Jack's 182- Budget Track Toy

[Jack_S]

Good mornng all, welcome to my build thread! I'll admit straight off the bat that my Clio knowledge is very limited so bear with me. I've been on the look out for a cheap 172/182 for around the past 6 months to use as a bit of a budget track car. I drive a 2006 Honda S2000 daily and had the pleasure of taking it on a trackday last summer and as much fun as it was, I spent most of my track time worrying about binning it into a wall... So I came to the decision of buying a second car as a dedicated track car. After a bit of pondering I decided a clio sport was a solid choice for my budget and out-the-box performance. Fast forward to yesterday, after months of searching and many potential deals later I finally picked up a Clio 182! I got it at a complete steal and it was only located about half hour away from me so so far, so good.

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The car isn't perfect but thats to be expected for the price I paid. Plus I didnt want to ruin a perfect car! There is a small dent in the bumper, a scrape down the n/s bumper/wing and the wheels need a refurb but the previous owner says it's recently had new rear springs and shocks, new rear pads and a miltek cat back exhaust. there is some paperwork which I havent gone through yet so only time will tell if this is accurate.

Anyway progress on this will probably be rather slow as I work away a lot but the initial plans are to strip it down, slap a cage/braces in to stiffen it up, replace the steering wheel with I can't stand then focus on the handling- coilovers, arb's etc. The first job though, and my first question for you lot, the car needs 2 front tyres. I know it's a bit of a general question with no correct answer but can anybody recommend a good tyre for predominantly track use but with the provision that I will likely be driving to/from the track as well? Any recommendations appreciated. Thanks in advance and hopefully more will follow soon!

 

[Jack_S]

Started to make a bit of progress on my Clio at the weekend. First thing I did was order a rollcage- after speaking to a few of you off here I ordered the same half cage off eBay that a few of you seem to be running with. I messaged the guy direct and got a good deal on it so I was happy with that. Upon delivery I'm really happy with the quality of the welds and materials, however the n/s leg seems to be a little bent- not sure if this happened during delivery or what but I'll be having this bent back to the correct position using an oxy acetalyne torch before it is bolted in. I also need to make up some spreader plates too, something I may get around to this weekend.

Next on the shopping list was a bucket seat- mainly so I could strip the interior out and not worry about keeping the drivers seat in. I ordered up a new Sparco Sprint seat that came with side mounts and am happy with how comfy it is! I then started to rip out the innards of the car before placing in the cage to see how it looks (and it looks gooooood) and seeing about getting the seat fitted. After speaking to a few of you it appears I need a subframe in order to get this properly mounted so that will be ordered in a few days time.

I ran out of time on Sunday as I had to pop out but this weekend will see the rest of the unecessary interior bits removed- front doorcards, pillar trims, headlining etc as well as the wires tucked away properly in the back. I may look at removing the air con this weekend too depending what else crops up. I've also just ordered 2 Toyo Proxes T1R's for the front as the front tyres were bald when I bought the car. Plans are in time to get some lightweight wheels and semi-slicks but this will do for now. I have a potential trackday at Brands Hatch on April 27th so I'm hoping to have this in some sort of road/track worth state before then, albeit on standard suspension and brakes- my budget only stretches so far in a month!

On a side note- does anyone know how to edit the title of a thread? 'My new 182 Track Toy' is only relevant for the first post... I didnt think of that when I first posted it :confounded:

 

[+Doc+]

Looking good, any links to the parts you have bought, Im going down a similar route with a similar back story

 

[Jack_S]

Looking good, any links to the parts you have bought, Im going down a similar route with a similar back story :smile:

Hey man, sure no problem. Cage was from this guy:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/roll-cage...794679?hash=item1ead329eb7:g:yiUAAOSwBLlVXDUM

And seat was from JJC Race and Rally. I have a Ricco harness on the way too from a gumtree ad but they can be got for £100 new: https://www.ricco-racing.co.uk/

What are you hoping to do to yours? Any trackdays planned?

 

[+Doc+]

Cheers bud,
Getting the brakes and tyres sorted first then tracking her and seeing what she needs after.
Its going to be a budget build and i will try and do the work myself
Blyton Park in May will probably be the first outing.
Bit reluctant to strip her at present, but might change my mind.

 

[Jack_S]

Oh nice, yeah mine is intended to be a budget build too but we shall see how that ends! I have my eyes on some Gaz coilovers next and DS2500 pads with possibly some brembo discs too. And a new steering wheel too as I cant bare the standard one!

Yours does look rather good condition to be ripping apart, mine is fairly beaten so I had no issue with pulling it apart. Have you done Blyton Park before?

 

[+Doc+]

Never been on a track before! Always sticked to being a bufty then giving it beans on the road at the right times and places.
Going to retire the P1 now and look after it as a long term investment so needed something to keep me busy.
It's a good example to be fair, had a minor collision and Cat D with a few age related marks so I wouldn't have too much heartache doing whatever I please with it. Owes me very little, I've spend 1/8 the what I spent on it for the brakes alone
Looking forward to being a track noob and taking my time improving her as required.

 

[Jack_S]

Didnt have amuch time this weekend to do too much to the Clio but managed to get a few bits done. First up was having the new tyres fitted, I had 2x Toyo Proxes T1R fitted as thr fronts were very low on tread. As you can see the wheels have seen better days and need a refurb but thats pretty low on my list of prioroties at the moment.

The next job was to try and get my seat fitted. I managed to get a couple of subframes at a great price through a facebook parts group and picked up a universal runner from JJC Race and Rally and luckily they both turned up on Saturday so I could have a back at fitting them. I also managed to get a decent harness earlier in the week too so everythng was ready to go in. The subframes fit nice and easily as did the runner to the side mounts. I managed to get it in for a test fit and one thing that did become apparent was how hight the seat was sitting. I'm not the tallest but headroom was limited so not sure a helmet would fit in there too. Ill have to mount the seat lower on the side mounts but this shouldnt be an issue.

Whilst underneath the car I also inspected the exhauslt system- the guy who sold me the car did tell me it had a Milltek system and there was paperwork in the glove box to back this up but I was still uncertain (he did afterall neglect to tell me the car was a Cat D until I did a HPI check...) but as it turns out he was actually telling the truth! Which makes the car even more of a bargain consodering the price I got it for.

So not as much done this weekend as I'd planned, I'm hoping to take the headlining, door cards and any other unneeded trim out one evening this week if I get time. On an unrelated note though I did find time to take the hard top off the daily run around to enjoy some rare sunshine

 

[andyj007]

seats looking great
... s2000 looks amazing, how many miles on it

 

[Jack_S]

seats looking great
... s2000 looks amazing, how many miles on it

Thanks, still as in love with it as the day I picked it up! Has about 90,000 on the clock.

 

[Jack_S]

I managed to find a few spare hours Sunday evening to work on the Clio. One issue I'd had for a while and needed fixing before I could progress any further was that my cage didn't actually fit properly. The n/s front leg of the cage seemed to have been bent a little too far in when it was made- either that or it happened during postage but I very much doubt that- its rather strong! I needed to get the cage out of the car and have this issue corrected before I could properly fit the cage and seat up.

My brother kindly volounteered to help me sort this so we measured it up, took it to his work and got the Oxyacetylene torch on it and pulled it out.

It was about 4.75" out- so pretty noticeable. Once this was sorted though it was back in the car and bolted in properly. My old man made me up some spreader plates last week so it was all ready to go. Fitting was nice and easy and allowed me to finally get the runners and seat fitted properly. I mounted the seat on the lowest position on the the side mounts and its a good height for me- not too low but plenty of room for my head and a helmet!

As you can see in the pictures, I also got the roof lining and door cards off at some point last week. Its slowly taking shape! Another niggly job I had was to find a way to get rod of the airbag light on the dash- I need to get this car MOT'd this week so this was a case of taking the dash out and taping over the light or actually getting it to switch off. I went with the second option and after ordering 50 resistors off ebay for £1 and following the very handy guide on here (http://www.cliosport.net/threads/gu...light-removal-aftermarket-seats-wheel.630252/) I had the light off in no time!

So next on the list is fitting the harness- I've ordered some spreader plates/nuts and will be going through the floor as I cant work out where to mount them to existing points (any help here is appreciated) for the lap belts- the others will obviously be attached to the harness bar. Then after that it will be an MOT and hopefully some track time at Brands on the 27th!

 

[andyj007]

looking ace m8.......
was going to get a cage from the chap, so will give him a nod to double check... i have a sister not brother and she cant weld

 

[Jack_S]

Made some more progress with the Clio this past week. I've got an evening session at Brands booked for this Wednesday (27th) so needed to get a few thngs sorted for then. First job was to get the harness fitted- I forgot to actually get any pictures of this though. Next up was to tuck some wires in the front doors and rear. This wasnt a particularly necessary job I just didn't like how untidy it all looked, especially in the rear. Before:

I assumed this would be an easy job when I started and did the drivers side no problem. I then went to do the passenger side and quickly realised this was not so simple- the whole rear loom basically had to be pulled out and threaded through from the back, including the drivers side which I'd just done...

It looked much neater when finished though which I was happy with.

I had the car MOTd Saturday morning as I'd originally planned on driving the car to Brands on Wednesday but my dad has kindly volounteered to trailer the car there for me instead. I already had the MOT booked at my local garage (Trident in Marks Tey, great garage :wink::up though so seemed a waste to not use it, if only just to see what work the car needed. The MOT did throw up an issue of the OSR shock being almost totally f**cked to the point where it has very little movement. I knew something was up with this as there was a horrible knocking coming from there any time the car moved. Not such an issue in the long run as I'll be replacing the original suspention with GAZ coilovers soon. It may make the trackday on Wednesday a bit interesting though...

Sunday was spent tidying up the inside a little. Removed and remaining plastic clips left from the removed trim. I also removed the headunit (needed a code anyway) and the aerial and cable. The hole in the roof was filled with a carbon fibre dummy I'd had sitting about for years- at least I now have some carbon on the car!

Last job on the list was to fit a sunstrip as I'd already removed the sun visors previously. I made a very amatuer job if fitting it but it should do the job. Lastly, I test fit the GoPro to the cage to see what the angle was like. Hopefully I get some decent footage around Brands on Wednesday (did I mention I was going yet?)

.....Hopefully the next post wont begin with 'So I managed to bin the car around Paddock Hill Bend'....... Wish me luck!

 

[andyj007]

hope the track day went well jack.... looking forward to the report...
i will be replacing my rear & front shocks with cup versions this weekend... apparently its really easy... ive not looked at the condition of the existing ones.. but its just gone through the mot and has 60k on the clock.. your welcome to have them to tie you over until you get the coil overs if its any good to you chap..

 

[Jack_S]

Small update from my track session a week ago. I (well, my old man) trailered the car up to Brands for an evening session last Wednesday with two of my friends (in an EP3 Type R and a Renault 5 GT Turbo). I was unsure of what to expect as I'd only previously done 1 trackday before and it wasn't at Brands Hatch. I'd also not actually driven the car for more then 2 minutes since I'd owned it, so the thought of learning the track at the same time as the car was a bit daunting!

I have to say however, I was completely surprised with just how good the little Clio was. I had a constant smile on my face the entire time, from the sighting laps to the chequered flag. The car was surprisingly nippy and handled the corners rather well for a virtually standard car. Seeing as the only thing's I've really done so far is weight saving and a seat/rollcage the car did grip rather well! I was managing to take Paddock Hill Bend at 75-80mph toward the end which is a strange mixture of scary and thrilling.

I did learn a few things about the car though which was the real target for the day. the car definitely needs to be lower and stiffer so a set of Gaz coilovers with adjustable damping is a must for next time. Also on the list is a Whiteline ARB as I've heard good things. The brakes held up well for a standard setup but some Ferodo DS2500 up front should liven this up a little. Ill also probably go with some grooved pads and braided lines to really ensure braking is top notch. Two things that I hated about the car were the steering wheel and the gear shift. After driving an S2000 daily with its small wheel and it perfect short sharp gear change the clio felt horrible. I actually kept missing gears fairly regularly as I couldnt quite tell when it was in gear. Ive seen a short shifter kit on ebay but I wonder if it's actually any good- has anyone had any experience with this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400403778770?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
I may have a new steering wheel on the way from a mate, not sure I'll like it but it was cheap and I really hate the standard one.

Now for the reason we are all here- pictures!

Trailered up ready to go

My dad did take my camera and acted as photographer for the evening but I've yet to get these onto my computer so you will have to wait for action shots! I do have a screen grab from the GoPro footage though:

All in all the evening was an absolute hoot. The rain even managed to hold off until the final 10 minutes so that was a bonus too. I managed to pass quite a few cars which surprised me, including my friends Type Rs thet he just spent £1500 on... Not bad for a standard Clio . Now to get the next one booked and make the car even better in the meantime!

 

[andyj007]

great update... love that paddock hill view on last picture

 

[andyj007]

jack, educate me on hiding the wires, did you manage to get the lot to the side of the seats in the cill channels?

 

[Jack_S]

jack, educate me on hiding the wires, did you manage to get the lot to the side of the seats in the cill channels?

Nope, left that as it didnt bother me really. It was the the rear that I tucked.

 

[Jack_S]

Been a while since I made any sort of update. Not a lot has happened to the Clio since I took it round Brands. Some moron decided to drive into my Honda a few weeks ago so I've been a bit pre-occupied with that lately. Have been given a Merc to knock about in as a courtesy car.

Bought a few bits for the Clio though. Decided to clean it a few weeks ago- realised just how sh*t the paintwork is on the car. Good job I'm not bothered about it as a respray would definitely be needed if so.

Brought some vinyl numbers to slap on the car- for no reason other than I wanted it to look more like a race car. Probably not to everyone's liking but thats the beauty of car building I guess. Im happy with how it's looking.

I also got a 330mm OMP steering wheel from a mate- not sure how legit it is but it seems pretty sturdy and for the price I paid it would have been a crime to turn it down. Not fitted yet but will hopefully get round to that this weekend.

And finally, picked up some new track wheels this weekend from a nice chap in Birmingham. They are Wolfrace
(yeah yeah I know :unamused but are the Ultralite's from their TrackReady range so hopefully they do a job. 15x6.5" ET35 so will get some sticky tyres for them and see how they fare. Got them for a steal, especially seeing as they have just been refurbed. I actually think they look pretty good.

Still on the lookout for some coilovers before I next track the car so if you have any let me know. Other than that, I'll hopefully fit the steering wheel this weekend and depending how bored I get, I may test fit a wheel to see how it looks.

 

[andyj007]

nice wheels :smile: shame about the honda crsash m8

 

[Jack_S]

nice wheels :smile: shame about the honda crsash m8

Cheers Andy, quite happy with the wheels actually. I think they will make a nice change from the usual Speedlines/F1's on every clio. Honda crash isnt ideal but insurance is dealing with it and it was definitely his fault so should be fine. Get my car back this weekend I think, cant wait!

 

[Greeny.]

Interested to see the wheels on the car

 

[Jack_S]

Interested to see the wheels on the car :smile:

Me and you both! Hopefully will get a test fit tomorrow, no tyres yet though.

 

[Jack_S]

Attempted to fit the new steering wheel at the weekend. Managed to get the old one off before realising that the boss I've bought doesnt fit... On the look out for a correct one now. Bolted the airbag-less bus wheel back on for the time being.

 

[Jack_S]

Not updated this is a while. Not done much to the clio because, life. Have managed to make a few small changes to the car since the last update so here they are.

First up, got my Honda back from the garage and its looking lovely again. Not a Clio update but still. Went on a nice drive the day I got it back and snapped a few pictures, including the one below.

Managed to finally fit my OMP wheel and snap-off boss. No horn wired up yet but I'll get round tot his at some point.

Also managed to procure some track tyres for my new wheels. Got hold of a set of mildy used Advan A048's so looking forward to seeing how these fare on my next outing.

And finally, I actually got around to test fitting the new wheels to the car. There are a few fitting issues, namely the rear wheel bolts catching a little so shorter bolts or spacers needed, and also spigot rings needed for the hubs- the centre bores are far too large for the hubs. Im happy with how they look though.

I have also attempted to restore the headlights but they need another go as they are worse than I thought. I've also sprayed the grille satin black it was very faded and looked awful, but forgot to picture this. Obviously the main remaining issue is the ride height- I have been on the lookout for suitable coilovers but I dont want to break the bank as I'm in no real rush at the present moment. Thats pretty much it for this year, I'm hoping to crack on with this next year and get a good few trackdays under my belt, having only managed the one in the Clio this year.