Restoring 172 Cup - Help Required

Hi all

I’ve spent the last two years restoring a Clio Cup, which has been owned by a couple of members on here already. It was a solid car to start with and had been stood for a few months prior to me becoming the custodian.

Anyway, it went for its MOT and everything was going great, until we got to the brake testing… long story short, the brake servo decided to give up and split in half. Thankfully it happened there, not on the road, but now I’m stuck trying to source a replacement.

I’ve spoken to my local dealer, Mick at Diamond Motors and Pure Motorsport. We’ve concluded the servo should be the same as the 172/182, based on historic part numbers. The problem I’m finding is;

Several different part number crop up
The part number on the servo that gave up is different to the ones coming up on the likes of Autodoc, online car parts and an eBay seller in Lithuania.

I’m hoping someone can help me keep this 172 Cup in mint condition and on the road by confirming if the servo is generic across the RS Clio 172/182 range or if it is indeed unique to the 172 Cup?

Thanks for reading and hope someone can help.

Many thanks
Sean

Sounds like Mick has got a dose of amnesia & forgot all about the exact same nightmare I had with with mine just over 2 years ago

I'll have to go through my old photos to help properly explain but the short version is that I found it impossible to find a servo with the same part number as what was on the car and what I managed to find on Autodoc from cross referencing the Bosch part numbers was different & wrong.

I ended up getting a used servo from someone breaking a 172 Cup then scrubbed it back to bare metal, repainting it then running a thick bead of silicone sealant around the bottom where the 2 halves of the servo join together. It was probably started from spilled brake fluid sitting in the crease of the join, eating the paint away then combined with that area getting exposed to water & other crap which sits in the creases and it got rusty & eventually failed.

These are the part numbers from mine & what I got from Autodoc.
You can see the side by side pic that the servos are different. I reckon it's possible to swap the rod over to make it right but I chickened out because the new servo was really expensive, took ages to arrive, if it didn't work it'd be obvious that I'd messed around with it and there's a good chance they'd tell me to piss off if I sent it back asking for a refund 🤣

Not sure if the silicone is visible in these pics tbh but you get the jist of what I was trying to do

Hi mate. Thank you for your detailed reply, really appreciate. Ah man, so it looks like the Cup is unique and I can’t just use any servo. The one or two I’ve found are rotten and look in worse condition than mine, so I just don’t understand how it split in half.

I suppose as it’s in two pieces, I can sand it down, rust restore, attach and then run a bead of seal round like you have.

Looking at how they’re joined, you’d just need to use a punch to secure them back together. After what happened, you can imagine I’m a little reluctant in case it happens again… just in the road next time.

Also, as you say, I’m very reluctant to buy and split a brand new one.

So… back to the hunt or restore.

Thanks again for your help and advice, really appreciate it.

You've got no chance of restoring yours, the rust has completely compromised the metal at the point it needs to be it's strongest (that's why it split in 2) it's just like rust anywhere else on the car, the only way to repair it is to chop it out & replace the metal itself.

On top of that you can't even weld it back together as you'll trash the rubber diaphragm inside.

I only gave up looking to use a different servo & modifying it as I dropped lucky finding a Cup servo that happened to be in good nick

If that’s what’s needed, then I guess that’s my only solution. I can’t believe the servo is unique to the Cup. I’d be interested to find out what else that servo is used in, as surely it can’t be unique to just a 172 Cup. The development alone would have cost a fortune for a small number of units, in comparison to the 172/182.

On another note

Your cup looks great

Sean Collingwood said:

If that’s what’s needed, then I guess that’s my only solution. I can’t believe the servo is unique to the Cup. I’d be interested to find out what else that servo is used in, as surely it can’t be unique to just a 172 Cup. The development alone would have cost a fortune for a small number of units, in comparison to the 172/182.

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Like you said I’d imagine it will no doubt be on other (probably non abs’d?) french cars. It’ll just be a headache trying to figure out which ones that is.

Advikaz said:

On another note

Your cup looks great

Click to expand...

Thank you… it’s a lovely looking ornament at the moment 😅

Matt Cup said:

Like you said I’d imagine it will no doubt be on other (probably non abs’d?) french cars. It’ll just be a headache trying to figure out which ones that is.

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That’s my thoughts, surely another non ABS car. Were the early 172 phase 1’s non ABS?

Sean Collingwood said:

Thank you… it’s a lovely looking ornament at the moment 😅

That’s my thoughts, surely another non ABS car. Were the early 172 phase 1’s non ABS?

Click to expand...

Relatable mate