Clio 197. Supercharging

[Roblake]

Hello,recently got a 197 for track day use,brilliant handling but underpowered, looking to get up to around 250 brake using a Rotrex supercharger,
Want to keep the stock internals apart from rod bolts,has anyone got details of doing this,can the stock ecu be remapped,
Gather there is a guy called ‘cub’ who may have some info,?
Thanks guys

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

@Cub.

 

[Clio_fool]

@bloke

 

[Cub.]

Hello!

A few questions first;

- what other mods does it have? Does it have a diff?
- Are you intending on keeping the car a while?
- is it just a track car, or a road car still?
- how handy with the spanners are you?

There is a thread detailing the build of my supercharged 172 here;

Cub's Flamer - Supercharged, Cage etc

Had it about 8 months now, bought from JMS with a replacement engine and gearbox. I have a varied car background, from humble rover metro GTAs to a 911 C4S, but I wanted a 172 to be able to get my hands dirty(ish) and the plan is to make it a fast road / occassional trackday car and mod it...

www.cliosport.net

 

[welshname]

Whilst I understand the benefits to SC over turbo, for reliability on a Mk3 clio I'd be suggesting swapping in a standard R26 engine and gearbox with a simple map.

It'll easily hit the power figures you're wanting, it'll be reliable, and use off the shelf parts for any issues you have.

It's the most plug and play way to go on the Mk3.

 

[197.]

300 bhp is deemed to be the safe limit when it comes to supercharging the 197/200, with standard internals. Proline motorsport do a supercharging kit so may be worth asking them.

 

[Cub.]

Whilst I understand the benefits to SC over turbo, for reliability on a Mk3 clio I'd be suggesting swapping in a standard R26 engine and gearbox with a simple map.

It'll easily hit the power figures you're wanting, it'll be reliable, and use off the shelf parts for any issues you have.

It's the most plug and play way to go on the Mk3.

I’m with Rhys, unless you have to have a supercharger, the easiest and cheapest route to more power is a meglio conversion.

 

[RSRowe]

300 bhp is deemed to be the safe limit when it comes to supercharging the 197/200, with standard internals. Proline motorsport do a supercharging kit so may be worth asking them.

Why is it deemed safe?
Or rather, who deemed it safe?

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

Why is it deemed safe?
Or rather, who deemed it safe?

What power would you regard as safe?

 

[RSRowe]

What power would you regard as safe?

Standard seems pretty reliable.
What would you say is safe?

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

Standard seems pretty reliable.
What would you say is safe?

Good question! Ive thought about this a lot.. Safe is not a notion we often discuss often.... Yet if you think about it, most of us can say that we feel safe on a fairly regular basis. A Universal Experience. Safe can be defined as free from harm or hurt. So, feeling safe means you do not anticipate either harm or hurt, emotionally or physically.

 

[Djw John]

@cpaterson76 had a supercharged 200 for a short while

 

[RSRowe]

Good question! Ive thought about this a lot.. Safe is not a notion we often discuss often.... Yet if you think about it, most of us can say that we feel safe on a fairly regular basis. A Universal Experience. Safe can be defined as free from harm or hurt. So, feeling safe means you do not anticipate either harm or hurt, emotionally or physically.

Brill. Thanks.

What about a safe power level? (As discussed and asked above)

 

[197.]

Why is it deemed safe?
Or rather, who deemed it safe?

I've seen a couple running 300 bhp now, quite a few used on track and none with engine failures in that time. Proline are also stating that 300 bhp can be run on a standard engine (which I presume has been road tested but let's not open that can of worms). All in all, i'd say it's just as risky as a Meg conversion as quite a few of those have been going pop recently.

 

[cpaterson76]

I've seen a couple running 300 bhp now, quite a few used on track and none with engine failures in that time. Proline are also stating that 300 bhp can be run on a standard engine (which I presume has been road tested but let's not open that can of worms). All in all, i'd say it's just as risky as a Meg conversion as quite a few of those have been going pop recently.

315 on a standard engine with standard management and no issues
Not suited to track tho as the power drop with heat gain is massive.....
Sounds insane tho

 

[cpaterson76]

Hello,recently got a 197 for track day use,brilliant handling but underpowered, looking to get up to around 250 brake using a Rotrex supercharger,
Want to keep the stock internals apart from rod bolts,has anyone got details of doing this,can the stock ecu be remapped,
Gather there is a guy called ‘cub’ who may have some info,?
Thanks guys

If it’s for track use, hard track use, I would avoid supercharging the 197 unless you can work on removing the heat soak.... power drop was massive when used hard on track, meaning standard 172s / 182’s that had weight reduction could keep up.....

 

[bloke]

low boost the standard engine or if you want to charge it use an eaton, sod paying silly money for a rotrex. either way you'll need to sort the box out, boosted on a standard ratio box must be bloody awful to say the least.

we should be sorting a low boost one out hopefully at the end of this year, will be a fair bit cheaper than supercharging that's for sure!!!!

 

[Roblake]

Thanks for the replies, I have come across a Rotrex c30-94 and I don’t want the problems of changing the ecu and trying to get the new one talking to the old one!
My main problem is that the size of the crank pulley is large and even using the largest Rotrex pulley I think it will be over driven , any one know what is done in the manufactured kits to overcome this ?
Thanks

 

[bloke]

you just need to control boost.

 

[Roblake]

What with a restrictor in the inlet to the Rotrex ?

 

[bloke]

did one with a wastegate on the inlet side, made nice boost low down and held torque and power top end.

could always run smaller crank pulley if you wanted?

 

[Roblake]

Do you know of any smaller crank pulleys that would fit and be keyed?
Thanks

 

[bloke]

f4r pulley, it's only the belt pulley that's keyed, aux pulley is floating on both engines.

 

[NorthloopCup]

Yeah as above you need a Clio 172/182 aux belt pulley.

 

[Roblake]

Thanks for the info on that,have you any idea what the diameter of the 172/182 pulley is.
Cheers

 

[bloke]

About 120mm.

 

[Roblake]

Thanks I will give it a go