Matt's Glacier White Megane 265 - 4th time lucky!

[matt9566]

Hope everyone is safe and well!

Thought I would pop up a well overdue update now I'm a year in to ownership:

As mentioned in my last post the work was done back in March 2020 at DDC for the 4th year service and the car has performed excellent since.

I jumped on a group buy at RsTuning in July 2020, I wasn't chasing big numbers and only have the factory fitted Akrapovic and Panel Filter, just thought it would be good to release a bit more power.

Asked Paul to just map on the Sport Button as I use the car daily so want to be able to use the standard map in normal mode, it made 287.9bhp which isn't huge gains, but as above I wasn't chasing power and it's a big difference between normal and sport mode. Obligatory dyno photo:





Someone posted a link to some Bilstein B14's on one of the RS Megane groups on Facebook that were on eBay at a fantastic price and couldn't say no, I had been thinking about some lowering springs or some new Bilstein's for a while so I snapped them up and collected them the same weekend.

Have always used DDC in Doncaster who have always been great, I've just always struggled getting there and back without the car, having to put people out of their way to get me home and back. I noticed that RickyP RPM who is highly rated had moved within 10 minutes of my work and in the current climate it made sense to get booked in with him for the Bilstein's fitting and glad I did.

Ricky did an excellent job and I'm over the moon with how the car sits now, have been tempted with spacers but read so many conflicting for/against arguments, I'm just going to leave it how it is for now:





Had been getting a little bit of a squeaking noise from one of the rear callipers when reversing so with the knowledge of how these can get from owning my R27 I thought I'd give all of the brakes a strip and clean, I also ordered a set of Mr Pink's Pins for the front too.

All stripped, cleaned and lubricated - Thankfully no more squeaking!

I have bought some PBS Prorace Front and Protrack Rear Pads and some HEL Braided Lines, having looked in the cars history file the discs have been on a while now so I am going to source some Oem Plain Brembo front discs and Oem rear discs, that way I can do everything at once and I can know everything has been done.

Unfortunately not much driving has been happening this year so that brings us pretty much up to date.

The car is due it's 5th service at the end of March and I have recently bought a full timing belt kit, including aux belt, water pump and dephaser. This isn't actually due until March 2022, however I am always very over cautious and have seen a couple of 275's that have suffered from premature belt failure for a number of reasons so I think I'm going to get it done early - I mean I'd be kicking myself if I didn't now and something went wrong when I've got the parts sat in the garage.

Once that's done and all of the Discs/Pads etc are changed, I'm going to go one of three ways:

1. Wagner Intercooler, Sports Cat, Map Tweak
2. Wagner Intercooler, Sports Cat, Hybrid, Injectors, Recirculation Valve (and any other supporting mods)
3. Going to put the car up for sale.

I absolutely love the car and nothing compares out there within the same price range, I'd need to spend an extra £10k to get in the likes of a similar age/mileage hot hatch. I will more than likely go for option 1, it's just the car just doesn't get used much apart from a 2/3 days a week commute to work in the current situation.

One final photo... because everyone loves photos right?



Thanks!

 

[LiamRS197]

Very nice indeed! Jealous of the Concours finish

 

[Big Ben]

Great colour!

 

[matt9566]

TLDR - I Bought an R26, here's some pictures at the bottom

It's been a long time since I updated this thread and a lot has happened since.

I sold the Megane 275 back in March 2021 thinking it was time for something sensible, a Volvo V40 was purchased and lasted about 2 months before moving on to a Cupra 290, which was very fast but I just didn't gel with the car, didn't find it very capable and never really wanted to go out and 'drive' it.

I noticed the used car market prices going crazy and was offered an insane price from Arnold Clark so I sold the Cupra in October.

My original plan was to buy a Clio 200 and spend the money that I'd made from the Cupra on mods, however after a few deals fell through I noticed a Megane R26 on eBay and just knew it was the car I had to have. I spoke to the owner, asked the few questions I needed to make me happy and sent over a deposit to secure the car.

This brings me to a couple of weeks ago, a long 10 hour+ day and the car was home.

I want to use this thread as a bit of a diary of the car, its maintenance and my journey with it.

Details of the car and it's recent maintenance are as follows:

Renault Megane R26 - Ultra Blue

Current Mileage - 48,900

Engine (Majority fitted around 41k Miles)

• RSTuning Remap – 296bhp/303ftlb
• Miltek Catback Exhaust
• RSTuning 3 Inch Decat
• Pro Alloy Intercooler
• Forge Hardpipe Kit
• Forge Induction Hose
• Siemens 630cc Injectors
• Forge Recirculation Valve – Yellow Spring
• Forge Sensor Brackets
• Ramair Filter
• Phil Watkins Short Shifter
• Febi Engine Mount – Powerflex Insert
• Febi Gearbox Mount – Powerflex Insert
• Febi Upper Torque Mount
• Vibra-techniks Lower Gearbox Mount
• 4 Bosch Coils
• Genuine N75 Valve
• Genuine Fuel Pump
• Genuine Air Temp Sensor
• Genuine Thermostat
• Genuine Crankshaft Sensor
• Genuine Coolant Temp Sensor
• Genuine Spark Plugs – Gapped to 0.7
• Genuine Sump Gasket
• Genuine Metal Dipstick

Suspension (Refreshed at approx 41k miles)

• Genuine Front and Rear Shocks
• Genuine Top Mounts
• Genuine Bottom Arms
• Genuine Drop Links
• Genuine Anti-Rotation Links
• Cooksport Springs
• Genuine Track Rods
• Genuine Inner Tie Rods

Brakes (Refreshed in the last 1k miles)

• Godspeed J Hook Discs Front and Rear
• Performance Friction Z Rated Front Pads
• Ferodo DS2500 Rear Pads
• Motul RBF660 Brake Fluid
• HEL Braided Brake Lines
• Calipers Refurbished

Interior

• Snappy trimmed Alcantara Steering Wheel
• Genuine RenaultSport Gearknob
• Genuine Leather Gaiter
• New Leather Rear Seats and Armrest from Lux Version
• Carbon Dipped Centre Console, Door Handles, Gear Stick Surround and Carbonskinz Glovebox Trim
• Pioneer SPH-DA230DAB Double Din with Apple Car Play and Steering controls adapter
• Turbosmart Gauge Cup
• Turbosmart Boost Gauge

Exterior

• New Genuine Decals Front and Rear
• R26R Headlights
• R26R Spoiler
• R26R Fog Light and Headlight Washer Blanks
• Wheels Refurbished Gloss Black
• Michelin Pilot Sport 4S – 235/40/18
• Pure Motorsport Stud and Nut Conversion

Immediate plans for the car

• Cambelt, Aux Belt & Water Pump (was done in 2018, however only have invoice for some of the parts so want to do it all for piece of mind)
• Alloys changed back to original Anthracite (tempted to leave black and paint wing mirrors to match but unsure)
• Small bit of paintwork on rear bumper to make perfect (Booked in at Repair & Restore Goole)
• Full detail, machine polish and ceramic coating (or similar)
• Armrest re-trimmed (leather looking a bit worn and think I might change to alcantara)
• Fit new F1 decals to back quarter windows (were faded and taken off in pre-sale prep)

Potential future plans for the car

• Forge engine with Ktec GTX2867R Turbo kit
• Engine Dynamics R26R Clutch & Flywheel Kit (surprised the car doesn't already have this or similar, but I have no paperwork of it being done)
• Coilovers (seems a shame with the recent suspension overhaul but will consider in the future)

Mainly I just want to enjoy the car, I'm fortunate enough to have a daily along side it, so it will stay in the garage during the winter and hopefully get plenty of trips out in it when the weather picks up, I've been talking about a Europe & Scotland trip for years, so this might be the car to do them in!

Probably the only interesting part (I can waffle on sometimes);

Photos of the car (most from the advert as the weather hasn't been great)

 

[Big Ben]

I’ve got that Garrett kit in my Clio. Blinding piece of kit. Very very quick car now.

 

[jasonlovesfrench]

I was in a similar position as you and ended up buying a 200 instead of a white/red R26. I think I would of loved either! This looks great it’s so nice having a fast Renault as a second car.

 

[matt9566]

I’ve got that Garrett kit in my Clio. Blinding piece of kit. Very very quick car now.

I’ve been thoroughly reading your excellent thread over the last week or so Ben, it could definitely be on the cards!

I think I’m going to use the car at the current power throughout next summer and see if I can justify the cost.

I was in a similar position as you and ended up buying a 200 instead of a white/red R26. I think I would of loved either! This looks great it’s so nice having a fast Renault as a second car.

I think I made the right decision coming from the Cupra as I think I would have been underwhelmed by the power in the Clio (and I’d owned an R27 for 6+ years before) but they’re both incredible cars.

It’s perfect for me tbh and shows you really don’t need a ridiculously expensive car to have the most fun.

I have a 1.5dci Clio as my daily and it’s like I have a new car every time I get in the R26, and the other half hates it which makes it that much better haha!

 

[matt9566]

Been a while since I updated this, just thought I would post a quick one to keep everything up to date.

The clutch started slipping a few months ago in higher gears, it was still the original and I knew it would need changing at some point anyway with the power it's running so wasn't too unhappy.

Got the parts ordered from Matthew Degg (MND Motorsport) at a great price with excellent service and then the car was booked in with RickyPRPM to have all of the work done, left it with him a while ago with no rush for the car back as I have been happy commuting in my 1.5dci with the fuel prices currently!

Got the call on Saturday to say the car was ready, it had been a few weeks at this point so was really happy to see the car again. Full breakdown of all the work from Ricky, happy to know that apart from a main oil seal (reasonably cheap) at the back of the gearbox everything went smoothly.

The following work was carried out:

• Full Genuine Timing Belt Kit, Water Pump, Tensioners and Seals
• Genuine Auxiliary Belt Kit and Tensioners
• Refilled with Renault Type D Coolant
• Genuine Oil Filter & Millers Nanodrive CFS 5w40 NT+ Oil
• TTV Single Mass Flywheel
• R26R Clutch Kit with LUK Metal Slave Cylinder
• Genuine Main Oil Seal
• Gearbox refilled with Redline MTL Gear Oil
• Clutch and Brakes refilled with Motul RBF660 Fluid and bled

The boring part now is driving the car sensibly whilst the clutch beds in so I have been using it daily for my commute to work. I can't believe how little mileage the car has done since I got it, I checked the MOT from December and I've done around 500 miles which is disappointing.

I collected the car on Saturday at 49508 miles, I am going to continue to drive sensibly until 50k then progressively start to push the car a little more until I'm happy that the clutch is bedded in properly.

Few little bits I want to do on the car next:

• Refurbish the alloys - Decided I'm going to stay black
• Remove the front black diamond cover, I removed the rear and have decided I much prefer the silver
• Address some small areas of lacquer peel
• Have the car detailed and ceramic coated
• R26 plate

But before all that I am just going to get some miles put on the car once the clutch is bedded in, I never really bought the car as a garage queen and am quite happy to put as many miles as possible on it. Hopefully get out on a few road trips and any meets in the area over the Summer months.

All in all still absolutely loving the car, even sticking under 3k revs and driving sensibly it's such a good car.

Aged like a fine wine to say it's 14 years old in a few days.

Thought I would add a few photos;

 

[matt9566]

I thought I would take some time to update my thread as I'm back in to another Renault Sport after another brief hiatus and it's been great looking back through this as a reference to the cars I've had over the last few years! This forum has always been one I've kept browsing so thought I would keep it in here instead of a Megane one.

I sold my R26 back in November 2022, it was a low mileage, very well look after example and I simply just didn't want to add miles to it and this is definitely not what these are about, so I decided it was time to move it on.

I have a brief stint in another Cupra 290 until the supplying dealer contacted me seeing if I wanted to sell back to them, it just so happened a perfect Megane 265 popped up on the rsmegane forum at the same time so the Cupra went and the Megane arrived.

Details (mainly for my reference and documentation)

Megane 265 Facelift - Late 2014 car
Mileage - 74k
Full Service History
Glacier White
Cup Pack
Recaros
Tibor Alloys

Modifications:

Ktec Sports Catback Exhaust
CGR Decat
Forge Intercooler
Forge Inlet Hose
Forge Recirculation Valve
K&N Panel Filter
Forge Stage 2 Remap

The car is exactly what I was looking for, facelift, Recaro's, cup pack and most importantly not very low mileage and 100% mint, I want this car to be fully usable with no concerns about adding miles to it.

First thing I did when I bought the car was sort the exhaust. It came with the Ktec supersports exhaust which I swapped the backbox with someone who had a sports version, in my opinion the supersports coupled with the decat was nothing short of horrendous, or maybe I'm getting old, sounds perfect now!

Then I got the car booked in with RickyP RPM for an Engine Oil & Filter Service, along with the fitting of the supplied Front Brembo HC Discs and Pads. Always like to change the oil on any new car I get, even one with excellent specialist history.

Whilst with Ricky I got him to do a check over of the car and the main things flagged up were a lower swivel ball joint and track rod end, the car was pretty bad to drive over uneven roads, darting about and just didn't give me confidence.

Had it in yesterday for the lower swivel ball joint, track rod, exhaust straightening (I fitted the backbox and did a terrible job), tracking checked and all is good. Car drives so much better now, exactly how I remember my old 275.

The car is booked in for 2 x new Pilot Sport 4 next week and I'm going to leave it there and enjoy it for the Summer.

Plans for the future (probably over the Winter)

Remap - Whilst it feels fine and I'm sure Forge have a great reputation, I just feel I'd be more confident with an RSTuning or EFI map, I can't even find anyone else with a Forge map on a Megane and the car didn't come with a dyno sheet. Might just get Paul at RsTuning to do a dyno run and take it from there

Suspension Refresh - New Front and Rear Cup Shocks and Grams Springs

Steering Wheel Re-trim from Royal Steering Wheels

Remove Trophy decals ? Still not sure on these, I've removed the trophy lettering but I quite like the remaining bits so going to leave it as is for now

Then just pretty much enjoy the car, I'm using it as my daily and really enjoying it! It really is great to be back in a Renault Sport and hopefully this one sticks around with me for a lot longer than the others!

Few pictures from the advert, not got round to taking many yet with this typical British weather, only changes now are black rear diamond and Renault Sport badge, trophy writing removed.

 

[EthanMenace]

Very nice, I was tempted by this one when it came up but didn't have the budget ready in time!

I would keep the rest of the trophy decals IMO, I think they work.

 

[matt9566]

Small uninteresting update with the car but want to document everything.

I've been trying to be as 'hands on' with this car as possible as I quite enjoy working on my own car even with my limited experience, it's always good to learn through the guides on here and videos on YouTube. (plus it saves me spending on unnecessary labour)

Had a squeaking and slight binding from the rear discs, thought it would be best to strip/clean/lubricate the pads as I know what they can be like on these. (might have got carried away with the copper grease!)

Seems much better now, I'll just keep on top of it every 6 months for the sake of a 30 min job. Discs look a bit scabby but they were changed less than 5k miles ago so I'm a bit reluctant to change them.











I'd then been having a strange issue where the car was hitting a limiter when stepping on the throttle quite harshly, it was getting to 4/5k revs then bouncing back down, I'd asked on a few of the Facebook groups and some recommended the thermostat might be the issue so I ordered from RPD and set about changing it (with the help of various guide/videos)

Removing the battery tray was a pain in the arse but I got there in the end, bit fiddly but overall was a steady away job and saved me paying a couple of hours labour.










I'd like to say the problem is solved but whilst it seems better it still does it intermittently, I'm going to change the coils and check the gap on the spark plugs is the recommended 0.6.

The car drives amazing most of the time, I had a big drive out in the Peak District last weekend and it was flawless so it's frustrating that it does it sometimes.

Next up between now and the New Year:

- Gearbox Oil Change (Have some Redline MTL from my old 275 so will put that in)
- Check spark plug gap
- Change coils
- Suspension Overhaul - I want to lower the car as it sits far too high and I might as well change the Front & Rear shocks whilst I'm at it as they've seen almost 80 miles now, pair them with some Grams springs and should be even better than it already is!
- Remap - As mentioned in my first post it already has stage 2 forge map but going to go to EFI to just give me that peace of mind.

 

[RSRowe]

I noticed mine doing a bit of a weird stuttering when planting it in 4th, but it still revs out.
Similar to you, in that i'm gonna do plugs and coils. Might do the N75 valve at some point too.

 

[rSilva]

In my mind, where pads bind is where they slide, not where they're clamped against the disk.

Pulling them out and making sure that where they meet the spring, the spring itself and below the spring is clean and smooth would be my bet if they're sticking and/or squealing.

 

[matt9566]

I noticed mine doing a bit of a weird stuttering when planting it in 4th, but it still revs out.
Similar to you, in that i'm gonna do plugs and coils. Might do the N75 valve at some point too.

Yeah, mine revs out too, just sometimes when I plant it, it has a bit of a wobble.

Good to hear this though cos it's been putting me off getting mine to EFI for mapping but I know you've had yours done with no issues so I'll probably just go for it, I'll check plugs beforehand.

Don't really want to be changing and guessing but likely everything apart from plugs are on nearly 80k now so can't be no harm in changing them at some point.

 

[matt9566]

In my mind, where pads bind is where they slide, not where they're clamped against the disk.

Pulling them out and making sure that where they meet the spring, the spring itself and below the spring is clean and smooth would be my bet if they're sticking and/or squealing.

View attachment 155473

Luckily I cleaned all of those with a wire brush and lubricated with a bit of copper grease - Good to understand how it all works though and I'll focus on it a bit more if the squeaking comes back, I probably could have paid a bit more attention to those areas.

Thanks for the info!