Jim's Black Ph2 172 (Just like everyone else's!)

[JimF]

Right then. For a while I owned this:

Loved driving it, ended up at quite a decent spec, 330bhp, coilovers, Spec C interior etc, but it cost me a fortune as a daily. Plus it was too scary having the best part of £10,000 (total I'd put into it) on track. I couldn't push myself. The main thing was running costs though.


I then bought this. 335d, amazing daily.

Not really suited to track work though. And no matter how much I spent on tyres brakes and suspension it would still be automatic, diesel, and open diff'd.

I started fantasising about a track car I wasn't afraid of crashing. Also, if I wasn't spending £100 each time on trackday insurance I could go on almost twice as many trackdays!

Me and a friend had always joked about sharing an MG ZR, but he bought a caravan instead (as you do). I then started considering a Ford Puma 1.7, great cars but not best suited for track work as standard. I kept coming back to Renaultsport Clios, remembering how much my cousin liked his.

My old man was wanting his share of money out of the mini we joint owned, so that got sold and in its place in his garage was room for a track car...

So here it is! My 2003 Renault Clio 172!

It's a hilarious little car. Revs forever, more torque than I was expecting, great handling fun little machine.
I had a lot of Peugeots when I was younger (Pug306 for lyfe yo) including a tuned 306 D Turbo and a GTi6, and it's genuinely nice to get back into something rattly, French and with a big engine!

It's currently got an OMP wheel which will be getting swapped for my Personal Neo Grinta, it's lowered on springs with KYB shocks (firm but predictable ride), polybushed engine mounts; and what's more it hasn't been fitted with an aftermarket exhaust so the subtle rear hasn't been ruined!

Now I don't want people expecting an epic build thread with a full cage, carbon buckets, superchargers and limited slip diffs etc, as when I had the Subaru I was a little self conscious the car was a lot more capable than I was on track. Not saying the Clio isn't, but it's a little more humble. The last thing I want to do is turn up with all the gear and no idea. So this is going to be mainly driving - road trips and trackdays, and modifications to tidy it up and improve performance. But using quality parts. Already making a tough decision about the wheels I want being so damn heavy!

Anyways, here's to 2016 being full of track time!

 

[JimF]

Quiet in here isnt it! :tongueout:


Not much of an update, but tried every product in my garage to try and sort out the yellow headlights. Didn’t seem to be making much progress but compared to the other side it seemed an improvement. Will probably just use wet & dry next time! I’m doing it by hand, tempted to get the same place that polished my Impreza headlights to do it, but that costs money; whereas if I do it myself, it is free!

Think I need more practice applying the scene tape!


Gave it a bit of a wipe down now it’s in the garage (it’s been raining pretty much since I bought it, and when its been dry its been dirty), and the paintwork seems a lot better than I was expecting. With it being at the bottom end of 172 prices I expected the paint to be a foregone conclusion, but it seems alright!


Also managed to get my beautiful Personal wheel fitted (Personal is the modern side of the Nardi brand). The quality is so much better than the OMP one it replaced. That said the price was a lot more!

 

[Stefan.]

Looks nice bud

 

[Typhoon]

Epic write up mate! Good little choice of track car too!

3M do a headlight restoration kit: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/3908...ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80

Will you be coming along to CSF this year?

 

[JimF]

Thanks lads! No idea about CSF yet, will have to read up on it!

 

[182_Ads]

Looks good pal!

 

[JimF]

@182_Ads You're local arent you mate? Are there any meets/specialists round here?

 

[182_Ads]

@JimF local for work pal! Live in Accrington during the week, not that I've seen, where abouts are you? I've seen a couple of 1*2s recently that I haven't seen before!

 

[JimF]

Accrington! Its probably me you've seen mate!

 

[182_Ads]

Haven't seen the white wheels!

 

[JimF]

Had a run out last weekend, performed well with the big boys!

Also aimed to address a few niggles this weekend, had a patch of wheel wobble but after checking runout on the wheels it just seems to be a wheel out of balance.

Had some knocking from the rear, thought it was the top mounts or something but turns out it to be this:

(Video)

So that turned out to be cheaper than expected! After getting the old exhaust mount out and placing it side by side with the new one, I don't get why it wobbled, they were virtually the same....

/Sarcasm off

That's all sorted now!

Also had a few spare minutes so dewipered it. Looks much better, just need to make sure it's watertight!

 

[imprezaworks]

Looks in great condition mate

 

[Daz.]

Good start fella! That black clio badge looks naff though, get it off

 

[JimF]

Cheers! Yeah it's on the list to remove. Will get a little rubber bung for the hole. Going to debadge the otherside too.

 

[brohoward71]

Great write up and car looks decent little base but i just dont get the dewiper thing ?????

 

[JimF]

Weight saving :smile:
No, its simply a looks thing. Really don't like rear wipers. Never use them, plus the car isn't a daily so it doesn't need to be super practical.

 

[rob-blair4]

Very nice Jim!
Where are you in the north west?

 

[JimF]

Thank you! I'm in Accrington buddy.

 

[Bunta]

love the impreza mate, i was looking at an sti or an r32 gtr but like you say, having so much money in a car means its always in the back of your head that if you come off on track its gona be an expensive mistake... thats why im sticking with the 172 for now.
I think the white wheels suit the colour though for sure, looks like its on apex? springs which should be good for track use... all you really need now is good pads/fluid and some camber bolts up front with a proper alignment setup and your good to go, very easy to drive fast these cars ive found

 

[JimF]

Impreza was a great road car but could have done with getting a cheap daily and keeping it for weekends but I was a one car man back then.
Yep its on Apex springs and to be honest they're bloody awful! Looking to swap to coilovers (as I have done on all my cars) but its a minefield searching which ones.

 

[Bunta]

i didnt mind apex when i had them fitted, no good on country lanes though, too bouncy.. bilstein coilovers are rated highly on here and you can get them for under £600 i believe

 

[JimF]

Been researching and the B14s are a bit soft for the road. But good point about the Apex springs being bad on country roads - tracks aren't very bumpy are they!

 

[JimF]

Some treats arrived.

The tow hook isn't fitted as I ordered over eagerly and presumed it would screw into the standard fitting. It didn't. Contemplating re-ordering a different one or making this fit. The fact I already have this is a big factor. Got the side repeaters fitted, as expected, they required some manipulation in order to fit. Really starting to wonder if products are getting more and more poorly made these days or people just have lower standards than me.



Decided to get out and abuse my DSLR with my hamfisted photographic inadequacy:

 

[Bunta]

get one of these mate http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=131089829922&alt=web
straight fit, think hes listed them at wrong price though as im sure they were 15-20 quid originally

 

[JimF]

Already got mine fitted. Just turned a sleeve and threaded it. Fits like a dream now. Regarding the price, he's probably out of stock, I've seen a few sellers do that.

 

[JimF]

Not much of an update but I'm bored on my lunch and thought I'd put something up.



After thinking the grills had faded and tried a few methods to restore their blackness, I realised it was actually painted a graphite grey colour. So, as per my obsession, out came the satin black.

Yes the grills are supposed to come out. No, they didnt want to, and I didnt fancy taking the bumper off.



Finished look (Also got my tow loop fitted)

Also started to think about weight loss. Then realised I've no chance and might as well concentrate on making the car lighter

I wont be going to extremes but if adding lightness is free and will essentially make the car faster then I'm all for it. It's not a daily so I'm not too concerned about comfort etc. It also gives me something to do when I'm bored!



According to most folk, current weight of a Phase 2 172 as standard is 1110kg, so, looking forward to update this:



1110kg - 0kg = 1110kg

 

[dann2707]

Nice one, looking forward to seeing updates on this.

 

[JimF]

@dann2707 Thanks mate, I'm trying not to get too caught up in modifying for the sake of modifying. Although I'm sat here with smoked repeaters and debadging etc). My Impreza STI and BMW 335d both were too precious to thrash. This isnt. It's going in for new handbrake cables and brake fluid this week. Then either cup shocks and springs or a track day. I'm dying to get on track but I'd hate to have these Apex springs spoil the day.

 

[JimF]

I still have this! And its still on Apex springs

As it stands currently, even though its an old pic:

 

[k_Leo]

I still have this! And its still on Apex springs

As it stands currently, even though its an old pic:

View attachment 1664994

Looks so badass!

 

[Donny_Dog]

Thread from the dead! What has happened, since all that time has passed?

 

[JimF]

I bought a house
To be honest, since the last post, I changed job twice, went through COVID (so that's 2 years deleted), bought a house and renovated it and got some cats.
But I've found all my photos of me doing bits so I'll be uploading them in the next few days.

 

[JimF]

Starting off with no context random shots circa 2017:

Oulton Park

 

[JimF]

I went through a spell of using axle stands on the subframe to support it, and then realised I could take the axle stand "seat" out of the body so I didn't need to jack it as high (i.e. higher than my jack went, so had to use two and blocks of wood).

Neatly fits there! But then I wasn't sure about forces, weight distribution on the lip of the jack stand etc...

So did a bodge:

Pretty much pointless, but made me feel better about not having the weight of the car on the head of that bolt, or on one side of the jack stand tube.

 

[JimF]

Still in 2017

Whilst they are a decent looking car in standard form, compared to lower Clio models, a few too many drives out with mates with 350Z, C63AMG, Porsche Cayman etc made me want it to look a little more aggressive, or "played with".
Cue, pointless visual modifications!

Measure twice cut once and all that shite. Getting the school tools out again!
Basically was trying to figure out what size holesaw to attack the bumper with!

Trying to cut out the numberplate screw holes as well! Two birds with one stone...

 

[JimF]

I now had the most ventilated crashbar in all of the North West!

So it needed a lick of paint!

 

[JimF]

The Skoda Fabia splitter seemed like a correct choice, seeing as I'd be smashing it off the drive most of the time.

The paint dried on the crasher (like that's important lol)

 

[JimF]

In the meantime I also binned off the carbon canister, the foglight, the headlight washers (sssh don't tell VOSA) and relocated the horn.
Now I'm not an expert in vehicle horns, but the existing horn was a twin tone one. I moved the bracket, bent it out of the way, and screwed it down tight.
I didn't know that part of how a horn functions, is that it shouldn't be super tight on the bracket...




Fiddled around a bit and managed to get it sounding more sensible





Also along the way I swapped the foglight for brake ducts, but they were the worst fitting pieces of turd I've ever encountered. Despite being sold as Clio specific, they were clearly speaker ports for sub boxes. I went back to the seller stating they didn't fit, who replied with "Have you tried pushing really hard?".
So I made a point of not buying anything else off that knobhead. Despite them still being around in the scene.
I coupled these with the highest technology I could think of - Tumble drier ducting, and round to square adaptor flanges, and managed to get a decent amount of airflow to the wheel well. How effective the flow of air hitting the surface of my tyres is at cooling the brakes is yet to be proven, but after boiling the fluid at Oulton I decided to do something!

I then upgraded to high temp fluid, better pads and braided hoses.

 

[JimF]

Still in 2017, I decided to do a functional mod!

Good old Eibach camber bolts!

Subsequently adjusted to offer all the camber

 

[JimF]

It drove fantastically like this, but did like to snatch the wheel out of your hands over uneven ground/potholes. I did a couple of Sunday B-road blasts with friends with it like this, then my daily got crashed into so the camber had to get set back to more normal settings.