Chris's 172 Cup Turbo

[cjgower]

Hello everyone, I've made another thread before about my previous 172 Cup which I sold in 2013. Got the new ST, change of circumstances in work and new priorities ( house deposit ) meant that it wasn't worth it anymore.

I've since purchased another Cup however already had some issues. 3 Previous Owners, 76,000 miles and seemed like a decent price. No record on any of the belts being changed so thats at the very top of the list.

The car has already developed a misfire and has gone back to the garage for them to fix. Hoping I haven't purchased myself an absolute dog of a cup but we shall see. Overall the shell is great with only a few ages related marks and scratches. Nothing a bit of TLC won't fix!

Car seems standard except for some silly R.S badges on the side and some yellow Eibach lowering springs. They will be coming off and replaced with some Cooksport springs like my last car. Almost certain the exhaust is aftermarket too as it's a lot louder than my last one.

The list of things i'm going to be doing:

• KTR Braided brake lines
• Brembo High Carbon front discs
  
• Stealth Exhaust
• Cooksport lowering springs
• Front Splitter
• Turini's refurbished in silver
• K-Tec induction kit ( not so OEM, but the noise is :up
• Refurbished steering wheel
• Uprated Engine Mounts

 

[imprezaworks]

Love a nice cup

 

[Ocsltd]

Nice purchase. I've just picked on up myself, I'll be going down a similar route as you, so will keep an eye on this thread.....

 

[PP200t]

Congrats mate. Looks a nice example. Lovely stance. .

 

[PP200t]

P.s Let me know if you sell the yellow springs mate please

 

[cjgower]

P.s Let me know if you sell the yellow springs mate please

Thanks mate. I'll let you know when I sell them.

 

[cjgower]

So the cup above turned out to be a disaster. Engine needed replacing and the garage I purchased from was less than helpful so after a lot of phone calls I finally managed to get my money back. I went and purchased another cup back from a friend who I sold it too only November last year.

It needs quite a bit of work, so it's going to be something of a project to restore it back to its former glory. I've taken the first few steps and today my order from @G 172 came. Proper excited to get this all fitted:

• Front HC discs
• Front M1144 pads
  
• Rear Brembo discs
  
• Rear Mintex oe pads
• Supergold brake fluid
• Goodridge brake lines

 

[cjgower]

Oh and today I fitted my own induction kit rather than pay for K-tec one which seems like quite a popular alternative after a couple of other users suggested I make my own and linked me to here. Only have rubbish phone pictures at the moment, apologies.

 

[darkbluesheep]

Looks like you are missing the fuel rail guard at the front of your engine mate. Worth getting that back on there.
Saw your thread about the dodgy dealer, glad you got your money back.

 

[cjgower]

Looks like you are missing the fuel rail guard at the front of your engine mate. Worth getting that back on there.
Saw your thread about the dodgy dealer, glad you got your money back.

You are right! I never even noticed that haha. Thanks mate.

 

[George@RTR_Parts]

It needs quite a bit of work, so it's going to be something of a project to restore it back to its former glory. I've taken the first few steps and today my order from @G 172 came. Proper excited to get this all fitted:

• Front HC discs
• Front M1144 pads
  
• Rear Brembo discs
  
• Rear Mintex oe pads
• Supergold brake fluid
• Goodridge brake lines

Those will sort your brakes out Chris :up:

 

[cjgower]

So I haven't updated this in a while and it seems like a lot has happened since. I'm not one to take pictures every couple of minutes so I've only got a few...
Had the bumper fully resprayed and fitted a new KTEC carbon splitter as I couldn't find any OEM ones other than the Skoda splitter which I'm not a fan of. I've also fitted Xenons with grey insert. They aren't OEM but I do have some brand new black insert standard lights to go in when and if I get bored.
So yeah... here it is looking fantastic. Even sprayed the grills satin black too:

And 24 hours after getting all of this sorted and spending the best part of £360, I HIT A BADGER. First road kill in 5 years of driving and it was the day after I did all this..

Pretty gutted atm. Sourced another bumper in Monaco blue so I will be getting it sprayed again for £120 as I know the bodyshop and they felt pretty sorry for me lol. But for now the car is looking a little sorry.
Apologies for portrait photos, i'll avoid them from now on.

 

[Stefan.]

Jesus christ, that is bad luck!

Hope you get it sorted too

 

[cjgower]

Jesus christ, that is bad luck!

Hope you get it sorted too

Thanks mate. There really was nothing I could do. It was dark and on a dual carriageway so the impact happened at 70 mph.

 

[PP200t]

Gutted mate, at least you were ok. They are supposed to be solid little things to hit.

 

[harry999]

gutted for your lovely cup and that poor badger. Hope to see you car freshen up soon.

 

[cjgower]

gutted for your lovely cup and that poor badger. Hope to see you car freshen up soon.

Yeah I felt sorry for the badger as well. I went back to see what was what. It was dead so it didn't suffer for long...

 

[cjgower]

So since last posting I sourced a new front bumper complete with fog surrounds, fog lights and the lower grill from a Monaco blue 172, all for £70!. Got it sprayed and now it's back on the car. In the meantime I also had a go at refurbishing the wheels to varying degrees of success and now I've taken some proper photos.

Side View: Planning to add new '172 Cup' badges on the door pillars but not much else.

Brand new K-Tec supersports recessed exhaust fitted. Sounds brilliant. Notice the swirls in the paint needs some proper love.

More swirls in the paint :/

Xenon's beaming. They are grey insert.. not too convinced at the moment. I do have some brand new standard headlights that I am tempted to fit...

This is the rear arch with some pretty bad rust. Had it looked at and apparently it had been sprayed a few times before. Below is how it looks now after being sorted by a local bodyshop.

Rear centre caps missing. Add that to the 'to do list'

Front end looks really fresh now. I sprayed all the grills satin black and put fresh number plates on. Really happy with the new bumper, just need another splitter now.

I reckon I did ok on the wheel refurb. At the front anyway. The rears were a nightmare to do.

Better tyres are also on my wish list.

Fitted a new clear number plate light surround and LED bulb.

Refurbed front wheel (complete with new kerbing) and freshly painted black callipers.

Overall it's coming along nicely.

 

[cjgower]

Some more updates. A lot of £'s have been spent recently, but slowly the car is coming together. A quick list of what i've done in the past month:
Ordered some new Cup badges for the doors and rear. Also got some fresh Turini centre caps.

New standard splitter also purchased and fitted. Looks so nice now :grinning:.
Had the car detailed by @Kyle 86 who did a fantastic job. Couldn't be happier with how the car looks now. Not the best pictures but decent enough for now.

Took the Xenons out and fitted some brand new standard lights which made it look like new ( i'll get better pictures next week )
Grey insert Xenons coming out:

New lights fitted:

This weekend i got some proper rubber on the wheels as well. Went for Michellin PS3's 205/45/R16. They look huge!

The car is now on axel stands and the wheels are being refurbished this week. Once thats done and all the other little bits are done i'll update with lots of photos...

 

[Kyle 86]

Its really starting to come along now mate. Love it

 

[cjgower]

Got the wheels back Yesterday from Lepsons and couldn't be happier with how they look. Fitted them to the car along with some new wheel nuts.

Brand new centre caps in!

Fresh wheel nuts from Euro Car Parts.

Fitted and looking spot on.

A few of the splitter as well.

Thats all for now. Would like to have done more today but the weather is rubbish.

 

[cjgower]

Quick update with plenty of pictures:
My Magnecor Leads finally came today so I managed to fit them along with a new set of NGK spark plugs to help the car run a bit better. It was misfiring a little bit.
Also managed to sort my reverse lights out which i'm really pleased about. £10 off ebay for a new switch and now they work perfectly!
Also did an engine bay tidy up and put on the 172 Cup badges.
Oil change and new switch.

How the engine looked this morning:

It was pretty messy when I took the top off as well.

A lot of scrubbing later and it looked like this. I then applied some VHT silver paint, nothing perfect, just enough to make it look better.

The plugs were pretty old and past it.

New :up:

Leads all fitted. Top back on. Looking good!

Wheel off, reverse switch out and replaced. Took a while to get out due to not having the right tools.

After that it was wash time! Snow foam...

Then went for a drive to get a few more photos.

Ready for FCS!

 

[yeecup]

Looks fantastic! Great work on bringing it back to former glory.

 

[guysy]

Nice additions, looking great all together.

 

[Stefan.]

Nice work, car looks great

 

[hsustyle]

We use same spot for pics :smile:
Give me a shout sometime and get some pics

 

[Smiffyboy1990]

Love this! such a great job bringing it back minty freshness

 

[Poopensharten]

Looks superb mate, i've said before and stick by it - these threads sell cars! I kept a progress thread on my own Cup and it definitely helped!

 

[cjgower]

@Danny_172 Cheers mate. Thats a good point, never really thought about that but it's a good incentive to keep a project thread updated regularly!. @hsustyle Yeah mate we will have to meet up and take some photos, nice Cup btw.

 

[BREMBO]

I really like the fact you put the standard headlights back in.

The way a Cup should be! very nice work

 

[cjgower]

I really like the fact you put the standard headlights back in.

The way a Cup should be! very nice work

Thanks mate. Putting the standard headlights back in was easily the best decision I've made.

 

[hsustyle]

Do you have details for where you had front bumper resprayed? Mine is pitted with stonechips The bonnet is just as bad.

 

[hsustyle]

Let me know if you're about this weekend, I can also bring my 200 and have it sandwiched by two Cups!

Two Sundays a month me and some mates tend to do a drive, weather dependant.
Few nice cars, supercharged Gti-6, 16v Rallye, Starlet Turbo, couple of Clios,Evo 7, turbod 205 gti, R8, Megane 250 F1 etc. You should tag along!

 

[cjgower]

@hsustyle wanna meet up and take some photos tonight mate?

 

[hsustyle]

@hsustyle wanna meet up and take some photos tonight mate?

Ah man would love to but mums birthday so I'm out for a meal in t Wells. Sold the Cup to my twin but he'd be up for it sometime, I'll just bring the 200.

Let me know another time, I'm free most evenings

 

[cjgower]

@hsustyle It's ok mate, was very short notice I know!. Oh ok cool, yeah bring the 200 for sure! Pretty busy the rest of the week so perhaps some time next week.

 

[Kyle 86]

We need pictures soon man

 

[Waite_87]

Lovely this. I run 205/45/16's too. Still not sure how I feel about them.

 

[Matthew]

Car looks lovely mate, just how it should. Perfect.

 

[cjgower]

@Kyle 86 we do mate! we should meet up soon. @Matthew thank you mate