Dougs Albi blue 197

[Doogle]

Then a quick afternoon drive and ice cream with Richie. Two completely different cars, his feels so stable with spacers and AD08R's on! Brakes worked very well too, makes me think spacers, new pads and braided lines should be added to the to do list!

 

[Richie.]

Nice one Doug

Was good to drive yours as a comparison, and the sprint booster was a noticeable modification for sure.

Your Cup suspension definitely felt a wee bit harder than mine, but not enough to put me off fitting mine in due course.

And finally......ice cream was lovely !

 

[Doogle]

Not a massive update but finally got hold of a gloss grey centre console! I had been in talks with someone from the Clio Facebook groups who had one, he had taken a load of stuff from a crashed 200 a few years ago and kept it all. Unfortunately he didn't want to post it and he lives in Oxford. 6 months went by and I was coming up for a wedding so I swung by. I dont think hes on here but true to his word he kept hold of it! He also gave me an indicator switch which was great as my high beam had stopped working. Surprisingly easy to change!




Cars also got another ticket for another year, no advisories. Hopefully start slowing down on the maintenance and spending a bit more on some fun stuff.

 

[Big Ben]

Can’t beat a fresh MOT. Centre console looks great.
Wouldn’t mind one of them myself!

 

[Pav]

looks great..keeping it for you for this long is good..hats off to him..

 

[Doogle]

Can’t beat a fresh MOT. Centre console looks great.
Wouldn’t mind one of them myself!

I found them impossible to find, Ive been messaging Renault breakers on eBay regularly with no luck and the dealer quoted me over £300! Everyone I have met has been great and enforces to me the Renault community are generally a decent bunch of people.

Surprisingly I got lower emission results than the last 2 years, might have been the long motorway run up to Oxford. Its had enough spent on it in the last year I'd expect it to pass!

 

[Doogle]

looks great..keeping it for you for this long is good..hats off to him..

Exactly, he wanted nothing for it but paid him anyway as a good will gesture. Invited him to join on here as well!

 

[Doogle]

Another minor update, replaced my 3 light rear with a Cup/MK3 single bulb unit. The interior is all LED's and it didnt need 3 lights in the back.

I bought some Cup doorcards from a gent called Dave who moderates the main Facebook 197/200 group. He's on here but unsure of name... finally got one fitted today after some faffing. They are not as fancy as the 'full fat' ones but easier to pull to close. Retrofitted the puddle light by cutting a rectangle in the doorcard and bought a 2nd hand grab handle/window switch/mirror adjustment assembly. They weigh 400 grams less than the 'full fat' (sad I know) so thats almost 1kg saved. I can see how Renault saved so little with the Cup models! Ive only done one so far, need the grab handle/window assembly for the passenger side but was easy enough.



As well as fitting the other side I have been contemplating new gearbox oil. Im yet to read the how to but by all accounts it sounds easy enough and getting it done before winter makes sense with the naff cold shifting these have. The cars on 119k now so makes sense to do it as its never been done!

Question is, Redline oil seems to be recommended but they used to produce a 70w80. Renault Elf stuff is 75w80 and Redline have now reconfigured their's to be 75w80. Would 70w80 be that little bit better? Its available in a few places still.

 

[Pav]

Looks good man..sure there's a discussion about which type of box oil is best to use.. @Antti O is an expert when it comes to this stuff..

 

[Antti O]

This oil is great for 197 / 200

In cold mornings gearshift is easy. With original oil it was really difficult to choose gears in cold mornings.

 

[-Eddie-]

I’m in the same predicament as yourself at the moment Doug re gear oil. I had been weighing up the Elf NFP/NFJ or Redline alternative.

I think I’m going to go for the Redline option though. I’m sure the difference won’t be massive over Elf but with the car being 8 years old it will definitely benefit from a change!

 

[Doogle]

I’m in the same predicament as yourself at the moment Doug re gear oil. I had been weighing up the Elf NFP/NFJ or Redline alternative.

I think I’m going to go for the Redline option though. I’m sure the difference won’t be massive over Elf but with the car being 8 years old it will definitely benefit from a change!

This is what I am thinking, maybe Im getting too concerned with makes where as just changing it for fresh will make the most difference.

This oil is great for 197 / 200

In cold mornings gearshift is easy. With original oil it was really difficult to choose gears in cold mornings.

Thanks Antti, Im guessing 2 bottles? Is that pretty much what came in the gearbox in the first place?

 

[Antti O]

No, NFP is not original oil. I think NFJ is.
This time of year we have cold mornings, so with original oil it is struggle to get gears. With NFP no problemo.

 

[-Eddie-]

As @Antti O says NFJ is what comes in the box from factory. I believe that all the likes of Renault Parts Direct sell if NFJ.

2L will be enough.

 

[Antti O]

Yep you will be fine with 2 litres.

 

[Big Ben]

Another vote for nfp

 

[Pav]

proven to work

 

[Doogle]

Small updates, I fitted some Cup doorcards, bought from Dave Johnson on the Facebook group. I changed as I was sick of the creaking door handles and having to slam the door. After giving them a good clean and the fabric a good scrub I got to fitting them. I retrofitted the puddle lights and silver door handle. As a bonus they are lighter than full fat too.

Due to the different mounting points I had to get inventive to hold the grab handles in place. Surprisingly the bodge works very well!


Ive also changed my headlight bulbs for some fancy Osram Xenarc jobbies as my current ones were pretty dim, they have made a big difference.

Next month the plan is to sort the gearbox oil and possibly fit a 182 thermostat ready for winter. Despite changing mine earlier this year in colder weather (6 degrees) I have already noticed its struggling. Anyone else run one?

 

[Doogle]

After using my car the yesterday I found the passenger window was not working properly... pressing down would do nothing, pressing up would drop the window Then pressing up would take the window up but it would go back down by itself

I drove home with the passenger window open and figured it just didnt like the switch for some reason. Thankfully I had the original fitted switch which sits at the top of the handle. After looking at both I figured I could switch the rocker parts with the rest of the switch and voila!

I also had another odd job day sorting other bits. Ever since I removed the intake resonator box my fan bracket has been loose as its not secured at the top anywhere. I rectified this with a right angle furniture bracket and some bolts.
Glued in place the radio surround and heated and bent the corner of the glovebox lid.

Hidden the Sprintbooster control in the fuse box lid.

Removed the headlight washer blanks, they were disforming and as I want to get the bumper resprayed figured the holes can be filled.

Lastly I fitted single bulb internal lights as I didnt need 6 LED bulbs!

Thats it until next month!

 

[lewishunter98]

My window did that once!! Was fine in the morning. Went to the shop. Came out to go home and it was being weird [emoji23][emoji23] Sorted itself out the next day though

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