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Con1981's 172 dog



  172
The story begins........
I bought this black 172 about two years ago. Not knowing a lot about these cars other than they are as fast to 60 as an S3. My trusty vw bora was suffering head gasket failure and was going to require a new engine. So weighing up the cost of a new lump vs replacing the car I decided to scratch that itch for a clio that ad been developing.

So it was bye bye bora

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And hello Clio 172

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As I said earlier I bought the car not knowing a lot about them. It was a choice between 2 at the time one with terrible battered body work and this. the body work looked ok and I was promised by the dealer it had loads of history which they were just waiting for the guy who they had got it from to bring in. Big mistake! The history never materialized and when it went in for it's first MOT. It failed magnificently. Track rod ends, play in both rear bearings, emissions failure and cv boots shredded. Undeterred I cracked on with new track rod ends, rear discs, bearings new lambda sensor and cv boots.

Now who ever had replaced the discs last had not put the shims in. Which resulted in the disc welding itself to the stub axle. They had also overtightened the hub nut and stripped the thread resulting in the hubnut having to be drilled and new stub axles fitted. I was now in it for the long run
 
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  172
So now the car was through its MOT it was time to have a little play. Wind deflectors were first on the list.
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And then I decided on this. Please don't ask me what I was thinking

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Needles to say it was on the car for less that 24hrs.

After a little bit of enjoyable motoring the next calamity wast uch packing up. This was replaced with a new salvaged one. Which gave me this

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  172
So fast forward to this year and I finally got round to fitting the cruise control along with a new hand brake cable, standard back box as the other was so rotten it flew off the back

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  172
So everything is going well until prep for MOT time again and find a broken spring and play in one ball joint.

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It seemed rude not to fit a full set of eibach sportlines.

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  172
Now the car flew through it MOT. Home and dry me thinks. The dog is now fully sorted perhaps a few tastefull mods were planned wheel spacers and an underseat woofer for a bit of bass were on the cards. These however are going to have to wait.

2 days after It's MOT the dog decides to throw it's cam belt. So 2 years later I find myself in the same predicament just with a different car but once again a knackered engine.
 
  172
Well a bit of an update. Got my car towed to andy at clio turbo. New engine is now in and the car is running well. Had an initial issue with a misfire and a tdc sensor however following a quick exchange of emails the car was booked back in and sorted. So far so good. Car will go back in the few weeks just to get checked over. So far really impressed with the car and how quickly clio turbo turned it around for me.

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  172
Plans now for the clio are to get these powder coated and on for summer.
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The only question is what colour?

The postman arrived today with these for me

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My rear exhaust mount is shagged so this poly bush will be going in. Due to a few marks ontogeny edges of the doors the touch up will come in handy
 
  172
Good to see she's running well again. Was the engine dead?
Yep the teeth off the belt had stripped. It was the choice between rebuild the head or replace the engine. I went for replace as this came out as a more economical repair.

New dephaser, water pump, all fluids, aux & cam belt replaced. The engine that went in had less mileage than mine so hopefully many more months happy motoring!
 
  172
Mini update. Another delivery from the post man who left these.
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Which then allowed me to swap out these odd ones .

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Leaving it looking like this

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  172
Plans for the moment are for a brake refresh as the stopping power is non existent. So to begin with there will be a fluid change. So I bought these hoping to make the job as easy as possible.
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Backs were done last year so I'll be concentrating on the fronts. Brembo's I think will be my choice although I noticed a lot of mintex on fleabay but don't know what the quality is like?
 
  172
Today brake fluid change. Eezibleed kit my arse! I will never use this again as it resulted in brake fluid going every where. In the end I ended up doing it with my wife. The only way I will ever do it in the future. Two nipples where stuck so after a bit of running about I managed to get some replacements. There odd but hey ho nowt a matter with odd nipples

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As you can see the fluid was well ready for a change.

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  172
So today was a bit of styling. Having seen another car with this mod I decided to do it myself.
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I now know why I don't like window tint! Many many attempts

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LeeRS

ClioSport Club Member
fair play for sticking with the car. I would of lost faith after all that. You should of put the tint on first and then trimmed it back, much easier :)
 
  172
fair play for sticking with the car. I would of lost faith after all that. You should of put the tint on first and then trimmed it back, much easier :)

Car has obviously been abused in the past. Almost mint now. Only things left to replace are wishbones & dampers. Strangely the more that goes wrong with it the more I love it. I have learnt a hell of a lot mechanically through it
 

LeeRS

ClioSport Club Member
That's the best bit, learning as you go.
should be healthy now after clioturbo have had it, they don't mess about.
 
  172
That's the best bit, learning as you go.
should be healthy now after clioturbo have had it, they don't mess about.

Really can't fault clio turbo. Never been to a garage with such good customer service. Only problem with them is Now I want it turbo'd. If it wasn't for the wife I would have been tempted to get it done whilst the engine was out.
 
  172
Bloody bank holidays make work for idle hands.

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Now the inlet is going to have to come off and be painted!

And I also made this

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Now on the search for an 8" sub to fit. I should have made it big enough for a 10" as they seem plentiful second hand
 
May as well whip the fuel rail protector off at the same time and colour match it! Good going many folk would have binned it when the engine went. It is fun learning as you go though!
 
  172
May as well whip the fuel rail protector off at the same time and colour match it! Good going many folk would have binned it when the engine went. It is fun learning as you go though!


Yep that will be next on the list. I'll be getting some heat resistant paint probably silver.

I don't this I could be chewed with polishing. Although it could be a good excuse to buy a dremel.
 
Yep that will be next on the list. I'll be getting some heat resistant paint probably silver.

I don't this I could be chewed with polishing. Although it could be a good excuse to buy a dremel.
I just used some halfrauds car paint as it doesn't get that hot. Seems to be fine so far. My last 172 had it polished but I really didn't have the time on this one.
 

Chris205

ClioSport Club Member
  Many Things
I noticed your bora was at evotune, I take it you're from the NE, whereabouts?
 
  172
Well I knew the front brakes needed doing but I didn't expect this.
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Trip to local car parts store tomorrow for a se of pads to tide me over before a brake refresh. It turns out the bottom slider bolt was seized hence the trashed pads.
 
  172
Well pads fitted & carrier pins freed off. The piston itself wasn't seized so that was a bonus however getting the old pads out and the new ones in was more tricky than expected. They are a tight fit!
 
  172
Over the bank holiday I ended up making a small subwoofer box to go in the boot.
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So the hunt was on for some second hand audio gear to fit. Little did I know trying to find a second hand 8" sub would be near on impossible. So I bought one of these off amazon.
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It was cheap and had good reviews don't hate me for it.

Now I wanted a small amp too power it nothing intrusive and this came up on gumtree less than a mile away for £15 so I thought its worth a punt.

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Sony is a reputable make and if it's anything like my sony radio which I've had for over 6years it should be fine. It's only 300watt max so probably 150rms
 
  172
Brings me back to when I was in my teens lol, some years ago now

Ha yes your right I had a cheap halfrauds set up back in the day! . I'm in my 30's but I like my dance music and the stock set up just wasn't cutting it. My son has just done a boot build in his punto with 2 12inch subs and it looks well max power. Not my taste at all but havng heard it made want some bass. I was going to buy an underseat woofer but he had left over msg from his so I thought what the hell
 


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