172 C.U.P. (Complete and Utter Poo)

Thanks for the photo, shows the differences perfectly. The letters look a bit off but the numbers are ok.

Took mine off in preparation for new ones cause was missing some of the numbers. Hopefully still have the letters lying around in the garage.

koi said:

Thanks for the photo, shows the differences perfectly. The letters look a bit off but the numbers are ok.

Took mine off in preparation for new ones cause was missing some of the numbers. Hopefully still have the letters lying around in the garage.

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Exactly my thoughts, font is good too just a shame they couldn’t replicate the chrome effect.

Only paid a tenner for my pair of ES badges as I didn’t think I’d get some genuine badges (I did in the end though for a princely sum 🤐) as they turn up on here or eBay occasionally.

Polynesian said:

Wow that shows the difference very clearly! I saw some for £78 on eBay and thought about it, but the genuine ones might be something I do at the end of any work. Probably when they’re £178!!

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Im not sure if you mean you were considering spending spending £78 for the ones currently on Ebay but just in case you are, they are in fact Evil Speed reproductions.

BenCup said:

Im not sure if you mean you were considering spending spending £78 for the ones currently on Ebay but just in case you are, they are in fact Evil Speed reproductions.

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Thats a bit naughty.

@OP, Thank you for this post, don't feel so bad about my 182 non-cup now, just purchased it and so far spent 1k on it for servicing parts and doing a restoration on it as base car is clean inside and out, I used a sticky stuff remover and then sand blasted and painted the crappy trim bits that were sticky as s#it. Not as cheap a car as I thought it would be.. On a plus note the blue is such a nice colour on your 172 CUP.

BenCup said:

Im not sure if you mean you were considering spending spending £78 for the ones currently on Ebay but just in case you are, they are in fact Evil Speed reproductions.

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Thanks- no, I paid for evil speed ones already! Not at that price. Real ones do seem to be becoming the new bitcoin though.

Polynesian said:

Thanks- no, I paid for evil speed ones already! Not at that price. Real ones do seem to be becoming the new bitcoin though.

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That's a pretty good profit margin!

Major progress on the little Cup.

With every kind of job to do I prioritised to the most critical stuff by fitting an Alpine head unit. It’s a Bluetooth CarPlay thing, have set the display and keys to Amber and switched off the annoying beeps.

Next, an actual priority, I set off a can of sanitiser stuff in the car. Simoniz car odour thing. You set the spray off and leave the car closed and running with ac on full and recirc (the only reason I’ve ended up with this basket case is because I specifically wanted ac on my new cup). It has made a major difference. Still more to do so I have autoglym sanitiser spray and will get some more time on it. Threw out the minging mats and put in the genuine Renaultsport ones.

I also bought two driveshafts for it, the J&R trading ones, DS20 and DS21. It needs one, so it probably needs both at some point.

The jobs keep piling up and I’d really like to be on top of the rust. And getting the 15” turinis refurbed in silver!

Rolling resto list:

Fit Bumper, wing

Fit Bimarco Seats, foz frames

For Sabelt Steering wheel, QR, horn stalk

Fit bulbs, indicators, interior lights

Fit Engine/gearbox mounts

Windscreen repair

Fit Bootstruts

Fit Gearknob

PDR session

Source AC bracket and ECU cover

Change Air filter setup?

Fix or change Interior plastics, dash top

Fit sound deadening

Dynax everywhere

Spare Turini?

Key programming

Rs tuner? RR session first

Organise welding- sills, rear quarter, fuel filler

Fit Driveshafts

Alcantara work

Upgrade Speakers

Fit cooksport springs and new cup dampers

Bootlid badges?

Upgrade brakes

Turinis refurbed in silver

Source Undertray

Change gearbox oil, brake and PS fluid

That’s barring any surprises. But there won’t be any surprises with an old, shagged Clio. I’m just glad to have it. Will be happier when it actually feels like mine- mechanically spot on and unlikely to cause plague in you just by sitting in it. To be fair the stink issue is pretty much sorted. Somehow the sticky interior plastics just make me feel it’s still poisonous.

Like everything I do with cars, this mini job hasn’t gone 100% to plan…

I fitted the Sabelt steering wheel and QR, pretty straightforward, disconnect the battery, wait a bit, unclip the airbag etc. my large torx bolt on the steering rack wasn’t a T40, but a T45, other than that ok.

But when I disconnected the lights stalk to put in the new one with a horn on the end, problem. The black and red wires to the stalk slipping two separate locations on the Cup one, my new one has a white plug with the wires. So that isn’t connected. Any suggestions for someone who hates doing anything with auto electrics?

Then I need the airbag codes but or resistors. Anyone near SE London that could do that? Failing someone with the fancy RS Tuner or Clip, are the resistors 3.3 ohm? I’ve seen people use those or 3.9.

Anyway, the better wheel is an absolutely massive improvement in driveability, though I haven’t driven it yet.

Will write more later but this is today:

What a view 😍

Had a great day at Goodwood Revival. My (somewhat better off than me) friend had a Lola T70 and a Cobra racing. Lola was leading its race on Saturday but ran out of fuel just before the end of the race. Cobra fought its way up to fourth on Sunday.

My daughter got a seat in the Lola though. I mean, she sat in the seat, not she was signed to race :-(

Prepping to fit the new to me bumper and wing and I just dropped the b*****d wing on the ground and it’s ruined, deep scratched all along the arch. FML what a joke. Like buttered toast yet had to land paint side down. So fucked off.

Minor updates.

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I specifically wanted a cup with a/c. My (brilliant) first cup didn’t have it and was a pain in the arse, especially for doing motorsport related things with young kids. I’m a soft southerner, who my Yorkshire grandad would be ashamed of.

I’ve also seen so many cups with a/c have it ripped out for track builds. I mean, if you think you’re going to win something by having 15kg less weight without being a pro, good luck to you. I’d sooner be cool on the way home! So there probably aren’t many a/c cups left. That’s why I went after one, I bought this very minor doer upper.

So today was a simple regas- no, that’ll be a fucked condenser thank you. And as I’m getting prepped to put seats in it, I whipped off the rear interior panels to check that the rust was really very minimal indeed. Yep, can hardly see any rust.

That’s rainy Monday. I might do the cool pack and leads and upper engine mount so I feel like I’ve managed something.

At least it doesn’t stink inside any more- the simoniz air bomb thing didn’t really do much, but autoglym sanitising interior spray and driving with the windows open has helped. I think ripping out these smeggy original seats will be what really sorts it.

Looking at the above has reminded to have a peek behind my rear door cards at some point over winter.

I knew roughly what to expect, but it is still pretty bad.

One of many more questions to follow- a cracking sound on opening the door- which bit of the mechanism does that suggest is past it? Note this was a cracking sound in the car door, not in me, for once.

I managed the job that didn't need doing today- new coilpack and leads, why not? Maybe the answer to that is that I think i managed to compress a lead under the inlet and I'm worried that there might be a specific way to lay out the leads under it that I don't know about? The front 5 bolts on the inlet took quite a bit of pressure to clamp down the inlet onto the bottom half. Positives: it didn't catch fire (yet) and I only lost one bolt (from the side of the coilpack and i can easily replace that).

Also pictured: Hairy seatbelts, now fully sanitised and Bilt Hambering the driveway... I'm definitely sure the stuff is supposed to drip out of the sills onto the ground, yes?

Yeah that's right, there's a drain hole in the inner sills. Can easily get clogged with silt, or crushed by poor jacking and cause moisture to sit in there.

hopgop1 said:

Yeah that's right, there's a drain hole in the inner sills. Can easily get clogged with silt, or crushed by poor jacking and cause moisture to sit in there.

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Thanks for that. At first I thought it was a sign of how bad the sills were. At least the paving stones won’t get rusty now 🤣

That blue steel needs two coats to fully seal 👍

@Polynesian

Whilst you have the rust treatment out. Get your drivers wheel arch removed and smother your brake booster in the stuff along with some black silicone smeared around it as yours will likely look like mine (and many others) do/did.

This is how I work on my cars: identify that something needs doing, research the s**t out of it reading how to guides, watching videos, even looking at a Haines manual, then order the parts, put the work off for a bit, finally convince myself it is as simple as the guides say, remind myself "all car stuff takes me 3x the guide/ video claim" and set to it. Then I find I've fucked something up.

Example: leads and coil pack. How can you mess that up? What the guides don't flag is that the leads like to get stuck under the inlet and bunched up and make it impossible to seal the inlet back down on the head. That means you compress a lead and don't have an airtight seal on the inlet. Cue startup with super manky running, very high idle and one sweating and stressed Polynesian. It also meant that I tightened the inlet bolts down too hard. All rectified today, leads lying happier in the space under the inlet, and running nicely.

Then onto the engine mount. The vibratechnics one is a little different than the original. On this I carefully followed the cliosport guide (thank you!) and it all went well, aside from putting the mount in back to front at first. I ordered all new bolts and washers but was impatient so fitted it with ultrasonic cleaned old ones for now. I'm assuming I've done the right thing to leave the original little metal insert with two rubber sides out and just mount the engine bracket onto the vibratechnics thing (picture below).

Finally, I removed the rear wiper motor and gubbins. It's a kilo saved to offset my AC, and it makes the only difference I know of between the Cup and the Ragnotti no longer a difference. The Jean Ragnotti edition was the French Cup. You probably all already know that. I managed to try and insert the Dewiper blank back to front - had very quick support from the guy and I think it looks great. My bootlid did not follow the info in the guides (of course). I had two 10mm nuts that span in the lid, as there was just a smooth bolt on the inside of the metalwork. I also had to order a deep 22mm socket to get the thin nut off of the actual wiper shaft.

Now getting the JonFoz seat mounts in (thank you, @JON FOZ for your advice) as I have Sparco Evos arriving tomorrow.

At the same time, I'm trying to put my MX5 back together, change the waterpump on the Alpina, and build/ modify/ fix about 5 bikes. And as you have read, none of the jobs is quick for me!

Seats are the priority for now, and the yellow seatbelts I've got. Then the AC condensor and a few other things. Good news: the car no longer stinks inside.

It's going to be a slow job bringing this one back. When I see the better than new condition of some of the engine bays, interiors and undersides on here.... I have a long way to go and a lot to learn. Im grateful for any advice and parts along the way!