My 172 Cup from Purchase and Future Plans

[STCaulkin]

Hello ,

One week ago I purchased a 172 Cup 53' plate for £1330, bit of a reduction from the £1850 asking price but this was due it needing belts done etc. My last car was a 1.4L Fiesta which I had for 3 years, needless to say this car is my new pride and joy.

This was her in the advert:

I like the whole OEM look and therefore want to restore her to a very standard look and just try and make it in as nice condition as possible.

First I needed some work done as the belts hadnt been changed, if you see the picture below this was the condition of my cambelt all the way around! I am a lucky boy....

This is the invoice for all the work carried out on my car, needed a new dephaser and a good old service and oil change. I dont know if this is a good price or not let me know your opinions but at least I can sleep safe in the knowledge that the work has all been carried out.

So anyway, I am off to sea in a few days time for 4 months so dont have anything immediate planned for the car just little jobs to make her look a bit better. On my list is:
Change the head unit
Add gear knob insert and lacquer
Add the 2 172 Cup badges that have half fallen off
Add "sport" badge under the Renault badge
Restore head lights to clear glass using a restoration kit
Change rear lights from bling bling ones to standard

I know these are only small mods but I am on a budget and more shall happen when i return from the high seas with some money!

Had a bit of a clean the other day so pictures of this are below:

I know that no one on here is a fan of stickers so I hope these small RAW Motorsport ones dont offend anyone! (Its a novelty thing Im sure I will get bored of them soon and remove them)

Added these to make it official, will get the whole membership pack as soon as i am back from sea

Head unit was changed today for a nice Kenwood one. Although the Blue LEDs of the Kenwood make me want to get a full blue LED conversion now....

This is mine and my girlfriends 1.2 Dynamique together

So please let me know your opinions, I do intend to change the rear lights as soon as possible! Do the standard clio ones fight a 172 without any problems?

 

[Martin.]

Looks great. Lucky you got to the cambelt in time!! Chuck those tacky rear lights in the bin in my opinion lol!

 

[Dave Hester]

Yep standard rear lights fit straight on and its a 10 min job,

Apart from the rear lights it looks a lovely car and nice to see one with the front splitter still there

 

[jamievt]

nice car good base to build from think price is a bit steep for work done i had belts and service done by birchdown for around £400..

 

[STCaulkin]

nice car good base to build from think price is a bit steep for work done i had belts and service done by birchdown for around £400..

Cheers, yeah thought it seemed a bit steep but apparently the engine needs to be dropped and shifted sideways hence the large labour costs and with the dephaser too it all adds up unfortunately!

 

[STCaulkin]

Yep standard rear lights fit straight on and its a 10 min job,

Apart from the rear lights it looks a lovely car and nice to see one with the front splitter still there

Yeah will whack some standard ones on soon enough! Yeah splitter is in good nick actually

 

[jamievt]

Cheers, yeah thought it seemed a bit steep but apparently the engine needs to be dropped and shifted sideways hence the large labour costs and with the dephaser too it all adds up unfortunately!

i had my dephaser done to, and i dont think it has to be taken out :S

 

[MicKPM]

The engine doesn't have to be moved anywhere. Just remove the drivers engine mount and your away and its easy on a Cup.

Nice car btw, I really wanted one myself but couldn't find a decent one for less than £2.5k

 

[STCaulkin]

Wished I hadn't asked now! Ha. Cheers, at least now I know it's been done and the engine won't blow up on me.

 

[jamievt]

go and confront them on the matter a reputable trader on here has said himself it doesnt have to be moved and i think if you contacted the other approved traders on here they'd say the same if it was me id message birchdown mickkpm 519 and get prices of them see what they have to say for themselves

 

[jamievt]

Wished I hadn't asked now! Ha. Cheers, at least now I know it's been done and the engine won't blow up on me.

to make it worse there alot of threads of garages that have messed up timing on these and resorted in a knackered engine... the fact they over charged and told you lies about the job means they may not be very reputable

 

[MicKPM]

You've got paperwork so if it blows up it goes wrong, by law, the garage has to warrant the parts and labour for 12months.

By comparison though, on a 172 Cup, timing belt/dephaser is £465 with us (diamond motors) and includes a genuine oil filter and ELF SXR oil change.

It doesn't matter though now and you got helluva lucky looking at that belt kid

 

[Dan519]

£900!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! did you get vaseline with that???

they've bummed you dry for that labour charge. it's 2.5-3 hours tops, maybe an hour on top for other bits at a push, not 8!!!! and they've charged £16 more that a main dealer for the dephaser pulley, used the wrong grade oil (what's the 1.5 bit about? that would be 7.5 litres? )

 

[STCaulkin]

Hmm well I suppose the consolation of this is that the same guy that did the work was the one who got me £520 off of the asking price of the car... He is a friend (ish) and I honestly don't think he would rip me off but if you guys are giving me those prices I'm not saying you are wrong and maybe I should have gone elsewhere! Either way 2.2K for a Cup with 70K and belts done etc is a good price from the research I have done so I guess I don't feel too bad about it...