Fair point Beany. Would make a wicked replacement for the Megane.
It would… also it can appease them both.

Ethan would retain the existing Clio with it’s stock interior and creature comforts where as Gav can take the more extreme option finally “wink wink”

Everyone wins
 
I hate to say it but I think running that treacle-like gearbox oil may have been a bad move. Even when I had air in my clutch system and the bite point was on the floor, the car never struggled to go into gear.

Interesting to see the difference in lap times and I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling to hit a better time around Snett.
 
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I hate to say it but I think running that treacle-like gearbox oil may have been a bad move. Even when I had air in my clutch system and the bite point was on the floor, the car never struggled to go into gear.

Interesting to see the difference in lap times and I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling to hit a better time around Snett.
You might be right. The thicker Millers gearbox oil only lasted one track day before it was changed to some Redline stuff.

Ethan has wasted no time and has extracted the box already without removing the sub frame.

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Next step is to open up the box and see what needs replacing. Most of this will be guesswork!
 
How did he manage to do that? I'll need this for future if it's easier
I copied the technique from @RSRowe’s thread.


It’s essentially just front bumper off, rad support off, tie the radiator up out of the way and crack on as normal, there’s just about enough room to get it out with the engine pulled forward a bit. I found you also don’t have to tilt the engine down as much either. I think it was less hassle than dropping the whole subframe but I’ll see what it’s like getting it back in!
 
Thanks for the link. I did find the manual a few weeks ago. But yours is the first free link that I have seen.

Have you made much progress with your box yet? We are trying to work out if we need to acquire a press for a gearbox rebuild.
Im probably a bit late. But I think if you are changing diff bearings you need a press to get them on.
 
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The gearbox teardown is underway.

The synchros have definitely been mashed. There are remnants of a synchro sitting on a bearing in the photo below.

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The 3rd/4th synchro hub has seen better days.

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Same for the 5th/6th synchro hub.

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These teeth were described by one engineer (@RSRowe) as, and I quote, ..."fucked..."

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We have ordered some new parts which should arrive next week.

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We had a new OEM clutch so whilst the box was out the old clutch came out. The old clutch was fine and did not show any signs of causing a problem.

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New clutch in.

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I have put up a few videos from our recent trip to Snetterton.

This was @EthanMenace fast solo session


This is me chasing down a Hyundai i20N


This Porsche 718 GT4 RS either gave up trying to keep ahead or just slowed down after being shamed by a Clio


This is a video of various hot laps of Snetterton. We always measure our Snetterton laps against a lap that Mike Epps, who gave Ethan some tuition, did when he pushed the Clio round in a 2m 15s lap.

 
@EthanMenace has spent the past week sorting out the gearbox. After looking at the internal damage inside the gearbox we decided to replace both the 3rd/4th gear hub and synchros and the 5th/6th gear hub and synchros as well as some other minor parts in the box. So not the usual gearbox synchro gearbox refurb but replacing some of the big moving parts that engage the gears as well as doing the synchros. We probably spent just under £500 on gearbox parts and could have picked up a secondhand gearbox for that money, or got the box refurbished. I am hoping that our investment in the box will keep it going for a few years.

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The gearbox is back in the car and after a quick drive tonight it seems to be working very nicely. There is no longer a "delay" in changing down gears at higher revs. Only hard driving will prove whether the work on the gearbox has worked. If it explodes then we will put it down to experience and do it again. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results - but in this case the experience is invaluable for when we inevitably have to do more work with the gearbox in the future. Alex at AW Motorworks and @RSRowe were both really helpful by looking at photos and videos to give advice on what to do and how to do it.

We still have a 197 gearbox sat in the shed. I am fairly sure that this box will also get refurbished at some point when Ethan is bored. We just need to find a cheap Gripper to drop in to it so that we have an emergency box to swap in when we next destroy the existing gearbox.

Our next track day is at the Nurburgring so the car has been getting some TLC to try to make sure it is in the best condition possible before the trip.

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Over the past few weeks we have ordered new fluids. Ethan spent all day working on the car today. After refitting the gearbox he then did the fluids. The car has had its oil changed and a new oil filter. We have put some Fuchs Titan Race Pro S oil back in to the car with a genuine oil filter.

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The brakes have had a bleed with some new Motul RBF660 fluid going in to the reservoir. The gearbox has been filled with some Redline gearbox oil.

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The brakes have been checked and there is still lots of pad material left on both the front and the rear pads.

We have replaced the Odyssey PC680 battery with a brand new one. Over the past few months there have been times when the car has cranked over very slowly and I was just worried that the battery may be about the die. We have fitted an isolator switch on the battery so that when it is parked up for a few weeks and is not driven the battery is not draining.
 
We installed a rally style intercom in the car today.

After 4 years of doing track days we have finally come to the conclusion that we should get a car intercom. A few years ago Ethan had some track day driving tuition and the instructor brought along an intercom set. This system worked really well. We have spent the fast few years just shouting at each other in the car when we are on track and most of the time we shout, "What?" at each other because we cannot hear each other.

We ordered a Stilo Trophy 2 intercom amplifier and headsets.

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The headsets which we have ordered are a basic set of headphones/speakers that can be mounted on the inside part of the helmet shell and sit between the harder internal cushioning and the softer foam insert that your head makes contact with. As I have got an open face helmet my headset has a boom mike. Ethan's headset has a microphone that sticks on the inside of his helmet near to his mouth area.

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Ethan's helmet had a proper recess for the headset speakers, mine didn't.

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After a bit of faffing around I managed to find a suitable place to put the speakers in my helmet. The headsets come with velcro to secure them in place. The boom mike came with a fixing screw to hold it in place so after a bit of careful drilling it was attached. Both of us then hid the rest of the headset wiring between the internal protective shell of the helmet and the soft moveable cushioning inside the helmet. The female cable connector comes out of the left side of each of our helmets.

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The amplifier is powered by a 9v square battery. There seems to be a suggestion that when intercoms are wired in to the cars 12v supply it can pick up interference from other electrical components. The amplifier is installed on the roll hoop of the cage with the wires cable tied in place to route them to where they need to do.

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The male input for our headsets is held in place by a velcro strap that was already on our TRS harnesses.

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We have both cheap OMP helmets so for the time being the headsets will do. Maybe in the future we will actually invest in proper helmets with pre-cut cavities for earmuffs and speakers and HANS clips? The plan is that when both headsets are connected we will be able to hear each other despite the general noise that is generated by the car on a track day. As this system involves wires I am fairly sure at some point one of us will exit the car still attached to the intercom system.
 
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We have purchased an Auto-Blip.

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The auto blipper is wired in to the clutch pedal, brake pedal and throttle pedal. When the device gets a positive signal from both the brake pedal and clutch pedal it blips the throttle. So, if the Clio is on track and coming to a corner when the brake pedal is used, and the clutch pedal is used the Auto-Blip will then "blip" the throttle so that the downshift done at similar revs.

I know that most people will say just learn to heel and toe but I have tried and cannot do it. I drive most days in my GR Yaris. The brake pedal and the throttle pedal are too far apart in the Yaris to try to heel and toe and it comes with a fancy switch to enable IMT (Intelligent Manual Transmission) mode. I get in the car and push the IMT button and the Yaris then does the auto blip when I downshift and that system works well.

I have only had a quick 10 minute drive in the car but so far the system works okay. There are two dials that allow you to change the amount of revs when then throttle is blipped, and the delay between the pedals being used and the blip taking place. The device is not clever enough to just blip the throttle if you change down a gear without touching the brake.

I am hoping that this little device might make the gearbox last a little bit longer.