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205 Endurance Racer Prototype



  172 Cup
Yeah loads has happened, I'll get some pics up over the weekend.. it's all small fiddly jobs at the moment so I don't have many exciting pics to show, but I'll get an update in - probably tomorrow morning.
 
  172 Cup
Wow.. just looked through my phone and I haven't been taking enough pics again! :fearscream:

I'll do a quick update with what I have now, then take some better pics during the week and do a proper update next weekend.

This tunnel was a complete pain in the arse, so I was really really glad to have it finished! There's absolutely no space between the two seats, so the tunnel has to go in after them otherwise there's no space to tighten the bolts. The tunnel is made up of 9 separate pieces to make that possible.

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In this pic you can see the dash layout taking shape.. some careful planning involved to make everything visible, accessible, and to keep hands away from the ignition / power switches and the fire extinguisher button.

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Roof hinges WIP shot.. the pin is removable so the clam can be lifted off if required.

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Nice little mount for the fluid bottles..

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Then another one of the big jobs.. the side skirts! I had tried them a little wider than this at first but dialed it back a little. I really like where they tie in to the front wings. :cool:

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And the most recent random pic I have is a WIP of the dash wiring loom. I did want to take a bunch more of this, as it was a really satisfying job and I spiral-wrapped all the wires so it looked awesome, but it was such a nice job that I just ploughed straight through it and didn't take any more at all! 😅

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There's LOADS more wiring to be done, so I'll make sure I take way more pics for that!

Anyway.. yeah, derped the updates a little there, but it's sooooooo close to being finished now that I'm powering through every day without really stopping to take pics. :astonished:
 

Coops Mk1

ClioSport Club Member
  Lots of Scrap...
Cracking work and good job on thinking everything through over and over to make it all 'work' as a functional, practical to an extent, competition vehicle.
 
I'm in.

Epic so far, kind of reminds me of the Binky build, in terms of the craftsmanship and difficulty.

Either way, hats off to you, incredible work.
 

K_McDermott

ClioSport Club Member
  Megane 230 r26
I've just had them tyres on my 172 they were perfect at Oulton Park, bloody noisy and squeely but I had them at around 20psi cold and when they warmed up they were s**t hot


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  172 Cup
Yeah that's what I thought too! Plus from what I've heard a wet sump would be perfectly capable in one of these, so that could make things easier / cheaper.

Forgot to mention about the vid, the starter power cable isn't connected as the engine is still dry, hence the clunk but no turning over. :up:
 
  172 Cup
One update as promised.. I tried to take a few more pics this time.

The Formula Renault loom has a little box full of relays, circuit breakers, and the battery isolator; but in the only places the box could fit the breakers are completely inaccessible, so they had to be relocated. I've moved the breakers out of the box and onto the "centre console" which means hacking the FR loom, extending it, and integrating it with the rest of the car's wiring.

Here's a WIP shot.. ditching the box entirely was out of the question as the relays, wires, and who knows what else are all glued in place, so the only option is to modify. The joins are all soldered then covered with adhesive heat-shrink.

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Then I remembered to take some more pics as I went along! I've seen pics of looms all nicely spiral-wrapped and wanted to try it out.. anyone who's made a wiring loom by any other means will know that with straight wires they're totally rigid, so with the complete lack of space inside for anything other than people it seemed a sensible idea to have nice flexible looms. Also it looks cool.

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Woof - the finished item.

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I managed to find out which connectors the FR loom uses, so have used them throughout for consistency. For anyone who's interested, they're ITT Cannon QM / Trident connectors - and are available reasonably cheap from RS.

The other job I took pictures of was dealing with the bulging tailgate. It looks like the problem is due to the ducts being fitted when the clamshell skin is out of shape, pulling the front corners of the rear quarters out and making them much wider than they should be. When you try to pull them back in again the extra stiffness of the duct pushes the skin around the rear window outwards and makes an obvious bulge.

I've had to cut a wedge out of the bit joining the duct to the skin, pull the quarters in, then laminate back over the cut.

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This is the gap with the rear quarters free

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And this is what the gap closes to when the quarters are pulled in properly

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A fairly big difference of 4mm.. easily noticeable from the outside!

Another thing worth noting is how different the ducts are side to side, despite having the same size & shape openings. This just comes down to shitty work IMO, same as the rest of the bodywork issues.

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So with everything pulled back into shape as much as possible I used epoxy resin (since it's much stiffer) and fibreglass to hold it where it should be. (Pic is mid lay-up so no trimming done yet)

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I'm not sure it will ever be 100% without cutting the whole thing out and starting again, but it should certainly be a lot better.

Finally I spent a bit of time making wiring diagrams and pegging out a board for the main wiring harness.

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Oh and to finish with exciting news.. the frame will be going off for powder coating early next week. :up:
 
  172 Cup
Thanks! Err.. some bits are really satisfying and others are incredibly frustrating. Tbh I wanted to burn the place down when I had to re-think the centre console / tunnel for the 3rd time!
 
  172 Cup
I'm still alive!

I haven't had much time to take pics as I've had an endless stream of little jobs to sort out, but today is a big day so I'll drop this little teaser. :grin:

A couple of weeks ago the frame went off for powder coating, and I'll be picking it up this morning so the final build will start!

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  172 Cup
Let the build commence!

I'm giving all the aluminium panels a quick rub down with scotchbrite, 1 - to reduce glare, and 2 - because it looks awesome.

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Anything that could reflect light at the driver is going to be painted satin black, so the interior is gonna look baller af. :cool:
 
  172 Cup
Hello again!

I've been doing a lot of fiddly work the past couple of weeks that doesn't really make for very interesting updates, hence the lack of them! This has mostly been welding up all the firewall / footwell bits, finishing wiring harnesses, and getting all the wires / plumbing organised and clipped down. Some more interesting stuff happened this week though..

First, this little (cough) beast showed up last week and has been sitting right in the way since, so I made a little (cough) stand for it to sit on then moved it to its permanent place next to my folder & guillotine.

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Then made light work of fitting the wheel bearings!

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Since there's no driveshafts up front, I cut down some CV joints to make stub axles - retaining the ABS rings for more options later.

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And another interesting thing that I forgot to take pics of earlier.. these are the track rod adapters, which fit the Caterham track arm (M12) to a Clio TRE (M14). They're glued on to the track arm and have a hex for adjusting toe.

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Then a fiddly job in preparation for fitting the engine.. I had designed the bellhousing to take copper pipes and standard fittings, but later decided to use braided hoses as there were just too many adapters & connections for my liking. However, there wasn't enough room above the slave cylinder so I had to get creative! Not exactly a perfect job in terms of neatness, but there's bags of room to the clutch cover so I'm happy it won't cause problems.

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Then on to more exciting stuff.. I got the CNC bits zinc passivation coated for corrosion protection

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Gives a nice contrast to the black powder coat :cool:

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Then got the front suspension & steering all fitted up!

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1320300[/ATTACH]

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Engine goes in Monday.. :grin:
 

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Mr R.

ClioSport Club Member
  A special one.
Is this car being built for you mate or a customer?

Either way it's bloody lovely and the workmanship is top draw. [emoji7] [emoji106] [emoji41]
 

Stay Puft

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 172
Awesome thing! If it's for a customer, and such a bespoke build, do you have a contract to look after it forever, or similar?
 


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