Mark 1 Track Car - Trophy Red 172 Project

[Coops Mk1]

Oh weighed the car at work again, and with some strange maths to compensate for known differences from last time, its 855Kg with a sniff of fuel in.

on the day it was 880kg with 1/2 tank and the heavy wheels on it.

I have also calculated that with the slick shod OZ Superleggera, passenger seat out and back down to a sniff of fuel she should be 820kg which is acceptable imo.

there are a few areas I can still save a bit more weight but I also want to extend the cage through to the bulkhead to the struts and cross it in the scuttle so that's going to add weight.

So overall I think its about as light as its ever realistically going to be............boost time? ;-)

 

[Christopher]

That's nothing! Must be lively as it is now!

 

[Coops Mk1]

That's nothing! Must be lively as it is now!

I am looking forward to stretching her legs properly next week, but I have a feeling I may want more pooowaaaahhh

 

[Djw John]

So much lighter than a mk2. And better looking. And cooler.

 

[Coops Mk1]

So much lighter than a mk2. And better looking. And cooler.

not that much lighter, there's a chap on the facebook group with a phase 1 down at 806kg with all standard panels (no FG) admittedly he's only got a half cage but I reckon strip cage out both of ours and talking mk1 only about 20kg lighter. Book weights for a mk1 phase 1.5 and mk2 phase 1 aren't that different, 1060kg ish for both iirc?

however definitely cooler and better looking ;-)

 

[Djw John]

Really? I'm surprised by that.


Thought rust was lighter....

 

[Coops Mk1]

I blame welding my sill up (and thus adding metal) for making the car heavier as well!lol!

 

[Djw John]

Lol! You know it's bad when welding wire is adding weight!

 

[Coops Mk1]

Fitted my new inner tie rods today and also got my KW V2 coilovers in that post, so I'll need to ease the bolt holes in them to fit the 172 bolts and get them on this is as they are clio mk1 Williams fitment and the mk1 run smaller bolts.
Then I'll set my camber and track it, dial in a bit of toe out and done!

Cadwell on Thursday..... Yes!!!!!

 

[Mavez]

Ace project!

 

[Coops Mk1]

Hit a stumbling block, I haven't managed to ease out the bolt holes in the KW V2's in time, and with only 2 days to go didn't want to leave the car in bits any longer

as such I have refitted the FK's for Cadwell. In some ways this may be a blessing in disguise as I can get a feel for each change in isolation, so this time it's the Roll Centre Kit on test, then I will add the KW's for the next trackday and get the benefit of that change feel also

 

[Coops Mk1]

So, did Cadwell last Thursday, and after a shakey start (not a NS2-R fan it transpires) I had a cracking day.

Car performed pretty well, brakes were a bit of an issue and ended up changing to new RC6 pads at lunch, which half cured the issue but I think my fluid is past its best.

Weather attempted to rain around 11 ish, but cleared up and after that the rain just seemed to go round us which was excellent! So I was on the very old, very worn, probably knackered slicks all day, however they just provided sooooooo much grip than the NS2's which imo were worse than RSR's for grip and they are pants!

As such I think I will have to try to get hold of some more slicks, these perhaps have one day left in them absolute max before cords, and although I have some pre loved R888's as well I suspect I wont be happy with those either!

ACS motorsports Roll centre kit was superb, turn in was my most noticed improvement, the car just wanted to corner, I think my cheap, soft suspension is however not doing the kit full justice. As such I'm excited to get the 500lb springs and KW coilovers on for the next outing! should benefit from the full rewards then! Either way though, the kit was faultless, nothing worked loose or failed and its everything you could ever want from such a mod, plus looks sexy as hell! cheers @ACS_Motorsport

And on a final winning note, the on and off vibration issue I have suffered since I first built the car is officially gone, after modding the offside shaft as well as the nearside to allow more end float on the outer CV joint its cured all the vibration under any level of cornering; with or without passenger; and with as much camber up front as I like thank Christ!!!!

Engine mods were also faultless, car ran well all day, engine stayed cool, and I think the mocal oil cooler helped with that. Not sure I could tell outright power increase but the RS2 definitely made the car more tractable, I was in 4th from coppice right round to the bottom of the goose neck by the end apart from one small nip to 3rd for Park and she was pulling out the corners lovely

so overall, very positive outing for the car considering it was the first in 2 years. roll on the next one!

some pics!

First look at the place I love

first few laps on the god awful NS2-R tyres

bit of messing about in the paddock

quick torque check of the Roll kit

sniff of fuel required, thanks Jerry can

and final shot on the way out

 

[Coops Mk1]

Few more shots from the day

love slicks!!

and some small thumbs of the pro shots which I will buy soon shows the still evident body roll, hopefully the KW's will help with this!

cheers all

Ben

 

[CallyTeee]

Wee cars looking good! Always fancied a mk1

 

[Coops Mk1]

So after Cadwell the cars just had a couple of trips out on a weekend for meeting up with mates etc.

I have added a few more bits, bought some Aerocatches as the cheap pins have caused me issue in the past and just looks better with the proper catches. Went genuine obviously, 2x lockable and 2x normal

had to keep the locations the same to minimise visible holes in the bonnet, which is where the fun started. Rear two pins were fine, fronts not so much. I couldn't get the bonnet to sit low enough as the underside of the catch housing was fouling on the front metalwork, so had to dremel some meat off the catches to sort.

still got a small hole in front of the front catches too, but not too bad I suppose! is what it is and end of the day its a track car, not a looker

this was the issue before trimming and fettling, I haven't got a fully fitted pic as finished in a rush to pop to local classic car meet

I have also bought a new brake setup, willwood midilights with 293mm discs that I am informed will fit under 15" wheels without spacers, unlike the brembo setup

so I will be acquiring some new bit sfor them to sort the rusty bleed nipples etc then trial fitting soon

I have also got new genuine front brake lines (well not new, pre loved, but new to me) to fit when I fit the calipers as the current hard lines from the master cyclinder are crap!lol!

also, the KW V2 have been modified to fit the MK2 bolts, so they will be fitted soon too!

finally, I have small oil weep that I need to address, attempted a reseal of the just the bolt once but its not worked, so I will be doing a more thorough job and trying again! made a mess of my nice cam cover though already, booo!

cheers

Ben

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Is that brake kit designed specifically for the Clio?

 

[Coops Mk1]

yes mate, its come off a phase 1 172, so the brackets are for clio, the discs are god knows what though

its originally a jamsport kit

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

yes mate, its come off a phase 1 172, so the brackets are for clio, the discs are god knows what though

its originally a jamsport kit

This one I guess? https://www.jamsportstore.co.uk/col...roducts/clio-172-182-willwood-4-pot-brake-kit

 

[Coops Mk1]

that's the one

 

[Coops Mk1]

Wildwood spares arrived so can set about fitting them soon

 

[Coops Mk1]

Quick pic of the finished aerocatches

 

[CZUCZU]

Nlw yku must put some hello kitty stickers on old holes

 

[gez 172]

Just read this from start to finish.

Do you have a YouTube page with all your vids?

 

[Coops Mk1]

I have'n't @gez 172 i'm afraid, always been useless with videos, I used to have a gopro and recorded a few trackdays but never did anything with the footage

all I have on youtube is a couple of starting and idling vids I think, that's it!lol!

 

[Djw John]

It's alright I guess.

 

[T.Trophy]

@Coops Turbo I've got the same wilwood set up mate, they use toyota avensis discs that have been drilled and bored to the 4x100 and 60.1mm.

 

[Coops Mk1]

@Coops Turbo I've got the same wilwood set up mate, they use toyota avensis discs that have been drilled and bored to the 4x100 and 60.1mm.

Cheers matey, good to know!

 

[Coops Mk1]

23-08-2017 Trial Fit of Wilwoods

So figured I would check the clearances on the Wilwoods and ensure they cleared my Speedline Maracanã (Turbine) wheels for road and my track OZ Superleggera, both 15" rims.

Pictures can do most of the talking here but essentially, yes they clear both with no spacers which is great news!

I have bought some spares for the calipers to replace some bits to ensure they are in tip top nick, and I also have some new fluid to replace the full system.

fitting them fully hopefully over this weekend if I get time

cheers Ben

Old setup, Brembo HC discs (273mm or whatever they are stock 172) and Carbon Lorraine RC6 pads, great setup in all honesty...

Removed

And Wilwood fitted with 293mm Toyota Avensis disk that's been redrilled to fit

Clearance on the turbines is tight, but they go on, so all good!

easy clearance on the track superleggera's, sorted!

 

[Luke Freeman]

Fancy a blast out after work one day next week mate?

 

[Coops Mk1]

Fancy a blast out after work one day next week mate?

yeah man, can try to get out and about

 

[Coops Mk1]

26-08-2017 whiteline and koni adjustable fitting

So the weather was miiiiiint and had some time to kill, time to play with the chassis.

If you look back over this thread I had a whiteline rarb that I was going to fit to the car. That was 3 years ago ish I think and since then it's sat on one of the other cars in use until now, finally fitted it to the mk1.

In order to do this it's a little more complex, the mk1 runs torsion bars on the rear and as such the rear beam is wider and you can't use the u brackets. My mate Ady fitted one to his mk1 years ago and his old man knocked us up some brackets to fit the thing.
It involves drilling and bolting said brackets to the rear beam and then bolting the arb clamps to the fabricated brackets.

So half hour with the drill and it was on and the koni adjustable rear dampers were fitted at the same time, cleaning up the old bolts and coating in anti seize as I went.

Set the konis to thier hardest setting as you have to undo one end to change them annoyingly so leave then on solid, lol!

Parts to go on

Rear end ready..... Ahem

Bolts cleaned up

Bracket fitted to rear beam

And fitted

I do have a small issue with the exhaust banging on the bracket as I fitted it too close to the tunnel over the rear beam on the passenger side but I'll fix that soon!

Only had a quick blast out but feels more planted and less roll from the rear already, think the combo of stiffer shocks and the whiteline should bode well, we'll see at Mallory in 3 weeks ish.

Cheers

Ben

 

[Coops Mk1]

26-08-2017 KW V2 Coilover fitting

After affixing the whiteline and rear dampers to the car, I also took the opportunity to fit my KW V2 front coilover units.

I have used the stiffer 500lb aftermarket springs on them and set them to approx. half way on the dampening adjustment for now to see how I get on.

I ordered some new lower platforms direct from KW as one of the old ones had been butchered slightly and I wanted them mint, hence waiting before fitting them as bought them month or so ago.

Fitting was easy, just 3 bolts, I guessed the ride height based on the old FK's I removed and got it slightly wrong, as such the car is sat around 15mm to low I reckon and the tyres are catching on the arches, as such I need to tweak the height when I attend to the exhaust, probably this weekend for both now.

Initial impressions, combined with the whiteline and the koni rears is the car already feels much stiffer, however the suspension is compliant enough to use on the road without feeling overly crashy or bouncy, so a decent setup I feel! More to come when I have sorted the niggles listed.

I have Mallory to then use as a proper shakedown for the new kit

cheers

Ben

Kit to be fitted

old FK stuff to remove

new hotness installed

 

[Coops Mk1]

on a side note, never sure which way to put the springs, helpers above or below mains. The FK were mains underneath, KW's I've opted for the other way around based on just pics on the KW website showing them that way round!lol!

 

[vroomtshh]

on a side note, never sure which way to put the springs, helpers above or below mains. The FK were mains underneath, KW's I've opted for the other way around based on just pics on the KW website showing them that way round!lol!

It doesn't make any difference :up:

 

[Coops Mk1]

31-08-2017 Things to do review

Thought I'd write up the current list of stuff pending to do with the car now the end of the season is approaching.

Although I have Mallory in a few weeks, before which save for sorting the little niggles nothing else will be done, after that I have plenty to do over the winter

So in no particular order, here's the plans!

Engine:
- Fit 197 cams
- Fit megane 225 exhaust pulley
- Do cambelt (kit), dephaser, waterpump etc.
- Fit 182 exhaust manifold
- Fabricate link pipe for above to fit to rest of system
- Dial in cams and remap with Scoff@efi, pray for unrealistic 200 club! :tonguewink:

Mechanical:
- Fit wilwood brakes
- Fit new rear pad
- replace front brake lines
- replace rear brake lines for internal and add bias valve
- ATE 200 brake fluid service
- Fit rear 172 stub axles and camber shims
- Redline MTL gearbox oil service
- Source and test kangoo van torsion bars

Chassis:
- Chop interior looms down to remove all excess wiring
- Clean, derust, stonechip and paint inner arches front and rear
- Remove aux fuel tank
- Fit dress carbon fibre 'strut brace' (tbc)

Interior:
- Replace grip tape mats
- Fit passenger foot plate
- Fit new sunstrip

Wishlist (not likely for a while!):
- PMS engine mounts
- PMS spherical bearing/strengthened wishbones
- Powerflex black bushes for ARB
- Full blowover in Capsicum Red as the paints tired as hell!

projects......never finished are they?!!!lol!

cheers

Ben

 

[Djw John]

All looks good but I'd drop the brake fluid and go for Motul RBF600, having used superblue/typ200 and now the RBF its way better

 

[Coops Mk1]

already for the blue s**t on stock chap so it'll do for now and if no good i'll change it again once I've got happy with the wilwoods

 

[Djw John]

Yeah fair enough then. I was surprised by how much better the RBF felt, I was quite happy with the superblue before!

 

[Coops Mk1]

tbh, its going to be a massive improvement either way as the stuff in there is a hotch potch of ancient stuff and top ups from rebleeds over the years, I've been lazy! lol!

 

[benjen88]

interested to know how the rarb performs......