andy_coops - Iceberg 172

[andy_coops]

Been a little while. The misfire issue caused a temporary loss of love and I did consider selling up and moving on but now appears fixed courtesy of replacing the plug from the ECU to coilpack as this was causing the engine to cut out when moved slightly. No issues since.

Bonnet flatted, repolished and coated as I wasn’t entirely happy with the finish.

Some more detailing under the bonnet - I’d still like to pull the engine and do it all properly. This may happen over the winter with the underneath getting a makeover at the same time.

Trip down to The Clio Man yesterday for annual service and fitting of genuine crank sensor, de-stickied climate panel and phase 1 indicator stalk. Stuck in traffic on the way back and regretted lack of AC for the first time 🥵🥵

No more nasty sticky plastics left now which is a plus. I also bumped into one of my oldest mates (30 years plus) and his one owner from new 212k 172. This is coming to me soon for a tidy up 👌

Next project is to smarten up the steering wheel. Been wanting to do this for a while so it’s going satin black with some other little changes to the centre button. Cleaned up inside and polished the instrument cluster while the wheel wasn’t in the way lol.

Contemplating a suspension upgrade/refresh as there’s a little floatiness/fidgeting at the front when really pushing on. Everything was new around 12k miles ago so doubt it’s worn out yet.

Fair to say the love affair is back on again.

 

[andy_coops]

Next daft project done. Steering wheel spokes painted satin black, carbon vinyl and a spare sticker applied to the now redundant horn button.

Ferried mother in law to a hospital appointment yesterday. “It’s not that noisy Andy”....”hold my beer” 😂😂

 

[andy_coops]

Run out today to Podium Place. New cars and coffee hangout in Newbury. Great coffee, chilled out and lots of decent metal parked up. It’s also about 70 miles closer to home than C&M.

 

[andy_coops]

PMS delivery days are always good days.

Solid top mounts and strut brace. Booked for fitting next week. Also picked up some camber bolts from @iyrix which will be fitted at the same time.

 

[dave120]

Just caught up on this. What a cool wee car, in superb nick. A real credit to you.

Small things like the no sticky plastics make a huge difference in my opinion.

 

[andy_coops]

Just caught up on this. What a cool wee car, in superb nick. A real credit to you.

Small things like the no sticky plastics make a huge difference in my opinion.

Many thanks chap. Always something else to do. House move on the cards soon so might get the car out of the way and get the underneath done. Got all the bits already.

 

[Filipe Dias]

Read the whole thread . Awesome work. The car is looking lovely

 

[andy_coops]

Read the whole thread . Awesome work. The car is looking lovely

Many thanks mate. Labour of love!

 

[andy_coops]

PMS top mounts and strut brace fitted today. No noticeable increase in NVH but turn-in does feel a bit sharper. Had alignment done too which may have helped.

Sadly Mrs Coops’ Clio had a moment today - she hit some debris at around 50mph. She’s OK which is the main thing and luckily only bumper and light damaged - just have the joy of insurance approved repairs now…

 

[Cliocup182!]

Nice work! Can you give your opinions on how the pure motorsport solid top mounts and strut brace change the driving feel/handling/overall experience? Cheers.

 

[andy_coops]

Nice work! Can you give your opinions on how the pure motorsport solid top mounts and strut brace change the driving feel/handling/overall experience? Cheers.

Thanks chap.

1. Car feels less jittery. Was on standard mounts before and it sometimes felt nervous. This has gone.

2. Turn-in sharper. Drive home was a mix of tight B roads and sweeping A’s and it turns really crisply. Really inspires confidence to push on a bit more than before.

3. Tramlining appears to have reduced. Wasn’t horrific before but better.

4. Front end feels tighter. Not a huge surprise but it really is noticeable.

5. No discernible increase in noise, no more vibration than before either. This surprises me as I’d expected it to suffer against the standard top mounts. Really impressed with this.

 

[Clio_fool]

Pms brace is a good mod that can actually be felt. No where near as much as the one I fitted to my R5 many years ago but that just shows how much more rigid the Clio is than the origami 5😂.

What did the Mrs hit to smash the headlamp? It must have gone with a right bang, I bet she s**t her pants! Glad she's OK mate.

 

[MrBlonde]

Nice work mate,the strut brace is on my list also & good to see positive gains from it.

 

[andy_coops]

Pms brace is a good mod that can actually be felt. No where near as much as the one I fitted to my R5 many years ago but that just shows how much more rigid the Clio is than the origami 5😂.

What did the Mrs hit to smash the headlamp? It must have gone with a right bang, I bet she s**t her pants! Glad she's OK mate.

She honestly doesn’t know mate. She thought it might have been a bird but there’s no ‘residue’ so to speak 🤢 and she does recall that something may have fallen off the vehicle in front. Either way, car can be fixed and she’s OK.

 

[andy_coops]

Been ages. Haven’t done much to the motor, got Covid, didn’t die, oh and bought a new gaff - kind of taking up most of my time.

Did make a half decent mancave. Happy.

 

[andy_coops]

Whoops. 4 months since the last update and the car’s only been driven once until today. Started to think about moving it on but gave my head a wobble and she stays for now.

Paid my no longer local garage a visit today to sort the exhaust. It’s never sat right, with the rear silencer dropping. Bracket fabricated and welded up and solid as a rock without any additional resonance through the spare wheel well.

PS3s now back in stock at blackcircles so grabbed a pair and fitted. Swapped front to rear as they’d only been on for less than 2k but better to have new on the front.

Nice little blast home - the new daily might be significantly quicker than the old nail but the Clio is still light years more enjoyable. Next job is to take the sliders off the seats - no need for them and they make the subframes creak like buggery. Or I’ve gained half a ton in bulk.

 

[andy_coops]

Next job was to properly sort the paint. It was a relatively cheap repaint and up close it’s obvious - to me anyway…

First time I’ve wet sanded and reasonably satisfied. Bonnet and driver’s side done and it’s about as good as I can make it.

 

[imprezaworks]

Silver is an ass. Looks great though.

 

[andy_coops]

Silver is an ass. Looks great though.

Cheers. Lots of sanding marks to pull out. Only upside is that I didn’t put them in 😂

 

[andy_coops]

And done. Wet sanded, polished, refined and coated with Gtechniq. This is about as good as I can make her look. Next up is to sort the creaking seats.

 

[Stefan.]

Looks ace!

 

[Clio_fool]

Well worth the effort, its looks fantastic!

 

[andy_coops]

Creaking seats fixed with more than a little assistance from @iyrix Sliders removed on both so seats now fixed and massively more solid than before. Happy.

 

[andy_coops]

Next job was to retrim the headliner. Wanted to do this for ages but too many horror stories put me off.

Needn’t have worried. Aside from a couple of snapped clips, it was a doddle and the old one pulled straight out.

Wife and daughter assisted as both are more patient than me and daughter is an ace with material - genuinely good at it.

A pillars retrimmed in the same fabric to match and done. Just need to source a sunvisor clip and she’ll be done. Genuinely chuffed to bits with this mod. Not one you see much but it makes a massive difference inside.

 

[PP200t]

Looks awesome as we’ve come to expect from your thread! What are you doing about the light and sun visors? Will you paint them?

 

[avstar1]

Really like the headlining, you gonna do the door cars the same material as well?

 

[andy_coops]

Really like the headlining, you gonna do the door cars the same material as well?

I doubt it. Colour’s a lot closer in the flesh and it’s probably beyond my skill set!

 

[andy_coops]

Looks awesome as we’ve come to expect from your thread! What are you doing about the light and sun visors? Will you paint them?

My Mrs reckons the contrast works. I’m not so sure. I can paint the light surround easily enough but not sure about the visors. Either a vinyl or vinyl paint maybe.

 

[Simon1975]

Really like that been tempted to do something with mine. Nothing worse that light colour headlining

 

[andy_coops]

Light surround and sun visors painted/dyed. Used some of the graphite I did my bullets with for the surround after priming and then a couple of coats of satin lacquer.

Visors were dyed using Halfords vinyl paint which is somewhere between a paint and a dye I think.

Letting it cure then refitting with LED bulbs over the weekend. Really satisfying little project.

 

[andy_coops]

Almost 6 months since I last updated. Still have the Clio. Still alive. House and work taking up car time but managed to get out to a few meets. Headliner finished and LED interior bulb fitted. I’ve also modified my driver’s side mat to clip to carpet and stop it moving about.

Almost set on getting the underside sorted over the winter as after some debating over the summer I’m keeping her for the foreseeable.

 

[MrBlonde]

Headliner looks great mate,nice work 👍🏻

 

[finch wxm]

Next job was to retrim the headliner. Wanted to do this for ages but too many horror stories put me off.

Needn’t have worried. Aside from a couple of snapped clips, it was a doddle and the old one pulled straight out.

Wife and daughter assisted as both are more patient than me and daughter is an ace with material - genuinely good at it.

A pillars retrimmed in the same fabric to match and done. Just need to source a sunvisor clip and she’ll be done. Genuinely chuffed to bits with this mod. Not one you see much but it makes a massive difference inside. View attachment 1587793View attachment 1587795View attachment 1587796View attachment 1587799View attachment 1587798View attachment 1587794View attachment 1587797

What did you use on the headliner ? Mine is removed from car currently and might refit if i can with the half cage.

 

[andy_coops]

What did you use on the headliner ? Mine is removed from car currently and might refit if i can with the half cage.

Faux suede stuff glued to the old headliner. Links below.

Grey Heavy Faux Suede Upholstery Fabric | Terrys

Feel the difference with Grey Heavy Faux Suede Upholstery Fabric. Terrys is your gateway to exceptional quality upholstery fabric.

www.terrysfabrics.co.uk

Trim Fix Adhesive 500ml (High Temperature Resistant)

Trim Fix is particularly suited for bonding most furnishing materials including fabrics such as leather, foam, carpeting materials and works well bonding to themselves or each other or to substrates suchs as wood , metal, plastics, glass and rubber.Trim Fix is equally effective in manufacturing...

www.justkampers.com

You need a high temp adhesive otherwise it’ll sag etc in warmer weather.

 

[finch wxm]

Faux suede stuff glued to the old headliner. Links below.

Grey Heavy Faux Suede Upholstery Fabric | Terrys

Feel the difference with Grey Heavy Faux Suede Upholstery Fabric. Terrys is your gateway to exceptional quality upholstery fabric.

www.terrysfabrics.co.uk

Trim Fix Adhesive 500ml (High Temperature Resistant)

Trim Fix is particularly suited for bonding most furnishing materials including fabrics such as leather, foam, carpeting materials and works well bonding to themselves or each other or to substrates suchs as wood , metal, plastics, glass and rubber.Trim Fix is equally effective in manufacturing...

www.justkampers.com

You need a high temp adhesive otherwise it’ll sag etc in warmer weather.

Nice one if i can get it back in with cage i will do this