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The least original Iceberg 172 ever! (Plenty of pics)



The day I brought her home. After nearly a year of not having a car I was ecstatic!
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Bough from eBay (after checking it out) for the bargain price of £1200 she came totally standard with a rusty exhaust, no MOT or service history!

It ran incredibly well, and I wasn't put off by no service history because I had most eventualities covered. Interior is perfect bar a couple of slightly rough thumb grips. Outside slightly worse for ware with stone chips and marks, but for a 10 year old car I wasn't too fussed.

I had the required work done for the MOT, new rear discs and front tyres. I also found a cheap backbox from eBay for £60 because I was broke at this point.
What with the service history being unknown, I also had 'the works' done down at RenTech Portsmouth, a full cam-belt kit, aux belt kit, dephaser, water pump, oil and filter along with fresh coolant.

Next was some servicing of my own... Checked everything out and also sprayed the top grill, fog surround and badges in satin black. Also chucked on a Skoda splitter.
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Still being broke and not having money to do 'real mods' I got some illegal plates...
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And an RS200 badge to get rid of my badly sprayed rear Clio badge.
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So Christmas came and I had a big month at work, so the car was treated to some goodies...
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Cooksport springs, OEM dampers, and genuine Trophy wheels with centercaps and tyres.

They were fitted soon after.
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And they look the business. This is before they settled so they are a tad lower now but they sit bang on. Love the look and love the feel on the road.
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Smart levels of lows allowed me to perform my civil duties, as a snow plow...
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Then DISASTER!
It threw a plug about 4 weeks ago. The damage to the offending articles speaks for itself, only the inlet stopped the plug going through the bonnet.
It ate an HT Lead...
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... and jackhammered the plug. This is compare to an old plug I had hanging around.
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Compression test = OK
Endoscope = OK

New HT leads, New coil pack, new spark plug, and Voila! Right as rain.

A few weeks prior to the above incident, I decided it were high time to do something about the eBay back box and rotting centre pipe which at this point sounded like I was dragging a bag of nails behind me. A gorgeous Piper Exhaust with 3.5" tailpipe was on my doorstep 4 days later. I was sat with this in the garage for a month before finally getting to fit it.

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Get her in the air!
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Before.
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Old Vs. New
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Fitting the new pipe was an absolute doddle. New mid and rear hangers, a gasket and some high temp silicone and she was done. For anyone thinking about going for a recessed exhaust, definitely take off the rear bumper and get the zaust sitting BANG ON before you think about making a mark for a cut. I have no doubt it will save you much heartache when your bumper doesn't fit on the gap where you pipe exits.
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Then I grabbed a cup spoiler just for the final touch.
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This is the car as of this morning.
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On Wednesday, I'm off to see Dan @ 519 for a 12k service, some ARP rod bolts and sump reseal (she's been leaking for a little while, time to do something about it), also a thermostat change and coolant flush. Can't remember the last time I was able to hoof it properly, damn cold-map.

Another pressing issue which I will be all over next payday is the brakes. With no service history the only thing I new about them was that the rear discs were changed for the MOT when I bought it.
At present, the rear o/s caliper is totally seized. So that will need replacing, along with new rear pads all round. I figure at the same time I will get a hold of some Goodridge braided hosing, DS2500 front pads, Brembo front disc and a total flush of the brake fluid.

​At that point I believe the car will totally solid, mechanically, bar a few minor bits.

Which leaves this must-do list...
  1. New windscreen - cracked by a falling log in the car park at work, gutted!
  2. New washer pump - totally SNAFU, no front or rear screen wash and no headlight wash, which leads me too...
  3. Headlight washer delete - they look crap and they don't do anything. New MOT says that's a fail so better all round if they werent there. This leaves a dilemma, because I hate the carbon ones, and silver blanks are few and far between. Current plan is get some old cup ones and give them the satin black treatment.
  4. Headlight auto-adjuster - either to be fixed or removed. Headlights constantly search for level making a god damn racket. I've not been able to find out the best solution for this, so any insight is welcome. Will need to be fixed for the MOT in November.
And this 'to-do' list...
  1. New tyres all round
  2. Engine mounts - likely uprated - definitely powerflex dog bone.
  3. Fit Yanoo's Stiff shift kit
  4. Poly Bushes on the front end
  5. Pure Motorsports top mount and strut brace
  6. Whiteline RARB
  7. Steering wheel re-trim
  8. New Clutch
  9. Induction change - Maybe an RS2, maybe just matched inlets, definitely a new filter set up.
  10. Remap to go with the above - 98ron with increased redline (hence ARP rod-bolts)
In no particular order.

The Yanoo Stiff Shift Kit
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Can't wait to get it fitted, but pussied out doing it yesterday because my engine mounts are desperate for replacement and I don't need a shagged gearbox as well.

I'm going to try and get a video of the exhaust because there are very few videos around showing them in action and I think they'd be far more popular if more people had heard them.

That's all for an up to date history, I will add bits and pieces here as they happen, largely for my own amusement.
 
Thanks, I'm dead happy with it, looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Definitely want to get some more performance from it, but not until I've covered it's longevity.
 
Seems like new thermostat has done the business.

Car runs awesome.

Next up... To change "the worst dogbone mount I have ever seen." - Dan @ 519 ;)

And new rear caliper and pads.
 
First proper update!

So I bought a cheap gear lever off eBay to fit my Yanoo kit into before removing the old one. Described as 'A+' and it looks like this on the underside...
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I won't add who it was, at least until they have had the allotted time to fix the issue. What I will say is that, to my knowledge, they don't trade on this forum.

Infact, I had loads of nice bits to fit over the weekend...
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Brembo HC Discs
Mintex 1144 front pads
Mintex OEM rear pads
ATE Superblue DOT4
(all courtesy of G 172)
Goodridge brake lines
Powerflex Dogbone mount
Richbrook gear knob

So back in the air...
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Out with the Dogbone, and my god it was bad. When Dan said it was bad, I had my suspicions, the gear change had never been great and the pick up always seemed a little slow compared to other 172s I've been in.
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Wasn't actually much left on the small end.

MMM Poly...
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Next up was the pesky seized rear caliper.
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No pictures, but I grabbed one from Renparts and they came through again. So on it went with the new pads.
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Then the fronts. My god the fronts.
I took off the front offside and the caliper and both the carriers were completely seized. So I ripped 'em open in the vice, wire-wooled the rust and grime away and filled them with some silicon grease. Smoothest. Carriers. Ever. I doubt they came out the factory that smooth.

I also dropped one of the carriers at some point and spent nearly 2 hours looking for it, whilst swearing profusely.

New discs went on and when I was done it looked a little something like this.
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I've still not fitted the brake lines. The rear lines were so stiff I didn't know how to begin taking them out, not really sure what I expected. The fronts, well, it turns out the caliper on the off side front doesn't have a bleed nipple as some genius sheered it off - guilty as charged. So I bled the rears with boggo DOT4 from the local auto factors and I'll be looking at aquiring the services of someone with a workshop for the lines and the removal of a sheared bleed nipple - any takers?!

I did make an attempt to fit the stiff shift. However, after chewing up 3 torx bits (all made of swiss cheese) just trying to remove some of the heat shielding, I gave up and I'll have to find someone with either an impact driver and some strong torx bits and a ramp to get the job done properly.

The brakes are awesome. Both in braking and in not being stuck on all the time.

Current issues from first post still to fix... All of them. I will be arranging the required parts in the coming weeks.

Also new tyres + tracking next month, as my nearside outer is bald and the rest will probably follow soon... I figure it doesn't make sense not get the tracking done and not fit solid top mounts first so that *might* happen as well.
 
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New windscreen is in and I fixed my front and rear washers! Great success.

Next job is upper engine mounts. I think having put the dogbone in has revealed just how bad the uppers are...
 
Mounts and Yanoo's shifter went in!

Assume the position!
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Don't have a crane and didn't dare supportthe engine buy it's sump, time for some leverage!
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In with the new mount.
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Now for the otherside, and a new support, wound up by a couple of nuts on a random exhaust clamp that was lying around, hanging off the lever for the jack.
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Off with the cover, reassuring to see cam belt in good condition.
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And in with the new mount.
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Dropped the old shifter out...
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...and in with the new!
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What a difference! I'm really not noticing the increased vibration a lot of people talk about, but accelerating feels so much more immediate.

Really happy with Yanoo's Shifter as well, makes the whole shift feel much more deliberate and feels great! Yanoo's instructions are incredible as well, everything went better than expected.


Which leaves this must-do list...
  1. Headlight washer delete
  2. Headlight auto-adjuster - either to be fixed or removed.
And this 'to-do' list...
  1. New tyres all round
  2. Poly Bushes on the front end
  3. Pure Motorsports top mount and strut brace
  4. Whiteline RARB - Group buy available, 1 spot left! http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?703478-June-whiteline-ARB-group-buy/page2
  5. Steering wheel re-trim
  6. New Clutch
  7. Induction change
  8. Remap to go with the above
In no particular order.
 
They do with the metal shims still in place, which mine have. I'm going to take them out this weekend as I've heard that will alleviate the problem.

The deciding factor for me was they are half the price of the DS2500, whilst still being better than OEM pads. I've been really happy with them, couldn't advise for a track car as I've not been near one!
 
  172 cup, Impreza P1
Nice thread mate.

Supporting by the sump is fine. Just have a piece of wood between the jack and the sump. Like the make shift crane though!
 
  clio 182 sport
They do with the metal shims still in place, which mine have. I'm going to take them out this weekend as I've heard that will alleviate the problem.

The deciding factor for me was they are half the price of the DS2500, whilst still being better than OEM pads. I've been really happy with them, couldn't advise for a track car as I've not been near one!

let me know how you get on, i couldnt deal with squeeling brakes as i use mine daily :)
 


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