Mongolian Rally

[varnish5000]

Hello! (First post)

This summer I'll be driving a MK1 Clio (early to mid 90's I believe) all the way to Mongolia.
Thats about 8000 miles. And its all for charity.
http://www.mongoliarally.com/
(I'm a bit of a veteran, as I did it last year in a 1989 VW Polo. Heres a link of me fixing a very broken polo)
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q66/varnish5000/fixingpolo.jpg

I'm really just looking for advise.

The car is a 1.9 Diesel (Maybe 1992? not the coolest I know but fuel economy is important) which we are planning to convert to run on veg oil using a twin tank system.

The main problem we will encounter are the rough roads in Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

I'd like to know if we can swap the shocks and springs (all the running gear really) for something a bit beefier.
Maybe from a Clio van, or a Megane etc.

I'd like the car to ride higher to get a little more ground clearance.

So can I rob suspension parts from another Renault and just swap them over?
Or is not gonna be that easy?

Also going to fit sump and tank guards, and run the fuel/brake lines through the car.

Any replies would be appreciated, even if its just to chat about the rally.

Cheers
Varnish
(sorry for the long post)

 

[SBV116]

You must be mad!!! ha ha!! Looks like a chuckle if your into it!!, well the clio is a torsion bar on the rear, so if you could source longer chocks that could just be adjusted to make it higher, as for the front there isnt a great deal of bits to be had to my knowledge, the clio van is the same setup!
They dont go to bad the clio diesel!!!

Good luck!!

 

[Fred@BTM]

i ran a 1997 1.9D clio on veg oil (100%veg oil in the fuel tank) it loved it! (was difficult to start on cold mornings, but once it was warm it was spot on)

no moddifications at all

just look out for leaking crank seals (behind the flywheel)


torsion bar can be raised no problem, as for the front i have no idea what you could do, maybe make something that bolts the original 2 bolt holes on the hub and then bolts to the 2 bolt holes on the shock, that would lift it up a few inches, but then the driveshafts might fall out of the gearbox if you go too much

 

[SBV116]

I can just see you sat cranking the veg oil clio over on a chilly morning!!! Come on you b**ch!!!

 

[TomTom]

Can I suggest you take a spare 30 litres of oil

 

[varnish5000]

I can just see you sat cranking the veg oil clio over on a chilly morning!!! Come on you b**ch!!!

Well thats why we'd be installing a second fuel tank.

Run the car on diesel untill its up to running temp.

Then switch over to veg oil using a sloenoid valve and switch on the dash.
Also the fuel lines carring the veg oil will be heated by a small heat exchanger, and a heated fuel filter to reduce the oil viscosity.

Thanks for the advice, I'll have a look at the torsion bars.
It is just an adjustable bolt? Or would the rods need to be lengthend/shortend? I bet loads on here have lowered the set up on hte back, and I guess to raise the height would be the oppisite.

Cheers

 

[Fred@BTM]

pull em out, pull the rear beam down, whack em in, should only take 30min

 

[Ian_182]

Good luck with that

 

[varnish5000]

Do you not think it will be that easy to raise the rear Ian?

TBH it looks a litte involved to me.
Don't need anything to go wrong with the car.

Might just make a really solid tank guard.
They'll be a second tank in the boot so it won't be the end of the world if the tank does get a hole.