20 years, or near enough I bought my first Clio sport, a silver phase 1, W744WTR. I had this for 2 years and loved every minute of it. The poor thing put up with all the abuse I threw at it and never gave me any grief. I sold it when I needed a lot of money spending on it, and have always missed it. After a trip to spa this year with some friends I got the itch again. For the last 10 years I’ve been getting my business up and running and working well and now am in a position to do all the things to a Clio i wanted to 20 years ago when I just didn’t have the money to even run the car.
My main aim was to buy a car and not have to borrow any money, everything I do to the car it all paid for, no credit. When I was in my 20’s I managed to get into quite a bit of debt through loans and credit cards which took me 5 or so years to get cleared and I hated it. once back from Spa I started looking for a car, after looking at a few rough examples I found my current car on FB marketplace 40 minutes from me.
I wanted a car that was good enough but not perfect so I felt like I was ruining a good clean example. I’ve got a hilux for work and a disco 4 for family duties so this is just a fun thing to play with. Car had done 105k miles, been off the road for 2 years, and needed a mechanical refresh. The body was clean with not signs of any rust just the odd scape and one dent on the bonnet from someone shutting it like a savage. Paid £1650 and was on my was on the way home. I’m by no means a mechanic but I’m not bad so can do most bits with the exception of bits that are easier with a ramp. I’ve got a very good friend who owns a garage and he does those bits for me.
Starting off was a full service, all the fluids, new brakes including PBS track pads etc…. While doing the brakes I noticed the lines were look f**ked so replace those with a braided set replacing all f the rubber lines and did the full rear lines from the two soft lines back. Also while servicing the engine one of the coolant lines fell apart in my hand so a set of MTC hoses to replace those. The engine and dogbone mount were f**ked so badly the engine was rocking when you revved the car. Both replace with power flex bits. The car also had a misfire, I changed the coil pack and new ht leads but no luck so a new set of injectors and it was all sorted. The cambelt was 8 years old so off to my mates to have that done plus get it MOT’d. Car came back with 2 advisories, the exhaust was pretty much falling off and the tyres were all down to wear blocks. On the drive back from the garage I hit a bump and the exhaust snapped at the back box so onto the forum. Managed to find someone selling a PMS cat back exhaust so bought and fitted that. Next the tyres, the turinis were in a bad way. Most of the paint had come off the wheel so after looking at the wheel refurb and a set of tyres I ended up buying a set of Oz Superleggeras with ps3 tyres for less than the cost of the wheel refurb. As I want to do track days in the car made sense to go down to a 15” wheel for tyre choices. The car also had a nasty air filter bodged into the air intake elbow. i replaced it with the advocult kit with battery cover to tidy everything up.
Next was polishing the headlights, looked like frosted glass when I started. Bought a headlight restoration kit after a recommendation on here, not perfect but 100% better now. I’ll probably change the lights when I get a minute but it’s very low on the list. Fitted brass bushes and a new white bush to the gearbox to remove the sloppy gear change along with a ZPO gear knob. Raised the gear stick to an height that’s comfortable for me. I’d like an PMS shifter but don’t think I could deal with the associated racket that comes with it. Also had a PDR guy come and get the hand print dent out of the bonnet as it bothered me. Cost £300 but was well worth it. Next on my list was coilovers, after reading pages of stuff on here I settled for BC Ds as a starting point with a 7kg front and 8kg rear. Thought while the coilovers were being done might as well get a PMS anti roll bar and fit powerflex bushes to the rear beam. Handling is transformed on the car, drives like it’s on rails. Wish I had gone a little harder on the front but I may change that, or buy some ast 5100’s. Again low down the list now. With all these bits done in early September i did my first track day with the car. Over the course of the day managed just over 100 laps and brand hatch with out any problems. Had a blast.
Now to the current bits. This weekend I fitted some hub spaces on the rear with camber shims to fill the arches a little better got given these so seemed rude not to. Have also just sent my Quaife up to mark to get put into a gearbox. All being well, that will be fitted in the next week weeks along with a ttv flywheel and a new clutch. Need to order some 10mm spacers for the front along with studs and wheel nuts are pi**ing me off. I’ve bought a new set of 2118’s which will become my main wheels and the superleggeras will become track wheels. Should picking those up within the couple of weeks. I’m also waiting on my mate to get some bits done to his car so I can pinch his front hubs. Will get these sent up to Bridgecraft engineering to get the machining work done then get the roll centre kit fitted and get the alignment done again. I think that’s me up to date at the moment. Once these bits are on I’ll book another track day hopefully not to far away. Have got a baby due this week so that might slow progress a little.
The car has become a bit of a release for me. I’m a tree surgeon by trade and I’ve spent so long working 6-7 days a week and I now in a position where I don’t have to work weekends so I can do some bits on the car. I couldn’t do it every day but I enjoy working on it, even when it goes wrong. My 3 year old son also loves “helping” work on the car. Means everything takes a little longer but he loves it.
My main aim was to buy a car and not have to borrow any money, everything I do to the car it all paid for, no credit. When I was in my 20’s I managed to get into quite a bit of debt through loans and credit cards which took me 5 or so years to get cleared and I hated it. once back from Spa I started looking for a car, after looking at a few rough examples I found my current car on FB marketplace 40 minutes from me.
I wanted a car that was good enough but not perfect so I felt like I was ruining a good clean example. I’ve got a hilux for work and a disco 4 for family duties so this is just a fun thing to play with. Car had done 105k miles, been off the road for 2 years, and needed a mechanical refresh. The body was clean with not signs of any rust just the odd scape and one dent on the bonnet from someone shutting it like a savage. Paid £1650 and was on my was on the way home. I’m by no means a mechanic but I’m not bad so can do most bits with the exception of bits that are easier with a ramp. I’ve got a very good friend who owns a garage and he does those bits for me.
Starting off was a full service, all the fluids, new brakes including PBS track pads etc…. While doing the brakes I noticed the lines were look f**ked so replace those with a braided set replacing all f the rubber lines and did the full rear lines from the two soft lines back. Also while servicing the engine one of the coolant lines fell apart in my hand so a set of MTC hoses to replace those. The engine and dogbone mount were f**ked so badly the engine was rocking when you revved the car. Both replace with power flex bits. The car also had a misfire, I changed the coil pack and new ht leads but no luck so a new set of injectors and it was all sorted. The cambelt was 8 years old so off to my mates to have that done plus get it MOT’d. Car came back with 2 advisories, the exhaust was pretty much falling off and the tyres were all down to wear blocks. On the drive back from the garage I hit a bump and the exhaust snapped at the back box so onto the forum. Managed to find someone selling a PMS cat back exhaust so bought and fitted that. Next the tyres, the turinis were in a bad way. Most of the paint had come off the wheel so after looking at the wheel refurb and a set of tyres I ended up buying a set of Oz Superleggeras with ps3 tyres for less than the cost of the wheel refurb. As I want to do track days in the car made sense to go down to a 15” wheel for tyre choices. The car also had a nasty air filter bodged into the air intake elbow. i replaced it with the advocult kit with battery cover to tidy everything up.
Next was polishing the headlights, looked like frosted glass when I started. Bought a headlight restoration kit after a recommendation on here, not perfect but 100% better now. I’ll probably change the lights when I get a minute but it’s very low on the list. Fitted brass bushes and a new white bush to the gearbox to remove the sloppy gear change along with a ZPO gear knob. Raised the gear stick to an height that’s comfortable for me. I’d like an PMS shifter but don’t think I could deal with the associated racket that comes with it. Also had a PDR guy come and get the hand print dent out of the bonnet as it bothered me. Cost £300 but was well worth it. Next on my list was coilovers, after reading pages of stuff on here I settled for BC Ds as a starting point with a 7kg front and 8kg rear. Thought while the coilovers were being done might as well get a PMS anti roll bar and fit powerflex bushes to the rear beam. Handling is transformed on the car, drives like it’s on rails. Wish I had gone a little harder on the front but I may change that, or buy some ast 5100’s. Again low down the list now. With all these bits done in early September i did my first track day with the car. Over the course of the day managed just over 100 laps and brand hatch with out any problems. Had a blast.
Now to the current bits. This weekend I fitted some hub spaces on the rear with camber shims to fill the arches a little better got given these so seemed rude not to. Have also just sent my Quaife up to mark to get put into a gearbox. All being well, that will be fitted in the next week weeks along with a ttv flywheel and a new clutch. Need to order some 10mm spacers for the front along with studs and wheel nuts are pi**ing me off. I’ve bought a new set of 2118’s which will become my main wheels and the superleggeras will become track wheels. Should picking those up within the couple of weeks. I’m also waiting on my mate to get some bits done to his car so I can pinch his front hubs. Will get these sent up to Bridgecraft engineering to get the machining work done then get the roll centre kit fitted and get the alignment done again. I think that’s me up to date at the moment. Once these bits are on I’ll book another track day hopefully not to far away. Have got a baby due this week so that might slow progress a little.
The car has become a bit of a release for me. I’m a tree surgeon by trade and I’ve spent so long working 6-7 days a week and I now in a position where I don’t have to work weekends so I can do some bits on the car. I couldn’t do it every day but I enjoy working on it, even when it goes wrong. My 3 year old son also loves “helping” work on the car. Means everything takes a little longer but he loves it.
