Graham's summer 172 cup track car

[MJClio]

@GrahamS Any time pal! Just drop me a message on here, always happy to help!

 

[cpaterson76]

@MJClio Thanks matey. There's light at the end of the tunnel! Will do, hopefully it all goes swimmingly though.

@cpaterson76 I love the spreadsheet; keeps reminding me that I have to only do free mods for a while! Glad you like the green, found some hilarious neon paint for the cage so can't wait. Nearly did glow in the dark but had to rein myself in! Grey and black looks good with red; that is a tough one though definitely.

I know, I have some subtle grey / silver decals just now, well maybe the roofs not so subtle but its seems to be the best contrast :smile:

 

[GrahamS]

Today I had another pathetically unproductive day. Did two clio things today :smiley:
Picked up the wheels from the garage. Ohh man they look cool!
Then the AP Coilovers came half way through the day. I'll let the pics do the talking but I have 2 problems with the APs. I need a bolt and huge washer to hold the rear spring platform down. Where can I get these for cheapy cheap? Secondly, I have no idea what secures the top of the rear shock to the car. Pic below shows how it sits, of course it's missing something!

It was a lovely day outside so I got cracking

Old vs new

Front done, just the rear to go.

This is the top mount for the rear and that's how it sits, there is no fixing.

Rear view

Final product. I think it's low enough, although may go a touch lower if needed. Looks good to me! Much better than before :smiley:

 

[imprezaworks]

Looking good

 

[FLOBALOB]

Wheels look good , much better than the cheapo junk I had on it.

 

[imprezaworks]

Not that it matters but the previous wheels lowered would look good, imo.

 

[GrahamS]

Wheels look good , much better than the cheapo junk I had on it.

They only set me back £80 as well so I am rather please with them. Had a hilarious moment this morning when I pulled out out of the garage. Because the top of the rear dampers isn't bolted in the car bounced like a kangaroo for about 30 seconds before I stopped it.

Not that it matters but the previous wheels lowered would look good, imo.

They're gone now!!

Got some goodies today.

• Link pipe for a long time in the future

Items to finish off the door cards;

• TRS pull straps
• Porsche rosettes as in the guide by @M.C..
• Tree trim clips to hold the card in place

Spoke to KW earlier about the suspension. They were really helpful but want £30 for the two washers to hold the rear suspension adjusters in place and are getting back to me about the top mounts for the shocks. PITA is all that springs to mind.

 

[GrahamS]

Not much to update on the car at the moment as I'm a bit short on time but there are a couple of bits.

I'm having a bit of trouble sourcing the top mounts for the rear shocks. I've spoken to KW who have been really helpful but they can't supply the top mount on it's own so are having a look through their parts bin in the UK and Germany for me!! Think I've found some superpro bushes which should do the job if KW can't source any or I might try and adapt the original rear shock top mounts to suit.

Got a yanoo 1.0 from @Tim. which is a piece of kit I really like. Have one on my DCI and had the 3.0 on my ph1. All to tide over until a PMS inevitable comes along.

The lovely people at work got me a voucher as a leaving present so I treated myself to a Securon 629 4 point harness which made me a very happy boy.

Picked up a Skoda splitter. Such a brilliant £14 to spend.

Last but not least the ebay half cage turned up so I need to go about fitting that soon. Was very excited when it turned up and can't wait to get it painted and in the car! Will have to order the parts needed to mount the straps to the harness bar. If anyone knows how I can get some hammerite type kawasaki green paint that would be splendid.

This weekend I'm hoping to get a few bits done on the car so more piccies to come then! The spend is nearing 2k which is the target to be track ready but I think it's okay because there are only a few small parts to buy now before hitting the circuit.
Thanks for reading

 

[AlexW]

Such progress!

 

[Timmsy]

Coming along nicely mate, wheels and lowering have made such a difference!

 

[Martin.]

Good progress mate, I can't really work out what's going on with that rear shock top..

 

[williamsclio1]

Looking good, is the 182 manifold a straight swap? and what is gained from it? BHP increase?

 

[imprezaworks]

No and minimal

 

[Iain C]

Your not messing about! Coming on well tho.

 

[GrahamS]

Such progress!

I'm going to be sad when I run out of parts to fit.

Coming along nicely mate, wheels and lowering have made such a difference!

Yeah they did make a big difference. Just need to get the rear pip changed and it should be looking good.

Good progress mate, I can't really work out what's going on with that rear shock top..

Here's a little drawing for you! Everything in pink I've got and everything above is missing. I have now sorted the problem by drilling out the renault top mounts to 10mm. The standard shock has a 9mm ID top mount and the APs have a 10mm for some stupid reason. Just need a sleeve to go through the mount now.

Looking good, is the 182 manifold a straight swap? and what is gained from it? BHP increase?

The manifold on it's own isn't, you need the link pipe (as above). Takes a while to do as you need to drop the subframe. Can't say I have ever experienced a before and after but my old ph1 seemed to be good with it on

No and minimal

You know more than me on that one!

Your not messing about! Coming on well tho.

Cheers Iain, probably spending too much time on it but with such nice weather it'd be rude not to :spanner:

 

[Timmsy]

oh yeah and get that exhaust chopped down

 

[Martin.]

I've got the old standard top mounts lying around somewhere, do they have a sleeve in you could make use of? I don't remember off hand.

LOVE the drawing!! lol

 

[GrahamS]

oh yeah and get that exhaust chopped down :wink:

a sixteen year old walk past and today and said he thought the exhaust was really cool....maybe I should keep it! He did however say he wanted his first car to be a fiesta so I'm not so sure.

I've got the old standard top mounts lying around somewhere, do they have a sleeve in you could make use of? I don't remember off hand.

LOVE the drawing!! lol

Thanks for the offer matey. I've butchered my old ones now to fit! Finally!

Couple of little updates on the car today.
During the week I had a bit of time to finish off the door cards. Made a bit of a boo boo with the drivers door card as you can see by the large square hole 😊 It turned out the wiring for the window switches wouldn't reach that far...bugger. For anyone wondering I took the original door handles and cut off the part which the switches clip into and bonded it on the back of the door card. There is some foam tape behind the card to stop it rattling hopefully. They're held in with 3 tree clips and four screws on the bottom as I didn't like the idea of velcro in the event of binning it. At the moment I've run out of foam tape so have only fitted one side.

Last night to stop myself spending the evening on ebay buying parts I chucked the fabia splitter on the bumper, took all of five minutes :smile: Took the fogs out, threw away the acoustic valve and bent the horns for maximus air flow to brakes.

Trying to save money for future mods I decided not to get a Bimarco Futuara and today got a Sparco Sprint V from @Bod 182. Perfect fit for my rather weedy shoulders. Also got a battery relocation kit so need to fit that up with the kill switches although this is a job for another day. Radio blank on order to facilitate this.

Lastly I painted the roll cage. Originally I wanted this to be Kawasaki green but this was a product which didn't exist so, to save money and searching effort I used a pot of black hammerite I had in the garage from my wide track conversion last year. Three coats later, it's full of leaves, dust and atmospheric rubbish but at least it's got character :wink:

 

[AlexW]

I love your approach to cars.

 

[GrahamS]

I love your approach to cars.

What does that mean! Cables ties and bodges

 

[GrahamS]

Green

I went a bit nuts with the polisher and went through the paint, woops. The story goes "I went so fast the paint started coming off"

This bit fell on the ground and chipped.

All in all I think it looks silly and because of that I love it. New name, Shrek.

 

[GrahamS]

Got the foam tape to finish fitting the passengers door card which hopefully I'll get fitted tomorrow morning.

Fitted the cage today when I got home and it only took an hour which was good Used some washers on the top and some 50mm OD washers on the bottom to try and spread the load a bit more but I'm sure it makes no difference.

This week has been budy so only a couple of bits turned up. An MSA sticker set which has all the stickers for the cut off switch, tow straps and any switch gear I put in the car. The novice yellow cross turned up too which I'm not sure if I need but would rather have if I'm doing a track day. Apparently with a cage I might not be able to do the novice days. Some ali pipe to cut down and create sleeves for the rear top mounts. Last but not least the stereo blank so I can fit the cut off switch.

EPAS is going to happen on the car shortly but I want to try and get all the on going jobs finished before I do this.

This is my current list of things to do before I do EPAS

• Remove excess wiring and re-wrap
• Change brake pads
• Change oil
• Fit OMP subframes (need to be purchased)
• Fit harnesses
• Finish door cars
• Strip sound deadening from behind dash
• Remove tar under scuttle panel
• Relocate battery and ECU
• Fit toe straps
• Fit passenger's and driver's foot plate

Piccies tomorrow

 

[GrahamS]

As promised, piccies.

Finished the door card today. This one is much better than the first one and fits a lot better. Just need a little grommet to go in the window winder hole. The ones I've got are all slightly too big or too small.

Very happy with the cage being fitted now I can see it in the light. Not bad considering there wasn't a great deal of measuring done. It is a few finger widths away from the sides :wink: It looks like the distance between the seat and cage it going to be enough for me to wrap this harness around the bar.

I then got the Renault Sport badges off the rear, went over it quickly with some compound to remove any remaining marks and popped on the novice sticker.

Some piccies of the tow stickers.

Last job of the day was mocking up the cut off switch to go in the radio blank.

I'm trying not to write too much in this thread to make it really easy for people to look through but let me know if you'd all like a little more explanation on what I'm doing as I'm totally happy to do a little more write up.

The current problem floating around my mind is whether I can get a 172 cat welded with flanges to make it the same size at my link pipe. If anyone can help with that I'd very much appreciate it.

G

 

[GrahamS]

Today I made use of the sun and started to strip out the dash. I've decided to keep the heater box in the car as I think some functionality of a car will be useful one day!
Whilst doing this job I noticed a few difference between the cup and the normal clios which I hadn't heard of before. The recirc flap doesn't exist and that part is blocked off and the heater box is a totally different design which is far lighter than a standard set up.

I wanted to remove all the wiring for the alarm so I could put it in my DCI so this was one of the first jobs although I don't even know if the alarm works so I may be wasting my time but I will check all the diagrams before installing it.

Found some tar in the skuttle panel when removing the siren so too the heat gun to that and was happy at how easily it came off.

Best surprise of the day was finding that the dash loom is wired up for EPAS which I found hilarious as I've never heard of that before. Does make me wonder if the dash loom has been changed at some point though. Unfortunately the engine loom isn't but I still have the engine loom from my 182 so will take a power cable from the r107 on that to make for an OEM finish.

Did a couple of other bits like remove the rear washer pipe, change the wiper motor and some extra weight saving where possible. Pushed it back into the garage and more will resume shortly!

Quick question for everyone. When mounting the battery in the boot do I need to run the earth back to the front of the car or can I earth it on a bolt in the boot and then bolt the old battery earth to the body somewhere.

 

[Timmsy]

Coming along nicely mate (even nicer with the exhaust cut down )

Just earth it in the boot. just as good as anywhere else so long as its bare metal i guess.

 

[GrahamS]

Coming along nicely mate (even nicer with the exhaust cut down :wink: )

Just earth it in the boot. just as good as anywhere else so long as its bare metal i guess.

Just you wait....I have plans for the exhaust which hopefully will come to fruition this weekend.
I thought the same with the earth. An earth is an earth right :S

 

[Timmsy]

Yep an earth is an earth... just think most people put an earth from an amp in the boot, well i did on my 205 so cant be too different.

If anything you could probably earth it on one of your cage mounts

 

[GrahamS]

I ended up not getting the exhaust as I was out bid unfortunately according to the sniper. I'll sort that out another day. Few bits slowly being done to the car at the moment though.
Started to strip out the dash loom so I can relocate the airbag ECU to where the radio used to sit. Managed to take a pathetic 600g out of the loom but drastically reduced the wires going in and out of the airbag ECU. The radio blank is going to have the on/off switch and adjuster for the EPAS, diagnostic socket, 12v socket and the cut off switch (if it all fits!). The EPAS wiring is going to be pretty much factory in terms of the power cable and will run through the bulkhead r107 connector block and be powered from an existing unused 12v supply in the fuse box. I will run a light into the clocks to utilise the standard EPAS power LED as I believe this to be possible from looking at the wiring diagrams. When the EPAS box has been delivered I'll hard wire it into the loom so it's almost a factory finish. Managed to save £1.70 by ordering the control box in euros instead of GBP. Photos of that will follow in time. Connection box to relocate the battery to the boot has been ordered along with the 3 bar sliders to wrap the harnesses around the bar.

For the seats I'm waiting for prices of the @markfishy subframes to come out before committing.

Budget is slightly over the £2k mark now by about £100 so I'm watching every penny and wont be buying anything that's not needed to get out on track. Think it needs about another £200 chucked at it before everything is done, if it's more than that I'll be disappointed.

More interesting pictures shortly!!!

 

[AlexW]

Very good sir.

Bit mad that the EPAS wiring is there, I doubt the loom has been changed at any time, I'd guess the cup loom is the same as a base model non sport so they just used the same loom, I think I can see the third plug for the column plug too? I'll have to check the Cup loom I have (If I still have it lol)

I don't think you can make the light work, I thought about it on my Flamer but I'm unsure if it'd work.

Good job on the Airbag wiring etc, You've probably done what I want to do on @Martin.'s for the most part.

Edit; Battery earth in the boot is fine, just make sure its a good clean connection. Make sure its fused too.

 

[withoutabix]

Looking good Graeme

Only thing from reading up on the cages is your better off having the bolts the other way round so the nuts are inside the car, if you ever need to remove those bolts in could prove difficult after they've been exposed to the elements etc

 

[GrahamS]

Very good sir.

Bit mad that the EPAS wiring is there, I doubt the loom has been changed at any time, I'd guess the cup loom is the same as a base model non sport so they just used the same loom, I think I can see the third plug for the column plug too? I'll have to check the Cup loom I have (If I still have it lol)

I don't think you can make the light work, I thought about it on my Flamer but I'm unsure if it'd work.

Good job on the Airbag wiring etc, You've probably done what I want to do on @Martin.'s for the most part.

Edit; Battery earth in the boot is fine, just make sure its a good clean connection. Make sure its fused too.

Yeah I was really surprised too. I'm going to try my best to make the light work as I traced one of the wires back to the clocks during the stripping. I think it must just chuck a few volts into the clock when the ignition it on but the relay hasn't clicked.

I left the power cable engine side r107 wire for EPAS at Martins incase you wanted to use it and utilise one of the unused fuse box 12v big fuse connections.

Would you fuse the 12v or the earth and is it okay to run the master cut off switches through the 12v battery cable (don't want to run earth through the car if I can avoid it)

Looking good Graeme

Only thing from reading up on the cages is your better off having the bolts the other way round so the nuts are inside the car, if you ever need to remove those bolts in could prove difficult after they've been exposed to the elements etc

Cheers buddy. Yes!! I thought the same so will swap them around

 

[AlexW]

Yeah I was really surprised too. I'm going to try my best to make the light work as I traced one of the wires back to the clocks during the stripping. I think it must just chuck a few volts into the clock when the ignition it on but the relay hasn't clicked.

I left the power cable engine side r107 wire for EPAS at Martins incase you wanted to use it and utilise one of the unused fuse box 12v big fuse connections.

Would you fuse the 12v or the earth and is it okay to run the master cut off switches through the 12v battery cable (don't want to run earth through the car if I can avoid it)

Not sure if the light would come on with an error, since I'm not sure how the EPAS controller works exactly, I thought about hooking up the diagnostics too it so I could see.

I haven't actually sorted the live at all for it lol, I really should :/ I haven't had chance to find a plug for the EPAS.

Fuse the 12v, and yeah you're fine running it through a kill switch, make sure you setup something that kills the engine with the kill switch, FIA ones have this option, ideal if its knocked while running, or should you crash etc obviously. I cut a fuse in the engine bay fusebox for it, that was on a Ph1, can't remember off the top of my head if Ph2 is the same.

 

[GrahamS]

Well I haven't updated this in a while so here goes after a few jobs on the car are finally finished.

Last weekend I rewrapped the loom for the dash which turned out rather well after it being my first full loom wrap. Shame I didn't do a job like this on my dci.

I then fitted the epas column and ecu which I picked up for the bargain price of £42. Popped that in rather easily with some precarious action to undo the pinch bolt.

Decided to finish off the interior side of the set up which meant putting in the switch panel. I've got an on and off for the EPAS so I can leave it off when turning on the car to move it in and out of the garage. The epas adjuster has been moved to the centre of the car. There will be a 12v socket (when it arrives). The OBD2 is in the centre so now there's not gubbins hanging from the bottom of the dash. Finally the kill switch is temporarly fitted but doesn't have any cables going to it yet. All of this is integrated into the loom so it looks factory which I'm very pleased with :smile: EPAS is also wired into the CAN network and the dash light for diagnostics.

Fitted the EPAS wiring into the bulkhead connector block and ran the powercable into the fuse box. I re-wrapped all the wires again to give a totally factory look. Was able to utilise of the unused power connections in the fuse box as you can see. The orange connector is salvaged from my old 182 loom.

Removed another six pieces of tar so now the car is totally tar free. That bit on the c-pillar was a total pain. All the plastic trim fitting clips were also taken out.

Couple of other jobs have now been completed.
Wrapped the rear loom back up after removing all the excess wiring.
Replaced the washer bottle pump as the old one gave up. @FLOBALOB .....easiest bit I've done so far:wink:
Sorted out the 30mm sleeve for the top mounts so now they are 100% sorted.

Also picked up a 182 manifold from Alex which doesn't have a dent, further fueling the "is the dent from factory" debate.

The car is getting closer and closer to being ready for the track. Bits left to do are

• Fit dci rack and removed all PAS gear
• Fit 182 manifold, decat and fabricate sleeve for exhaust
• Set up geo
• Fit tow straps
• Change oil
• Relocate battery and ecu and wire in cut off switches

As always, comments welcome :smile: Would be good to see some people at Brands when I finally do get there.

 

[Iain C]

I'll fit the tow straps if ya like!
going well Tho mate.

 

[AlexW]

I didnt notice that mani didnt have a dent, the one I have here still has got a dent, I dont believe its caused by the ARB or subframe, its got to be factory, its too perfect and Ive seen it on loads, moreso later 182s.

Good progress though sir, need to see this car at some point!

 

[GrahamS]

I'll fit the tow straps if ya like!
going well Tho mate.

Yes Iain.....let me buy them first We still need to do your car. When my exams are out the way in three or so weeks we'll get it all sorted if you haven't by then

I didnt notice that mani didnt have a dent, the one I have here still has got a dent, I dont believe its caused by the ARB or subframe, its got to be factory, its too perfect and Ive seen it on loads, moreso later 182s.

Good progress though sir, need to see this car at some point!

Neither did I until I looked for it. Extra 30bhp without the dent I heard. The dent on other is definitely factory though as they're all exactly the same size and there's never any signs of rubbing of damage to anything. Can't wait to get it fitted though, bring on the student loan for the DCI rack and then it's all going to take shape quickly. BTW mate, if you haven't already, don't wire in the dash light on EPAS, when you turn the assistance down too low the light comes. Into the CAN network is perfect though.

You'll see it soon no doubt. Just need the money to finish it first :S

 

[barnesautos]

Just checked mine and it has the famous dent lol

 

[GrahamS]

It's been a while but because of uni exams blah blah I hadn't done anything to the car for a couple of months....until yesterday.
Order of the day was to remove the PAS, exhaust and swap over the 182 manifold. It was all really easy to do although the grime/mud on the car was absolutely vile so @Martin. convinced me to clean it although I only did it with the pressure washer and no scrubbing. Weight saving.

The biggest problem I came across on the day was the PAS pipeshaving welded themselves to the banjo bolts so I had to snap them off. Under the car that wasn't fun at all. I didn't have any of the blanks to loop the rack but they'll be with me soon along with the tools to create the loop pipe :smiley:

I've got a ktec stealth supersport on the way which @Timmsy will be pleased to know so I got the old exhaust off. Wolfrace backbox FTW! Had to order a cat fitting kit as the old one was busted. The old one had a rather vile sleeve on it.

Finally took a proper look at the driveshaft which had a totally dead tripod. Thanfully this didn't happen on the wet side of the box.

The rest of the pics can do the talking now :smile: Not long until I can use it properly.

Best place for it

New and old :smiley:

I did manage to get the car back together last night, not helped by a thunder storm in the middle but had no piccies because it was rather late. Not sure the neighbours were too happy with me running the car with only a manifold. Rather loud to say the least.

 

[Timmsy]

So glad you've got rid of that horrible exhaust

What's the k-tech stealth like with a decat no silencer mid section?

 

[MJClio]

So glad you've got rid of that horrible exhaust :wink:

What's the k-tech stealth like with a decat no silencer mid section?

I'd like to know the same, got the cat back on at the moment, and the decat waiting to go on, seen youtube videos of a raspy disgusting mess, hoping thats not the case lol