Who here owns a Renaultsport?

It's not worth attempting the cambelt yourself unless you know what your doing. I'm not trying to say that you don't but it is a specialist only job. If you get a membership on Cliosport you'll be able to read about all of the horror stories regarding cambelt changes. a lot of them done by dealers and not just back street garages. Only a few dealers have the correct tools for the job and those that don't usually mess it up or won't attempt it.

You need the special locking tools from Renault to do it and the timing needs to be perfect as it'll kill the engine pretty quickly if not.
 
The formatting, including the pictures, of the cambelt guide over on CS.net will make it pretty hard to just copy and paste into an email. It'll be a nightmare to go through. Membership is only about £10/12 :)
 
The membership is a tenner and I made that back on discounts on parts within a month anyway. Just buy it.

As for changing the cambelt yourself... are you a Renault mechanic?

Renault don't charge £800 for a cambelt change for nothing. It involved dismantling the whole front of the car, using the correct tools, and hours of work. Anyone without the skills and tools is walking into trouble, as I nearly found out to my cost. My car had had the belts done by 'a local mechanic', which I thought was fine, but when I had it redone recently be a Renault mechanic, it highlighted that the timing was off, the cam gears had been marked with tipex instead of properly clamped with the Renault equipment, and the Aux belt was misaligned and had actually been trimmed to make it thinner! The guy was surprised my engine hadn't blown.

A Cambelt change is definately not something you want to be done by an amateur mechanic, especially if his entire knowledge is gathered from a single thread on Cliosport.

If your going to do it, get it done properly. However, As many of us in the thread will testify to, RS Clios aren't always as cheap as you think. Buying a broken one that needs a new engine and replacing the cambelt yourself is going to lead you into a world of financial pain.

Buy a working one with everything done to it, or don't bother. If a guy is selling one uber cheap because its broken, it obviously doesn't make financial sense for him to fix it, so It probably wont make sense for you to either (hence the reason there are so many for sale in bits).
 
I don't see what is so difficult with the cam belt, you just surely need to keep timing. You will be able to do it by finding tdc for cylinder 1 to get the correct positions. Locking tools only speed up the process. Plus if the engine is out you will have zero problems with access. Nothing wrong with the tipex method if it is checked before running the engine.
 
saitrix said:
I don't see what is so difficult with the cam belt, you just surely need to keep timing. You will be able to do it by finding tdc for cylinder 1 to get the correct positions. Locking tools only speed up the process. Plus if the engine is out you will have zero problems with access. Nothing wrong with the tipex method if it is checked before running the engine.
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I'm no expert, but from what I have read over on ClioSport.net, these engines are a different kettle of fish.
 
No, locking tools are almost 100% necessary. You need to lock the cam pulleys to the slacken them off, which in turn means the cams need to be locked (locking tool fixes to other end of cams). The pin to lock the crank actually goes through the block into the balancer on the crank, this is not something you really want to mess around with.

The sheer amount of garages are a testament to how easy it is to get wrong - it is not your standard cambelt job, but it is not difficult if you go into the job educated.
 
I'm potentially looking to get a Cup 182 after selling my DC2... I've found a nice one for £4200, black, both cup packs, 2004, 60k on the clock. It's just had its cambelt changed, new radiator, disk brakes and pads. Does that sound about right to you guys who know 182s? It's got Ktec Group N engine mounts too, apparently the standard ones are quite weak? Thanks :)

Quite impressed with the standard kit these 182's have, cruise control etc... pretty good!
 
mattbill said:
I'm potentially looking to get a Cup 182 after selling my DC2... I've found a nice one for £4200, black, both cup packs, 2004, 60k on the clock. It's just had its cambelt changed, new radiator, disk brakes and pads. Does that sound about right to you guys who know 182s? It's got Ktec Group N engine mounts too, apparently the standard ones are quite weak? Thanks :)

Quite impressed with the standard kit these 182's have, cruise control etc... pretty good!
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That isnt a 182 Cup, its a 182 FF (Full Fat, a suffix created by the Clio community for standard 182's with both Cup Packs).

182 Cups (I believe) are all Royal Blue, and dont come with all the toys (Cruise, leather, ABS, etc).

If you are looking for a predominently road car the FF is definately th ebest bet. I wouldn't know about price as I haven't looked for a while, but you are definately on the right track with looking for one with belts changed recently and brakes done. I dont know that the standard engine mounts are weak, but it is a popular mod for people to change them.

Have a look on Cliosport.net, its fairly good for gathering info.
 
Perfect, thanks for the help Skeeter! Already registered there so will go have a gander at differences... full fat does look to be the one I'd be aiming for.
 
Archibald0 said:
Its not the end of the world either If you find one that has no cup packs. You can still buy a splitter, spoiler and springs separately.
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Yep.

If I was looking for a 182 I'd definitely want the Cup Suspension Pack, but I wouldn't be so fussed about the Styling pack.

However, it does seem that the dealers managed to get every 182 buyer to tick all the boxes as the majority of 182's around appear to have both Cup packs.
 
Well the broken 172 was a bit of a non-starter, due to a deluded owner.

I went to have a look at it, and externally it needs some work - front bumper paint is pealing, rear is scuffed, wing mirror taped on, every wheel curbed, new but budget tyres etc.

Now, I'd normally walk away at this point, but I thought I'd humour the vendor and explain how I feel about it, the costs involved of sorting it and make an offer for an amount that would make it worth me bringing it up to scratch - £300.

The vendor proceeded to tell me how he didn't need the money, and that if he hasn't got what he wants for it (£800) by the end of the week when the tax runs out, he is going to scrap it. I re-iterated that my offer was above scrap value, but he insisted that he'd rather scrap it.

Oh well.
 
mattbill said:
I'm potentially looking to get a Cup 182 after selling my DC2... I've found a nice one for £4200, black, both cup packs, 2004, 60k on the clock. It's just had its cambelt changed, new radiator, disk brakes and pads. Does that sound about right to you guys who know 182s? It's got Ktec Group N engine mounts too, apparently the standard ones are quite weak? Thanks :)

Quite impressed with the standard kit these 182's have, cruise control etc... pretty good!
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You're doing pretty much what I said i'd never do (EK9 to 182), but did it anyway:o

You'll enjoy the xenons, cruise control and the extra torque, but you'll want the teg back within 2 weeks:o
 
Tim said:
You'll enjoy the xenons, cruise control and the extra torque, but you'll want the feeling of being part of some deluded club who thinks 15 year old Jap hatchbacks are some sort of gift from god back within 2 weeks:o
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Fixed.

Be honest Tim, you had convinced yourself the 182 wasn't as good as your Civic even before you bought it, but still went ahead with the swap anyway and have moaned about it ever since.
 
Do you find the 182 too soft in comparison to the EK9? I've been without the teg 3 weeks now and I miss it lol... time to move on though, hopefully a 182 will do me.
 
MikeHiow said:
No, locking tools are almost 100% necessary. You need to lock the cam pulleys to the slacken them off, which in turn means the cams need to be locked (locking tool fixes to other end of cams). The pin to lock the crank actually goes through the block into the balancer on the crank, this is not something you really want to mess around with.

The sheer amount of garages are a testament to how easy it is to get wrong - it is not your standard cambelt job, but it is not difficult if you go into the job educated.
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That's fair enough there. Though do people not turn them over by hand to check before starting?
 
Probably, but most commonly, the timing is simply out it seems, but being VVT it is entirely possible for it to clear when turning it over by hand but foul once VVT is engaged.

Skeeter said:
The last thing I would do with £300 is spend it on a broken 172.

How did you calculate £300 anyway?
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Based on doing everything cheaply to burn around in it for a couple of months and then move it on -

£300: Car
£600: Engine
£190: Cambelt kit
£100: Paint front bumper
£50: Wing mirror
£60: Misc. costs (Paint for wheels, oil etc.)

£1300 for a tidy looking Clio with a 60K mile engine. If it cost any more, the work involved just wouldn't be worth it over say picking one up that works for £2k.
 
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