Back again! Flamer 172 Road Trip/Track car

[Mcaff]

Managed to find my way back into a Clio after a good few years. Fancied a second car as my GTD was becoming very boring.

With the intention of next year doing a few road trips and track days I was on the search for another Clio, This came up for sale on the Clio sport owners club on facebook and I had to have it.

From the advert the car as follows :

Clio 172 Flame Red
96k miles
9 months mot
Folder full of history

Full belts and water pump at Beaniesport renault specialists in February 18
Full service at the same time
Gearbox reciept for nearly £600 also this year

Recaro sportlines
Yozza exhaust with ktec sports cat
Turinis (could do with a refurb)
Cup spoiler
Near new shocks all round on cooksport springs
Xenon headlights
Solid top mounts
Solid gearbox and engine mounts
Rear strut brace
Rear seats removed and ktec boot mat fitted (still have rear seats if required)
Ds3000 pads up front.
Braided Brake hoses

So Plans for the car apart from drive it..
I want rid of the Recaros For something like a Recaro SPG or similar to lighten it up and fit a harness.
Half cage painted in Flame red
PMS shifter
Change the tyres on the Turinis to Rainsports for the road
Get myself a set of 2118 or similar for some AD08r for track
Then drive it and most likely break and expose its weak points.

Enough waffling heres some pictures.

d53b1f18-b5ad-4360-8932-a689b8807f69 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

IMG_1309 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

IMG_1270 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

IMG_1269 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

IMG_1289 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

IMG_1271 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

IMG_1277 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

IMG_1367 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

IMG_1368 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

IMG_1365 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Enjoy!

 

[Stay Puft]

Saw it advertised on Fb, nice car. Best colour too!

 

[Ant1]

I was going to buy this but hesitated. Was it a good example?

 

[Mcaff]

Saw it advertised on Fb, nice car. Best colour too!

I had originally wanted black to make my 3rd black Clio but this stood out for some reason, now I'm in love with the colour!

 

[Mcaff]

I was going to buy this but hesitated. Was it a good example?

Yes for 16 years old I can't fault it, it had some ling long tyres on the front though and the wheels need a refurb but apart from that it would seem like it has been very well looked after. the folder of history is very very substantial every little thing accounted for.

 

[Coops Mk1]

Looks a great buy tbh, cracking base to work from

 

[Mcaff]

Well ive not updated on here for a while, the car had a good few months before a few little issues.

first being the aircon rad bracket rusted and fell off burst the rad and I was left stranded with no coolant. but was shortly fixed and back on the road.

done a few minor road trips in and around Scotland, and around about march last year I pulled onto a slip road.. through the gears 1..2..3 and a plume of smoke out the back of her. Limped it back home and oil In the intake and spewing out of the exhaust.

Had a lot going on last year with moving etc so the car went into storage and ive just recently been acquiring some bits and bob:

IMG_2903 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

C9486FA9-A27A-48AB-A686-D60B03F0BDD4 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

IMG_4329 by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

So my friend was selling a 197 cam'd ph1 engine with arp rod bolts. so I jumped on that.
along with cup alternator set up, also going to run Epas on this as my power steering pump was on the way out as well.

and last night i've ordered all the fluids any car would need, some nimbus heat shield for the bulkhead and a little hand held fire extinguisher.

also acquiring a ph1 airbox as ive ordered a pipercross filter for one.

the engine previously rolling roaded at 199.2bhp so im hoping anywhere close to that I will be happy.

I shall try my best to upload as I go along this time.

 

[Mcaff]

The Clio shall be getting picked up this weekend to get its new heart and some improvements, ive vowed to not buy anything else this month as the old credit card has been taking a beating.

Ordered all the fluids oils/gbox oil/ coolant / brake fluid and a new clutch cable and some washers from RPD.

Small hand held fire extinguisher and some nimbus heat shield from demon tweaks.

A ph1 pipercross filter from kam racing.

Won a Sparco steering wheel on bids on eBay and ordered some new hardware for it.

Hoping that we don't come across any nasty stuff along the way really as the bills seem to be mounting up.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Thankfully there isn't any rush on getting it finished.

 

[Mcaff]

Packed up and off to Stu to get the new engine etc fitted.

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Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

He got to work straight away, stripped the front end down and dropped the coolant.

Also compression tested the old engine, Cylinders 2/3/4 all sat at 160psi. Cylinder 1 was 60psi Oops

I guess it will be good for a coffee table.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

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Thankfully bought that nimbus heat shield to replace this nonsense...

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Big thanks to Stu for his patience.. car had been sat since last April so had a locked on calliper and the car just wanted to die every 2 second and run like a Subaru.

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Hopefully have it off to get mapped in no time.

 

[Mcaff]

Stus cracked on again this evening and sent me some pictures over so I may as well update this.

Epas Column fitted and the ECU mounted in the standard area, some wires connected up and earthed to oem point. Just waiting on the controller being delivered to wire the rest up.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Cut and looped the rack pipes and new clutch cable fitted.

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The absolute star also cleaned up the engine bay for me (now that's service) has also mocked up the heat shield and trimmed it to near enough the shape.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

After posting up on here about the asbo loud yozza that's on this I think once ive got this back on the ground im going to take it to have another centre silencer welded in, as its just too loud for me the way it is.

 

[Usr117063]

You will have to de pin the unnecessary wires from that white plug into the ecu otherwise the power to the column will shut off. This happened to me dont know about others

 

[Mcaff]

Box got mounted up to the new engine this evening, Really showing up that the box could use a lick of paint.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Showing off the fresh clutch

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Stu recons he will have the engine in on Friday. What a guy!

 

[mossyv6]

Great updates @Mcaff

Nice to see a flamer being saved

 

[JezzaMac]

Flamer friends! Looking good as well! Where about's are you from?

@Stu. is a good egg.

 

[Mcaff]

Flamer friends! Looking good as well! Where about's are you from?

@Stu. is a good egg.

The best colour eh! I'm Glasgow/Rutherglen however find myself in fife fairly often these days. Are you local?

Hes a top lad unfortunately for him he's known me for over 10 years now

 

[JezzaMac]

The best colour eh! I'm Glasgow/Rutherglen however find myself in fife fairly often these days. Are you local?

Hes a top lad unfortunately for him he's known me for over 10 years now

I'm Edinburgh so unlikely to see you about.

I'm probably about the same now. Its a very one sided relationship, its always the same. I give him money and he takes it. Never the other way round

 

[Mcaff]

I'm Edinburgh so unlikely to see you about.

I'm probably about the same now. Its a very one sided relationship, its always the same. I give him money and he takes it. Never the other way round

Just had a look at your thread on the flamer, may possibly see you at knockhill at some point if you're planning some track days.

I won't comment on that in the hope he forgets I owe him money.

 

[Mcaff]

90% back together @Stu. hoping to get the car back running tonight but having some electrical problems. Im sure he will get to the bottom of things.

Heres some pics of her back on the ground and some size comparisons to Stu's 1962 Galaxie 500.

Also excuse the wheel its only in temporarily.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Both cars where lined up at boot level.

Hoping to have things ironed out this week and can book it into get mapped at SOS Motorsport in falkirk
Also going to take it to get a silencer or resonator welded into the Yozza to quieten it down a bit.

loads of odds and ends that need doing on the car, but really just want to get it up and running and on the road to use over summer.
Hopefully tidy the other bits up on the way.

Could do with a local person in Scotland with a Renault Clip to turn my airbag lights off as well
Need a couple of tyres
Wheel refurb
Callipers could do with a lick of paint.

Mostly cosmetic stuff.

But she's coming along well.

 

[Stu.]

Its a very one sided relationship, its always the same. I give him money and he takes it. Never the other way round

I think we have a great relationship xox

 

[JKING3008]

Looks good. Here's mine I'm picking up This weekend

 

[Mcaff]

Looks good. Here's mine I'm picking up This weekend
View attachment 1455994

Looks lovely this i'm sure this is local to me if I'm thinking of the same one. was posted for sale on Facebook.

I'm certain ive also seen it up at Knockhill.

 

[JKING3008]

Looks lovely this i'm sure this is local to me if I'm thinking of the same one. was posted for sale on Facebook.

I'm certain ive also seen it up at Knockhill.

Yeah, was for sale on Facebook just the other week. Chap called Robbie Ogilvie was the seller.

 

[Mcaff]

Not much of an update nothings changed, won't be long until its booked in for mapping etc.

Someone posted up a discount code PAID20 for eBay and I used it to get a couple of Uniroyal RainSport 5s for a grand total of £87.70.

Needed a pair of tyres for the rear so I will swap the RS3s onto the rear and put the 5s on the front and see how we go.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Hopefully have more to update soon!

 

[Mcaff]

Had really planned on having the car back on the road by now and enjoying the sunny days and all the beautiful pothole filled Scottish roads.

However as with the currant climate that was not to be.

So the cars still over at @Stu. 's unit so I took the opportunity to order some more bits and bobs to keep my friend busy. (As I know he just loveeeeees working on clios )

Ordered PMS Stud and nut kit 68mm rears and 75mm front
Also some front PMS 18mm hubcentric slip on spacers
Rear PMS 10mm Stub axel spacers

@George@RTR_Parts aslo sorted me out with some rear OEM discs and Brembo pads. Very quickly may I add top bloke.

Ordered up some new plates from Pro plates front plate is the shorter type 520x90

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

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Very much looking forward to getting her mapped and a few other odds and ends done.

Hope you're all staying well.

 

[Jekyll]

Excellent work so far mate. Stu doing you proud!

 

[Mcaff]

Won myself a PMS shifter on Ebay earlier in the week. For the price it was I'm going to just order up all new bearings and bushings give it a lick of paint and wack it in the car. I will upload some pics doing that once it gets here.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

First pictures of her sitting pretty moved out of the unit. Absolutely bursting to get it back now once it's safe to do so.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

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Looking great if I don't say so myself!

 

[Mcaff]

PMS shifter came in the mail, as ive had an abundance of free time I set about doing a mini restoration on it.

I will note the paint job isn't the best however it will keep it protected. On a plus I will be keeping all the interior in and the gear gator.

some before pictures:

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Set about polishing my the shaft. Used a mixture of sand paper, wire wool. polish and just some detailer to clean the residue up.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Rubbed down the rough stuff on the base, due to lack of vice and 24mm spanner I struggled for a while and gave up trying to take it fully apart. so ended up just masking it all up.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

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All re-assembled:

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Ive ordered new bearings, bushes and hardware for it as well so that will all be changed at the time it goes back into the car.

My friend was also breaking another 172 so scooped up a couple bits that I fancied.

Tow eye:

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Fog light brake ducts:

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Cars being kept in good hands as my mates Mrs gave it a clean yesterday:

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Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

 

[JezzaMac]

Looking good! I need to get me a shifter!!

Looks like Ash did a no bad job cleaning it!!

 

[Mcaff]

Looking good! I need to get me a shifter!!

Looks like Ash did a no bad job cleaning it!!

Stu might have one if you ask him nicely!

Aye she's a top lass

 

[Mcaff]

Getting close to a point where I will be able to plan some trips with this now, few final bits done just some injector/misfire issues and we should be rocking.

Fog light brake ducts are on.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Also have added nipple ring and standard silver diamond on:

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PMS shifter fitted, new to me Sparco wheel is in. Have discovered the seats have an added mount that should once removed drop them about 25mm so happy about that.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Engine bay isn't the prettiest but she's mostly back together:

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

First time I've driven it in over a year, grinning from ear to ear. Totally different animal now with the cams and the pms shifter has totally transformed the car.


Still having intermittent misfire, have swapped out an injector however was a non genuine one, Stu is going to run it for a while check if our misfire comes back. Bar a set of new injectors im hopefully not going to spend much more on it this side of the year and try and enjoy some time on the road.

Getting very close now to my ideal road car spec, Drives great on the road not too harsh, minimal rattles, pms doesn't rattle too much either. Sounds absolutely fantastic when pressing on with the yozza and Ktec sports cat. However im going to need to get a new silenced centre section welded up pronto for the motorway and longer drives out as it just drones away, that's next on the list.

Wheels badly need a refurb and im dreading taking the skirts off to check the cills, however I think im going to hold off until winter until I go down that rabbit hole.

 

[Mcaff]

Fired in 4 new injectors from Renparts, seems to have sorted the intermittent misfire.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Some sneak peak at the bolts for @Stu. Sunflower

No more updates parts wise, although I've had it out and about done about 250miles in it over the weekend.
PMS shifter does rattle about however I can cope with it, adds to its character. Definitely a worthwhile trade off for how it shifts.
It's much more responsive now with the cams, managed to scoop up an ECU from a friends car that was the same spec as mine and mapped at EFI. Feels like it doesn't want to stop revving.
Don't have anything big planned for it, just enjoy it and sort out a few niggles. need to lower the seats slightly as there is a mount that I should be able to take off and drop them about 20 - 25mm.

Heres just some random out and about pictures:

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

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[Mcaff]

The start of the little anal things now to tidy it up, took the rear belts out the middle one always annoys me seeing it swing about. good couple of KG out of the rear.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Checked down at the inner cills, thankfully no nasty surprises. I will give this the rust treatment come September time once the cars back off the road again for winter.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

All back together and cleaned the interior.

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Tried my private plates on, still undecided if I'm going to run them or not.

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Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Quick wipe down polished the tip and back in the garage for another day.

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Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

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Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

 

[Mcaff]

Got the seats out and lowered today and all the carpets hoovered out.

Biggest gripe with the car since day 1 has been the fact you basically sit on top of the Clio with these seats, sussed out there was a bracket that raised these about 25mm that was not needed, think whoever ordered these for another car it came with the bracket for a pretensioner or something along those lines.

Seats out:

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Can sort of tell the different of height difference between drivers (lowered) and the high passenger seat:

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

The offending bracket:

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

All back in and sorted, also acquired a nice bootnet to keep the garbage in the rear from rolling around:

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Seating position is now vastly improved! I no longer need to splash on new seats

 

[Usr117063]

The seat and steering combo looks perfect 👌 And much better lower, I remember first taking out the bungs in the oem seats which helped loads, now on buckets..

 

[Mcaff]

The seat and steering combo looks perfect 👌 And much better lower, I remember first taking out the bungs in the oem seats which helped loads, now on buckets..

Thank you, definitely a big difference lower transforms how it feels now the seating position is right.

 

[Mcaff]

Aux function packed in somehow on my head unit, had a spare one laying in the garage from a previous car. Had forgotten what unit it was I had so was pleasantly surprised when I took it out the box and was almost identical.

Out with the old:

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

In with the "new":

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Made an attempt to negate the rattle of the shifter when cruising in 5th. A bobble 4 cable ties and some tape.. yet to try it out however i'm not optimistic:

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

 

[Mcaff]

More of those little jobs doing today,

First off was cleaning up the sticky plastics.

Used a combination of sugar soap, soapy water and a quick detailer just to wipe them off.

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

Back installed:

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Untitled by blair mccaffery, on Flickr

More to follow....

 

[Mcaff]

Next up was the Recaros.

Been avoiding giving them a scrub for a while. I would still like to get a wet vac on to them but just not had an opportunity to do that yet. However they have been vastly improved with some foamy fabric cleaner.

Before:

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During:

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After:

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Gave the car a very quick wash and tucked It back in the garage.

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Now on the hunt for a method of getting a pressure washer that I can either run off a battery and bucket as i'm too far from the house to run a hose and power out here. Feel free to throw me some suggestions.

 

[Martin_172]

Now on the hunt for a method of getting a pressure washer that I can either run off a battery and bucket as i'm too far from the house to run a hose and power out here. Feel free to throw me some suggestions.

I noticed the fridge engineers at work using one of these to blow out the condensers on the fridge packs, I'm not sure how powerful it is for a car but it looked reasonably powerful when I seen them using it! they had it hooked up to one of those big water bottles (maby 25litre?!) that has a pump on the top to pressurise it but it says it will draw from a bucket etc

WORX WG625E 18V (20V MAX) Cordless Hydroshot Portable Pressure Cleaner

 

[Mcaff]

I noticed the fridge engineers at work using one of these to blow out the condensers on the fridge packs, I'm not sure how powerful it is for a car but it looked reasonably powerful when I seen them using it! they had it hooked up to one of those big water bottles (maby 25litre?!) that has a pump on the top to pressurise it but it says it will draw from a bucket etc

WORX WG625E 18V (20V MAX) Cordless Hydroshot Portable Pressure Cleaner

That does look handy, Thank you. Realistically the cars never extremely dirty so I don't think I'm going to need an extremely powerful washer. Once I've had it detailed I can just do maintenance wash with something like that.