Mag1calTrev0r's Black Ph1 172

[mag1caltrev0r]

Thought I'd post a couple of pics, I realise you've probably seen it all before buy hey!

Manky door inserts. I removed them and gave them a scrub by it needs something more abrasive. I'd either like to paint them (Matt silver or black) or maybe skin them in CF... I'm just worried that I'll struggle to get into the handle.

And of course the usual 'rotting' steering wheel. If I can somehow fit a spacer to bring the wheel forward then I'll get it retrimmed, otherwise I'll get an aftermarket, but which one?

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

I have to say I'm enjoying the car more than I expected. I've not really done the whole 'hot hatch' thing but this car has made me feel 20 again!

On the first day I took it for a good drive around my favourite Bristol/North Somerset route just to get a feel for it and to make sure everything sounded alright and there wasn't anything majorly wrong with it. On the way back my Wife wanted a shot, so we swapped seats and she spent AGES adjusting all the mirrors, seat and steering wheel before heading off.

Quickly up into 3rd and upshifting at 3k rpm like in the diesel BMW. After a few gear changes like this I advised her that it redlines at 7k rpm (ish) and she's missing all the fun that happens after 4k! Of course, she knows best and continued happily changing up at 3k... oh well, maybe she wasn't enjoying it? Nope... she loves the thing! Despite trying to persuade me not to buy it she proclaimed that this is "now my car, you can drive the BMW"... well that wasn't expected.

Anyway, Monday this week I took it to work. 35 miles of mainly motorway 70mph is the un-sweet spot of reverberation from the exhaust so that meant either 60mph or a naughty 80mph. Took a mate for a spin at lunch and he loved the exhaust Decided to take a trip back down the A38 instead of the M5 as I fancied a good 'A' road trip... now that I'm more used to the car I'm really impressed. There is a lot of fun to be had in such a small and cheap package. I have to say I was laughing out loud for most of the way home. Overtakes are more effortless once the revs are up into the powerband.

Today I repeated my A38 journey and loved it. The only fly in the ointment is the petrol gauge seems to have dropped considerably despite my 'reasonable' 32mpg. Strangely the onboard computer says I have 110 miles left despite the fuel gauge being on the last 'dot marker' on the display... which one do I trust? I'll fill up on the way home and work out how many litres of fuel I put in compared to the tank size

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

One small change to the car since buying it, but it's made a big difference:

new wheel and boss. Wheel was second hand from Edewer on here and bought the hub new from Merlin Motorsport. Makes a hell of difference to the feel of the car. Another small improvement was that I fitted a CG Lock which I had lying around, this also makes a big difference.

It's being worked on this weekend by LemonNobby1 our friendly local mechanic, fitting new engine mounts and looking at a problem with the CV Gaitors More money to be spent but all needs doing really to eliminate the rattle from the exhaust manifold.

Final upgrade is the brakes which are also getting done (Brembo HC, Ferodo DS2500, Braided Hoses + DOT 5.1 fluid) + a Powerflex Dogbone

Should be like a new car when it's back

 

[daveh-]

looks good mate!

 

[Martin_172]

i done my interior handles iceberg silver matey they look a similar colour but with a nice metalic finish. awesome black ph1, looks clean!

 

[sava001006]

looks smart that i think colour coding the bumpstrip would look nice but thats just me... nice car got a soft spot for clean PH1's

 

[Wests Renault]

looks good

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

i done my interior handles iceberg silver matey they look a similar colour but with a nice metalic finish. awesome black ph1, looks clean!

Do I just get the Arctic Silver spray paint from the likes of Halfords then lacquer it like the various guides say.

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

looks smart that i think colour coding the bumpstrip would look nice but thats just me... nice car got a soft spot for clean PH1's

Good idea cheers. I may well get a second set of alloys for track days and paint them black. Might also paint the badges black as well but quite like the car fairly standard looking and definitely not 'chav'.

Thanks for all the positive comments guys. I'm really enjoying that car
I wanted to find a really good example and I'm very pleased that it's a good one.

 

[edewer]

nice wheel

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Cheers Ed

 

[oliver.james]

Smart! :approve:

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Bit of an update.

Had some work done on my car by 'a friend' (probably best to keep you anonymous mate, you know who you are). Turns out the various engine mounts were shagged which caused the exhaust to drop, hence the rattle. These have all been replaced with OEM Renault mounts. The exhaust hanger was also shagged so that's been replaced with an OEM Renault one.

CV Gaitors needed attention so they've had some TLC to prevent future rusting.

Whilst I was spending money on it I upgraded the brakes. Now I've got Brembo HCs, Ferodo DS2500, Mocal braided hoses and DOT 5.1 fluid.

Final upgrade is the Powerflex dogbone mount which is waiting for me to fit. It wasn't needed by as I was upgrading the other mounts I thought it would be a good move.

And the results? It's like a new (newer?) car! No rattles, well only interior rattles as you'd expect from a 10 year old Renault! Everything just feels solid, surprisingly so actually. My other car is a 2009 BMW 120D M Sport so I'm used to a well built, solid car. I'm really impressed.

Downsides? Well... I use to save the higher ends of the rev range for occasional moments. Now it's getting used all through the rev range (once warmed up of course). Of course this all means that my MPG has dropped from circa 35mpg+ to around 31mpg. When it's drinking super unleaded it's expensive.

I absolutely love this car! It's the most fun car I've ever had.

 

[Greeny.]

Glad you like it, im still loving mine after 3 years of ownership even though its got slightly more powerful and lighter over that time to keep me interested. I would get your inlets matched or purchase a set off JMS, had mine off and the standards where really restrictive! Thinking of doing my dogbone as well tbh

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Matched inlets are definitely on the cards. Spent a good £500 on it recently so can't justify further expense just yet.

List of 'things to do' in no particular order:

- matched inlets
- RS Tuner remap
- Performance filter using standard airbox
- cooling ducts for brakes
- HID Conversion
- another set of 15s with some track tyres

Oh and I fitted an old Parrot Ck3000 as I sometimes need to answer the phone when on the motorway. Fitted it earlier today and have the cuts on my hands to prove it

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Quick update:

Firstly some pictures. Arty shots to hide the filthy wheels that need a good refurb

Experimenting with a coloured wheel, not entirely sure hence why they're not all like that!!

Random interior shot with my new Clio Cup wheel

Should have straightened the wheel first! That's my CDO lol

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Work done so far

• Engine mounts done including the powerflex 'dog bone' mount
• Exhaust mount
• Oil and filter change with some fancy pants expensive oil
• Brembo HC discs, Ferodo DS2500 pads, Goodridge hoses and DOT 5.1 fluid
• All important belts (both) - glad I did it, love the car and it would be a shame to neglect it
• Fitted a Clio Cup steering wheel
• Eliminated *most* of the rattles with just one more to find I'll get the bugger!

 

[HartZ]

looking tidy mate

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

looking tidy mate

Thanks. Even if I do say so myself ... It is! Except for a couple of stone chips on the bonnet and the wheels it's pretty much mint condition.

Forgot to mention that I'm painting the interior door handles the same colour as my Beemer I think it's arctic silver. Not done a great job but nobody will notice

Oh and I've done one side strip but I ran out of the old paint that I had lying around so didn't do the other one. I need to get another can and do the side strips, door handles and mirror surrounds as they're faded slightly

 

[B16DOE]

Nice ticking all the right boxes I see like it

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Started tidying up the plastic bits today

Handles have been done as they were faded and had some polish on them.

Before:

And After:

The paint isn't too bad, the surface wasn't the best to start with so it isn't smooth. It's only when up close that you notice ... I'm a bit OCD so that's the only reason I notice myself

Also did the rear lock mechanism and surround but couldn't get the wiper surround off

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Oh and I'm part way through doing the wing mirror surrounds as they're just as bad! Will post pics when they're finished.

Really need to find a cheap place to refurb the wheels near Bristol now

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Been a while since anything happened to this, my Wife has retained control of it for the past few years but we picked up a Fiat 500 TwinAir the other day so the Clio is mine again.

I'm planning on racing in the Caterham Academy at some point in the next couple of years (probably 2015) so I figured that I might as well use this to gain more experience. I can't race any other championship because that would exclude me from the Academy so it's just track days for a while.

I don't intend to spend too much on this so I'm looking at cheap ish components or second hand.

Plans:

- Strip down the interior but with a flavour of 'Gentleman's Racer' about it (all will become clear!)
- bucket seats (Dimarco Futura most likely)
- Harnesses
- Rollcage (ebay probably but maybe with CDS tubing, this is mainly because of the buckets/harnesses)
- new tyres all round to replace the Hankook RS2s

Hoping to update with photos as we go but for now this is really a placeholder

 

[lemonnobby]

nice to see you going to use it again.

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

nice to see you going to use it again.

Finally got her out of it!

It's not worth getting rid, even though I've thought about it a few times. Just going to keep it until it dies but she's been looked after so that might be a while!

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Made some progress this weekend. Bearing in mind that I've not really done much like this I'm quite happy with the progress I've made... Not at it was especially taxing!

Started with this

Progress yesterday

And got the rear stripped today (obligatory Magical Trevor on the dash )

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Next stage is to fully remove the carpet but I need to jack it up to get underneath to remove the seat bolts (easy job) and then all the plastic from the B pillar forwards.

Damn it! I meant to measure the ride height all round to see how the weight loss affects things

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Further progress today with quite a bit removed!

running outer of space to store it so it's had to be put back in again!

First seat out was the passenger side plus the carpet

Then the driver seat, whilst Trev supervises

and all done for today

Next I need to work out what I can cut out of there wiring loom. I'd like to also find some suitable electric window switches so ica n fit them where the stereo is now

 

[mag1caltrev0r]

Got behind the dash today, I won't be taking too much out of the wiring harness but there are a few things like the passenger airbag, stereo and integrating USB cables for my GoPro and Dual XGPS150.

I had a Griffin dual-USB cigarette lighter adapter lying around so using the Fubar guide on hard wiring I took the Griffin apart, wired it to a connector block

its not pretty but it works and nobody will see

Drilled an untidy hole in the top of the glovebox and stuff the contraption through it. I used half the original shell just to give it some structure and stuck in place with some sealant as that's all I had lying around

I was on a roll so I also moved my alarm light. I didn't want to remove it (didn't want to find that the alarm recognised a fault) so just moved it inside the glovebox as well