Megane Coupe 225 Conversion

[Gaz2405]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Hi people,

Thought I'd start one of these on this site, as I'll soon be officially a Renault turbo owner!

This is the car a couple of years ago (at Uni), pretty similar to how it was when I took it off the road.



However the car hadn't moved for a while whilst been in the garage, check out this all you detailing peeps!




So started with the obligatory stripping of the interior.

All door cards out, doors off, bonnet off.

Few pics







I'd been having problems with my fuse box, since I'd taken it to pieces to sort some wiring out, so I made bracket to keep it out of the foot well a little more.



I then cut dash in half and cut all the ribbing out of the back of it, so it was just a shell.



Then I went and collected one of my ebay bargains.

ta dar!



So then I had to take this out.



Couple of hours and a few swear words later this was out.



And the shell was looking like this.



Gearbox and engine came out as one but then were split to sell.

JC5 box from 172 up for grabs pm me if interested.



Engine bay was absolutely filthy as it wasn't cleaned for a good 9 months, quick jet wash with some degreaser and it was looking a lot better.



You can actually see the colour of the subframe and power steering pipes lol

Last thing I did was tuck it back away in the garage, with the engine crane and sheet of 6mm steel plate I'd bought for making the alternator bracket and power steering pump.



It will be a good couple of weeks if not months until I'm able to get over to it again.

So progress will be slow, but I'll keep you updated with purchases I make as I have quite a large shopping list

[Gaz2405]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Now I told you all progress was going to be slow, so here's my next update.

I managed to get a few quick pics before I left last night.

New purchases, that have arrived:

One rather large NDO gerabox, seen hear half in situ



Drive shafts and hubs with discs, discs need a quick clean up asthey've been stood for 9 months!





I literally just dropped the engine in, to see where it was catching.



I've still not taken out the old drive shafts from the JC5 box so its catching a bit there. Looks like it going to be pretty close to the steering rack too.

But gearbox clearance wise it seems ok.





Its catching a tiny bit on the front sub frame member but hopefully when its on the top engine mount(which I've just found one on ebay and bought it now!), it should clear.

My other purchase that hasn't arrived yet it this:



Floor mounted hydraulic clutch pedal as the NDO box is hydraulic and not cable driven, the linkage is also cable driven and not rod, which should be fun!

Next task is to get a top gearbox mount made and get the engine mounted in properly.

Cheers

Gaz

[Gaz2405]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

I've done a bit of work on the car today.

Managed to get the old drive shafts out, remove quick shift and rod change, remove rest of exhaust down pipe.



And oh yeah get the engine sitting on all three mounts!

It fits haha!!



Gearbox mount is a mix of 225 and jc5 mount used together.
Only had to cut a very small piece of chassis out 1x2 inch, which is just under the mount, then just reinforced it from behind.



Top engine mount is F7R bottom rubber mount type and f4r mount from most new renaults.



Dog bone mount is a 225 mount and some box section made up to mount to the original mount. No pics unfortunately!

Here it is with the bumper still undecided on the splitter but i need a deep bumper to house a large intercooler!



Next on the list is adapting the throttle body mount to take a F7R cable type.

Getting the drive shafts measured and butchered.

Got a turbo and manifold on its way from a breakers.

Shopping list includes, OMEX600, cable change mechanism and gear lever assembly, intercooler and pipe work. And the rest..

Comments and suggestions welcome as always

[Gaz2405]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

About time i put some pics up of what I've done a couple of weekends ago!

Made the brackets to use my F7R alternator and power steering pump.

The pic looks like they don't line up perfectly, but thee is room for movement as it's not bolted together tight.



Managed to get the turbo and manifold on, its a really tight fit getting it on.

But once its on there's a fair bit of room.





Depending on how big the down pipe is its looks like I might have to lose a bit of the scuttle tray/bulk head.

Luckily K-tec have just released a de-cat pipe for the 225 as the cat is usually in the down pipe.

Then its just a case of getting a short piece made up to mate to my own system.

I've been having some wishbones played with with different ball joints.

So it looks as if i might be needing a wide arch kit as well, as I may be going with the 225's wider track and full drive shaft assembly.



I'm going over again this weekend to start prepping the shell properly and taking the engine out, now I know it fits.

So I'm preparing my self to be breathing in Monaco blue dust for while!

That's all for now!

[Gaz2405]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Right then I'll start with downpipe idea.

Here you can see how the F7R downpipe exits the bay.



Its Goes underneath the steering rack.

If you look at scotty's bay, you can see it exits above the steering rack higher up.



And her is where the downpipe goes from the cat on a 225, so should be pretty easy to sort the exhaust looking from these pictures.




So engine was back out again, here it is just ready to go back in to get the rear mount sorted. You can also see the alternator and power steering pump attached to the engine, but that will be changing as I'm ditching the power steering and going hard core all out manual! haha



You can see in that picture that its well and truly day light, here's what it was like when I finished doing the mount as it was harder than expected as the mount from the 225 and f7r are completely different, and on opposite sides of the engine!



Managed to make a start on the interior by getting a few coats of primer down, interior will be staying white, but unsure whether to stay with the primer as its a decentish finish and a little grippier.



As said previously I got the ns coilover on and was pretty disappointed as i out it on without the engine in the bay, until i dropped the engine in then it was low, very low!, but didn't get any pics!

So I left it like this with the inlet manifold off as I've brought that home get the throttle body fitted properly.



That's all for now, but 'm having 10 days off in Feb for the sole purpose of just working on the car, so should have some serious progress pretty soon!

[Gaz2405]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Exhaust mid pipe arrived today, I'm surprised at the size of the bore for a standard exhaust shouldn't be a problem mating it to mine.



Bend looks like its in the right place and may not even need modifying, but I'll wait until I get it up against the car.



Collecting something else for the car on Sunday, which is a bit of a funny thing and a bit unusual for this stage of a project, but all will be revealed.

[Gaz2405]

Been to Rochdale today to pick up my newest part for the conversion.



Found another gearbox on the bay, so thought why not!

Its always handy to a spare lying around as I tend to go through gearbox's quite often!

That's it for the moment.

[gtmatt]

your soon cracking on with that love how much effort you have put into your project , will be different as i dont know any 1 who has done that conversion yet happy days

[Os8472]

Nice looking project, I've seen a megane that shape with the 2ltr turbo'd but I never though about dropping the newer engine in, good work, keep it up and they'll yet another unique motor at national day

[Matt Cole]

Nice one mate. Bags of room in there, think yourself lucky!! Welcome to 225 engined world!!

[Gaz2405]

Nice one mate. Bags of room in there, think yourself lucky!! Welcome to 225 engined world!!

Cheers I think I've got the box that was originally with your engine as I went to Durham to pick it up from a lad up there, and he said the engine had been put into a r5.

[Matt Cole]

Sounds about right. I didnt want it due to physical size.

[Winston]

Wow!!!!

Great project

[James5]

Looking good matey, seeing all these 225 conversions makes me think why didn't I just this engine

[Gaz2405]

This is the most recent update, from about 2 weeks ago.





Quick shots of downpipe that I fell out with.





I'll leave that one to the pros and K-tecs de-cat pipe!

Pic of mid pipe from 225 and pas taken out and blanked.



It even mates straight up with own system.



Brake fluid res and pipe work moved.





Driveshafts cut and shut, they won't be staying like this by the way!



Then started to play with this.







Loom and plumbing now on.





Thats how I've left it for the time being need to find one radiator hose for it and some fuel hoses.

[Kenny_GTT]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Interesting engine.
Doesn't seem very easy to fit.
Good work ,nice project.

[Matt Cole]

Gaz, do me a favour and do a little diagram of how you have/are piping up the cooling system. Have you removed the blocked off outlet on the stat housing and piped it to the expansion tank??? Im having cooling issues and had to drill the stat to get circulation round the clio 172 rad im using. Not sure why im having this trouble as it seems piped up correctly.

[Gaz2405]

I've removed the blocked of inlet and used that to go up to the expansion tank, it's a similar set up in the k4m (1.6 16v) as the water pumps look the same and possible are but I haven't checked part numbers yet on Dialogys.

I've used all F7R pipe work apart from the top rad hose and I'm using a k4m one for that.


I went round a scrap yard and took a load of hoses from some different renaults to see what fitted. Came back with this lot for a tenner.





You can see set up on the k4m here, and is very similar to the F4R Series.

Got some goodies today.



And this is what I'm thinking for my seats as I've just sold some sidewinders so have some money burning a hole in my pocket.

[danielmk323]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

great work man keep it up love your car

[Gaz2405]

Just a quick update.

Managed to source a cable change mechanism and gear stick from a Laguna on ebay.





Quite a bargain as the last one that came up went for close to £100!

[Blick]

cant wait2 see this finished!!!!! a real wolf in sheeps clothing....

[dickiegtt]

Love the project, real nice work too, restecpa! No power steering?? Nice idea, old skool feel to a modern turbo engine!

[Gaz2405]

Cheers Guys, just ordered some new bits for it.

Clutch pedal from a new scenic diesel and clutch pipe work from a Laguna.

A full exhaust and turbo gasket set, just trying to hunt down a cheap downpipe or cat for it.

And I've ordered my paint for it too(colour a secret until it's sprayed!) should be here next week.

Should be working on it in the next couple of weeks hopefully.

I'll get some pics up when i do.

[J$£5GTT]

nice work there,very interesting too !!

[Gaz2405]

New Parts arrived!!!

Only boring stuff mind!

Scenic 1.9DCI Clutch pedal and Laguna Pipe Work.

[Gaz2405]

Just ordered some more stuff.

K-tec decat pipe for the 225 megane.
Lockwire set and exhaust heat wrap
Mixture of 57mm Intercooler pipes with beads on the ends.
1 meter of 57mm blue silicone hose
1 meter of 8mm hose
Lift up reverse mechanism for the new renaults
Brake fluid reservoir to use as clutch fluid reservoir.
Gasket set for turbo and downpipe.

Next month is when I'll be spending the big bucks as its engine management time!

[Matt Cole]

Have you decided on which one your going for mate??

[Gaz2405]

Yes mate going to go for adaptronic, spent ages going through its foum and it had some relly good feedback, plus I know it can work on the 225 engine as you're running it.

Plus if i get stuck on the install there seems to be some expert knowledge on here

[Gaz2405]

Another little parts update.



Intercooler elbow pipe work, lockwire and pliers, 57mm silicone hose and exhaust wrap.

Got some more stuff due this week.

[Matt Cole]

Your bank account must be huge!!!

[Gaz2405]

Not as big as i would like, I've just been really lucky with ebay and done a lot of shopping around whole project hasn't cost more than £1k yet.

[Gaz2405]

Woo hoo!! Just bought some new seats!! So engine management will have to go on the back burner for a couple of months, I just couldn't resist.

Pics up as soon as they arrive!

Little clue is they weight around 3kg's each hehe!

[Gaz2405]

Well here they are and they absolutley nothing!

mmmmm Carbon Fibre


I have got two of them don't worry the other one is still at work.
Still waiting on the decat pipe from ktec who said it would be here yesterday, called them today said its still not in stock and will be next week now. awful customer service aswell, I won't be using them again.

[Blick]

Well here they are and they absolutley nothing!

mmmmm Carbon Fibre


I have got two of them don't worry the other one is still at work.
Still waiting on the decat pipe from ktec who said it would be here yesterday, called them today said its still not in stock and will be next week now. awful customer service aswell, I won't be using them again.

everythin i order from k-tec seems2 take ages to come and im really impatiant....

[Gaz2405]

Right been working on the car today and yesterday.

I've managed to fit the seats, respray the car and engine bay in its new colour!

Intercooler is fitted, coilovers fully fitted, clutch pedal fitted and gear lever assembly.

I'll get some pictures up tomorrow night when I'm back home.

[Gaz2405]

I've only got a few pictures as I haven't got the interior quite how i want it at the moment.

The seats fitted fine luckily my old subframes from my sidewinders fitted perfect!

Biggest ball ache of the day was cutting the grill out of the bumper!



But I think you'll agree it was worth it

Here's what the car is looking like at the minute.



That looks mean and moody enough for me i think!

Here's one seat trial fitted and you can see the new gear lever mech fitted too.



Thats it for now folks!

[Matt Cole]

Some graft going into that mate! Have sorted the engine, mounts, shafts etc?

[Gaz2405]

Yes mate, all the engine mounts are sorted, splits drive shafts have been mocked up and just need a new set made up from a single piece.

Engine is now out of the car whilst I get a clutch sorted.

Plan is to finish the body work and interior then the few niggly bits for the engine.

[Gaz2405]

Well here's the de cat pipe.



and the little tab saying not for road use



I'm really pleased with the quality of it, its made by miltek by the looks of it, but sold by k-tec.

[xenon]

des news de ce projet ?

[Matt Cole]

Yeah been a while for an update on this. Gaz did you cross reference the water pumps in diolagys?

[Gaz2405]

Not mNged to xroa ref the pumps as I don't have dialgys anymore as my old lappy messed up.

Progress has been painfully slow.

Quick little update, bought a couple of things from the bay of e!

7 push button steel switches, 3 x carbon effect toggle switches, A3 sheet of 1.5 Carbon fibre, 2 x carbon effect sheet 1.6m x 1.2m.

Started remodelling the centre console to fit all the switches in and have the design for my door cards in my head.

I'll put some pics up when stuff starts arriving.

Managed to get hold of an internal fuse box from a breakers this monring as well for £15.

Buttons are for windows boot popper and door solenoids.
Dash is just a template at the moment and will be carbon once complete, also starting to shape the hole from the phase2 airbag slot to mount three gauges.
Just screwed in temp for time being but will be bonded in when done all nice and neat.

and quick one of new fuse box.


Decided to go with a ali plate for the switches and stuff instead of carbon, started to trial fit where the gauge pod will go aswell.
I've used a LHD a pillar gauge pod as its sets the gauges at a better angle than RHD one.
Had to reshape the bottom part of the dash using a heat gun and took about 2 inches out of the circumference of the curve, just needs a skim with some fibreglass.

Stared working on the adapter plate for the throttle body, just about done, just needs matching up and polishing, got no pics of that yet sorry.
Just on the search for a f4r flkywheel at the minute as i tried turning mine over with an F7R one and its was just too small, so I've been told by a reliable source that the 172 flys fit the 225 engine. Only time will tell!

Thats it for the time being, prop looking at april 2010 for finishing.

[Matt Cole]

yeas mate the 172 fly will fit along with the volvo 440, 460 480 and turbo, 215mm clutch size

[Theros]

You are doing great! Good luck with the project. It is looking very interesting... why we have so tight laws in Finland...we cannot do that kind of modifications without paying big money... (not bribes )

[gtmatt]

love it gaz , u have put some effort in that , such a great project ,and u dnt see many megane coupes any more , what breaker are u using in rochdale seem to have loads of renault stuff ,thanks matt

[w35ty]

looking well good mate! carnt wait to see this finished!!

[Gaz2405]

Cheers for the comments guys, just been working on the dash board still and grinding out the stand 225 intake manifold to accept the f7r cable operated one.

Haven't been using a specific breaker just so happened that a couple of things popped up on ebay that were that direction.

Should be picking up a flywheel this weekend coming.

[Gaz2405]

Done a few more bits on it recentley.

Dash work has had its first taste of fibreglass, just needs filling and sanding.

Pics.







Started to open out the plenium chamber a bit too.
F7r TB now sits on perfect and just needs finishing and polishing off inside.

Not much metal left from the plenium, might have to get it carbon wrapped for strength.



Getting there slowly but surely!

[Gaz2405]

Right time for an update, haven't touched the car since July!!

I bought a new toy to play with







Driving this has given me the drive to get mine sorted.

So I've been on a massive parts ordering binge.

Ive decided to go with a clio 172 ecu and use the turbo map from rstuning.

Ordered/won on ebay today. 172 ECU, clio engine loom, interior loom, clocks/speedos, new lowering springs and front shocks, coil pack and leads, clio 172 throttle body, Megane f1 clutch and flywheel.

Started a new job so no more working weekends now so should be able to work on the car most weekends (misses permitting!)

Also looking for a cheap a frame/car transporter to tow it with the Other Megane.

[Matt Cole]

Lovely megane chief. Did you give much for it??