My £200 Mk2 Ph1 guinea pig!

[rizzstar]

Bought this little 1.4 8v S (Sport? Not sure, reg comes up as a 16v!) for £200 with tax and test. I won't lie in the past i've adamently said I love french cars, just not Renault, they suck, and now I have one, i'm a bit like. Well. I dunno how to handle it. I don't hate it, but I stand, build quality and reliability is still questioned. But, it's easy enough to work on and so far has had simple but rewarding fixes. And broke down within 2 days of getting it.

So I posted on here and learnt all my electrical woes are due to a faulty UCH, picked up an ECU+UCH+Fob for £28 delivered, hoping that'll put a stop to that. Used a heatgun to bring the plastics back to life again, and i'm waiting on some polishing pads to arrive for my rotary polisher (this is why it's a guinea pig, i've never done detailing before, but i'm interested to start).

Tbh for £200 I can't moan. The UCH replacement means it now stands me in £228 already taxed and tested ready to go. So far the odd jobs i've done owe me nothing else. Looking for a crash bar in black preferably as it's been pranged in the front before so nothing lines up, not too fussed for now but in the long term i'd like to smarten this thing up with some BBS reps and lows.

Photos from the Ad:

Started with the headlights, still waiting on polishing pads to finish them up:

They have some crazing in the plastic though where UV has damaged the plastic itself after the clearcoat failed. They'll come up better than before but never perfect. I might treat it to some new lights in the future. I then took a heatgun to all the plastics as they were all faded out:

And that brings me up to now. Waiting for the ECU+UCH set to arrive, going to order red tail light tint film on Friday when i'm paid. Will wash it and claybar it, followed by Polish and wax hopefully on Monday if the weather holds off for us.
Only other plans I have are chuck a small sound system in (got a couple of JBL amps and a 10" Precision Power sub, will make a nice box for this at some point), BBS reps and lows, might smooth the bumpers and boot and respray them if I feel like it. Nearly bought a complete half leather interior for £74 but figure I can't afford it so I had to let it go, which sucks as I hate the interior in this.

More as and when

 

[BoatNonce]

Re: My £200 Mk2 Ph2 guinea pig!

It's a phase 1

Seems alright though. Don't tint the lights, swap them for Phase 2 ones.

 

[Liaaaam]

Re: My £200 Mk2 Ph2 guinea pig!

Nice base to start with, im a lover of the ph1 clio. Will look much better lowered but not stupid low and a decent set of alloys

 

[cat171]

Re: My £200 Mk2 Ph2 guinea pig!

Please sort the rear wiper out.

 

[Darren S]

Re: My £200 Mk2 Ph2 guinea pig!

It's a phase 1

Seems alright though. Don't tint the lights, swap them for Phase 2 ones.

Edited

D.

 

[BGEarles]

Nice little car Should get sports interior for the win, feels so much better!

 

[Djw John]

Nice wee car, especially for £200!

 

[daveski]

Nice! A mate of mine had one of these for 10 years, same colour, spec etc. Had it from new as his first car.

 

[rizzstar]

It's a phase 1

Seems alright though. Don't tint the lights, swap them for Phase 2 ones.

Guessing I wrote Ph2 like a numpty, yeah I know it's a Ph1 though bud As for the lights, I want a cleaned semi-euro look, so the older Ph1 lights suit that more, they're a cleaner style. It's only a fiver of film to try it out and easily reversed. I have a set of Ph2 lights to pick up as well, will see what I like. I tempted making it a Ph2 172 rep but that's expensive and I like the old school look on this.

Nice base to start with, im a lover of the ph1 clio. Will look much better lowered but not stupid low and a decent set of alloys

Cheers bud, will be getting lowered on 15x7 BBS reps with coilies after seeing this one:

Please sort the rear wiper out.

UCH dying has left it there, personally probably going to smooth it off anyway bud. Might use it as a boot popper signal.

Nice little car  Should get sports interior for the win, feels so much better!

Does have very huggy seats already, not the standard low spec ones. Pretty sure it's got sports seats. I want a half leather set eventually but the outside is my focus as i'll be using it to get to jobs at work and I need something presentable. Bodywork wise this isn't *that* bad tbf.

 

[rizzstar]

Btw the reg comes up as a 16v Sport but it's definitely an 8v. Anyone else had this problem? Should this be a 16v really? I wondered if the engine died in the past and they fitted an 8v for cheapness?

 

[BoatNonce]

^^^ I was going to post that car. LB-1 or something similar? I've probably got it wrong. (apologies to that person!)

 

[rizzstar]

^^^ I was going to post that car. LB-1 or something similar? I've probably got it wrong. (apologies to that person!)

I'm a peen.

I get it, yeah found it on a post on here somewhere. Can't remember, came up on google though. Looks spot on

 

[Djw John]

Btw the reg comes up as a 16v Sport but it's definitely an 8v. Anyone else had this problem? Should this be a 16v really? I wondered if the engine died in the past and they fitted an 8v for cheapness?

It's a relatively common mistake when it was registered. Just make sure dvla and insurance know it's the original 1.4 8v and not the 1.2 16v sport.

 

[Liaaaam]

Im a standard alloys guy but they do look good on the clio and the ride height looks spot on in that photo

 

[Corby G]

Re: My £200 Mk2 Ph2 guinea pig!

Please sort the rear wiper out.

I didn't notice it, read your comment, looked at the photo and pissed myself laughing haha

 

[Typhoon]

If you got the plate with it also, that could be worth a few bob (it may mean something to someone!)

Look in to that!

 

[rizzstar]

It's a relatively common mistake when it was registered. Just make sure dvla and insurance know it's the original 1.4 8v and not the 1.2 16v sport.

Ah okay, wondered if I was nuts. I'll give DVLA a ring and find out how to go about. Hope it's not a big pain.

Im a standard alloys guy but they do look good on the clio and the ride height looks spot on in that photo

Definitely. Would love to have genuine BBS RS 15x7 wheels, but they're proper rare and expensive. Will probably put fakes on tbh, i'm not planning on having this car forever.

I didn't notice it, read your comment, looked at the photo and pissed myself laughing haha

It is funny, I laugh each time I see it!

If you got the plate with it also, that could be worth a few bob (it may mean something to someone!)

Look in to that!

Plates worth £200, I might keep it though. It's cool having a 6 plate instead of a 7, just something a bit funky about it.

Spent some time giving it some love today. Really need to sort the front end out as everythings out of alignment and it bugs me. Will have to track down a crash beam and bumper, seeing as the bumpers not perfect and I managed to burn the bump strip with my polisher today. D'oh! At least it was my own car.

First of all, I spent a bit of time finishing the headlights. Passenger side came out spot on, but the drivers side I think could do with replacing if one comes up. However i'm happy with them now, I debated putting some clean low spec ones on as I thought these would always be a bit yellow but surprisingly not. I now want some silvatec indicators bulbs though, and some HID's to finish them up nicely.

I also decided to make the PSF wing my first culprit to be attacked by my polishing machine. I washed it down, gave it a clay, and then attacked it with a cutting pad and Poorboys SSR2, followed up by a polishing pad with SSR2, then final polishing with a finishing pad and Poorboys SSR1. Once I was happy i'd achieved what I could with scratch removal (there are a couple of marks that need a touch up really, including a scratch down to primer on this wing in particular) I followed up with a couple of layers of Poorboys Natty Blue wax. Smells like bubblegum, fresh!

Not much for pictures today, was late to a hospital appointment as I got so engrossed in the detailing! Oops.

Headlights before (this side was worse than the passenger under the yellow):

During wetsanding (this was at 2000 grit):

And the final result after polish and wax:

I got to admit I was pretty happy with this. They're not perfect but given the state they were in and the fact the plastic itself started crazing (fine cracks in the plastic surface) these came up well. This side definitely looks better though.

So after this I got happy on the passenger wing., I have to admit this came out pretty good too. I'm new to detailing (got experience with doing headlight corrections, but not paint) and i'm pretty chuffed this came up so well for my first time, and on a £200 car!

EDIT: This is the next panel to attack, the bonnet. Looks like it's been sprayed and appears more grey than the wing. Still, i'll wetsand it and buff it, worst i'll be doing is replacing it, which seeing as it's far from perfect anyway, doesn't bother me:

 

[Liaaaam]

Cracking job on them headlights mate !! I usually wet sand out scratches, make sure you keep it well soaked and you wont have a problem and dont rub too hard just apply slight pressure !!

 

[rizzstar]

Cheers bud. I've got a fair bit of experience with lights as I do it on the side, although due to the crazing in the lense I thought these were goners. Still, a nice surprise that they came up okay, even if one is a bit worse off (tbf, it's mostly dirt inside the lense causing it).

Got my red tail light tint. Tried to tint the light. Failed hard. Stuff is so thick it's impossible to curve, even with a heat gun!

 

[rizzstar]

So there may still be life in this project, I've still had it sitting around and not used it, my dad's been hooning around in it (and I've had to bump him a few mornings as the ecu set that arrived didn't work!

However, I did win myself an F4R 172 engine, gearbox, ancillaries and ecu+key. For much cheaps. Anyone know what odds and sods I might need to get it in I don't know of? I don't know if mounts are there but I'm thinking things like linkages, clutch cable etc will they all be different?

Also tempting relocating a few things in the engine area like the ECU and battery etc for a cleaner look. May end up going a bit more OTT than I originally planned!