Renault Megane RS225 of French Weirdness

Taistorm · December 29, 2024

Keep the minimal momentum going.

Quick clean up of the back of the engine, remove the rear crank seal and fit the new one.

Fit the new single mass flywheel with new bolts. Also cleaned up the rs225 starter motor and corrosion from the terminals, swap it over and mock it up.

Because I'm on a bit of tight schedule (to get parts over from the uk) and don't want to spend bank on new exhaust gaskets from renault (plus shipping from sydney), I'm reusing the old exhaust outlet and dump pipe outlet gaskets. I've cleaned them up, doubled up with both the old ones and smeared a tiny bit of copper sealant (probably won't do shit). Should seal up alright I reckon. Fitted new exhaust studs as well ( turbo exhaust shield is only mocked up on top).

ill try get a couple hours im each day, juggling around the kids and house painting haha.

Chur

Taistorm · December 31, 2024

Went to fit the clutch last night but I couldn't get it on as the disc was too proud and the mounting bolts couldn't reach the threads in the flywheel. Turns out I had no idea that self adjust clutches were a thing, and this one needed to be reset/compressed. Drove around this morning trying to find somewhere open that might have the tooling to do this for me but no luck. Found some clips on the net so I made a jig up out of a broken dolly board, used a piece of m10 threaded rod I had up the middle, mounted the clutch disc on some nuts as spacers then used the old release bearing wound in to free up the pressure, reset the springs, then backed it off to reapply pressure.

I realised that the new bolts i had were actually slightly shorter than the old ones so I used the old ones to begin clamping the clutch assembly together, enough to get the new ones on then swapped them out and sent it home.

Gearbox quickly cleaned up, new release bearing/concentric slave cylinder fitted.

and rs225 box mounted onto the rs265 engine.

stoked to see it together!

Taistorm · December 31, 2024

Also began swapping over engine bits.

Turbo coolant lines were slightly different. Instead of swapping over the inlet/outlet block from the old turbo I decided to just swap over the hoses. I trimmed the inlet hose and swapped over the heat resistant sheathe.

Oil filter housings also have different coolant line inlet/outlet points so I began to swap these over however I didn't have a suitable seal, so I'll need to sort one of these out in the next few days.

Rs265

rs225

the alternator/ac compressor mount block is also different so these are now swapped over. I also uncovered the reason for the 225 engine not running.

Hole in the side of the block. Conrod must have fallen apart...

swapped over and alternator mounted. The compressor needs a bit of a clean up before I refit it. The rs225 drive belt and tensioner were replaced not long before it went bang, so I'll be using reusing these.

Also had a look over the throttlebodys to see what's needed to adapt the 225 tb to the new manifold. I should just need a 10mm block of alloy to make an adaptor plate.

225 on top, 265 below.

Clearance needed.

Happy new year OS.

Chur

Taistorm · January 1

Couple hours in today.

Looks like the breather/decanter plate has been leaking (top plate on the rocker cover). Removed it, cleaned it up and refit with some Three bond sealant. Also cleaned up the ignition coils and replaced the dust seals (just used some orings I had) and refit them. Gave the rocker cover a very quick degrease.

Quick clean of the ac compressor and refit. Also fit the drive belt.

Swapped over the required sensors from the rs225 engine.

Also swapped over the thermostat housing. Reused the old thermostat. The seal seemed ok but i gave it a light smear of sealant just incase.

Taistorm · January 1

Drilled and tapped an additional mount hole for the engine upper timing cover/engine mount. This is due to a variation between the 2 top covers and the 265 inlet manifold not having the provision for the additional mount.

Upstream o2 sensor back in and rs265 exhaust cover fitted.

I did a half ass job trying to clean off some of the melted plastic from the engine bay.

And lastly for the night ive swapped over the lower engine stabiliser mount and rh drive shaft hanger from the 225 engine.

Hopefully I'll have this bolted back in the car tomorrow evening.

Chur

Taistorm · January 2

Cue "It was a good day - Ice Cube".

Donk and box back in the hole. Oil filter housing/oil cooler swapped over aswell with new filter on. Just awaiting pick up of my work ute tomorrow (as it's having some recall work done) so i can get some other tools i need to carry on with assembly. Stoked as to see the gap filled!

Chur

Taistorm · January 4

Small daily update. Refitted the lower engine stabiliser mount - I've reused the old one, the inserts I've purchased only replace one of the bushes that's torn, not the other so I'll look at just buying a replacement unit. I also got my spanner back and finished tightening up the transmission mount.

Exhaust fitted.

I had to swap the rs225 intake pipe onto the turbo to get better clearance over the brake slave cylinder. So cleaned it up and fitted it.

I also bought some vacuum hose and fuel vapor hose for the breather piping. Rerouted everything to suit and re routed the fuel line as they're different across the 2 cars. So now the fuel lines are sorted, crankcase vent pipes and inline valving is sorted, and Brake booster hose sussed out. I'm not overly happy with the fuel hose layout so I'll change it over later. Luckily I could reuse the push oem push lock fittings. I ended up just hose clamping new hose onto the barbs.

Chur

Taistorm · January 5

Probably the last bit of work on this until next weekend as I'll be back at work from Tuesday...

Had another look and think about fitting the rs225 throttlebody. After some quick measurements I reckon I can trim down some of the excess manifold flange meat and drill a couple more holes to get it to fit up, if I change the engine lift point over from the 225 as well.

Some quick measurements and cuts/grinding.