Clio 182 Track Car & Daily Projects

[Mr Underhill]

How long does it take you to get to cadwell as your not that far away from me and is that kia in the last pic you tow with? If so how do you find it?

Without a stop around 2 1/2 hours. I usually travel down the night before as my sister in law lives in Branston which is only half an hour away.

I also camp over in the summer which is a good craic but didn’t fancy it this time with the cold and rain, so I set off at 3:30am. Found that much better tbh as the roads were dead and I was able to stop and get to the circuit for 6:30.

It’s an old Kia Sportage Diesel 2010. Pulls the trailer great and I can get everything I need in the boot too. I had the Sorento before this and that can pull a house down, but for the money I had in it, it was just depreciating sitting in the yard. You can pick up the Sportage’s for a couple grand in good nick, so a no brainier really. Never let me down yet.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Twingo 1??]

Without a stop around 2 1/2 hours. I usually travel down the night before as my sister in law lives in Branston which is only half an hour away.

I also camp over in the summer which is a good craic but didn’t fancy it this time with the cold and rain, so I set off at 3:30am. Found that much better tbh as the roads were dead and I was able to stop and get to the circuit for 6:30.

It’s an old Kia Sportage Diesel 2010. Pulls the trailer great and I can get everything I need in the boot too. I had the Sorento before this and that can pull a house down, but for the money I had in it, it was just depreciating sitting in the yard. You can pick up the Sportage’s for a couple grand in good nick, so a no brainier really. Never let me down yet.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Cheers for the info, I will need something to tow later on in the year and the kia/hyundi look good value. Only needs to pull the Twingo so nice and light.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Not much happening with the track car at the moment as I’ve been working right through lockdown so just no time.

First of the upgrades arrived last week (might have been 2 weeks [emoji2371]) which is always exciting. It’s the Front Geometry Correction Kit from [mention]Tomotek [/mention]and his Proamracing team. Looks a proper piece of kit so thanks to Scott for getting these out to me in double quick time.

Gearbox upgrade isn’t coming anytime soon due to issues with the build and lockdown but hey ho there’s worse things going on right now. Stay well everybody and fingers crossed we’ll soon be able to get back to doing what we love in one form or another.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Mr Underhill]

Finally decided to go EPAS on the Track car after my mate convinced me it’s the way to go. Time will tell [emoji120][emoji85][emoji16] Thanks to [mention]Passant [/mention]for sorting me out.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Mr Underhill]

Sudden brake warning light on the daily last week while travelling to work. Nothing obvious at first but you don’t second guess brake issues.

Off with the wheels and the rear nsr caliper looking very dirty and clogged with dust.

Closer inspection revealed a leaky cylinder but barely noticeable from the outside. Still a good excuse to replace both sides and clean everything up.

Good timing too as I’d contemplated changing the colour of my Turini’s from Silver to Anthracite. So got them down to Romax for a colour change. They were absolutely mint which baffled him at first as he was looking for scuffs and kerbing.

Pleased with how it all turned out and I think the car looks great.

 

[JamesBryan]

Where did you get the calipers from mate?

 

[Mr Underhill]

Where did you get the calipers from mate?

I got them from DMFX in Darlington. Exchange units £60 each. Remy on the box.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Nice easy job on the daily replacing the old exhaust hanger mounts.

Picked up some really nice stainless steel custom hangers from PRO-AM Racing which go well with the exhaust mounts.

They’re a really nice bit of kit, really solid and fit perfectly. It’s also managed to cure an annoying
rattle/resonating sound at high revs which I was struggling to pin point.

Next job on the list is to find a decent rear beam axle that I can refurbish and powder coat.

 

[Mr Underhill]

The daily - 122,000 miles, burns little to no oil between services and hasn’t let me down. It does get pampered though, but goes to show if you look after your engine it’ll look after you.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Managed to get a few decent shots of the daily as the sun was going down. Black Gold is lovely when you catch it in the right light.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Busy weekend getting the track car ready for Croft tomorrow.

First thing to investigate was a rattle near the exhaust which surfaced at Cadwell in March.

Nothing obvious at first until I gave the rear heat shield a tug and it pretty much sprung out away from the bolt.

It had broken in a few places so I stuck a few oversized washers on and job sorted.

More worrying was the rubber on my PMS exhaust hangers which looks to be splitting. I’ve only done 3 Trackday’s on this new exhaust and the cars kept in dry storage, so It’s a bit disappointing given its only a year old.

I’ve dropped Nick an email so we’ll see where we go after that.

Other than that the cars in pretty good fettle, although I’d forgetten to disconnect the battery so that was flat 🙈. A quick levels check, a clean up and we’re ready to go. 🚗💨🏁

 

[Mr Underhill]

What a day at Croft. Ran off a full tank, 2 x 20 litre Jerry cans and now my body’s broken. Getting too old for this 😣😂

 

[Mr Underhill]

A few of my favourite pics from Croft last weekend.

Managed a personal best lap time of 1:41:896 which i'm pleased with, although i'm not sure how reliable the data is as I grab the video footage from my Go Pro and load into Race Render after each event.

Footage of that lap is on my Youtube Channel here :

.

Note to self - must learn to heel and toe haha.

Next trackday is in a few weeks at Cadwell Park so looking forward to that.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Crap day at Cadwell as car refused to crank over after a few morning sessions.

I'd had some starting issues on the Friday when loading the car on the trailer, only this time I thought it was the battery as i'd left it connected and it went flat. After fitting another battery the car fired up without issue, so loaded her up and set off. Everything seemed fine until i came in to change the tyres over after it started chucking it down, then it refused to even crank.

Still, I came away with one decent shot 😀

After diagnosing the starting issue everything pointed towards TDC sensor. I wouldn't care I had a brand new spare and loom in my toolbox at Cadwell but forgot to bring the diagnostics tool with me. You live and learn

Car starts perfectly now but i'm giving her a proper overhaul as she's took some stick over the last 3 years.

On a good note my new box with Quaife LSD finally arrived from @NorthloopCup after almost 7 months. Not Mark's fault, just bad timing with with everything that's been going on this year. I can't praise Mark enough for his efforts trying to sort it out. Highly recommend. P.S I think i've sourced a decent engine, so i'll be in touch

We'll be tackling the box this weekend, along with an EPAS conversion, Geo Kit from @Tomotek and a few extra bits to improve the car before its next outing at Croft in September.

 

[NorthloopCup]

Crap day at Cadwell as car refused to crank over after a few morning sessions.

I'd had some starting issues on the Friday when loading the car on the trailer, only this time I thought it was the battery as i'd left it connected and it went flat. After fitting another battery the car fired up without issue, so loaded her up and set off. Everything seemed fine until i came in to change the tyres over after it started chucking it down, then it refused to even crank.

Still, I came away with one decent shot 😀

View attachment 1492288

After diagnosing the starting issue everything pointed towards TDC sensor. I wouldn't care I had a brand new spare and loom in my toolbox at Cadwell but forgot to bring the diagnostics tool with me. You live and learn

View attachment 1492289View attachment 1492290

Car starts perfectly now but i'm giving her a proper overhaul as she's took some stick over the last 3 years.

On a good note my new box with Quaife LSD finally arrived from @NorthloopCup after almost 7 months. Not Mark's fault, just bad timing with with everything that's been going on this year. I can't praise Mark enough for his efforts trying to sort it out. Highly recommend. P.S I think i've sourced a decent engine, so i'll be in touch

View attachment 1492291

We'll be tackling the box this weekend, along with an EPAS conversion, Geo Kit from @Tomotek and a few extra bits to improve the car before its next outing at Croft in September.

Mate what a drama that diff swap turned into eh! But we got there in the end!

Lol no worries 👍🏻

 

[Mr Underhill]

Finally got around to tidying up the last few crusty bits on the daily. The alternator belt had started to slip so a good enough reason to spend the day removing the alternator, power steering pump, pipes and PMS bracket and give them a good clean up. Most people would just replace the belt

Jobs a good un 😀

 

[Mr Underhill]

A few upgrades for the track car ticked off over the weekend by my good friends at CMRacing.

Sach Racing Clutch with Organic plate.

A big shout out to Richard Boynton at Bremsen Technik for sorting me out a great price. The kit came without the release bearing and set me back £450 inc VAT and delivery, which is a huge saving over PMS, et al. I then sourced a bearing from DMFX for a tenner. 😊

I'm not getting into racing and haven't increased the engine power...yet...so it's probably more than i need. I could have gone OEM I guess but the guys at CMRacing have had 2 Valeo clutches blow on them in testing - plenty of other stories circulating the forums too - so I didn't fancy taking any chances. My current clutch has been fine for almost 3 seasons, so maybe there's the odd batch doing the rounds.

PRO-AM Racing FRONT GEOMETRY CORRECTION KIT from @Tomotek. Really nice bit of kit and the lads said it was a doddle to fit. Cheers Scott

Quaife ATB Helical LSD differential and new internals from @NorthloopCup. My biggest upgrade to date.

I never felt the need to invest in one of these as the lack of seat time mean't I never really found the cars limits until the back end of last year.

The lads have just a few more jobs to do including fitting the EPAS column and wiring it in before my next track day at Croft next week. Can't wait!

 

[Tomotek]

It’s going to feel like a completely different car when u go back to Croft!.. very exciting!

 

[Mr Underhill]

It’s going to feel like a completely different car when u go back to Croft!.. very exciting!

That’s what everybody tells me Scott. Can’t wait!

 

[Mr Underhill]

A few shots from last Monday’s Trackday at Croft.

The car took a bit of getting used to after the upgrades but by the afternoon it was flying. Managed to shave a couple of seconds off my previous best to record a time of 1:39:741.

Sadly the release bearing decided to give up the ghost mid afternoon which meant an early bath. Still, it’s all par for the course and we’ll soon get her running reliably again.

For anybody interested in my lap please navigate to my YouTube below. If not keep on scrolling 😂

 

[Mr Underhill]

Midweek dramas when the PMS bracket called it a day enroute to work. Luckily it happened just as I was pulling into the car park.

Nick at PMS posted out the upgraded version pretty quickly so was able to trailer it home and get it sorted.

 

[Mr Underhill]

A few more jobs to tick off on the daily starting with the rear beam. It’s a bit crusty like the rest of the car was when I bought it, so definitely one I’ve been looking forward to rectifying.

I managed to pick up a second hand beam minus the stub axles and carriers off EBay.

It didn’t look too bad from the images but when it arrived it clearly wasn’t the one advertised.

They admitted they use a decent beam for advertising, which is naturally misleading, but I won’t mention the company because they were quick to hold their hands up and refunded me a fair portion of the cost.

They said it was an error on their part and won’t happen again, but Just watch what you’re buying folks.

I was initially going to tackle the beam myself but decided to send off to a company given the extra refurbishment required to sort it. You live and learn.

Next up was to source some stub axles and carriers. I found a pair on the Facebook group and so got to work refurbishing them.

I noticed they had a decent set of sensors on them, which are getting hard to pick up, so managed to get those off without damaging them and reuse later. Bonus!

I don’t possess a shot blaster so just use a small hammer and chisel to remove the heavy corrosion, then a wire wheel and various sandpapers to get them somewhere near. I then give them a good 24 hour soaking in Evaporust then agitate the remaining bits of rust, then soak again for a few more hours.

Once the rust has gone I quickly dry off, give them a wipe over with Acetone then a light covering with Zinc self etching primer. It’s amazing how quickly the rust starts to reappear even if you leave them to go and make a cuppa.

For heavily corroded areas I’ll just apply some filler, sand back and reprime.

I’ll usually give them 3 to 4 coats of primer, before applying some high temperature paint and lacquer.

The beam is going to be piano Black so I figured the carriers would look great in silver to match my callipers. The result look great. I’m replacing all the bolts with 14:9 high tensile bolts which I sourced from Cromwell.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Got around to sorting the rear beam on the daily over the weekend.

Went for Powerflex purple series and some new rear dampers as the old ones have seen better days and are a bit bouncy.

Fitting the new bushes was pretty straight forward and everything went in with a few belts from a rubber mallet.

Overall it’s not a bad job to tackle and I’m pleased with the end result. Just a set of discs and pads to finish it off and that’s another one ticked off the list.

 

[Mr Underhill]

For anybody wanting to replace their rear beam, I used this thread for information on bolts etc... - https://cliosport.net/threads/nuts-and-bolts.814078/page-3#post-12005466. Please note mine is a standard car, so read my update regarding the bolts going from chassis to beam mounting.

 

[dave120]

Just read the entire thread from start to finish. What a good read! Well done.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Just read the entire thread from start to finish. What a good read! Well done.

I appreciate that fella, thank you. I enjoy keeping it updated as the work continues and it's mainly for my reference. Plus if the cars ever go up for sale people can see what they're buying in to.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Got the discs and pads for the daily and finished off the rear beam.

Went for genuine discs from my local Renault dealer as they were £20 cheaper than the usual resellers. It was also nice to see they’d supplied me with a new stub axle nut and dust cover in with the price - bonus.

Didn’t go for the Brembo rear pads this time and instead thought I’d try the Motrio derivatives. At £12 a set they seem surprisingly cheap, so time will tell.

So that’s the beam, stub axles all refurbished and powder coated. And the springs, bushes, dampers, discs, pads and ABS sensors all replaced with new parts. I also took the opportunity of checking the rear chassis too and was pleased to see little to no signs of corrosion. Where there was surface rust, I removed it with Evaporust and then treated it with Dinitrol ML and 4942. Looks brand new. Photos are crap though 🙈.

The only thing I had to go back and change were the chassis to beam bracket bolts. I’d followed Tomotek’s excellent spread sheet of high tensile replacement bolts but hadn’t realised he’s got a cage brace plate so he needed something longer.

As you can see, the bolts are too long and the only way I could tighten them up was to use 5 washers - marked X. The bolt on the right - green tick - are the genuine bolts which I sourced from my local dealer. Came at a price at £8.00 a bolt though. I’m sure there are alternatives but I needed the car back on the road so bit the bullet.

You can see the difference in the flange between the high tensile bolt compared to the original.

Anyway the job is sorted now and I know it’s right.

I’ve supplied the part number of the bolts in case anybody fancies doing theirs - 7703015200.

The bolts don’t come with nuts so sourced some from my local fasteners. Note - they’re an M10 fine pitch 1.25mm type.

Final job was to bleed the brakes and change the fluid. Used genuine DOT 4 + as recommended by Renault, although there are plenty of alternatives.

Gave the car a good road test and it’s definitely improved the ride. The bouncing from the rear dampers has been eliminated and the slight rumble from the rear, which I suspected was the rear bearings in the old discs, has gone.

It hasn’t been a cheap job to do, especially as I’ve replaced everything with new parts but there’s satisfaction in knowing it’s done properly. It’s a fairly easy job to tackle for the competent DIY’er.

Just need to get some new PS3’s, geo alignment and that’s it for 2020. At least on the daily 😉

 

[RustyMojo]

Fantastic job, having dug around the back end of my car I need to do the same...again frustrating really as I had done it already on my old car. I’ll probably drop the beam in the coming weeks I think. Just need to finish a couple of jobs before I start another monster

 

[Mr Underhill]

Fantastic job, having dug around the back end of my car I need to do the same...again frustrating really as I had done it already on my old car. I’ll probably drop the beam in the coming weeks I think. Just need to finish a couple of jobs before I start another monster

Cheers and I’m following your thread with interest 😉 Great to see these cars getting preserved.

What made you sell your last one?

 

[RustyMojo]

Cheers and I’m following your thread with interest 😉 Great to see these cars getting preserved.

What made you sell your last one?

Just the realisation when I looked at the mechanical job list I would still have a cosmetic list as long as my arm. It needed to be a track car really, as was too far gone to be made into a good road example. My new one is much better but being a little anal I’m getting quite deep into this as well now

 

[Mr Underhill]

Just the realisation when I looked at the mechanical job list I would still have a cosmetic list as long as my arm. It needed to be a track car really, as was too far gone to be made into a good road example. My new one is much better but being a little anal I’m getting quite deep into this as well now

Yeah I can imagine the costs on a car that needs both mechanical and cosmetic work spirally somewhat, especially if you’ve got high standards.

I’ve got both track and daily versions of these cars and have spent a fair few quid on restoration and race developments myself, so I feel your pain. On saying that in the past I’ve always run newer, more expensive high performance cars that need little to no money spending on them.

When I look back at the depreciation on those cars after a few years of ownership, the money I spend on my Clio’s is buttons compared to that. And I get the satisfaction of working on them, driving them and in the case of the daily, seeing the cars appreciate in value.

 

[RustyMojo]

Funnily enough, I am just opting out of the company car scheme and am having to look to buy my first ‘grown up’ car. Other than the clios it’s nearly 20 years since I owned a vehicle! It’s scary how much money they are, but actually the saving in tax makes it massively worthwhile. More money to spend on the clio!

 

[Mr Underhill]

Funnily enough, I am just opting out of the company car scheme and am having to look to buy my first ‘grown up’ car. Other than the clios it’s nearly 20 years since I owned a vehicle! It’s scary how much money they are, but actually the saving in tax makes it massively worthwhile. More money to spend on the clio!

I got out of my company cars in 2016 after realising it was no longer a benefit. Never looked back.

 

[Mr Underhill]

Well the plan today was to fit the final piece of the intake jigsaw.

That is until I noticed the car windows had steamed up after a night of torrential rain. I knew what was coming and sure enough the passenger footwell was soaking.

First job was to check the drainage under the washer bottle.

So it was off with the panel trim followed by wipers, wiper mechanism and washer bottle.

I’ve never been into this part of the car before so wasn’t sure what I was going to find. Noticed the washer bottle was loose and almost empty. I’d only filled it up last week after topping up with screen wash so was surprised to see how empty it was.

On inspecting the bottle I noticed the pump was only halfway on, which explains why the bottle was almost empty, and two rubber grommets on the pump which struck me as odd.

Looks like the previous owner had tried to fix the leak before, but was I scratching my head as to why they’d try and fit a new grommet over an old one.

The washer bottle looked a bit grubby too and had a fair bit of sediment in the bottom.

A quick rinse with fairly liquid, hot water and then a couple of spoons of rice and a good shake seemed to shift the crud.

A bit of silicon and that should do the trick for now.

Now to inspect the drain.

It didn’t look too bad although there was a bit of dirt in there so I stuck a hose pipe in, turned it on and left it run whilst I checked the footwell inside of the car for signs of leaking.

After a few minutes everything seemed fine with no leaks coming in and water flowing nicely out the bottom of the car as it should.

Leaking car continued....

 

[Mr Underhill]

.

 

[Mr Underhill]

I gave everything a good clean up.

The washer bottle bolt was the wrong one and the thread stripped, hence it rattling around.

The metal where the bolt goes through is too thin to rethread, so I stuck an M5 rivet nut and bolt which did the trick.

Put everything back together then turned my attention to the door seals.

I dried everything off inside and outside the passenger door, then turned the hosepipe on to it for about 5 minutes.

When I opened the door the leaking area had revealed itself.

It looks like water is running off the roof, down the rubber seal next to the windscreen and some of it is finding its way past the door seal.

No idea why it’s started to leak now given how much I wash it. Cold weather perhaps?

Oh well, new door seal it is then.

 

[Mr Underhill]

A bit more research into the leak points towards the door card and not the main door seal itself. I replaced the passenger door last year and removed the door card, so must have disturbed the seal. It seems water is leaking into the door and some of the water is dripping onto the main door seal itself, then overflowing into the car.

Ordered some Butyl sealing tape so that's another job for this weekend

 

[Mr Underhill]

Fitted the Michelin Pilot Sport 3’s which has transformed the way the car drives. I’d been running 205/45/16 Yokohama AD08R’s on the Turini’s but hated the way the car tramlined.

Opted for 195/45/16’s as I’d run the car on my 195/50/15’s before and that felt much better.

Alignment went well although we discovered the NSF caliper was sticking. Never rains unless it pours 🙄

I was going to refresh the front brakes in the spring but thought I’d tackle it this weekend and get it out of the way. Opted for Remy refurbished calipers as I wanted that OEM look and I’d fitted these to the rear and are pretty nice.

Gave the carriers a good scrub as they were painted Blue from before, then soaked them in Evaporust overnight, then gave them a few coats of high temperature paint.

Happy with the results.

Final job was to fit the Actuator on the airbox as it was missing. Gave the earths a clean up while I was there and hopefully that’s it for 2020.

 

[Mr Underhill]

The water leak turned out to be the door seals as suspected so got the bodyshop to sort that at the same time as wheel alignment.

Put a hose on it today for a good 20 minutes and the car is dry as a bone 👌🏻

 

[Mr Underhill]

Got the Xenons out for the trackcar to give them a clean up and noticed the bodge on the adjuster.

Time for a quick repair.

The kit - BMW E39 5-Series Head Lamp Adjuster Repair Kit

The tools - Long nose pliers and 10mm spanner or socket

Pull the small broken ball part from the socket and any bodge out with pliers. I also removed the Xenon bulb to give easier access

Take the spanner and turn the adjuster anti-clockwise to unscrew the top half of the broken adjuster, then remove remaining broken parts.

The next bit is a bit fiddly but using the long nose pliers, place the new part just below the adjuster screw, then turn the adjuster clockwise and the screw will pull the new part into place. Then push down the bottom part attached to the headlamp and put the ball into the ball socket.

Now turn the adjuster anti-clockwise until you hear a ‘click’. This pushes the new part into ball socket. Adjust as required and that’s it. Quick, easy and cheap fix.