Clio 182 - Tidy Up & Track Project

[pastymaster]

Hi all,

I bought a FF Clio 182 around 4 weeks ago and thought I'd pop a thread up to track my progress with the car. The thread will be majorly picture heavy as I do like to take a photo or 10!

I've bought the car to learn some basic mechanics and practice touching up body work as well as getting out on track eventually (apologies to the people who like the cars for road cars, there's an awful lot heading to the track!).

Please go easy on me as it'll be the first time I've done any of these things really, if you spot anything obvious that I've done wrong or could do better next time please let me know.

I bought the car with roughly 97k miles on the clock with the depahser and belts changed at 81k miles. The car has a Scorpion cat-back exhaust as well as a K&N filter, although I don't think the positioning is the best for heat soak. The car has the cup suspension and spoiler packs too.

These are a few pictures of the car on the day that I bought it:

 

[pastymaster]

The first job was to give it a bit a wash over. The interior was pretty dirty so that had a good clean out and looks much better. I also added a Forge decal - just because you've got to add something to make it yours :smile:

 

[pastymaster]

A quick one at Tesco car park just because you can...

 

[pastymaster]

I didn't like the car being debadged of it's Renault Sport badges so I ordered some replacements. They look much better being on, although they're not lined up to OEM:

The previous owner had plasti-dipped the Clio badge, Renault badges, bullets and mirrors (as well as the wheels but they're staying for now). I didn't like it so set about removing it all. It all came of surprisingly well, although was a real PITA in some of the tight edges.

It was then onto using some Autosol on the exhaust tips as they should have been a lot cleaner!

My Cliosport membership pack also arrived so I added the decal to the rear window as well as the chunky keyring!

 

[Mr Plums]

Loads better with the plastisip removed!

 

[pastymaster]

I damaged the rear Renault logo boot badge by trying to shortcut the plasti-dip and blast it off with a pressure washer. That was a mistake! I ordered a new badge as I didn't want to leave it with the badge flaking.

One of the washer jets was missing when I bought the car, so I thought I'd just fill the hole with a rubber grommet for now. After speaking to another member on here I'll probably stick with them to be honest.

 

[pastymaster]

Loads better with the plastisip removed!

Thanks Christ, I certainly think so. It made it look a bit rough to be honest!

 

[pastymaster]

That's the chores done so I can carry on with the posting. After removing all of the plastidip I started to polish up the headlights as they could have been a lot better. They're not the worst I've seen by a long way but still...

They still need some work really so I'll revisit them in a few weeks when I've got a better compound polish to hand.

 

[pastymaster]

Then it was onto cleaning some of the engine bay. For some reason there was a lot of oil seemingly all over the engine bay. The oil was very clean though so I assume that it's been overfilled or that there has been a spillage of some kind. Hopefully the pictures show what I mean a little better. Should I be worried?

We'd bought some replacement clips to get rid of the cable ties that have been used throughout the car (by the looks of it! Why? they're so cheap!!)

 

[pastymaster]

So this is how the outside of the car is looking so far...

 

[pastymaster]

The weekend after I tried to tidy up a few other bits and pieces. There was something that looked like a burn mark and a scrape along the rear right bumper. It's nothing too drastic (especially as it's going to be a track car) but we wanted to have a little go at filling it to make it look better.

One of the sidelights wasn't working either (driver side), so I swapped the bulbs out some some that we had left over from an old car. They look blue but do shine white when on.

I'd also bought some replacement bolts for the engine cover as one of them was missing, just a stainless steel jobby from eBay.

 

[pastymaster]

We'd then sourced a replacement boot lock and badge mechanism to replace the one that I messed up when removing the plastidip. The old button had a lot of movement in it anyway so it was probably a good idea to have swapped it out.

You guessed it, a missing nut!

Missing nut replaced!

The finished product

 

[pastymaster]

Then it was time for a further engine clean to try and get rid of some more oil. There was no fresh oil that I could see and certainly nothing lower on the level of the dipstick. Hopefully it's nothing!!

Then this is the finished engine bay for now. It looks a million miles better than it did although I am still slightly worried about all of the oil. Nothing does seem fresh in there now though.

Does anyone thing the location of the K&N will cause problems with heat soak?

 

[pastymaster]

I had a quick look underneath and everything looks in order other than one exhaust hanger. Naturally I took a few snaps!!

Then the hanger, a replacement has been ordered (and just arrived).

 

[pastymaster]

Another little thing that was bugging me was the crappy metal aerial, I just thought it looked awful so that was replaced with a cheap carbon replica stubby aerial.

 

[Jekyll]

Nice work so far mate.

Like you, I take loads of pics!

Subscribed!

 

[MarkX]

Great start, Clios are so simple and so much fun to mess with, I'm running out of jobs to do on mine, usually dream up something daft to do though

 

[pastymaster]

Onto a repair of the front bumper then as there was a big crack in it along with a missing front splitter. The crack can be seen in the first picture.

It's the first time I've ever put a car on axle stands so I was a little nervous All was good though. It was also the first time I'd ever removed a bumper. It looked like a 15 minute job from videos that I'd seen at Youtube but took me 5 hours!!! Shocking. Nearly every bolt was seized, odd sizes or just a real PITA. It all started with the front drivers wheel nuts being overtightened, they took over 20 minutes of hitting with a mallet to loosen off.

Some photos on the stands...

I cleaned out behind the arch liners too, there was a fair old amount of mud and sand!

A few more of the original crack...

Now don't forget that we've never done anything like this before (and it's a track car), so it's bound to look a little rough for a first attempt

First off was to sand the area down with some fine wet and dry. The crack had pretty much bonded together during this process.

Then we mixed up some 'Big Boy Plastic Flexi Filler' and gave it a good layer before leaving to dry and then sanding it back.

We really should have sanded and smoothed it back a little more but I was impatient and getting a little too excited. Oh well, onto the primer and first layer of paint.

After several layers of paint and then lacquer it looked like this... massive errors!

Instead of masking off a bigger area and feathering I'd just sprayed up to the tape. You live and learn I supposed. After looking in disbelief for a while we decided to rub it down as we'd have liked a better finish from the filler anyway. That job could wait until the next weekend though.

 

[pastymaster]

Nice work so far mate.

Like you, I take loads of pics!

Subscribed!

Thanks mate, I do love a photograph haha! It's the best way of looking back over the coming months and seeing where all of the time went!

Great start, Clios are so simple and so much fun to mess with, I'm running out of jobs to do on mine, usually dream up something daft to do though :smile:

Thanks Mark, I've never really done anything to the Evo's as I've always been scared and parts cost a fortune (as I'm sure you well know ). There's always something to find and do!

 

[pastymaster]

While the bumper was off (I think I did this before the first attempt at a repair) I got rid of the other washer jet that was left and removed all of the other 'plumbing', up to the passenger wing anyway. I know grommets won't be to everyone's taste, but they'll do the job for me for the time being.

 

[pastymaster]

I'd also treated myself to a new toolbox to help keep everything together

You've got to love a few decals!

 

[pastymaster]

Right, back to attempting to repair the crack in the bumper again. This was more successful... to a point!

Everything was rubbed down to as good as we could get it really (again, think track car ).

Then on with the primer (again). It came up a little bubbly for some reason so I gave it a very light rub over when it was dry.

I kept then expanding the spraying area to help the feathering process with a bit more success.

It's by no means perfect, but it's a lot better than a big crack. I'm also happy as it's only our first (well, second) attempt!

 

[pastymaster]

I'd also bought a cold air feed that I'd intended to cut out of the front lower grille to help get some cold air to the K&N. After painting it all up I realised that it probably won't fit in easily or be blocked by the radiator. I'll revisit this one again, but it's painted and ready to go!

 

[pastymaster]

We then fitted the missing splitter, or the common Skoda version of it. It all went swimmingly until I pressed on a little too hard and the crack started to come through again! After much swearing I touched it in a bit and will leave it at that!! Maybe I should have put something in to strengthen it at the back?

 

[pastymaster]

I then added a few more decals to help distract from the crack!

I like the French flag that people have added so went for that to help break the grille up.

I also added the tow decal as I'm waiting for the tow eye as a birthday present.

I bought a shed load of new clips for the arch liners as well as I broke a fair few when removing the originals. All went together very well though with all of the bolts being replaced and greased ready for quick access next time!

This is how the car stands at the moment. I'm waiting for the DVLA to send the paperwork back for my new plates!

 

[pastymaster]

I've got a few bits and pieces to fit now before going onto some of the main 'track based' stuff. It's going to be a long project as funds and time dictate what I can do really, but I've been enjoying it so far!

To fit I've got:
Sunstrip (not to everyone's taste I know)

Yellow Calliper Paint

Engine Mount Powerflex

Exhaust Mount

New Plates

OMP Steering Wheel With Momo Boss

 

[pastymaster]

Thank you to everyone that's read the thread so far, there were quite a few pictures! :smiley: I didn't realise how big they'd come out so I hope they do load ok for everyone.

If anyone has any helpful tips or advise please let me know.

Is there anything to be worried about with so much oil being in the engine bay? I don't think the cars loosing any oil from what I can see, and everything is clean so I just think it's been spilt. What do you all think?

 

[MarkX]

Is there anything to be worried about with so much oil being in the engine bay? I don't think the cars loosing any oil from what I can see, and everything is clean so I just think it's been spilt. What do you all think?

Just keep an eye on it, it does look quite clean so you're probably right on the spillage.
Regarding the air filter, it's right behind the rad, the best place on a clio seems to be right in behind the passenger side headlamp, if you search 'fattys induction kit' you'll find a cheap way of doing it!
I've had a few attempts, but relocated my battery and set the filter here and works extremely well....

 

[Jekyll]

The crack so much better the 2nd time! Well until late the splitter tinkered with it!

As for the cold air feed you'd be better off changing the filter to behind the headlights as it gets cold air there. Where it is now is getting a fair bit of heat soak. Plus if you change the filter setup you'll have better noise too!

How about removing the fog lights and making some ducts to cool the brakes?

 

[Jekyll]

Edit: just seen marks post above regarding the filter/fatty setup.

 

[pastymaster]

Just keep an eye on it, it does look quite clean so you're probably right on the spillage.
Regarding the air filter, it's right behind the rad, the best place on a clio seems to be right in behind the passenger side headlamp, if you search 'fattys induction kit' you'll find a cheap way of doing it!
I've had a few attempts, but relocated my battery and set the filter here and works extremely well....

Spot on Mark thanks. I'm relieved you think I could be along the right lines with oil spillage. I'll definitely be keeping my fingers crossed that it is that!

The battery re-location looks great on yours. I guess you relocated it to the boot? Does mine have a bigger battery than standard as I looked at relocating the filter to there but there doesn't appear to be a lot of room unlike a lot of people's photos.

The crack so much better the 2nd time! Well until late the splitter tinkered with it!

As for the cold air feed you'd be better off changing the filter to behind the headlights as it gets cold air there. Where it is now is getting a fair bit of heat soak. Plus if you change the filter setup you'll have better noise too!

How about removing the fog lights and making some ducts to cool the brakes?

Thank you kindly mate, I was absolutely gutted with the crack coming back with the splitter fitting. I can laugh now but I didn't at the time! haha

I did wonder why there was no real noise from the filter to be honest. Do you think it's just down to the location?

I'm well up for some brake cooling by removing the fog lights. Are there any proper kits out there to buy? I think K-Tech mat do one off the top of my head so I'll have to have a look.

 

[pastymaster]

I've resized all of the photos too as they were taking forever to load, it was like the old days of a dial up modem. Hopefully everything should load better from now on.

 

[MarkX]

Spot on Mark thanks. I'm relieved you think I could be along the right lines with oil spillage. I'll definitely be keeping my fingers crossed that it is that!

The battery re-location looks great on yours. I guess you relocated it to the boot? Does mine have a bigger battery than standard as I looked at relocating the filter to there but there doesn't appear to be a lot of room unlike a lot of people's photos.

Your battery is certainly bigger than the one that was my in mine, but I since fitted an odyssey race battery behind the passenger seat

 

[pastymaster]

Cool, I might have to go down that route in future. I'll have a look at the threads you suggested to see if I can find a temporary cheap quick fix. :up:

 

[pastymaster]

New plates fitted today after the documents came back from the DVLA

 

[Jekyll]

You can buy 100mm/4" bass ports for the ducts.

 

[pastymaster]

Spot on, thanks mate. :up:

 

[pastymaster]

A few more parts have come recently but progress has been slow with a few bits and pieces going on at home. I've had front and rear OMP strut braces (I know people say they don't do a lot, but I think they look ace) and a full set of mats.

I did get to have a good drive out this morning as I needed to open up early for GCSE results.

 

[Martin.]

Nice work so far, looking much tidier!

 

[Scrooge]

Bar the tow sticker, it's looking good. Nice effort!