So clean! Ph1 bumpers are generally a b**ch to get to sit right.
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benkay
ClioSport Club Member
V6 Ph2 + Audi S3(8V)
Another quick update:
So the fuel leak returned with force on Friday when I was leaving work. Luckily flicked the cabin blowers on full to clear the windscreen and was greeted with an almighty petrol smell. Quickly popped the bonnet and fuel was absolutely p**sing out of the fuel rail connector, ran back around the car and flicked off the ignition as quick as I could.
Turns out I'd pinched the new O-Ring as I was putting it on, it was a bit over-sized in fairness which probably didn't help. Luckily I work at an engineering company and I managed to find a replacement o-ring in the stores that was the right size and Nitrile material to boot, so it should be fine in contact with petrol.
Parents visiting put a long weekend of car-work on hold, but Sunday evening I did start thinking about trying to fix the sticky throttle once again. I bought a replacement throttle body from potter88 and a new gasket from Renault. Renault's gasket packaging is frankly ridiculous using sticky plastic!!!!!
I took ages trying to get it out in one piece, and this is the best I achieved....
Yes, that's about 1/3 the thickness of the gasket still stuck to the plastic packaging. It was in 3 bits by the time I extracted most of it...
Stupidity! Anyhow, luckily the existing gasket seemed in pretty good nick, so I just used that.
Cracked on the new TB and...... THROTTLE FIXED!!!! RESULT!
So the fuel leak returned with force on Friday when I was leaving work. Luckily flicked the cabin blowers on full to clear the windscreen and was greeted with an almighty petrol smell. Quickly popped the bonnet and fuel was absolutely p**sing out of the fuel rail connector, ran back around the car and flicked off the ignition as quick as I could.
Turns out I'd pinched the new O-Ring as I was putting it on, it was a bit over-sized in fairness which probably didn't help. Luckily I work at an engineering company and I managed to find a replacement o-ring in the stores that was the right size and Nitrile material to boot, so it should be fine in contact with petrol.
Parents visiting put a long weekend of car-work on hold, but Sunday evening I did start thinking about trying to fix the sticky throttle once again. I bought a replacement throttle body from potter88 and a new gasket from Renault. Renault's gasket packaging is frankly ridiculous using sticky plastic!!!!!
I took ages trying to get it out in one piece, and this is the best I achieved....
Yes, that's about 1/3 the thickness of the gasket still stuck to the plastic packaging. It was in 3 bits by the time I extracted most of it...
Stupidity! Anyhow, luckily the existing gasket seemed in pretty good nick, so I just used that.
Cracked on the new TB and...... THROTTLE FIXED!!!! RESULT!
Nickson
ClioSport Club Member
Great work pal, looks really clean! Havent seen her in nearly 2 yearsperhaps I need to visit? Certainly looks cleaner than when I had her.... although as soon as I sold the car to Nick he did a great job of ruining it
Oi!
Oh, hold the phone..
Is this really the same car i sold you this time last year!?!?!?! LOL
Mate it looks unreal, I couldn't of done it any better myself and real credit to you, you have done it properly!!! LOVING IT!
Can i have her back now she is fixed
benkay
ClioSport Club Member
V6 Ph2 + Audi S3(8V)
Well, it's been so long since I posted an update that I struggled to find my thread!
Anyway, with Christmas and some V6 expenses, I put some little mods to the 172 on hold until now.
This week a few nice little presents turned up for her...
Firstly...
Which contained...
Along with some new LED sidelights to match the colour of the HID kit (6000k)...
Next up, this package arrived from Bomber (thanks Bomber! :drunk..
Containing....
And finally, from another member on here....
First off, I got to work on the HID kit. After doing it, I reckon it would have actually been possible without removing any bodywork at all, but because I was going to fit the brake cooling ducts and remove the foglights, I decided to remove the bumper and grille anyway. I have to say, this made it much easier, and I could mount the ballasts nicely out of the way in places you wouldn't be able to get to with the headlights still in place.
Here's one side done :
And then the car assembled again!
Complete with new brake ducts....
I also wanted to replace the black Renault logo on the bonnet for an original silver one...
Unfortunately, the one I got seems to be slightly more curved than the old one. Can anyone confirm that part number 7700824625 is the correct diamond for the front of a 172 Ph1? I'm thinking it could be the rear badge from a 172 Ph2/182/V6 instead
I have to say the LED sidelights and HID dipped beam are absolutely brilliant. In the projector lens of the 172 dual optic headlights, the beam pattern is very good and I drove around tonight to check alignment and didn't get a single flash. I also ran behind a police car for a good couple of miles with no interest, so I'm happy
The 35W 6000k kit is a great option, I can't imagine the 55W kits are really necessary to be honest!
The only things that didn't go too well today were
1. Couldn't figure out where the extra bolt holding the bumper on was. Turned out to be under the arch liner. Thanks to Nickson for his fast help
2. On passenger side, it seems one of the wheel bolts won't tighten properly. I thought it might be the bolt, so swapped bolts but this spun too. Seems like the thread in the spacer might be fubar'd. @Nickson, ever notice this buddy?
Still to do on the car.....
Wheel refurb - URGENT
Dash swap for Ph2 - Trying to find the right parts near here is a bloody mission! Everything that crops up seems to be Wales or Scotland!!
CLEAN
Anyway, with Christmas and some V6 expenses, I put some little mods to the 172 on hold until now.
This week a few nice little presents turned up for her...
Firstly...
Which contained...
Along with some new LED sidelights to match the colour of the HID kit (6000k)...
Next up, this package arrived from Bomber (thanks Bomber! :drunk
..Containing....
And finally, from another member on here....
First off, I got to work on the HID kit. After doing it, I reckon it would have actually been possible without removing any bodywork at all, but because I was going to fit the brake cooling ducts and remove the foglights, I decided to remove the bumper and grille anyway. I have to say, this made it much easier, and I could mount the ballasts nicely out of the way in places you wouldn't be able to get to with the headlights still in place.
Here's one side done :
And then the car assembled again!
Complete with new brake ducts....
I also wanted to replace the black Renault logo on the bonnet for an original silver one...
Unfortunately, the one I got seems to be slightly more curved than the old one. Can anyone confirm that part number 7700824625 is the correct diamond for the front of a 172 Ph1? I'm thinking it could be the rear badge from a 172 Ph2/182/V6 instead
I have to say the LED sidelights and HID dipped beam are absolutely brilliant. In the projector lens of the 172 dual optic headlights, the beam pattern is very good and I drove around tonight to check alignment and didn't get a single flash. I also ran behind a police car for a good couple of miles with no interest, so I'm happy
The 35W 6000k kit is a great option, I can't imagine the 55W kits are really necessary to be honest!
The only things that didn't go too well today were
1. Couldn't figure out where the extra bolt holding the bumper on was. Turned out to be under the arch liner. Thanks to Nickson for his fast help
2. On passenger side, it seems one of the wheel bolts won't tighten properly. I thought it might be the bolt, so swapped bolts but this spun too. Seems like the thread in the spacer might be fubar'd. @Nickson, ever notice this buddy?
Still to do on the car.....
Wheel refurb - URGENT
Dash swap for Ph2 - Trying to find the right parts near here is a bloody mission! Everything that crops up seems to be Wales or Scotland!!
CLEAN
Nickson
ClioSport Club Member
Nice job mate!
The bumper support looks really tatty now.. :dapprove: I painted that in Hammerite to help protect it and it looks worse than it did before the paint!
Glad you managed to get the bumper off ok, and that I wasn't just chatting rubbish when I tried to explain where the bolts were
With regards to the bolt on the passenger side, I don't remember having any problems with them!
I bought them brand new, and the only problem I had was with the bolts being too long! Which was soon rectified by grinding them down a tad. Maybe this buggered the thread?
Those wheels are in desperate need of a refurb!! I cannot wait to see the car with those done
Good work Ben, I'm glad you're taking care of her!
The bumper support looks really tatty now.. :dapprove: I painted that in Hammerite to help protect it and it looks worse than it did before the paint!
Glad you managed to get the bumper off ok, and that I wasn't just chatting rubbish when I tried to explain where the bolts were
With regards to the bolt on the passenger side, I don't remember having any problems with them!
I bought them brand new, and the only problem I had was with the bolts being too long! Which was soon rectified by grinding them down a tad. Maybe this buggered the thread?
Those wheels are in desperate need of a refurb!! I cannot wait to see the car with those done
Good work Ben, I'm glad you're taking care of her!
benkay
ClioSport Club Member
V6 Ph2 + Audi S3(8V)
Well, it's been a while since I last updated this thread.
Unfortunately, not much progress in terms of the further improvements I want to make, but some good maintenance going on.
Following the HID kit and brake cooling fitting, when I came to put the wheels back on, as I wrote above, I found that one bolt on the passenger side just wouldn't torque up. You could feel it "slipping" a thread. Lacking in time, I torqued it as far as it would go and hoped that it would be enough.
Sure enough, a couple of days later a "ticking" noise from passenger side begins. Immediate thought was a drive-shaft had gone, but I knew Nickson had put two new ones on pretty recently.
Took the wheels off to find that the threaded hole in one of the FK Spacers was completely stripped. Frankly, for the cost of them, the engineering is pretty piss poor. In my opinion, they should have at least been helicoiled as soft aluminium versus steel bolts was always going to be an issue over time.
Anyway, a bit of research and 2 days later these turned up...
Decided to stay with 40mm overall widening, so each spacer is 20mm. The advantage of these over the FK spacers are that they use proper stainless inserts for the wheel bolts to go into. Should be much harder to strip threads....
As you can see, the inserts are top-hat shaped to prevent them ever coming loose and pulling out...nice bit of engineering.
Unfortunately with all the crappy weather and still early darkness, I had to drive around in the V6 until the weekend came around.
Got stuck in...old ones came off no bother (breaker bar needed for the bolts). Thankfully Nickson had copper greased the back of the spacer so it didn't stick to the hub.
New ones on....
Unfortunately, it seemed some of the bolts were a bit knackered too. I had to go and buy a McGard locking bolt set of the appropriate length to ensure a good tight wheel!!
So, car back on the road...no clicking noises...all good. Apart from I wanted to go one better. I always find it a bit of a pain putting the wheels back on as the wheel tends to slip off the spacer until you have 2 bolts fairly well in.
So, quick scout around on ebay and I found some appropriate M12 x 1.5 conversion studs. The appropriate length for the standard OZ F1's is 60mm overall length, which gives you 43mm of exposed thread.
Cost about £17 all in from JJC Race & Rally...not too bad really!
Bit of Loctite on the end of the stud to prevent it spinning out with the nuts next time I take the wheels off...
All in....bit of copper grease on wheel mating surface and on the studs...looking good.
Rears in too...
Now what nuts to buy? Luckily JamesT87 put some nice ones up in the For Sale section which I snapped up pronto. These things are mega-bucks new and they look pretty cool too. Really light weight also...
And job done!!!!!
(I know they STILL need an urgent refurb!)
Got to say, studs make getting the wheels on (and off) an absolute breeze. Definitely recommended!!!
Next up...(in order)
1) Run around everything with a spanner checking torques (couple of annoying knocks creeping in...front top mounts def need tweaking..possibly rears too)
2) CLEAN (this weekend)
3) Interior conversion (have finally tracked down parts not TOO far from me (still a bloody long way). Everything but front seats and door cards)
4) Wheel refurb (when tyres have worn a bit more, may as well replace them at same time)
Unfortunately, not much progress in terms of the further improvements I want to make, but some good maintenance going on.
Following the HID kit and brake cooling fitting, when I came to put the wheels back on, as I wrote above, I found that one bolt on the passenger side just wouldn't torque up. You could feel it "slipping" a thread. Lacking in time, I torqued it as far as it would go and hoped that it would be enough.
Sure enough, a couple of days later a "ticking" noise from passenger side begins. Immediate thought was a drive-shaft had gone, but I knew Nickson had put two new ones on pretty recently.
Took the wheels off to find that the threaded hole in one of the FK Spacers was completely stripped. Frankly, for the cost of them, the engineering is pretty piss poor. In my opinion, they should have at least been helicoiled as soft aluminium versus steel bolts was always going to be an issue over time.
Anyway, a bit of research and 2 days later these turned up...
Decided to stay with 40mm overall widening, so each spacer is 20mm. The advantage of these over the FK spacers are that they use proper stainless inserts for the wheel bolts to go into. Should be much harder to strip threads....
As you can see, the inserts are top-hat shaped to prevent them ever coming loose and pulling out...nice bit of engineering.
Unfortunately with all the crappy weather and still early darkness, I had to drive around in the V6 until the weekend came around.
Got stuck in...old ones came off no bother (breaker bar needed for the bolts). Thankfully Nickson had copper greased the back of the spacer so it didn't stick to the hub.
New ones on....
Unfortunately, it seemed some of the bolts were a bit knackered too. I had to go and buy a McGard locking bolt set of the appropriate length to ensure a good tight wheel!!
So, car back on the road...no clicking noises...all good. Apart from I wanted to go one better. I always find it a bit of a pain putting the wheels back on as the wheel tends to slip off the spacer until you have 2 bolts fairly well in.
So, quick scout around on ebay and I found some appropriate M12 x 1.5 conversion studs. The appropriate length for the standard OZ F1's is 60mm overall length, which gives you 43mm of exposed thread.
Cost about £17 all in from JJC Race & Rally...not too bad really!
Bit of Loctite on the end of the stud to prevent it spinning out with the nuts next time I take the wheels off...
All in....bit of copper grease on wheel mating surface and on the studs...looking good.
Rears in too...
Now what nuts to buy? Luckily JamesT87 put some nice ones up in the For Sale section which I snapped up pronto. These things are mega-bucks new and they look pretty cool too. Really light weight also...
And job done!!!!!
(I know they STILL need an urgent refurb!)
Got to say, studs make getting the wheels on (and off) an absolute breeze. Definitely recommended!!!
Next up...(in order)
1) Run around everything with a spanner checking torques (couple of annoying knocks creeping in...front top mounts def need tweaking..possibly rears too)
2) CLEAN (this weekend)
3) Interior conversion (have finally tracked down parts not TOO far from me (still a bloody long way). Everything but front seats and door cards)
4) Wheel refurb (when tyres have worn a bit more, may as well replace them at same time)
Nickson
ClioSport Club Member
Nice work Ben!!
You will find a lot of Copper Grease around those areas. Better to be safe than sorry!
I must admit I never considered studs, but thinking about it I can really see the benefits, nice one
Also, those spacers look nice!!! Steel thread insert really is a good idea over the soft aluminium threads of the FK's. Did you find out how it stripped in the end?
You will find a lot of Copper Grease around those areas
. Better to be safe than sorry!I must admit I never considered studs, but thinking about it I can really see the benefits, nice one
Also, those spacers look nice!!! Steel thread insert really is a good idea over the soft aluminium threads of the FK's. Did you find out how it stripped in the end?
benkay
ClioSport Club Member
V6 Ph2 + Audi S3(8V)
H&R FTW!
Nope never really found out how it stripped but one of the locking nuts had it's first thread full of totally galled up aluminium. Every time I test fitted a bolt more aluminium shavings kept coming out. I guess it's just a case of over time the threaded hole got more and more worn until it couldn't take anymore.
I'm going to re-tap the FK ones at work this week with a helicoil tap and then put helicoils in them. Will be better than new then and will go up for sale on here (help fund a Yanoo stiff shift / Fast Road shifter)
Nope never really found out how it stripped but one of the locking nuts had it's first thread full of totally galled up aluminium. Every time I test fitted a bolt more aluminium shavings kept coming out. I guess it's just a case of over time the threaded hole got more and more worn until it couldn't take anymore.
I'm going to re-tap the FK ones at work this week with a helicoil tap and then put helicoils in them. Will be better than new then and will go up for sale on here
(help fund a Yanoo stiff shift / Fast Road shifter)Nickson
ClioSport Club Member
Ah that sucks
Glad that you are reviving them from the dead though!
Also, with regards to the AST top mounts, they are a complete and utter b*****d.
I did them as tight as I could physically get them before I sold her to you, but obviously they have worked their way loose again!
Basically, as you will no doubt find out, you can barely get a spanner on the securing nut, as it sits so low into the actual mount body. The best way I found was to use a small adjustable spanner, but that ended up scratching the orange anodising
Best of luck
Glad that you are reviving them from the dead though!
Also, with regards to the AST top mounts, they are a complete and utter b*****d.
I did them as tight as I could physically get them before I sold her to you, but obviously they have worked their way loose again!
Basically, as you will no doubt find out, you can barely get a spanner on the securing nut, as it sits so low into the actual mount body. The best way I found was to use a small adjustable spanner, but that ended up scratching the orange anodising
Best of luck
Nickson
ClioSport Club Member
Lack of progress recently!
I found something you may find useful today whilst clearing the garage.
Probably something that should have been in the boot of the Clio as you drove off!
Woops!!
I found something you may find useful today whilst clearing the garage.
Probably something that should have been in the boot of the Clio as you drove off!
Woops!!
benkay
ClioSport Club Member
V6 Ph2 + Audi S3(8V)
This is true Nick, progress has been made but not written up. Changed the seats for some Corbeau Sportline RRBs
Thinking of going a bit more track oriented now, got the sprinting bug after driving a mate's car in an event the other week.
Aaaaahhhhh.....funny that I wondered where the c-spanners were. Found one in the box of bits but it's a raceland one!
Don't suppose you found the handle for the car jack at the same time??
Thinking of going a bit more track oriented now, got the sprinting bug after driving a mate's car in an event the other week.
Aaaaahhhhh.....funny that I wondered where the c-spanners were. Found one in the box of bits but it's a raceland one!
Don't suppose you found the handle for the car jack at the same time??
Nickson
ClioSport Club Member
This is true Nick, progress has been made but not written up. Changed the seats for some Corbeau Sportline RRBs
Thinking of going a bit more track oriented now, got the sprinting bug after driving a mate's car in an event the other week.
Aaaaahhhhh.....funny that I wondered where the c-spanners were. Found one in the box of bits but it's a raceland one!
Don't suppose you found the handle for the car jack at the same time??
Sounds good Ben!
I completely forgot about the spanners... Should have brought them to Le-Mans!!!
Was good to see you there by the way mate! Apologies that despite being on the same camp site we still didn't have that beer!
You might also be interested to know... I recieved a courtesy call from K-Tec yesterday, saying that the MOT on my Renault Clio was nearly due
Nickson
ClioSport Club Member
I want to see progress!!
benkay
ClioSport Club Member
V6 Ph2 + Audi S3(8V)
OK OK Nick. You've spurred me into action
Well, let's start with the boring stuff.
Back in about May I drove the car up to Heathrow one miserable, very wet morning. Everything fine. Left the car overnight in the car park. Got back, fired her up, everything fine. Then.....got to the motorway and she kept hesitating, then the power would bang back in. I managed to coax her home by constantly varying the throttle which seemed to stop it losing power all the time.
My initial thought was electrical, probably due to the wet weather. No warning lights or anything. The problem was I had to drive all the way up to Liverpool in 2 days time so I just bit the bullet and bought brand new coil pack, HT Leads and spark plugs from Renault.
This seemed to cure it, no problems at all on that trip. But then 2 days later it was back. I managed to snag a new style RS Tuner pretty reasonably priced, so I plugged this in which showed a front lambda fault. Thanks to a group buy on here, I got a genuine new lambda and, after a lot of swearing, got it installed. Hey presto! Running sweet as a nut again.
Other than 2 new front tyres and a handful of fir-tree clips to replace the missing arch liner clips, that's about it for maintenance.
Now onto the fun stuff....
Well an interior conversion had been on the "to do" list for a long time for this car, even back to when Nickson had her. I'd been looking for all the parts to come up reasonably close and finally Llewellyn on here put up a for sale ad. I managed to get pretty much everything I needed from him, all interior plastics, black carpets front and back, door cards front and rear, full dash, steering cowl, centre console, handbrake surround etc. etc.
I then sourced the required heater control and dimmer/headlight adjuster panel from ebay as Llewellyn had the climate control and ESP switch panel which I couldn't use.
Luckily I borrowed work's van to pick everything up from Slough, as when laid out it's quite a lot of stuff!!! This is only part of it....
I basically lost use of one room in my house for a few days...
What's that at the bottom of the photo you say? They'd be the new seats which will be going in post-interior change. Corbeau Revolutions, bloody narrow but having done a few events in them in another car, I knew that they're actualy supremely comfortable for these kind of seats.
This is how she started, standard apart from the OMP wheel..
First things first, pulled out the seats. In this photo I'd laid in a couple of subframes which I didn't end up using. I still can't believe you have to undo the exhaust post-cat to get to the passenger seat bolts. Is that normal or something to do with having an aftermarket exhaust??
Next up, dash top off...all pretty smooth sailing so far and nothing particularly challenging.
Wheel off, much harder than it should have been, it was well and truly wedged on!
Centre console out and diagnostics socket bracket removed.
Clocks out, stalks removed. As you can see, I was pretty meticulous with labelling wires. This project could go horribly wrong if you don't.
Lower dash coming out...not too difficult but would be easier with two people to lift it off the rear mounting points.
One thing you soon realise when doing this is that there's a couple of random plugs which aren't connected to anything. This one was in the centre console area, just in front of the gearstick. No idea what it does or would do if connected...anyone know? I found another one of similar shape and size behind the clock in the central dash.
And this is the end of day 1's progress. I have to say, looking at it like this before leaving it for the night...I did wonder if I'd bitten off more than I could chew.
So next morning, bright and breezy. First thing I tackled was the carpets as these would have to be all replaced before I could get on with replacing anything else.
Before that though, I decided to do a proper job of all the airbag connectors which wouldn't be used anymore. 3.3 Ohm resistors from Maplins do the trick.....
....and this was worth its weigh in gold! Does an awesome job of soldering in the car. Highly recommended.
So, this was a good feeling. Finally making progress. Out with the god awful blue, and some nice neutral black. You can clearly see the difference between front and rear....
Rear carpet in too....good stuff!
Now, wanting to do as good a job as I could, I removed the VIN plaque from my old dash and transferred it onto the new one. It's different shape slightly and the Ph2 plaque's are heat welded onto the dash. Therefore a bit of glue came in handy.
The photos reduced in quantity at this point as the heavens opened. The next parts of the job well truly awful as I was inside the car with all the door shuts trying to get on with it. I did come across quite a few discrepancies between my reality and Rob's guide. Particularly the alarm. Mine has a red flashy light which had been spliced into the loom and made some of the wire relocations even more tricky. Anyway, once I understood what Renault UK had done it wasn't too bad. But a warning to others contemplating doing the swap, it isn't quite paint by numbers!
Getting the lower dash back in was a real arse. I could push it back far enough to get it to locate onto the 3 main points. I couldn't really see what was stopping it, but it seemed to be the main loom. I took a dremel to the back of the dash and cut away some material at this point. This fixed it and it went relatively smoothly from there.
A load of j-clips come in very useful. For instance, there's no holes for the passenger side upper dash to secure. J-clips allow those fixing points to be used (with a bit of dremel work) which should keep rattles to a minimum.
Once the dash was in, work continued...changing out all the light grey/blue plastics to the newer charcoal/dark grey may seem easy but is very time consuming!
Door cards changed too, makes a massive difference to the looks.
New seats in too....on fixed subframes for now but looking to add sliders soon...
Purposeful...
And that's pretty much how she stands now.
I sold off my old interior (although still got all the plastics and carpet if anyone wants them??) so the rear is stripped at the moment.
I'm torn between getting harnesses and leaving the rear stripped, or getting tilting subframes and a phase 2 rear bench. What do you guys reckon?
MOT is due next Friday, so just got to get through that. Slightly worried about MOT rules and airbags not present etc but hoping it'll be OK.
Next big project is hopefully wheel refurb...finally finally.
Well, let's start with the boring stuff.
Back in about May I drove the car up to Heathrow one miserable, very wet morning. Everything fine. Left the car overnight in the car park. Got back, fired her up, everything fine. Then.....got to the motorway and she kept hesitating, then the power would bang back in. I managed to coax her home by constantly varying the throttle which seemed to stop it losing power all the time.
My initial thought was electrical, probably due to the wet weather. No warning lights or anything. The problem was I had to drive all the way up to Liverpool in 2 days time so I just bit the bullet and bought brand new coil pack, HT Leads and spark plugs from Renault.
This seemed to cure it, no problems at all on that trip. But then 2 days later it was back. I managed to snag a new style RS Tuner pretty reasonably priced, so I plugged this in which showed a front lambda fault. Thanks to a group buy on here, I got a genuine new lambda and, after a lot of swearing, got it installed. Hey presto! Running sweet as a nut again.
Other than 2 new front tyres and a handful of fir-tree clips to replace the missing arch liner clips, that's about it for maintenance.
Now onto the fun stuff....
Well an interior conversion had been on the "to do" list for a long time for this car, even back to when Nickson had her. I'd been looking for all the parts to come up reasonably close and finally Llewellyn on here put up a for sale ad. I managed to get pretty much everything I needed from him, all interior plastics, black carpets front and back, door cards front and rear, full dash, steering cowl, centre console, handbrake surround etc. etc.
I then sourced the required heater control and dimmer/headlight adjuster panel from ebay as Llewellyn had the climate control and ESP switch panel which I couldn't use.
Luckily I borrowed work's van to pick everything up from Slough, as when laid out it's quite a lot of stuff!!! This is only part of it....
I basically lost use of one room in my house for a few days...
What's that at the bottom of the photo you say? They'd be the new seats which will be going in post-interior change. Corbeau Revolutions, bloody narrow but having done a few events in them in another car, I knew that they're actualy supremely comfortable for these kind of seats.
This is how she started, standard apart from the OMP wheel..
First things first, pulled out the seats. In this photo I'd laid in a couple of subframes which I didn't end up using. I still can't believe you have to undo the exhaust post-cat to get to the passenger seat bolts. Is that normal or something to do with having an aftermarket exhaust??
Next up, dash top off...all pretty smooth sailing so far and nothing particularly challenging.
Wheel off, much harder than it should have been, it was well and truly wedged on!
Centre console out and diagnostics socket bracket removed.
Clocks out, stalks removed. As you can see, I was pretty meticulous with labelling wires. This project could go horribly wrong if you don't.
Lower dash coming out...not too difficult but would be easier with two people to lift it off the rear mounting points.
One thing you soon realise when doing this is that there's a couple of random plugs which aren't connected to anything. This one was in the centre console area, just in front of the gearstick. No idea what it does or would do if connected...anyone know? I found another one of similar shape and size behind the clock in the central dash.
And this is the end of day 1's progress. I have to say, looking at it like this before leaving it for the night...I did wonder if I'd bitten off more than I could chew.
So next morning, bright and breezy. First thing I tackled was the carpets as these would have to be all replaced before I could get on with replacing anything else.
Before that though, I decided to do a proper job of all the airbag connectors which wouldn't be used anymore. 3.3 Ohm resistors from Maplins do the trick.....
....and this was worth its weigh in gold! Does an awesome job of soldering in the car. Highly recommended.
So, this was a good feeling. Finally making progress. Out with the god awful blue, and some nice neutral black. You can clearly see the difference between front and rear....
Rear carpet in too....good stuff!
Now, wanting to do as good a job as I could, I removed the VIN plaque from my old dash and transferred it onto the new one. It's different shape slightly and the Ph2 plaque's are heat welded onto the dash. Therefore a bit of glue came in handy.
The photos reduced in quantity at this point as the heavens opened. The next parts of the job well truly awful as I was inside the car with all the door shuts trying to get on with it. I did come across quite a few discrepancies between my reality and Rob's guide. Particularly the alarm. Mine has a red flashy light which had been spliced into the loom and made some of the wire relocations even more tricky. Anyway, once I understood what Renault UK had done it wasn't too bad. But a warning to others contemplating doing the swap, it isn't quite paint by numbers!
Getting the lower dash back in was a real arse. I could push it back far enough to get it to locate onto the 3 main points. I couldn't really see what was stopping it, but it seemed to be the main loom. I took a dremel to the back of the dash and cut away some material at this point. This fixed it and it went relatively smoothly from there.
A load of j-clips come in very useful. For instance, there's no holes for the passenger side upper dash to secure. J-clips allow those fixing points to be used (with a bit of dremel work) which should keep rattles to a minimum.
Once the dash was in, work continued...changing out all the light grey/blue plastics to the newer charcoal/dark grey may seem easy but is very time consuming!
Door cards changed too, makes a massive difference to the looks.
New seats in too....on fixed subframes for now but looking to add sliders soon...
Purposeful...
And that's pretty much how she stands now.
I sold off my old interior (although still got all the plastics and carpet if anyone wants them??) so the rear is stripped at the moment.
I'm torn between getting harnesses and leaving the rear stripped, or getting tilting subframes and a phase 2 rear bench. What do you guys reckon?
MOT is due next Friday, so just got to get through that. Slightly worried about MOT rules and airbags not present etc but hoping it'll be OK.
Next big project is hopefully wheel refurb...finally finally.
Nickson
ClioSport Club Member
Jeeeeeeeeeesus.
I am supremely jealous right now Ben. Absolutely awesome job!
That is the one thing I always wanted to do to the Clio when I had it, jealous doesn't even cut it.
Glad to see you're taking good care of the old girl
Glad you will be getting the wheels refurbished, I always intended to do it
Awesome progress Ben
I am supremely jealous right now Ben. Absolutely awesome job!
That is the one thing I always wanted to do to the Clio when I had it, jealous doesn't even cut it.
Glad to see you're taking good care of the old girl
Glad you will be getting the wheels refurbished, I always intended to do it
Awesome progress Ben
benkay
ClioSport Club Member
V6 Ph2 + Audi S3(8V)
Well Stu...read on.
So the 172 got through her MOT 2nd time around.
First time failed on handbrake effectiveness and window washer spray (i'm sure this was working when on way to garage). Anyway, handbrake cables replaced, new washer pump and full service and she's feeling good.
The other good news is that I've decided to man up. With that in mind, I'm off to pick up a rear cage tomorrow (K-Tec bolt in with harness bar), I just bought some 6 point harnesses on eBay too.
I've got the rear attachment points sorted (obviously), my seat subframes have a hole for fixing the inner lap belt (near handbrake) and I've sourced some M10 eyebolts for the outer lap belt eyes which will screw into the existing lower seatbelt bracket hole.
Question : has anyone fitted 6 point harnesses? How did you go about making a fixing point for the crutch straps??
So the 172 got through her MOT 2nd time around.
First time failed on handbrake effectiveness and window washer spray (i'm sure this was working when on way to garage). Anyway, handbrake cables replaced, new washer pump and full service and she's feeling good.
The other good news is that I've decided to man up. With that in mind, I'm off to pick up a rear cage tomorrow (K-Tec bolt in with harness bar), I just bought some 6 point harnesses on eBay too.
I've got the rear attachment points sorted (obviously), my seat subframes have a hole for fixing the inner lap belt (near handbrake) and I've sourced some M10 eyebolts for the outer lap belt eyes which will screw into the existing lower seatbelt bracket hole.
Question : has anyone fitted 6 point harnesses? How did you go about making a fixing point for the crutch straps??
Stu.
ClioSport Club Member
lots of clios.
yeyy Good man! I'm fitting my rear cage tomorrow, So you need to get some pics up when ures is in, Will look awesome! And I've not fitted my crutch straps, Think I'll need to drill a hole and bolt the eyelet in somewhere. I'll keep an eye on ures to see if you manage it first
Good man! I'm fitting my rear cage tomorrow, So you need to get some pics up when ures is in, Will look awesome! And I've not fitted my crutch straps, Think I'll need to drill a hole and bolt the eyelet in somewhere. I'll keep an eye on ures to see if you manage it first 
welshname
ClioSport Club Member
Looks good with a ph2 dash. I'm glad you're going for a cage and harnesses because quite frankly it looked daft with those seats, rear seats and standard seat belts.
God I need a ph1 in my life.
God I need a ph1 in my life.
benkay
ClioSport Club Member
V6 Ph2 + Audi S3(8V)
Right....it's been an absolute age since my last update and plenty has been done.
As per my last post, I went and picked up a Ktec bolt-in rear cage. It's a great design and I'd highly recommend one to anyone wanting to fit harnesses as it puts the harness bar exactly where you would want it.
It basically utilises two subframes, front and rear, which bolt into existing holes (seatbelt/seatbelt buckle mounting points). Bolts and spacers to clear interior trims are included, so there's no need to botch or remove any interior plastics....Unfortunately when I got back I found one bolt and one of the fat spacers for the rear subframe was missing, but James quickly posted them down to me so I only lost a couple of days in getting it fitted.
Here you can see how the rear subframe bolts to the rear seatbelt point utilising the fat spacer to ensure a good tight fastening...
The subframes are easy enough to get in, but I tried to get the cage in through the boot...I did eventually manage it but I've since learnt that you should take the front seats out and install it through one of the front doors instead. Had I known this at the time, I would definitely have done that as I was ready to give up after an hour of jiggling and pushing.
Anyway, 8 bolts later and the cage was in and looking awesome
Now that I had a suitable mounting point, and my head wouldn't get flattened in the event of a roll, I decided to fit some proper harnesses. I found some 6-point 3" Sabelts on ebay for a decent price.
I decided to loop the harnesses around the harness bar instead of using the supplied eye-bolts as my engineering head says that should reduce point loading. For the lap belts I used the Schroth dog-bone style fixings. The outboard one is sandwiched between the cage spacer and original seatbelt fixing point. The inner one comes off the pre-tensioner mounting point on the seat subframe. The crutch straps will be fitted to an eyebolt fastened through the car using an FIA approved spreader plate, although I haven't gotten around to doing this yet.
For anyone interested, my work manufactures some good, suitable M10 eyebolts (plenty of thread) and I would be happy to get some to you at cost if you PM me.
So, the seats now look like this...
I left the original front seatbelts fitted for convenience when just nipping to the shops. I have to say though, harnesses make such a difference to spirited driving, pulling them tight you feel every movement of the car and I use them whenever I know I'll be hitting some nice B roads now.
And....that just leaves me to say that that will probably be the last mod I do to the car....
She's going up for sale imminently.
Considering the amount of effort that both myself and Nickson put into her, I'd like her to go complete to someone looking for a track-focussed but everyday useable Ph1.
She's getting a scrub up tomorrow and then I'll take some nice photos of her.
If you're interested, let me know.
As per my last post, I went and picked up a Ktec bolt-in rear cage. It's a great design and I'd highly recommend one to anyone wanting to fit harnesses as it puts the harness bar exactly where you would want it.
It basically utilises two subframes, front and rear, which bolt into existing holes (seatbelt/seatbelt buckle mounting points). Bolts and spacers to clear interior trims are included, so there's no need to botch or remove any interior plastics....Unfortunately when I got back I found one bolt and one of the fat spacers for the rear subframe was missing, but James quickly posted them down to me so I only lost a couple of days in getting it fitted.
Here you can see how the rear subframe bolts to the rear seatbelt point utilising the fat spacer to ensure a good tight fastening...
The subframes are easy enough to get in, but I tried to get the cage in through the boot...I did eventually manage it but I've since learnt that you should take the front seats out and install it through one of the front doors instead. Had I known this at the time, I would definitely have done that as I was ready to give up after an hour of jiggling and pushing.
Anyway, 8 bolts later and the cage was in and looking awesome
Now that I had a suitable mounting point, and my head wouldn't get flattened in the event of a roll, I decided to fit some proper harnesses. I found some 6-point 3" Sabelts on ebay for a decent price.
I decided to loop the harnesses around the harness bar instead of using the supplied eye-bolts as my engineering head says that should reduce point loading. For the lap belts I used the Schroth dog-bone style fixings. The outboard one is sandwiched between the cage spacer and original seatbelt fixing point. The inner one comes off the pre-tensioner mounting point on the seat subframe. The crutch straps will be fitted to an eyebolt fastened through the car using an FIA approved spreader plate, although I haven't gotten around to doing this yet.
For anyone interested, my work manufactures some good, suitable M10 eyebolts (plenty of thread) and I would be happy to get some to you at cost if you PM me.
So, the seats now look like this...
I left the original front seatbelts fitted for convenience when just nipping to the shops. I have to say though, harnesses make such a difference to spirited driving, pulling them tight you feel every movement of the car and I use them whenever I know I'll be hitting some nice B roads now.
And....that just leaves me to say that that will probably be the last mod I do to the car....
She's going up for sale imminently.
Considering the amount of effort that both myself and Nickson put into her, I'd like her to go complete to someone looking for a track-focussed but everyday useable Ph1.
She's getting a scrub up tomorrow and then I'll take some nice photos of her.
If you're interested, let me know.
Thats a shame, its superb now. You wouldnt be interested in selling the cage separately would you?
benkay
ClioSport Club Member
V6 Ph2 + Audi S3(8V)
Hi John,
Thanks for the comment. I'd like to sell complete if possible as once the cage goes, so then do the harnesses and so then do the seats! I'll judge interest as a complete car and if it's not going to sell then I'll consider selling the interior parts off separately, but this would be a last resort.
The good news is that she's being replaced with a Megane 265 due in March...so I've got mixed feelings of sadness and excitement
Thanks for the comment. I'd like to sell complete if possible as once the cage goes, so then do the harnesses and so then do the seats! I'll judge interest as a complete car and if it's not going to sell then I'll consider selling the interior parts off separately, but this would be a last resort.
The good news is that she's being replaced with a Megane 265 due in March...so I've got mixed feelings of sadness and excitement
That's fair enough, part of the deal I've made with my wife is that since I'm removing airbags she's insisting I buy a cage, didn't take too much to win me over to that arguement! However it's got to be full bolt in, I don't want to drill and weld this shell that I've got!
Yeah a 265 should ease your pain a bit!
Yeah a 265 should ease your pain a bit!
Rob
ClioSport Moderator
FFS I want it. But to put recaros and back seats in.
Are you selling in march?
Are you selling in march?
Will do, hope you get a nice easy sale though for your sake!
And I have ph2 back seats
Rob
ClioSport Moderator
Are you keeping it until Manch? If its end of march I'd think about it yeah...
Rob
ClioSport Moderator
End of feb, we'll talk figures.
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Feel free to pm me with a rough price for the cage as well. I'd love the seats but firstly I'd be too poor after buying the cage and secondly I'll always be too fat!
Rob
ClioSport Moderator
I could always take the car and then sell you the bits once you've got the funds and dropped the pounds ;-)