172CUP Track Build

[Matthew_wood92]

Another 172 CUP Track Car build.....? sorry.

Anyway, abit of history of myself and the car.
I bought my clio in 2016 with the intenion of a weekend car and the odd track day here and there.
It came with a few mods that made it a decent little car, solid top mounts,powerflex wishbone,exhaust,k&n pannel, recaro trendlines,ktec engine mounts.





I decided i wanted to do a few more trackdays than i had originally thought, and set about a few mods.
Brembo hc discs all round,ds3000 front,2500 back,braided lines,brake fluid.
After a track day i knew i needed some harnesses and luckily because of the trendlines i could run them without buckets.
Also got a omp trecento and whipped out the rear seats.
Purchased another set of turinis and wrapped them in R888R.



Few more track days down and i had ripped all the back end out of the clio and was just having fun hammering round tracks in 2017.


It didn’t see much action in 2018 , 1 track day i think and used it for short period as a daily. It’s just been parked up at a storage farm......
Untill now!.
It has now moved into its new permanent home, a decent sized garage along with power,a compressor and enough room to swing a cat.!
My situation with work has now changed which has freed up alot of time and more income. Who ever thought it, less time at work and more monies ?

Anyway onto the main toppic, as the title says. I am keeping the car road legal because i plan on driving it to the ring around August time, but it will be a designated track toy.
Since it has been in its new home I’ve completely stripped the car of interior, the dash is still in atm but i plan of removing it and only putting in the top half.
I will try and keep the thread updated when progress

 

[Matthew_wood92]

 

[Matthew_wood92]

Got upto the unit yesterday and started doing abit on the clio,I’ve just started on 4on4off which I wasn’t keen on the idea but now I’m glad i took the job as it free’s up so much time, anyway......

Set to removing the dash top and bottom

That wasn’t a fun job, I couldn’t get the botton half over fhe stalks sonended up getting the hacksaw out and butchering it ?.
Eventually i would like to strip all unnecessarily cables from the loom then tape it back up.. but i got bored after the massive drama the dash gave me.
The sound deadening behind the dash is a complete nightmare.! Its clipped everywhere,wedged behind stuff and is heavy AF.! Got as much as i dared out and left the bits I didn’t dare cut out.

As i said i got bored so started on making a couple rough blanking plates fo the vent and digi display, it’s 1.2 mini chequer plater but once ive filed it to a size I’m happy with I’ll make it again out of normal alloy.

Going up to carry on today ✌?

 

[Matthew_wood92]

Been a busy few weeks with bank holidays away, a my pals racing championship has started so been to watch him race and I’ve also bought a caravan ? (don’t judge me) rather than wasting money on bnb’s each week i thought it get something a little more permanent for work and its also my own space ? been busy with that ,
Anyway.....

Not done much with the interior as I’m waiting for a cage to arrive to mark up the boxes for the feet , weld them in, paint inside then carry on.

Cleaned the back end, hammerite the rear axle, plan on dropping it in the future to get it powder coated.

Made a start on the engine/box , removed the front corners brakes,hubs, etc....there gonna be powder coated and brakes refurbished.

Started stripping some of the engine down ready to pull the engine out in my next 4 off.

 

[Usr117063]

You could of removed the stalks, whole thing is just a clip and torx bolt

 

[Matthew_wood92]

Big update.!!! Cage is on order from fulcrum motorsport.

Engine is out and sent off for belts etc... having ARP rod bolts aswell. New clutch.
Box sent off for refresh, seen a post about the clips giving out so might fit abrenfort plate.

Nows time to clean the enginebay, get rid of any unnecessary parts, acoustic vale,carbon canister, vac lines......

I plan on painting alot of the parts so it looks pretty aswell ?

Had abit of a tidy up in the garage too.

 

[william84]

Very nice ?

 

[Waite_87]

Nice

 

[djp66]

Nice, I wiah I had that much space. I might need to look into renting a garage.

A quick question as I've been getting to know the inside of my Cups engine bay too. The short rubber pipe with the yellowish cap that connects to the top of the gearbox - what's that for?

 

[Louis]

Nice, I wiah I had that much space. I might need to look into renting a garage.

A quick question as I've been getting to know the inside of my Cups engine bay too. The short rubber pipe with the yellowish cap that connects to the top of the gearbox - what's that for?

That's a breather mate

 

[william...]

I wish a ihad that much space too!

 

[Matthew_wood92]

Haha cheers dudes for the generous comments? I’ve been lucky really to drop on a good sized garage. I couldn’t imagine doing it in a normal car sized garage is easy at all.!!

Had to do some boyfriend duties today on the misses car.

Picked up a 182 4-2-1 manifold this week, put a few blobs of weld on the bolt holes as they’d corroded and gone abit thin.
I’ll be heat wrapping it tomorrow.

Update soon ??

 

[Matthew_wood92]

That was not a fun job.!!! It it looks sweet, hopefully keep some heat and noise out the bay.

In other news i picked up a second hand TTV flywheel ?

 

[Matthew_wood92]

Quite alot has happened these last couple weeks, gearbox is done and on its was back, my pms shortshifter has come, cage has turned up and I’ve ordered some Gaz golds.

Here’s a few pics of the engine bay

Got upto the garage yesterday and the cage had arrived, got to unpacking that and getting it in, lined up and the car body cleaned up where the feet were to be welded.

 

[Mbeau]

Cage looks so smart! Bet you can't wait to get it all back together.

 

[Matthew_wood92]

Cage looks so smart! Bet you can't wait to get it all back together.

Cheers dude ✌? I can’t, I'm well excited ?
Loads more to do yet! The list is long.....

 

[Mbeau]

Cheers dude ✌? I can’t, I'm well excited ?
Loads more to do yet! The list is long.....

And only ever seems to get longer ? Big slippery slope!!

 

[Matthew_wood92]

A few more from todays progress

 

[Matthew_wood92]

And only ever seems to get longer ? Big slippery slope!!

I know tell me about it, I’ve spent a few G’s these past few weeks ??‍♂️

 

[Mbeau]

That cage ???

 

[Matthew_wood92]

The interior is now ready for paint, once that is done can start building the inside back up, cage,seats,harnesses, pms, dash etc....

Engine and gearbox back from overhaul.
painted the rocker cover, engine looks pretty tidy now. Plan on my next 4 off to marry them together, stick it in the bay and get it looking like a car again ?

 

[Matthew_wood92]

 

[Hxrry]

This is a serious thread!! The video shows on good it's looking inside!!

I can't wait to see all this back together

 

[Matthew_wood92]

This is a serious thread!! The video shows on good it's looking inside!!

I can't wait to see all this back together

Thanks dude ?? I can’t wait get it back together myself ?. Up at unit for the next few days starting put some bits back on so it’ll start looking like a car again.

 

[Matthew_wood92]

It’s been a month since I updated the thread. ??‍♂️ Apologies.... the engine and car interior were painted on my last update.
Getting excited about building it back together I’ve forgotten to post.... anyway here’s where it at ?

Engines in and tight, wiring loom plugged in, alternator on, only bits I’m waiting on is a new direnza radiator and me to paint the inlet manifold so it looks pretty.
Pms shifter in and nearly setup ? nightmare!
Cage in minus the door bars, dash chopped and glued back in.

Also been cleaning everything i can while it’s been off in a degreaser, water pipes, clamps clips, mounts, plastics. Aswell as painting a few bits ?

 

[Matthew_wood92]

 

[Mbeau]

Did you paint the inside yourself? Finish looks really good in the pictures. I love that cage. Don't look like there is too much left to do.

 

[Matthew_wood92]

Did you paint the inside yourself? Finish looks really good in the pictures. I love that cage. Don't look like there is too much left to do.

I didn’t pal, i rent the garage off my mate who owns a body shop which the garage is attached to his unit hence why the finish is really good cause it was painted a lacquered by a pro ?.

Cheers dude ? I’m going for a blue/yellow theme.
Nah not massive amounts just loads of little jobs, paint calipers, fit hubs,brakes,suspension, aero catch the front bumper, secure dash in, wheel, seats ,harnesses, door bars, radiator, bit of plumbing, alignment..... need more hands ??

 

[Matthew_wood92]

My Rear bumper is cracked, scuffed and the exhaust cut out was gaping so I decided take a buzz saw to the bumper for that race car look , that’s as far as it goes just for looks 🤷🏼‍♂️
Idea was stolen off many other peoples clios. It looks okay at the moment, i might change my mind when it’s eventually on the road thats why i have a spare bumper 😉

 

[Matthew_wood92]

 

[bareboost]

Looking good!

 

[Matthew_wood92]

Looking good!

Thanks pal 👍🏻 Much appreciated.

 

[Matthew_wood92]

Alot has happened to the clio, i got excited and forgot to post updates on the progression..
Anyway, it was at that stage where i had parts bit missing other parts that were holding that job up, then i was waiting on parts to turn up aswell.

So carrying on from the last post and photos, i had a big red rebuild kit so once the callipers were dry i sanded off the paint on the moving parts and on the faces of bolt hole. Rebuilt the carrier mint 👍🏻 Went to rebuild the caliper and had the wrong kit 🤦🏼‍♂️ So had to wait for that to turn up. Brakes all back together and on the car, i made a mistake and put the rear carriers on the wrong side 😂.

Seat subframes, buckets, harnesses, wheel, door bars.

Tightened up the lock rings on the coilovers, ride height is way out !!!! 😆

The parts came from kam racing so i could bolt the decat pipe in place. Filled up the coolant, power steering , bled the brakes 🙄 put the wheels on and dropped it on the deck.

Turned it over get the oil round the engine, it turned over first time. Topped up then fired it up. No issues fired up first time 😬

Took it outside and gave it a wash.

It’s far from done, the list of stuff is still massive but it runs, moves and is clean 😛

 

[Matthew_wood92]

 

[Matthew_wood92]

 

[Matthew_wood92]

 

[Matthew_wood92]

Update......

A week overdue but the clio is now road legal.
Passed its MOT 😬

Still a few hobs to go at, lowered the suspension to a better ride height, took it for alignment, softened the suspension cause it was too hard.

I haven’t had chance to take many photos of it yet cause i took it for mot then parked it back in the garage. Got a nurburgring trip in two weeks that im buzzing about now it’ll be 4th year on the bounce but first time for my little clio.

Got some cheap off cut carpet to save my lovely fresh painted interior from being scratched from wheels in the boot.

 

[Martin.]

Car looks great keep up the good work.

I notice your fan housing doesn't sit flush with the back of the rad..?

I've got the same issue with mine. I've told Direnza and they've told me to keep them updated with any new developments with this rad. Might be worth you mentioning it to them too in case you ever have issue with it over heating.

 

[Matthew_wood92]

Car looks great keep up the good work.

I notice your fan housing doesn't sit flush with the back of the rad..?

I've got the same issue with mine. I've told Direnza and they've told me to keep them updated with any new developments with this rad. Might be worth you mentioning it to them too in case you ever have issue with it over heating.

Cheers pal 👍🏻
I never noticed it till you pointed it out, is it meant to sit perfectly flush ? Have you had issues with yours overheating ??

 

[Martin.]

Yeah it's meant to sit perfectly flush. So it will not perform as efficiently as it technically could,