Never knew a thing about cars after years of driving until I got my valver. Found Id bought a slightly dodgy motor where things kept going wrong. Started minor modifications, uprating parts whenever they needed replacing. Gradually started to meet like-minded people with old Clios who after a lot of meets around Essex, became the core of what we now know as Cliosport. We all knew a bit about certain jobs on our valvers and Willys and so a lot of our meets would be opportunities to share skills, help each other out etc.
I still know nothing really about cars, but gradually I have accumulated Clio-fixing ability. Not being a trained mechanic, I only know what I have been shown or taught myself from the Haynes or following someones advice on here. Thats quite a lot of stuff, but for example, I want to change my heater matrix so I posted about that and now I know what I need to do. that will go into my memory and next time Ill be able to help someone else out if they need to do the same job. It sounds crazy but on a valver I could reroute fuel lines and fit an adjustable regulator, or delve into the wiring behind and under the dash, or fix any electrical trouble,or completely remove the front suspension and change the spring rate with no problem, yet ask me to bleed the brakes and I havent the faintest idea! I can have a wheel off in a minute or so, yet I wouldnt know where to start if I had to drain the coolant.
Its all down to practice. I can now take a suspension strut out and have it on the bench in under 5 minutes at a push.
One of the main ideas when we started Cliosport was that all this practical knowledge that the few core members had, even if it wasnt much, could be put together and shared with everyone else, and hopefully other people would start contributing as well. Im pleased to say it all went according to plan and from some of the answers on this thread lots of people are getting to grips with their Clios!
