New guy Just bought a 172

[RobH]

Having had a string of modified Vauxhalls all my life i decided to 'try' be more sensible and i ended up buying a standard MINI Cooper S... A huge mistake and not a great car at all! I finally sold it 2 months ago and set myself a fairly cheap budget for a car i would enjoy, not get bored of and is good value for money.
must be honest i struggled and i got to the point i couldnt be bothered with looking anymore, id been to veiw BMW's, Audi's, VW's and the like but none ticked all the boxes (plus half of them were complete dogs, and im VERY picky about my cars)
I stumbled upon a Renault 172 that was a tad ropey, i liked it however and thought i would find a better example (knowing in the back of my head it would prob take me months with my luck)
BUT i managed to find a 52 plate (Phase 2 i belive?) 172 in dark blue (please forgive me i have no idea what its called) its got 41k FRSH and has just had the cambelt and brakes replaced along with the engine top mount.

Now ive tried being sensible before but i cant help playing with my cars, I know im going to with this so what are sensible mods for these?
Im a complete newbie to this and hold my hands up as i dont want to ruin what i consider a nice car already!

So advice on suspension & exhaust and anything else i should upgrade would be great!

Sorry for gabbling on, site looks great and a lot of people in the know on here

Rob

 

[bmthnick1981]

Re: New guy Just brought a 172

Dark Blue will be Monaco Blue, really nice colour IMHO. Mods for performance would be air filter, decat, exhaust etc, have a browse and use the search function to find some good threads to read through. I find the projects forum is good as you can see what others have done and learn from that.

 

[Russ_16v]

Re: New guy Just brought a 172

Welcome Rob!

Unless you have a big wallet ignore the engine internally, these engines are in a fairly high state of tune anyway, a good upgrade is:

Having the inlet manifold matched (it comes off in 2 pieces and they are usually not matched to each other)
A ph1 172 airbox (Much less restrictive than the ph2)
a cat back exhaust
a custom remamp (RS Tuning and Tour-De-Force are 2 of the top tuners)

This should net you a genuine 180bhp/160lb ft of torque, and will set you back around £800


Biggest thing to consentrate on is suspension and brakes.

Brakes, a good setup are Brembo HC discs and DS2500 pads (See G172 on here for the discs)

Suspension is a personal thing, coilovers are great, cheaper ones are not and if your budget is limited then decent springs and shocks will still be fine (Koni combined with Eibach Proline or Sportline would be a good move)

Lastly, check whoever did the cambelt knew what they were doing - if they didnt use the correct locking tools then 99% chance the liming will be out and you will be down to 150 odd bhp.

Hope that helps a little, thats just the very basics, spend some time reading the forum and you will get your own ideas

 

[RobH]

Re: New guy Just brought a 172

Monaco blue! Thanks for that, as i said im new to Renaults.

searching the forum has been really informative, think i may go for a K-tec supersport as it suits my budget and i rarely go on motorways.
Im still making my mind up on suspension lol

thanks for the info i Just need to pick it up now!

 

[.Kev.]

Re: New guy Just brought a 172

Koni Shocks and Eibach Sportlines are the best suspension mods IMO. Apart from forking out £1200 notes on some great Coilovers.

 

[d4nmc]

Re: New guy Just brought a 172

Where did you bring it from?

 

[leeds_182]

Re: New guy Just brought a 172

Where did you bring it from?

Ahhhhhhhh, always good to welcome new members in a friendly way.....

 

[d4nmc]

Re: New guy Just brought a 172

My welcome involved a amphasite/anthracite/anthoracite etc so it's only custom. Plus im interested in knowing where it has been brought from honest