182 Full fat track slag!

[New2RS]

As a few of you already know I've moved over to the French side from the arguably better quality and more efficient German side of the car world.
From...

To...

It's been a transition with ups and downs but I'm 6 weeks or so into the deal and I thought it might be time to log a bit of progress.
More to follow. Cheers

 

[Darren61]

Interesting stuff, I've also moved from an S3 8P to a 182 (although it's not my daily)

Totally different interpretations of a 'hot hatch'

 

[DrR]

Ace! But it's not a ful fat, has silver wheels?

 

[New2RS]

Interesting stuff, I've also moved from an S3 8P to a 182 (although it's not my daily)

Totally different interpretations of a 'hot hatch'

Yeah the cars are poles apart, so difficult to compare really. Mines not a daily either as the title suggests! So as a track tool the Clio is much better. Why did you change if you don't mind me asking?

 

[New2RS]

Ace! But it's not a ful fat, has silver wheels?

Oh dear, that's my super limited Clio knowledge coming into play!
I know it's not a cup (silver wheels) but I thought it was full fat due to the cruise and climate control.
Still learning this game so I'm guessing a full fat car would be a Clio cup with the cruise and climate?

 

[chris blue]

why you move over? Surely Audi RS are formidable track motors...?

 

[DrR]

Oh dear, that's my super limited Clio knowledge coming into play!
I know it's not a cup (silver wheels) but I thought it was full fat due to the cruise and climate control.
Still learning this game so I'm guessing a full fat car would be a Clio cup with the cruise and climate?

"Full Fat" has nothing to do with climate control, cruise etc. Full Fat means it's a normal clio 182 with cup packs.

 

[New2RS]

"Full Fat" has nothing to do with climate control, cruise etc. Full Fat means it's a normal clio 182 with cup packs.

Lesson learned, well it's a standard 182 then!
Won't be changing the thread title though as I quite like it.
Cheers for clearing that up mate.

 

[Jekyll]

The best way to tell for sure is to measure the bolt spacing for the shocks on the front hubs.

54mm is all 172s inc ph1 and cup and non cup 182s. 60mm is cup packed and trophy.

If yours a is 54mm it's not an issue as there is more options for coilovers with that bolt spacing, which going by the title, I'm guessing you'll be buying :smile:

 

[New2RS]

why you move over? Surely Audi RS are formidable track motors...?

To be honest I got sick of people trying to steal it and it was always a bit too much "pride and joy" to be ragging round cadwell park! As for being a good track car, I would say in the rain it was superb but on dry track too heavy. Enjoyed some good days in it regardless.

 

[imprezaworks]

The best way to tell for sure is to measure the bolt spacing for the shocks on the front hubs.

54mm is all 172s inc ph1 and cup and non cup 182s. 60mm is cup packed and trophy.

If yours a is 54mm it's not an issue as there is more options for coilovers with that bolt spacing, which going by the title, I'm guessing you'll be buying :smile:

The latter part I was just going to write

Coilovers for sale, 3.55 inc delivery.
60mm mate?
Nope

 

[New2RS]

The best way to tell for sure is to measure the bolt spacing for the shocks on the front hubs.

54mm is all 172s inc ph1 and cup and non cup 182s. 60mm is cup packed and trophy.

If yours a is 54mm it's not an issue as there is more options for coilovers with that bolt spacing, which going by the title, I'm guessing you'll be buying :smile:

Understood. Picking up more everyday as I spend time on the forum.
I've got some 172 cup dampers for it which as you've mentioned will fit my car. Just haven't had time to post up the pictures etc. Just couldn't run to coil overs this time unfortunately.

 

[New2RS]

The latter part I was just going to write

Coilovers for sale, 3.55 inc delivery.
60mm mate?
Nope

No mate, definitely 54mm

 

[Jekyll]

You will :wink:

All 172 and 182 rears are the same. It's only the fronts that matter.

So much info and helpful member son here so any questions then ask away, someone will holla back with the answer you desire.

 

[imprezaworks]

No mate, definitely 54mm

Yeah I know mate, that was just a joke about coilovers. 60mm are a pain to get unless you spend much money. Lots of 54 sets pop up

 

[New2RS]

You will :wink:

All 172 and 182 rears are the same. It's only the fronts that matter.

So much info and helpful member son here so any questions then ask away, someone will holla back with the answer you desire.

Yeah I'm well impressed with the forum and I won't hesitate to ask questions, after I've trawled through previous threads first of course!

 

[New2RS]

Yeah I know mate, that was just a joke about coilovers. 60mm are a pain to get unless you spend much money. Lots of 54 sets pop up

Shame, I wanted a cup car originally but as you know there a bit thin on the ground so I just went for the best example I could find/afford!

 

[Jekyll]

Yeah I'm well impressed with the forum and I won't hesitate to ask questions, after I've trawled through previous threads first of course!

Don't do that.

Ideas gets expensive!!

 

[Darren61]

Yeah the cars are poles apart, so difficult to compare really. Mines not a daily either as the title suggests! So as a track tool the Clio is much better. Why did you change if you don't mind me asking?

Yeah exactly, completely different. I moved house and needed a diesel so decided to free up some cash, sell the S3 and get a back into a RenaultSport (Megane 175 DCI) which was suited to more miles each day.

Then decided to get the Clio as a track project. I loved the S3 but it was heavy and understeery (is that a word?) that had great all round performance but by no means a 'driver focussed' car.

The Clio however is a great base and is so much more fun to drive despite not having amazing top end and straight line pace.

Looking forward to seeing how your projects progresses

 

[New2RS]

Yeah exactly, completely different. I moved house and needed a diesel so decided to free up some cash, sell the S3 and get a back into a RenaultSport (Megane 175 DCI) which was suited to more miles each day.

Then decided to get the Clio as a track project. I loved the S3 but it was heavy and understeery (is that a word?) that had great all round performance but by no means a 'driver focussed' car.

The Clio however is a great base and is so much more fun to drive despite not having amazing top end and straight line pace.

Looking forward to seeing how your projects progresses

I think understeery is a word most Audi drivers are familiar with!
I loved the car also but I think we can agree it was the wrong tool for the job. Thanks for looking mate, I'll keep an eye on your project as well.

 

[New2RS]

I'm way behind with my updates on this project as I've had these parts fitted for at least a fortnight. There here now though, nothing out of the ordinary for a Clio project but it's what I've done in the short time I've owned the car. Any comments etc appreciated.

TD 1.2's 15in. I've wanted a set of these for every car I've owned so happy with these and I reckon they suit the Clios.

NS2R's which your all familiar with.
After research on the forum it seemed like I couldn't go wrong with these. Strangely I like the bigger side wall, I think it just says track tyre when you look at the car. Probably just me!

172 cup dampers. Not as good as coilovers I know but it's a proven set up and for the money I'm happy with them.

Cooksport springs to go with the dampers. Just seemed like the best choice after digging round on the forum.

Went for the black series bushes as road use will be limited an I'm glad it is now because there's no way my spine could take the daily hammering from this setup, it rides like s**t!

Brembo HC discs with CL pads up front, Renault discs with brembo pads at the rear. All tied together with braided lines.
As an extra bonus I had to replace the drivers side calliper which was nice!

All parts on the car and this is how it looks now. I like the stance although coilovers would have allowed a bit more drop which would have been nice. Happy with the wheels and tyres though, especially with the offset in the arches.

And finally...

First trackday in a Renault and first time around oulton park after the cancellation due to frost/fog earlier this year. Roll on to donington, end of June. Cheers

 

[Darren61]

Looking good! Maybe get that upper grill painted black? :tongueclosed:

 

[New2RS]

Looking good! Maybe get that upper grill painted black? :tongueclosed:

It does look very grey in that shot for some reason! I'm not too concerned though mate, I'd rather put the paint money down on a trackday :smile:

 

[New2RS]

First time round Donington park park on the evening session last Friday. Car worked really well, enjoyed the circuit and will definitely go back.

Unfortunately I'm now quite sure the famous dephaser pulley has given up as I'm getting the diesel locomotive melody when the engine is hot.
So with a visit to Bedford auto in a months time the question is, do I put some 428's in while the belts are off???

 

[imprezaworks]

It's worthwhile if your doing belts at the same time, be rude not too

 

[New2RS]

It's worthwhile if your doing belts at the same time, be rude not too

My thoughts exactly. :up:
Cheers.

 

[New2RS]

Few bits done this weekend.
Discovered a puddle in the passenger footwell on Saturday so after considerable effort/research trying to pinpoint the leak I decided pull the interior which was always on my to do list and hopefully once removed it will be far easier to find the leak.
So here's the pile of dead weight I got out, surprising how much there is. Glad to get all the dumbells out as they were really slowing me down 😅

How it looks now, just need to tidy up the wiring and get some black paint laid down to clean it up a bit but happy overall.
Interestingly there was a fair bit of water under the rear seats so I'll be looking at the water line to the rear washer.

Quick run down the road and the car definitely feels more lively and I'm pleasantly surprised by the noise levels which haven't gone up dramatically unlike the ride height which has suffered unfortunately.
Next job will be lifting the front seats and getting the rest of the carpet etc before buckets a bit further down the line. Cheers.

 

[New2RS]

Few bits arrived this week, belt kit and aircon delete.

As the weather was so nice I decided to spend the day removing tar from behind the seats and the boot.
Heat gun, chisel, tar remover, brake cleaner, rags and elbow grease. You know the score!
Just not sure what colour to paint the interior now, thought gloss black but I'm tempted by cup alloy anthracite grey to match the pro race 1.2s.

Off to the bin with the heavy bag of nasty tar..

So it's in the garage tomorrow for the belts, dephaser, water pump and aircon delete.
Then Bedford auto next Monday.
Good times.

 

[New2RS]

Car back from the mechanic minus the aircon and plus new belts and
dephaser. Pure motorsport delete kit bang on as expected.
Seriously considered putting cams in but the funds weren't there and I've decided if I do anything to the engine power wise, I'll be adding boooost.
Big thanks to the lads at Carr lane garage (Bradford)

So a bit more dead weight out of the car, bit more space in the bay, few years peace of mind.
Epas parts on route, hopefully the pas doesn't explode at Bedford :smile:

 

[New2RS]

Ok, so 3 years, 10 track days and around 8000 miles later I’m revisiting this thread. I have to say I’ve really enjoyed the Clio up to now and have no intention of changing cars.
We’ve all got a bit of spare time at the minute so I figured a few small updates might be in order.
Cheers

 

[New2RS]

First up was engine work. After a lot of research considering itb’s, cam’s and turbo’s it was the budget that lead me to group N timing. For the money I thought it was good value so it was a trip to Liverpool for Carl (bloke) to do the cam work then up the road to Chris at EFI.

Cracking service from both as expected, highly recommended.

Was very happy with the results with minimal mods (cat still in, standard airbox). Really improved the drive. Sadly I left the acoustic pipe off,

Dick head!
So I’m running the car with a slight air leak but obviously I’ve rebooked with Chris to tidy the job up.

 

[New2RS]

During the winter months and particularly the Xmas holidays I like to get the car in the shed, up on stands and do some underbody cleaning/rust prevention. So out comes the wire wheels, kurust, acf50 and the underseal.

While doing the drivers side with the wheel off I noticed a lump of metal wedged in the calliper. Bit shocked to find this...

These are/were CL pads. Highly rated and I have to say excellent on track but as you can see there is hundreds of miles left on them so this was a big surprise. I guess it’s the price you pay for abusing parts... they break. So I went for PBS pads this time, slightly cheaper and so far very good. Time will tell but a big plus is they hardly squeal!

 

[New2RS]

I’d been considering a race battery for some time and eventually one came up on the forum with a relocation kit. Odessey pc680.
So I read many guides and threads and collected the following parts:
Longacre through panel
3 way junction box
Heavy duty cable crimping tool
It took me a while but I got a reasonably tidy job done in the end.

Then into the engine bay. I had no intention of moving the ecu but I was having to force the positive cable from the loom so much to reach the junction box I decided to move it.

I
I used the smaller section of the standard ecu carrier and mounted it on the spider that houses the upper gearbox mount. Then of course I could bolt the ecu directly to that. Only slight separation of the loom to move it but was happy with the job.

 

[New2RS]

Following the acoustic pipe incident and with another mapping session approaching I decided to ditch the acoustic valve and while I had the arch liners off I removed the fog light and put a CAF in its place..

I
I opted for a 3D printed eBay option which was expensive and the finish on the funnel if you would call it that is a bit ropey but the fit on the fog light is excellent.
Staying with the gas flow side of things I decided to go decat...

The car came with a resonated miltek so this was easy enough. It might make a tiny bit of difference on the next map but either way I love the sound of it and the odd whiff of petrol in the cabin.

 

[New2RS]

So we all know how one job spirals into another, while the battery was out I decided to do the upper box mount and with it the left hand engine mount. Went down the VibraTechnics route and I’m very happy with them.

Had a few problems with the gearbox mount as it was very tight on the stud. Ended up removing the spider and fitting the bottom washer on the bench with some lube a big socket and a hammer. Got it done in the end.

 

[New2RS]

Almost up to date with progress now. I did get some febi top mounts fitted to cure an annoying knock from the passenger side (no photos) but it turns out it’s the inner arb bush. I think I logged it earlier in the thread but I had these replaced with black series bushes less than 2 years ago. I remember the guy I used said he had a nightmare getting them in (I did warn him). I think he might have damaged the bush/bracket so I’ve ordered some purple series and new brackets for my usual mechanic to put in. Hopefully done in a week or so.

 

[Danboy66]

Great write up mate 👌

Sounds like you have had alot of fun in her

 

[New2RS]

Thanks mate. Definitely.

 

[Danboy66]

I've just bought my first clio 172 cup so it's great reading for me I have no idea when it comes to these little cars 😂

I do like a good build thread 👍

 

[New2RS]

You won’t regret it mate.
There’s endless information on the forum and helpful members also.
Great little cars.