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AD52 BHP



  172 Turbo
After a couple of years of not owning a second car and after numerous 205s in various power forms, I decided to buy another. I was shocked by how much they'd gone up in price so decided to start looking at alternatives. I decided on an R27 but then changed my mind and started looking at 182s before settling on a 172 Cup. I looked at loads, around 8 in total in various power forms and standard of body and maintenance.

Before deciding to buy this one. With a blowing exhaust gasket, I drove it home, put it in the garage and took it out a few weeks later to thrash around Bedford.

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It was around the 3rd or 4th corner of the first sighting lap that I lost the back end. This was followed by 6 or 7 spins and a car that felt on every corner just wanted to slide or spin, this wasn't my first trackday and I felt like a complete tw*t, I'd never span before in 205s with the same power as the Clio. I paid for an instructor and proceeded to do a huge slide with him in the car that had him questioning the back end of the car.

Then during my last session with Chi in the car, I thought we'd end up on our roof as we exited a corner at speed and ended up deep in the infield grass.

When I got home, I decided that the first thing to do would be to check the rear suspension, what I found was that the shocks on the back are listed as for every variant of this shape Clio apart from the 172!

I spoke to Adam at Renault Wolverhampton and ordered some new rears, a single front as the previous owner replaced one last summer and a set of Cooksport springs.

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The rear always looked high, 5" from rim to arch

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The shocks felt knackered

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And the springs were huge!

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Afterwards, the car was far lower

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And now looks like a Clio 172 rather than a 4x4
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Next is to change the front strut and springs, and get some new tyres :)
 

banther

ClioSport Club Member
Haha I can't believe none of this was sighted under my ownership. It went to Fred, dan & Sjm and a Renault technician haha. It did always feel squirmy at the back.

blame the blowing gasket on my poor mechanical skills.

I do miss it though for no good reason.

Good to see it dirty though!!
 
  172 Turbo
So I finally got round to fitting the front Cooksport springs today and to replace the remaining original front shock as one was replaced by banther when he owned it last summer.

Found the front springs to be a weird mix! One a KYB and the other looking like it came from a scrapyard with odd paint markings on it, oh and the front left spring was snapped!

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Looks far better now, apart from the terrible picture!

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Chi

  Z4, VW172, R26
Nice one Keith, you might persuade me to passenger with you again now lol.. Escaped with my life last time, was hilarious though :D Car looks miles better..
 
  172 Turbo
Nice one Keith, you might persuade me to passenger with you again now lol..

I'm hoping that all of these bits combined are why it was so unstable at Bedford, I've never driven a car that was so unpredictable.
 
  172 Turbo
Not at the moment, got too much going out on a new business.

Might go for the Renault day at Bedford, but at the moment just want it fixed for use on the road.
 

Mr R.

ClioSport Club Member
  A special one.
That was bad, flol at the previous owner only replacing one shock.

Good that you've got it sorted, bet it drives like a different car now.
 

Chi

  Z4, VW172, R26
That was bad, flol at the previous owner only replacing one shock.

Good that you've got it sorted, bet it drives like a different car now.

Proper frankenstein cup lol.. I thought keith had his coilovers wound up for off roading as we spent more time on the grass ;)
 

banther

ClioSport Club Member
That was bad, flol at the previous owner only replacing one shock.

Good that you've got it sorted, bet it drives like a different car now.

Meh - just to get it through MOT.

Full refresh was already on the cards. Snapped spring wasnt picked up though!! masekwm if you PM me your address I have a full set of Cup springs you can have for free.

IIRC you might want to get the handbrake cables sorted at some point. It was picked up as an advisory.
 
  172 Turbo
Now with 15s, RSRs, new top mounts and poly dog bone.

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half way through the cat gasket, one bolt refuses to budge :(

And Jake did jump into that puddle!
 
  172 Turbo
Finally back on the road, since Bedford in February it has only been used locally for the odd trip to the supermarket less than a mile away and since May I had been trying to fit in changing the cat to manifold kit.

After 6 months, it was booked for an mot this morning and passed first time.
 

Daniel

ClioSport Moderator
  Whichever has fuel
How do you find the poly dog bone keith?

I've only ever tried it in conjunction with solid engine mounts but i'd be interested to hear what it's like with standard mounts.
 
  172 Turbo
Not been used for a while, but got her out for a clean ready for Bedford next weekend. Few new bits like track rods & ends, DS2500 pads, braided lines and fresh fluid,.

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  172 Turbo
Me neither, but it hid the exposed damage from the MOT tester and I think it looks better with the damage hidden!

Set of Vibra Technic Mounts turned up today, after I found I could move the engine by hand!
 

Daniel

ClioSport Moderator
  Whichever has fuel
How do you find the poly dog bone keith?

I've only ever tried it in conjunction with solid engine mounts but i'd be interested to hear what it's like with standard mounts.
Not talking to me?
 
  172 Turbo
Not talking to me?

Not used it mate, drove it back from the MOT in August, 8 miles away and it's done probably 5 miles! The few times its been to the pub or to Tesco, the vibration wasn't noticeable!

Off for geometry on Friday and that'll be the furthest its gone since Bedford last February- to give you an idea I live 19 miles from the track!
 
  172 Turbo
It should have a turbo with the plates!

Fitted the vibra technics this morning, what a ball ache the gearbox one was. Didn't realise it needed tapping into place to get over the stud. Play Doh works to hold the bolts in place.

Took it off for alignment this afternoon and found the diff still leaks, and the camber/caster is out so needs more work.

But finally, got to give it a good kicking, forgot how quick it feels. Damn, it felt good to actually drive the thing!
 
  172 Turbo
Some pictures from the track day at Bedford on 28th February. Such a fun track, great for beginners or people like me who aren't that quick!

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However, the fun was cut short as the day before the car was suffering from a strange vibration, on way to Bedford it had gone but I'd already sold my day ticket so only got out for the morning. On track it had disappeared. Driving home it was back. So, after giving up, I gave it to Beaniesport.

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@Beaniemoo went over the car with a torquewrench and found I'd not done things up tight enough or in some places too tight. He fitted a new wheel bearing and I now have a vibration free Cup. Finally, we're able to enjoy it!
 
  172 Turbo
Took the car to the Clio Owners Weekend at Blyton last weekend. Had a great time out on track without the car suffering as it was at both Bedford trackdays, I'm really enjoying ownership now.
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A video of one of my favorite sessions, showing how forgiving the Clio is at a few minutes in, a completely different car to the snappy twitchy thing I took to Bedford in 2014.

The car is now to be treated to a rebuilt gearbox with Quaife diff and PMS shifter, and then some more polybushes. The vibratechnics really don't annoy me, the car doesn't vibrate that much, only one piece of plastic around the window vibrates.
My pretty worn RSRs are also coming off for some lovely new Toyo 888s.
 

Ph1 Tom

ClioSport Club Member
:cool:Cool! Glad you've got them now. I left the end of the linkage connected to the box so if you don't touch anything and just connect the rod with the nut and bolt it should be pretty much spot on.

The only PITA is adjusting the heatshield under the car. I found it use to knock the heatshield in 5th so with a bit of bending etc. to make clearance it'll be nice and quiet (apart from a rattle at 70 - see other PMS threads on this!).
 
  172 Turbo
Thought about fitting it all myself, got some quotes from the Specialists and decided it was best to send it off to Beaniesport as they are local and could fit it in this week. I remember the other jobs taking so long and I've been really enjoying the car lately.

Decided to change the rack bushes whilst the box and subframe were being fiddled with.

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  172 Turbo
So the car had to come home with nothing fitted as our new daily didn't arrive on time. It's been playing daily for a few weeks now, running around 2 kids, in car seats with a pushchair - and some say they need to sell because of a baby!

I had a bit of a win on the stock market so at Beaniesport is waiting a set of B14s, new wishbones, ARB bushes and camber bolts. It'll be going in next weekend, if he can fit me in.

Tonight, I had a bit of free time so got round to replacing the steering wheel, on track at Blyton the old one was melting in my hands, it was awful so...
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  172 Turbo
Had a massive change of heart and sold on the B14s & Quaife. Finally had all the other bits fitted this week by @Beaniemoo
I love the shifter & wheel, they've changed the car for the better, two rather expensive parts but they transform the car.
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Can't believe a year has passed since it's MOT and that is where it goes tomorrow. Then I hope to get back on track at the end of this month.
 
  172 Turbo
Got myself over to Snetterton this week for one of their track evenings.
Sadly, some of the drivers were like the yellow 2 seater in this video

Which was very annoyinh.


@massivewangers you are in this one from around 6 minute 30.

So happy with the Clio at the moment, the recent work & 888s have really improved the car
 


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