Paul's Pearl

[Paul_D]

Last weekend I set about cleaning some of the grubby parts of the car. This meant pulling parts off. The roof trim was easy enough to get off, and as expected it was pretty minging underneath.


Armed with some Auto Finesse citrus power and a brush I gave it a good tickle.

Sucess proven I set about removing the side rub strips to clean behind them and then had a good go around the windows and the door seals. Honestly the anoint of muck in the top of the door seal was astonishing.

Cleaning the muck off left behind some stains that will need some compound to polish off. Unfortunately it started to rain by then so I replaced the trim I'd removed and started to pack up. Then the sun came out again so I carried on and cleaned the door shuts. Again there's marks left by the mucky seals that'll need polishing off another day but it looks a ton better by now.

Then I had a delivery which was a nice distraction from the cleaning, or so I thought...

My headlamp bulbs arrived and I was keen to fit them and tick that little issue off the list. Drivers side is a piece of piss so I did that first and following the guide on here quickly moved onto the passenger side. Having removed all the battery covers and the alarm sensor there was still no space to get to the bulb. So I decided to remove the acoustic valve, which it seems someone had done before for the same reason I expect.

The top bolt had already sheared off and the bottom one followed suit as soon as I applied some force, and yes I had noted how rusty it was and pre soaked it with wd40. At least it did provide space to reach the bulb which was absolutely the tightest fitting bulb in the whole world! Swear jar overflowing it finally came out and was replaced with the new one. Phew!

 

[burrellbloke]

It is looking very tidy now.

Have you cleaned the area between the rear of the roof and the boot lid - that seems to attract green slime and general dirt?

 

[Chocice]

I was thinking of cleaning behind the trim but I feel like I can’t see it so I don’t want to risk damaging the clips, the clips must have been pretty brittle with all that crud. The cars looks like it was left in the elements somewhere.

 

[deekay16v]

White pearl looks awesome, when clean Great work.
Bulbs are PITA to change according to the users guide, but at least it can be done the way you did. When the bolts are ok, its quite straigtforward job. Took me about 10min. Both sides.

 

[DS197]

It’s worth investing in a bottle of Plusgas if you’re going to be spannering on the car more often.

 

[Paul_D]

I've added new side repeaters to the parts list. It seems they have some green muck inside them that I can't get to. This is annoying as they were a real pain to get off the car and I thought they would break for sure. Now I'll have to go through that again.
After getting the headlamps working again I decide to do some more cleaning under the bonnet. Fist I covered the engine with plastic sheeting so I could scrub and hose off the underside of the bonnet which was black! Then I got my little brush out again and cleaned anything I could reach while staying away from the electrical connectors. Thankfully when I finished the car started up fine. And it looked much more presentable.

After stripping and greasing the wiper mech at work on Monday I refitted the motor and mech on Tuesday afternoon before work. Having marked the position on the motor I was careful to line it up in the same position. A quick test before fitting the wipers resulted in nothing happening. Great. I left it until this weekend to have another look and after reading lots of threads I went and checked the fuses. All were OK so I went to test the plug on the motor to see if it was getting power. The plug came off really easily, mainly because I'd not pushed it fully home on the motor. Plugged in properly the wiper motor suddenly worked again, yep I'm now an auto electrician! Done with the engine bay for now I refitted all the plastics after cleaning them but have left the wiper arms off as they need a lick of paint to tidy them up.
Relieved that so far I've fixed more than I've broken I returned to cleaning. The rear lights are shameful so I removed them to see if the tint spray would come off with any chemicals. It doesnt. But the muck behind them did!

Having cleaned there were some rust spots left behind.
Luckily this is just particles that have rusted and not the car itself. Some iron out and a bit of polish got it off.
Much better. While there I cleaned the boot shut which was green along the top.

Far too long was spent on that with a detailing brush while manoeuvring the boot door and trying to not trap my fingers.
With all the edges done I figured I may as well take the number plates off as there would surely be lots of muck behind them. I was surprised to see then screws were stainless so hadn't rusted to the point of snapping as soon as a screwdriver was picked up. Alas whoever put them on was a funny twat and has also used sticky pads. Lots of sticky pads.

I nearly pulled the bloody bumpers off and the plates are bent so far they are useless! I'll either be transferring my personal plate from the 182 or buying a CL10 reg anyway. Half an hour with a heat gun got all the pads off the car and melted my finger prints too. Finally ready to give the car a wash.
Undeterred by the rain I gave it a coat of bilt hamber auto foam and agitated the foam into the edges and grilles with my trusty detailing brush. After a good rinse I gave it a wash with auto finesse lather and then after rinsing again I went around the car with iron out. At this point it looked like a clio trophy as it went very pink .

After a rinse my drive looked like a murder scene! Another wash with fresh lather and it's 95% clean. There are some marks that need polishing and of course now the layer of muck is gone I can see the stone chips. The front bumper has a few but happily as the wheels are still tucked as Renault intended the rear quarters and mostly unscathed. I'm deliberating removing the stickers on the flanks but am a bit worried how different the paint below them will look if they have been on there for a few years?
The sun even came out for an after pic so I could see the pearl.

https://flic.kr/p/2ndqKv1

https://flic.kr/p/2ndqKVK

https://flic.kr/p/2ndqKBy

https://flic.kr/p/2ndkCHQ

(for some reason my after pics are too big to upload on the forum)
That leaves the brakes to bleed for the mot. I'm hoping to have it ready for sports cars in the park at Newby Hall on May 8th.

 

[Paul_D]

It is looking very tidy now.

Have you cleaned the area between the rear of the roof and the boot lid - that seems to attract green slime and general dirt?

Thanks, it is looking much better and is as a straight as the previous owner said. Yeah I spent far too long around the boot lid!

I was thinking of cleaning behind the trim but I feel like I can’t see it so I don’t want to risk damaging the clips, the clips must have been pretty brittle with all that crud. The cars looks like it was left in the elements somewhere.

So far the only clio I've broken was on the passenger side window trim so the end above the door handle sticks out now. I guess I'll need a new trim now. The previous owner had the car for nearly 3 and a half years and washed it once, probably after he brought ihime from the auction and its been sat outside ever since. Luckily not under any trees as the sap would have killed the paint.

White pearl looks awesome, when clean Great work.
Bulbs are PITA to change according to the users guide, but at least it can be done the way you did. When the bolts are ok, its quite straigtforward job. Took me about 10min. Both sides.

I agree and every time I've gone to work on the car the sun has shone on it giving me the full effect. Polishing it will be quite enjoyable I think.
The bulbs are nowhere near as bad as the mk2 Clio, thankfully. I expect the acoustic valve will find its way into the bin eventually as there's no way I'll leave the car standard.

It’s worth investing in a bottle of Plusgas if you’re going to be spannering on the car more often.

I did far too much spannering on the 182 last year, I'm too old to be rolling around under a rusty clio .

 

[Paul_D]

Nearly forgot;

It would appear these badges are more securely attached than a previous owner thought. Looks liken they pulled it off the backing when they unwisely chose to paint it blue and then glued it back on. Well it fell off when I was washing the car. OMG how bloody expensive are they too? Can anyone tell me how it is actually attached? I'm guessing it will require the bumper off?

 

[Chocice]

A genuine one is around £40 and they have 2 prongs which guide them into the bracket, they are held on with double sided tape. Your best bet is to get one from a scrap car, personally I would clean up and respray what you have it will look ok once you get some sanding done.

 

[Paul_D]

A genuine one is around £40 and they have 2 prongs which guide them into the bracket, they are held on with double sided tape. Your best bet is to get one from a scrap car, personally I would clean up and respray what you have it will look ok once you get some sanding done.

So a bit of glue is the best option then. Ideally I'd like it shiny as it should be but maybe I'll wait until I get the spoiler painted and have the badge done pearl white too.
What about the diamond, they have been painted black and are peeling and I hate them black, how do they come off?

 

[PITA]

 

[Chocice]

So a bit of glue is the best option then. Ideally I'd like it shiny as it should be but maybe I'll wait until I get the spoiler painted and have the badge done pearl white too.
What about the diamond, they have been painted black and are peeling and I hate them black, how do they come off?

I think you’ll need to get the bumper off to get behind the badge on that one, if it’s been sprayed I would think it’s been keyed so I doubt you could just soak it in acetone alone, you will need to go at it with some sand paper to get it all off, I personally used nail polish remover on my mk2 clio badges as they where painted white and that took it off brilliantly, I then used a scotch pad but the original paint job was absolutely amateur hour, I then just sprayed it with black paint but the stone chips looked bad very quickly, you can buy covers which come in different colours that clip over the badge.

 

[Chocice]

View attachment 149815

Part number: 638904490R. The badge I was describing was actually for the newer model, it looks like you need the whole thing you can’t just get the lettering.

 

[Paul_D]

Well, not only was the colour choice poor but the implementation equally so.

Luckily for me the surface wasn't keyed so with a few sprays of thinners and some rubbing with a rag the blue was banished.

Well banished from the centre caps anyway .
With the centre caps looking that good under the paint what we're the odds of the RS badge being mint underneath too? Well the paint was that thick it chipped off fairly easily and in large chunks. I didn't even need to melt it with the thinners.

Today I'm a very happy Yorkshireman. Half an hour in the garden in the sun has saved me well over £100. And as the weather was so good I took the opportunity to give the wiper arms a lick of paint too. I'll refit them in a couple of days when they are fully dried.

 

[NWDSdaz]

Top work @Paul_D , always very rewarding saving parts

 

[Paul_D]

Top work @Paul_D , always very rewarding saving parts

Yep it's very satisfying reversing someones ill judged mods. I mean how the hell do you paint something that bad and say to yourself "yeah that's better now"?

 

[Paul_D]

Having recently gone back to work nights permanent time is just flying by! I had booked this week off work so need to get the pearl ready for an mot appearance. Which meant bleeding the brakes. I tried bleeding the brakes on my 182 last year and it was a nightmare, pads and discs I'll handle but making sure they squeeze together tightly when needed isn't a job I want to be responsible for . But I can't drive the pearl to the garage even though it stops way better than the 182 did (ie not at all!), so I had a trip to halfrauds for a gunsen ezibleed and some fluid. Starting at the rear it seems some work other than new discs and pads was done by the previous owner.

New calipers on both sides too. After searching everywhere I have car stuff squat to find a piece of tube big enough for that fat bleed nipple and making the gunson air tight I filled the bottle with fluid, pressurised it and cracked the nipple. It's at this point that it makes no sense to me. How long does it take to fully flush brake fluid? Because I didn't get the flow I was expecting from a pressurised system. I let it bleed for a few mins and having seen no air bubbles I moved onto the other side. That did initially release some hefty air bubbles but again the flow was steady. The fluid coming out was very clean too, not much dissimilar to the new stuff so bubble free I moved onto the front. And then hit a snag. The bloody wheel won't come off! I wiggled it, waggled it and swore at it (lots) and then twatted it with a mallet and it didn't budge a mm! In a strop and with the Mrs telling me dinner was 10mins out I packed up and cursed myself for buying another clio. I'll have to revisit the front tomorrow but I'm hoping that the air that came out the rear will have done the trick. It may end up at the garage anyway though.
I also noted that the handbrake cable seemed fully withdrawn on the drivers side and yep the wheel was easily spun with it engaged. Can it be adjusted?


I was glad to see that the springs seem to be in good condition, possibly been replaced already? Do the oe springs fail as regularly as the mk2 ones did? The backbox also looked in decent condition so apart from the rusty beam there doesn't seem to be anything to be immediately worried about other than the brake situation. Another update tomorrow when the swear jar is refilled.

 

[LiamP]

With the gunson you will need a helper to pump the pedal as well, I have found it just doesn’t have the pressure to bleed (especially the rears) If you get really desperate with the wheel you can try driving a few metres with your nuts loose, I don’t recommend it but it does work…

Looks like the calliper hasn’t been rebuilt correctly and needs a slight adjustment, from memory you can unscrew the bolt on the rear and adjust (move a few degrees anti clockwise on that photo) Easy to do with the calliper off so I would do it before you bleed.

 

[burrellbloke]

Get yourself a pressure bleeder from Sealy.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000ROARTI/?tag=clio197-21

It makes the job of bleeding your brakes so much easier - and you can do it by yourself. It is a nice bit of kit and comes with a device to cleanly catch the outgoing brake fluid as well.

 

[Paul_D]

Get yourself a pressure bleeder from Sealy.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000ROARTI/?tag=clio197-21

It makes the job of bleeding your brakes so much easier - and you can do it by yourself. It is a nice bit of kit and comes with a device to cleanly catch the outgoing brake fluid as well.

That does look upto the job, however I can drive to the garage and have them do it for less, which is by far my preferred solution .

I bought a pair of 182 seats so I'll be removing the recaro's and trying to figure out how to get them in the 200. Maybe throwing away the Renault subframes wasn't the best idea after all.