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Dan's Ph1 172 Daily Driver
- Thread starter DerbyDan
- Start date
So this is happening...... The dreaded Cam/Aux belts & dephaser pulley! The dephaser pulley noise suddenly got worse so have been avoiding driving the Ph1 for the last couple of weeks - luckily the weather has been nice enough that driving around in the Derby hasn't been too much of a hardship :smile: I had started looking into doing the job myself - but on reading up on it I just don't think that a) I'm confident enough not for something to go wrong, or that I'd get stuck on (with the car sitting stranded on the drive) & B) I just don't have the time! So with a lot of ringing around different garages, the only place that filled me with any sort of confidence was Northampton Motorsport in ahem.... Northampton. The car was dropped over there this morning along with the parts that I had purchased.... so fingers crossed all will go well!
At the same time they are going to look into the oil leak situation & change the crank bearing seal on the timing belt end of the engine & also replace the Ktec engine mounts for OEM Renault mounts.... I'm hoping that the car will be a more pleasant drive all round when it gets back?
At the same time they are going to look into the oil leak situation & change the crank bearing seal on the timing belt end of the engine & also replace the Ktec engine mounts for OEM Renault mounts.... I'm hoping that the car will be a more pleasant drive all round when it gets back?
So its looking like the Phase1 is nearing the end of its time in my ownership - as tomorrow evening I pick up a Honda CR-Z.
These last few months the little Clio has been a bit of a source of expense & worry... at a time when I really need my daily driver to be reliable. Getting the Dephaser & belts done was always going to be an expense where you actually question if its worth it - given how little these cars seem to be worth - but with Phase1 RS Clios becoming rarer - getting this job done seemed worth it.... even if I was only going to keep the car for a further 6 months or so. The car was duly delivered to Northampton Motorsport who spared no time in stripping it down & in doing so discovered a very leaky rocker cover - which they asked if I wanted them to remove & re-seal. On removing the rocker it exposed what Northampton Motorsport considered to be worn/scoured surfaces on which the camshafts run - they think it maybe as result of oil starvation, potentially caused by the surging of oil whilst the car was being driven on a trackday or similar?
This is representative of the surfaces on both the rocker & on the head casting itself..... definitely not the fine machined surface that I know should be the norm..... I'm not sure what other Cliosport.net members think - or if they've experienced anything similar?
Northampton Motorsport invited me over to have a look before they proceeded further with the dephaser/belt job - & indeed if I thought it was worth it. Too be honest from the conversation on the phone I was expecting to see worse.... given that I'd now done 10K on this engine since buying the car (& knowing that I'd not driven it in any conditions to have caused the suspected oil starvation) & it had been OK, I decided that we would continue with the job. At the same time Northampton Motorsport fitted the new supplied OEM engine mounts. One thing I wish I had done was take a picture of the car on the 'four-poster' in their workshop - it actually looked the part sitting up their surrounded by historic rally cars (Escorts & a Manta) & other exotica! with Snap-on protectors over the wings!
On getting the car back I've noticed that the idle is a little lumpy (I'm presuming a new throttle body gasket might be required after being disturbed?) - also, with the extra movement of the engine on its softer mounts it seems that under hard acceleration something is vibrating - an exhaust shield maybe? So some 'fettling' is required!
Next up, I ended up bumping the car into a concrete pillar in my local multi-storey car park - it was a case of me rushing around too much whilst on my lunchbreak & lack of judgement - I must admit I was so angry at myself!
Then just a week after that happened - I spotted oil coming from the rear of the car which coincided with a knocking when going over speedbumps..... a leaking shock is the culprit - great! (annoyingly the previous owner had said he'd only just fitted new genuine Renault cup-spec shocks when I brought the car)
These last few months the little Clio has been a bit of a source of expense & worry... at a time when I really need my daily driver to be reliable. Getting the Dephaser & belts done was always going to be an expense where you actually question if its worth it - given how little these cars seem to be worth - but with Phase1 RS Clios becoming rarer - getting this job done seemed worth it.... even if I was only going to keep the car for a further 6 months or so. The car was duly delivered to Northampton Motorsport who spared no time in stripping it down & in doing so discovered a very leaky rocker cover - which they asked if I wanted them to remove & re-seal. On removing the rocker it exposed what Northampton Motorsport considered to be worn/scoured surfaces on which the camshafts run - they think it maybe as result of oil starvation, potentially caused by the surging of oil whilst the car was being driven on a trackday or similar?
This is representative of the surfaces on both the rocker & on the head casting itself..... definitely not the fine machined surface that I know should be the norm..... I'm not sure what other Cliosport.net members think - or if they've experienced anything similar?
Northampton Motorsport invited me over to have a look before they proceeded further with the dephaser/belt job - & indeed if I thought it was worth it. Too be honest from the conversation on the phone I was expecting to see worse.... given that I'd now done 10K on this engine since buying the car (& knowing that I'd not driven it in any conditions to have caused the suspected oil starvation) & it had been OK, I decided that we would continue with the job. At the same time Northampton Motorsport fitted the new supplied OEM engine mounts. One thing I wish I had done was take a picture of the car on the 'four-poster' in their workshop - it actually looked the part sitting up their surrounded by historic rally cars (Escorts & a Manta) & other exotica! with Snap-on protectors over the wings!
On getting the car back I've noticed that the idle is a little lumpy (I'm presuming a new throttle body gasket might be required after being disturbed?) - also, with the extra movement of the engine on its softer mounts it seems that under hard acceleration something is vibrating - an exhaust shield maybe? So some 'fettling' is required!
Next up, I ended up bumping the car into a concrete pillar in my local multi-storey car park - it was a case of me rushing around too much whilst on my lunchbreak & lack of judgement - I must admit I was so angry at myself!
Then just a week after that happened - I spotted oil coming from the rear of the car which coincided with a knocking when going over speedbumps..... a leaking shock is the culprit - great! (annoyingly the previous owner had said he'd only just fitted new genuine Renault cup-spec shocks when I brought the car)
I must admit this little Clio has gotten under my skin like few other cars that I've owned, yet its the car I probably have had less confidence in, in terms of reliability lol! But I suppose really I'm giving it a bit of a hard time - sure I did have to be recovered by the AA earlier in the year but that was due to a leaky rad - something any car of a certain age could suffer from (except maybe that poor design of the airbox pushing the fan shroud into the face of the radiator didn't help
) I love the way it looks & its honest 'heart on its sleeve' nature - jump in it & drive it & it really does entertain. Its more scruff of the neck stuff compared with the pin-sharp Integra it replaced, but in some ways its more fun as a result.The constant 'tinkering' that they seem to need was quite good fun to start with - but with the return of my Derby from the paint shop so my attention turned to that, having to do work on the Clio (mostly the Rad change) was just a pain - The Derby was the project car, I wanted the Clio just to be trouble-free - choosing any 17 year old car for that role as daily work-horse is perhaps hoping a bit lol!
Anyway here's the new car - a Honda CRZ
So here endeth my ownership of X631 UGC..... as some of you maybe aware, my Phase1 172 is now in the ownership of forum regular 'mintno1' who I'm sure will look after the old-girl & give it the love & attention it really deserves. The '172' will always have a special place in my motoring heart, whilst I had some frustrating times with in my short ownership..... I also had a lot of fun with it & was a welcome distraction at a difficult time in my life. Its O/A bang-for-buck performance always surprised me - I have no-idea why anyone would want too much more power out of these cars for road use as they seem plenty quick enough to me in standard trim, the fuel economy from these cars is also pretty impressive too..... the super-duper 'economical' Honda CRZ Hybrid that replaces the Clio is currently doing only 45ish mpg with careful driving - compared to the regular 40+mpg of the Clio... which has a lot more grunt & a damn site more fun!
Goodbye 'sad-face' Clio
Passing shot.... just before Gareth drove off in it last Wednesday
Goodbye 'sad-face' Clio
Passing shot.... just before Gareth drove off in it last Wednesday
