Gaz's Albi 197

Where do I start I've been a member for some time when I was going to replace my 172 cup with a 197 but that never happened!

I've owned a few various cars over the years highlights being a 312bhp Astra coupe with vxr running gear and very rare dbilas parts fitted was a animal but sold this in 2014 when my wife got a brand new fiesta st which we kept for 3 years this is one of the best cars I've ever owned as much as many on hear will hate them I've never owned a car that is so capable out of the box. I ran person stage 2 on it and done a couple of track days and really regret getting rid of it :worried:

In the mean time I got myself a Octavia vrs estate for daily dutys and to be honest its brilliant! About 16 months ago I bought a megane rs250 cup in a proper spec of no options other than cloth recaros, rs monitor and drls. It was in a not so good state when I bought it and over 12 months I spent a fortune on it to get it into a decent state I won't bore you with all the work I done but the mods included a full 3" CGR exhaust system which was a true work of art and if anybody ever moves onto a megane I highly recommend that it's the only exhaust to buy for them, I fitted a pace intercooler, h&r springs, rays motorsport g07wt wheels with ad08's and thats about it never managed to get it mapped before I sold it.

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So this brings me to now I sold the megane about 6 weeks ago due to buying a new house that needs a fair chunk of money throwing at it so decided to sell up to release some funds and buy the wife a cheaper car as she does about 3k a year tops. We ended up with a e46 330d which once she drove once absolutely hated it so she stole my skoda! I do a good chunk of miles in work and the 330 is rather thirsty so I decided to have another look for a car for the wife and it didn't take me long to start looking for a 197.

With a limited budget of around 2k I started looking finding 100k+ nails to be fair and whenever a decent sounding one came for sale it was sold before I could get to it. So I decided to up the budget and finally managed to find a lovely albi blue example local, only options are xenons and sunroof which I didn't really want but heyho. Cars done 80k and lots of history with it only issues are 3rd gear synchro and boot pair lifting under the glass.

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Current plans are to de chav it, remove the wind deflectors and mud flaps, sort the gearbox out and a new clutch, from there it will be sort the paint on the boot and some new tyres all round prob Michelin PS4 or cup2 if I can stretch to them then it's some suspension decent brakes and some oz ultraleggeras. Long term I think a meg conversion but this will be a good while away until I have my house sorted and for this reason mods will likely be slow!
 
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Great intro Gaz. Looks a nice example to start out on.
Pictures are a must and we'll do everything we can to help you part with your money on upgrades:grinning:
Enjoy
 
Welcome to the forum :smile: Yours is exactly the same spec as mine with the sunroof and Xenons. If I were to buy a Clio again, it would have to be fitted with the sunroof, makes such a difference and surprises a lot of people too.
 
VERY nice - really tidy example. LOOK AT THAT SUNROOF ! Don't see many of those around......... :smile:

I'm not sure i'd actually fit them - but i really like the mud-flaps. Again - it's because they are quite unique i think - and not seen too often.

Good luck with continued mods and enjoy the forum............
 
Great intro Gaz. Looks a nice example to start out on.
Pictures are a must and we'll do everything we can to help you part with your money on upgrades:grinning:
Enjoy

Don't say that I don't need much encouragement Many pictures will come as and when I'm doing bits.

Welcome to the forum :smile: Yours is exactly the same spec as mine with the sunroof and Xenons. If I were to buy a Clio again, it would have to be fitted with the sunroof, makes such a difference and surprises a lot of people too.

To be fair I've not owned a car with a sunroof for years, one thing that I'm impressed with is how light it is inside.

VERY nice - really tidy example. LOOK AT THAT SUNROOF ! Don't see many of those around......... :smile:

I'm not sure i'd actually fit them - but i really like the mud-flaps. Again - it's because they are quite unique i think - and not seen too often.

Good luck with continued mods and enjoy the forum............

Thanks man, the flaps are not my cup of tea, the front ones scrape over every speed bump there that low! I've been stopped in my tracks already as someone has tightened the locking wheel bolts so tight I can't get them off with my breaker bar Will have to go the garage this week and get them off.
 
So one week into ownership and progress is slow due to being busy sorting the house out but I've achieved a few bits, first off the windscreen wipers were pants and just smeared water all over it! This was rectified by a trip to euro car parts.

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Next up I removed the god awful mud flaps that were just acting as a store for mud Whilst I was there I also threw the exhaust tips in the bin as on of my favourite parts of the 197 is the diffuser and hidden exhaust tips.

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Much better! Now the right rear tyre is a budget brand and also has a slow puncture, one of my biggest hates on a car is poor tyres so I've bit the bullet and bought 4 225/45 Michelin PS4 tyres from Costco they wouldn't fit them but I'll get a local lad to sort them on Tuesday for me.

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I'm going to keep hold of the federal 595 rsr's off the front and get myself a set of Laguna wheels for track days, I've got my eye on a set local so will see how they do this week on eBay.
 
Interested to see how you get on with the PS4's, will most likely move to these once my contis are gone.

I'll report back next week once I've done a few miles on them but from all the reviews I think there one of the best tyres about at the moment.
 
Sorry for the lack of updates on this but a house purchase that we got the keys to in September have pretty much stopped everything car related in my world due to me absolutely gutting the whole house and starting again!

What has been done since last time is 3rd and 4th gear syncros have been replaced alone with a new genuine clutch and slave and now the car drives so much better, while there my mate noticed the thermostat housing was leaking and upon further investigation turned out the wrong stat was fitted so this was replaced with a genuine item as well.

Next up I’ve bought some skirt extensions and canards from cm composites that I will fit once the car is lowered and had a couple of paint bits sorted.

Just yesterday I picked up a set of Laguna silverstones very cheap and local so these will be getting a refurb at some point soon and I’ll get them fitted along with a set of grams springs.

Only other news to update on is the fact I’ve hardly drove this thing in the last few months to the point the battery died! So I should order a new one soon and also the dreaded fexi’s have started to blow which could be why the car is absolutely shocking on fuel to the point of struggling to get 20mpg out of it! Will have to see if a local exhaust company can weld a couple of new flexi’s in for me.
 
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Nice little update mate! How much did you pay for the synchros to be done? Probably should get mine done soon...:grimacing:
 
Nice little update mate! How much did you pay for the synchros to be done? Probably should get mine done soon...:grimacing:

I can’t really say what I paid as I traded some oz f1 wheels for my mates labour so the whole job stands me about £350, not looking forward to getting the manifold removed
 
They need to be driven..take her for a spin once a week at least..she will love it so will you:thumb:
 
They need to be driven..take her for a spin once a week at least..she will love it so will you:thumb:

Couldn’t agree more but life sort of dictates that I’ve not been able to but I’ll start using it for work a few times a week now just to keep her moving
 
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