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My 172 Turbo



  Countryman JCW
Well i thought it was about time i put together a project thread for my car, so here goes...

After buying the car back in March ive been making a few tweaks to get it to its current spec.

I bought the car as a low pressure turbo 172 cup running a very small amount of boost due to a weak actuator spring. It was rolling roaded at 210bhp, but still went nicely. The car had a PAS leak, and needed a new clutch so I sent it off to Fred @ BTM for the work to be done. Fred had all the manifold down pipe machined for me whilst the car was there as there were a few leaks around these areas and now looks the business. After getting the car back i discovered the turbo needed a rebuild. I spoke with my mate Andyrg who originally built this low pressure turbo conversion and we arranged to get the turbo rebuilt and have it remapped by his trusty mapper Andy Carr (www.teamcarr.net). After a few lengthly conversations we decided it would be rude not to make some adjustments to the internals. We decided on putting a set of F4rt pistons and rods in from a megane 225 in which i bought from Gray on here. This coupled with some brand new genuine renault piston rings, ACL Race bearings, ARP Rod bolts and a newly built GT28RS should give me a fairly safe 300bhp clio.

Once the car was sent up to Andy i had spoke with Chip about the turbo being rebuilt and after him recommeneding Vince @ CR Turbos, Andy whipped the turbo off the car and sent it off to them. I got a call from vince the morning after Andy had sent it and within 24 hours the turbo was stripped, rebuilt, and posted back to me. Absolutely first class customer service!

Next was getting the pistons and rods in. Andy noticed that the piston rings were well used so it was a good job we got some genuine rings from renault to put into the build. As we were going to be running more boost a fuel pump and pressure regulator set up was bought to work along side the new internals. Andy got a new megane headgasket so that the compression was the same as a megane and then had the car road mapped by Andy Carr. Andy put 4-500 miles on the car with a combination of mineral oil to bed things in and 10w 50 oil before having the mapping carried out and giving it full beans. Once the mapping started there were a few issues with getting the ECU to work with the 3 port boost solenoid, so for now Andy has put a manual boost controller on. Once up to temp the actuator spring is struggling to hold boost, so i have spoken with Andyrg again and we are toying with the idea of going with a 1 bar actuator, leave the 3 port boost solenoid and then finish the mapping off on a rolling road for a final figure. The other option is to get a new 7-8psi actuator and then play about with the ECU so that we can control the boost with the throttle like Chip has on his ph1 turbo.

I got the car back from Andy at the track on the afternoon of the Renaultsport Track day at Bedford. When i sent the car up to Andy, it had a full Yozza race system on which Andy told me along with the de-cat and running 1 bar of boost would struggle to meet the strict Bedford sound regs which worried me as it was getting close to the day. So, I phoned K-tec and spoke with Shaun who got me a brand new Ktec Stealth system with centre silencer sent out that day to arrive with Andy on the Weds before the track day on Friday. Andy got this put onto the car and called me straight away to tell me and i quote "he no longer feels like a 17 year old chav" driving my car about haha! The exhaust now sounds perfect IMHO as its not too loud and has a nice grumble to it when giving it some. With the de-cat and turbo the cars static test @4,500rpm came out at 85db ;) RESULT!

So... the moment of truth then came with taking it round the track for my first drive since the build. Andy told me that as its only done around 700-800 miles since the build i should take it steady and keep coming in after 2-3 laps to check coolant and oil. So off i went on a few laps in it wanting to see how different it felt with the extra power. At first it was brilliant loads of power, boost was holding around 8-11 psi but that soon changed with the weak actuator and scorching heat the car was only holding 5-7psi once on full boost, this i think was to be expected. On my first lap i had a black 182 sat on my backside which worried me, however once returning to the pits i found out it was Domsclio182 in his S/C clio so not too downhearted! Overall though im pleased to report that the car ran faultlessly... no oil was used and coolant remained stable even with the 29degree heat, the car felt really quick and seemed to go well too!

In conclusion then, Andyrg has built me a really great car that only needs a few tweaks to be completely finished and running circa 300bhp :cool:

Over the next week or so il be talking with Andy and deciding what route to go down, so look out for the final updated producted with bhp/torque figure with RR graph!

Thanks for looking

Ross
 
  Countryman JCW
Few photos from Friday and the saturday morning clean, will upload pics from the build tonight

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  182/RS2/ Turbo/Mk1
Looks great and im glad you had a good evening at bedford mate :)

Hopefully that makes the hassle worth while.
 
  340i
Glad to see my old rods and pistons went to good use! :) I was a little annoyed when stripping the engine down.. previous owner had left it stand with the plugs removed, meaning the elements had got inside and made things rusty.

The car was going very well around track, especially down the straight where you could stretch its legs.
 
  Countryman JCW
Looks great and im glad you had a good evening at bedford mate :)

Hopefully that makes the hassle worth while.

Cheers chip, it was defo worth the hassle. Thanks for lending me your electric tape and screwdriver mate!

Glad to see my old rods and pistons went to good use! :) I was a little annoyed when stripping the engine down.. previous owner had left it stand with the plugs removed, meaning the elements had got inside and made things rusty.

The car was going very well around track, especially down the straight where you could stretch its legs.

Cheers Gray, was nice to meet you! did you see me out there then?
 
  182/RS2/ Turbo/Mk1
Cheers chip, it was defo worth the hassle. Thanks for lending me your electric tape and screwdriver mate!

No probs mate, we normally take most things with us, although somehow this time forgot cable ties to tether the gopros, hadnt noticed Id run out in my tool bag.
 
  PB Clio 172
Love the read would love to turbo mine at some point maybe 1 day I will

How's your mpg now? Just wondering how its affected
 
  Countryman JCW
It's ok, driving off boost is a doddle in comparison to my Evo I had. Il let you know what figures I get but I'm guessing around 30mpg when taking it easy. Then considerably lower when driving hard!
 
  Polo gti
Awsome mate, dropping my engine back in thurs/fri +turbo :) definatly need a 1*2 turbo meet at some point!!
 
  PH1 loads of boost!
Really like this car. Drives so well. Hope it gives you months and years of fast road motoring.

What Evo did you have Ross?
 
  Countryman JCW
Really like this car. Drives so well. Hope it gives you months and years of fast road motoring.

What Evo did you have Ross?

Cheers Wilky, good to meet you on Friday, can't believe we ended up at the wrong Buddies to you guys! Will be up soon for a night out n to finish it off!

​i had a white 5 GSR... Was only stage 1 350bhp but was a real minter!
 
  Countryman JCW
Looks great Ross nice & subtle, did you used to live in Middlesbrough?

Cheers Craig, I like it that way tbh... Apart from the front mount and turbo bullets you'd never know it was anything other than a standard 172 Cup... until the turbo spools lol!
 

batesey

ClioSport Club Member
  172 Cup Turbo
Did you remove the VVT or is the meggy head gasket enough to stop the valves making contact with the pistons?

Looks good matey
 
  Countryman JCW
Few pics from the build...

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Nice newly built shiney turbo and F4rt pistons n rods ready for installation
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  KTM 990 SD / S60 D5
Car was going well on Friday mate, you were wondering why you couldn't get away from me and I was thinking why can't I catch that 172, lol , boost explains all.
 
  Countryman JCW
Car was going well on Friday mate, you were wondering why you couldn't get away from me and I was thinking why can't I catch that 172, lol , boost explains all.

Cheers mate likewise! How was yours coping with the temperatures? Mine wasnt holding boost quite so well, i was only getting 5-7psi max... it should have been holding between 11-14psi! Once ive bought a new actuator and got it remapped il be holding a bar constantly so should be around 300bhp im hoping
 
  Trophy Turbo :)
The dephaser is still on this jusy switched off and unplugged. We are fitting and Andyrg modded inlet pully once the cars ran in and all ossues have been ironed out.

Andy
 
  172, Tiguan
I saw this car a few times up at Andy's whilst mine was there. The Yozza system was stupidly loud in my opinion. You made the right choice.
 
  Countryman JCW
I saw this car a few times up at Andy's whilst mine was there. The Yozza system was stupidly loud in my opinion. You made the right choice.

Cheers Jon, yeah I had no intentions of keeping it... Only got it really to see what it was like. Really really pleased with the stealth, it sounds perfect even at 70-80 on the motorway it's almost silent until giving it some and even then it's not droney or harsh on your ears :approve:
 
  PH1 loads of boost!
How did you manage that Ross? Kinda happened in slow motion... and you weren't even going too fast!
 
  Countryman JCW
Combination of crap driving, too much confidence and the rear tyres were shot. The camera angle does make it look slow but I'm pretty sure I was at the top end of 3rd so would have been 80mph+
 
  PH1 loads of boost!
Must have been your rear tyres coz we were going through near 100mph. Maybe that Megane distraced you ;)
 
  Countryman JCW
Haha maybe... Yeah rear tyres were shot! After that I couldn't take any high speed corners without the back end twitching like an M3 lol
 


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