Ashers' OEM+ BG Trophy Project

[Brockster]

Hi Ash, really enjoyed reading through your posts and the dedication your 182/trophy is getting! Don't want to know how much everything came to by hey, boys and there toys! A number of us of going on a 2 day weekender in September. It would be great to join the group. Agree with Claude, No. 501 would be well deserved Keep up the great work and continue to document your progress. PS: Wish the trophy came in BG. Looks great!

 

[Gordon]

Great research re the ball joints and lower arms. That manufacturers evolve models and use (probably) as many transferable parts as they can over decades wonderfully exposes the profit and margin chasing they indulge in.

Putting the dimensions to one side do you think they are of the same metallurgic quality? Extrapolating, pig iron for a Scenic and titanium for a Trophy? The only thing I'd question would be the quality of such parts. I'd rather be paying £19.84 too, but are we joe public, really staring that type of margin taking in the face? Or are the parts significantly different in quality of material based on the model they are manufactured for? Open question, I've no idea.

 

[hoolio]

Unfortunately I think we are looking at that kind of profiteering. You only have to look at the rear lid struts. One company can retail them for twenty quid or so and the oe part is what, £160 for one? Economy of scale will account for part of that and i'm sure the original manufacturer will not of skimped on their cut considering the premium part we are talking about, but really that much?
As to the quality, I'm not sure that Renault cold afford to skimp on such a load bearing part whatever the model.

 

[Ash J]

Hi Ash, really enjoyed reading through your posts and the dedication your 182/trophy is getting! Don't want to know how much everything came to by hey, boys and there toys! A number of us of going on a 2 day weekender in September. It would be great to join the group. Agree with Claude, No. 501 would be well deserved Keep up the great work and continue to document your progress. PS: Wish the trophy came in BG. Looks great!

Thanks for the generous comments

That 2 day weekender sounds like a good shout if I would be welcome. Also my birthday mid-September so a good way to celebrate! Would certainly be interested.

 

[Ash J]

Cheers for all the kind comments chaps.

Not much of an update, but I ordered a few decals from a guy on ClioSport (n2grafix) and they arrived Friday, so I got them fitted today.

Firstly, I ordered one of the new style 'Elf' decals to replace the original OEM one in the back window. It just ties in with my newer style RS rear badge hence why I went with it, very happy with the result!

Also ordered a pair of 'Recaro' decals to fit to the side mounts on the seats, again just a small touch but so nice when I open the door and that sticker is now there.

Finally, I ordered a few 'Renault F1 Team' decals in various different colour combos. I fitted one to the front edge of the bonnet, and one to the bottom right of the rear window. Very happy with these, especially the front bonnet one, so subtle but looks so good in my eyes and ties in with the colour combo of my bullets.

I also ordered a new pair of 'ClioSport' decals in Anthracite which I fitted to the rear side windows to tie in with bullets and front decal, no picture of these!

So here are the pics of all the decals fitted, as I say only a small update! And yes I know the car needs a clean!

 

[dablk]

Clean you seat belts... They're letting a very fine car down

 

[mak2503]

It was all going so well. Those stickers do nothing for me but if you like it that's all that matters.

 

[Mikeyjp]

i think they look better than the huge ones people put on there, but no a fan either

 

[Ash J]

Thanks for the comments chaps, all opinions more than welcome!

Not normally a fan of stickers myself, but the Recaro ones cover up a couple of chips in the side mounts which really annoyed me (OCD) and have actually grown on me.

The rear Elf sticker is a replacement for the original, albeit in white instead of the clear OEM one.

The front is barely noticeable and very subtle, looks larger in the pics. Not too different to the Trophy ones which people put on the front of their bonnet.

The rear 'F1 Team' I am completely undecided on, not sure if I like it yet. So will probably be coming off as I am not liking the yellow at all.

Wouldn't say any of them are overly tacky and have seen a lot worse! But all down to individual interpretation. I am happy with them so I guess that is the main thing!

And yes I would really like to clean the seat belts. But how?!

 

[Mikeyjp]

I used Vanish spray, nail brush, and a bucket of hot water and a couple of pegs to keep the seatbelt pulled out

 

[Claude]

Some people pull the seat belt out as far as possible then close the door on it, jet wash it, apply products, scrub etc etc

 

[dablk]

Yep as mikey said. Pull out as far as you can. Stick a bulldog clip to stop it winding back in. Undo at the bottom and release then end. I just used a bucket of mild washing machine soap powder and a soft nail brush. Just don't fray them or they will fail Mot. But if elbow grease and done.

really bad ones you can take a karcher too to get you started then bucket method.

 

[Gordon]

Mild detergent being the operative word. Don't use Fairy Liquid or detergents with lots of salts for grease removal. They will weaken the belt. A bucket of warm water and mild soap, perhaps something used to hand wash garments. Certainly not hardcore biological washing powder with whitening/bleaching agents. I personally wouldn't jet wash a seat belt, but that's me. I'd also use a cloth not a brush as a brush could catch the weave of the fibre. A soft brush at most, not a stiff bristle thing.

 

[Ash J]

Cheers for the suggestions re the seatbelts chaps, will get them done once I get a bit of time.

Not a great deal has happened since last update.

Car is now booked in for all the suspension to be fitted on 17th August, very excited. Have that week off work, so will be nice to go for a few drives that week with all the new suspension.

I ordered some new door pulls as mine had seen better days. Most people either go for standard replacements, or have them painted (gloss black for example). I chose to have mine flocked, in Anthracite Grey. Very happy with the result, finish is lovely. I have a few pics of when they arrived, see below. They are now fitted, and I have taken photos of them fitted, but the camera makes the door pulls look purple instead of grey so I have not posted them up. I have also ordered a steering cowling in the same Anthracite Grey so waiting for that to arrive now. Anyway, here are the door pulls...





Next up, the heater developed a problem last weekend. The blower was on maximum speed, regardless of what speed I set it to on the heater control panel. I could change the temperature, but the speed just remained at maximum power, and some of the other buttons (where to direct air) were not working correctly. I put a post up on here, but nobody replied with any suggestions as to what it could be. After a bit of research, it appears that a fairly common issue is the heater resistor motor which fails, located under the scuttle next to where the pollen filter is. I sourced a genuine second hand one which had been tested and was working, and decided to buy it and give it a try to see if it would cure my problem (I wasn't hopeful). Swapped the old for the new last night and... bingo! It worked! Best £20 I've spent on the car as the sound of the heater being on full blast was damn annoying! A picture of the offending item for anyone who might have a similar problem...



Yesterday my new warning stickers arrived for the top of the grille under the bonnet. Mine have curled up and look very unsightly, so will get these fitted tomorrow and post up some before and after pics, should tidy it up a treat.



Also, I ordered new LED bulbs for the interior delay light, interior map reading light, glove box light and boot light. Will get all these fitted tomorrow too and again post up before and after pics if possible, hoping they will just smarten up the interior a little bit.



Finally, this happened...





Orbisoud!! It is a full system (haven't taken a picture of the centre section and sports cat, or the custom rear mounting plates and mounts they come with) and it needs a clean up as you can tell from the pic, which I will do within the next week or so, but I can see that it should come up very well. Can't wait to get this fitted. Suffice to say, my BTB cat-back system will probably be up for sale once the Orb is fitted (hopefully within the next month) so keep an eye out in the classifieds!

That's it for now.

 

[dablk]

Never heard one, but it looks serious

 

[hoolio]

You may want to replace rubber hangers. BMW X5 iirc.

 

[Ash J]

You may want to replace rubber hangers. BMW X5 iirc.

Yes I am deliberating getting new hangers whilst the system is off the car, they are indeed BMW X5 ones as you mention. Will go to BMW to get genuine ones, I have the part number too as the hangers have 'BMW' and the part number on them.

This system was removed from Trophy number 104, and when I first saw the centre section and cat, I wasn't sure if this part of the system was genuine Orbisoud, as I thought they all had straight pipes between the sports cat and rear silencer, whereas mine has a silencer just after the sports cat.

Upon further research last night, it appears there was a 'soft version' available through K-Tec a number of years ago. So I then did a search for 'Orbisoud' on here, and pulled up a thread talking about Orbisoud systems which low and behold was started by the owner of 104 at the time this system was fitted (username is Neophyte). He talks about how he had ordered a soft version from K-Tec in the thread. At the bottom of page 4 of the thread, he also posted up some pictures of the system just after it was installed (all nice and shiny), which shows the centre silencer just after the sports cat. This has cleared everything up for me as I now know the centre section is definitely Orbisoud, and can confirm it looks exactly the same as his pictures, apart from not being quite so shiny at the moment!

The thread I mentioned above is here: http://www.cliotrophy.co.uk/forum/s...oud-story-continues-and-other-ramblings/page4

So I am very happy with my purchase, was a reasonable price. And in a way I am actually quite happy it is the 'soft version' I have, as I don't like my cars too loud and it is my daily too (I have read the 'non-soft' Orb's are very loud).

Exhaust aside, I had a general tidy up under the bonnet today.

Here are a couple of pictures of all my old stickers on the top of the grille which weren't looking their best. Also you will notice I was missing one of the trim fastener clips at the far top right corner of the grille.





So I got to removing all the stickers, and fitting the new ones. The right hand one was an exact match so no dramas there. The left hand one originally fitted to the 182 is now discontinued, the one I bought is slightly longer than the original. However, the far left part of the new sticker is a 'battery warning notice' which is the same warning as the right hand sticker, so you simply trim this off and voila, the sticker is then exactly the same as the original.

You will also notice I binned the white 'Renault Inspection Record' sticker in the centre, and fitted a new smaller item in its place which I got from eBay, nice little touch. Also ordered a pack of trim fasteners, so the top right of the grille is no longer missing a fastener. Lastly, you will see the addition of an 'ITG' sticker on my Maxogen intake. I got in touch with ITG asking if they would send me a couple of stickers, as I bought my unit second hand and all kits when new come with some ITG stickers. They were more than helpful and sent a few in the post foc. All very OCD I know, but it's all the little touches!

So the result. Might seem mega sad, but makes me much happier when opening the bonnet now!





Also got all my LED interior bulbs fitted and they look much better and crisper, would definitely recommend as a freshen up.

That's it. Now to get onto cleaning up my new exhaust system in the next week or so!

 

[Claude]

Attention to detail is so strong in this one

 

[Big Dave]

Looking great... Keep up the good work...

 

[Big Dave]

Ash.
ill be interested to know where you got the led interior bulbs from, and the difference they make..
Ta.