Martin's Track Clio 182 Project Thread

[Simon1975]

Yours is in a perfect state now to just use and enjoy it. Have a re think when your belts are due next. But for anything more than cams you have to be prepared to sink thousands and thousands into to do it properly.

I think if I went turbo I'd want to go to a Clio 200 and have a Meg 250 lump as that looks a real nice package. For now I want to concentrate on other bits so might just sell the saab and get another meg 225 5 door for daily use so I can enjoy the power on the road

 

[Martin.]

Your RB is perfect for an enjoyable road car. I'd just enjoy using that and maintain it nicely.

 

[Simon1975]

Your RB is perfect for an enjoyable road car. I'd just enjoy using that and maintain it nicely.

Not ideal for road, no legroom behind the trendlines and it's too loud. I enjoy it for occasional weekends and Trackdays. Need a more standard car for miles I do to harlow and back. Use to love my meg 225 on road mapped to 278 think that's the way I'll go.

 

[Martin.]

Not ideal for road, no legroom behind the trendlines and it's too loud. I enjoy it for occasional weekends and Trackdays. Need a more standard car for miles I do to harlow and back. Use to love my meg 225 on road mapped to 278 think that's the way I'll go.

Clio for track and Meg for road then 👌

 

[Simon1975]

Clio for track and Meg for road then 👌

Perfect.
And if I get a 5 Door it's still a family car

 

[Hyperhatch]

Just watched the video, fair play a lot of time and effort has clearly gone into the the rebuild 👏👍

I’ve driven Bedford a lot, I don’t think i’ve seen a 182 go past so many cars in a straight line 😬

Off to Google/dream about Clio turbo engines........

 

[GrahamS]

Just watched the video, fair play a lot of time and effort has clearly gone into the the rebuild 👏👍

I’ve driven Bedford a lot, I don’t think i’ve seen a 182 go past so many cars in a straight line 😬

Off to Google/dream about Clio turbo engines........

Thanks for watching the video it took a long time to build but the pace is totally worth it!

 

[frayz]

I keep looking at this thinking that a LB conversion is still pretty affordable. haha

 

[Martin.]

Just watched the video, fair play a lot of time and effort has clearly gone into the the rebuild 👏👍

I’ve driven Bedford a lot, I don’t think i’ve seen a 182 go past so many cars in a straight line 😬

Off to Google/dream about Clio turbo engines........

Thanks mate. It took us a lot of time and effort.

Having the extra punch really does help it around a lap. I mean a well setup 1*2 is not slouch around a track anyway, but the extra ponies let you fly past bigger powered stuff without much issue.

I keep looking at this thinking that a LB conversion is still pretty affordable. haha

It is, speak to Alex. He just did one for my mate Richard.

I've seen a few kits pop up for around £1500. Then a days labour to fit it all plus mapping and voila.

 

[Martin.]

Graham and I have booked Snetterton for the 29th Feb if anyone else fancies it.

 

[Martin.]

 

[frayz]

Love that Martin, cracking shot.
I must admit if it were mine the cooler would be black and hidden

 

[Martin.]

Love that Martin, cracking shot.
I must admit if it were mine the cooler would be black and hidden

That did cross our minds. But coating it with black paint would theoretically make it less efficient. Whether or not it would be noticeable is another queston.

 

[frayz]

That did cross our minds. But coating it with black paint would theoretically make it less efficient. Whether or not it would be noticeable is another queston.

Lol, if you put it on with a 12" roller it might, but a light dust of satin black wouldn't make a bind bit of difference. Common misconception that the colour affects the heat rejection efficiency of a cooler. Many high end motorsport cooler manufacturers offer them in black.

 

[Martin.]

Lol, if you put it on with a 12" roller it might, but a light dust of satin black wouldn't make a bind bit of difference. Common misconception that the colour affects the heat rejection efficiency of a cooler. Many high end motorsport cooler manufacturers offer them in black.

Isn't that just to suit the demand though..

When we looked into it for clarification this is the common result we found:

 

[frayz]

Having personally measured a lot of vehicle ACTs on a daily basis as well as my own projects outside of work I’d say it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.
The paint/coating would have to be extremely thick to start restricting airflow or heat rejection.

Your car, you call dude, I know I’d paint it.

 

[Martin.]

I was never that bothered to be honest. Graham wanted to do his one black.

Maybe if mine ever comes off I'll think about it again, but i'm done with touching the car for now haha.

 

[Jekyll]

I've just finished reading the whole project Matrin. I think I mentioned it to you on another thread during the week.

Amazing. It really is.

Now I knew the car via here (before facebook/instagram) and was always a fan. It just looked right. And ITBs have always been a pretty sight. You've certainly had some trails over the years and it's good that it's still stayed with you. Some people get the itch to get rid for something new or even a new project so it's nice to see it remain, but with a change of direction.

The change to go turbo and all the work involved has been mega. Certainly looks it but wow, what a transformation. Hats off to you and certainly to graham also for the work involved. It's now the perfect spec. Clubsport spec is the best way I think.

Good to seem that the OCD has remained. I'm certainly looking forward to catching up with you both and seeing this at Snetterton next month.

Fair play gents 👌👍

 

[GrahamS]

Having personally measured a lot of vehicle ACTs on a daily basis as well as my own projects outside of work I’d say it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.
The paint/coating would have to be extremely thick to start restricting airflow or heat rejection.

Your car, you call dude, I know I’d paint it.

Oh lord don't get me re-evaluating. That Brian Cox video had me totally convinced that painting it black would be a bad idea but I would definitely prefer to have it stealth. Let see what I do with mine now

I've just finished reading the whole project Matrin. I think I mentioned it to you on another thread during the week.

Amazing. It really is.

Now I knew the car via here (before facebook/instagram) and was always a fan. It just looked right. And ITBs have always been a pretty sight. You've certainly had some trails over the years and it's good that it's still stayed with you. Some people get the itch to get rid for something new or even a new project so it's nice to see it remain, but with a change of direction.

The change to go turbo and all the work involved has been mega. Certainly looks it but wow, what a transformation. Hats off to you and certainly to graham also for the work involved. It's now the perfect spec. Clubsport spec is the best way I think.

Good to seem that the OCD has remained. I'm certainly looking forward to catching up with you both and seeing this at Snetterton next month.

Fair play gents 👌👍

That was a long read Mark!
The OCD has rubbed off on me now..it's becoming quite an issue
You going to be there at snett? 😂

 

[frayz]

Oh lord don't get me re-evaluating. That Brian Cox video had me totally convinced that painting it black would be a bad idea but I would definitely prefer to have it stealth. Let see what I do with mine now

Just paint it mate. As long as you’re not doing it with Hammerite on a roller you’re golden.
As I’ve said to Martin, there’s lots of interesting “automotive science” on the Internet. 😏

 

[Jekyll]

Oh lord don't get me re-evaluating. That Brian Cox video had me totally convinced that painting it black would be a bad idea but I would definitely prefer to have it stealth. Let see what I do with mine now


That was a long read Mark!
The OCD has rubbed off on me now..it's becoming quite an issue
You going to be there at snett? 😂

I felt it was worthy of a few words mate. All positive, as it should be.

Yes I'm there. Unless anything changes in the meantime, but as it stands I'm free.

 

[Martin.]

I've just finished reading the whole project Matrin. I think I mentioned it to you on another thread during the week.

Amazing. It really is.

Now I knew the car via here (before facebook/instagram) and was always a fan. It just looked right. And ITBs have always been a pretty sight. You've certainly had some trails over the years and it's good that it's still stayed with you. Some people get the itch to get rid for something new or even a new project so it's nice to see it remain, but with a change of direction.

The change to go turbo and all the work involved has been mega. Certainly looks it but wow, what a transformation. Hats off to you and certainly to graham also for the work involved. It's now the perfect spec. Clubsport spec is the best way I think.

Good to seem that the OCD has remained. I'm certainly looking forward to catching up with you both and seeing this at Snetterton next month.

Fair play gents 👌👍

Thanks again for the kind words Mark. Must have taken you bloody ages to get through all 19 pages!!!

Believe me I've had my doubts over it all a few times. When the cambelt was due and the engine was down on compression it was nearly the end. But thankfully Graham convinced me with the direction change! I'm absolutely over the moon with it all now (my wallet is not!!) and spent about 5-6 hours over the weekend driving it around! Clubsport spec was definitly the way to go for me, I'm too old and fragile now days

OCD is a real issue of mine. But over my almost 8 year ownership it has prevented me from just driving the thing and enjoying it on many occasions. It has spent far too long on stands whilst i clean and refurbish things. So when you see it in person you'll see it is no minter and is still a driven car hehe. Thankfully some of the OCD has left me and worn off onto Graham now though! (he spent 7 HOURS cleaning bolts on the wire wheel!!!!)

Time is too tight for the both of us, so once his car is done, we plan to just use them for many years to come and not touch them EVER again! Just maintenance and repairs etc

 

[MrBlonde]

With Snetterton,if your not taking part do you have to pay admission to get in & just spectate?

 

[Martin.]

With Snetterton,if your not taking part do you have to pay admission to get in & just spectate?

Nah anyone can come to the site to spectate

 

[Martin.]

What's a Megane shorter 5th gear worth second hand please @NorthloopCup ?

I had mine swapped back out for a normal one.

 

[VenomUK]

Awesome thread

 

[NorthloopCup]

What's a Megane shorter 5th gear worth second hand please @NorthloopCup ?

I had mine swapped back out for a normal one.

I’d say about £100 posted mate?

 

[Martin.]

That's about what I was thinking too but had no idea if I was way off the mark or not!

 

[Hyperhatch]

Excellent, I read your build thread and it costs me money! Shorter 5th gear on the way 😂

 

[Martin.]

Excellent, I read your build thread and it costs me money! Shorter 5th gear on the way 😂

Haha. Worth it though. More like a 4.5 gear instead of a 5th.

 

[Martin.]

 

[Martin.]

Spring 2020 Update

After our HUGE rush to get Grahams car done over Winter and both fully prepped for a closed Nürburgring track day in April, this global crisis started to explode out of control, and we had to cancel the trip.

Part of the track day prep on my car included checking the breakaway torque on the Gripper LSD. Once I had confirmed it needed a service, Graham gave me a huge hand in getting the box out very urgently for it to be sent up to Mark Mayfield. Mark dropped the diff to Gripper for their service, and whilst it was there, he gave my gearbox some love. Thankfully, it was in really good shape and did not need much at all (miss daisy driver over here). The turnaround was decent but being in lock down meant the car which is kept at my parents’ house was left on stands for almost 3 months.

For those interested, the gripper had been on my track car for pretty much 5 years exactly and it was second hand when I got it. So, it lasted very well and absorbed a lot of track miles.

When lock down eased and businesses started to re-open. Alex White from AWMotorworks very kindly came down to re-fit the gearbox for me and get the car up and running again. A few hours later he was done, and he drove the car back to his unit for me in anticipation for some other maintenance. Once he is done with it, I'm hoping to get a few track days in this Summer!

Whilst he was down at mine, he also supplied and fitted new Powerflex black ARB bushes to match the wishbones. As well as putting new track rod boots on my new solid mounted DCI steering rack. Courtesy of Graham's garage.

 

[Martin.]

Back in February I did also actually get the car over to @Mash. at Select Motorsport to have some work done on the sills. They were pretty crushed but are now reinforced and properly protected. I can also confirm the drain holes work perfectly again so hopefully no inner rot which seems to plague a lot of Clios. One more job ticked off the list which I had been meaning to get sorted for ages! So cheers to Matt for that.

Once the car was home I smothered the inner arches with Bilt Hamber Dynax S-50 which is an anti corrosion cavity wax.

Pictures taken from my Instagram story:

 

[Martin.]

The car also got a proper clean with help from my mate Sam, first of the year I think. I changed a few bolts for shiny items too.

 

[frayz]

Quick observation on the last image, you don't run the small tube supports between the subframe and vehicle body.
Any reason?

 

[Martin.]

Quick observation on the last image, you don't run the small tube supports between the subframe and vehicle body.
Any reason?

Yeah I do, it's just perfectly hidden behind the caliper there.

You can just about see the top of it in red behind my nimbus deflector plates.

 

[frayz]

DOH!!

 

[Martin.]

On the 29th Feb we went to Snetterton for a pre Nurburgring test day, and shake down for Grahams cup. It was raining all morning, but we had warm blue sky in the afternoon so it was good to fully test the cars. As some of you may know, Grahams cup blew out its copper turbo gasket so those were to be replaced with genuine Nissan parts on both cars.

Unfortunately I was pretty ill so didn't really enjoy the day at all. But I did feel something wasn't right with the diff, hence why I checked the breakaway torque and ended up sending it off to be serviced.

 

[Martin.]

I collected the car this weekend from AWMotorworks.

Alex spent some time sorting the following bits for me:

- Replaced the Slide Motorsport copper turbo gaskets with genuine Nissan items and new locking nuts.
- Re-sealed the turbo oil drain, as there was a slight oil weep.
- Modified the intercooler mounting so that it sits more flush with the rad rather than a huge gap in between.

Slide Motorsport copper gasket which failed on Graham's cup:

New Nissan parts:

After Alex reminded me to tax it, I drove the car home and it was not enjoyable at all!! The front carpets and underlay are all out at the moment as I'm trying to source a water leak! I originally thought it was up from the chassis rails, from when the car was at a huge angle on axle stands. Although since the car has been back on all four there has been another small collection of water on the floor, so I need to figure out where it's coming from!

Talc powder to try and source the drips:

Having the sound deadening, underlay and carpets makes such a huge difference to the NVH. I had forgotten how loud and rattly the car was before we fitted all of these back in last Summer! No idea how I lasted five or so years in the stripped out state!

So once I have found the leak I will jump at the opportunity to get the interior back together again! Combined with awful tracking the car was pretty tiring to drive all the way home and I was thankful when I pulled up onto the driveway!

Next few jobs will be:

- Get the tracking done.
- Source the interior leak.
- Get the third (spoiler) brake light fixed.
- Get some silver TD1.2s to put my Rainsport 5s on.
- Headlight resoration.
- Replace the rear exhaust mounts.

Until next time...

 

[Martin.]

CLs are also noisy as f**k on the road!! 👴