New member of Leicester and Bristol

[pjoseph0011]

Hi All,

recently purchased a Ultra red clio r27 F1 edition from Hudson Specialist cars in Yorkshire. After taking advantage of the sky-high prices of the second hand car market and trading in my 1.25 fiesta, w a little extra cash on-top, I managed to bag myself a 7.5k high revving B road unit ! Having a real drivers car and becoming a part of the car scene has always been an aspiration of mine and one I did not expect to obtain so soon.

Now with that said, I absolutely love the car but wish to know a lot more about the car and its mechanics. I am the only one in my immediate family who is into cars and Motorsport so I haven't actually had a lot of practical mechanical exposure. Although I know a fair amount of theory, I hope to be more hands-on with this car, learning how to maintain and install mods myself. Would be great to have someone show me the ropes or point me in any direction that could help me out.

I know my Clio has a flat spot around 2k - 4.5k revs and have read up in the forums that its down to the KTEC cat back sports exhaust and I know I need to get that tuned out. However Was wondering if there were any tuners anyone was willing to recommend in particular around the Leicester or Bristol area. I really wouldn't even mind travelling a bit either if it was definitely worth it. The other thing is if anyone knows any good garages more local to these area good for routine maintenance as well.

If people could also inform me on the weakest parts I need to look out for on a regular basis and continue to do routine maintenance on to prevent anything horrible happening. I think I have a pretty good idea as to what can go wrong, but if people could tell me what I can do to prevent this (other than not drive the car!) then please let me know!

Thanks for all the help and very honored to be part of this forum as a new owner - phil

 

[Maidens1979]

Hi Phil, welcome to the forum.
What kind of service history did the Clio come with? This would be a good place to start when trying to work out what might need doing to it.

 

[Beany]

Welcome aboard, usually a remap sorts flat spot issues caused by exhaust changes..

EFI (Runcorn) Ktec (midlands?) RS tuning (Leeds) I think are the most popular people use

 

[Foxspeed]

welcome

 

[burrellbloke]

Welcome.

Clios are easy enough to fix and maintain. If you sign up a as paid member you will get access to the "How To" forum which explains how to deal with most tasks.

K-Tec in the Midlands might be closest to you for a remap?

If you are looking for weak spots try and work out from your service history when the cam belt was last changed, They should be done every 6 years (I think, or is it 5) or every 72,000 miles, whichever comes first. If you do not know when the belts were done consider getting them changed. Next on my list would be to check the ball joints in the front suspension. Once you know the suspension is solid you can really enjoy the car and have confidence in it on some B roads.

Personally I would not bother taking the car to a garage for routine maintenance unless you are intending to keep your car in a completely factory/standard state and want a full service history if you ever come to sell the car. Most routine maintenance is easy enough to do at home like changing your oil, oil filter, spark plugs etc., etc. Just keep receipts of the items you have changed or replaced during a service as evidence the car has been maintained.

 

[Big Ben]

Welcome

 

[Smudger71]

Welcome from a fellow Ultra Red F1 R27 owner in Leicester

 

[Wozzer]

Welcome, I’ve had my Gordini for about 4.5 years and I’ve had a fair bit done to the car. I’ve got to that time of my life that I can splash out a bit. That said I’ll add Engine Dynamics (Essex) to the list of remappers (I live in South Northants Lao a bit of a journey and I’m looking at them to do level 2 engine build in the new year. When you have the cam belt done then always best to change both the water pump and de-phaser pulley - it’s every 5years/72000 miles.

 

[pjoseph0011]

Hi all thanks for all the responses. Seems like KTEC midlands is the closest reputable Renault Specialist near me and I think i might have to contact them soon as I have started to notice the notorious 2nd to 3rd gear crunch. So might have to get synchro's done n changed within the first 6 months of ownership which isn't ideal !

Either way, car has a great service history. Oil changes done every 4 months, cambelt and water pump done in 2021 and all bushings and alignment done 20,000 miles ago, so suspension set-up is solid and up to date which is a relief and a joy to drive.

With the gearbox causing me havoc, I might have to take a backseat on the tune to correct the flat spot that's developed after the KTEC exhaust.

However, In the meantime, just so I can start saving, does anyone have any information on how much of an improvement a Portmatched And gasflowed Inlet Manifold and induction kit combined with the exhaust would make to the cars performance after a tune?

Any recommendations on induction kits would be much appreciated as well.

 

[burrellbloke]

There have been various posts over the internet about the port matched and gas flowed inlets with inconclusive information for Clios. If you are getting them done it makes your upper inlet look a lot tidier. I have had it done but could not tell you if it is made a noticeable difference.

If you are having your gearbox pulled out really think about putting a LSD in. It will cost you more but an LSD makes a massive improvement to how the car can transfer power to the wheels. It is the best mod I made to my car.

If you are after noise for an induction kit then go for a KTec induction kit. It does not give you any more power but sounds nice. If you are after a tiny power/torque improvement you could get a V6 airbox but you would probably have to move your car battery.

 

[DS197]

The only place I’d recommend after having experience with a lot of specialists in the Midlands is Mick at Diamond Motors. Don’t bother going anywhere else if it’s a mechanic you need.

You’ve also got Sean at Jade Developments who I queried about getting some work done with and was very helpful.