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My Valver story so far... (Pic heavy!)



  mkI 1.8 16v
I'd like you to meet my mkI 1.8 16v. :)
It's from 1993 but it's only had 3 owners (me included), and I've had it for nearly a year.

It's in top condition, with leather interior and sunroof (although they can sometimes be a disadvantage considering I take it to 4-5 track-days each year, but since it still is my daily-drive they're staying for now).

It already had a few mods, done by the previous owners:

-Williams wheels;
-Front Koni Sport Dampers and H&R springs;
-OMP strut brace (painted black);
-Braided brake lines;
-K&N panel filter;
-De-cat;
-Remap;

Here are a few pics of when I first bought it:

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And my first track-day with it at the Estoril circuit:
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Cooling the engine after I was done:
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After the track-day I realised the rear dampers were completely dead so I decided to get some Koni Sports for the rear as well:
dscn3375rr0.jpg


Also got the original gear knob, as one of the previous owners had replaced it with a GTT one, and tbh I found it unconfortable:
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I also built an air duct and made a hole in the front bumper (this was later painted so no marks were left ;)):
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All was well and I was delighted with this little car until one night back in September I was trashing it down a local road and suddenly it started to make a terrible knocking sound from the engine. At idle all was fine but as soon as I gave it some throttle it started to rattle really bad.

I managed to drive it home and a compression test the following day showed the following results (in bar): 10-9.8-5-4,5 :S:S:S

I had to take the engine apart only to find that the problem was a burnt head gasket between cylinders 3 and 4:
27092008032yq2.jpg


And I was shocked to see that the top of the pistons and combustion chambers were covered in carbon deposits, wich usually means massive overfuelling. The fact that not all cylinders showed the same signs pointed towards faulty injectors.
I took the injectors to a specialist who confirmed they were completely fu***d and had them reconditioned. But just to be safe I asked a friend to check the ignition and fuelling maps and he was shocked to see that the ignition timing was all wrong. He said he was surprised the head gasket had lasted so long! :eek:

Now, I could at this point just get a new head gasket and repair the head and get it running asap. But since I already had the engine apart I decided to take things slowly and do it right! ;)

First thing was to get all the parts I needed from Renault:
Head gasket set:
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Head bolts:
img006qn8.jpg

New timing belt:
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New OEM spark plugs:
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Then I decided to have the head gas flowed, get a Supersprint manifold and some Pipercams BP270.

Also got a 10 row oil cooler, just to keep it cool while hammering it:
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After about 2 weeks of just waiting for stuff to arrive I finally got working on it again:

Here are some pics of the rebuild:

The cams:
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The head all done:
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The exhaust manifold (hmm, shiny :D):
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Nearly done:
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And soon it was back on the road, and just 1 week after it was ready, time for another track-day :D
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And a small video for your listening pleasure ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyPn-IQGwm8

And then, in late January I finally got it remaped in a dyno:
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The dyno results showed max power @7200rpm and max torque @ 6100rpm. The final hp figure was 156bhp wich left me thrilled! :D
The car is a complete blast to drive, it just feels so much faster than before!

The latest mods were Brembo discs and pads, but they are still bedding in so it´s to soon to comment on them.

I apologize for the loooong read and many pictures, but it's been a long year for me! ;):D:D
 
  mkI 1.8 16v
When I bought it it had about 220.000km in total, but the engine, gearbox and suspension had been rebuilt 15.000 Km before.
 
  mkI 1.8 16v
brilliant. Nice ideas and done really well.

Thank you very much for your kind comments! :D

I'm getting it slightly striped today and ready for a track-day tomorrow. I'm not going all crazy, just taking out the rear seats, parcel shelf and spare tyre. Might just leave it like that for a while...:D
 
M

mini-valver

Did you miss the bit about headwork and cams then?

Stunning condition and driven how it should be. Mint!
 
  mkI 1.8 16v
The cams and headwork really let it breathe much better in high revs.:approve: Below 4k revs a standard valver will leave me behind though...But then I can pull strongly until the rev limiter, which has been set at 7500rpm and make up for what I lose in the lower revs.
The fact that my remap was optimized on a dyno really helped me get all the power I could from the engine mods I have.

I have tested with a few standard Williams and my car is faster. Of course, in really low revs the 2.0 is much stronger. :)

Anyway, I had a track-day last saturday and all went very well! Had a lot of fun, even though the slick tyres I had were absolute crap. I couldn't get the all the power down, no matter how hard I tried. :mad: Still had great fun though, and from what I could tell I was only slower than a Honda Prelude 2.2 vti S and an ITR.

I was lucky enough that a professional photographer was covering the event, so I got some really nice pics. Hope you enjoy them! :D

Upon arrival:


Me :D, getting the car ready:


Action pictures!:




These are the best pics I have so far, I'll post the rest of them + an onboard video in the media section asap! ;)


Cheers!
 
Last edited:
  320d
Excellent Valver that mate. Its in mint condition, no rust atall but that will be due to the good weather you get in Portugal.

156bhp is good aswell, must be a good strong engine, especially after the rebuild.
 
  2.0 16v Ph1
Olha quem é ele...:cool:

Excelente amigo Coelho, a maquina ta cada vez mais poderosa :evil:

Excelentes fotos desse trackday de Fatima.

Abraço e ve se apareces com ele no Nuno para tirarmos umas fotos ;)

Abraço
 
  mkI 1.8 16v
very nice car! how did you find the brake upgrade then? worthy upgrade?

Couldn´t really tell as the tyres were so bad I kept locking up the front wheels under braking...they showed no signs of brake fade though! :approve:


@Pekes: Claro, quando o tempo tiver melhor temos de combinar isso! :D
 
  mkI 1.8 16v
Has anyone here tried the powerflex bushes for the the dogbone mount?

I'm thinking about getting them to stop the engine and gearbox play and I would appreciate feedback from someone who has tried it. :)

Thanks in advance! ;)
 
  mkI 1.8 16v
The topic hasn't been updated in a while. Since my last post I have fitted the Powerflex dogbone mount bushes. These were one of the best mods yet, reducing the engine movement. If they really last longer than the original items then it's great value for money.
(excuse the crappy phone pics...)
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Also got this to try to improve the driving position:
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It really made a difference, I can now sit with my legs stretched and my arms in a comfortable position. :approve:

Thrashing the little clio around on some twisty roads in the wet is great fun, and this is the result:
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sujo1.jpg

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The spark plug cover came loose and melted around the exhaust manifold...If anyone has a cheap one lying around and doesn´t mind shipping to portugal send me a PM ;)


Next step, Williams widetrack!:D
 


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