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Stone Automotives EP3 Type R
Thought I would throw some pictures up of the progress over the past 2 weeks on a Type R I took in on part Exchange! For those that don't know I run a small business working on the Renault Sport scene and have owned Countless Renault Sport MK2 Clio's over the years but from the start I had always fancied an EP3 Pre-face lift Type R so when one came in recently on Part Exchange I decided to give it a go for a few weeks and in all honesty I really liked it so I decided to keep it for a few months and clean it up as it was in need of some TLC!
Brief History of my Renault Sports I've owned/ Modified personally
Renault Sport MK2 PH2 172
Day of purchase -
The Completed item over 2 years of ownership (Miss this car & have regretted selling it ever since
)
Surrey Rolling Road Dyno Dynamics Rolling road proven 203-BHP / 161-FTB / 960-KGs with out driver
Then I bought a MK2 PH1 172 to save from the scrap yard!
Few weeks work later...
Recently Sold my MK2 PH2 182 -
So after 5 years of owning 24 MK2 Renault Sport Clio's in varied forms and 1 Megane Sport 225 I decided to keep the Part Exchange to see if the Type R ownership bug would take hold!
So the car arrived with 129,000 miles but with very extensive service history & plenty of toys! The MOT had expired so that was first on the list of to do's, Much to my surprise it passed with only 2 advisorys, Both front tyres nearing legal limit! looking back through the service history this was the first MOT ever in 10 years that had an advisory, alot of money had been spent over the years maintaining the car and it was spotless underneath, If I had been told it had covered 60k I wouldn't of doubted it!
So the Toys included -
Buddy Club N+ Coilover Kit
Progress Rear Anti-Roll bar Kit
Unknown Rear strut brace (any one have any ideas, pictures below?)
K-Pro ECU
Rota Slipstream Alloys & Federal RSR Tyres
K&N Induction Set-up
Face Lift front Seats
First to go was the K-Pro, I have no plans for anything more than an induction set-up so there was money tied up in the ECU that just wasn't needed so that was sold to allow funds for different toys! I've been in the tuning game and it soon becomes an expensive day out in the chase for BHP numbers!
Unfortunately the previous owners did a great job with the servicing etc but the body work & interior were showing signs of there age!
The Centre console had been badly marked so I decided to pull it all out and treat it to refresh plus a head unit up-grade as the standard didn't allow any form of Ipod connection & I missed the hands free from my previous car (Afraid I didn't take any pictures from before!)
All stripped down
Finished Item -
Very happy with the finished item but the Connects 2 double din kit needed a fair amount of work to get it to fit correctly and the colour was off so went with an anthracite grey which does look really smart & a little bit different! painted the door pulls the same colour as they were looking fairly tired!
The head unit streams music via bluetooth from the Iphone so there is no need for cables etc on the go but I've got a Jailbroken Iphone that I have the Tomtom app on and with the Display out mode on winter board I can upload my screen to the head unit (sadly it only has front mounted cable insert for this)
Next up was the key blip, The x2 Original ones had shown big signs of there age and the button often failed to work so I bought A re-refurbishment kit off ebay for £16, Really pleased with it for the price
Next Job on the list was a general service and Adjust the Valve Clearances
With the Cam cover it was clear the car had indeed had been serviced very regularly, The top end was absolutely mint, I've seen's cars with 50k in much worse a state! so the mileage was no longer a real concern!
Once the valve clearances were checked/ Adjusted (had been 50k since they were last done) it was onto the oil & filters, Best stuff on the market for road/ track cars I've come across -
The gearbox was also all in perfect order, I had been told the pre-face lifts suffer 2nd gear engagement from cold but this has no issue's so would assume it was recall although I can't find any invoices to say its been changed from the original! Either was no issues with Syncro's etc so I aim to keep it that way, Really rate the Castrol SMX-S so that went in too!
Then Plugs
With the service all completed the next purchase -
Followed by a set of EVO 8 alloys wrapped in a brand new set of Hankook V12 EVO tyres
They look really good on the car and the OFF-SET sits them completely in line with the car! I'm gonna get them re-furbished after Christmas as I'll be driving to the French Alps over the winter for abit of Snowboarding and the Snow chains/ Socks end up marking the wheels!
Now leaves me with a set of Track Wheels/tyres -
If any ones interested I may have these up for sale as I've got my eyes on a set of track wheels with R888's, if your interested drop me a pm! full wheels details can be found here - http://www.driftworks.com/shop/rota-slipstream-17-wheels-all-colours.html
Next Jobs are relatively minor, Machine polish the whole car and get some decent pictures on the SLR Camera but this is how it will stand for the next few weeks -
Thanks,
James
