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Another Clio 172 Cup track/race build.



  Cup In bits
So Iv had quite a busy couple of weeks on and off on the car, got loads of little bits rolling and completed some of the bigger jobs.

Was doing some finishing work on the cage and managed to set my dash on fire.....Nightmare.

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Im lucky im not using that dash top, it was just a test piece for roll cage cutting, any way I managed to get a lower dash for good money and set about cutting it up AGAIN to clear roll cage, lots of work as I added a dash bar to the cage which made things harder. No pics of it fitted but its looking good.

Finally got round to modifying my meg 225 Brembo's to fit the 280mm (standard) disks. The outcome of that one was I will be running standard callipers until I find another option. I would have to run 25-30mm spacers which is not an option with my extended wishbone's.
You can see how tight they would be with 2118's, could make more room but didnt want to affect the sell on value for it to not work.
Finished of my rack aswell, after replacing the track rod's and tie rods, filleed with grease and p/steering fluid, hopefully that works out for me....If not then I will be going down the saxo pump or clio DCI column route.

P1000532.jpg



Stripped off some parts from the engine that needed sent for blasting and to be welded, while removing the lower inlet I was quite disappointed with the condition of the inlet ports.

P1000524.jpg



The heads been CNC'd all right but not as good as some iv seen so I set about cleaning them up a little while I was opening out my ITB mouths for 120mm trumpets, I also matched my throttle manifold to the head and to the ITB's aswell, all nicely polished so should see an extra poney or a lb/ft or 2 from that. No pictures as I forgot to take.

P1000529.jpg



Test fitted my radiator and came up with a solution for mounting it using the standard rubber's and some ingenuity. Received my fans and mocked up mounts for them, will finish that off when the radiator comes back from fabricator.

P1000542.jpg

P1000558.jpg


And finally tonight I primed all the bare steel with me finishing all the final welding on the cage, harness mounts & seat rails yesterday. It still needs some rubbing down a patching in before final paint but that's a big milestone I wanted finished so im Chuffed. Looks like I have found someone to paint the cage for cheap too so happy day's.

Excuse the 2 colours of primer, I ran out of grey etch and could only get a hold of white at short notice so I will have to ask painter if he wants it all one colour and maybe do that, It will be a fairly dark colour so should be alright.

P1000540.jpg

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Decided I would put her down ( Yes her, I have still to come up with a name but its fought me sometimes so has to be a she) on all fours as its near enough four month since I brought the car into the lock up and put her up on the axle stand's.
I can see the light at the end of tunnel now which has gave me some more drive.

Cant decide which wheels/colour I like the most, one set of the 2118's will be going black but unsure yet and the Williams wheels might have to stay with a set of road tyre's for pouring rain, one set of 2118's for slicks and the others with dirreza's or 888's or the likes for damp.

P1000543.jpg

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I threw on a door and the bumper to get more of an idea of looks and even treated her to blew down with the airline and wipe down to mark being back on the wheels.

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I will be taking the radiator, breather plate & thermostat housing for some welding tomorrow and should get them back in the afternoon, I will get cracking on fitting the cams, rod bolts, depahser, gaskets etc etc and threw a tin of VHT over everything while its apart. My mate is going to lighten my new flywheel (thanks Cupman29 for that) as my mate went a bit far with the lighteneing last time and I wasnt comfortable with it. I also received some pulleys from 105e today, thanks mate. Only need a alternator pulley and a 4 pk belt to suit length.

P1000559.jpg


I want to have the engine back in by the start of the week then I can start chopping down engine and interior loom, hope to mock everything electrical wise including battery cut off and extinguisher etc etc before I paint anything to save the finish, we will see how that works out.
 
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  Cup In bits
Im usually the same but after seeing it today the white has grown on me, they are probably the better of the two sets paint wise but the original plan was to highlight everything orange including the wheels but I just want it done so I can drive the thing so that can wait, im more keen on the blue with green highlights after seeing a couple of cups running in the tintops with orange wheels. You wouldn't mind me copying would you?? lol
 

NorthloopCup

ClioSport Moderator
Im usually the same but after seeing it today the white has grown on me, they are probably the better of the two sets paint wise but the original plan was to highlight everything orange including the wheels but I just want it done so I can drive the thing so that can wait, im more keen on the blue with green highlights after seeing a couple of cups running in the tintops with orange wheels. You wouldn't mind me copying would you?? lol

Nah not bothered at all mate. Surely it's a compliment to my taste anyway?! Lol! I get some, shall we say, interesting looks when I drive it on the road!!

I was going to do it a deep pink at one point! Lol! Viper green won because that's the colour of my favourite car! Gt3 Rs! Possibly the nearest I'll get to owning one as well!
 
  172 cup, Impreza P1
Looking good mate and can't wait to see this on track. Glad the flywheel is going to a good home. :D
 
  Cup In bits
Nah not bothered at all mate. Surely it's a compliment to my taste anyway?! Lol! I get some, shall we say, interesting looks when I drive it on the road!!

I was going to do it a deep pink at one point! Lol! Viper green won because that's the colour of my favourite car! Gt3 Rs! Possibly the nearest I'll get to owning one as well!

Its the best lairy colour combo I can think of with blue that looks half decent. You said it was a Porsche colour?I would probably look for slightly different colour to save £'s on paint, I don't know the price differences between paint, is a Porsche colour more expensive than a ford for example or is just non and metallic that the price changes. Kwak green would look good IMO
 

NorthloopCup

ClioSport Moderator
Its the best lairy colour combo I can think of with blue that looks half decent. You said it was a Porsche colour?I would probably look for slightly different colour to save £'s on paint, I don't know the price differences between paint, is a Porsche colour more expensive than a ford for example or is just non and metallic that the price changes. Kwak green would look good IMO

Yeah the colour works so well with mondial blue. The roof vent sets it off nicely as well. Paint is paint mate! It's just a case of getting your supplier to mix it for you. Give them a colour code and that's that. There should be no difference in price whatsoever.

Yeah Kawasaki green would look good too.
 
Cars looking great mate :) What setup are you planning on using for the alternator as the cup system is too bulky to work with the rad from my measurements the other month
 
  Cup In bits
Oh ohhh, been so long since the engine was in I cant remember how far out the alternator comes out, Iceman fitted his no issues I think, well as far as I know. If its a problem I will use a cup racer style tensioner. I think a renault 5 one works.
 
  Cup In bits
Something like this on the williams engine. I have heard there's a comon fix similar to this for when you put an f4r into a mk1. Just need to find out for sure but my searching has failed.
1a91e3a2.jpg
 
  172 cup, Impreza P1
Cheers mate, is your next trackday the last at KH for the year, for you and the circuit?

I'll hopefully being doing the trackscotland one on the 3rd of november but I think there should be more after that. I'll see how much time I've got after that for any more.

So it's not just me that is up at this time?
 

neil a

ClioSport Club Member
Cars looking good not too far off now, what cams did you end up getting ?
Im hoping there is a couple of track days in November, or i will be propper pissed if I only get one outing in my car this year.
I will get you that number for tires when I get home as need to go get a couple of sets myself.
 
  Audi A6 & 172 Cup
Coming along well,

Pisser about setting the dash on fire though, at least you've got a good template to cut the next one, chance to get it even neater.
One thing I've not done while doing mine, well least not properly lol, had some seam sealer/underseal fires that took a few swipes with a wet rag to put out but nothing that got me panicing.

Torn about going with one of these rads or sticking with the wee polo one, is the cup alternator bracket a definite no go with one of these then?


Wee tip for painting the cage, if your doing the inside a grey colour I would try and prime all the awkward bits, ie underside of the tubes etc with a primer as close to the colour of paint as you can and make sure every bit of bare metal has a good coat of primer.
With the best intentions when you start doing the inside of a car with a cage, there are so many bits to paint it's tricky to get a coat on everything before the bit you started on begins to flash off, so you need to move quickly as such it's possible to miss wee bits. If you know theres primer everywhere then it's not such a big deal as long as it's not seen obviously.
Unless your guy is an old hand at painting cars with cages that is, then you've probably not got much to worry about.

There are a few wee bits on my cage that are a bit shy on paint, mate said he would bring up his mini paint gun next time and section in a few of them, which is another advantage of using a topcoat paint as apposed to basecoat and lacquer, it's relatively easy to do any repairs or touch ups.
 
  Cup In bits
I'll hopefully being doing the trackscotland one on the 3rd of november but I think there should be more after that. I'll see how much time I've got after that for any more.

So it's not just me that is up at this time?

Im hoping to be built before Christmas but thinking about it I will probably just do some miles around the farm I'm on rather than going to knockhill. Loads of snow predicted this year supposedly, im hoping anyway. Get up the hills loads so I think most of the winter will be a right off for me when the sna falls.

No not just you, im up untill stupid o'clock with this car filling my head of mince, pretty much do nightshift all the time.
 
  Cup In bits
Cars looking good not too far off now, what cams did you end up getting ?
Im hoping there is a couple of track days in November, or i will be propper pissed if I only get one outing in my car this year.
I will get you that number for tires when I get home as need to go get a couple of sets myself.

Cheers, yeah it's getting there. I have 421's, I wanted the wildest I could have without new pistons or buying Schrik cam's. I have still to dig out my loom and connect battery etc etc been concentrating on other bits just now sorry. Yours must be mapped by now eh, BHP????? Tyre number would be good, never thought on the mini's, two of my mates run them, cheap track day tyres here I come!
 
That radiator looks absolutely spot on for the Clio on bodies - certainly better quality (and no doubt better cooling) than the cheap ebay polo rad
I think I'll get one of those ordered for mine this winter as it did struggle a bit to stay cool in summer
 
  Cup In bits
Coming along well,

Pisser about setting the dash on fire though, at least you've got a good template to cut the next one, chance to get it even neater.
One thing I've not done while doing mine, well least not properly lol, had some seam sealer/underseal fires that took a few swipes with a wet rag to put out but nothing that got me panicing.

Torn about going with one of these rads or sticking with the wee polo one, is the cup alternator bracket a definite no go with one of these then?


Wee tip for painting the cage, if your doing the inside a grey colour I would try and prime all the awkward bits, ie underside of the tubes etc with a primer as close to the colour of paint as you can and make sure every bit of bare metal has a good coat of primer.
With the best intentions when you start doing the inside of a car with a cage, there are so many bits to paint it's tricky to get a coat on everything before the bit you started on begins to flash off, so you need to move quickly as such it's possible to miss wee bits. If you know theres primer everywhere then it's not such a big deal as long as it's not seen obviously.
Unless your guy is an old hand at painting cars with cages that is, then you've probably not got much to worry about.

There are a few wee bits on my cage that are a bit shy on paint, mate said he would bring up his mini paint gun next time and section in a few of them, which is another advantage of using a topcoat paint as apposed to basecoat and lacquer, it's relatively easy to do any repairs or touch ups.

Cheers

My stupidity really, using an old towel to stop seem sealer smoke coming through gear change hole and protect some of the dash, thought it was a bit bright in my hood when I was welding lol. My lovely new steering wheel almost got it to. Plus side like you say dash will be a snug fit when finished and it only cost me pennys in the end.

Im unsure about the rad fouling, from pictures I have looked at last night with an engine in and using the rubber mounts on the bottom and leaning it forward onto crossmember it should go, I think two fans is a no go, never really thought about the bracket, was more worried about my filter fouling.

Yeah I think i will do it all grey prime again just to be safe for the gunmetal top coat, I'm going to get some paint mixed and spray tins at same time for touch ups as needed. Guy I spoke to said try get 2 pack, which is harder to get with water based being the law now. Did you use a water based topcoat?
 
  Cup In bits
That radiator looks absolutely spot on for the Clio on bodies - certainly better quality (and no doubt better cooling) than the cheap ebay polo rad
I think I'll get one of those ordered for mine this winter as it did struggle a bit to stay cool in summer

Lovely bit of kit for the price I thought, with a few pieces welded on the standard rubber mounts can be used which I would like to use for the expansion and vibration. I will see in the next week if it's going to work with cup bracket.
 
Sounds perfect - it's one thing I don't like about mine at the moment is it only uses one standard mount and the rest are bolted direct to metal - not great for vibration
 
  Audi A6 & 172 Cup
Cheers

Yeah I think i will do it all grey prime again just to be safe for the gunmetal top coat, I'm going to get some paint mixed and spray tins at same time for touch ups as needed. Guy I spoke to said try get 2 pack, which is harder to get with water based being the law now. Did you use a water based topcoat?

Base coat and lacquer used to be all solvent based, they changed it to a water based base coat, ie the colour, but even that still uses a solvent based lacquer.
Topcoat, 2k or 2 pack was and still is solvent based, they can't make that water based or at least not yet, what they did do however was reduce the voc content to comply with EU regs.

You can still buy topcoat from most paint suppliers, some ask what your using it for but just say your restoring a classic car ;)

You won't get a metallic grey in topcoat incase that's what you were thinking of going for? It would need to be base coat and lacquer, doing that on a roll cage would be a nightmare and not easy to fix any wee bits or touch anything up afterwards. Hence why your painter is suggesting getting 2 pack.
 

p@blo

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio/A3
Looking good Morgan, lol at setting the dash ablaze :rasp:

Hear kennys comments about painting the cage, you doing it yourself or sending it away?

Is it an oreca btw?
 
  Cup In bits
Base coat and lacquer used to be all solvent based, they changed it to a water based base coat, ie the colour, but even that still uses a solvent based lacquer.
Topcoat, 2k or 2 pack was and still is solvent based, they can't make that water based or at least not yet, what they did do however was reduce the voc content to comply with EU regs.

You can still buy topcoat from most paint suppliers, some ask what your using it for but just say your restoring a classic car ;)

You won't get a metallic grey in topcoat in case that's what you were thinking of going for? It would need to be base coat and lacquer, doing that on a roll cage would be a nightmare and not easy to fix any wee bits or touch anything up afterwards. Hence why your painter is suggesting getting 2 pack.

Yeah I remember something changed, pro tree huggers and all that. I was looking for quotes at the time they changed and they were all unsure on prices, didn't know how the paint's would react together and couldn't bake it as quick.

This guy usually uses boat paints for the rally lads he does as it resist chipping but he is going to get me some 2k grey, he painted a fiesta st in the scottish championship gun metal inside, looks good so ill be happy with that. will give me some tins to patch in too.


Looking good Morgan, lol at setting the dash ablaze :rasp:

Hear kennys comments about painting the cage, you doing it yourself or sending it away?

Is it an oreca btw?

Yeah had to laugh myself, was nearly finished as well.

I have primed it, just struck a deal with a painter tonight, I pay for the paint and he'll do all my repair work etc for stickers on the car....boost! Going to cover it all in high build grey primer and flatten that, then it's going gun metal grey.

It was an Oreca cage, the rear half has been totally re-designed, dash & harness bars fitted, gussets and some swagging done.
 
  Cup In bits
Can anyone help with what these seals are for, im sure they came out of my bottom end gasket set but it was a while ago.

P1000569-1.jpg


And have these water pumps been super seeded, they look like cheap crap, marked Renault but I thought they had a cast impellor.

P1000568.jpg
 

p@blo

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio/A3
Yeah had to laugh myself, was nearly finished as well.

I have primed it, just struck a deal with a painter tonight, I pay for the paint and he'll do all my repair work etc for stickers on the car....boost! Going to cover it all in high build grey primer and flatten that, then it's going gun metal grey.

It was an Oreca cage, the rear half has been totally re-designed, dash & harness bars fitted, gussets and some swagging done.

Cool, for info Jawel in brum will sell you 2k. I used their glacier white and the radiant red thinned to 30% and it came out ok. Etch primed the bare metal and just keyed the existing paint to save on faffing about. Got some of their 2k primer for when I do my f/g panels too. It's gloss finish and seems fairly hard wearing, could be worth a look for you mate?

The back of yours seems much better braced onto the turrets. Mines just in std configuration attached to the floor pan, but it ticks the box from a safety perspective. :)

You fitted a front cross bar to yours too? Seems odd they never designed it that way.:dead:
 
  Cup In bits
I'll bare that in mind mate, painter will probably sort me out though.

Have you went as far as FG doors aswell or just boot and bonnet?

Yeah after mocking it up I decided it was pretty pointless as it was other than for rolling off course. Connecting the whole car together on all the suspension pickups and you know its not your chassis letting you down, wished I had fitted the through pieces to front turrets but it seemed too much of a task at the time with the cage being such a tight fit, did you fit them? I just added a single tube between a pillars, didnt go for a 'x' or that.
 
  Cup In bits
So had a busy last few days stripping, getting stuff blasted, cleaning, painting and rebuilding the engine. All new gasket, seals, belt, dephaser, lightweight pulleys, paddle clutch, ARP rod bolts and fitted the 421's. Knocked the lightened flywheel on the head for just now, need things back together and I will be waiting a while for that. Waiting on the breather plate and thermostat housing from the welders and gaskets and cam phase solenoid from Wests. I should get them tomorrow and throw the engine and box back in. Thanks dan @519 for the some torques and answering queries)


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All bearings are immaculate, compression was excellent before removing, virgin bores and no signs of damage on piston crowns with bore scope so hopefully it lasts well and makes good power.

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Gave the box a wash stripped and painted, fitted quick shift rod.

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Fitted Yanoo fast road shifter in housing, top bit of kit.

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I just need just need mani wrapped and im good to build things up for the last time hopefully.
 
  172 cup, Impreza P1
Very clean. Love it!

Hope it all fires up fine and gives good power. Just remembered that I haven't sent you the manual. Do you still need it?
 
  Cup In bits
Coming to the bit I haven't been looking forward to "The wiring" I dont get along with wires, hoping it should be trouble free with my new loom.

No worries, I got a few manuals there all as gash as each other, no torque stetting tables.
 
  Audi A6 & 172 Cup
Looking good, bearings look perfect!

Does the Yanoo kit you've got bolt together? I go one from him ages ago, mine was just two ally bits that pushed together with an o-ring then the whole lot held in with the c-clip.

Got any pics of it before you fitted it?
 
  Cup In bits
You would never guess it was a 60,000 mile engine, was leaking like a sieve from everywhere else but that's been sorted now.

You have just bought the "stiff shift" I have a full gear stick, I think he calls it his fast road shifter. Mine came with an all new gear stick (50mm longer) his latest stiff shift, lift reverse mechanism etc etc, it also comes with short shift pin as well for the gearbox, he said it has the same throw of standard but with a longer gear stick. I got him to build everything up so all I had to do was take out c-clip and modify the housing a slide everything in, I had the brass bushes for the lower pivot as well.

Im hoping that combined with shortening the gear selector rod I wont have to touch my exhaust tunnel.

Pretty sure I don't have no pics of it out, I will look though. Lost loads with the stupid ios 6 update.
 
  Audi A6 & 172 Cup
Ahhah, that explains it then.

I built mine up a few weeks ago, used some parts of the kit but kept the renault ball inserts, seemed like a better fit than the oversize red ones that came with it. Put it all together with some silicone grease, its got a bit of play in it but not in a sloppy way lol. I've got a quaife nylon gearknob on it, with the steering wheel/column lowered, the placement is pretty much perfect.

iirc James has had some issues with his set up and now that i'm aware of this, thats obviously what he has too as they were refering to bolts and shims, made no sense at the time when I was looking at what I had. Seems it was going too tight during the course of a race due to heat from the exhaust.
 
  Cup In bits
Yeah the kits great, best feature is its adjustability to suit the preferred stiffness your after. Im going to get my mate to knock up a nylon gear knob as well then just cut it down and re-machine until im happy, is yours off the shelf jobbie? Yeah I think he was having issues by not running an exhaust heat shield and the lower pivots come in red plastic standard but Yanoo does a brass bush for it which will enlarge throughout the race. His gear linkage has been modified quite a bit if I remember right, he was replacing loads of small parts of it a while back.
 

neil a

ClioSport Club Member
Looks good :clap:
Did you chop the pillars off of the breather plate, I cut them off flush since there not used anymore for the coilpack mount.
Is there any risk of beating the syncros in the box with the short shift, I had problems with one of my old cosworth boxes cause of that.
 
  Cup In bits
Yeah I cut the breather plate in two, had all the holes welded and AN boss's welded to it, I will get picks up tonight. Boss's were welded into thermostat housing to save drilling and tapping as well.

I have heard the boxes don't like to be rushed and Yanoo said with the same kit fitted to his car he just takes it easy. I'll just swap the pin out if I'm not keen. I gave the car torture for a few days before striping to find any issues, never missed or crunched a gear once, I'm pretty sympathetic, iv never had a clutch or gearbox go in any of my motors so hope I continue that one on.
 

neil a

ClioSport Club Member
Apart from my cosworths I've never done a box either but think I did 3 in a year in my first escort including snapping a main shaft in half:mad:, problem was an updated box was 3k but had to be fitted.
I did the same with the stat housing , machined up a boss and had it welded on. Wiring is easy 2 wires for the main loom then you will need fan and fuel pump triggers from the original ecu.
 
  Cup In bits
Lol boxes aren't fun to swap on the 4x4's either. If i snap a main shaft on my Clio I will be a happy man, but can't see it's 180lbft of torque going near one :p haha.

Yeah the the omex wiring seems easy enough, it's chopping down of the interior stuff that I'm not looking forward to, haven't heard of a good outcome from doing it yet.
 


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