RB PH1 172 Rally Car Progress

[Hazza462]

So two weeks ago me and my girlfriend (Alex) bought a ph1 172 car with a full weld in roll cage by Custom Cages. We wanted it as a project to do over the summer break whilst off University and our intention is to have it as a track only car and maybe compete in it one day .

The pics below show the car in the condition we brought it, needing a lot of TLC and some work doing to it.

One of the previous owners facelifted the car putting a ph2 front end on it and ph2 rear lights. But a full ph1 front end and rear lights have been bought and I will be collecting and fitting them in the next couple of months!

Covered in surface rust .

Came with a missing airbox - but have managed to source a PH1 172 Airbox for it luckily and is sitting at home waiting to be fitted!

 

[Joe Smart]

Ignore me
Best of luck

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Hazza462]

No its a ph1 with a ph2 front end, as is stated in the post Thankyou though.

It's a phase 2, best of luck with it

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Joe Smart]

No its a ph1 with a ph2 front end, as is stated in the post Thankyou though.

Yeah I didn't read it jumping the gun a bit. My mistake

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Hazza462]

We knew the car had been sitting for many years when we bought it and so knew there was a possibility of the engine being seized. Once we got it back at the lockup we tried cranking it by hand - it was seized solid .

At least the dogs were happy about it.

Anyway... We took the inlet manifold off and filled the bores with Paraffin; left it a couple days and voila! The engine was now free! Now we needed just need to connect all the looms back up and get it starting by the key.. which is proving very timely and difficult.

Picture of it when we got it back next to the 133 Cup daily.

 

[Hazza462]

The surface rust plaguing the car interior needed sorting. So earlier this week we dug out the sandpaper and spent two whole days sanding all the inside down. Exhausting work - but the results were worth it. It now looks a completely different car!

After sanding the cage down we begun removing all the sound deadening. All of it bar the roof is out now and will tackle that in the near future.

Interior all masked up, sanded and ready for priming to prevent surface rust coming back!

And what a difference it has made!! All done with rattle cans and a lot of elbow grease, but we are over the moon with the results and really happy with the progress we are making in our spare time.

Next jobs include:
• Grinding off anything uneccessary & repriming surrounding area.
• Checking any missed patches of primer now its dry.
• Sanding the cage down ready for painting - and paint the cage.
• Fix all the connections and get the car starting by the key!

Will try update this after each bit of work if I remember .

 

[Hazza462]

Took out the last of the sound deadening located on the roof and removed the horrid fabric material heat shield thing today from the engine bay, makes it look so much better and will eventually replace it with a Nimbus one once the cars running and actually being used. Ground off the rear seat brackets too and some other bits and pieces to make it look tidier, quite happy with the results .

Also took out the heater box and everything associated with it, should save a fair chunk of weight!

Found some more pesky sound deadening tar... I will remove it tomorrow if I get chance.

Would be interesting to see how much weight we've saved so far tbh So weird how heavy all the sound deadening was; wish we'd of weighed it now but it must have been over 5kg!

 

[Hazza462]

Made some more progress yesterday with the help of a friend whos good with electrics. After I connected everything inside the car and earthed it all back up after the priming, we tried starting the car by the key. Unfortunately no power is getting to the starter motor. We investigated, following the voltage on the ignition wire from the key barrel up to the fuse relay box where the voltage was fine going in, but nothing coming out.

We traced the wires to the centre relay (missing in picture) and figured this is connected to the starter. We swapped the 3 small relays round and bridged them and concluded that they were all broken Very strange indeed. Anyway I've been to the scrapyard today and picked 3 up so hopefully this resolves the issue.
On another note... Don't think the car will start anyway after fixing this wiring issue as the engine is still too tight to be turned by the starter Looks like it might be time to strip it down and rebuild.

Anddd on a positive note, the ph1 headlights arrived today; just need to pick up the front end and rear lights next month. Bought a Momo steering wheel boss also - awaiting delivery.

Alex has been busy making the car look prettier in places with cheap little touches.
Homemade wiper blank sprayed satin black with a 13mm rubber grommet.

Fresh paint on the oil cap in the yellow we will be spraying the cage with on Sunday

Think she wants to sand and spray the inlet manifold black with yellow 'Renaultsport' writing as her next job. Also shes in the process of spraying the boot lock surround satin black to match the wiper delete.

Slowly getting there. Very slowly:unamused: .

 

[Coops Mk1]

Nice work and glad your returning it to phase 1 front end
Shame about the engine too

 

[Marky_]

Nice project and good progress so far :up:

 

[Hazza462]

Nice work and glad your returning it to phase 1 front end
Shame about the engine too

Thankyou, me too it looks so much nicer!:hearteyes: Will be spraying the car Racing Blue with Yellow details in the style of the 2006 Renault F1 cars :smile:

Nice project and good progress so far :up:

Cheers! :tonguewink: Getting there slowly...

 

[kye172]

Nice progress.
Will look much better when its back to phase 1.
Is that not a phase 2 fly by wire throttle body it has on?

 

[Hazza462]

Nice progress.
Will look much better when its back to phase 1.
Is that not a phase 2 fly by wire throttle body it has on?

Thankyou! Yeah it will look mint cannot wait :smile:
Yes it is the fly by... Well spotted, it has an engine out of a ph2 and ph2 throttle pedal, but its dead anyway so will be swapping the engine in the near future.

 

[barnesautos]

Nice progress.
Will look much better when its back to phase 1.
Is that not a phase 2 fly by wire throttle body it has on?

It's gunna need a loom then , as it's got a Ph2 FBW loom and pedal in it .
I'm assuming it's been swapped , or the shell is in fact a Ph2 with Ph1 bits on it

 

[Hazza462]

It's gunna need a loom then , as it's got a Ph2 FBW loom and pedal in it .
I'm assuming it's been swapped , or the shell is in fact a Ph2 with Ph1 bits on it

Yeah its got a ph2 loom in it, nope deffo a ph1, numberplate in pics is the incorrect one for the shell.

 

[kye172]

I only know because mine has the standard sticky throttle body issue if not cleaned regular. Hopefully you can find a good lump to stick in

 

[Hazza462]

I only know because mine has the standard sticky throttle body issue if not cleaned regular. Hopefully you can find a good lump to stick in

Haha wasn't aware of that! Thankyou, think we've managed to find a ph2 donor car which we'll be collecting in the near future :grin::car:

 

[Hazza462]

Before I write about anything else... We have sorted a donor car with a working engine!!! So that's the biggest hurdle of this project dealt with now imo. Good thing also is we can take a load of spare parts off it such as gearbox etc and then it will be going to Clio Heaven:innocent:😢. Also we can swap the looms over to get rid of this puzzling electrical fault.
Long term plan is to keep the current engine, strip it down and rebuild with Meg internals if it isn't completely broken. But I'm not throwing any money at that until the car is completely where we want it to be.

Anyway...Did a few more small bits on the car yesterday.

Drilled out the spot welds of the rear seat brackets and chiseled them off. Just needs sanding smooth and re-priming. Much neater than before.

Painted the back of the cage in our chosen yellow:hearteyes:. Really want the ph1 front end now but its finding the time to collect it from Norfolk when we live in Stoke-on-Trent :sweat:.

The final colour scheme/livery we're going for is in the style of the 2006 Renault F1 Team - we think it will look stunning and really stand out! Will be using Racing Blue and Fiat Broom Yellow for all the details.

Will post an update when we get the donor car and with a picture of all 3 of our Renault Sports :laughing::spanner:

 

[Akay]

I have ph1 rear lights and ph1 bonnet in Derby if needed, the bonnets been smoothed.

 

[Hazza462]

I have ph1 rear lights and ph1 bonnet in Derby if needed, the bonnets been smoothed.

Already bought those, thankyou for the offer mate!

 

[seanpeat309]

Interested too see how this turns out! I've been building a 172 Ph2 track car since last month. Im five miles from donnigton park, im guessing thats your nearest track too?

 

[Hazza462]

Interested too see how this turns out! I've been building a 172 Ph2 track car since last month. Im five miles from donnigton park, im guessing thats your nearest track too?

Thankyou! Hopefully it will be good lol... Just taking our time with it and doing everything right - no rush! Yeah its a toss up between there and Oulton Park, will have to go for some trackdays once they're both built, I'll have a look for your thread on here if you've got one?

 

[Marky_]

Good choice of livery. Loved those Mild Seven Renaults!

 

[Hazza462]

Good choice of livery. Loved those Mild Seven Renaults!

Thankyou, me too I always loved them when I was growing up!

 

[seanpeat309]

Thankyou! Hopefully it will be good lol... Just taking our time with it and doing everything right - no rush! Yeah its a toss up between there and Oulton Park, will have to go for some trackdays once they're both built, I'll have a look for your thread on here if you've got one?

Not got one yet! There's not really been a lot to see, we have basically replaced everything, New shocks, cooksport springs and decent pads etc. Polybushed everywhere too!

Il put some pictures up when it gets going


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hazza462]

Picked up the donor car yesterday, absolutely fell for it on the drive home. Really don't want to break it as it's such a lovely car:sob:.
Engine felt superb pulled really well and the gearbox was also brilliant so will be keeping that as a spare. Just needs a lambda sensor to sort a slight misfire - but no probs as will just swap it for the one on our track car's engine! Happy days.

The 172 felt slightly inferior to my Twingo Cup handling wise but in a straight line its clearly miles ahead of the Twingo. However they both put an equally large smile on my face:grin:. Renault Sport's really are special.

Anyway enough soppy stuff, here it is!:hearteyes:

Some of the bits we will be swapping over from it include:
- Powerflex steering rack bushes.
- ARB Bushes.
- 182 Cup Front Subframe - polybushed.
- Cup lower arms.
- Ball joints, steering arms, genuine clutch, driveshafts, rod ends and boots. (All of these are brand new!:smile
- Engine and all wiring.

Will be scrapping the rest after, the car itself is in brilliant condition tbf! If anyone needs anything from it how big or small just drop me a message and we'll sort something out :blush:.

Twingo Creepin':car:.

Glad we've got the donor - can really get stuck in with this project now!! Next job is to obviously take the engine out of both cars and put the working loom and engine in our track car.

 

[Hazza462]

Whilst I was at work Sunday, Alex and her dad were hard at work prepping the car for the engine transplant. They pulled out all the looms and wires both inside and out; ECU everything!

Shall be swapping over this loom for the loom in the donor car as we know everything with that is working as it should - and everything is intact, unlike the one that has been removed.

They also took out all the Aircon Pipework and Aircon Radiator, leaving just the pump left, which we're leaving in place until we get our hands on either a AC Delete Kit or Cup Alternator Setup. Looking into purchasing an EPAS conversion as we might as well do it while everything is going to be out of the car.

Bay looks empty now with all the wiring and lots of pipework gone :smile:. Should make it a lot easier to take out the engine. Need to make some plates to be welded into the holes in the bulkhead to stop water getting in now all the heater box is removed.

Looking into buying some Vibratechnics Engine and Gearbox mounts and some Powerflex Black Series bushes for the Twisted Dogbone too, ideal time to fit them while the engines being swapped over.

 

[Typhoon]

Sometimes I wonder if this is the new Gaydar website..

All these posts and no one has requested pics of girlfriend?

Good progress mate.

 

[Hazza462]

Sometimes I wonder if this is the new Gaydar website..

All these posts and no one has requested pics of girlfriend?

Good progress mate.

Ffs:tearsofjoy:😂
Cheers mate :up:​

 

[Hazza462]

Driveshafts are now out, radiator is out and all coolant pipes are disconnected in prep for the engine being removed.
Engine is being removed by Alex's dad while we are both at work tonight! :smile:

Everything ready for the engine transplant now :tongueout:

Whilst crawling under the car yesterday noticed it had a dirty decat :smirk: Obviously as sensible owners we will not be using this on the road at all...:wink:

We started to strip down the donor car yesterday and are trying to sell the bits we don't need for cheap so if anyone needs anything just shout up and we'll see what we can do!

This Sunday we will be travelling from Stoke on Trent to near Norwich to collect some important parts for the PH1, sold to us by a really nice lad named Jordan! We are collecting:

• PH1 Bonnet
• PH1 Wings
• PH1 Front Bumper & Grill
• PH1 Sideskirts
• Cup Alternator Setup
• And hes letting us grind some metal off his PH1 very kindly due so that we can get rid of the PH2 bits that have been welded on.

So next week we should be putting the PH1 front end back on thankfully and it shall be restored! :hearteyes: Can't wait to get it running and then painted.

I've also purchased some KTEC Uprated Engine mounts which are in the post now. And bought some Silverstone Wet tyres in 15" at a bargain price of £25 posted a tyre NEW!! Just need some wheels now lol 😂... they're last on the list tho. Hopefully buying an EPAS rack this Saturday, after that the purchases can settle down quite a lot which our bank accounts will appreciate:neutral: Got enough stuff to get our hands dirty with now.

Once everything's swapped over from the donor car and the cars up and running, our first thing on the list is to get it painted in Racing Blue and do the livery we want and then concentrate on handing mods, before moving onto performance mods and engine work.

 

[dann2707]

Nice progress.

Cool you've got a girlfriend into it too. Mine just doesn't moan when I leave car parts all around the house but it'd be ace if she wanted to learn too.

 

[Hazza462]

Nice progress.

Cool you've got a girlfriend into it too. Mine just doesn't moan when I leave car parts all around the house but it'd be ace if she wanted to learn too.

Thanks mate! Haha it is pretty good yeah:tonguewink: She probs knows more than me:tearsofjoy:

 

[dann2707]

Maybe you're the girlfriend.

 

[Hazza462]

Engine and Box were removed Friday night, so the new lump is ready to drop into it which is mint! Will swap over the 182 Cup sub-frame off the donor car and driveshafts while everything is out.

Just got back from Norfolk after a 4 1/2 hour drive :confounded: Was all worth it though as we now have the PH1 front end and a Cup alternator setup!

We somehow managed to fit all of this in the back of an Audi A1 😂😂 Lets just say my journey home wasn't the comfiest :sleeping:

Will get down there tomorrow and finish stripping the wiring loom out of the donor car - need to take the seats out to get to the last bit. Then it needs removing and obviously the engine needs removing and putting in the other car. After that we can put the PH1 front end back on and finally have a proper PH1 again... not a 50/50 car 😂.

 

[t90_lle]

Good effort mate!! Will keep an eye on the build :up:

 

[Coops Mk1]

Nice, looking forward to that front end going on

 

[Hazza462]

Good effort mate!! Will keep an eye on the build :up:

Thankyou! Should start picking up pace now with less boring stuff.

Nice, looking forward to that front end going on

Cheers, us too we cannot wait will look so so much better.

 

[Hazza462]

Forgot to add to the post earlier.. turns out the engine that was in the car originally isn't seized after all 😂
It turned out to be the alternator being seized and now that the engines out and disconnected from it it turns so easily by hand its completely free.

Oh well... At least we now have a spare working engine to rebuild to a mint spec one day. Still glad we got the donor car though, resolved our previous electrical issues and we can stop guessing at what previous people had cut off the loom and do it ourselves :grinning:

 

[Coops Mk1]

lol!!! good news, spares are always useful!

 

[t90_lle]

Forgot to add to the post earlier.. turns out the engine that was in the car originally isn't seized after all 😂
It turned out to be the alternator being seized and now that the engines out and disconnected from it it turns so easily by hand its completely free.

Oh well... At least we now have a spare working engine to rebuild to a mint spec one day. Still glad we got the donor car though, resolved our previous electrical issues and we can stop guessing at what previous people had cut off the loom and do it ourselves :grinning:

O dear least you have a spare like you said to build up to a good spec.