My Silver 172 Cup

[Chris205]

Purchased 2 weeks ago after the demise of the trophy (mwahahaha) Completely standard

Wasn't looking for another clio but saw this on ebay and thought I would put in a bid for it, 74k miles, belts just done, new discs and pads and 12 months MOT on it. That was all I knew and I set off to derby on a mission. After arriving I found out the lady who owned it has had it since it was 2 years old, so just over 5 years. I also was suprised by it having climate control, I do quite like it although I am thinking of making it a propper cup and removing it.

My girlfriend has just bought a 172 which means I can go daft with this one and make it as un-user friendly as I like.

So here are the pics after purchase, I've done bits and bobs so far but waiting for some parts to come back off the trophy.

*Check out the diamond style washer blanks* ..... I will be removing the bumper to rectify them shortly though, probably when I pick up some xenons
Scabby wheels :dead:

Split thumb grip

First job was to sort out the grab handles, they were looking a big grubby so I took the ones out of the trophy and put them in the cup

Steering wheel swapped over

I sent the wheels away to a local refurbers, they've been powdercoated anthracite to the tune of £240 , I was considering going silver but I'm going to get myself another set of wheels to fit some hankook rs2's to so they can go silver instead.

I had the centre caps painted aswell and while they were away I popped out the diamonds and gave them a clean

To do list:

Sort out these calipers and paint the hub part of the disc

As I mentioned the girlfriend bought a 172 and it had a full AAS cat back exhaust on it needless to say I bargain'd that one off her, so I set about removing the old bumper and replacing a few things on the way.

Gave the back panel a clean while the bumper was off

New exhaust mount, will be replacing the bolts and giving it a full re-paint/underseal at some stage anyway

Exhaust mounted up, gave it a polish before it went on, need to get some wire wool and spend a few hours with the autosol to get it up to standards

Small aerial and my mats fitted

Took it out for a quick drive

Crap pics tbh but I will be getting some better ones when the suspension has been set up etc.

Plans:

Too many to list watch this space, thanks for looking

 

[Ridahz]

Looks lovely now mate, just needs lowering and it will be spot on :approve:

 

[Gally]

Looks grand mate, decent mods so far.

Iceberg cups definitely suit the silver wheels more though.

 

[-J-]

Oooo Another Silver Cup with CC.... Thats You, Me and Oliver now with them! Only 33 of them made :approve:

Was thinking of getting my wheels finished in a darker colour, however (Although yours looks nice) having seen it now I think ill stick with Silver

 

[Jimbo_M]

Looks well that mate, looking forward to a gander in person!

 

[mitch1503]

Oooo Another Silver Cup with CC.... Thats You, Me and Oliver now with them! Only 33 of them made :approve:

Was thinking of getting my wheels finished in a darker colour, however (Although yours looks nice) having seen it now I think ill stick with Silver

not for getting me also J lol

 

[mitch1503]

I sent the wheels away to a local refurbers, they've been powdercoated anthracite to the tune of £240

romax by any chance m8? need mine refurbed also you still up for doing the clean on mine as previously spoke about

 

[Dicaniocup]

Spot on..

 

[Chris205]

I sent the wheels away to a local refurbers, they've been powdercoated anthracite to the tune of £240

romax by any chance m8? need mine refurbed also you still up for doing the clean on mine as previously spoke about

S.E.M mate, the only place in the North East I'd let do my wheels, they're awesome

 

[mitch1503]

S.E.M mate, the only place in the North East I'd let do my wheels, they're awesome

cheers mate not a bad price and looks a awesome job

 

[-J-]

not for getting me also J lol

Oooo A Localish Silver Cup - Seems be a few of us popping up on here now.

 

[oliver.james]

Team silver cup!

 

[Chris205]

So the cup has done around 1500 miles since I bought it 3 weeks back, it has just had the belts done but I couldnt see anything else in there for an actual oil/filter/plug change so I decided I would do the honours and also change the gearbox oil as its probably never been done before,

I've also put some mods on

Dirt (1500 miles worth)

The curse of the turini

All clean

x6

x5

x4

and a new oil filter which I'd already fitted before busting out the camera

Matched inlets courtesy of JMS

While these were off I took the opportunity to clean out the throttle body,

Before:

After:

I've also re-homed my ph1 airbox and hillpower bend in the Cup engine bay, the housing had some damage so I got a new airbox itself

Also got some uprated mounts fitted courtesy of k-tec, top engine, top gearbox and powerflexed dogbone mount.

Next on the list of things to do is :

Purchase de-cat
Coilovers
Thorough detail as its a mess and I'm really unhappy with it.


I did get the chance to have a propper 'B' road blast in the cup this evening for around 3 hours, what a car, standard suspension and on this particular group of 'B' roads (Hartside) there wasnt much in it between the trophy set up tbh.

 

[Jimbo_M]

Coming along nicely mate! Cant wait 'til the FCS

Me and are kid came to that conclusion about the difference between the cup/trophy aswell tbh

 

[Chris205]

After last weeks clean I noticed an extreme ammount of tar build up on the lower sections of the cup, at the time I wasnt anywhere near home so as soon as I got back I sorted it out

Tardis doing its thing

Front plate removed

And the rear

New 3/4 plate added

New rear plate, slightly smaller than a standard size but only by 10mm wide and 10mm long

Also got these to go on:

Coming soon:

A good clay bar then paint correction
Sort out the calipers and give the arches a clean
Some lows......

 

[chrispy.clio]

Deck it deck it deck it!!!!

As low as the T was please!!!

Looks good so far

 

[Cookson]

Deck it deck it deck it!!!!

As low as the T was please!!!

Looks good so far

Please.... for the love of god...... do NOT stick it on its arse. They look toss, and it ruins the drive.

Beautiful motor you've bagged yourself there fella. just Awesome

 

[Chris205]

Deck it deck it deck it!!!!

As low as the T was please!!!

Looks good so far

You may or may not remember my ph1 but that was another 30mm lower on the front than the trophy and about 15mm lower on the rear

I'm going to have it low but just enough so the shocks still do a decent job

 

[chrispy.clio]

Please.... for the love of god...... do NOT stick it on its arse. They look toss, and it ruins the drive.

Beautiful motor you've bagged yourself there fella. just Awesome

Your wrong!! The lower you have it the better it handles!!!! Lol.

The ph1 he had and the trophy looked mint!

 

[Cookson]

Your wrong!! The lower you have it the better it handles!!!! Lol.

Please tell me you are being sarcastic

 

[Paul_LY-182]

looking good! i like silver cups

 

[Chris205]

Your wrong!! The lower you have it the better it handles!!!! Lol.

The ph1 he had and the trophy looked mint!

Please tell me you are being sarcastic

You can go as low As you want, however the lower you go the less control you seem to get, the ph1 used to bump steer a lot, I could still keep up or leave people through the corners but it involved a lot more work to keep it on the road

Tbh if you get a whiteline rear arb you'll find control is definitely improved by about 40-50%

 

[Sam@NP]

Your wrong!! The lower you have it the better it handles!!!! Lol

I hope you're joking.

 

[Cookson]

awaits a mention of the touring cars being on their arse, and the failure to notice the difference between a bowling green smooth track, and the general british B-roads

 

[Chris205]

After noticing a smart repair on the clio on the rear quarter and the paint looking rather flat I decided to take a look at it in the view of wet sanding it back and polishing it back then paint correcting it.

Here are the pics, not fabulous as silver is a pain in the arse to try and catch anything from

Before

During

After

I used 2000 and 4000 grade wet and dry pads, first via da then by hand.

I would like somemore time but only had the two hours to do the above in, I'm happy so far but maybe at a later date I will do it again to see if I can improve on the current outcome.

 

[Jimbo_M]

That looks alot better dude, me you, and our kid will have to get some pics soon

 

[Chris205]

That looks alot better dude, me you, and our kid will have to get some pics soon

Yeah mate give me a few weeks as I have a few updates on the way .... and it needs a detail

 

[Chris205]

Few parts starting to stock up and take residence in the garage awaiting fitting, this includes:

Fk Konigsport Coilovers
AST top mounts
New wheels currently undergoing ghetto style paint job (Sir Dave will approve )
4 New Goodyear Eagle F1's, decided on these as I've heard mixed reviews on other tyres and didnt want to go back to proxes. Contisports are in short supply it would seem and Hankook RS2's dont come in the right size Maybe try some yoko AD08's soon though
Miltek De-cat, can't see any cracks in the welds but only time will tell, really not looking forward to fitting this, ph1 was a PITA with double barrel cat
Goodridge Braided hoses front and rear
Brakes need to be blead.
Rs Tuner ready to install, decided to go for the pops and bangs map as I fancy a bit of fun from it when giving it the 'big'un'

Hopefully this will all get done this weekend, I'm off for a run out up to hartside this coming bank holiday monday so I will get time to play around with damper set up and the AST top mounts


pics soon......

 

[Chris205]

*BUMP*

Time for an update:

AST top mounts fitted

Fk konigsport coilovers fitted, speedline 2110's painted satin black with white centre caps

Engine bay shot of new inlets, ph1 airbox, k-tec engine/gearbox mount and AST top mounts

LATEST NEWS....

I'm off to see Tom@JMS next thursday for a full allignment, think it may need to be raised slightly to get the best from the coilover set-up but have been assured from Tom it will be no more than 5-10mm, I can't wait as the camber/tow are all over the place ATM

Before I go I want to put the rear adjusters back in the platforms so it raises slighty to aid handling.

Also hoping Tom can fit the braided lines while he's on as I cba


Some new thoughts:

Flock the top of the dash
Fit some aero catches and cut away all of the bonnet support, there is some paint damage on the bonnet so not really fussed about the thing itself

 

[Sam_K]

is this now being broken?or are you just selling the wheels?

 

[Chris205]

Just wheels mate, maybe a few other parts as I'm deciding what route I want to go down, first on the list is a set of 15s and some original turinis for winter

 

[Slammed172]

Bloody good thread I must say. But your driving from Co.Durham to LONDON, for an alignment ? Are you mad ?

 

[Sam@NP]

I want those wheels, baaaaad

 

[Chris205]

UPDATE!

So the day arrived, off to JMS for some allignment work on the car.

Ever since fitting the coilovers and top mounts I've been very unhappy with the way the car handled, mid corner bouncing, understeering and general lack of grip.

I love having low cars, theres something about the look of a well stanced cars that I love, however at the other end of the scale, I also like my cars to handle well, certainly after experiencing my limited time with the Trophy, it is great to have a good suspension set up underneath you.

I was keen to keep some of the positives of a nice look but at the same time give a good balance of handling. Tom@JMS took this on board, heightened the car to a more suitable level to get the best from the suspension, without compromising too much of the look that I like.

Now that Tom has waved his magic wand allignment tool over the Cup, it certainly feels much more eager to turn in, adjustability on the throttle has been improved greatly and the car doesn't feel like it wants to tear you off into the bushes with every direction change.

Now that the car is nicely set-up I feel my time with the clio has pretty much reached it's peak. I feel the next steps are really to go for more power, sadly in the clio game it doesn't come cheap and I'm just not dedicated enough to follow it through, so without hording parts, fitting them to the car then selling it on, I feel now is probably the time to gather some interest in the view to selling the car in the near future.

I'm probably going to look for a Diesel, something like a fabia Vrs, that I can just keep in immaculate condition and detail when I like.

If anybody is interested in the car, its in the forsale section now, its an excellent car and I've enjoyed the project so far, I will keep enjoying it until it sells. If I don't get what I want for it I will just keep it and do some free performance mods (stripping, lightened and remove the air con).

I will get some pics up of my recent detailing session with the car, in preperation for Sale.

 

[Chris205]

As some will have seen I've been putting my car back to standard'ish.

After selling a lot of the important bits, I went out for one of 'those' drives and realised that the car is awesome and I really love it, I'd sort of convinced myself that a fabia vrs would be better but I think I was delusioned.

Here's a few pics that never made it in the project thread, as I think it's important of logging all work etc done to the car.

Pics of the fk konigsports and top mounts I never posted before

Now running standard exhaust, standard filter and standard suspension.

As I couldn't find any silver turini's local I bought these from AndyRg off the boost wagon

Speedline 2118's powder coated black

Got a few plans here and there, exhaust, 182 mani and maybe somemore coilovers but just for looks so not going to spend a fortune

 

[chrispy.clio]

Please tell me you are being sarcastic

I hope you're joking.

Oh behave!!! Corse I'm joking, I'm a Motorsport Engineering graduate and have worked setting up race cars suspension!

 

[Chris205]

What's the best suspension set up for the road then Chris? I've had the trophy obviously which was amazing, just wondering if there's anything that can possibly be better without spending crazy amounts

 

[Chris205]

So since I bought the clio 4 months ago I've been chopping and changing the set up like nobodys business. I haven't been able to find a happy medium until now

I've finally got some original cup turini's for it, so I've put some yoko s-drives on them to try them out. At the same time the absence of coilovers has left me fighting off illegal immigrants from my arches each morning before work.
Something needed to be done, so a set of eibach sportlines were introduced. These went on, but the rear was still quite soft, so in came the trophy rear dampers. All that was left now was to cure some of the understeer and sharpen up the car. Que the Whiteline ARB. All sorted now and it handles awesome as expected, only improvement yet to come will be a 182 trophy front set-up i.e sachs dampers.

I did a front end tidy up the other week but I've decided to source another chrome front badge and refit the fogs. Megane ph2 splitter has been put on but needs a little trimming on the corners until I'm happy with it.

I'm quite happy with the car at the moment, there is a distinct lack of power since the yozzasport has been taken off, so a btb or yozza will be next on the list. Once I've fitted my recaro's that is.

 

[Chris205]

Nice drop from the Eibach sportlines

Then two of my favourites

 

[danzel]

Really nice mate