Re: The Black clio Project, From Day 1.
20/09/11
Well, a very long over due updateof the last 5 months, well before mod nats, i tried my hardest along with others to get the car done for the show, so off it went for an exhaust, week later it was back with this. custom downpipe and through to the rear box
Also i picked up some rather nice recaros from a good mate
so to get them to fit i called good old matty! nice one kid!!!
started off as normal runners, then welded new bits on
Then a lick of black paint.
And they are in
Then off the car went to a special 'clio god' for some work, MEGA THANKS to him (you know who you are)
Some more goodies. stand alone ECU
box of goodies, connectors, loom, sensors etc.
3" 4 point TRS harnesses
Also retrimmed the headliner thanks to sarie
Then i got the car back and did a few things, and she ran, thanks to all the hard owrk everyone put in, also the throttle had been converted from electronic to cable withan adapted throttle body, thenproblems just came, firt i couldnt get the fuel pump to prime, then all the relays got fried, then the coilpack got fried.. but then bits and bobs later, we was back on track...however then everything i made progress, i seemed to go further backwards. going to renault almost every other day, and breakers yards to get parts. I didnt really touch the car for a month or two, at this point i stopped, and realised how much id had spent on the car, and came so close to getting rid of everything and just having a nice boring car to roll around in, i had enough of all the car stuff, i just wanted to give up and move on!!
But could i really let a car beat me? could i give up after coming this far? after sitting down and taking alot of time out and talking to sara and the family and my close mates.... it was decided it was all or nothing, and me being me i decided it was ALL! so after quick break away, i came back, made some phone calls... and the pow! 2 weeks before trax it was game on, everythign i needed to buy was bought, everyt tool i needed i got, every hour for 2 weeks straight we worked on the car, and stupid amount of road trips began!
At this time i need to say a MASSIVE thank you to my durham friend Andy! could not of done this without him and his knowlegde also to sara and matty for basically kicking my ass and not letting me give in... so
Brakes rebuilt and bled.
Battery relocated
MAssive amounts of work was done and we was pulling days from 7am start to 2am next morning, living on fast food and coffee! so not many photos of what we was doin as we didnt have time!
Coilovers were stripped and cleaned, and rebuild with AST full adjustable top mounts
then fitted to the car
Interior started to go back in
New fuel pump setup, pickup pump, swirl pot, another pump to engine, Nice one andy
Also sourced some drivehsafts, and also flexing a paddle clutch now too
also we fitted a clio cup alternator setup so i could keep the power steering, then lots of fiddly bits done, and we also had to swapthe fuel pickups over, which seems easy, but its not always the case as we found!
Then on the wednesday she was ready for a fire up, i had never been so nervous in all my life,
click 1 lights
Click 2 everything going well and pump was priming!
click 3, few times of the key and boom she started up a treat, everything was running good and smooth!
so then we checked everythign was torque up correctly( it must be right or im never happy or feel safe)
wheels on, dropped on the floor.... double checked everthing. bled all systems
Steering wheel clicked on, then for the 1st time in 11 months she had her first drive! and all was running sweet, bar the tracking which i needed to do but at 11.30 at night its not the best haha! so a few runs up the road and back it was all good, then at the top fo the road we lost power... i had ran out of fuel! oops
so pushed back onto the drive and she sat there until the next day.
Got some fuel topped her up and started straight away! so onto the next jobs
New rear end, from a 182, which was smoothed, palstic welded and its and bobs,
trial fit
so then off to the bodyshop at midnight, to crack on, all prepped etc and then sprayed he next day, then fitted to the car, no pics tho as i forgot to get any lol!
then harnesses fitted
then set the camber and tracking up! all was good and trax was looking in our sight, then 11.30pm everything just came crashing down, popped to get some fuel, and on the way back to the car, i smelt petrol and hear a dripping noise, looking under the car fuel was just flowing out, so what aplace to break down, had to disconnect the battery and get all the petrol up from inside the car... straight away we could see the seal on the top of the tank had gave up on us, we thought it was ok but clearly not! so after 4 hours waiting for recovery we knew they wouldnt have a spare for us, so got the car back on the drive, ran into the house, opened a beer and had a think, i was so gutted, as everyone would of been supsrised as i ahdnt been seen for a few weeks haha, but then 10 mins after getting in it was time to go trax, so jumped into the mini, and we went, everyone cheered me up and made me that little bit happier, We had busted our balls for it to make it but oh well, a show is a show, there will be more...
Monday afternoon after trax, ordered a new seal and matty made me a one off tool to help with the job, and then POW few hours later she was all good!!!!
so here she is after a hard 11 months, she is reborn, nowhere finished, but she runs and i drive her as much as i can, still tons to do with bits i wanna mess with and do, mainly interior, stance, and the list goes on and on...
I cant thank everyone who has helped enough, this project would have been history now if it was for everyone coming down and helping!! family, sara, Andy, matty, warnie for his crazy hours, and EVERYONE ELSE YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!
Many more updates to come over the next few weeks, and a few bits i havnt put up yet
cheers.
