Donny_Dog
ClioSport Club Member
Jim's rejects
I think i'm emotionally attached to a car. Its been a part of my life since 2004 and I'm now 28 years old. My wife thinks I'm crazy and my old man now hates me, but my best friend thinks I'm ok....
Where to start...The beginning I guess...
Len_Beach is my best mate and he used to feature on here an awful lot. He decided to get a 172 circa 2004 after rolling around in Cavaliers. A bit of a search produced 'The bullet' as he called it, owned by a woman in Wakefield - standard apart from a CAT back exhaust.
At first, it was his pride and joy. Treated with the upmost respect, cleaned and clayed regularly with only super-unleaded for hydration and subtle modifications to produce: "The bullet" - LOL
This was taken in 2006 (I think). The car is a 2001 reg and was a few years old when he got it, but even at 5 years old, it was in great shape.
And it remained pretty much in that state, with the later addition of a V6 spoiler (and springs were changed to eibachs) until May 2009....
Len outgrew the clio and its up keep wasn't as good as it was used to. It was also drinking water and once Len purchased an M3 the clio was left to sit on his dads drive
His brother had a quick look at her, but it was evident something serious was wrong and in June 2009, it was parked up for 12 months with an undiagnosed fault and Len moved on.
I went to have a look at it in June 2010....
The Turnin's had been refurbed just before it was laid to rest (you can also see the new rear spoiler). To say it wasn't in great shape, was a bit of an understatement. There were pieces all over the place.
Len's brother had taken a few bits off to try and see if there were any obvious leaks but he couldn't find much and left it.
We had it recovered to my house and my old man agreed to replace the headgasket and getting running again...
So he stripped it down after work....
and thats when we got a bit upset.
You should be able to see the block - and the crack running along it...
If it was going to be back on the road, then it would need a new engine pretty much. I was all for giving it back, but my old man said that fitting a new engine would be 'pretty straight-forward'. He was not so optimistic a week or so later...
Managed to find this PH1 engine for £275. Went to pick it from Huddersfield and the project was on.
Saturday consisted of removing the old engine and fitting a new cambelt on the new one. We don't have a pit or anything either, so its all jacks and axle stands!
My old man's idea was to drop the engine onto the subframe and then drop the subframe out, with the engine sat on it. We could then roll the body back using two jacks, over the top. Great success. We then put the new engine on the subframe and lifted the body back over and jacked the subframe back up. That was on the Sunday.
A few cut hands and a few swear words later and it was complete:
I managed to hash the decent bits from both engines to form "The Bullet #2" LOL.
Turned the key and waited for the fuel to get round and it fired up - not even a single light on the dash!
So its now got a PH1 engine - Polished and ported inlets, remapped, Ph1 airbox and solid top mounts.
I had to give the turini's back and I put the standard wheels back on with new rubber ready for the MOT.
I was all optimistic until it failed
Drove it home via ASK (spares in Leeds): New front disks, pads, rear shockers, number plate, re-wired the horn and she sailed through.
I was so confident, the next day me and the woman took it to Filey to meet up with my sister who was camping (got pi$$ed to celebrate and kipped over).
Needed a new radiator a few weeks later though but got one from clio spares and we were back up and running.
That was a few months ago now.
Part 2 is how she is at the moment, but will do that on Sunday!
Cobra Daytona's + Anthracite Turini's + turned the ABS off (not really, it just doesn't work) no pictures yet until its cleaned at the weekend.
Crazy, the things we do in life. Never has so much scrap metal meant so much - but I have no idea why. I should really hate it, but both Len and me are sad as fook.
Where to start...The beginning I guess...
Len_Beach is my best mate and he used to feature on here an awful lot. He decided to get a 172 circa 2004 after rolling around in Cavaliers. A bit of a search produced 'The bullet' as he called it, owned by a woman in Wakefield - standard apart from a CAT back exhaust.
At first, it was his pride and joy. Treated with the upmost respect, cleaned and clayed regularly with only super-unleaded for hydration and subtle modifications to produce: "The bullet" - LOL
This was taken in 2006 (I think). The car is a 2001 reg and was a few years old when he got it, but even at 5 years old, it was in great shape.
And it remained pretty much in that state, with the later addition of a V6 spoiler (and springs were changed to eibachs) until May 2009....
Len outgrew the clio and its up keep wasn't as good as it was used to. It was also drinking water and once Len purchased an M3 the clio was left to sit on his dads drive
His brother had a quick look at her, but it was evident something serious was wrong and in June 2009, it was parked up for 12 months
with an undiagnosed fault and Len moved on.I went to have a look at it in June 2010....
The Turnin's had been refurbed just before it was laid to rest (you can also see the new rear spoiler). To say it wasn't in great shape, was a bit of an understatement. There were pieces all over the place.
Len's brother had taken a few bits off to try and see if there were any obvious leaks but he couldn't find much and left it.
We had it recovered to my house and my old man agreed to replace the headgasket and getting running again...
So he stripped it down after work....
and thats when we got a bit upset.
You should be able to see the block - and the crack running along it...
If it was going to be back on the road, then it would need a new engine pretty much. I was all for giving it back, but my old man said that fitting a new engine would be 'pretty straight-forward'. He was not so optimistic a week or so later...
Managed to find this PH1 engine for £275. Went to pick it from Huddersfield and the project was on.
Saturday consisted of removing the old engine and fitting a new cambelt on the new one. We don't have a pit or anything either, so its all jacks and axle stands!
My old man's idea was to drop the engine onto the subframe and then drop the subframe out, with the engine sat on it. We could then roll the body back using two jacks, over the top. Great success. We then put the new engine on the subframe and lifted the body back over and jacked the subframe back up. That was on the Sunday.
A few cut hands and a few swear words later and it was complete:
I managed to hash the decent bits from both engines to form "The Bullet #2" LOL.
Turned the key and waited for the fuel to get round and it fired up - not even a single light on the dash!
So its now got a PH1 engine - Polished and ported inlets, remapped, Ph1 airbox and solid top mounts.
I had to give the turini's back and I put the standard wheels back on with new rubber ready for the MOT.
I was all optimistic until it failed
Drove it home via ASK (spares in Leeds): New front disks, pads, rear shockers, number plate, re-wired the horn and she sailed through.
I was so confident, the next day me and the woman took it to Filey to meet up with my sister who was camping (got pi$$ed to celebrate and kipped over).
Needed a new radiator a few weeks later though
but got one from clio spares and we were back up and running.That was a few months ago now.
Part 2 is how she is at the moment, but will do that on Sunday!
Cobra Daytona's + Anthracite Turini's + turned the ABS off (not really, it just doesn't work
) no pictures yet until its cleaned at the weekend.Crazy, the things we do in life. Never has so much scrap metal meant so much - but I have no idea why. I should really hate it, but both Len and me are sad as fook.
