Gris Eclipse Phase 1

Spark plug, 1 greasy because the vvt solenoid was leaking, the rest are as they are, I suspect water got in when washing the engine.









I need to check the timing when I get the right cam tool, but to my eye the engine looks out of phase.



There is no shortage of silicone on the cam caps.. in fact, there is no shortage of silicone throughout the entire engine..

The plan is to take the whole engine apart and measure and inspect everything. I also have some 197 pistons, although I didn't intend to put them in this engine.. Maybe when the opportunity arises, that will come in too.. I don't think there will be an engine update anytime soon..

Cheers from Croatia

p.s. shame that this cant be 1 big post, because of 10 pictures limit..

Good work m8 !

*dusting off this thread, long post warning*

Phew, a lot has happened in the year since my last post, but nothing regarding the Clio itself

It was patiently waiting for its moment, and that moment finally arrived...

I don't have a photo, but the poor thing had gotten buried under all sorts of stuff in the corner and had gathered quite a bit of dust, so a good wash was the first order of business!

After the wash, I checked the passenger side sill panel to see how badly it was bent and what needed to be done... The area by the front wheel was bent—classic damage—but what really surprised me was the area by the rear wheel; it was twisted in a way that makes me wonder how anyone could even manage that...

I also did a bit of hunting for rust; there was some hiding under the underseal on the sill near the front wheel...

Next came straightening the sill near the rear wheel and opening it up, as there were signs of surface corrosion.

Not to mention the amount of dirt that kept coming out of the sill... an endless supply... even after the wash.

A view of the sill from the rear wheel side, inside the wheel well... I'm surprised no metal had been welded here; it was just slathered with underseal.








Driver's side... I think this little rust spot was caused by a piece of metal hitting it and starting the corrosion.





All this work was done in August, and the plan was to finish everything before the INA Track Day on September 10th—all while still having to tackle the very issue that caused the car to be taken apart in the first place (the engine's rod bearings), plus a whole bunch of other things I’ve already forgotten... you could say the plan was a bit ambitious.

For the bodywork, the plan was to straighten everything out, restore it to its original condition, maybe reinforce the inner sills with some welds, and apply epoxy, underseal, and the car's body color—just like it was originally. Oh, and I also planned to add reinforcements to the sills near the front jack points to prevent the jacking points from flexing, just like I did on my previous Clio.

I ordered a lot of OEM parts from Optimiz access with two friends—some as preventive maintenance, others as replacements.

And then my OCD kicked in... I thought, "Since I'm already painting some things, why not add this too?" One thing led to another, and suddenly I was wire-brushing everything, treating it with rust remover (which worked great), and applying epoxy primer followed by a 2K gloss polyurethane topcoat. I ended up painting until 4 a.m. that day

Now I’m wondering if I made a mistake by not going with matte black, but it is what it is...

I'm satisfied with how everything turned out, considering that it's my first time painting with a paint gun after many years.

I will have to repair the ARB because it is specific for "hanging" for painting, so one part remained unpainted.

Since I'm not in a hurry, things will be done as they should. The plan is to remove the rear subframe and restore it, drill the holes on the turrets that were drilled for the omp strut bar, paint and freshen up the engine compartment, freshen up the engine, etc., etc.. step by step

btw, i dont know why is there a restriction for 1 post to include max 10 photos.. shame that everything cant be in 1 post

Love it! Great work