Micah's Deep Black 200

[Micah]

So I've had my 200 for a couple of weeks now. A stock 200 in Deep Black without the Cup pack. Wheels must have been sprayed gloss black at some point.





Now I've had time to get used to the car, I thought I'd do a bit of basic maintenance as the weather was fairly nice today.
The boy racer in me decided to upgrade the standard panel filter to a K&N, so that took all of 2 minutes!




After some shopping I decided to waste some time on the seat belts. Thanks to the How To guide on here, they now look much better, though still not 100% sparkly!



And the simplest thing ever, the steering wheel centre stitching...



Very pleased overall with today's tasks, I will try and get something meatier on here in due course!

 

[montana]

How did you get the centre stitching so clean ?!

 

[Micah]

20 seconds with a nail brush and hot soapy water!

 

[Jimmy]

Looking good, I like the black wheels on it. Good job with the belts and stitching, it's amazing how dirty they all get over time!

 

[montana]

good work :clap:

 

[VolumeX]

Yeah nice1, glad to see you giving it some love!

 

[Matty_L]

That looks very mean all in black, and with the black inserts in the headlights too!

I managed to finally clean my belts, wheel and gearknob the other week and it makes a surprising difference, loved the car smelling of a mix of washing powder and vanish too. Next task is to fully shampoo the interior, carpets, seats, mats and the headlining, get it all back fresh again.

 

[tombate911]

Cleaning up all of the inside was one of the first jobs I did when I bought mine, The clean stitching and belts makes a massive difference to how the car feels inside, much fresher.

I also did the seats too before I swapped them out for bucket seats, amazing the dirt that comes off the interior when its cleaned properly.

 

[Micah]

Just a subtle mod this weekend, I bought the Heko wind deflectors from [MENTION=52909]Clio200[/MENTION] - easy peasy to fit. As you can see, the car was filthy when I fitted them, so I put the pressure washer and some Meguiars to good use!





Having had time to think about the next mods, this is my wish list:

1. I'd like the car to sit a little lower. Is there such a thing as a lower spring but more comfortable than the cup ride? I've seen Eibach mentioned a few times, but could really do with some advice. If not, I'll hammer the search function one lunchtime.
2. Get a spare set of standard twin five spokes, have them sprayed anthracite, sealed and put good boots on them.
3. Have the front blade wrapped a similar colour to the wheels, just to get some contrast on the front of the car.
4. Belts (Renault say due Nov-17 at 6 years. I thought these should be done at 5 years?)
5. Resonated cat-back system (probably Milltek as had one on my Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo and it was superb, also had the race cat on it - impulsive spender back then!)
6. Remap

Any comments/advice very welcome!

 

[Jimmy]

The wind deflectors are a nice touch. DB looks brilliant when clean!

Your plans sound good. The original belt schedule was 5 years/72k miles, but IIRC it was altered to 6y for the 200s...

 

[Micah]

Having read about the Powerflex mounts in various posts and a sudden paranoia last week about a blow in the manifold flex, I decided to put some prevention in place and took delivery of the upper torque arm and lower engine mounts yesterday. Also had my F4 master voucher through for Brands Hatch which I bought on Sunday at the BTCC. I did the same experience 5 years ago and absolutely loved it!

I'll get the mounts fitted when I get 2 new tyres for the front so watch this space!

 

[mjcliosport]

That experience [emoji1360] done it 3 times back when I was 17/18, when they were using the e92 m3, need to get back now that they've got new everything.

 

[Micah]

That experience [emoji1360] done it 3 times back when I was 17/18, when they were using the e92 m3, need to get back now that they've got new everything.

Yeah, the M3 was great fun, but the single seater Audi thing with the manual shift and 6'2" height limit was a bit tricky for me! The F4 is up to 6'4" and has paddle shift, so should be a far better experience

 

[jonno56]

Having read about the Powerflex mounts in various posts and a sudden paranoia last week about a blow in the manifold flex, I decided to put some prevention in place and took delivery of the upper torque arm and lower engine mounts yesterday. Also had my F4 master voucher through for Brands Hatch which I bought on Sunday at the BTCC. I did the same experience 5 years ago and absolutely loved it!

I'll get the mounts fitted when I get 2 new tyres for the front so watch this space!

Looks really good mate! Did the noise in what you thought was mani flex blowing change after the bushes were fitted? Mine makes a bit of a tinny sound but we couldn't find anything obvious from the underside, and hasn't changed post-powerflexing. I see a mechanic @bloke on cliosport.net, and he didn't seem concerned; he said flexis can sound like that while the metals are cold and it's just gasses you can hear

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[Micah]

So, as promised, I got the upper torque arm and lower engine mounts fitted yesterday along with 2 new Bridgestones (Turanza's if anyone cares?!)



Car feels better now, as had a Continental and RE050 on the front axle at different tread depths, so now all 4 corners match, Renault having replaced the 2 rears when I bought it. I know they're not too racey, but they seem to get good enough reviews.

I also saw a bit of crud under the scuttle panel, so I set about cleaning it out this morning using the handy 'How To' guide on here. After using a coat hanger to unblock the O/S drainage spout (why is it so small?!) it all looks much better under there - not perfect, but much better, as you can see!



And now looking very tidy!



@jonno56 The car feels like it's running on gravel at the moment, I've probably covered no more than 40 miles since having the mounts fitted, I can feel the vibrations through the accelerator and steering wheel at speed, unless my wheels haven't been balanced properly (highly unlikely!). The noise is still there, I don't think it's anything to worry about. My friend's husband who did the work yesterday said that's how their 200 is as he drove it after, so that was reassuring. The vibrations certainly hit the brown note at times :lol:

Next - on a mission to fit Eibach Pro's to my non-Cup dampers. Renault say it's not wise, KTEC say it's fine as the Eibach springs for the 197 were compatible for Cup and non-Cup, so they don't see why it can't be the case for the 200 as long as the axle weights are consistent. They also checked my chassis build and seem to think the dampers fitted match with the Eibach part number.

 

[mjcliosport]

Looking good mate! Surprised Renault fitted half decent tyres to yours, they whacked a pair of budgets on the rear of the one I purchased lol


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[Micah]

So after being away for a week and having a week's worth of ground works outside my house prior to that, I decided to fit my Osram bulbs and sidelights. All was going quite well until I got to the N/S and scratched my hand to bits! After a lot of swearing, I finally got all H7's fitted and re-fitted everything, managing to drop one of the nuts for the intake hose onto the under tray wear: - if anyone has a spare, please let me know!



Also decided to give the car a damn good clean (and swept the drive)



Next up - fitting the Eibach Pro's! (and LED's)

 

[sevenfourate]

Looks really good mate! Did the noise in what you thought was mani flex blowing change after the bushes were fitted? Mine makes a bit of a tinny sound but we couldn't find anything obvious from the underside, and hasn't changed post-powerflexing. I see a mechanic @bloke on cliosport.net, and he didn't seem concerned; he said flexis can sound like that while the metals are cold and it's just gasses you can hear

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Thats interesting about the noise of exhaust gasses passing through the flexi's.......

 

[Jimmy]

DB looks so nice when it's freshly cleaned :001_wub: the bulbs are a pig to change, but once you've done it the first time it gets easier after that

 

[MRizzle]

Which bulbs and sidelights did you go for?