Clio 197/200 estate - has it been done?

[Colm89]

Ok so let me give some context to the story... I've had a number of nice cars over the years, including a ph1 172 and most recently a 220 trophy. Sold the trophy back in February and have lived car free (in London) for the past 9 months, but with an impending move out of london i decided to buy a forester sti. Deposit down, loan approved, all set to buy... Wife made redundant! Being the sensible adult I am, I cancelled the purchase and the loan, and decided to buy something moderately cheap to run with the cash in my pocket.

Herein lies the problem. I genuinely can't find anything to meet the criteria I'm faced with:

Under 5k
Room in the boot for a greyhound
Cheap to run
Not diesel
Less than 10 years old
Less than 30 miles from central London
Don't need it to be fast, but don't want something dull

I've gone to the end of the internet and back and can't settle on something, which has led me here.

I see a few mk3 1.2tce manual clio estates on ebay near me. They're not pretty, but they're a clio with a zingy engine. And importantly both they, and the equivalent year 197/200 are fairly cheap.

So, engine and gearbox aside, is it possible to swap most parts over? Suspension, arms, rear beam, brakes, interior, wheels, etc? Is the subframe of a RS different to that of a standard clio? Has anyone done it? If you wanted to go all in, how big an undertaking is an engine and gearbox swap?

This is likely never going to materialise, but I'm keen to know. A rs estate would fill a small niche...

 

[Martin_172]

I wouldn't imagine it would be too hard, ive never seen both side by side but id imagine the subframes are the same/similar so it would just be a case of swapping the engine, box, driveshafts, suspension, hubs, brakes/master cylinder and ABS then the rear beam over, depending on if there is a difference in wiring you could either just get away with swapping the dials and gear shifter or potentially have to do the interior wiring and dash (most likely if you want it to all work properly so ESP, cruise control etc would all go over

then swap the electrics.

Im almost finished doing similar with a MK2 where ive swapped a full 182 over into a mk2 Van so everything above plus the fuel tank and lines, easy? yes, pain in the arse, f**k yes! not sure id ever do it again! but rather than an engine conversion I've re shelled the 182, so the van now has climate control, ESP, cruise control, auto lights, wipers, electric heated mirrors etc etc

 

[197.]

First off, a 197/200 is anything but cheap to run. Buy the time you've addressed all the parts that will need replacing you'd be better off spending that money on something better.

The 197s have a wider track front and back, so you'd have to take that into consideration as well (by fitting arch extensions most likely).

I know there have been quite a few Twingo/197 conversions so I should imagine that it wouldn't be too difficult to do a Clio/197 conversion. However i'm not sure the former included all the suspension setup and certainly wouldn't have involved changing the rear axle. Beaniesport carried out these conversions so may be worth asking him on his thoughts.

 

[Krarl]

Don't even bother going for a 197/200 engine when you can simply buy a 225 engine for the same money, have less gearbox/manifold issues (yes the pistons are made from spit and paper) and have an even quicker car?

Or just buy a 225 5 door and save yourself a massive headache

 

[Twingo 1??]

You can get the clio Estate in 1.6 vvt guise so why not turbo that? @bloke is your man to talk to for that.
Surely that is a lot easier than an engine swap.

 

[bloke]

Boost would be easy, the Clio estate does t look that big though when I've seen them. Thought about a meg estate and playing with that instead?

 

[Infamous Nikko]

If you can survive with a small estate but you're wanting something nippy, how about the Fabia VRS estate that must be in budget?