My 200...an old friend...

[kevlar]

Hi all just a quick update back before xmas I bought a genuine cup spoiler from RPD excellent service, got a little scared when I unwrapped it, it looked really roughl! Anyway passed across to a friend and decided to have it painted gloss black my mate has a real good eye for cars and colours etc, real attention to detail, got it back from him a few weeks back and it looks lurvly.

Had to get it installed at a local garage, when I took it in they thought I was mad they are all 'older' guys and think they didnt see the point of having it fitted, proper blokes!!!.

Anyway the guy who owns the garage knows my wife (yeh I know...) and she had it fitted for me for valentines day, they had the car two days as they were quite busy and now its all installed - having talked to the guys on collecting it they said they liked the Clio and said they had not seen many around so it left a good impression on them.

I did request they dont wash the car so It has a massive layer of dust over it, but anyway detailing time this weekend hopefully.

Anyway heres a photo, sure you have seen these a million times before, again I was sure I liked the spoiler, but there is always a doubt 'have a done the right thing', but yeh definately a fan seems to add just a 'little' something to the car.



Also she is now booked into K Tec again end of march to have the K Tec manifold, K Tec sports cat, remap update also red silicone hoses installed (yeh sad I know)....

I have been very impressed with K Tec in dealing with my 'issue with customer service' I raised they offered to install the manifold cat and remap update FOC on fitting so that would save some serious coin so started saving (again).

Sadly due to work etc last friday I failed to notice that K Tec did a 10% flash sale didnt notice until the sunday and I was mad with myself could have saved a few quid on the parts...so I emailed K Tec and explained I had missed the offer and would they honour the discount and I had a very quick reply to say yes no problem and they sent me a personal discount code.

So parts ordered online, had an email from them to confirm they had my order and they would call to set the date and they did call next day so Its all booked in....

To anyone reading this having issue with K Tec email them, they did seem genuine in sorting my issues out...so far!.

 

[///M]

Good update mate. And good on your Mrs for helping you along with your car. Most aren't interested huh?



Very impressed with K-Tec pulling their finger out for you. Sounds like they've gone the extra mile. Maybe you're just very good at writing complaint emails!

 

[kevlar]

Good update mate. And good on your Mrs for helping you along with your car. Most aren't interested huh?



Very impressed with K-Tec pulling their finger out for you. Sounds like they've gone the extra mile. Maybe you're just very good at writing complaint emails!

Yeh my wife has 0.00 interest in my car, appears she like me though - told my friend and he said shes a keeper...told her and she had a good laugh.

Yeh fair play to K Tec I agree - it was not a complaint email as such I made the point It was a constructive criticism!.

 

[Gordini]

Another good update. Really good choice of mods, if I don't meg mine I will be running exactly the same spec as you. Interested to see how you get on with the mani and sports cat with the Akra. Are they confident it will pass MOT emissions with that setup?

 

[kevlar]

Another good update. Really good choice of mods, if I don't meg mine I will be running exactly the same spec as you. Interested to see how you get on with the mani and sports cat with the Akra. Are they confident it will pass MOT emissions with that setup?

I did explain to them it has to pass the mot, hence the sports cat!

Having a meg powered one would be cool, but I kind of like the NA aspect probably makes me weird! I do get why people would do it, but its not for me.

 

[Gordini]

I did explain to them it has to pass the mot, hence the sports cat!

Having a meg powered one would be cool, but I kind of like the NA aspect probably makes me weird! I do get why people would do it, but its not for me.

Not weird at all... Unless I am too...

 

[kevlar]

Not weird at all... Unless I am too...

I think from what I have seen were all a bit weird on here

 

[///M]

I did explain to them it has to pass the mot, hence the sports cat!

Having a meg powered one would be cool, but I kind of like the NA aspect probably makes me weird! I do get why people would do it, but its not for me.

Nothing weird at all mate. NA all the way. These cars are more than quick enough for normal road conditions. I'd go for excitement over speed every time.

 

[kevlar]

Nothing weird at all mate. NA all the way. These cars are more than quick enough for normal road conditions. I'd go for excitement over speed every time.

Yep had an argument with my bro in law about this he said whats the point in modding your car blah blah blah you cant use the power on the road etc - true as that is its not all about flat out speed its about how these handle and the feedback you get, same when I had my Elise it wasnt that fast, but was all about the feeling etc...

Speed can get you in a whole heap of trouble on the roads its simply not worth risking it, plus i'm not that great a driver!

 

[///M]

Yep had an argument with my bro in law about this he said whats the point in modding your car blah blah blah you cant use the power on the road etc - true as that is its not all about flat out speed its about how these handle and the feedback you get, same when I had my Elise it wasnt that fast, but was all about the feeling etc...

Speed can get you in a whole heap of trouble on the roads its simply not worth risking it, plus i'm not that great a driver!

Ahh, you see, if you've owned a Lotus, you already know!



Plenty of "normal" cars faster than an Elise, but very very few, regardless of price, that will give you more enjoyment.

And I think the RS 3 Clio is very much in that category. The driving experience is simply thrilling.

 

[Jimmy]

Nice addition with the Cup spoiler, I do have a weak spot for these!

Great to hear K Tec have been so good with you, and it's refreshing to hear some positive talk about them, instead of the 'usual' stick they get. It goes to show what some companies are prepared to do for their customers, if they are asked!

 

[kevlar]

Today I have mostly been having my air con serviced...



I wanted to get the aircon checked and serviced so started to look around and stumbled upon John from Auto climate control in Swindon, the air con thing always feels like an area that's open to exploitation to me, VW tried to push my wife to have hers re gassed no mention of any service and it was very vague what they would do on the re gas Im also confident its just another company that does it not actually VW.

John came well recommended http://www.autoclimatecontrol.co.uk and he is very passionate about his work and was very friendly and easy to deal with, I left a voicemail he called me back etc.

He was happy for me to stay with him all the time, he explained what and why he was doing it to which is re assuring for me.

It was all tested fine took around 1 hr 30 all in all, so was very happy with his work, air con feels cooler now and its just piece of mind its tested and all good.

When I owned the car originally im aware the guy who bought it from me in 2012 had an issue with the aircon and the condenser had issues in the end it was replaced under warranty I know this as we actually stayed in touch after I had sold him the car.

Not that exciting an update, but an update none the less will be taking my wifes VW Up to him also.

 

[sevenfourate]

It will feel and be a more exciting update when its 28 degrees outside, your sweating your crack off and then remember that cooling Air-con at the end of your fingertips......

***I had mine emptied and re-charged last year. An hour and a half sounds extremely thorough. Much longer than was spent on mine for example.

 

[Pav]

gotta have A/C..best friend on long journeys...

 

[Gordini]

Hi mate, any updates on the ktec manifold and sports cat? Interested to see how you get on with these in conjunction with your other mods

 

[kevlar]

Hi mate, any updates on the ktec manifold and sports cat? Interested to see how you get on with these in conjunction with your other mods

Not sure how i missed this question! no update yet on that cars off to K Tec next week - full update when it returns!.

 

[kevlar]

Had some more work completed on my car last week thanks to @RSPez for putting up a thread on the ebay section on the forum for gas flowed inlet manifolds....sorry lots of photos coming!....

This is not something I thought about doing to be honest, I did at some point however want to have my inlet cover painted as standard they are not the prettiest things!.

However having seen the guys work It made sense to me to have the inlets done and at the same time especially as my cars going back to K Tec next week for some further work part of the work will be an update to the map, so seems best time to get this done before.

So I contacted Max at MS Custom Engineering via Facebook and he replied within minutes and after a quick exchange he agreed he could move some work around to fit my car in, also due to the fact i'm f&^%$£g useless at anything mechanical he agreed he would be happy to have the car remove and refit after for a small charge which was fine for me as hes based in the Frome area about 40 mins from my house.

In talking to him I also got some prices for having some other parts painted to brighten the engine bay, so again agreed it was a good time to do the bits at the same time.

Dropped my car off to him late on the 13th and last minute I asked if he could do my rear calipers as they were quite scabby sadly. Max smiled gave me a price, he has done a lot of work on Clio's so made me feel at ease and he just came across as a nice guy who is passionate about his work...rare to find these days.

So I left him the car, agreed to pick the car up on the 18th....

Max kept me update via Facebook each day with his progress and eventually some photos - now max is not the most technical person to be honest and I know some people contacted me directly via the forum as they had messaged him and got no replies. I spoke to Max about this and he is simply so busy he just find it hard to reply to everyone quickly, he said the best way to contact him is via Facebook which is why I got lucky I think!.

So anyway enough talk here are some photos of his handy work..

So as i dropped it to him.....



Parts removed and some cleaning done:



Work started..









And my scabby calipers...

 

[Sean197]

wow those calipers are minging. You going for red inlet and calipers?

 

[kevlar]

And some after photos...














Sorry for the heavy picture thread!.

So everything was sorted and I picked my car up on the 18th as planned, car was ready on arrival, invoice ready Max was excited to show me the parts, he really does enjoy his work and that is very obvious - I would say his prices are very good, I was more than happy with the work done and would be happy to have more work done as and when needed.

Regards the inlets work done I have to be honest I didnt notice a big difference on the drive home, apart from it did feel a bit 'smoother'?! answers on a post card!

Maybe the remap update at K Tec will reveal some more on this front, I did ask Max what he thought on the power it may add he was honest and said I really dont know...

Hope this proves useful to someone reading, regards the engine bay I would have loved more painted etc, think this will do for now though, cant wait to have my hoses put on now in the engine bay!.

Also have some Brembo decals to add to my newly refreshed calipers thanks to @Gordini for confirming the correct size to get.

Hopefully have another update after my K Tec visit next week...

 

[Sean197]

wow those calipers are minging. You going for red inlet and calipers?

Should have waited for the 'after' pics haha. They look great, inlet and the calipers.