New Clio 182 Track Project

Mr Underhill said:

Great day at Croft, although we were having so much fun we never got any pictures 🤦🏻‍♂️

Here‘s one from the arse end on the way.

View attachment 1686129

Met @SharpyClio for the first time. Good to meet you fella and thank you for the loan of the towing eye. We got sorted in the end.

@Brigsy popped in with his missus and Bumblebee 225 and we had a good old natter.

Lots of fast machinery there today and a ridiculous amount of Red Flags. Never known anything like it, which just goes to show the lack of talent that turn up to these events these days. It’s a bloody track-day for god sake.

Anyway, back to the car.

Engine : Awesome. This is a seriously fast Clio and I mean fast.
Gearbox and Gripper : Brilliantly set up and you can get all the power down.
Steering : Garbage. I’m going back to EPAS
Suspension : If I hadn’t of had my other circuit car I’d have been happy, but it’s just not set up for my tastes.
Exhaust : 97 decibels at 5,500 rpm. Happy with that.
Driver : s**t. I’ve gone back over 😂

Things to do.

Racing clutch, just for added security and a lightweight flywheel.
EPAS.
Fit my roll centre correction kit.
Might go Spax 750Mc like my old car. Currently have the AST 5100 kit but I can’t get my head around having the back stiffer than the front. Change my mind.
Fit my new tyres as the 52s currently on it are dead.
Bigger radiator and an oil cooler, again no major issues, but just for peace of mind.

If I can get this car to handle on a circuit like my last car, I’ll have a very good car indeed.

Thank you for reading.

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Hi,
Just seen your post, I had a lightweight flywheel fitted when the engine was rebuilt, there should be a receipt for it in the file I gave you.

...and yessit is quick isn't it!!


Tony

Driveshaft seal still leaking. Enough to force me to move my trackday forward to June. I’m an idiot 🤡

Despite that, I went around checking and torquing everything up.

Got the rear suspension on and fitted the brake ducting. I ran out of cable ties but will secure those a bit more.



And that’s pretty much the car complete, at least for now anyway. I’ll get the leak fixed and give everywhere a good clean. Then get it to Croft in June, set the suspension up and enjoy the rest of the season.

It’s been a good education. Everyday is a school day. Thank you for reading.

When I arrived at work this morning, it was evident that my colleagues weren't happy 😆

One brother was browsing the Javelin website, dropping subtle hints about an available spot and his elder brother was data gathering.

I mentioned I didn’t have a car and the lack of available driveshafts, but they insisted I find a registration for a non-cup Clio and book the last spot at Javelin.

So, I did.

These are the guys I share track days and Nurburgring trips with, despite them being half my age. They're reliable, and even my friend's dad from CMRacing came through with a spare. Good people.

By 3:30, I had the driveshaft in my hands.



Got home, had my tea and within the hour I had them switched over. 🤛🏻

See you on Monday @Brigsy @SharpyClio

What’s that lump of metal on the bottom shaft?

Matt Cup said:

What’s that lump of metal on the bottom shaft?

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Damper/Balancer 🤷🏻‍♂️

Great day at Croft yesterday where I caught up with @Brigsy in Bumblebee and @SharpyClio in his 182.



Did my obligatory sighting laps on my road-going steelies - I love those little wheels. Pictures courtesy of Brigsy.




A lovely Racing Blue 182 in front of me - anyone on here?



I managed to get a garage after my initial cancellation. It was much appreciated as the floor was decent and level.

I set the ride height based on previous data from my last circuit car but chose to go a little higher than usual.



Dave then worked his magic on the camber and toe out. Old school string method. It's a black art to do it properly and fantastic to watch. At one point we had several people just standing there mesmerised by his DIY set-up.



I also had some good data from Yokahama after I ripped through a front set of A052s in one track day. Simply because I used the same set-up for a set of A050s, which have a reinforced carcass.

An expensive day that turned out to be.



Camber was set at negative 2.5 degrees, and then Dave used some of his data from his son's 182 which races in TDT/Club Trophy, adding 4mm of toe out (2mm on each side).

That took until 11.30, then I just went out and did a few laps. As soon as I made the first turn out of the pit lane, I knew he'd worked his magic.

After lunch, we spent another hour or so going out for a few laps, then coming in and checking nothing had moved and that tyre temps were even, which they were. The only downside to having Dave around is he kept telling me I wasn't going fast enough 🤣

By mid-afternoon, I was pushing the car little by little and trying to remember my lines.

Cooling issues were sorted. I just need to fit my water temperature gauge and set the fans up as they kept kicking in far too early and whilst I was out on track. My only other concern was oil temps, but luckily Brigsy reassured me it was perfectly normal and within range.

With that, I just went for it and the car never skipped a beat. Turn-in is transformed with the geo-kit and you can throttle hard mid-corner and the gripper just does its job. I always used to have to wait until I'd straightened up a bit with an LSD before pushing on the pedal.

It's bloody loud on full chat too, although I only managed 93 decibels at noise check. Drive-by was hindered slightly by a red flag.



So overall it was a great day. Nice weather, got to catch up with some CS members and the car performed amazingly. Roll on June!

Thank you for reading.

That RB was parked up next to me, he ran out of brakes and couldn't get new pads and it looked like they may have been welded to the piston so they limped it home around lunch. They also realised that road pads are not suitable for track use!!

Are you back at Croft in June? I'm sure you said but my memory is shocking.

SharpyClio said:

That RB was parked up next to me, he ran out of brakes and couldn't get new pads and it looked like they may have been welded to the piston so they limped it home around lunch. They also realised that road pads are not suitable for track use!!

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Wow, I've seen that so many times, usually it's the rear pads falling out. I did notice the rear tyre pattern (AD08rs) and thought it looked a bit standard for track days. Lessons learned I guess. We all have to start somewhere.

SharpyClio said:

Are you back at Croft in June? I'm sure you said but my memory is shocking.

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I'm on the reserve list for the 10th and/or 15th so fingers crossed. 100% booked for 1st July and I'll probably do August/Sept and October as well.

My 2 pictures from Croft lol
These must have been late morning as I still had the plates on.
I'm surprised they were any as I didn't go out properly until after lunch and he'd buggered off by then.

The design is certainly showing its age, but it's still a decent track weapon!

Only footage of a drive by. I had to back off due to a red flag. I’d usually be fighting with that Mini down the straight. This was the whole point of going for more power. No more having to sit behind slower FWD cars when they won’t do the decent thing and pull over. Amazing engine!

Incidentally, that mini caused one of the red flags by blowing up. They were parked down near me, they were brought back on a flat bed and the remnants of thier engine was all over the floor when they left. 😕

SharpyClio said:

Incidentally, that mini caused one of the red flags by blowing up. They were parked down near me, they were brought back on a flat bed and the remnants of thier engine was all over the floor when they left. 😕

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I thought it was a fiesta. Just past Sunny out? I saw two lads in a blue fiesta arguing with each other on the grass verge 😂

Mr Underhill said:

I thought it was a fiesta. Just past Sunny out? I saw two lads in a blue fiesta arguing with each other on the grass verge 😂

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Might have been another one as well🙃

Time to sort the fans out before Croft next week.

Picked up a cheap digital temperature gauge/sensor and an M12 and M10 mm 3-way T adapter from Car Builder.



I wanted to retain the factory temperature sensor and monitor temperatures without drilling additional holes in the pipework for the aftermarket sensor.



I had to do some small modifications to make it all work, but I won’t bore you with the detail.

I removed the coil and bracket to make the job easier - what a pain getting at the small nuts and washers underneath - more on that later.



Then attached the factory sensor and screwed back into the thermostat housing.



The position of both sensors worked out great. Nothing snagging or getting in the way of pipe work.

Working on Track cars is all about speed and efficiency, so I added some M6 Rivnuts to the bracket. This way, I avoid the hassle of spending 20 minutes trying to hold small nuts in place with my sausage fingers.



Worked out pretty well.



I screwed the gauge bracket next to the oil temp/pressure gauge and routed the wires down through the dash. The live wire connects to the cut-off switch, while the ground and sensor wires run down behind the center console and through the bulkhead.



Not the neatest of jobs, but I’m going back to a dashpod like my last car, then rewiring everything into that.

Fired her up and let the engine get up to temperature. Everything worked as it should and the fans kicked in around 85 degrees.

I then adjusted the thermostat until the fans kicked in at 90 degrees.



I did this because I noticed a delay, allowing the water temperatures to reach 96 degrees before the cooled water from the radiator circulated back to the sensor.

It took about 2 minutes for the fans to bring everything down to around 83 degrees which seemed impressive.

Obviously, this is all done on the driveway, so I'll fine-tune everything once I'm at the circuit. But at least now I have decent readings for water temperature, oil pressure, and oil temperature.

Last job of the day will be to fit my new 6-point harness, but that’s a job for this evening when it’s cooled down a bit.

Thank you for reading.

New belts pretty much in, just the straps to fix and adjust on the roll bar.

I’ve never used Motomec products before but the car came with a set of 4-point belts which are really comfortable. Sadly I can’t get away with them. I like to be properly strapped in.

They look really good quality too.




Nut and bolt check tomorrow, then I’m ready for some track time.

Thank you for reading.

Mr Underhill said:

What a fight this car gave me today.

First up I was struggling to fit the bolts through the dampers and into the hubs.

I thought I’ll just measure the bolt distance and as suspected, it has 54mm hubs 🤔

View attachment 1691116

It’s a CUP packed car, albeit an old one at that, so s**t happens I guess. Never mind, ASTs have a removable washer so they fit both. I planned to get some CUP hubs and stick some bearings in anyway, so that’s motivation for me.

Switched a couple of bolts for some genuine spares I had lying around. I’ll get a couple of new ones this week as they’re a bit pitted.

View attachment 1691117

View attachment 1691118

Top nuts tightened and suspension on.

View attachment 1691119

Also got the geometry kit fitted on the drivers side.

View attachment 1691120

Overall things were going ok until I started the passenger side.

Before I went to bed last night, I thought I must remove the brake disc on the passenger side to make the whole thing lighter and avoid pulling on the driveshaft.

Of course like a knob, I forgot and as I dropped the two bolts out of the wishbones, the hub/disc lunged forward and gearbox oil began filling my driveway. F**K!

After dropping the rest of the oil I whipped the driveshaft off to see what I’d done.

View attachment 1691121

I’d pulled the CV Boot away from the seal 🤦🏻‍♂️

Luckily I have every tool and spare known to man, so removed the old clip, pushed the boot back onto the seal and fit a new clip.

View attachment 1691122

It’s back on the car but I haven’t put any oil in the box yet, so fingers crossed I’ve managed to fix it.

Threw the towel in after that. Tomorrow’s another day. Thank you for reading.

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why did you installed camber bolts if you have elongated holes on the shocks?

ripp said:

why did you installed camber bolts if you have elongated holes on the shocks?

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@ripp - from my suspension post "Switched a couple of bolts for some genuine spares I had lying around. I’ll get a couple of new ones this week ..."

The camber bolts were initially fitted to the BC Racing Coilovers, which I've since replaced. A case of using what was available at the time.

AST supplied a couple of head cap bolts with the suspension, but I found them too tight and challenging to make small, precise adjustments for the desired camber. They seem like an afterthought in the design.

My @FrogJam Motorsport Corvette brake ducts arrived.



Lovely touch with the Froggo (Fred) and Jam (James) pot. Cheers fellas.



Came at the right time as I discovered my new ducting on the NS had ripped. I think I left too much length on the end and hadn’t tightened the cable tie enough. It was dangling down so i suspect it’s been rubbing against the wheel.



Doddle to fit - 1 bolt.



They fit over my bumper ducts perfectly without the need to shorten them, so the bumper will come off without disturbing the ducts.



All ready for Croft on Monday. Thank you for reading.

Brilliant day at Croft, although it wasn’t it without its problems.

It rained all the way there, but by the time the fun began, the rain had stopped. The track was damp but gradually drying out.



I thought I’d be rolling around the car park puddles but managed to wing a garage.




Bought myself a new open face helmet. I can finally wear my prescription glasses and can now see where I’m going 😂



The issues started mid morning when the throttle stuck open as I was approaching Tower at 120mph 💩💩💩

It continued throughout the morning, especially when the engine was hot. I tried spraying the spring mechanism with GT85, but it didn't make much of a difference.

I considered calling it a day, but with plenty of fuel left, I decided to keep going at three-quarter throttle. In the afternoon, I noticed the engine was bouncing off the limiter at 6,500 RPM, even though it's mapped for 7,500 RPM. This issue resolved itself as the fuel tank emptied.

I didn't let it ruin my day and managed to cover a few hundred miles, using up 80 liters of fuel.

On the journey home i was travelling at 50 mph then came to some lights. Clutch in and throttle stuck open.

I’ll have a good look at the weekend. Strip it all back, clean the bodies etc. 🤞🏻

I will say an incident with a reckless driver in a Porsche Boxster nearly ended my day, but that's a story for another time.

Typical Javelin track day: too many cars and no blue flags. They basically don't care.

Rant over, thank you for reading 😊

A few from Croft.

I love this shot with the blurred background.



Met a lad and his dad with this PH1. Proper people and the car was really quick. Followed them around for a bit.



Arse end shot coming out of Hawthorns and through the Chicane. You have to approach this one just right to avoid smashing over the big lumps and ending up on the grass on exit. Such a fast circuit.



The Corvette ducts lasted well and worked as they should. Brakes worked beautifully all day. Only a slight graze on the OSF as I was reversing back into the garage on full lock.




Brake dust from the CL6 pads afterwards. Just a dusting. I often see people posting they eat alloys, but I’ve never experienced it. I suppose if you don‘t check and clean your car afterwards, then that might be the case.





Quick wash with shampoo and they’re ready to go.



Looking forward to 1st July now.

I made the mistake of not cleaning my wheels after Croft, the brake dust was well embedded and I had to dig out the strong stuff to get rid of it, im pretty sure they would have been okay had I done it before they got wet!

Good shots and the car is looking great!

Im fitting my brake ducts tomorrow as well as attempt number 3 on the tracking.

With another track day approaching, I inspected the ITBs to determine the cause of the sticking throttle.

With the filter off you can see a fair bit of dirt and sticky residue.



A close up.



Whipped the trumpets and front plate off for easier access.



Used a lint cloth and carburettor cleaner to get the gunk off, then some GT85 on the linkages and springs.



No signs of damage or bending to linkages so reassembled everything after a good clean.



Checked the pedal and cables and all seem fine, no snagging.





I can’t say it feels any different, but we’ll just have to see how it goes when I get to Croft.

Thank you for reading.

Mr Underhill said:

With another track day approaching, I inspected the ITBs to determine the cause of the sticking throttle.

With the filter off you can see a fair bit of dirt and sticky residue.

View attachment 1698383

A close up.

View attachment 1698384

Whipped the trumpets and front plate off for easier access.

View attachment 1698385

Used a lint cloth and carburettor cleaner to get the gunk off, then some GT85 on the linkages and springs.

View attachment 1698392

No signs of damage or bending to linkages so reassembled everything after a good clean.

View attachment 1698386View attachment 1698387

Checked the pedal and cables and all seem fine, no snagging.

View attachment 1698388

View attachment 1698389

I can’t say it feels any different, but we’ll just have to see how it goes when I get to Croft.

Thank you for reading.

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I did the throttle body on my rb before heading to the ring, made a substantial difference.

Hopefully this cures your issues mate

Another productive track day despite the weather.



The car ran fine for about 10 laps, before the throttle stuck open again. Fortunately, it happened during a gear change and not approaching a corner.

I caught up with Fred and James from @FrogJam Motorsport who were getting some seat time in their amazing Clio.



James had me press the throttle pedal while he took a closer look and noticed the throttle return was catching on the cable adjuster.



This explained why the issue only occurred when the engine was really hot - everything expanded just enough to catch.

A few adjustments fixed the issue, but when testing the throttle again, the pedal fell off 😂 WTF!

It turned out a missing washer on a plastic component caused the bolt head to eventually work its way out. Not guilty! 😂



James to the rescue again with a washer and the job was sorted.

I took the car out for a few laps and no more sticking throttle.

Unfortunately, the problems didn't end there. The car began bouncing off the limiter just over 6,000 rpm and spluttering on the overrun. This intermittent issue had appeared at the last track day as well. To top it off, it started to rain.

After some head-scratching and messaging a few people - thanks @Brigsy - we concluded the issue might be related to the water temp extension I installed last month.



I removed the extension, reinstalled the original sensor in the thermostat housing, and bingo—problem solved. The ECU couldn't get an accurate temp reading, which was causing the map to go haywire.

The car was amazing after that, though I didn't have the nerve to push it hard because of the standing water.

I might get back out in August or wait until Sept if anybody fancies a trip up to Yorkshire.

Thank you for reading.

Highlight of the day were two lads from the lakes who picked this 172 for a packet of dolly mixtures.



Completely standard engine with K-Tec suspension and AR1 tyres.

Bloody nutters 😂 I managed to get past them in the morning - just - when my car was working, but they drove the wheels off it all day. Despite standing water everywhere, they just sent it without hesitation. They hadn't done a track day in 5 years, and it was their first time driving this car. Balls of steel. Outstanding!

A few from Croft.

And some other 1*2

A couple of small jobs ticked off before tomorrow.

At the last track day, I heard something rattling around while going through corners but couldn't find anything obvious. Then the seat felt like it was moving under heavy load, which I thought was due to the Velcro on the seat pad coming loose, but it wasn’t that either. So I whipped the seat out to have a closer look.



As I removed the seat, I noticed a bolt - seat to mount - was missing. I suspect that’s what was rattling, and sure enough, I found it on the floor.

The hole in the seat was cross-threaded, so did a quick fix with a heli-coil.



I prefer a fixed seat but like to be higher up, so had left the runners in. The downside is I keep smacking my head getting in and out, so took them out whilst I was there. Seat back in, a bit lower than I’d like, but it’s nice and sturdy again. Probably safer too.



Onto the cooling. After removing the adapter from the thermostat sensor due to it causing issues, I now had no internal temp gauge to monitor.

I bought a cheap 32mm adapter which goes into the pipe work.



The old sensor fits spot on.



I now have a working temperate gauge inside the car.

Last job was to dig the spare tyres out.



I bought some MRF ZTR medium compounds last season but never used them. Funny enough, the guy who’s running tomorrow’s trackday is the main distributor. I should be able to get some feedback on pressures etc.

The Yokohama 052s are my go to tyres, but very expensive. It would be nice to find a decent tyre at a lower cost, so looking forward to seeing how these hold up. I’ll do some comparisons when I get back.

Thank you for reading.

Looking forward to hearing your feedback on the tyres 🤙

bren172 said:

Looking forward to hearing your feedback on the tyres 🤙

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Me too, will need new tyres for my next trackday as well👍

Shame they don't do the MRF ZTR in 205/45r16.

How do the Mrf compare to AR1?

Clart said:

How do the Mrf compare to AR1?

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I’ve never run AR1 tyres before, and tomorrow will be my first test of the MRFs. My friend races in TDT in a Clio 182 and uses Yokohama A050s but had AR1s on his car in the first season. He found them unsuitable for a race series, where competitors are using better tyres, like Yokohama 52/50s. But he said they’d be fine for testing or track days, where you’re only out for a short period of time.

The ones MRF advertise are the soft compound, but I paid a bit more for mediums (race series) and they feel rock hard 😬 It’s forecast 25 degrees tomorrow so I should be able to get plenty of heat in them 🤞🏻

I don’t expect the ZTRs to be as good but they are used in the same series as my friend’s, mainly on the heavier Hondas. Since I’m not competing, I don’t need a tyre as good as the 52s, but based on the feedback from TDT, I would expect them to be better than the AR1s.

I’ll do a write up next week on my thoughts. I’m hoping they’re as good as people say. Not a cheap tyre by any stretch, but cheaper than what I’m using now.

Absolutely cream-crackered, but what a day! The weather was perfect, and out of a maximum of 65 cars allowed on the track, 25 were booked, but only 19 turned up. The poor TDO blew £6,000, and I was gutted for him.

Only 4 garages were taken up and everyone was called Jon. 😂 It was surreal to say the least and like a ghost town.



I ended up in garage 1 next to this chap. He’d hired Max Coates for the day to get the most out of the car.



The morning went really well. So much time on the track, no sitting in the pit lane for 20 minutes, no lunatics, and no constant red flags.

It wasn’t without drama, though. As I came screaming through Barcroft at 100 mph, I found I didn’t have any brakes. First press of the pedal, nothing. Second press, nothing. Third press, and I got a bit of pedal along with a horrible grinding noise. By now, I was just off the circuit and over the grass, but I managed to keep out of the tyres.

Limped back to the garage to find this.



Yep, lost one of the rear pads.

To make matters worse I’d also worn the NSR rear tyre through.



Damn, early bath for me then.

Luckily I made a quick call to work and within the hour they’d brought me a new set of pads and fitting kit.

I’d also brought along my new MRF tyres, so no time to waste. Lucky for me this all happened 10 minutes before lunch, so I didn’t miss any track time.

New pads in, tyres on and back out.



The only other problem I had was that the CL6 pads were too strong for the MRFs. They’re a medium-hard tyre and took a good 5 or 6 laps to get the heat into them, so I kept locking up while braking into the first corner off the pit straight.

Luckily, I’d brought my DS1.11s, which give you a more linear, less severe pedal. No more locking up, and once I got the tyres up to temperature, I was flying. The car ran perfectly all day, and I got tons of track time. It was the best one I’ve had in a long time.

I’m back out at Croft in September, so if anybody’s going, see you there. Thank you for reading.

What caused the caliper to s**t itself? Good write up 🦵

Oh and BTW, now that the a052's are dead, may aswell sell me your spare wheels 😉

bren172 said:

What caused the caliper to s**t itself? Good write up 🦵

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The small pin which holds the slider, which holds the pads in, snapped or fell out I guess.

When you had the tyres up to temperature were you still locking up with the CL6s? Did they stay up to temperature ok on subsequent sessions or did they need a lot of warming up for every session?

Final verdict on the MRFs?

Shame Croft is so far away, this looks like an awesome day👌

Mr Underhill said:

The small pin which holds the slider, which holds the pads in, snapped or fell out I guess.

View attachment 1705518

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I don't think either of my rear calipers have that pin in them

I really want to check now. I'm sure they do but I still really want to check🥲🤣🤣

MLB said:

When you had the tyres up to temperature were you still locking up with the CL6s? Did they stay up to temperature ok on subsequent sessions or did they need a lot of warming up for every session?

Final verdict on the MRFs?

Shame Croft is so far away, this looks like an awesome day👌

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I didn’t take the risk. I took the first lap really steady to get the glaze off them, then started pushing. I couldn’t feel the car underneath me and was getting a bit nervous 😬 As I turned on to the main straight I booted it, but the grip wasn’t there, so throttle back a little and then went flat out down to the first corner (110 mph). I braked in my usual spot and just locked up. Proper s**t my pants 😂 Went round again and it felt better but did exactly the same thing in the same place. I just pulled in, switched pads and it was perfect after that. Once they were up to temps, I couldn’t fault them. I think the appeal of the 52s amongst racers and hill climbers, is the tyres ability to be optimal within a few corners and stay there.

And no, once the wheels and MRFs were hot, they stayed consistent throughout the day. Took no time at all to get up to speed. Just that initial cold phase. If you’re not committed though, they’ll bite you on the arse.

bren172 said:

Oh and BTW, now that the a052's are dead, may aswell sell me your spare wheels 😉

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Only one is dead. I have 2 more on their way.

What did you do to get heat into the mrf's?