182 FF
After putting up with my old mk1 1.2 8v for two years it was time for a change! After several hours searching around on tinternet this was what I found...
Clio 172 Cup;
Two owners from new
48K on the clock
Massive file of service history, MOTs etc etc
Totally standard car
12 months mot
12 months tax
Mint condition no dents, scratches, stone chips
£3,800
The advert seemed quite attractive so took the 40mile drive down to reading and drove her away for £3,000. - Happy days!
....Now the expensive part
Knowing the brakes were past there due date when I got the car they were first up, the old brakes had gotten so bad the pedal would be hitting the floor without hardly slowing the car down.
Within ten minutes on here looking at what everyone was using the following was ordered;
Brembo slotted front discs
New standard rear discs
Ferodo DS2500 front & rear pads
Goodridge braided brake lines
Brembo LCF600 fluid
Sooooo much better than before!
Next up was the engine.... (Fred & Matt im sure at this point are quite possibly cringing at reading this lol!)
Doing some digging on these engines (and how much everyone is getting them wrong when doing engine work) i decided to give it ago! - Big mistake!!!! (lesson learnt)
I got myself an EC1 from Matt @ TDF and a set of Catcams 421's. After taking the cam cover off this was revealed to me...
It wasn't the prettiest of sights when you know there is only a week left until Matt works his magic in mapping it, bearing in mind the only time I got to work on the car was from 7pm onwards when i finish work!
Onwards and upwards, I found a perfect condition phase 1 head on ebay going for £70. Drove into London to meet the guy selling it, turns out he was only going to chuck it in the skip if it never sold!!! - So that i snapped up!
The next day i had the head pressure tested, valves 3 angled and the head dipped. Chucked on a new gasket with new head bolts and was back on track for the dyno!
Ordered up a cambelt kit with all the tensioners and idlers for when i get that far, but whilst on the internet my found myself a few extra bits.. ITG panel filter and a Ktec recessed exhaust with a silenced decat and silenced centre section! Wow money can evaporate quickly! With all that arriving the next day there was now plenty to be getting on with...
Time being a bit tight we cracked on with fitting Matt's EC1 next, with the intention of getting ITB's in the future and the car going to become cable rather than DBW, it made sense to save £400+ in getting the EC1 over the EC2 and making the car cable now instead. So ordered myself a mk1 inlet system with throttle body, new cable and mk1 throttle pedal all for a tidy sum of £100. Not bad i thought!
....Nothing like a last minute rush
With everything now fitted, new ECU mounted and wired up and the engine back in one piece.... it was time to stick her on the back of a truck and ship it over to Matt's place!
Mapping day....
I was planning to leave work at 1pm to shoot over to Matt's where I would collect the car & drive away. - Wrong!
12:55 - phone rings...
Yeh looks like ill stay at work today then lol... my engine decided to blow up when Matt started the WOT stuff - held together whilst doing everything else mind!
Turns out (I didn't know this at the time as I use Autodata on the daily - there tightening torques aren't "quite" right for the F4R!) My engine was ruined, there was a chunk missing from my new head and I had blue rods along with melted bearings from my oil pump having a lunch break whilst flat out on Matt's rollers!
At this point my cars been off the road for about a month? I have only owned it 6 lol!
The car was then stuck back on a truck but was this time shipped to BTM which is where it should of gone in the first place! Fred kindly took an engine out of a 172 which he had down there, stripped it down so it stood as a block and head and rebuilt it using all my new parts from my engine. Whilst it was out I had Fred chuck a new clutch on it as i know they aren't a quick thing to change either!
All being well within a month the car was back at Matt's ready to go again!
Take 2...
Much better! The car made 191.5bhp & 169.3lbs/ft!
After a spirited drive back to Aylesbury the next free weekend i had it had a clay bar chucked at it!
Oh and a headlight clean-up, they where real bad!!!
Next on the to do list;
Bilstein Coilovers
AT Power ITB's
Whiteline ARB
Wheel Refurb
Clio 172 Cup;
Two owners from new
48K on the clock
Massive file of service history, MOTs etc etc
Totally standard car
12 months mot
12 months tax
Mint condition no dents, scratches, stone chips
£3,800
The advert seemed quite attractive so took the 40mile drive down to reading and drove her away for £3,000. - Happy days!
....Now the expensive part
Knowing the brakes were past there due date when I got the car they were first up, the old brakes had gotten so bad the pedal would be hitting the floor without hardly slowing the car down.
Within ten minutes on here looking at what everyone was using the following was ordered;
Brembo slotted front discs
New standard rear discs
Ferodo DS2500 front & rear pads
Goodridge braided brake lines
Brembo LCF600 fluid
Sooooo much better than before!
Next up was the engine.... (Fred & Matt im sure at this point are quite possibly cringing at reading this lol!)
Doing some digging on these engines (and how much everyone is getting them wrong when doing engine work) i decided to give it ago! - Big mistake!!!! (lesson learnt)
I got myself an EC1 from Matt @ TDF and a set of Catcams 421's. After taking the cam cover off this was revealed to me...
It wasn't the prettiest of sights when you know there is only a week left until Matt works his magic in mapping it, bearing in mind the only time I got to work on the car was from 7pm onwards when i finish work!
Onwards and upwards, I found a perfect condition phase 1 head on ebay going for £70. Drove into London to meet the guy selling it, turns out he was only going to chuck it in the skip if it never sold!!! - So that i snapped up!
The next day i had the head pressure tested, valves 3 angled and the head dipped. Chucked on a new gasket with new head bolts and was back on track for the dyno!
Ordered up a cambelt kit with all the tensioners and idlers for when i get that far, but whilst on the internet my found myself a few extra bits.. ITG panel filter and a Ktec recessed exhaust with a silenced decat and silenced centre section! Wow money can evaporate quickly! With all that arriving the next day there was now plenty to be getting on with...
Time being a bit tight we cracked on with fitting Matt's EC1 next, with the intention of getting ITB's in the future and the car going to become cable rather than DBW, it made sense to save £400+ in getting the EC1 over the EC2 and making the car cable now instead. So ordered myself a mk1 inlet system with throttle body, new cable and mk1 throttle pedal all for a tidy sum of £100. Not bad i thought!
....Nothing like a last minute rush
With everything now fitted, new ECU mounted and wired up and the engine back in one piece.... it was time to stick her on the back of a truck and ship it over to Matt's place!
Mapping day....
I was planning to leave work at 1pm to shoot over to Matt's where I would collect the car & drive away. - Wrong!
12:55 - phone rings...
Yeh looks like ill stay at work today then lol... my engine decided to blow up when Matt started the WOT stuff - held together whilst doing everything else mind!
Turns out (I didn't know this at the time as I use Autodata on the daily - there tightening torques aren't "quite" right for the F4R!) My engine was ruined, there was a chunk missing from my new head and I had blue rods along with melted bearings from my oil pump having a lunch break whilst flat out on Matt's rollers!
At this point my cars been off the road for about a month? I have only owned it 6 lol!
The car was then stuck back on a truck but was this time shipped to BTM which is where it should of gone in the first place! Fred kindly took an engine out of a 172 which he had down there, stripped it down so it stood as a block and head and rebuilt it using all my new parts from my engine. Whilst it was out I had Fred chuck a new clutch on it as i know they aren't a quick thing to change either!
All being well within a month the car was back at Matt's ready to go again!
Take 2...
Much better! The car made 191.5bhp & 169.3lbs/ft!
After a spirited drive back to Aylesbury the next free weekend i had it had a clay bar chucked at it!
Oh and a headlight clean-up, they where real bad!!!
Next on the to do list;
Bilstein Coilovers
AT Power ITB's
Whiteline ARB
Wheel Refurb
