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iceberg 172 rebuild/track project



hi everyone thought id start a proper build thread on my clio this time around.
its all a bit back to front as i actually bought this one before my last project clio but i will explain that now.
all the way back in 2014 my other halfs 206 gti replica was suffering from a noisy gearbox and we were debating getting rid of it. among the cars we were thining of was a clio 172/182 as she had had a few mk1 clios previously and really like them. we were popping up to exeter to do some shopping and i just had a look to see if any garages had any on the forecourt she could test drive. as it happens a garage in exeter had a silver 02 plate 172 with just 52k come into stock with no photos. we went to look at the car which had only arrived the day before and hadnt even been prepped despite this the car was stupidly clean and apart from red painted calipers completely standard. we took it for a spin with me taking the wheel first, all i can say is wow it drove like a brand new car we swapped over and my other half had a go and as soon as she put her foot down she fell in love. we were so impressed with the condition and she really liked it that we went straight back to the garage and paid the £1995 asking price. we left the car there for the rest of the day while they put a fresh mot and 2 new tyres on and picked it up later on.

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we were over the moon with the car and a few months later decided to take it with us on a long journey to the btcc at brands hatch and holiday to sussex. i think i drove it more than she actually did those few days and it was so much fun i wanted one too!
after a few months of looking at various lemons described as good condition not only did i really just how good the silver one was but also i was really going to struggle to find one that clean. a flame red 2004 172 came up in plymouth a short drive from me so i went to have a look. the owner was at work but told me where the car was parked so i could go have a look im not going to lie i got there and was met with a clearly tatty and unloved car but i fell in love with the colour, it had only done 57k and just wanted to have one now. i met with the owner and drove the car it was clear it needed quite a bit of work and was no way it was worth the asking price after quite a bit of serious haggling including walking off and giving up i managed to get it for a price i was happy with.

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i took the car to my work for a look over and gave it a full detail including taking the whole interior out to clean which was minging. there wasnt too much wrong just simple stuff so after doing the few little bits and bobs a good service and a few little mods i ran the car as my daily driver 300 miles a week for just over 18 months.

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after that i decided i wanted to have a go on track (bad idea haha) although i was pretty slow i loved it unfortunately on my last lap of the session at castle combe i managed to destroy the already heavy and tired clutch so the poor flamer went home on a recovery truck (the first and only time it let me down 41/2 years and 30k of ownership).
i then decided i really wanted to get in trackdays and the bug had bitten son i bought a little 107 as a daily and over the next few years the clio became more and more track focused and i really did love the car spending every penny i had making it as best as i could. i did plenty of track days and had many comments on how quick it was for a little clio and how clean the car was.

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unfortunately due to health issues and a crappy series of personal issues i had to part way with the flamer in may 2019 which broke my heart after all the time money and work i had put in but thats life.
life sorted itself out a bit and i swapped my daily 107 for something a bit nicer a honda crz hybrid and i actually started working for honda at pretty much the same time.
throughout the end of the year i missed driving properly so tarted the crz up with some type r brakes, bc coilovers,spoon front arb and a few power upgrades. this made the car a lot more fun to drive and it really is so lovely to own but i still missed that fun factor of the clio.
after constantly looking back at the flamer i was really started to get quite down about the fact it had gone. we are now at march 2020 now remember that silver 172 from the very beginning nearly 6 years ago well my other half still owns it and its had a few nice upgrades along the way donw nearly 50k of trouble free motoring other than a couple of dodgy injectors. we had an issue with a throttle pedal playing up and then one day it decided it wouldnt start the starter motor had given up. my other half had been saying although she loved the car she wanted something cheaper to run and also despite being extremely particular where she parked the bumpers had taken a couple of knocks by careless parkers at her work. she was getting a bit disheartened and she said the breakdown was the final straw she just want a cheap little simple car she didnt need to worry about leaving anywhere in car parks etc.
now i know this car inside out the shell is ridiculously clean absolutely no rust and it already had some nice mods so what did i do? i agreed i give her £1500 towards a new car if i could take the clio on. she was a bit miffed that i was going to waste a tonne more money on another car but she knew it would keep me happy and she couldnt complain as that was only £500 less than she paid for it nearly 6 years ago.
so here we go again i was the owner of another 172 again and an extremely happy guy
 
First of all a few of my favourite pictures from flamer ownership the car is now owned by josh on here and being modified further which is cool

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and now the iceberg
since original ownership we have fitted the following mods
trophy recaros
snappy wheel
flocked dash top
carbon dash trims
alloy gearknob
alloy foot rest
few odd flocked bits of trim in anthracite
decent stereo
genuine mats
carbon washer blanks
pressed plates
fabia splitter
anthracite badges and door bullets
mist washer jets and aero wipers
smoked side repeaters
wind deflectors
cup spoiler
mk4 rs rear badge
16x7 et35 fox ms006 wheels with pzero tyres
m1144 pads
eibach sportlines and cup dampers
powerflex engine mount insert and dogbone
milltek cat back with powerflex mounts
pipercross cone filter with red silicone elbow
seperate breather filter
battery cover
carbon fuse cover
black alloy strut covers
grey inlets and cover with glitter laquer
think thats it really
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although the car is very clean there is various areas mechanically im not happy with especially if im going to kick its head in on track so im going to go for a kinda restoration/refresh/track prep kinda thing.
first of all im taking the engine and box right out to clean up all the bay parts planned for this bit are:
new valeo clutch
cambelt dephaser etc (only did it 2.5 years ago but may aswell do it whilst its all apart)
various new gaskets
new starter
aircon delete kit
renfort plate as it has the crappy circlip type box
new waterpump
silicone hoses and bigger radiator
new thermostat coolant temp sensor etc
pms shifter
custom air intake same as my red one with headlamp cold air feed
port the inlets
pms exhaust
paint and clean everything nicely
remove carbon canister

things id like advice on:
do i go epas or not? dont want to lose the feel of the steering which iv heard it can do?
how easy is it to fit the renfort kit?
should i wait and see if i can afford a diff or will it make it not as nice on the road?

going to be keeping the carpets etc and keep this more road trip useable etc just maybe a smaller wheel and half cage
will then refresh all the bushes with powerflex ones
it had all new brakes and most steering parts last year so thats a bonus
paintwork is silly clean just want to get the bumpers painted as they have a few small marks and will be throughly rustproofing everything to make sure it stays this clean

so far:
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  Clio 172
Looking good Matt, will be following this!

Regarding PAS/EPAS, from what I have heard yiu shouldn't loose too much feel with the EPAS. Just going manual rack could be an option, slow speed stuff may be an issue though lol.

Also, diff wise if yiu want fit and forget option then Quaiffe to go for. Downside is that if you break a drive shafts or c**k a wheel, the power will be sent to the wheel with least resistance I.e. The broken side or lifted wheel so will loose drive.
Other option is gripper. These can be set up to be less or more aggressive locking on the road and so less noisy. Benefit is break a drive shafts or c**k a wheel, it will still send power to the other wheel. Break a drive shafts on track and can still drive it back to pits instead of recovery. Downside they have to be serviced so depending on how aggressive set up and how often its used.

I have a New renault OEM auxiliary belt if its any use to yiu?
 
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Looking good Matt, will be following this!

Regarding PAS/EPAS, from what I have heard yiu shouldn't loose too much feel with the EPAS. Just going manual rack could be an option, slow speed stuff may be an issue though lol.

Also, diff wise if yiu want fit and forget option then Quaiffe to go for. Downside is that if you break a drive shafts or c**k a wheel, the power will be sent to the wheel with least resistance I.e. The broken side or lifted wheel so will loose drive.
Other option is gripper. These can be set up to be less or more aggressive locking on the road and so less noisy. Benefit is break a drive shafts or c**k a wheel, it will still send power to the other wheel. Break a drive shafts on track and can still drive it back to pits instead of recovery. Downside they have to be serviced so depending on how aggressive set up and how often its used.

I have a New renault OEM auxiliary belt if its any use to yiu?

cheers mate!

yeah hoping to go that route with epas mainly just to tidy up the engine bay and make it look nice haha

oh thanks thats really useful info about the diffs then!! main issue i had with the red one was on the s bends at castle combe it would c**k the inside wheel and send the power to that so by the sound of it the quaife wouldnt really be much benefit in the situation maybe? just unsure about a fancy one thats gonna be too aggressive on the road and need servicing as i want to use it a lot more on the road than i did the red one and i kinda wanna build it all up and then have a good few years of motoring without any hassle hopefully.

ah thanks mate but thats about the only thing i dont need lol ripped all the standard stuff off and going pms aircon delete kit and possibly pas delete too. thanks anyway though and if theres any other stuff give me a shout!
 


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