Martin's DCi 80

[Martin_172]

the usual famous last words were used on this car, buy it cheap, spend zero on it, sell it on for a profit in a few months, no mods, no nothing!! yeah right!!!

car was bought as a runabout after selling my twingo TCE to free up cash for my house and then to do me for a few months until I decide what im doing with a lease car. Oo hit gumtree searching for a runabout, fuel consumption wasn't an issue however would be a benefit and this popped up.

an advert that just said something along the lines of Diesel clio, 135k miles, owned for 5 years looked after , no major issues. £1200 (not exactly the best advert ive ever seen for a car)

and here was the picture, again not the best picture ive saw to sell a car!!

so I gave the guy a phone and went to see it, upon arrival a closer look at the side badges revealed a nice little blue surprize! it was a DCi80, usual dynamique spec, unfortunately no aircon but it was an 80 so I was happy enough with that!

had a look about it, needed some TLC but it was straight, half a tank of diesel, 12 months MOT and 6 months tax (not that tax is a problem at £20 lol!) it ran rough but was badly in need of a service so took a gamble gave him a grand for it and drove it home!

gave it a quick wash to see how it came up...

head unit didn't play CD's but luckily I had a spare Laguna Cabasse lying about I had removed from my 172 so in it went

It didnt sound right at idle and felt a bit under powered, I remember people mentioning about leaking injector seals causing them to sound like they were puffing air at idle, popped off the airbox and was greated with a mess around one of the injectors, so ordered up a new injector seal and set about changing that, was a lot easiler than I expected, a doddle actually!

changed it over, put it all back together, brilliant! much quieter at idle now but still felt not quite as quick as I imagined but no leaks anymore so wasn't related to injector seals.

The car had the worse feeling brakes ive ever experienced, completely warped to bits with no pads left! so ordered up a set of OEM pagid discs and pads, Oil Filter, Air filter, fuel filter and cabin filter from Euro car parts and 5 litres of ELF SXR 5w40 from Ebay

car was running brilliant now but still didnt feel quite as quick as I thought it should! after a bit of head scratching it was off with the EGR valve! completely clogged to bits with the usual noncence, gave it all a good clean up and realised the inlet pipe from EGR to engine was clogged to bits too, scooped as much of this out as I could without removing the pipe and put it all back together. Car was now even more under powered as I had obviously disturbed all the crap in the inlet, then while giving it a good full throttle run to try and clear it out the car suddenly choaked up for a second then bang, shot off on a wave of torque! - NORMAL SERVICE HAS RESUMED!

had a broken wing mirror that was cable tied together...

got a good one from a 172 that was being broken on ebay for a tenner...

hunting on ebay one night won a pair of these brand new "ex display" with no boxes for £70!! I had doubts about them until they turned up and its clear they have never been fitted to a car

got these to match them, Apex -60mm (rear dampers are also on order!)

 

[Martin_172]

had a cracked fog light

remembered that 5 or 6 years ago I saw a smashed clio at the side of the road on the way to work and on the way home it was gone yet the front bumper was still lying! had a good foglight in it so I removed it lol! now 5 years later its finally became of use!!!

next up they horrid headlights need sorted!

 

[Martin_172]

attacked the headlights today,
Before...

After...

 

[GrahamS]

Thought you weren't modding this one

Really enjoyed the bit about the cough, I'll do some scrapy pipe work. Headlights turned out good too.

Look good low on the standard alloys

 

[Ptey07]

off to a good start there.

looks nice height swell. so whats next to do.

 

[BREMBO]

Nice one mate, keep this updated

 

[Martin_172]

cheers for the comments guys, not really planning anything else for it just keep it running, its cost me less than its worth so far so don't really want to put anymore cash into it, might do a DIY wheel refurb to remove the kerb marks on a few of them but that's about it really. Looking for another 172 to do a turbo build so this is just a runabout until I sort a lease car and ill sell it on

 

[daydotz]

Looks a lot better now

 

[mikeyboy32]

what did you use on your headlight mate, ive tried a few things but nothing seems to work

 

[Martin_172]

just wet and dry mate think it was 1200, 1000, 800 from memory with a polish up, no where near the results you get with the 3M kit but this didn't cost me anything so will do!

 

[Martin_172]

not been washed in over a month, sitting in the ghetto the other day...

runs massive spacers all round now and has 172 colour coded door strips (looking for door handles too now!)

done over 5k in it now since I got it, completely hastle free!! does 70mpg every day back and forward to work.

just ordered new bottom arms, arb links, track rods and track rod ends for it, oh and an aux belt kit as its got a squeaky pulley

 

[GrahamS]

Is it an account model or non. If non then the squeak could be the adjustment. Had this on 2 recently

 

[Martin_172]

its non aircon, it does have a stamp in the book for a full timing belt kit recently id have assumed they would have changed the aux belt too but possibly just the actual belt but that's a bit pikey! lol

could be buddy ill check it out although the new aux belt kit is already ordered anyway.

cursed it by saying its been hastle free!!! on the way home today approaching a bend very enthusiastically I went for the middle pedal and it hit the floor!! rear drum is leaking brake fluid, ordered new cylinders for each side and I will strip them down tomorrow but tempted to go for an RS rear beam tbh!

 

[Martin_172]

172 spoiler from ebay for a tenner, bagain...

 

[Martin_172]

gave the wheels a reburb today in "Halfords metallic silver" done the centre diamonds black just for something a bit different.

fitted 172 colourcoded spoiler and bump strips, got door handles to do today.

 

[Martin_172]

with his younger brother!!

 

[Martin_172]

won a set of FK rear lights going cheap on ebay, not keen on them so will probably sell them on. thoughts?

 

[AlexW]

Different, PM me how much you want for em, could be tempted.

 

[Martin_172]

Different, PM me how much you want for em, could be tempted.

gonna leave them on for a few days mate and see how I feel about them then ill give you a PM

 

[Barnett]

won a set of FK rear lights going cheap on ebay, not keen on them so will probably sell them on. thoughts?

I've got these, I found they look much better with a 172 rear bumper:

 

[Martin_172]

I've got these, I found they look much better with a 172 rear bumper:

definitely mate, gonna need to get one now haha

 

[rctempire]

Nice going wee man.

Least its driving as normal now

 

[Martin_172]

Cheers Chief!

Bit of a running joke with John at Progrip as every time I take a Renault in somthings not quite right with it, my 200 was obviously bent in every area it could be, my flamer had a bent hub, my ph1 had a bent lower arm, my twingo had a bent rear beam (2yrs old, mint with 20k on the clock too!) and my 1.6 16v had a bent hub too!!!

took the 150k rough as a badgers arse DCI in yesterday to have it setup after I replaced the track rods and rod ends and its probably straighter than it left the factory!!!!

 

[Ciaran5003]

Really tidy motor Martin!

 

[sburrell93]

Looks good this. Shows what a few subtle mods can do to smarten up a car! I like the FK lights too tbh!

Probably missed something further back in the thread but how much do those springs lower by roughly? Looks like how I want mine to be sitting, still feels too high on sportlines lol.

 

[Martin_172]

Looks good this. Shows what a few subtle mods can do to smarten up a car! I like the FK lights too tbh!

Probably missed something further back in the thread but how much do those springs lower by roughly? Looks like how I want mine to be sitting, still feels too high on sportlines lol.

yeah mate definitely it owes me hardly anything too!!

the springs are -60mm lower with dampers to match! ive had the springs just on their own on a dci 65 and it was horrible but with matching dampers they are stiff but handles really well

 

[Martin_172]

update on it!
done 13k miles now since I got it, let me down for the first time the other day when the drivers window wiper sheared off! on the motorway, 2 hours from home (going the opposite direction! had to return home, get the trophy and drive 4 hours back the way I was going!), in the pissing rain, cost me £9 for a new one, not the end of the world!...

I had put it back to standard to sell on but then ended up doing miles again so kept it, so took the old standard worn suspension off that I had refitted and managed to source both front struts off a 3,000 miles Twingo 1.2 16v that was being broken on ebay after a rear end shunt so dampers, springs, revised top mounts etc and then we traded in my mrs twingo that was a year old with 25k on the clock so I swapped the rear suspension, front callipers and a few other bits and bobs that were swappable!!

so hopefully it will keep going strong for a while more!

 

[Mr Burns]

I think I enjoy seeing someone tidying up a rough car more than reading how someone spent a fortune making their sporty car sportier. Fair play dude, fair play.

 

[Martin_172]

I think I enjoy seeing someone tidying up a rough car more than reading how someone spent a fortune making their sporty car sportier. Fair play dude, fair play.

ive enjoyed doing it mate, it costs peanuts to run, I don't think I could do without it, its covered in dings and scrapes, it has squeaky belts at idle, it smokes when cold but it also does 1k a week on just over a tank of fuel at the moment and I get out feeling reasonably fresh!

my mrs had it at work a few days last week (she does 100 miles a day in a 1.2 16v twingo) we went straight into Renault yesterday and got a mk4 1.5 dci 90 for her as she couldn't believe how good it is on fuel lol

 

[Martin_172]

UPDATE:
was going to sell it on but every time I come to do it I just cant part with it!! so decided to keep it until the summer anyway! (but probably longer!!) so needed something to amuse me....

as it sits now at standard ride height with its new Twingo suspension!

 

[dann2707]

I think I enjoy seeing someone tidying up a rough car more than reading how someone spent a fortune making their sporty car sportier. Fair play dude, fair play.

Me too.

Nice tidy car, what's the MPG like?

 

[Martin_172]

Me too.

Nice tidy car, what's the MPG like?

was on a run from Stirling to Manchester the other day and it averaged 74mpg with 4 people and 4 big bags in the car.
knocking about town which I mostly do it does about 65mpg, that's just plodding about, if its a week when im rushing about running late and kicking its head in does 58-59mpg

 

[Djw John]

Who was driving in that pic with the missing wiper? I know its not you cos the speedo is at 70.

 

[Martin_172]

Who was driving in that pic with the missing wiper? I know its not you cos the speedo is at 70.

ha mate it was terrifying couldn't see a thing, got bored at 70 tho so stuck my heed oot the windie to get home quicker

 

[Djw John]

Lol! Just go along the rumble strips and slow down if you can only see red!

 

[Martin_172]

update:
MOT ran out a month ago, it sat in the drive and I used the cup every day since its been pretty dry. Booked an MOT and thought ill just scrap it if it fails badly, local place is known for being pretty strict with MOT's got a phone call that afternoon to say it was ready to collect, not even a single advisory! brilliant, so its here for another 12 months anyway!!

such a brilliant, reliable wee work horse!