Clio 172 turbo conversion: finished (almost!)

[Fishfire]

Morning all!

So I've finally finished my Clio 172 turbo project.

I'll put some build info up shortly, but here's the results at EFI yesterday after a bit if fettling and map tweaks:

240.4bhp and 233ft/lb

Quite pleased with that.

 

[Bluebeard]

After all these years of owning hundreds of clio’s, and having mates with loads of clio’s…. I’ve still never been in a turbo one. I feel like I’m missing out.

yours impresses me even more than usual because it looks standard.
Bravo sir.

 

[Fishfire]

She is fairly standard tbh.

Other than the engine mods:

Cup shocks with Eibach Pro springs
Scorpion recessed exhaust
Wheel spacers
Polybushed roll bar and dogbone.

There's a few things I'd like to change...the wheels being one for sure.

 

[Fishfire]

The engine had been sat in my garage with suspected bent valves....looks like I was right 🤣

 

[Fishfire]

Got the head checked, with a light skin and fitted all new standard valves

And a light clean up of the block

 

[Fishfire]

Got the rocker cover powdered while it was off too

 

[Fishfire]

New dephaser, belt and waterpump fitted

All genuine Renault tools used to time her up. Took a while to get it bang on.

 

[Fishfire]

And bolting on the turbo bits. The manifold is a cast item bought from a company in China. Had the mating surfaces checked for true, and actually, it wasn't bad!

Turbo was a Maxspeedingrods 'churbo' that was balanced (again, pretty good for a cheapie!) and I ported out the ridiculously small wastegate.

GT28 replica

Before porting:

After porting:

 

[Fishfire]

The actuator that came with the turbo was way to high. I replaced it with an adjustable Kinugawa actuator with a "0.5 bar" spring.....more on that later 😏

After a chat with SteveC_1879 who was on a similar build, I bought some oil feed lines and various fittings from the FleaBay. Water feed and return pipes and banjos were another eBay purchase and far cheaper than buying in kit form.

Oil drain came from Engine Dynamics as i wanted a drain that was proven to fit, but to be honest, was an utter ball ache to fit.

Turbo downpipe was another ED item, though it does foul.the subframe annoyingly

All the bits fitted:

Oil return:

And oil feed:

 

[Fishfire]

I removed the current engine so I could get busy fitting the nimbus heat shielding. Word of warning....that stuff is sharp. I managed to slice my finger which I guess is my bad for not wearing gloves lol

 

[Fishfire]

I also sprayed the intake maninwhike I was at it too. Looks good on the red rocker i think.
Cleaned up the mani with some acetate, then warmed it up a bit with a heat gun before putting a couple of coats of Hammerite matt black.

Quite happy with the results.

 

[Fishfire]

Slightly better pic of the engine intake manifold. This was just prior to fitting it back in

 

[Howell]

@Fishfire how's this going hold up with the Chinese parts?

 

[Fishfire]

@Fishfire how's this going hold up with the Chinese parts?

So, just over a year since the conversion and it's going strong!

The turbo has been faultless and following Chris @ EFIs advice, I changed the actuator to a Garrett item and it now holds boost much better.

I changed the newly fitted Luk clutch after a few hundred miles after it lost the will to live. The new clutch was an uprated RTS hybrid item, which whilst being a little grabby works very well.

It's hilarious fun!

The only thing I'd do differently I think, is I'd probably have held on for a smaller GT25 type turbo. The GT28 churbo runs with no problems, but it's laggy and the boost tends to come in with bang, which makes driving it in wet/damp conditions very interesting/terrifying lol.

I did pester Andy at Engine Dynamics for his hybrid turbo, but at the time he wasn't selling them as an individual item.

 

[Fishfire]

 

[Fishfire]

Also, while I remember:

The turbo downpipe seems a few mm lower than the standard NA manifold arrangement, which meant at certain revs the Cat pipe would vibrate on the subframe which drove me batshit.

I fitted Vibratech engine and gearbox mounts and pollied the exhaust mounts which calmed it down but didn't eliminate it completely. I even raised the engine a few mil on the engine mount which helped.

I've recently changed out the standard cat for essentially a silenced decat (long story) which has actually eliminated the vibration completely. On the down side, it doesn't seal very well to the down pipe and the car stinks of fumes if you run the fan at standstill, so I'm currently looking at replacement options for that particular pipe.

 

[Donny_Dog]

I think you should tell us all the long story about your silenced decat 😊🥴

 

[Fishfire]

I think you should tell us all the long story about your silenced decat 😊🥴

I'd rather not get this thread locked too 🙄😂

 

[Donny_Dog]

Mega project though and nicely executed. If you're anywhere near Yorkshire, I want a go 😂

 

[Fishfire]

Mega project though and nicely executed. If you're anywhere near Yorkshire, I want a go 😂

It's definitely been worth doing.

Probably cost me around the £2k mark all in, but that includes rebuilding the head, fitting a new Renault water pump, dephaser and belts etc, so worked out a lot cheaper than a drive in drive out service, and learnt lots in the process.

Some bits sound more complex than they are, like modifying the fuel return system which is actually really easy.

I'd encourage anyone with a bit of mechanical knowhow to do it.
The car is such a laugh to drive and has surprised more than a few lol.

I'm in Southampton but if I ever head up, you'd be welcome to have a shot. I think it'd convert you there and then lol

 

[Johnney1985]

So, just over a year since the conversion and it's going strong!

The turbo has been faultless and following Chris @ EFIs advice, I changed the actuator to a Garrett item and it now holds boost much better.

I changed the newly fitted Luk clutch after a few hundred miles after it lost the will to live. The new clutch was an uprated RTS hybrid item, which whilst being a little grabby works very well.

It's hilarious fun!

The only thing I'd do differently I think, is I'd probably have held on for a smaller GT25 type turbo. The GT28 churbo runs with no problems, but it's laggy and the boost tends to come in with bang, which makes driving it in wet/damp conditions very interesting/terrifying lol.

I did pester Andy at Engine Dynamics for his hybrid turbo, but at the time he wasn't selling them as an individual item.

Did you go with the version 2 clutch kit?
Looking at the RTS kit at the moment for mine

 

[Fishfire]

Did you go with the version 2 clutch kit?
Looking at the RTS kit at the moment for mine

Yes, I got the RTS from KAM. RwLly good so far, though a bit jittery on initial gental clutch release, but otherwise dealing with all abuse thrown at it