Best way to get my 'commuter' GT-Line a bit more 'sleeper'.

[DaniDee]

Hi all, so I've always absolutely loved the Megane, and came close to going the RS, but the point of getting this car, a 2018 GT-Line, was as a commuter first and foremost. I like the ride, the comfort, the fuel economy and so on.

I come from an Rx7 FD, so I've done the performance thing. Unfortunately that's kinda still in the blood, and though I really like Meg-Line's handling, the torque is just not there. I'm not expecting 'Hot hatch', but it feels like it actually should be there but it ain't. I drove my Mum's old Carolla for a bit, and the lack of torque didn't bother me with that car. This car feels like it should have it. I keep thinking at times "yeah maybe I will trade up to an RS," but no. I don't want that 'sports' feel to the ride. I want to always just know that this is 'my sensible car, and yes I am a grown up now'. I'm also not really liking the lower stage auto gear shifts, but that may be due to countering FWD wheel spin? Dunno. Not a biggie. I still need to give the "manual" mode a proper go.

Anyway so the car already has an after market intercooler on it that the previous owner installed after the stock had a split. I'll have to get the receipt to see what it is, but I doubt it'll be anything special. It does have a nice subtle whistle to it, but I don't know whether it made any performance increase. I was looking to see if Revo or someone had Meg mods, but seemingly not. Then again, I imagine certain Audi or Golf mods might fit? I don't know yet. I wanted to know what you guys are doing, with what, and from where, if you can spare the time. Intercoolers, intakes, filters, tuning, whatever. I'm based in Brisbane, though mail order is fine obviously for parts.

Also a paddle shifter install if possible. I test drove a 2017 GT before buying this one, and quite liked that shifter. That car was trashed though so I didn't buy it. This one meanwhile is 'mint', with an actual genuine lady previous owner, like actually for real, and turns out women actually do take better care of their cars than men do; go figure. I imagine it wouldn't be too tricky an install a paddle set up; the tech would all be there from the current pseudo manual set up, and I'd likely be able to track down a wrecked RS/GT shifter or whatever.

Any place you guys could point me to start off making my GT-Line a GT-Mine, would be fantastic. And yes I do intend on creating a custom badge to say just that.

Thank you.

[Pokinacha]

Hey mate and welcome.

the biggest issue is the gt line only has a 1.2 inline 4 turbo. I would also imagine that the turbo would be quite small so and tuning would have mixed results.

the transmission is the 7sp EDC and I’d imagine there is likely a way to retrofit the GT steering wheel to work, I doubt anyone has done it.

there are probably lowering kits from the EU but that would ruin the ride.

If you weren’t keen on a Megane RS Sport, You could trade it for a GT trim with the 1.6T from the clio. Probably not the answer you were after but the 1.2 in Otto cycle form isn’t what you’d call a powerhouse. In wankel form tho…

 

[63x1092]

If the 1.2 in the MeglV is the same engine as the 1.2 in the Meglll facelift, run.

Don't waste any money on it and sell it quickly. They blow up regularly and hence a replacement engine costs a bomb.

Perhaps you should of tried and bought the Meglll RS GT220 wagon

[Pokinacha]

1 hour ago, 63x1092 said:

If the 1.2 in the MeglV is the same engine as the 1.2 in the Meglll facelift, run

Looks like it is. 

[DaniDee]

On 29/6/2024 at 8:16 AM, Pokinacha said:

Hey mate and welcome.

the biggest issue is the gt line only has a 1.2 inline 4 turbo. I would also imagine that the turbo would be quite small so and tuning would have mixed results.

the transmission is the 7sp EDC and I’d imagine there is likely a way to retrofit the GT steering wheel to work, I doubt anyone has done it.

there are probably lowering kits from the EU but that would ruin the ride.

If you weren’t keen on a Megane RS Sport, You could trade it for a GT trim with the 1.6T from the clio. Probably not the answer you were after but the 1.2 in Otto cycle form isn’t what you’d call a powerhouse. In wankel form tho…

 

Is that you telling me I'm gonna have to drop in a two-stack 13B... or is that me telling me that for the umpteenth time, and blaming you for it?

Thanks for the reply (and the welcome). I'm of a few different minds with this. See 'for a commuter' I actually really like everything about this car except the torque levels. It's got the upgraded GT whatever kit, with the rims and seats and linings and all that; I like the ride height as is. I think it compliments the visual balance, and I don't need to deal with that "Will this gutter break my grill" sh*t again that I had to deal with every damn time I left the road.

It's sounding like it'd be better to just go a straight RS and be settled... but...

But...

I have always been all about having special unique sh*t. It's why I loved the Rx7, right from when I was 16. It's why I chose the Megane as a commuter; nothing looks like it; 4-wheel steering wtf? Audi's are whatever, Civic Rs and i30s all look like transformer toys, and everyone's grandmother has a Golf. The Seat Leon Cupra has grabbed my attention, but it still doesn't look as good as a Megane or have the 4-wheel steering. I love sh*t that does sh*t different.

The idea of not only a Megane, but my own Megane, unique among all, is seriously sparking my irresponsibilities.

I do not need this to jump off the line and smash any quarters; that straight line sh*t always bored me anyway. It's like a fraction of what 'driving' is, yet it's all anyone ever talks about. To me, it's about what I did back in Perth, where some chunk-ass V6 Holden whatever tried to gun my 'Jap-crap' on the east freeway, and I kept up, knowing there was a large roundabout inbound. I dropped back and let him take the inside, entered and kept wide, his car starts swinging way out to the outer lane in front of me because power is 'all' it has. Meanwhile my revs are sitting about 5-6, but it's a rotary so I've still got the rest of the dial worth or torque, a whole 2nd turbo kicking in, and my car's got 50/50 weight and is built around a single aerated central strut. We hit the apex and I gun it, thread straight through the inner lane and out, completely dusting him, and watching him wave all over the road in my wake. Never saw him after that. I'm guessing he bowed out.

That and playing check. When you have some white-collar in an Audi or Beemer (or bogan in a Navara/Ranger) try to gun you just to prove something, what you do is play check. You stick to them; not on the bumper, a car or so back, or on their left diagonal if 2-lane, and you stay there. And no matter what they do; if they go 30ks or 120 (drive responsibly kids), you stick there, and they cannot shake you. And sooner or later they just do the bow-out, and turn off to some needless side-street just to escape.

So yeah, my stupid driving days are done; I don't do that no more... but it's fun to know you can. So superior handling matched to the power is what I'm about, not just straight line performance. That's boring to me. This Line has everything else, and I initially thought that would be enough for me, but I guess not. The cheapness of it, and the mint condition (god bless previous lady owners) is making it a really good potential founding project slate.

RE paddle shifters; I've found this place here, and they seem to have the housing and everything:

https://edcshifterbox.com/product-categorie/all-products/complete-kit/

They were out of stock the last time I checked, but I might email them and see if they cover the Line.

Engine-wise... I'm obviously from the 90's pre-electronics era, where there were no drive modes and things like that. I gotta say I'm liking all the sensors and things that this car has; I like the auto stop/start (again, commuter) and I don't know how that stuff works. I'm guessing it's not integrally part of the engine, right? It'd be pure ignition system-based? Putting one of those on a rotary would just be stupid and pretty much the epitome of an oxymoron, but because of that, I kinda love it.

And yes, I just said rotary again. A clean 13B you could get for several grand, used, and just straight out of the box you're getting about 250hp. That's almost RS levels, but lighter weight and closer to the front axel. Add that to the 4-wheel steering and you've got a serious handling wizard right there. Also that leaves a bunch of room for cooling, and cooling was always the issue with turbo-charged rotaries. The N/A 12A of the FAs always lasted ages because they're so simple. I think a straight FD 13B port with sequential twin turbo would be probably double that price, but that's also locking you to a 5-speed manual transmission, and I'm dealing with traffic pretty regularly. A 7-speed auto with paddles is sounding really good to me. They'd also probably be thrashed. but also 'may' be factory builds a tune-junkie stripped out straight away to drop in a custom, so 'may' have lower miles (inshallah).

You can get custom built clean 2-stack 13's for a chunk more money, but I don't know if I'd go that far for a commuter... but, I'm also a compulsive idiot.

There's also the Rx8's Renesis Engine. That was a newer, more efficient N/A 13B, but I don't know much about it. I don't know its output and don't think it was popular, but that may just be because it was harder to mod. I might need to look into that.

I'm even now picturing swapping out the oval GT-Line muffler nozzle for one of the classic rounded triangles you see at any mazspeed or 7-stack show.

Sigh... damn it. I knew I shouldn't have started talking about this.

Edited 30 June by DaniDee

[Dave200]

Given its essentially a Nissan engine, there is possibility of an ECU tune as obviously various Nissans with the same engines probably have a bigger following. 

[DaniDee]

7 minutes ago, Dave200 said:

Given its essentially a Nissan engine, there is possibility of an ECU tune as obviously various Nissans with the same engines probably have a bigger following. 

I was wondering about that.

See I bought this thing essentially in a rush. I've been working from home the last several years, but now work in-house someplace and needed a commuter. I was actually just going to buy a Carolla, but saw the Megane and loved it. Didn't think the low power would irk me as much as it does. I'll have to look into the engine more and see what Nissans have it.

Thanks.

[DaniDee]

Actually it just occurred to me, I don't want a 7-speed on this do I. Less is more with rotaries. I don't know much about transmissions and things, but the GT-Line's existing system seems to do what we'd used to call a 'stall converter' would do, when set to sport mode, and there's an option for it in perso. It doesn't work too well imo. It seems to get itself confused and doesn't really know what it's trying to do half the time, so I leave it off. I imagine it works far better with higher HP... and 'maybe' something else that benefits from higher revs like a rotary. It's still 7 though, and that's going to be too little buffer in the low end, so maybe hunting down an Rx8 auto transmission and putting that on paddles might be an option.

There's a guy at work who has literally turned his Rx8 into a dragster and took his Renesis and transmission out, so I might need to ask him about that.

Edit: Sorry yes I realise this is a Renault forum.

Edited 30 June by DaniDee

[Pokinacha]

3 hours ago, DaniDee said:

Edit: Sorry yes I realise this is a Renault forum.

you'd be surprised. There are a varied selection of automotive fetishists among the OZRS fraternity. Magna's feature heavily for some ungodly reason

[DaniDee]

6 hours ago, Pokinacha said:

you'd be surprised. There are a varied selection of automotive fetishists among the OZRS fraternity. Magna's feature heavily for some ungodly reason

... Magnas? That's interesting.

So are we talking the jump ramp looking one's from the 90s, or the more rounded later models? I guess I can see the later ones having a bit of a cruiser vibe to them; dark colours and silver rims... Each to their own.

[CreamCheese]

how is this going?

 

[DaniDee]

Very much still in planning and will be for a while. Got a couple other things to think about first. What I'm thinking though is, with any project you gotta first learn where you are before you go anywhere. I've been driving it and paying attention to things, trying to get into the engineers' heads, and I think I know what they were looking at with their decisions.

So although low-end torque is non-existent, the turbo is actually pretty good. Once you're rolling, you're not having much issue. And because of that turbo, I'm spending like $30 a week on fuel, and that's not on the Eco setting. Obviously fuel economy was on the engineers' mind when making it. I'm also thinking a lot of it is coming down to the gear changes. The 1st is always really short, and it doesn't quite drop right when I want it to. I'm curious what difference I can make by simply trying out the fo-manual shift, and potentially getting that paddle-shift kit. Coupled with a straight stage 1 tune, so like air filter and so on, I'm wondering what performance I can get just out of that.

And once this engine gets on a bit, I'll get a dedicated electric commuter and for this one... Rotary.

There are straight factory 13Bs with sequential twin turbos that people pull out of FDs and replace with a 'clean' 13B which they can custom charge and pipe the hell out of. I'm very familiar with one of those, and that would be more than I'd need. An FD's 13B you can easily tweak over 300hp without much work, so that's a Megane RS which I think is 300?. And you can go much higher than that if you want to go all in. The rotary just makes it easy to do that because it's so simple. You just gotta manage heat. But, with the size of one, you're setting the weight behind the front axel (or at least in this case maybe on it and aft) and there would be a lot of space for cooling. That Renault badge on the nose also looks an awfully good little potential suction hole for a dedicated air pump. It'll probably need to be bigger, but again I'm not looking to bust qtrs here. I'm a curving road, blast out of corners guy, and with the weight where it is, SeqTwins making up for rotary torque lag in the sub3k, and the Megane's 4-wheel steering... that's pretty much muh lil gurrl. That's easily RS performance, maybe better handling too with the more centralised weight ratio. Dunno. More than I need anyway.

Another issue though will be transmission. This box is 7, and with a Rotary you really need to keep low around 5 so you stay longer over 3K. I'm thinking an auto box out of an FC, but that might be pushing it in terms of age there (we're talking 1990). The other option is the box out of an Rx8; that on the paddle shifters might be kinda legit. One of the guys at work drags an Rx8 with a V8 in it. I'm guessing he probably no longer has the Renesis engine, but he might... and he might still have the transmission, so I need to talk to him about it. The Renesis had a bad rep, but modders gunna mod, and 'apparently' you can pull some magic off with it through different injectors or something, but I dunno how that works. 13B is simpler, so to me that's better.