3 years and counting.. A clios long journey.

[How15]

right, i've wanted to post one of these project threads for ages, but my car's either been standard, broken, or too embarrassing to post! having finally had time and money ( and developed taste), i'm gonna post some piccies, in fact quite a few, showing whzat i've done, and what i'm gonna do! i know some of you will hate it, but i'm hoping not too many! any comments are of course welcome, plus suggestions as to what i'm gonna spend my student loan on next!

i don't have any photos any more of the car as i bought it, but it was a boggo 1.4 si, bought for 4500 quid from carcraft ( i know! i should never have gone. first car.), with 38k on the clock, mint condition. less than 4 years old at the time.
these shots show my first attempt at modification, when i used to buy max power lol, and what i did to my interior after i split from my G/F and was bored. a lesson to not mod with a broken heart! what a bad idea!

 

[How15]

I couldn't really afford the car, and so it kinda fell apart. in the end, the windows were held up by blocks of wood, the exhaust kept falling off as it was too heavy, i blew an amp, i lost the locking wheel key and after taking over 20 hours to drill out the front two i gave up, and bought a cheap focus off a mate. i have an old friend who is a sprayer at a garage in Dronfield (Jeepers keepers/ chips away guy.), and the owner is his father in law and also a friend, and he let me use the premises to store the clio till i had the funds to restore and sell her, and there she sat for 9 months, getting covered sadly in overspray, till i became a student and decided to use my loan to bring her back to this.. new wheels, new lights, clear repeaters, silvervisions, an entire new interior sourced from 3 scrappys and ebay! trouble is, now it's ready to sell, i swiftly fell in love again..

 

[How15]

the clio was back on the road in january this year, and the focus garaged instead for an engine rebuild ( which has turned into a replacement!), and i decided to keep her. the plan was for colour coding, a 172 front, 182 rear with look-a-like exhaust, koncept spoiler, lowered and a bit of a grand plan i've not yet started to put essentially a v6 interior, i.e a new clio dash and panels, leather/alcantara seats, and the vee console colour coded with the dash inserts. loving ebay and scrappys, plus having the space, tools and knowledge to draw upon i'm hoping to do it all cheapo!

firstly, i got a set of rough G-max shocks and springs on the bay, pick up in chesterfield, for £40, 40/60 lowering. more than i intended, but soo cheap! i can't find the pics, but i then decided to chuck on my old wheels, plus refurb them. i've only done one so far, in pure white, dusted with a red pearl, which looks gorgeous when clean! so far..

 

[How15]

at the same time, over a few days off in the weeks ( i'm a geography student and work at HMV!), i colour coded my door handles and spoiler, plus some new bump strips and 1.4 badges sourced off here and about £35 all told.

 

[How15]

i've fitted my install back in, though i'm toying with a full on fibreglass build, i do often chuck shopping in and what not, plus it's easy to remove. for those wondering, it's 6.5" type-r alpine components, 5x7 co-axials in the rear (as they were straight fit in the focus and i can't be bothered to change them.), plus a 10" type-r dual voice coil sub. i can't remember what my head unit is, but it's an expensive sony effort lol with a motorised face and 3 4-volt pre-outs. ipod adaptor, and all factory fitted, ran off an alpine four channel and a mono block. sounds nice, generally listen to heavy metal which gets me wierd looks from chav saxos at the lights! only pic at the mo as the boot's not trimmed or even staying for sure is this, found a nice guide on here for fitting 6.5" like this.

 

[How15]

over the past few weeks i got some time after exams finally, and started on these babies, bumper was £40 off ebay from a scrappy in barnsley who listed a 182 front, the wings were about £25 a piece on separate auctions. though i was on the lookout for skirts, i couldn't turn down the offer of the koncept spoiler i've always wanted and NEVER seen second hand off a great fella on here.

 

[How15]

last week i managed to finish spraying and fitted the front end, and part sprayed/ fitted the spoiler, so i was at least driving with my brake light back! the photos are a bit creative as it's still in progress, but payday soon will mean I can buy the skirts and spacers it desperatly needs, plus hopefully get the time to do all the wheels. hoping to have it finished to that point by the end of august, though i have an engine to fit in the ford now.

comments are welcome! plus, how do you put a photo in the threads instead of as an attatchment lol?!

 

[mike2fast]

alot of hard work has gone into this i would love to spend more time modifying mine but i dont have the space at home as i live on a main road.

congrats on the mods

 

[riz]

looking ok now, lol @ your old dashboard

 

[brownale01]

i really like that mate good job

 

[Jamesstone]

Nice work mate, not a fan of the alloys though, always prefered renault originals, i know there hated & classed as "common" but you cant beat the turinis .. deep down every one loves em!

172 Ph2 alloys look smart on the PH1 172's too

 

[How15]

i know, i'm still a little unsure, but with everything else being OEM i was keen of having something different and these in white sure are! but i've got 16" OZ superturismos in the back of my mind still...

 

[How15]

here's what i did over the past few days.
clocks were an ebay bargain, 99p! to make them work i've used my PCB, then added the dials and plastic, cutting out the centre and side status lights and using them as the newer ones don't match. u can see the colour variation. was gonna swap the LED's but once i saw how small they are i don't fancy that much, my mates gonna do it for some beers lol!

 

[How15]

also finally finished spraying my spoiler and got some shots..
i think it's relatively subtle, i don't want a garish pimp my ride effort (anymore lol!) u can also see form the side shot how badly in need of skirts i am

 

[.GAZ.]

looks good matey

 

[.J.a.m.e.s.]

get a mk2 ph2 sport rear bumper mate

 

[How15]

could be interested..
i'm really looking for a 182 bumper with the cut outs already for the exhaust. i've my heart set on the k-tec lookalike and from watching them they can go for half what an "intact" 172/182 rear goes for. what's yours?
i have just spent most of this months wages on a sports interior and some eibach sportlines tho lol :S

 

[Darren S]

also finally finished spraying my spoiler and got some shots..
i think it's relatively subtle, i don't want a garish pimp my ride effort (anymore lol!) u can also see form the side shot how badly in need of skirts i am

Side skirts would finish that off a treat. :approve:

D.

 

[Alexander]

looks good mate, not a huge fan of the spolier, but the rest looks good, but as said mk2 ph2 bumper and rear lights would go down a treat!

 

[The Boosh!]

SPOILER = FAIL... imo

 

[How15]

skirts r coming! though as said, got far too tempted by ebay bargains and i'll have shots of my new 172 interior and springs (it's 2 low and hard!). gotta save the cash for leeds and bloodstock fests too. i knew the spoiler would be hit or miss, but it helps it stand out in the crowd without being some devil horned monstrosity lol!

 

[R1XPH]

Nvm lol

Looking cool

 

[How15]

cheers guys
it does have ph2 rear lights btw, there's no photos of the rear cos i'm ashamed of the gash rear bumper that still has the old exhaust cut-out LOL!

 

[How15]

right, been slack with the posts, had a few festivals and loads of work, but i've plenty of time off now b4 uni starts and i've got lots to do!

first changed made a few weeks back was to borrow some 15"s off a mate as my 17"s were so bald i could see the wire :S, and it handled sooo much better i've decided to spend my loan on some new smaller rims. to all those wondering if 17"s affect your handling, yes. and not in a good way.

 

[How15]

next, tho i really intended to get the skirts sorted ASAP, i ended up buying some sport seats really cheap off a member on here via ebay, and treking 200 odd miles to shove em in the back of my clio! these pics still have the hoover lines in em lol!

 

[How15]

and the rear. painted the bits of metal that show where the bench fits in black to cover up the scratched finish. also steam cleaned the carpet while the car was gutted!

 

[How15]

quick shot of the door and the speaker!

 

[How15]

this week, i'm headin up to finally make the front fit flush, and clean the damn festival mud off! i've also got some eibach sportlines to fit.

 

[theduck]

nice to see such a cleanly modded non-sport! Haven't seen a ph1 none sport done so well since the green sheep!

 

[Timmay]

very nice indeed

 

[clio_greg]

looks gd bud. been wantin sport interior n a 172 front bumper for ageeeeeeeeees. the interiors usually crazy money and a can never find the 172 bumper lol

 

[How15]

yea, it's all about waiting. i check ebay every day (and my missis gets sooo bored lol) you'll eventually get it at the right price. the seats were £142, prob because they were pickup up north and with the duff slide and speaker cut outs, but i had big speakers already and was confident i could fix the slide!! still silly cheap tbh.
the bumper was £40 from a daft local scrappy who thought it was off a 182.
cheers 4 the comments, saw the green sheep in the 4 sale section, was a bit of an inspiration, just what id always wanted to do and done so well!

 

[Bigsy]

its looking good, looking forward to seeing the side skirts and the rear bumper when ure willing

 

[How15]

hey guys, no pics 2day, but progress (ish)! partly fitted the sportlines and took the focus out for a trial run with it's new engine, and all is good. pics 2mrw. if you want something to laugh at tho, 2day i managed to MELT my focus's old battery after leaving it on charge for a while, and pull out my clio's driveshaft dumping box oil over the floor and my feet. FTW.

 

[How15]

finally got some more progress piccies! been real busy, back to uni, still trying to get motivated to finish the focus too.
but fitted the sportlines, only pic is this, sadly back on the original 14's as my tyres are shot so i'm gonna finish the refurb b4 getting them back on. it handles like a dream btw. best money ever spent.

took the time to spray a few more details in matt black, makes a massive difference to the overall look.

plus fitted a 172 gaitor and sprayed some grab handles i got off R_M_bailey on here. the colour is honda nobel silver btw.

apologies for the filth and the grim matts/ pedals! they're going soon.

sprayed my front diamond white, quite pleased really!

and finally got my skirts! here they're prepped, primered, and the bottoms sprayed with anti-chip. they're painted now, will get shots of them fitted on wed. plus got a de-cat waiting as my cat's died!

 

[The Boosh!]

am sure i let you out of a junction near bramall lane on london road lol.

looking good now. alot better than before

 

[RickyP]

Car has really come a long way. Looks much better, good job.

 

[How15]

thank u! i'm really pleased with it at the mo, tho i'm running out of loan already! i'm just gonna colour code the rear and pc it now, tho thinkin of fitting an alpine x100 to go with my new pod. hopefully i can get some justmatz, pedals and wheels in the run up 2 xmas, want it shiney for next summer! i'm finally almost pleased enough to take it to a meet, used to b embarrased lol!

 

[mikey123]

How does your electric windows work with the ph2 doors?

 

[How15]

they're standard ph1 doors, came with electric windows. i've just fitted colour coded ph2 strips and coded the handles.if you mean the interior, they're standard ph1 172 doors, the switch set up is the same just in a different surround.