clearance required for cam sensor on 197 head and started to remove some of the oem renault casting marks. I was going to remove all the casting marks and smooth the lot, but stopped as its time consuming and not adding value to the setup i.e. going to add horsepower.

Give it a thorough clean up with brake cleaner and a stiff brush inside to remove any swarf. Pressure washed it out to finish. Masked up the ports, coat of vht aluminium and lacquer and ill call it done. Never be pretty but looks better than the stock 250 inlet.

Cam sensor clearance below, as 197 cam sensor is fitted in the head vs 250 fitted in the cam cover.

Bosch motorsport throttle body fitted.

Much better than oem rs250, original is 45mm and this is 54mm so should help with pressure differential pre and post throttle.

Need to look at fitting the turbo setup soon.

Thanks for reading!!