Another Kangoo 172 build

[minimental]

Hi All

So i Have taken the plunge and started to build a 172 Kangoo,

This originally came from driving around treating my current car more as a van than a car and a van probably being more useful to me day to day....started looking at vw caddy's and similar couldn't believe how little my budget would actually stretch too with vans in general (200k mile snotters was very much the theme) went to players classic a couple of months ago and saw a little white kangoo...seems odd to be here...looked under the bonnet, started chuckling to myself this is the solution to my problem, got home straight on google looking for info on the said conversion, ended up looking at some of the build threads here, the hunt for suitable donors started....

a few weeks later found and bought this, bit of an oddball in that its a 1.6 petrol auto, but most importantly had A/C and as a bonus the plastic flap in the roof for carrying longer things (or rudimentary aero device)

Also a non runner due to an immobiliser fault, overall no rot but in need of a bit of bodywork on the drivers side but nothing major.

The hunt then turned to a clio, a couple of weeks later picked this up

drove it home, what a thing! a mate had a 182 trophy a few years back, and another mate had a ff, i don't remember them being this fun though! this one has some trick bits (coilers, sports cat and exhaust) which will come in handy, the car itself is unfortunately good and rotten

when two become one and all that jazz

started on monday stripping the kangoo out first,

face off

Dash out

guts out

Took the opportunity to valet the engine bay whilst it was empty

The van back in situe, have since removed the medal box and exhaust, this is progress up until now, next up to break the clio, i presume i am using all the bits that would be of use to anyone on here but if anyone spies any bits that might be of use to them let me know!

 

[Ben perry]

I’m big excite!! 👍

 

[David Stuart]

You can probably sell the wings, bumpers and side skirts off the clio quite easily.

Good luck. A mate of mine done the conversion a few years back using my old clio as the donor. They are a surprisingly easy conversion, the elective are the biggest problem but not that difficult.

You have one less issue with the petrol tank being ready to go vs a diesel van. Although I’m not sure how much of a direct swap the clio pedals are.

 

[minimental]

Thanks, yes hoping having a petrol van means a couple less jobs! I believe the pedal box moves across, but only from what I have read on here previously, we shall see!

Anyway I actually had a weekend off for once so no progress over the weekend, managed to make a start stripping the clio on friday though

On the hillbilly car lift

With its face removed and drained of fluids

Managed to get the dash out too, looks like previous owners have been in there has a (what was probably expensive back in the day) aftermarket alarm which i need to work out how to remove! and also the red and black wires in the steering wheel (anyone know what these do?) have been cut. will try and carry on with the teardown after work tonight!

 

[minimental]

Managed to move it along a little more in the last couple of days, the square hole for the main electrical connector has been transplanted from the clio to the kangoo, interior loom has been moved across too, this has thrown up a couple of bits, the two door plugs are different so i guess the pins need swapping from the clio type door plugs to the kangoo door plugs (I'm sure I read somewhere these were plug and play but oh well!) and then the main loom that runs down the passenger sill has male pins on the clio dash loom and the kangoo loom that goes to the rear of the car, is the norm to make up an adapter plug or just re pin one of the plugs with female pins?

Also managed to get the alarm system out of the loom (hopefully!!) what a lot of faff for what was ultimately a system that re joined two wires via a control box! well at least hopefully anyway!

clio now has the engine basically ready to be removed, pulled all of the front hubs struts and driveshafts so i guess that's the next job as the lack of pedal box is what's stopping the dash in the kangoo going back in

 

[minimental]

So managed to get on a little over the weekend,

now has the correct number of pedals. abs pump and servo from the clio installed

The clio loom is now all in and behind the kangoo dash, went to rebuild the clio clocks to use the kangoo mounting positions, looks like i need a ph1 or early kangoo clock set to have the correct dial surrounds

clio now looking pretty sorry for itself, need to strip the rear hubs at some point then its ready to go to the scrappy, foolishly cut the loom to the rear (the correct side of the plug without realising the clio uses the same colour for a few different things, does anyone have the pin outs for the black connector that is at the front of the passenger side sill? and even better if anyone has the pinouts for the kangoo loom to make a patch lead from?

Next job is get the engine and box cleaned up and find someone who will do the cambelt on a loose engine any recommendations in the portsmouth/southampton area?

cheers

 

[Krarl]

Gary Spooner - The Clio Man in Littlehampton

He's exceptionally knowledgeable and has built a fair few Kangoo vans too iirc

 

[riber3]

Amazing work looking forward to seeing it finished. Fancied one of these myself. I did see one for sale but was snapped up quick and is going to be given to a members son I believe.

 

[minimental]

so somewhat delayed update, been getting on with it when i have a few minutes at the expense of adding updates...

Nice pile of cambelt goodies, loaded up the land rover with the engine and took it over to the clio man, as per recommendations. Gary was great and has built a few of these vans himself too!

came back, and with some new found enthusiasm started putting it all back together

Engine in, started going through the wiring between the clio and kangoo looms, something of a headache but i had expected that!

Finally put some power to it nothing especially untoward, go to turn the key...nothing...

looked around everywhere and found an earth on top of the gearbox not attached, attached that and it fired straight up! excellent! cooling system all needs to go in next, then the main big jobs to do are tidy up the wiring rear brakes and make up an exhaust.

 

[riber3]

so somewhat delayed update, been getting on with it when i have a few minutes at the expense of adding updates...

View attachment 1559528
Nice pile of cambelt goodies, loaded up the land rover with the engine and took it over to the clio man, as per recommendations. Gary was great and has built a few of these vans himself too!
View attachment 1559530
came back, and with some new found enthusiasm started putting it all back together
View attachment 1559531
Engine in, started going through the wiring between the clio and kangoo looms, something of a headache but i had expected that!

Finally put some power to it nothing especially untoward, go to turn the key...nothing...

looked around everywhere and found an earth on top of the gearbox not attached, attached that and it fired straight up! excellent! cooling system all needs to go in next, then the main big jobs to do are tidy up the wiring rear brakes and make up an exhaust.

Well done look forward to seeing the progress I really fancy one of these myself

 

[minimental]

Do it!

I have high hopes for it, if its anything like as good as the clio donor it should be great, and also be more useful to me than a car! also been pleasantly surprised by how straightforward a swap it has been so far!

 

[minimental]

So did some more bits on it last night, went to put the coilovers that were on the clio on it, they appear to be for a 182 trophy or similar as the bolt spacing is not right, and also the holes appear to be for 12mm bolts, more worryingly the previous owner seems to have "made" them fit by modifying the bolts (read gashing one of them down until it fitted) so i think i may revert back to stock suspension struts, annoyingly i was hoping to not spend too much more on this project straight away, will bits like spring retainers, nuts and bump stops from the kangoo struts fit some new 1*2 struts or is it all completely different, sounds tight but bits like that add best part of another £100 on top of struts and springs, if not i guess i will hunt for a good used set for now to get the thing moving!

 

[Mickb]

Got a rare van there with the roof pop up part. The conversions are straight forward enough. You're doing well.

 

[minimental]

Got a rare van there with the roof pop up part. The conversions are straight forward enough. You're doing well.

Thanks, it seems a bit of an odd spec generally! its not a million miles away from being done now the standard waiting doing bits in between waiting for more parts to turn up, main jobs left to do are :

sort out the wiring for the a/c and blower
mounting of window switches
finding and fitting some front struts
exhaust
seat mounting (might just use the kangoo ones for the time being)

the rest are all little fettling jobs really!

 

[minimental]

got on with the exhaust last night, a few cuts and some welding and the purchase of one bend (handily had some 2.5" stainless pipe left over from doing the land rovers exhaust) and the Ktec 172 exhaust now fits!

 

[riber3]

I was reading the spec on a 172 van that was for sale back in August that I had missed and the guy who had it seemed to do have done a lot more work on it after he had bought it from previous owner. maybe he has some tip s and advice that may be of use to you even though you are doing a great job and the exhaust looks awesome!!!! Hope you managed to solve the front suspension issue out

 

[minimental]

Despite the lack of updates on the van i have been working away on it around other bits, managed to get it ready for an mot just before Christmas although with the Christmas break it has yet to make it for a test

so to carry on from where i left off, found some second hand front struts, came with lowering springs, great i thought...



Maybe too low... gave up and bought some new 172 cup shocks and springs. whilst waiting for these fitted the 172 seats and started messing around with the blower wiring, spent half a day trying to get this right, at one point the blower speed switch was affecting the wiper operation lots of swearing ensues, give up for the day, go back the following day, put an earth on the wiper rack and boom blower and wipers working as they should...

Next headache, windows, drivers window works fine passenger completely dead, try new switches earths, spend a few more hours looking at wiring diagrams no clue... remember that i had cut up the original clio door loom before i had realised that the clio switches are retained, had bought another loom from a breaker and fitted that instead... so it turns out clios have 2 different types of door loom... stuck the old cut up one back together, windows all work perfectly, cue more swearing...between the window switches and the blower motor i have probably wasted 10-12 hours chasing faults that weren't there

next up decided the oz f1's looked a bit flashy for what i want from the van, ended up buying 4 new 15" scenic steelies and painting them silver



Got a set of new pilot sports on a black friday deal, just over £200 for a set of 4



went to fit the wheels up, fronts bolted straight on, rears foul on the rear shocks, doh! fortunately had some spacers left over from the clio, picked one up and nearly fell over...



Having pulled this clio apart the way it had been "modded" by the PO was shocking in places, hacking down bolts to make front struts that shouldn't fit fit was pretty low, also seems part of his weight reduction strategy was either not replacing bolts or just not doing them up, but these wheel spacers took the cake, clearly didn't fit on the rear hubs about 3mm between the flat face of the spacer and the hub so i guess just make them fit with the kwik fit torque wrench, nice. found the two spacers that must have been on the front put them on the lathe and turned some clearance into the back of them so they fit.



Now its down on its wheels pretty happy with the overall look! just waiting for its mot new week and should be good to go!

 

[minimental]

*next week!

Also the clio has gone to the great scrapyard in the sky. that combined with the cat from the van and it paid for the wheels and tyres!

 

[riber3]

Wow!! , you certainly have had a busy time of things and a lot of frustration especially electrics sounds like the windows were a right pane in the ass ( sorry about the pun lol!!) Anyway well done ad i hope you have a Happier and easier New Year and good luck with the MOT

 

[Krarl]

Spacers are pretty common to do that, I believe it's when people put 15mm ones in the rear when you need 16/17mm minimum due to the protrusion of the disc spigot

Silver steels look mega, just a shame they wobble about like f**k when you get them hot😂

 

[plees]

@minimental what width and offset are the scenic steels? I’ve got some et42 and 6,5” on my daily van and they sit well with 20mm spacers front and rear. Interested to hear if yours are different 👍🏻

 

[minimental]

@minimental what width and offset are the scenic steels? I’ve got some et42 and 6,5” on my daily van and they sit well with 20mm spacers front and rear. Interested to hear if yours are different 👍🏻

Et42 x 6.5” sounds about right, can’t remember off the top of my head I run 15mm on the back nothing on the front and I’m happy with how they sit

 

[minimental]

Et42 x 6.5” sounds about right, can’t remember off the top of my head I run 15mm on the back nothing on the front and I’m happy with how they sit

@plees just looked at the invoice for the wheels and it says et45

 

[Bluebeard]

Scenic Steels are for champions!

 

[Kangoo1992]

Despite the lack of updates on the van i have been working away on it around other bits, managed to get it ready for an mot just before Christmas although with the Christmas break it has yet to make it for a test

so to carry on from where i left off, found some second hand front struts, came with lowering springs, great i thought...



Maybe too low... gave up and bought some new 172 cup shocks and springs. whilst waiting for these fitted the 172 seats and started messing around with the blower wiring, spent half a day trying to get this right, at one point the blower speed switch was affecting the wiper operation lots of swearing ensues, give up for the day, go back the following day, put an earth on the wiper rack and boom blower and wipers working as they should...

Next headache, windows, drivers window works fine passenger completely dead, try new switches earths, spend a few more hours looking at wiring diagrams no clue... remember that i had cut up the original clio door loom before i had realised that the clio switches are retained, had bought another loom from a breaker and fitted that instead... so it turns out clios have 2 different types of door loom... stuck the old cut up one back together, windows all work perfectly, cue more swearing...between the window switches and the blower motor i have probably wasted 10-12 hours chasing faults that weren't there

next up decided the oz f1's looked a bit flashy for what i want from the van, ended up buying 4 new 15" scenic steelies and painting them silver



Got a set of new pilot sports on a black friday deal, just over £200 for a set of 4



went to fit the wheels up, fronts bolted straight on, rears foul on the rear shocks, doh! fortunately had some spacers left over from the clio, picked one up and nearly fell over...



Having pulled this clio apart the way it had been "modded" by the PO was shocking in places, hacking down bolts to make front struts that shouldn't fit fit was pretty low, also seems part of his weight reduction strategy was either not replacing bolts or just not doing them up, but these wheel spacers took the cake, clearly didn't fit on the rear hubs about 3mm between the flat face of the spacer and the hub so i guess just make them fit with the kwik fit torque wrench, nice. found the two spacers that must have been on the front put them on the lathe and turned some clearance into the back of them so they fit.



Now its down on its wheels pretty happy with the overall look! just waiting for its mot new week and should be good to go!

Where did you manage to get 4x new steel weeks from ? Have you got a link please.

 

[Bluebeard]

Where did you manage to get 4x new steel weeks from ? Have you got a link please.

Alcar steelwheels 7777 6.0Jx15 ET40 4x100 for Renault Clio rims for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Alcar steelwheels 7777 6.0Jx15 ET40 4x100 for Renault Clio rims at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Kangoo1992]

Alcar steelwheels 7777 6.0Jx15 ET40 4x100 for Renault Clio rims for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Alcar steelwheels 7777 6.0Jx15 ET40 4x100 for Renault Clio rims at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

Thanka for that 👍

 

[minimental]

So I have been running the van for a little while, overall loving it so far great mountain bike/tat hauler and people are constantly surprised by how nippy the funny little french van is, didn't realize i hadn't posted an update of it passing its MOT! have since added an earlier grille (i just think they look better) been working through some niggles finally got all the interior courtesy lights to work as they should (i missed an earth! doh!)

things that have come up on the to do list
an abs sensor (right rear) has gone dud
lambda sensor also throwing a code
the brakes seem to have developed a weird feeling to them like a caliper is sticking or a disc is warped as there always seems to be more travel the first time you press the pedal
airbag light is now on, guess i need to go through it and double check the resistors I put in

other than that no major updates really!

 

[minimental]

long overdue update...has it really been that long?!

so have now done something like 15k miles in this thing I still love it, had a BMW Z4 coupe when I built it which I have since sold as I found the kangoo to be a more fun drivers car and more practical.

Have mostly worked my way through the snagging list, the abs fault took the longest to sort and was the most frustrating, had the pump rebuilt (was faulty but wasn't the cause of the fault, changed all of the abs sensors, same problem, after all of this and going through everything with a mate it turned out to be one of the connectors in the multiplug that runs under the car having an intermittent connection causing the high frequency noise symptom that appeared like the pump.

Had a gearbox and steering rack rebuild too which resulted in engine and box getting dropped

the van has been to Le mans, a test day at curborough spring circuit and also been my daily which has proved super handy.

however, it has also had two exhaust systems in this time in an attempt to shut the thing up, its fine around town but as soon as its at anything above 55 its horrid, boomy, droney? just really loud, on the way back from curborough i resorted to earplugs, and the current exhaust is the best its been! does anyone have any suggestions? current exhaust is a pattern copy of an oem system and whilst its way better than it was (a cut up ktec and then a custom made longlife) Im thinking about sound deadening, maybe removing the bulkhead and seeing if that's any better (don't really want too but if it fixes it then its worth it!) its the only thing i really don't like about the van, and have now thrown a fair bit of time and money at the problem and made no real progress!

 

[scotty1986]

I'd love to be able get some info on how the wiring goes etc and connects to the kangoo loom I'm struggling get anything out of the van it turns over we'll oil light goes out but I can't get spark or injectors to work

 

[scotty1986]

 

[Bluebeard]

long overdue update...has it really been that long?!

so have now done something like 15k miles in this thing I still love it, had a BMW Z4 coupe when I built it which I have since sold as I found the kangoo to be a more fun drivers car and more practical.

Have mostly worked my way through the snagging list, the abs fault took the longest to sort and was the most frustrating, had the pump rebuilt (was faulty but wasn't the cause of the fault, changed all of the abs sensors, same problem, after all of this and going through everything with a mate it turned out to be one of the connectors in the multiplug that runs under the car having an intermittent connection causing the high frequency noise symptom that appeared like the pump.

Had a gearbox and steering rack rebuild too which resulted in engine and box getting dropped
View attachment 1690387

the van has been to Le mans, a test day at curborough spring circuit and also been my daily which has proved super handy.
View attachment 1690391
View attachment 1690390
View attachment 1690389
View attachment 1690392



however, it has also had two exhaust systems in this time in an attempt to shut the thing up, its fine around town but as soon as its at anything above 55 its horrid, boomy, droney? just really loud, on the way back from curborough i resorted to earplugs, and the current exhaust is the best its been! does anyone have any suggestions? current exhaust is a pattern copy of an oem system and whilst its way better than it was (a cut up ktec and then a custom made longlife) Im thinking about sound deadening, maybe removing the bulkhead and seeing if that's any better (don't really want too but if it fixes it then its worth it!) its the only thing i really don't like about the van, and have now thrown a fair bit of time and money at the problem and made no real progress!

Having been in my mates with sound deadening (the silver backed black rubber stick on stuff) on his floor rear doors and roof, and owned mine (nothing, not even ply lining or a bulkhead) I can safely say that sound deadening makes a HUGE difference. 😂

 

[minimental]

View attachment 1697751

@scotty1986 Looks Great!

As for wiring i moved across the whole clio loom, the only kangoo loom left is for the rear doors/lights the bit that runs down the passenger side sill, i did have similar issues to what you are describing and that was that I had left one of the engine earths disconnected, could potentially be immobilizer related too with those symptoms?

@Daniel I ply lined mine early on and that made a massive difference it also has some of the bitumin style sheets in places, I ended up removing the bulkhead to take it to lemans this year as the other half came with me and there wasn't enough room for us to both sleep in it, the noise issue was massively improved by removing the bulkhead, I can only assume the steel bulkhead was acting a bit like a drum skin at certain frequencies!

annoyingly it seems to have cracked the cat pipe on the way home which made for a somewhat loud return journey!

 

[riber3]

Love the wheels

 

[scotty1986]

Bringing this thread back up again
How did you connect the wiring down to the fuel pump and rear wiring did you repin the orginal plugs or used connectors? Ive got my clio loom in now and im struggling with plugs such as the heater controls and the rear wiring

 

[minimental]

I made an adapter loom about 20cm iirc that sits under the passenger side door step trim, essentially using all of the rear harness from the van for fuel pumps, locking lighting etc and joining into the plug that is in the same place on the clio, if you dont already have them pin removal tools and the correct terminals really help here, so you can use the oe plugs.

does your van have ac/ are you planning to fit it, i think i ended up basically making a new loom just to run the original kangoo heater/ac controls again re using all the plugs, for the ac i chased back the pinouts for the ac control from the uch, if you can get your hands on the proper renault wiring diagrams for both that will really help!

the wiring of both these bits was probably one of the biggest time drains on the build, nothing overly complicated just methodical check and check again!