Starting a thread of my newly purchased Clio 172!
I'm not a new comer to the track scene, I recently decided to break my Peugeot 205 XL track car, a bit of special one, I built a forged TU5j4 with jenveys for her, completely ground up rebuilt the car and perfected the handling over years of trying different coilovers setups, torsion bars and anti roll bars. I took it to the ring for the 2nd time at Easter, came away with a respectable 8:25 BTG, but still left feeling a bit like I wanted more from the car than the 205 would give.
The Clio decision was for a number of reasons. After breaking the 205 I cleared some debts, we all have them, and I was left with a couple of grand to seek something out I can use daily and also on track. My friends have 172's, well two of them are valvers with a 172 engine, and I can tell you the old saying of 'there's no replacement for displacement' springs to mind! Even with 185bhp on tap from the little 1600 and only 800kg to pull, it still struggled with a lethargic midrange. There's no question that with a heavy 172 I'm not going to reap the same cornering thrills, especially going back to an open diff! That said, I'm sick to death of using a track car everyday, with no where really to build it or store it either! It's also been awesome getting back into comfort again, I was quite surprised when I realised it had cruise control, should be good for the next ring trip!
Anyway, without going into it too much, I could have bought a Honda, but without appearing to have questionable sexuality and friends that are experienced with the clio engine, I decided to follow their lead.
So 2 grand in hand, which doesn't buy a lot these days, I set out to pick a Clio 172 to see what all the hype was about, and I found this flamer!
The car has been laid up for a long time, and has what I've found to be typical problems!
Belts have been done, with no proof, exhaust hanger on the rear perished, thumb grips gone, gearbox dog bone slack, dephaser rattles, cv boots perished bla bla we've all been there!
So in order to spring a new lease of life into the car, before it was driven into the ground I've set out to save it. I could have bought one that was mot'd with all work on paper, but where's the fun in that? I've saved my self £100 and taken on the hassle, but I know when I do it, it's done right!
Parts in the post then:
Genuine belt kit & dephaser plus water pump (also the lend of the Renault tools)
Standard airbox with ram air panel, has some kind of noisey cone currently
Nangkang ns2r 205 45 16 XL 180 tw
Carbon Lorraine pads (once I speak to Ben at Godspeed)
Evol engineering dogbone
Care package from OPIE oils with engine and box oil with filter
Cam shaft seals and the core plugs
Gearbox seals
Russo's thumb grips
New rear mount with a socket cable tied in until the tiger seal arrives, fitted today
Cv boots
Handbrake cables
More than enough to make a start on, fingers crossed by some miricle I have most of it fitted for this weekend, as I would like to take it out for a session at PCAD at Castle Combe to see how I feel about my rash decision to get rid of my 205!!! Not forgetting the bloody mot!
Hope this will be an interesting one to follow, nothing ground breaking, just seeing what I can do with a full ballast Clio sport!
I'm not a new comer to the track scene, I recently decided to break my Peugeot 205 XL track car, a bit of special one, I built a forged TU5j4 with jenveys for her, completely ground up rebuilt the car and perfected the handling over years of trying different coilovers setups, torsion bars and anti roll bars. I took it to the ring for the 2nd time at Easter, came away with a respectable 8:25 BTG, but still left feeling a bit like I wanted more from the car than the 205 would give.
The Clio decision was for a number of reasons. After breaking the 205 I cleared some debts, we all have them, and I was left with a couple of grand to seek something out I can use daily and also on track. My friends have 172's, well two of them are valvers with a 172 engine, and I can tell you the old saying of 'there's no replacement for displacement' springs to mind! Even with 185bhp on tap from the little 1600 and only 800kg to pull, it still struggled with a lethargic midrange. There's no question that with a heavy 172 I'm not going to reap the same cornering thrills, especially going back to an open diff! That said, I'm sick to death of using a track car everyday, with no where really to build it or store it either! It's also been awesome getting back into comfort again, I was quite surprised when I realised it had cruise control, should be good for the next ring trip!
Anyway, without going into it too much, I could have bought a Honda, but without appearing to have questionable sexuality and friends that are experienced with the clio engine, I decided to follow their lead.
So 2 grand in hand, which doesn't buy a lot these days, I set out to pick a Clio 172 to see what all the hype was about, and I found this flamer!
The car has been laid up for a long time, and has what I've found to be typical problems!
Belts have been done, with no proof, exhaust hanger on the rear perished, thumb grips gone, gearbox dog bone slack, dephaser rattles, cv boots perished bla bla we've all been there!
So in order to spring a new lease of life into the car, before it was driven into the ground I've set out to save it. I could have bought one that was mot'd with all work on paper, but where's the fun in that? I've saved my self £100 and taken on the hassle, but I know when I do it, it's done right!
Parts in the post then:
Genuine belt kit & dephaser plus water pump (also the lend of the Renault tools)
Standard airbox with ram air panel, has some kind of noisey cone currently
Nangkang ns2r 205 45 16 XL 180 tw
Carbon Lorraine pads (once I speak to Ben at Godspeed)
Evol engineering dogbone
Care package from OPIE oils with engine and box oil with filter
Cam shaft seals and the core plugs
Gearbox seals
Russo's thumb grips
New rear mount with a socket cable tied in until the tiger seal arrives, fitted today
Cv boots
Handbrake cables
More than enough to make a start on, fingers crossed by some miricle I have most of it fitted for this weekend, as I would like to take it out for a session at PCAD at Castle Combe to see how I feel about my rash decision to get rid of my 205!!! Not forgetting the bloody mot!
Hope this will be an interesting one to follow, nothing ground breaking, just seeing what I can do with a full ballast Clio sport!
