I am going to detail in here my mods that I have done to my GW R26.
Teaser pic first…
I bought my megane R26 direct from a dealer. I tried to buy it as a private sale , but the seller had quite literally just traded it in for a M5. The guy who traded it in was willing to give me the traders details so I called and was quite happy to find out that he was happy to sell it me for the price he gave the chap. I later found out the dealer is a manager of several f1 and f3 drivers. Small world !
Anyway , the megane had 32000 on the clock , was apparently a "stage 1 " car and had the center box chopped out to make it sound more aggressive and a remap.
The car certainly felt quick , but at Blyton National day 2 years back I stuck it on the rollers and got this :
I was a bit confused by it and though crap dyno and hot weather = low power. Couldnt explain the low torque though.
So a few weeks later off I toddled to RS Tuning in Leeds. Paul ran the car up on the dyno and we got virtually the same. He did some diagnostic runs and it appears that Stevie Wonder mapped my car. Paul did a remap , exactly the same hardware , nothing changed and we went from the above to the below
The car felt more alive. Reason for it being so crap was a really low AFR. Poor mapping basically.
I didnt think I would ever want more power. I was wrong
The torque is capped at around 300ibft or the rods tend to bend. I might invest in some injectors and a different air filter system ( I have a panel in at the minute ) to get to 300hp , or I might just go for broke and forge the engine.
I have taken the car around track and chased down some friends in their Megane 225. Had some good fun !
I can confirm the car is rubbish in snow mind
Some audio
Renault Megane f1 230 exhaust - YouTube
3 inch ( inc decat ) exhaust, custom made.
RS tuning 3 inch exhaust - REVS - YouTube
RS tuning 3 inch exhaust - IDLE - YouTube
My megane was featured in Evo mag way back. Here is Jetro taking it off for a drive
Megane rs tuning 3 inch exhaust drive off - YouTube
Treated the Meg to all round new discs and pads. Went for Pagid solid discs at the front ( vented at the center ) with clio 197 solid rears. Pagid rear pads but Ferrodo DS2500 pads.
Just bedded them in and feel sick from the constant throttle brake thottle brake
Also left a faceprint on the windscreen.
The meg is in for an uprated turbo tomorrow ( 250 turbo )
Already has injectors , induction , 3 inch decat , 3 inch exhaust , 630cc injectors.
Any guesses for power ? Already running 285bhp and 310ibft.
313 ( point 5 ) HP and 320ibft. Torque is limited to 300 ibft until higher up the rev range where 320ib ft is released at 1.2bar. Wastegate duty was only 60%!
Could have had lots more torque but rods may have left the block
ODB thing here.
Its ace ! lots of useless stuff I cant really read while on the move , but still - its a gadget.
In other news , driveshaft changed.
In other, other news , other driveshaft is also clicking.
Some more news.
RSR595 are shocking in 2 deg C weather. Literally no grip till 70+
I took the Meg out for a run with the family down south to see some friends.
Put the limiter ( not cruise ) on at 82mph for the faster bits. Got not too bad a MPG ( 27mpg ) over the start stop trip ( 200 mi in total )
One thing that I have to note is the smoothness of the power delivery and the ability to very easily get into long ban territory.
For instance I was overtaking a car and they decided to speed up on the dual carriageway , no idea why. I was going a constant velocity due to the limiter an they started creeping stopping me from overtaking. Pedal to the floor ensued and shot off, kept it down for what felt like seconds and looked at the clock then the disappearing lights as triple figures was firmly establish and 5000rpm in 6th was achieved. Cue the time to get off the loud pedal and limiter to reactive.
I prefer the limiter , not cruise control BTW as it allows me to moderate my speed a lot easier and not get carried away ! 
A few months ago I set about fixing a small crack in my front bumper. To cut a long story short I fixed it but the glacier white paint match wasnt great.
Going to dig out some fine 2500 grit paper and sand it back and repaint it. Its on a corner and at the top so its a bit of a pig to do. I might if the weather isnt bad sunday remove the front bumper and do it that way. If its grim Ill pull the nose of the car in the garage and get the heat lamp on it at the same time.
Also going to have a look at fixing the B pillars - the colours have gone all mottled and faded. Few guys have said they might be too far gone. Going to peanut butter them Friday , and possibly heat lamp it to death again Sunday. I dont use the car in the week so it wont be an issue.
Saw some hydro dipped ones for £50 and was tempted. The steamline carbon ones were £149.99. I am not a big carbon fan really though.
Weekend after its RS Tuning dyno , then I am going to remove the rear spoiler. Its been poorly painted and the paint has sunk something rotten.
For the first time ever the meg let me down today.
Not a catastrophic let know more a minor annoyance that is a silver lining.
I had just overtaken a slow moving vehicle and was going the speed limit for that road when I heard a scraping.
The plastic undertray had come away on one side of the car. Renault in their infinite wisdom used 3 captive bolts to hold the undertray on. On my particular beast 2 of the three had siezed so some long self tappers were installed as RS tuning.
One has left the car , the other was doing the square root of FA.
I have re attached the self tapper that was doing sweet FA and now the captive bolts that were siezed are long gone.
Ill be getting two more of those with some daddy sized washers , some loctite and applying them next weekend.
It also pinched my finger really bad when I pushed the plastic back together. Typing with said finger up in air now. Its my mouse click finger too.
Update on the above catastrophy.
There are 3 captive nut holes. Only one would fit as the other two are goosed.
the rear left of the two plastic under trays had cracked and left the original bolt in place whilst the fractured part dangled down.
I took the lot off. Took it into my garage , drilled 8 holes and stitched together the fractures with some zip ties. JDM drift style. I then refitted the item and attached in the one functional bolt. I drilled again 4 holes toward the outer edge of the shield and zip tied those.
Its mint now ! Done a few higher than average speed tested and zero movement. When ( if ! ) it fails Ill just buy a whole new tray. Until then. Its BAU.
More videos sub Topgear production standards
<LINK_TEXT text=“- YouTube … verleybond”>R26 megane RS tuning 3inch decat + RS tuning exhaust - YouTube</LINK_TEXT>
Treating the meg to :
New lower hub bearings.
New outer TRE
New steering rack bush
I want to keep on top of the maintenance and keep her in rude health. The Audi SWB fund can keep on being topped up then
took my car to Mark Black @ Bolsover Car care today as I needed it working on , and on a Saturday.
Very impressed with everything there TBH.
I was booked in for a rack bush , TRE ( outer ) , bottom swivel bearings and alignment.
After whipping off the front wheels this was revealed
Bugger. Snapped spring. No where was open where I could get a spring short notice , but fortunatly one of Marks friends had just bought a set of cooksport springs. he fetched his down , I bought some more online to replace his , and job done.
The rack bush has been fitted , and it feels awful. Notchy and stiff. Apparently it will calm down.
We didnt fit the TRE as the inners are knackered , but not ordered ( my fault ). Bottom swivel bearings have been fitted ( buy them here )
I will request Mark order the inner and outer ties and get an alignment done after. Car should be good. Tempted to replace the bushes at the same time …