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My Renaultsport Clio 172 Cup restoration project
- Thread starter Gibbo205
- Start date
Mbeau
ClioSport Club Member
Clio 172
For road use new genuine Brembo discs and pads are more than up to the job imo.
Agree with the steering wheel. My road car has a retrimmed snappy wheel, which I actually quite like the size and feel of for everyday use. The track car has a Renaultsport Sabelt wheel, which is great and adds to the driving experience.
The steering wheels that @R-Sport. sells are really smart and definately look and feel the part. @George@RTR_Parts Is the man for any brake related parts.
Great build thread and some excellent results in a small amount of time. Very nice.
Agree with the steering wheel. My road car has a retrimmed snappy wheel, which I actually quite like the size and feel of for everyday use. The track car has a Renaultsport Sabelt wheel, which is great and adds to the driving experience.
The steering wheels that @R-Sport. sells are really smart and definately look and feel the part. @George@RTR_Parts Is the man for any brake related parts.
Great build thread and some excellent results in a small amount of time. Very nice.
Does look ace!
But don't I need different stalk or something so my horn still works or to stop it catching fire thought I read somewhere? Plus a boss or something?
Hi there
Some more jobs on the Clio today, removed the old upper engine mount and cleaned the area up, great to see no rust or corrosion:
Then fitted up the new engine mount along with Powerflex insert to help limit movement, seems a highly recommended modification on these cars:
I then made decision to remove air box, throttle body etc to give a cleaning, the throttle body was rather dirty (no before pictures) and the air box was rather dusty, plus there was a load of PS fluid/dirt on top of gearbox. So I thoroughly cleaned the throttle body and got some degreaser to work on some parts of engine and the gear box.
All much cleaner, I then went to work with a detailing spray to bring up the plastics and finally the engine bay is looking somewhat fresher now:
So now all the engine/gearbox mounts are done, upper, lower and dogbone. Only the upper has Powerflex insert, as I am only really using Powerflex where it makes sense, end of the day its an original car restoration so trying to keep it original.
The parts left over now to fit is:
- Front wishbones x2
- Inner & outer track rods
- Powerflex anti roll bar bushings
- Powerflex rear beam bushes
- Wheel sorted
- R1R fitted all round
That should have the car spot on the, driving the car today I have to say it felt even more responsive and urgent, no doubt a bit placebo from the upper engine mount and powerflex as now the engine rocks less, visibly than before so that force will be in the cars shell and thus give added response, the throttle body was rather dirty, so maybe a handful horses restored also.
Really enjoying driving the car, but the steering wheel is definitely too big, so I might consider removing and putting into storage and fitting something smaller so I can enjoy the car better.
Some more jobs on the Clio today, removed the old upper engine mount and cleaned the area up, great to see no rust or corrosion:
Then fitted up the new engine mount along with Powerflex insert to help limit movement, seems a highly recommended modification on these cars:
I then made decision to remove air box, throttle body etc to give a cleaning, the throttle body was rather dirty (no before pictures) and the air box was rather dusty, plus there was a load of PS fluid/dirt on top of gearbox. So I thoroughly cleaned the throttle body and got some degreaser to work on some parts of engine and the gear box.
All much cleaner, I then went to work with a detailing spray to bring up the plastics and finally the engine bay is looking somewhat fresher now:
So now all the engine/gearbox mounts are done, upper, lower and dogbone. Only the upper has Powerflex insert, as I am only really using Powerflex where it makes sense, end of the day its an original car restoration so trying to keep it original.
The parts left over now to fit is:
- Front wishbones x2
- Inner & outer track rods
- Powerflex anti roll bar bushings
- Powerflex rear beam bushes
- Wheel sorted
- R1R fitted all round
That should have the car spot on the, driving the car today I have to say it felt even more responsive and urgent, no doubt a bit placebo from the upper engine mount and powerflex as now the engine rocks less, visibly than before so that force will be in the cars shell and thus give added response, the throttle body was rather dirty, so maybe a handful horses restored also.
Really enjoying driving the car, but the steering wheel is definitely too big, so I might consider removing and putting into storage and fitting something smaller so I can enjoy the car better.
So the Clio made its first trip to work today, along the way I through in a bottle of Redex 5in1 Petrol injector cleaner along with a full tank of Vpower.
Some my say why? Why not? Always found on my older 205's Redex really improved the running of the car, now the Clio has no signs of problems, but as I suspect the previous owner filled it with regular fuel and never did anything more than absolutely necessary, I feel a Redex treatment shall do no harm. I also have regular Redex 2 shots, so once this tank is empty, I shall run a tank of Vpower, then next full temp throw in regular Redex which should clean the injectors up nicely if they do indeed have any fouling on them.
Can I feel any difference? No. As I say car was showing no problems, just doing it more as preventative maintenance.
Grab a few photos as the car is looking so much fresher now after all the work I've done to it:
Also booked it in at local garage to have front wishbones and front inner/outer track rod ends fitted. Yeah the alignment will be screwed though to be honest it already feels pretty screwed up judging by the amount of torque steer I get even in 3rd over undulating surfaces, though I think the larger issue here is the 4 miss matched tyres and the front passenger winter tyre is doing my know favours, so I don't care if these tyres get destroyed.
Once the R1R's are on, it shall have the rest of the bushes replaced that have not been done so far and a full alignment to factory specification.
Some my say why? Why not? Always found on my older 205's Redex really improved the running of the car, now the Clio has no signs of problems, but as I suspect the previous owner filled it with regular fuel and never did anything more than absolutely necessary, I feel a Redex treatment shall do no harm. I also have regular Redex 2 shots, so once this tank is empty, I shall run a tank of Vpower, then next full temp throw in regular Redex which should clean the injectors up nicely if they do indeed have any fouling on them.
Can I feel any difference? No. As I say car was showing no problems, just doing it more as preventative maintenance.
Grab a few photos as the car is looking so much fresher now after all the work I've done to it:
Also booked it in at local garage to have front wishbones and front inner/outer track rod ends fitted. Yeah the alignment will be screwed though to be honest it already feels pretty screwed up judging by the amount of torque steer I get even in 3rd over undulating surfaces, though I think the larger issue here is the 4 miss matched tyres and the front passenger winter tyre is doing my know favours, so I don't care if these tyres get destroyed.
Once the R1R's are on, it shall have the rest of the bushes replaced that have not been done so far and a full alignment to factory specification.
Hi there
So these have turned up at work!
In the last picture, is that manufacturer date? So a 2018 tyre?
I am surprised to see they are treadwear 200, I was under impression R1R's were a 140 treadwear, so maybe Toyo made an update, they are incredibly sticky and soft, but the sidewalls are very stiff which I find surprising as Toyo tend to be soft, but there again these are motorsport tyres with re-inforced sidewalls, car will look far better once these are on as they are a better fitment.
So these have turned up at work!
In the last picture, is that manufacturer date? So a 2018 tyre?
I am surprised to see they are treadwear 200, I was under impression R1R's were a 140 treadwear, so maybe Toyo made an update, they are incredibly sticky and soft, but the sidewalls are very stiff which I find surprising as Toyo tend to be soft, but there again these are motorsport tyres with re-inforced sidewalls, car will look far better once these are on as they are a better fitment.
In first week of 2018. What model is?Hi there
So these have turned up at work!
View attachment 1383751
View attachment 1383752
In the last picture, is that manufacturer date? So a 2018 tyre?
I am surprised to see they are treadwear 200, I was under impression R1R's were a 140 treadwear, so maybe Toyo made an update, they are incredibly sticky and soft, but the sidewalls are very stiff which I find surprising as Toyo tend to be soft, but there again these are motorsport tyres with re-inforced sidewalls, car will look far better once these are on as they are a better fitment.
Thanks
LE: R1R
Hi there
OK just got car back from local garage, just like Birchdown Specialist, they commented that its a very clean car indeed, no rust issues and just minor surface corrosion most of which they fixed for me.
They did say the cup wishbones were in relatively good condition which came off and probably would not have bothered changing them, but I want it totally fresh. They did say there was play in the inner rack joint, so good choice to get them swapped over to genuine parts.
They treated the surface corrosion areas with some hammerite black rust paint on the rear beam and front anti-roll bar, they said rest of car was fine.
Only major issue they spotted was a rear tyre with a nail (I knew) and the other rear tyre has two eggs on inner sidewall, plus what looked like some fluid on rear caliper, but they also noted it was a new caliper and the fluid seemed old and did not smell of brake fluid, cleaned that off so can just keep an eye on it.
The brakes will be getting a full refresh anyway, disc, pads, fluid, lines etc. Any further issues can be fixed then.
Grabbed a couple of pictures of the car on the ramp, excuse the dirty under tray, I've degreased and cleaned down the engine bay from when the PS fluid leaked, but never cleaned the tray, my error.
So the rear tyre situation has me a little panicked, as I've been throwing it around somewhat, best play it safe for now and I am now gonna try to find somewhere else to get wheels done, as its pointless fitting the new tyres to knackered wheels and the place I was gonna get the wheels done by can't do them until 2nd week of September, so I need to find somewhere else than can do them, not looking for cheap, just want a good job in original colour and ideally local to myself (Stoke / Congleton), don't particular want to drive any distance due to having to leave car over night, so ideally needs to be within 10 miles maximum.
Oh and the front end, it feels so much tighter, it was kind of vague and wandering over indulations, which I did suspect was the track rods and miss match of tyres, but now it feels much tighter and far more direct, so that is great as of course with 4 matching tyres with firmer sidewalls it will probably become incredibly pointy.
So if your front-end feels vague or not so direct in a Clio, definetely inspect the track rods, the inner had play on mine and it was minor but what a transformation. Maybe the wishbones help too, unknown but it just feels more solid, more direct and better damped on front-end, before it knock a tad over rougher surface, my guess is that was the ball joint worn, of course the new wishbones came pre-fitted with new balljoints as well.
Like I say I do not mess about, the suspension is getting a full refresh to original standards or better, I want to experience the car how Renault meant, so all tight, all fresh. I think now every rubber bush, mount has been replaced, apart from the ones I've yet to do which are:
- Powerflex steering bushes
- Powerflex rear beam bushes
- Powerflex ARB bushes
That is all is left along with a full brake refresh as in such a car confidence in braking is paramount, its pretty good as it is, just too soft on front due to Winter tyre squirming, the tyres will fix that.
OK just got car back from local garage, just like Birchdown Specialist, they commented that its a very clean car indeed, no rust issues and just minor surface corrosion most of which they fixed for me.
They did say the cup wishbones were in relatively good condition which came off and probably would not have bothered changing them, but I want it totally fresh. They did say there was play in the inner rack joint, so good choice to get them swapped over to genuine parts.
They treated the surface corrosion areas with some hammerite black rust paint on the rear beam and front anti-roll bar, they said rest of car was fine.
Only major issue they spotted was a rear tyre with a nail (I knew) and the other rear tyre has two eggs on inner sidewall, plus what looked like some fluid on rear caliper, but they also noted it was a new caliper and the fluid seemed old and did not smell of brake fluid, cleaned that off so can just keep an eye on it.
The brakes will be getting a full refresh anyway, disc, pads, fluid, lines etc. Any further issues can be fixed then.
Grabbed a couple of pictures of the car on the ramp, excuse the dirty under tray, I've degreased and cleaned down the engine bay from when the PS fluid leaked, but never cleaned the tray, my error.
So the rear tyre situation has me a little panicked, as I've been throwing it around somewhat, best play it safe for now and I am now gonna try to find somewhere else to get wheels done, as its pointless fitting the new tyres to knackered wheels and the place I was gonna get the wheels done by can't do them until 2nd week of September, so I need to find somewhere else than can do them, not looking for cheap, just want a good job in original colour and ideally local to myself (Stoke / Congleton), don't particular want to drive any distance due to having to leave car over night, so ideally needs to be within 10 miles maximum.
Oh and the front end, it feels so much tighter, it was kind of vague and wandering over indulations, which I did suspect was the track rods and miss match of tyres, but now it feels much tighter and far more direct, so that is great as of course with 4 matching tyres with firmer sidewalls it will probably become incredibly pointy.
So if your front-end feels vague or not so direct in a Clio, definetely inspect the track rods, the inner had play on mine and it was minor but what a transformation. Maybe the wishbones help too, unknown but it just feels more solid, more direct and better damped on front-end, before it knock a tad over rougher surface, my guess is that was the ball joint worn, of course the new wishbones came pre-fitted with new balljoints as well.
Like I say I do not mess about, the suspension is getting a full refresh to original standards or better, I want to experience the car how Renault meant, so all tight, all fresh. I think now every rubber bush, mount has been replaced, apart from the ones I've yet to do which are:
- Powerflex steering bushes
- Powerflex rear beam bushes
- Powerflex ARB bushes
That is all is left along with a full brake refresh as in such a car confidence in braking is paramount, its pretty good as it is, just too soft on front due to Winter tyre squirming, the tyres will fix that.
Great thread, nice to see the time and effort you've invested into this car is going to pay off. Love a clean Cup.
If you're looking for a local wheel refurbishment, I'd recommend Top Marques in Fenton, Stoke on Trent, did a great job on my Speedlines for the 197 Cup I previously owned. (Miss that car)
Speedline & OZ by Adam Melville, on Flickr
If you're looking for a local wheel refurbishment, I'd recommend Top Marques in Fenton, Stoke on Trent, did a great job on my Speedlines for the 197 Cup I previously owned. (Miss that car)
Those guys have done five sets of wheels for me, always top quality.
Unfortunately they are on vacation until September 3rd, so am trying Shropshire Powder coaters, who are doing a same day service for me this Friday with free use of their coffee machine for the day.
Hi there
So after discovered I had a rear tyre with 2 eggs in the inner sidewalls, I decided to speed up getting the new tyres on and hence I decided to use another powder coaters as per recommendation by Phil W from Overclockers UK forums. So this morning I arrived at Powder Coating Shropshire, his contact details are:
https://www.facebook.com/powdercoatingshropshire/
Rosehill Industrial Estate (15.02 mi)
Market Drayton TF9 2JU
07426 193224
So I arrived at 7am this morning, the plan been the sooner we start, the sooner we finish as I wanted the sameday turn around and I apologise now because this post shall have many photos.
So here is a photo of the condition of the wheels:
As you can see, they were heavily corroded, curbed and generally just looking pretty terrible, really letting down the car after all the work I have put into it, but of course the wheels were always on the to do list.
So the first step was to get the car up on the ramps and wheels removed:
The wheels were then placed in a container full of chemical, for ease lets just call it acid, essentially these rather nasty chemicals strip the wheels down, after soaking for nearly an hour this is how the wheels came out:
So already quite a major transformation, after this the wheels then go through the following process:
Here is some photos of these processors and the machines used, your talking serious value in equipment here:
As it was a whilst I wait service, they had permitted me to work on my car, so I set about cleaning the calipers, arches and underside of the car, I then painted the calipers in a stock OEM silver using Hammerite direct to rust smooth silver, been recommended this by other Clio owners and applied it with a brush, was not after a show car level of work, just wanting to give the cleaner look, needless to say this was achieved, here are some before and after photos of arches dirty, arches clean, underside and painted calipers. The guys at the Powdercoaters did comment on how incredibly clean the underside and arches already were, definitely a spotless and rust free shell on this car, not bad for 16 years old.
I also cleaned the underside of the engine thoroughly as well, but as you can see the shell and general condition of the underside of the car is fantastic, very solid indeed. Yes I got the caliper paint all over the pads and disc, but the job was not to be neat, simply because all the disc, pads, lines and fluid are been replaced with new uprated Brembo parts along with EBC Yellow pads and Goodridge lines, this is all been done next week, hence I was not worried about getting the paint on pads or disc.
I am now very pleased with condition of the car, the underside is clean, arches clean, even around the fuel filler there is zero corrosion, likewise for arches. The silver calipers just give the car a much fresher look as I shall now show you with the final photos of the wheels re-fitted to the car, its simply a transformation.
So here is the final result, some photos outside the Powdercoaters:
Here are some slightly higher resolution photos outside both the Powdercoasters and Overclockers UK:
You cannot believe how happy I am with the results, I have to highly recommend Powdercoatings Shropshire for a truly fantastic job and incredible service, especially around turning around same day. Remember due to their process these should last many years and the finish is also exceptional, please remember the condition my wheels were, now several hours later they are transformed.
Next job is the full brake refresh, disc, pads, hoses, fluid. Then just the remaining bushes, so ARB bushes, steering rack bushes and rear beam bushes. Then the car restoration mechanically is done, the next step is a professional paint correction, detail, polish and sealant by the boys at Autobrite.
So after discovered I had a rear tyre with 2 eggs in the inner sidewalls, I decided to speed up getting the new tyres on and hence I decided to use another powder coaters as per recommendation by Phil W from Overclockers UK forums. So this morning I arrived at Powder Coating Shropshire, his contact details are:
https://www.facebook.com/powdercoatingshropshire/
Rosehill Industrial Estate (15.02 mi)
Market Drayton TF9 2JU
07426 193224
So I arrived at 7am this morning, the plan been the sooner we start, the sooner we finish as I wanted the sameday turn around and I apologise now because this post shall have many photos.
So here is a photo of the condition of the wheels:
As you can see, they were heavily corroded, curbed and generally just looking pretty terrible, really letting down the car after all the work I have put into it, but of course the wheels were always on the to do list.
So the first step was to get the car up on the ramps and wheels removed:
The wheels were then placed in a container full of chemical, for ease lets just call it acid, essentially these rather nasty chemicals strip the wheels down, after soaking for nearly an hour this is how the wheels came out:
So already quite a major transformation, after this the wheels then go through the following process:
- First dipped in acid bath (special nasty chemicals)
- Then they are sanded to remove any curb rash and other marks, if they are cracked then they can also be welded at this point
- They are then aqua blasted
- They are then baked at 200c to allow any chemicals to sweat out and then allowed to cool down
- They are then primer, baked and allowed to cool again
- They are then painted in your desired colour/finish, baked and allowed to cool
- Final stage is the lacquer which helps repel dust/dirt to make cleaning very easy, baked and cooled, now ready for re-fitting to the car
Here is some photos of these processors and the machines used, your talking serious value in equipment here:
As it was a whilst I wait service, they had permitted me to work on my car, so I set about cleaning the calipers, arches and underside of the car, I then painted the calipers in a stock OEM silver using Hammerite direct to rust smooth silver, been recommended this by other Clio owners and applied it with a brush, was not after a show car level of work, just wanting to give the cleaner look, needless to say this was achieved, here are some before and after photos of arches dirty, arches clean, underside and painted calipers. The guys at the Powdercoaters did comment on how incredibly clean the underside and arches already were, definitely a spotless and rust free shell on this car, not bad for 16 years old.
I also cleaned the underside of the engine thoroughly as well, but as you can see the shell and general condition of the underside of the car is fantastic, very solid indeed. Yes I got the caliper paint all over the pads and disc, but the job was not to be neat, simply because all the disc, pads, lines and fluid are been replaced with new uprated Brembo parts along with EBC Yellow pads and Goodridge lines, this is all been done next week, hence I was not worried about getting the paint on pads or disc.
I am now very pleased with condition of the car, the underside is clean, arches clean, even around the fuel filler there is zero corrosion, likewise for arches. The silver calipers just give the car a much fresher look as I shall now show you with the final photos of the wheels re-fitted to the car, its simply a transformation.
So here is the final result, some photos outside the Powdercoaters:
Here are some slightly higher resolution photos outside both the Powdercoasters and Overclockers UK:
You cannot believe how happy I am with the results, I have to highly recommend Powdercoatings Shropshire for a truly fantastic job and incredible service, especially around turning around same day. Remember due to their process these should last many years and the finish is also exceptional, please remember the condition my wheels were, now several hours later they are transformed.
Next job is the full brake refresh, disc, pads, hoses, fluid. Then just the remaining bushes, so ARB bushes, steering rack bushes and rear beam bushes. Then the car restoration mechanically is done, the next step is a professional paint correction, detail, polish and sealant by the boys at Autobrite.
yeecup
ClioSport Club Member
mk8Fiesta ST,172 cup
Looking great. My cups wheels were also in a shocking state when I bought them and after being refurbished made such a difference to the look of the car, really freshens them up. Great work so far it's going to be a cracking example when you are finished.
Hi there
So as I mentioned the next step is a full brake refresh with some uprated components:
So the refresh shall consist of:
That shall refresh the brake system to an OEM plus specification.
Had a good drive in the car today, pretty warm sunny day as well at 25c which is of course where the R1R might struggle been more a wet racing tyre, but they performed great, the braking ability is transformed with these tyres. On the ditch finders, hard braking would lock up the wheels and cause skidding (no ABS), whereas now the car stops much better with no skidding, so braking performance on new tyres is vastly improved, be even better with all the above fitted.
Other than that the tyres are certainly more grippy, you can really corner extremely fast, they hint with some understeer towards limits but you can apply more steering and modulate the throttle to re-tighten the line, right on the limit they do squeal a little but of course your going faster. They seem to be also getting better and better with miles.
So as I mentioned the next step is a full brake refresh with some uprated components:
So the refresh shall consist of:
- Brembo front XTRA HC disc
- Brembo rear HC disc with integrated bearing
- EBC Yellow front pads
- Pagid rear pads
- ATE DOT4 Racing fluid
- Goodridge lines
- New rear hubnuts
- New rear spacers for disc
- Calipers shall be fully rebuilt and refurbished as well
That shall refresh the brake system to an OEM plus specification.
Had a good drive in the car today, pretty warm sunny day as well at 25c which is of course where the R1R might struggle been more a wet racing tyre, but they performed great, the braking ability is transformed with these tyres. On the ditch finders, hard braking would lock up the wheels and cause skidding (no ABS), whereas now the car stops much better with no skidding, so braking performance on new tyres is vastly improved, be even better with all the above fitted.
Other than that the tyres are certainly more grippy, you can really corner extremely fast, they hint with some understeer towards limits but you can apply more steering and modulate the throttle to re-tighten the line, right on the limit they do squeal a little but of course your going faster. They seem to be also getting better and better with miles.
Hi there
So collected the car from Birchdown Auto Services at lunch time, it has had following done which pretty much completes the restoration mechanically:
Some pictures of the brakes:
The brakes are certainly more powerful with stopping force, the pedal feels very solid with fantastic feel, all round the brakes feel totally fantastic, normally small hatches feel under braked, but the Clio felt quite good stock, but now it feels like its got serious stopping power with great modulation.
The front-end is certainly more direct and pointy, not quite as dramatic as it was after having the inner and outer track rods along with new wishbones fitted, but its definetely that bit more precise again and grip feels further improved.
Can't say I can feel any additional power from the RS inlet, but if my old one was in good condition, then its probably worth 3-4HP at best, so not the kind of thing you will notice, the guys at Birchdown did say they could see a difference, the RS inlet looked better from factory for sure and along with the 182 manifold is probably a big chunk of the 10PS gain the 182 had.
They said it got a lot of attention at Demon Tweeks due to how clean it was underneath and how it was in such good condition. They said it drives absolutely superb, one of the best, but it really should be as the car is now totally fresh, every suspension component and bush updated.
All that now leaves is 182 manifold, good quality manifold back system with sports cat, keeping the stealth look and low noise, then a remap from EFI, job done.
P.S. It shall be at the Overclockers UK car meet this Saturday, were expecting well over 100 cars, FREE food, competitions, H2H Simulators and an F1 VR simulator shall be present to play on as well. Hope some of you guys can make it down.
So collected the car from Birchdown Auto Services at lunch time, it has had following done which pretty much completes the restoration mechanically:
- Front Powerflex Arb bushes
- Powerflex steering rack bushes
- Powerflex rear beam bushes
- New Brembo HC disc
- EBC Yellow front, pagid pads rear
- Uprated brake hoses
- Fluid flush/change
- RS lower inlet fitted, ports matched on block and upper, everything cleaned
- Alignment by Demon Tweeks
Some pictures of the brakes:
The brakes are certainly more powerful with stopping force, the pedal feels very solid with fantastic feel, all round the brakes feel totally fantastic, normally small hatches feel under braked, but the Clio felt quite good stock, but now it feels like its got serious stopping power with great modulation.
The front-end is certainly more direct and pointy, not quite as dramatic as it was after having the inner and outer track rods along with new wishbones fitted, but its definetely that bit more precise again and grip feels further improved.
Can't say I can feel any additional power from the RS inlet, but if my old one was in good condition, then its probably worth 3-4HP at best, so not the kind of thing you will notice, the guys at Birchdown did say they could see a difference, the RS inlet looked better from factory for sure and along with the 182 manifold is probably a big chunk of the 10PS gain the 182 had.
They said it got a lot of attention at Demon Tweeks due to how clean it was underneath and how it was in such good condition. They said it drives absolutely superb, one of the best, but it really should be as the car is now totally fresh, every suspension component and bush updated.
All that now leaves is 182 manifold, good quality manifold back system with sports cat, keeping the stealth look and low noise, then a remap from EFI, job done.
P.S. It shall be at the Overclockers UK car meet this Saturday, were expecting well over 100 cars, FREE food, competitions, H2H Simulators and an F1 VR simulator shall be present to play on as well. Hope some of you guys can make it down.
Fantastic job you've done on it. Surely must be one of the cleanest cups out there now.
I might have to give that chipex stuff a go. I'd seen the promo vid for it before but was very sceptical but it looks more than good enough to fill the chips on my old shed.
Your wheels came up great too. Mine were the same when I bought them and the coaters turned out to be proper monkeys. I'll try again in spring I think. Carry on the good work?
I might have to give that chipex stuff a go. I'd seen the promo vid for it before but was very sceptical but it looks more than good enough to fill the chips on my old shed.
Your wheels came up great too. Mine were the same when I bought them and the coaters turned out to be proper monkeys. I'll try again in spring I think. Carry on the good work?
Hi there
No real updates to the car but today it hit 56,000 miles:
I've been using the car every day for the past week or so, it is such an enjoyable thing to drive, though this morning with if slightly frosted up you soon realise the annoyance of no AC, it took ages to defrost, though a small complaint.
Some photos from the recent OcUK meet, not taken by myself of course:
Here is my alignment settings, not requested by me, I just requested factory settings:
So a few questions to resident experts, I am surprised by such little caster, yes I replaced the wishbones to the new latest ones, which supposedly have the same additional caster like Cups ones did, upon visual inspection the new ones compared to original cup ones do look the same.
So my guess is because the car is running minimal front negative camber is why caster is also a little low and I guess increasing front negative camber would also increase the caster?
The car drives fine, infact it is huge fun, yes it does under steer at the limit, but not to the point its annoying, it is very manageable, even fun and more steering lock will see it turn in. The rear is absolutely planted, that is going nowhere!
So I suspect if I did add more front negative camber, to an extent it would dial out some of the understeer? If true what is a good negative camber value to aim for on the front for fast road use? Do I need camber bolts to adjust front camber or is there adjustment from factory?
No real updates to the car but today it hit 56,000 miles:
I've been using the car every day for the past week or so, it is such an enjoyable thing to drive, though this morning with if slightly frosted up you soon realise the annoyance of no AC, it took ages to defrost, though a small complaint.
Some photos from the recent OcUK meet, not taken by myself of course:
Here is my alignment settings, not requested by me, I just requested factory settings:
So a few questions to resident experts, I am surprised by such little caster, yes I replaced the wishbones to the new latest ones, which supposedly have the same additional caster like Cups ones did, upon visual inspection the new ones compared to original cup ones do look the same.
So my guess is because the car is running minimal front negative camber is why caster is also a little low and I guess increasing front negative camber would also increase the caster?
The car drives fine, infact it is huge fun, yes it does under steer at the limit, but not to the point its annoying, it is very manageable, even fun and more steering lock will see it turn in. The rear is absolutely planted, that is going nowhere!
So I suspect if I did add more front negative camber, to an extent it would dial out some of the understeer? If true what is a good negative camber value to aim for on the front for fast road use? Do I need camber bolts to adjust front camber or is there adjustment from factory?
Cheers, any chance of a web url for some camber bolts I can buy which are correct for the cup please?
Eibach ones will do you right. Search that part no in ebay. They are around £20.
Attachments
yeecup
ClioSport Club Member
mk8Fiesta ST,172 cup
Hi there
Had some fun at Curborough sprint circuit yesterday at the OcUK track day meet:
The car was huge fun, been pretty much an original cup but all fresh it handled and gripped fantastic and was extremely progressive, easy to drive at 10/10 tenths and not get into trouble.
Yes due to only running -0.5 negative camber on the front the car was pushing a little and the outer edge of the tyres got a good scrubbing, I've now got a pair of camber bolts for the car as the outer edge of tyres were also scrubbing a little on road too, so it absolutely needs a little more front negative camber, so am gonna set it to around -1.00 per side and see how it goes.
Car engine maintained temperature perfectly, no overheating at all which for such a short spring circuit is very impressive as my E46 M3 gets pretty hot here.
The brakes were also flawless, no fading, hugely powerful and only thing of note was smoking pads, not an issue with a couple of cool down laps.
The car is a little soft, as are the tyres particular on a red hot sunny day like yesterday, but as this is not a track car, on the road they perform excellent as they grip from the word go and are excellent in the wet.
Overall the car was huge fun, no issues and did I say a lot of fun.
P.S. Last bit of the puzzle has arrived, 182 manifold, PMS manifold back exhaust system with 200 cel cat and silencer. Once fitted off to EFI for a map, hopefully all this will improve the mid range 2500-4500 region.
Had some fun at Curborough sprint circuit yesterday at the OcUK track day meet:
The car was huge fun, been pretty much an original cup but all fresh it handled and gripped fantastic and was extremely progressive, easy to drive at 10/10 tenths and not get into trouble.
Yes due to only running -0.5 negative camber on the front the car was pushing a little and the outer edge of the tyres got a good scrubbing, I've now got a pair of camber bolts for the car as the outer edge of tyres were also scrubbing a little on road too, so it absolutely needs a little more front negative camber, so am gonna set it to around -1.00 per side and see how it goes.
Car engine maintained temperature perfectly, no overheating at all which for such a short spring circuit is very impressive as my E46 M3 gets pretty hot here.
The brakes were also flawless, no fading, hugely powerful and only thing of note was smoking pads, not an issue with a couple of cool down laps.
The car is a little soft, as are the tyres particular on a red hot sunny day like yesterday, but as this is not a track car, on the road they perform excellent as they grip from the word go and are excellent in the wet.
Overall the car was huge fun, no issues and did I say a lot of fun.
P.S. Last bit of the puzzle has arrived, 182 manifold, PMS manifold back exhaust system with 200 cel cat and silencer. Once fitted off to EFI for a map, hopefully all this will improve the mid range 2500-4500 region.
I'd go for more like 2 degrees personally unless you're doing a lot of dual carriageway/motorway miles.
Noted and thank you.
Also the rear brakes were locking, thankfully there was a resident Clio expert there who looked under the car and said my car had a spring where it should not, said he has seen it many times on cups, where they fail an MOT so they add/change the compensator resulting in too much rear brake bias.
He said just removing the spring will fix the issue, so shall get that done.
Also I noticed, particular on passenger side when I had a passenger, the front passenger wheel was rubbing the arch liner, anyway of fixing this without removing arch liner or refusing passenger rides or just driving slower, haha.
Pure Motorsport lightweight stainless exhaust system arrived:
It is a modular system, this one is designed to fit 182 manifold, I also have a 182 manifold, this one has 200 cel performance catalyst and centre silencer with the standard stealth (downturned) back box, noise wise its probably marginally louder than stock system, of course been modular swapping in a de-cat pipe or even removing the centre silencer is easily accomplished should one ever wish for more noise.
As my car has a Klarious ECP cheap exhaust on it, I wanted to get a nice quality system on it and the PMS system really is indeed very nice, good welds and a lovely polished finish which will really finish off the underside.
Shall also remove the spring from the brake bias, that should hopefully stop the rears locking causing instability when braking hard from high speeds.
Next step is off to see Chris at EFI for a remap, question is should I pop an ITG or other performance panel filter in the stock air box or do they not make any additional power?
It is a modular system, this one is designed to fit 182 manifold, I also have a 182 manifold, this one has 200 cel performance catalyst and centre silencer with the standard stealth (downturned) back box, noise wise its probably marginally louder than stock system, of course been modular swapping in a de-cat pipe or even removing the centre silencer is easily accomplished should one ever wish for more noise.
As my car has a Klarious ECP cheap exhaust on it, I wanted to get a nice quality system on it and the PMS system really is indeed very nice, good welds and a lovely polished finish which will really finish off the underside.
Shall also remove the spring from the brake bias, that should hopefully stop the rears locking causing instability when braking hard from high speeds.
Next step is off to see Chris at EFI for a remap, question is should I pop an ITG or other performance panel filter in the stock air box or do they not make any additional power?
If you search here you will find a topic with tests on air filters. It may be close to best, if not the best, what you have mention there. Sport filter in stock case is perfect, just a little quite than other induction.
yeecup
ClioSport Club Member
mk8Fiesta ST,172 cup
That exhaust looks fantastic. As for air filters it depends on if you like loud induction noise. I have the ktec induction kit on my cup and under heavy accelaration it sounds amazing, but it is loud. However it's pretty quiet on normal driving. Search it on YouTube . If you want to keep the standard air box then itg or pipercross panel would be what to go for, minimal increase if any but longevity and well, every little helps.
Hi there
So the exhaust has been fitted today, the garage did not enjoy the job, took around five hours alone to fit the exhaust due to the subframe having to come down in order to be able to get the 182 manifold fitted, all new gaskets fitted throughout entire exhaust system along with brand new 02 sensors as well, again I don't mess about, everything brand new! Picture of the exhaust installed:
Looks good, also both front CV boots were showing some wear, very marginal hole in both, so replaced both CV boots for good measure.
Camber bolts also installed and now have an extra degree of negative camber each side, so now -1.50 per side negative, can get upto around -2.00ish if so desired but feel -1.50 will be enough.
Upon first startup and driving the exhaust was kind of boomy at which point I thought mmmmm not so sure about this and damn I am glad I got the catted and silenced version.
But after 30-40 minutes driving the boom and drone seems to have reduced a lot, I am guessing it is furring up inside or whatever you wish to call it.
It sounds OK, as good as a 4 pot can sound I suppose, the induction side of this car is where there is more potential for good sound. I would say at high RPM its got a nice burble and the blips on downshifts sound good.
Car certainly feels like its got more go everywhere and the top-end seems to rev faster.
Handling is improved for sure, car has a lot more front end grip for sure, so clearly needed that additional negative camber.
I got the ITG panel filter but am deeply unimpressed by it, up removing it from the plastic seal there was a huge amout of oil peeling away and excess oil generally on the filter.
Plus then upon putting it in the air box it seems like say 1mm too small in width and is not sitting nicely, in the end I put stock fiilter back in, not happy at all.
Shall probably take it back to ECP tomorrow and see if they will give me a refund. Surprised as ITG is normally good, but over oiled and does not fit well, not happy.
Remap this weekend!
So the exhaust has been fitted today, the garage did not enjoy the job, took around five hours alone to fit the exhaust due to the subframe having to come down in order to be able to get the 182 manifold fitted, all new gaskets fitted throughout entire exhaust system along with brand new 02 sensors as well, again I don't mess about, everything brand new! Picture of the exhaust installed:
Looks good, also both front CV boots were showing some wear, very marginal hole in both, so replaced both CV boots for good measure.
Camber bolts also installed and now have an extra degree of negative camber each side, so now -1.50 per side negative, can get upto around -2.00ish if so desired but feel -1.50 will be enough.
Upon first startup and driving the exhaust was kind of boomy at which point I thought mmmmm not so sure about this and damn I am glad I got the catted and silenced version.
But after 30-40 minutes driving the boom and drone seems to have reduced a lot, I am guessing it is furring up inside or whatever you wish to call it.
It sounds OK, as good as a 4 pot can sound I suppose, the induction side of this car is where there is more potential for good sound. I would say at high RPM its got a nice burble and the blips on downshifts sound good.
Car certainly feels like its got more go everywhere and the top-end seems to rev faster.
Handling is improved for sure, car has a lot more front end grip for sure, so clearly needed that additional negative camber.
I got the ITG panel filter but am deeply unimpressed by it, up removing it from the plastic seal there was a huge amout of oil peeling away and excess oil generally on the filter.
Plus then upon putting it in the air box it seems like say 1mm too small in width and is not sitting nicely, in the end I put stock fiilter back in, not happy at all.
Shall probably take it back to ECP tomorrow and see if they will give me a refund. Surprised as ITG is normally good, but over oiled and does not fit well, not happy.
Remap this weekend!
Hi there
So this morning I made the trip to EFI Parts for my custom mapping session on the dyno at a cost of £179. Car setup and ready to get some baseline figures:
Chris was very professional, really knows his stuff and told me Cup 172's typically when stock will make 166-171BHP if they are healthy and as I have the 182 manifold and PMS exhaust system fitted it should be worth 5-6HP additional if the cars factory ECU has not leaned or gone too rich due to manifold change.
The first run car made 175HP, then 176HP and a final run at 177HP. This pretty much means if the car was stock, still 172 manifold and exhaust setup it would of probably made around 169-171HP, but the moment I fitted the 182 manifold and PMS exhaust system, the 5-7k rpm pull felt stronger, so when Chris said to expect 5-6HP from a 182 manifold / cat setup he was pretty much bang on.
Chris said, very healthy car indeed and once mapped to not expect much at the top-end as the fuelling is pretty good as it is, so expect maybe 180HP.
So Chris spent close to an hour fine tuning the car, getting the fuelling where he wanted and improving the drive ability of the car and reducing the cat warming setup so it no longer drives poorly when cold, something Renault do on purpose to fast warm the cat up, the downside is it makes the car feel very flat for first 30-60s of driving around 2000rpm.
Fine tuning complete and the car made 180HP and 161lb/ft, a result I am very happy with as the cars only modifications are 182 manifold and full PMS sport cat exhaust system. Chris said a panel filter put it in the 182HP region or a full CAI maybe 185HP but then the issues of heat soak and less power in real world hence the favourite option generally been PH1 air box or V6 air box, or the ITG Maxogen setup.
Dyno graph:
You can see he has achieved more power and torque everywhere, now on the graph your maybe thinking that don't look like much and your never gonna feel 3-5HP gain, but do remember this is a 1000kg car.
I handed over the monies and drove home and within the first two minutes of driving the improvements can be felt, the car is smoother, it pulls away more cleanly, the 2000-4500rpm range feels transformed, it feels like its gained a solid 20-30HP here, of course it has not but the fact it feels like it has really shows you the improvement in drive ability. Coming out of corners now if your under 5000rpm are no longer an issue, before the car could feel flat due to how the stock map really leans out to give that kick. Whereas now the car feels much stronger, the kick is still present and the pull to 5000-7500rpm is just very clean.
A vast improvement, well worth the money and very happy. Might be taking a venture to Blyton Park in it end of this month as a few mates are going and they said in the Clio it will be great fun as its a track that suits smaller and lighter cars.
What is next, really nothing, that is really now as far as this car goes, anything further would detract too much from the car Renault designed, its an incredible and fun road car, pretty handy on a circuit too and very easy to drive. Now just to enjoy.
So this morning I made the trip to EFI Parts for my custom mapping session on the dyno at a cost of £179. Car setup and ready to get some baseline figures:
Chris was very professional, really knows his stuff and told me Cup 172's typically when stock will make 166-171BHP if they are healthy and as I have the 182 manifold and PMS exhaust system fitted it should be worth 5-6HP additional if the cars factory ECU has not leaned or gone too rich due to manifold change.
The first run car made 175HP, then 176HP and a final run at 177HP. This pretty much means if the car was stock, still 172 manifold and exhaust setup it would of probably made around 169-171HP, but the moment I fitted the 182 manifold and PMS exhaust system, the 5-7k rpm pull felt stronger, so when Chris said to expect 5-6HP from a 182 manifold / cat setup he was pretty much bang on.
Chris said, very healthy car indeed and once mapped to not expect much at the top-end as the fuelling is pretty good as it is, so expect maybe 180HP.
So Chris spent close to an hour fine tuning the car, getting the fuelling where he wanted and improving the drive ability of the car and reducing the cat warming setup so it no longer drives poorly when cold, something Renault do on purpose to fast warm the cat up, the downside is it makes the car feel very flat for first 30-60s of driving around 2000rpm.
Fine tuning complete and the car made 180HP and 161lb/ft, a result I am very happy with as the cars only modifications are 182 manifold and full PMS sport cat exhaust system. Chris said a panel filter put it in the 182HP region or a full CAI maybe 185HP but then the issues of heat soak and less power in real world hence the favourite option generally been PH1 air box or V6 air box, or the ITG Maxogen setup.
Dyno graph:
You can see he has achieved more power and torque everywhere, now on the graph your maybe thinking that don't look like much and your never gonna feel 3-5HP gain, but do remember this is a 1000kg car.
I handed over the monies and drove home and within the first two minutes of driving the improvements can be felt, the car is smoother, it pulls away more cleanly, the 2000-4500rpm range feels transformed, it feels like its gained a solid 20-30HP here, of course it has not but the fact it feels like it has really shows you the improvement in drive ability. Coming out of corners now if your under 5000rpm are no longer an issue, before the car could feel flat due to how the stock map really leans out to give that kick. Whereas now the car feels much stronger, the kick is still present and the pull to 5000-7500rpm is just very clean.
A vast improvement, well worth the money and very happy. Might be taking a venture to Blyton Park in it end of this month as a few mates are going and they said in the Clio it will be great fun as its a track that suits smaller and lighter cars.
What is next, really nothing, that is really now as far as this car goes, anything further would detract too much from the car Renault designed, its an incredible and fun road car, pretty handy on a circuit too and very easy to drive. Now just to enjoy.
SI-STI 2.35 & RC-172
Hello mate nice project by the way?I just have a question to ask you,Where did you get the clear repeaters from.....link?.SJ.Hi there
So a quick job this morning, as it required no tools, well you need you driving licence or anything that is a similar size, credit card etc.
Popped out the old grotty amber side repeaters and fitted some white/clear ones, also fully cleaned them up before fitting:
View attachment 1380990
View attachment 1380991
View attachment 1380992
It is one of those cheap (£10) and easy modifications to do which really freshens up an old car.
Eurocarparts mate.
