Clio 172 phase 1 turbo

[Chip-mk1]

Im sure a lot of you will be familiar with this car as its the Ex-MWMsport turbo demonstrator and has had a previous thread on here:
http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?599541-Soon-to-be-turboed

Few pics from the build:

It was also in French Car magazine recently too, a feature which I wrote funnily enough, but never realised when I wrote it that one day I would own the car I was writing about, small world! Lol.
Will scan it in when I can find a copy of the revelent issue.

Ive always had a soft spot for this car, when Mike and Jack originally built it Mike used me as a bit of a sounding board for what he was doing with the engine so Ive been familiar from it right from the start, and I ended up doing a lot of the mapping on it too at which point I really fell in love with it and had often considered building similar for myself.

Well the new owner that Jack sold it too apparently has decided to swap to an economical daily so Ive just aquired it this weekend and thought I would start a new thread about it.


I picked it up on Saturday, stopped off at Mike's house on the way back from buying it to swap some coilovers onto it as as the suspension was getting a bit tired, drove up to nottingham and then put it straight out on track at Donnington park after a quick trip to kwik fit to get the tracking in the right ballpark till I get a chance to do it properly.


Here it is out on track at donnington park.

Future plans for it?
Well TBH not a lot really, its a good car for my mrs to use on track as other than a bit of time in some of friend's loony powered cosworths and driving my 500bhp mid engined nova while Ive been mapping it she hasnt got much experience of turbo cars, and none at all on track prior to driving it yesterday, so this should help prepare her for our longer term Mk1 clio turbo project (this one: http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?612112-My-Clio-project-(8500rpm-boost))

I need to whip the turbo off and get it rebuilt as its starting to smoke, and when I refit it I think I will water cool it on a seperate water system using an electric pump.
I'll be fitting some new track rods and track rod ends etc to put the sharpness back into the handling, and other than that the plan is just to use and enjoy it for a while really

If anyone else got any pics at FCS I'd appreciate it if you could post them.

 

[Chip-mk1]

Probably going to take it to the cliosport basingstoke meet tonight, and the taunton one on friday, so if anyone is considering sending their car off to Mike at MWM for a similar conversion and wants a passenger ride in it (or just fancies seeing what its like) then just let me know.

 

[lewisredfern001]

looks awesome m8, good buy, and fair play for the missus getting out on track in it!

 

[Cupman29]

Should be good on track this one. Are you going to run an oil cooler on it?

 

[Chip-mk1]

looks awesome m8, good buy

Thanks very much mate

and fair play for the missus getting out on track in it!

We normally do about a dozen trackdays a year each, so its good when we have a car we both like using as we can go halves on the day then

 

[Chip-mk1]

Should be good on track this one

Engine wise its spot on, needs a little work on the handling though, just general wear and tear items really like rod ends etc, but its already good fun overall, just using it back to back with our very well sorted 172 phase 2 really shows up the small areas this one is lacking still

Are you going to run an oil cooler on it?

Yes, I will be running an oil cooler and a turbo cooler eventually before I start really using it hard on track, for now I will manage temps just by only doing short sessions etc while im working on it as its too much fun for me to be able to resist using it totally till its sorted, lol

Plan is just to do a few days in it this summer where I do short sessions, then do some extra work on it over the winter and then really hammer the tracks with it next year while I am building my Mk1 still.

 

[Shifty.]

You've bought another one!! Fancy selling OCD?!

 

[Chip-mk1]

You've bought another one!!

Yeah but I have got rid of my other phase 1

Fancy selling OCD?!

No chance mate, that is my mrs favourite of all our cars, its not going anywhere for a very long time I am afraid!

 

[Shifty.]

Ahh oh right, one out one in jobby.

 

[Chip-mk1]

Ahh oh right, one out one in jobby.

Actaully Ive managed 2 out and one in
Have got rid of my ITB Xe Corsa as well.

Which has cheered the mrs up as we really do have far far too many cars and she didnt like either of those 2 but likes this one.
She liked the engine in the corsa, but hated how it cornered on track, she liked the cornering of my old phase 1 but didnt like the lack of torque compared to her RS2 phase 2.

This one she doesnt mind the handling and loves the power

 

[Russ_16v]

Will be interesting to have a nosey around this one <8 black ph1's

 

[Chip-mk1]

I'll probably be near you at combe with it on 7th July mate if you want a nosey about.

Or failing that I am planning to be at the basingstoke meet tonight work permitting, not a million miles from you, you could pop over and have a go

 

[Adamm.]

Swapsies?

Love this mate black ph1's are awesome too.

 

[Russ_16v]

I'll probably be near you at combe with it on 7th July mate if you want a nosey about.

Or failing that I am planning to be at the basingstoke meet tonight work permitting, not a million miles from you, you could pop over and have a go

Id LOVE to matey but im stacked up all this week work wise

 

[Chip-mk1]

No worries mate, can certainly identify with that one.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Bet it goes like the clappers. Get a vag box to fit so you can fit one to mine please lol

 

[Chip-mk1]

I dont like the change on those VAG boxes much TBH.
Im doing a Vtec swap into my mk1, that has an epic box with LSD, if I was going to do anything to this it would be that too TBH, makes better financial sense than forcing another box onto this engine, to just swap engine and box as one.

 

[Jaff.]

Glad tho has been kept on here, enjoyed the mwm progress thread on it

 

[lesley]

You've bought another one!! Fancy selling OCD?!

nooooo i will never sell OCD!!! lol

 

[Shifty.]

Haha, hi les, worth a shot though!

 

[lesley]

hi! yeah worth a try!

was very fun driving it on track, so much easier to overtake in lol

 

[Russ_16v]

Never noticed you were a member Lesley! lol

 

[lesley]

lol, i was on here way before chip but now im just referred to as 'the missus LOL

 

[Russ_16v]

Flol! you wanna sort that out!

 

[C8DGY]

I wanted this car when it come up for sale last time!!

Looks a cracking toy, if you decide to sell this one drop me a pm,

Paul

 

[Chip-mk1]

Took it it the Basingstoke meet tonight and took a few people out in it who all seemed to like it
http://www.cliosport.net/forum/show...g-Meet-Monday-18th-June-Longbridge-Mill/page2

On the way home (on a private road) me and mike in this car raced Atouba in his gorgeous 270bhp Megane r26 and the clio pulled away from him despite the extra passenger weight. I was chuffed with that as tims is a fast car! surprisingly the biggest difference was at big speeds, wasn't too much in it upto 120 ish, Clio just edging in front really but after that upto 160 the clio pulled quite a bit.
I think that's due to how late in the rev range the clio hangs onto the power, it just really does seem to want to rev.

 

[George182]

Want!

 

[Chip-mk1]

Paul, I think mike is planning to start offering the conversions soon so should be a few more of them about
he wanted to get some decent mileage onto this one first as a test and the problem was when jack left the business and sold this car off it meant mike couldn't keep an eye on it, but it's now done about 7000 miles, includin trackdays and all sorts of journeys and is still going strong so it's really proved itself to him now.
He's doing one more test car but using a 172 head as the 197 is overkill really, the better inlet isn't needed at all at this level, then he'll start accepting customer cars in hopefully

George, i will hopefully see you soon to take you out for a ride in it.

 

[Chip-mk1]

hi! yeah worth a try!

was very fun driving it on track, so much easier to overtake in lol

Yeah it was good you just be able to glide past people on the straights rather than trying to slingshot out of a corner to get by them in a normal 172.
makes for lazy track driving though as if you lose anything in the bends it is so easy to catch it back up, I'm sure you've learnt more track craft in your rs2 one than you will in this so it's good you used that one on track lots first.

 

[Chip-mk1]

Couple more pics of it here that Tim took after I took him out in it.

http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?647044-South-Central-Longbridge-Mill-Meet

 

[Jay Payne]

Bringing this to Llandow?

 

[Chip-mk1]

Bringing this to Llandow?

Not sure yet TBH mate, bit too far away to know what I'll be upto.
Im kind of hoping to have my Mk1 done by then really, in which case I'll be in that.
This one is probably a bit lively to really capitalise on there with no diff really anyway for such a small circuit, can see it being fairly difficult laying all that torque down whilst hopping over kerbs through the bus stop etc.
Although that said, on the short drag up the hill towards the bust stop it would be pretty immense

 

[ianpettifer]

would love to be able to justify doing similar to mine! what a machine! haha

 

[Chip-mk1]

Its quite fast now, it wasnt before, what more justification do you need? Lol

 

[ianpettifer]

Sold my stage 2 vxr to save for my own place. Therefore i bought a cheap yet grab car in my eyes. Coming on the forum however, was not my best decision haha.

Any plans for it in the near future?

 

[Paul172sport]

shame i couldnt maake it last night, would have loved to have a proper look at this, whats the torque like low down, say 2-5k?

im not one to rev the limits out of mine and therefore still cant deciede turbo / supercharger,

either way its just on the wish list at the moment

 

[Chip-mk1]

Sold my stage 2 vxr to save for my own place. Therefore i bought a cheap yet grab car in my eyes. Coming on the forum however, was not my best decision haha.

Any plans for it in the near future?

Well the house is more important than car I guess mate, although on the other hand a car is more practical as you can sleep in your car but you cant trackday your house!

Forums can be a bad influence, lol.

Not really got any plans to drastically change it, the conversion works fantastically as it is, I just want to tidy up the steering bits with new rods and rod ends etc and probably add a turbo cooler, and get the turbo rebuilt, and thats about it really.
Have bought it more to use than to be a project, I have several of those on the go already.

 

[Chip-mk1]

shame i couldnt maake it last night, would have loved to have a proper look at this

Oh well maybe another time mate, best thing is to grab a passenger ride really, that anwsers more questions than ages talking can, lol

whats the torque like low down, say 2-5k?

2k its less than standard im sure, as its lower comp and got a turbo in the way etc, by 3.5K though its making more torque than standard, especially in the higher gears as the turbo spools more, and from there on upto the limiter its much better.
So literally at any point over about 3.5K, its better than before the conversion and its not drastically worse under that TBH, not as laggy as a lot of cars are.

im not one to rev the limits out of mine and therefore still cant deciede turbo / supercharger,

I do like to rev engines, and this works well when revved, but it doesnt NEED to be revved like a standard 172 does if you want to get anywhere quickly, even on track I was mainly changing up at not much over 6K most of the time just cause that was at points on the track it was convenient to grab the next gear, where as in a normal 172 you have to be really accurate with where you change gear or you fall off the little bit of torque they do have.

 

[Hixle]

Awesome Chip, shame I couldn't make it yesterday to have a gander! Looks a right animal.

 

[Chip-mk1]

Awesome Chip, shame I couldn't make it yesterday to have a gander! Looks a right animal.

Thanks mate Never mind there will no doubt be another time I have it up in this part of the world for you to have a testdrive or passenger ride of it.