Steves Megane conversion build - She's finally running (VIDEO inside)

[Stephenvenning]

UPDATE:

As promised Ive got another update as Ive been pretty busy this weekend on the engine. Today I sprayed the alternator mounting bracket and bolted and torqued that up, marked all the bolts with tipex to show that its torqued. The alternator was then bolted in with one bolt, the other will be installed when putting the aux belt on. The AC pump from my clio will be used as I still like my creature comforts

The oil cooler was pretty filthy and ive been putting it off to clean for a while. I cant shot blast like most things on this build because grit will most likely get lodged in the fins and plates within the cooler, this could cause engine problems on first start up. Therefore out came the wire brushes and degreaser. Once clean the cooler was etch primed, then sprayed gloss black followed by 3 coats of lacquer. Ill install it once its dried sometime this week.

Pretty much finished now, the box of bits and bolts is getting less and less :lol:

















Thanks

 

[Stephenvenning]

UPDATE:

As has been proven with these megane conversions that once you reach the 300hp mark the fuel pump starts to run out of puff and you risk running the engine too lean. Hence you have to run an upgraded in tank pump or what I'm doing and that's an inline HF pump with a pressure regulator on the return feed. Two big problems with the clio's 1: They dont have a return line as standard 2: The access hole for the fuel pump sender is stupidly small which makes access impossible.

I have already showed in previous sections that Ive made a custom rail for my return line and ive also made the access hole bigger. Today I set about removing the pump sender unit in order to be able plumb in a return fitting and also convert the push fit pump outlet to an6 fittings, so I'm to be able to fit braided fuel line. The push fit was firstly taken care off with a "Torques" adaptor fitting, you simply push it onto the existing outlet on the pump until it clicks (Some modification and trimming was required to the retaining clip in order to fit it). For the return line I just drilled and tapped a m12 x 1.5 hole into the top of the sender unit, then another Torques m10 to an6 adaptor fitting was screwed into the hole with a bit of silicon sealant. The sender unit was then installed again into the tank with a new seal. This will now make it easy to fit my complete fuel system once the engine is in.

I have also started to make up a stainless steel cover plate to replace the plastic one that used to cover the original fuel access hole. I have bent the cover to fit the contour of the body work and then radiused the bottom edges to match the contour of the old cover. Ill now radius the other edges and drill some grommeted holes in it for fuel lines and the pump wires.
















Thanks.

 

[choppen]

id leave the air con off as you will need as much heat getting to the rad as possible with the megane engine in it i left my air con in and it was rubbish and wish id of done away with it straight away

 

[Stephenvenning]

id leave the air con off as you will need as much heat getting to the rad as possible with the megane engine in it i left my air con in and it was rubbish and wish id of done away with it straight away

Thats very interesting, did it make a huge difference when removed? I know pure motorsport do a very nice looking ac delete kit if i cant find a cup ac delete one.

 

[litchy]

Any chance of making another cover please?

 

[Stephenvenning]

Any chance of making another cover please?

Yeah if you want, I'll get mine made up first, then I'll make another copy of it

 

[choppen]

Thats very interesting, did it make a huge difference when removed? I know pure motorsport do a very nice looking ac delete kit if i cant find a cup ac delete one.

i havent removed it yet but its on the to do list i gassed mine up twice and it was useless more cold air coming in the window do away with it mate

 

[Stephenvenning]

i havent removed it yet but its on the to do list i gassed mine up twice and it was useless more cold air coming in the window do away with it mate

Ive never actually got mine regassed. So the 2 and a bit years I've had the car I have gone without just fine, will probably take your advice then and ditch it. Less things to do then on the conversion

 

[litchy]

Yeah if you want, I'll get mine made up first, then I'll make another copy of it

Thank you

 

[litchy]

Ive never actually got mine regassed. So the 2 and a bit years I've had the car I have gone without just fine, will probably take your advice then and ditch it. Less things to do then on the conversion

Ive done a lot of work on the issues around cooling. It's one of the single biggest issues consistently for these conversions that are running more boost. It's a combination of issues. First, it's the water pipes and if not configure properly creates hotspots in the system. Ideally rather than using the meg pipes, custom pipes to suit would have been better. The other issue is the size of the rad. If you compare both, the clio rad I recon is about a litre down than the Meg. Also the header tank on the Clio I recon holds less water than the Meg. Furthermore, where the turbo sits is different than in the Meg, it means rather than dispensing the heat, it becomes trapped in the engine bay, and in standing traffic especially when ambient temps are high can be a really problem.

People have underestimated the issues around cooling and need to consider, if Renault we're going to fit a turbo in the carr what would it look like. 3 years on, think I've finally resolved them....

 

[glenn3]

Do you use evans waterless coolant to help keep the temps down?

Ive done a lot of work on the issues around cooling. It's one of the single biggest issues consistently for these conversions that are running more boost. It's a combination of issues. First, it's the water pipes and if not configure properly creates hotspots in the system. Ideally rather than using the meg pipes, custom pipes to suit would have been better. The other issue is the size of the rad. If you compare both, the clio rad I recon is about a litre down than the Meg. Also the header tank on the Clio I recon holds less water than the Meg. Furthermore, where the turbo sits is different than in the Meg, it means rather than dispensing the heat, it becomes trapped in the engine bay, and in standing traffic especially when ambient temps are high can be a really problem.

People have underestimated the issues around cooling and need to consider, if Renault we're going to fit a turbo in the carr what would it look like. 3 years on, think I've finally resolved them....

 

[litchy]

Do you use evans waterless coolant to help keep the temps down?

Nope and would only mask the issue. Much more deep rooted than that....

 

[glenn3]

Whats the solution?

Nope and would only mask the issue. Much more deep rooted than that....

 

[Kazumz]

Whats the solution?

I was thinking of putting some Colour Coded vents in the bonnet like this.

but slightly bigger and colour coded so they are not too noticeable. Along side a larger rad, this should help greatly, even in standing traffic (heat rises, as we all know).

 

[litchy]

No single solution, combo of lots of things tbh.

 

[Stephenvenning]

UPDATE:

A big week this week in terms of my fully forged engine build.....IVE FINISHED IT Just needs timing up.

The breather cover that was chipped and ruined when the bolts were tightened was re-shotblasted and cleaned. It was then repainted in the metallic black paint thats colour coded to my clio. Bolted it down this time with no issues. Looks better than before IMO.

I also recieved some new turbo oil return seals/gaskets so these were installed.

In the week I bought some forge sensor brackets, I wasnt very impressed when they arrived. The dimensions were okay and they held in the sensors like they should but the surface finish was shoddy to say the least. For £25 I at least would expect them to be polished a bit. I took it into my own hands to go over them with my DA and an old pad with some autosol. I few passes later and they were mirror like, really happy with them now

So that was the engine done, just need to time it up next weekend and then fill it with oil.

I moved my attention again onto the replacement pump sender cover. Today I drilled 4 holes around the outside of the plate. The plate was then placed over the sender hole and I marked with a black pen to hole positions. These were drilled out to 6mm to take a m4 hank bush. This enables a thread to be inserted in sheet metal. A series of holes were then drilled with a step cutter for the fuel lines to go through to the swirl pot, grommets were installed in these holes. I may however slot out the two centre holes to fit the factory wire grommet, then re drill two other holes further up the plate for the fuel lines.

Next week I hope to finish the pump sender cover and rebuild my gearbox.

Anyway here are some photos, Ill get better ones soon of the engine with my DSLR.

























Thanks as always.

 

[Chris]

Oh yes, very nice, well done mate!

 

[Stephenvenning]

Oh yes, very nice, well done mate!

Cheers pal

 

[Stephenvenning]

Little bit of progress today, managed to finish the fuel pump sender cover. I did originally in my previous post say about slotting the middle two fuel line holes to fit the factory wire grommet. Did that today with a hacksaw and a file. Im very happy with it and the fuel lines sit better now. Ill have it painted when Ive finished my fuel system.

 

[Tutuur]

Looking good mate, There will be a day when i will have to hacksaw into the floor too!

Although i'm going to try my luck with the original pump first as it'll be stg1, stg2 and eventually after that more....