Ph1 revival

Struggler · Jul 13, 2023

***Content warning - PH1 abuse***

So here i am, dusting off my old cliosport.net

This car was previously part of a long thread back in 2011, https://cliosport.net/threads/strugglers-back-ph1-172-project-bit-of-a-read.614966/

The clio ended up in a garage due to financial constraints and a bit of lost interest to be honest. Then late 2021 it had to be moved. I was extremely close to selling it, but once i gave it a clean i realised i didn't really want to. It then moved around a bit to where i could find to store it, including a year sat outside my flat in SE London (see attempted theft damage) but now it has finally made its way home to the new garage my parents built.

So after sitting for over 10 years (still only on 85km) i need to work out what to do with it. Its definitely looking worse for wear but there's life in it yet i hope!
Hopefully the engine has fared OK. Cambelt is definitely needs doing. Starter is stuck, battery is kaput, brakes need rebuilding and there's general surface rust all over the shop.

I guess i will see in the coming weeks how the restoration goes. First job will be to get the engine back out and start cleaning the body up as much as i can. Let me know what you think.

Hoping this is just surface and will clean up ok...

Bit of theft damage

New home

k_Leo · Jul 14, 2023

This is going to be a nice one to read

Marky_ · Jul 16, 2023

Ooof, that's seen better days. Will be good to see it roll back the years.

Coops Mk1 · Jul 16, 2023

Nice, surface rust looks to just be on the rear beam and coilovers etc, check the actual chassis itself, ideally from behind the rear door cards and peer down into the inner sills

partybish · Jul 27, 2023

Just went back and looked at your original thread, you were really pushing on with the strip out and engine tidy up - with a bit more of a push I reckon you could get it sorted, doesn't sound like too much given the work you put in already those years ago. As Coops said - how are the inner arches and also the sills/petrol cap?

Struggler · Aug 4, 2023

My first plan is to start getting bit of the body stripped ready to get the engine back out.
Removing some bodywork I'm sure will tell a better tale of how it's faired over the years, i will add down where the rear cards used to be to part of the inspection.

Struggler · Aug 9, 2023

So had my first little strip down today, very happy with how easily its coming apart, i was expecting a lot of swearing and snapping bolts but so far everything has been a dream. Not too much at the moment as i only had an evening but will be back next week to strip the engine bay more. Most of the things that are coming off are going in the bin, i don't really trust ,much of the cooling system so will just replace bits with aftermarket.

Now for the dreaded rust - I was actually pleasantly surprised, after a little search on here it would seem that many of these mk2 are much much worse than this. Gave it a prod and it doesn't feel soft or holey. Not completely sure if i should try and get away with just putting some rust treatment on it and hope i can just halt it as it is or get the skirts off and do a thorough job. By all means let me know your thoughts

.

Mr Underhill · Aug 9, 2023

Struggler said:
So had my first little strip down today, very happy with how easily its coming apart, i was expecting a lot of swearing and snapping bolts but so far everything has been a dream. Not too much at the moment as i only had an evening but will be back next week to strip the engine bay more. Most of the things that are coming off are going in the bin, i don't really trust ,much of the cooling system so will just replace bits with aftermarket.

View attachment 1655558

Now for the dreaded rust - I was actually pleasantly surprised, after a little search on here it would seem that many of these mk2 are much much worse than this. Gave it a prod and it doesn't feel soft or holey. Not completely sure if i should try and get away with just putting some rust treatment on it and hope i can just halt it as it is or get the skirts off and do a thorough job. By all means let me know your thoughts .

View attachment 1655559 View attachment 1655560

Wow, that's not bad at all. Seen loads of newer cars worse than that. Agitate the surface rust, give it a few coats of Hydrate 80 and if possible buy a can of B&H Dynax S50 and apply in all the seams and hidden areas. It creeps into all the places you can't get a brush and has anti-rust properties. Get the skirts off and repeat.

Akay · Aug 9, 2023

I dunno, my 02 plate 172 was like that from inside, you need to take the skirts off ideally by drilling out the rivets, I bet they will be packed with mud and shite! Mine needed cutting and welding. Check around the filler cap as well, same deal there with crud getting stuck on the filler neck in the arch.

Struggler · Aug 24, 2023

Mr Underhill said:
Wow, that's not bad at all. Seen loads of newer cars worse than that. Agitate the surface rust, give it a few coats of Hydrate 80 and if possible buy a can of B&H Dynax S50 and apply in all the seams and hidden areas. It creeps into all the places you can't get a brush and has anti-rust properties. Get the skirts off and repeat.

Purchased! and slopped a load down in the rear arches and under front jacking points where it looked a bit surface.

Long term plan is to get the car to a rolling shell then work on the body:

Cage mounts welded
Seat rails welded
handbrake opening welded

When i get to this point i will hold my breath and take the sills off

. Time will tell how bad it is.

In the meantime, i picked up an engine crane to remove the engine but have found that between 10 years ago and now i have lost one of the engine hooks! damn things. So instead i basically took as much as i could off ready to remove.

Things that have now been removed:

Bumper
Headlights
Radiator
Hoses
Inlet
Exhaust
Aux belt ancillaries (it was only the alternator from the last build)
Gear selector (PMS one coming).
front brakes (need a rebuild kit and repaint)

Thankfully this being already pretty stripped, removing what is there has been pretty painless.

And in response to the question "why are you taking the engine out". Because i want to

. I am in no rush to get this car finished, I am planning some track days in the spring so i can take my time. It's also much easier to work on the body and the engine when they are separate and i quite enjoy these things anyway.

Picked up some KTR Jenvys, GEN90 ECU, 225 injectors and a PMS breather plate at a reasonable price.

GuJZU7umdZ0t5MadeLG7-IPfngU&_nc_ht=scontent-man2-1.jpg

and some

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and some lairy CatCam 5503422s. Will need to buy some Vernier pulleys as i am told these are non-VVT versions.

Ending up with a lot of parts to get rid of, hopefully i can sell most of it and recoup some money but car being stored so far away is difficult. I may have some flash sale one weekend.

And that was it for today, light faded and I had to leave. Next job is to convince my dad to get rid of that damn motorobike so i can have some more room!

Mr Underhill · Aug 24, 2023

Struggler said:
Purchased! and slopped a load down in the rear arches and under front jacking points where it looked a bit surface.

Long term plan is to get the car to a rolling shell then work on the body:

Cage mounts welded

Seat rails welded

handbrake opening welded

When i get to this point i will hold my breath and take the sills off . Time will tell how bad it is.

In the meantime, i picked up an engine crane to remove the engine but have found that between 10 years ago and now i have lost one of the engine hooks! damn things. So instead i basically took as much as i could off ready to remove.

Things that have now been removed:

Bumper

Headlights

Radiator

Hoses

Inlet

Exhaust

Aux belt ancillaries (it was only the alternator from the last build)

Gear selector (PMS one coming).

front brakes (need a rebuild kit and repaint)

Thankfully this being already pretty stripped, removing what is there has been pretty painless.
View attachment 1657625

And in response to the question "why are you taking the engine out". Because i want to . I am in no rush to get this car finished, I am planning some track days in the spring so i can take my time. It's also much easier to work on the body and the engine when they are separate and i quite enjoy these things anyway.

Picked up some KTR Jenvys, GEN90 ECU, 225 injectors and a PMS breather plate at a reasonable price.
View attachment 1657626

and some
View attachment 1657627
and some lairy CatCam 5503422s. Will need to buy some Vernier pulleys as i am told these are non-VVT versions.

Ending up with a lot of parts to get rid of, hopefully i can sell most of it and recoup some money but car being stored so far away is difficult. I may have some flash sale one weekend.
View attachment 1657622

And that was it for today, light faded and I had to leave. Next job is to convince my dad to get rid of that damn motorobike so i can have some more room!
View attachment 1657623

I think the level and standard at which you're working requires the engine out anyway. Very satisfying to get into all the nooks and crannies knowing it's as good as you can get it. Take your time and look forward to seeing it progress.

Struggler · Sep 8, 2023

So spent the other weekend getting the engine out. Pretty straight forward when you've already stripped the PAS/AC and other bits off.

Subframe definitely needs a bit of TLC at a later stage but due to space had to go straight back on after the engine came out.

Then went and attached the ABS controller and associated wiring:

Gave the engine bay a good clean, was pretty happy again how its faired over the last 10 years.

Gearbox got a good clean (don't worry, i refitted the NS shaft before going at it with a jet wash). I think i might even get away with not having to repaint it to be honest.

And finally some engine pics.

Remove the spark plugs and dropped some oil down the cylinders before trying to turn it over slowly for the first time in a decade. Had an initial panic as there was a clunk and no movement of the pully, but closer inspection found that the stand was bolted hard against the flywheel. Up moving this it turned over absolutely fine

.

Plan now is to start building the new brake lines at the front before dropping the rear beam and stripping it down. Never made brake lines before so that should be interesting. The engine will likely stay out now until the spring, really makes the car so much easier to manoeuvre around the garage with no engine in it!

Anyway, thanks for your attention.

Struggler · Sep 11, 2024

Not sure i love the like function that has been added sometime in the years since i was an active CS member! People just like an leave.

It's been a full year since i last posted and I've done basically nothing! Well, I've collected a lot of parts, but thats it.
So main focus has been the rear suspension, and I will let the pictures tell most of the story.

Rear beam off

floating clio

absolute mortal battle with the rear bush housings! I hate press fit. Won in the end after likely ruining my neighboars evening.

Making way for these beauties (pure motorsport solid mounts)

Then i went at it with a sanding disc and wire wool attachments followed by a lick of paint for basically everything. Unfotunately i didnt take any pictures... sorry.

This is all back together with teh following mods:

Painted whiteline arb
rear beam flatted and painted - job isnt perfect but its enought for underneith the car
New brake lines using a t-junction to go internal
Pure motorsport 10mm spacers
GAZ rear mcphereson adjustable suspension
pure motorsport rose joint rear beam
rear calliper rebuild

didnt change the discs, they look rusty but theyve probably covered <1000mi since i fitted them back... 2012.

oh and i managed to stub my foot on a garden step... always wear shoes kids

I was really excited to get it rolling again and see the new rear stance. The 10mm spacer kit makes a massive difference but still may go wider in time. I will wait until i get new wheels before i make the final decision there.

pt2 coming up (looks like there is a 10 photo max)

Struggler · Sep 11, 2024

pt2 - So i had a little time left with the car so got to work on the rear cage. Like an idiot I bought the cage just before i stored the car and it came unpainted. I
spent the best part of a day sanding all the surface rust off it but finally got it ready to paint.

As you can see i am clearly reusing the card i sprayed my ARB on...

primered and ready to paint - i did also paint it but again i didnt take any pictures.

Its now refit in the car, I have just bolted it in in each corner at the moment as i want someone to weld some base plates in for a proper bolt in set up.

Next job is going to be the interior. Hence the cage painting. I made some extremely poor decisions when i young and reckless and cut the rear seat rail out of the car and just bolted the seat to the floor skin. So now i cannot use subframes and have a lot of dents in the floor.

bought some proper seat rails now and new subframes. Just need to find a friendly welder now to do it all.

I will also be getting this hold plated over so i can run a hydraulic handbrake. Sneak peak of my aforementioned sins included.

Anyway, thanks for reading! and if you're a friendly welder please do get in touch!

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