Clio 1.8 16v RWD

Hi I’m new to the forum, just bought my second ever mk1 valver. Used to have one around 15 years ago and loved driving it. I wasn’t really looking for another one as already have another car but bumped into a friend I hadn’t seen in a while that said he had a project I might be interested in. He had got it off someone he knew and it had sat in his garage for 5 years without him doing anything to it!
Long story short the price was way too cheap to turn down and I bought it on the basis of a couple of pictures. My friend even dropped it off for me to my other friends barn where it now sits.
So it’s an early 1995 1.8 16v with a difference. It used to have a Renault 5 gt turbo engine in the front but the previous owner decided to cut the rear floor out and for the engine in the back driving the rear wheels! It looks like he has done an amazing job of it fabricating front strut towers into the rear and using a modified front subframe in the back.
Unfortunately he sold the engine so at the moment its a rolling chassis.
This is where the project starts, it’s still filthy and there’s various parts all over the front seats. Next week I will go and give it a good clean and get some better pictures then make a very long parts list! Need to decide which engine to go for too.
Should be a fun project but will be very long term as time and cash is tight!

I'm loving the roof mounted intercooler

There's a thread on here somewhere of someone's 172 with the engine in the back that might have useful info in it.

In the pile of parts, see if you've got the R5 engine mount brackets, those will make it easy to mount the engine onto the subframe and they can also be used on a Valver, Williams, Megane F7R or 1*2 F4R engines



Then get these mounts, I have them in mine & there's nothing as good or better for mounting an engine to these subframes

Look forward to some clean pics and some detailed pics of the rear. It looks like an awesome bit of work tbf.

Im sure i remember this from years ago. Be interesting to see what engine you go for

A lad i know has a mk1 clio with a vr6 turbo lump in the back. Around 500hp from memory, from what he told me its a handful to drive

16v_paddy said:

I'm loving the roof mounted intercooler

There's a thread on here somewhere of someone's 172 with the engine in the back that might have useful info in it.

In the pile of parts, see if you've got the R5 engine mount brackets, those will make it easy to mount the engine onto the subframe and they can also be used on a Valver, Williams, Megane F7R or 1*2 F4R engines

View attachment 1711059

Then get these mounts, I have them in mine & there's nothing as good or better for mounting an engine to these subframes

View attachment 1711061

Click to expand...

Thanks I will take a look in the project section will be useful to see what’s needed. Do you know if the valver and R5 subframes are the same?
Been looking at the turbo megane engine do they mount a similar way? Going to be a challenge getting the driveshafts to work etc.
those mounts do look good will have a look thanks.

Daniel said:

Look forward to some clean pics and some detailed pics of the rear. It looks like an awesome bit of work tbf.

Click to expand...

Yeah hopefully next week I’ll get some better pictures. The bodywork is really clean looks like it’s had a quality respray at some point. The usual rust areas like the rear arches are like new. It does look like it’s been done to a high standard that’s why I couldn’t pass up on the project! 👍🏻

Brigsy said:

Im sure i remember this from years ago. Be interesting to see what engine you go for

A lad i know has a mk1 clio with a vr6 turbo lump in the back. Around 500hp from memory, from what he told me its a handful to drive

Click to expand...

You may well of done. I know of the guy that did the original build and used to see him driving it around where I grew up and spoke to him about the car. Must of been 15/20 years ago now though! It had a 300bhp R5 engine in the front with nitrous and a side exit exhaust. Still has the nitrous bottle holder in the car now and the switches on the steering wheel.

ScottRWDclio said:

Thanks I will take a look in the project section will be useful to see what’s needed. Do you know if the valver and R5 subframes are the same?
Been looking at the turbo megane engine do they mount a similar way? Going to be a challenge getting the driveshafts to work etc.
those mounts do look good will have a look thanks.

Click to expand...

They're probably very similar but the Valver subframe needs an extra hole drilling in it to accept the front gearbox mount
As for the Megane turbo engine, they're completely different so that'll be some clever fabrication needed to get it to fit in there, from a mounting the engine perspective, it'd be a lot easier to fit 1 of the other engines I mentioned & convert it to turbo plus there's the added bonus of having plenty of room to have a decent exhaust manifold instead of the usual log type and a lot more options for turbos to choose from

Managed to get over to my friends unit to have a better look over the clio yesterday. Managed to give it a good clean and polish and the bodywork is as good as I thought 😊. The rear suspension turrets have been done really well too.
Decided to go down the vag 1.8 20v turbo engine route. My friend has a mk4 golf gti with a few mods and it’s pretty quick and reliable, sounds great too.
Nearly bought a complete golf gti for £600 but someone beat me to it! Thinking if I can get a complete car I can strip it for all the parts I need.
For the clio the first stage will be to make it look like a clio again and also water tight incase I ever have to move it out of my friends barn.
The main parts I need will be a front bumper, bonnet, N/S door striker and front window glass (or plexiglass glass like the rear).
If anyone has any MK1 clio parts they are selling give me a shout!

the fabrication in the rear looks amazing, what a job! Looking forward to seeing how this comes along! good luck!

Where abouts are you?
I've got some door windows available but posting them isn't really viable

16v_paddy said:

Where abouts are you?
I've got some door windows available but posting them isn't really viable

Click to expand...

I’m in Aylesbury Buckinghamshire. If you are close that would be ideal 👍🏻

Martin_172 said:

the fabrication in the rear looks amazing, what a job! Looking forward to seeing how this comes along! good luck!

Click to expand...

Thanks. Will be a long term project as I’m sure there will be many hurdles to overcome yet! Yeah the rear fabrication looks decent but I can’t take the credit for that! 😂

ScottRWDclio said:

I’m in Aylesbury Buckinghamshire. If you are close that would be ideal 👍🏻

Click to expand...

That's about 100 miles away from me
Could still probably sort something out though, there's a big group of us Mk1 owners (1 of them is actually from Aylesbury) doing a trackday at Bedford on the 11th of next month so I could bring the glass down & meet you there

16v_paddy said:

That's about 100 miles away from me
Could still probably sort something out though, there's a big group of us Mk1 owners (1 of them is actually from Aylesbury) doing a trackday at Bedford on the 11th of next month so I could bring the glass down & meet you there

Click to expand...

That is a bit far 😂. Not a bad idea meeting you at Bedford. Would be good to meet some more mk1 owners too and have a look at some mk1’s. I’ll message you nearer the time 👍🏻

Just checked & I've deffo got the front door glass