Gmans 172 cup

[Gman]

Hi guys,

After a great years ownership with my 182 Trophy i decided i wanted to buy a cheap clio and turn it into a bit of a track toy, after selling the trophy i thought i'd have a R26 for a bit as i'd always fancied one since they'd come out, great car but after six months it was time to move on, so i found a cheap one owner 172 cup with the idea of turning it into my track toy i'd wanted since selling the trophy...

A few pics of my early RS days

The first year i owned the 172 cup i didn't really do much to it, I done all the belts, water pump, dephaser and replaced all the suspension/bushes with new renault items as although it was a 1 owner car it's service history wasn't all that great. With a clean bill of health and some uprated brakes i done a track day at cadwell, spa, and brands and a couple of trips to the ring.

The plan had been to get a second car but the year had gone so fast and i was enjoying driving it as it stood, so different to the trophy yet just as much fun!
At the beginning of this year i decided it was time to do a few modifications so started buying a few bits and pieces

The following year (this year) work was very quite so i didn't get to use the car on track at all and i just used it as my daily and it got a little neglected to say the least..

With the winter approaching fast i decided i couldn't carry on using the cup as it was starting to need a few bits and pieces doing to it and i was seriously fed up with the noise and practicality of it so i bought myself a second car.

With the cup off the road now i've decided to give it a bit of a rebuild and get a few bits sorted that need doing on it, It so nice being able to work on it as and when i want to now, it's almost like having a new toy again!

As it's going to be more track than track/road now i'm thinking about a few changes, I'm also looking at ways to lighten it further and maybe up the power.

Time to do some more research now though...........

 

[Gman]

This is a photo from a few months ago

It's not changed since then apart from being a little dirtier and having a missing splitter/arch liner due to a rabbit getting in my way one evening!

 

[brownyboy]

Nice mate, need to see this beast!

 

[andywa]

Nice selection of cars. Where was the 2nd photo taken?

 

[Gman]

Cheers, the photo was taken just outside of bormio in italy, it was on the way to stelvio. Me and a few mates spent a few days doing all the mountain passes, the trophy in the alps has been my best driving experience to date, awesome car that was!

 

[maynard]

Looking good..any plans for the future?

 

[Gman]

I've got so many ideas of bit and pieces i want to do to it i think it's going to always be a bit of a ongoing project now.

At the moment I'm in the process of stripping the front end down and giving it all a good clean and replacing a few bits, also gives me a good chance to sort my headlights out as they've got really bad over the last year or so.
I've also got a odyssey battery i'm relocating to the passenger floor area, and the brakes are in need of some new discs/pads.

After a trackday in november/december I'm going to start looking at different suspension options with a more aggressive geometry setup. I think that will be about it for this year though as through the winter months i don't get much chance to work on the car.

 

[Gman]

Few more updates to add.

I've finally got round to sorting my doors out, I've replaced the windows and mirrors with manual ones now which has allowed me to remove more wiring, I've also made some door cards up and relocated the door handle so it's fits flush. Pretty pleased with it and it hasn't cost a penny which is always a bonus!

I've also finished of my battery relocation, I used a power master switch so that i can disconnect the battery every time the cars not in use, hopefully this will avoid any annoying flat battery moments!

I really want to get the bumper back on now, this was removed for brake ducts, also gave me the chance to remove a few more bits and tidy everything up.
The brake ducts will hopefully be finished soon, as you can see i've removed a few bits of bumper around the foglight cut outs, just waiting for some ducts to arrive so i can attach them in place.

Before the cars back on the road I'm going to replace the brakes, they've lasted pretty well actually, I used pagid blue pads with brembo discs, mogul 660 fluid and hel lines, while i've always been a fan of these I have found myself wanting some more braking power at higher speeds so i've gone for a set of PF97's, I'm just hoping I like these pads as they're pretty pricey, just hoping they're not too ON/OFF as i've heard a few people say they can be pretty grabby, i guess only time will tell as brakes are quite a personal thing imo.

Thats all for the time being, next up will be the 'Pure motorsport' rear beam bearing kit as my bushes are pretty dead now, and then to fit all the new pads and discs and check everything else over to see how it's held up over the year of track days and ring use.

 

[Matthew]

Awesome little project mate!

 

[Jimbo_M]

Nice little project mate, im liking where its going.

 

[Gman]

I've made up the brake ducts now, just a case of fitting my bumper, fitting the ducts in place and finding a way to direct the air onto the brakes. This is how they look so far.

I've also had my rear beam bearing kit turn up this week so the next thing to do will be to strip the rear beam give it a good clean and possibly a bit of paint and fir the bearings.

I've ben looking into different front top mount options and i think i've decided on the Pure Motorsport mounts with their strut brace, looks pretty good quality and they seem to get good reviews on here. Need to get christmas over with before i spend anymore more though, and also i'm fed up with hitting my frozen hands every time i try to do something on the car!

 

[chris1984]

I like your plans mate, sounds good. Nice cup you have there!

 

[JamesT87]

fantastic choice of mods so far!

What diameter is your brake ducting? I am wondering whether mine is too small looking at yours!

James

 

[Gman]

Cheers

The brake ducting is 63mm.

 

[Gman]

double post!

 

[Gman]

Just a quick update, not really done a hugh amount but as i want the clio back on the road in february I got a couple more bits done on the car, the first being the Pure-motorsport top mount and strut brace, fitting was very simple and I was pleased with the quality and fit of the combo.

Second job was to replace the rear beam bushes with the Pure-motorspot spherical bearing kit.

Again the quality and fit were very good, as i had to take the rear beam off in my garage i wasn't looking forward to putting it back on as i was very restricted to the amount of room i had but it went on perfectly with no alignment problems that i quite expected to come across.

Just got to get some discs and pads for the rear and bleed the brakes up and i can get it out the garage and give it a long over due clean.

Really looking forward to a year of track days and ring trips now:race: