New member Clio 172... for the Track, tell me about perf mods please

[chris blue]

Hi All- looking at a Clio 172 with 105k miles, seems pretty clean,no mods other than no rear seat (Makes me smile and yet to be fully explained- probably modded/tracked b4?)
Dead keen on getting it for mainly track use, but must be road legal as a back up.
Come from Citroen DS3 background (THP) and currently VW R Mk7, which is great round the track, but with no track insurance makes me sweat
Like meets, do TRAX and FCS regularly, and hope to get hooked into this Club
Looking for advice on standard perfromance mods, as its years since i owned a Clio,
Will start with exhaust and Cat converter methinks.... then what?

 

[JB21]

Get the car mechanically sound then all that is really needed is track tyres, track orientated front pads, decent fluid and you're ready to go. Spend money on track time and build the mods as you go. Power is the last thing you should worry about, just lighten further for more power to weight.

 

[green]

Get a LSD fitted.. best mod for these by far..it's the one thing that will make you quicker round track than any other mod bar bodies or turbo.
I know they are a little expensive but instead of exhaust/filter changes your almost there.

 

[chris blue]

Apparently it has a cracked ABS ring Offside. See on here its fairly common (ABS kicks in at real low speed)
My days of doing heavyish work like this is over, so anyone know a good mechanic round Sussex/ Brighton
Certianly goes well
Slight synchro issue 2/3 rd gear- doesnt seem too bad- that common?

 

[chris blue]

Took ownership tonight- see you all at FCS or even a novice track/ half day event somewhere in UK South then

Love the sound of the exhaust (Modified) love the steering, nice n low (Coilovers)
Will be great on the track

Some eejit has swapped out the steering wheel so no air bag. No horn, and whatever else was on the sterring wheel. In fact the steering wheel blocks out most of the speedometer on the dispplay!

No worries- easy fix in a nice twin air horn
Any particular reason for the SERV light to remain on? Thought it was a Service light indicator which could be switched off. Not so sure now

Car seems to be running good, except a Reloctor ring required offside that the local garages want £150 to fix
Have seen other threads on the issue. CBA to deal with brakes myself.

 

[Scrooge]

Welcome!

 

[chris blue]

Welcome!

Thanks. Any meet action in South East- spose I'd better check out and search other parts of the Forum
Might even splash out on membership

Just spent my £12 on membership. Look forward to being and active member of the Club :smile:

 

[chris blue]

Guides? dont know my way around yet- saw a thread that referred to a Guides section? Where is that please?
Looking for oil/filter guide, coolant replace guide and brakes...
Thanks guys

FOUND IT- Near the bottom in members area. Sure it werent there yestdayaftre i joined

 

[green]

Lots of great guides in there..will definitely save you ££. Good luck with it all :up::up:

 

[chris blue]

Thank you

 

[George@RTR_Parts]

welcome along !

I can get you sorted with everything needed brakes wise for your track car , get in tocuh if want any help/info :up:

 

[McGherkin]

Took ownership tonight- see you all at FCS or even a novice track/ half day event somewhere in UK South then

Love the sound of the exhaust (Modified) love the steering, nice n low (Coilovers)
Will be great on the track

Some eejit has swapped out the steering wheel so no air bag. No horn, and whatever else was on the sterring wheel. In fact the steering wheel blocks out most of the speedometer on the dispplay!

No worries- easy fix in a nice twin air horn
Any particular reason for the SERV light to remain on? Thought it was a Service light indicator which could be switched off. Not so sure now

Car seems to be running good, except a Reloctor ring required offside that the local garages want £150 to fix
Have seen other threads on the issue. CBA to deal with brakes myself.

'SERV' light doesn't usually come on on its own. Any other lights on? My bet is the airbag light as a result of changing the steering wheel. EDIT: or that cracked ABS ring.

Synchro crunch 2nd-3rd is common, a sign that the box is on its way to needing a refurb.

 

[chris blue]

'SERV' light doesn't usually come on on its own. Any other lights on? My bet is the airbag light as a result of changing the steering wheel. EDIT: or that cracked ABS ring.

Synchro crunch 2nd-3rd is common, a sign that the box is on its way to needing a refurb.

Re the SERV light, those are the conclusions i came too. Had a receipt in the history of the car for £25 to delete the airbag light due to no airbag (Wonder if the other air bags will work) so think the the SERV light is onm for that- was told it got through the MOT ok with it on

Yes- could be ABS ring too, will pay to get that done soon. Dont fancy dirty hard work

Machine polish tomorrow- spent 4 hrs today cleaning inside and out. Lovely blue inside on the half leather / seuede seats
Not sure the CD changer will work, as head unit been changed. Least radio works

Think thats my colour scheme- Royal blue and silver.... bet thats been done b4

 

[chris blue]

Just been thru all the receipts, and other than the fact that the cambelt stuff was done in 2011 and 2013??? Have also got (receipt too) a BTB stealth Cat back exhaust.... theye seem pretty good. Cant wait to take it over 60mph after get the relacter ring sorted

Seems BTB Stealths get good write ups... happy days

 

[dynodan]

Did you buy the phase1 in little Hampton that was on eBay for a while?
All the issues seemed pretty simple fixes, if you get stuck for a decent mechanic I know a few decent guys in the Haywards Heath/Burgess Hill area that look after some of my clients track cars.

 

[PP200t]

Get some pics up of it. Everyone loves a project thread and a phase 1 so that's a winner.

 

[chris blue]

Did you buy the phase1 in little Hampton that was on eBay for a while?
All the issues seemed pretty simple fixes, if you get stuck for a decent mechanic I know a few decent guys in the Haywards Heath/Burgess Hill area that look after some of my clients track cars.

Yep- nice fella. Quite honest about the car (at least so far)

My OP is wrong, only 84k miles. Cleaned up fairly good, oil service done (And he had the oil/filter part of the deal)
Sorted rear exhaust strap- lovely BTB stealth exhaust looks pretty much new (Car laid up for 18month)
AP Coilovers look tidy, and Induction kit too, as well as front strut brace
Just Relactor ABS ring to do, couple decent road tyres, and I'm away (How much your mate want to do a drive shaft offside?)

Maybe change the throttle cable, and clean throttle body. Will deffo ghet that rebored to 64mm

 

[chris blue]

Only piccie i have atm- work to do ;-)

 

[dynodan]

Looks tidy, I was going to look at it but he didn't get back to me to make arrangements.
I'll ask them tomorrow what they charge for labour on small jobs (most of the stuff I send them is 20hours+).
Where abouts in Sussex are you?

 

[chris blue]

Hove. It was a bit of a mess when collected. 6 hours of washing and machine polishing, and engine bay clean. Another few hours sorting bits n pieces
No worries- i can take to setyres for a free brake check, and get it sorted for £140 i reckonn

 

[masekwm]

@midge will confirm, best person close to you is https://www.facebook.com/gary.spooner.7509?fref=ts Gary Spooner.

 

[chris blue]

Have booked in mine for the Offside Relactor ring driveshaft replace for next week
I asked about upgrading the brake fluid to 5.1 and about better brake pads, (This was a specialist brake place) and he had a visual on the brakes and said "you got loads left on them pads" (Which i knew) and dont bother with the brake fluid as it dont make much difference. Then i told him it was for track use, and he still said dont bother. Weird- dodnt wanna make money out of me???

Anyway- so far: Exhaust rear gaiter replaced, oil and filter changed, LED sidelights changed, 2 new Toyo proxes on front (Feels better already, Toyos all round now), spare set of wheels for show (No tyres) possibly powder coat mid blue, new cone filter, coolant checked for antifreezxe, Coilovers checked, and booked in for front drive shaft ABS ring replace (CBA to do myself). Getting there

To do: Full set decals in mid or Royal blue, throttle body rebore, front bodywork where spoiler meets bodywork, battery? starter motor?, decent leads,...... any other advice?

 

[alistairolsen]

To do: Full set decals in mid or Royal blue, throttle body rebore, front bodywork where spoiler meets bodywork, battery? starter motor?, decent leads,...... any other advice?

Yep:

• Dont buy any more Toyo Proxes, they're awful things.
• Stop spending money on things that will make no difference (throttle body)
• Spend money on things that will (braided hoses, fluid and pads)
• Find a new 'specialist' brake place who actually know what they are talking about.
• Why would it need a battery or starter motor? I assume the current ones work if youre driving it around?
• Leads, define decent? It's an N/A car with about 80bhp/l, unless theyre arcing all over the shop, ignore them.

Personally if it IS for track, instead of looking a bit like a track car and never being used then in additon to the above:

• Use your second set of wheels for some proper track tyres (A048, R888 etc)
• Have a check over ALL the bushes and balljoints. Unless they've been done recently they will likely need to be replaced
• Look into fitting cup spec front wishbones (I cant recall the castor on the mk1)
• Get your alignment done by someone who knows what theyre doing
• Check/change gearbox oil (hopefully extend the life of that synchro a bit), coolant and PAS fluid
• Seats/harnesses would be on my list as the standard ones are heavy and not all that supportive.
• Strip the interior (to whatever extent suits you, gutting the whole thing makes them fairly unbearable for the last 10kg)
• Whiteline rear anti roll bar
  
• Cage
• LSD

 

[chris blue]

Yep:

• Dont buy any more Toyo Proxes, they're awful things.
• Stop spending money on things that will make no difference (throttle body)
• Spend money on things that will (braided hoses, fluid and pads)
• Find a new 'specialist' brake place who actually know what they are talking about.
• Why would it need a battery or starter motor? I assume the current ones work if youre driving it around?
• Leads, define decent? It's an N/A car with about 80bhp/l, unless theyre arcing all over the shop, ignore them.

Personally if it IS for track, instead of looking a bit like a track car and never being used then in additon to the above:

• Use your second set of wheels for some proper track tyres (A048, R888 etc)
• Have a check over ALL the bushes and balljoints. Unless they've been done recently they will likely need to be replaced
• Look into fitting cup spec front wishbones (I cant recall the castor on the mk1)
• Get your alignment done by someone who knows what theyre doing
• Check/change gearbox oil (hopefully extend the life of that synchro a bit), coolant and PAS fluid
• Seats/harnesses would be on my list as the standard ones are heavy and not all that supportive.
• Strip the interior (to whatever extent suits you, gutting the whole thing makes them fairly unbearable for the last 10kg)
• Whiteline rear anti roll bar
  
• Cage
• LSD

Cheers. Its not for a once a week track car, probably4 or 5 times a year, so not going mad, yet. Needs to earn its keep too.
Take all your points- especially brakes. Braided hoses already in.
Considered R888s but wanna see if the car makes it to next Spring yet, with a bit of thrashing around on local roadsin winter, and maybe a taster sesh at Brands. Have another set of wheels to put tyres on if i get serious.
Roll cage, full harnesses, wishbones, and serious stuff may be done later if i love it on the track. LSD (Whats that). Car needs to also do a few runs here n there, be a workhorse, and to keep mileage down on my primary motor. (Which outstripped everything at Silverstone recently, other than an Audi RS4 which was modified i reckon)

Had a couple starting problems, not sure if car needs a few decent runs, or alternator/ battery/ starter motor etc etc. In the "park on a slope" thing at the moment, but its seems to be getting better. Not spending a fortune. £1k budget.

Why throttle body rebore no good then- a few people seem to say it makes a real difference mid range?

 

[alistairolsen]

Aye, so daily for occasional track use, which is a different beat entirely!

Worth watching the R90 approval issue on track pads if youre using it on the road too.

If you're having problems starting then worth figuring out why. Is it turnong over slowly, or clicking or nothing? Do the lights dim?

Because it's a fairly highly strung n/a engine and IMHO its not worth 'tuning' in the conventional sense unless you go throttle bodies or turbo. Sure, you can, it's just not worth it.
You could do (from memory, never really got into it)

• 182 inlet and exhaust manifolds
• Bore out throttle body
• your existing decat and exhaust
• upgraded leads and new plugs

And still find yourself making 180 or less, and with the time and money spent, there are better places to improve laptimes.

 

[chris blue]

Aye, so daily for occasional track use, which is a different beat entirely!

Worth watching the R90 approval issue on track pads if youre using it on the road too.

If you're having problems starting then worth figuring out why. Is it turnong over slowly, or clicking or nothing? Do the lights dim?

Because it's a fairly highly strung n/a engine and IMHO its not worth 'tuning' in the conventional sense unless you go throttle bodies or turbo. Sure, you can, it's just not worth it.
You could do (from memory, never really got into it)

• 182 inlet and exhaust manifolds
• Bore out throttle body
• your existing decat and exhaust
• upgraded leads and new plugs

And still find yourself making 180 or less, and with the time and money spent, there are better places to improve laptimes.

That sounds about right. Thanks again. 182 manifold already in, with the BTB exhaust.
Starting: Lights seem fine...dont dim, usually trys to start for abot a second, then stops, just solenoid clicks. Tried to jump start and that had no effect to the 1 second try.... so guessing its not battery. Tried cleaning up and tightening the earth path, no difference.

So- thats why ended up at starter motor. When its running its a beaut, love the BTB exhaust. It seems to turn over a warm engine well enough, and does it within that first second. Bump starts easy enough

I just know itll happen on a cold, wet, very dark night, 80 miles from home. Thats what RAC is for I suppose

 

[alistairolsen]

Seems an odd one.
Battery would have been my guess based on turning, followed by clicking because it cant hold the solenoid in, but then jump starting it would aleviate the symptoms.
Earth is the next guess because that would cause a low power at the motor in either case but you've tried that
Starter would normally fail so the solenoid wont close, or the brushes wont pass current as opposed to working and then clicking

Have you tried jump starting it with the negative lead connected to the block rather than the battery?

 

[Chris_Beer]

You'll find all your answers on here pal

Best way I find things if I need to, is go onto Google and type: cliosport 'whatever your looking for'

Anyway nice to see you getting stuck in. I would just drive it and see how you get on as generally it will always demand fixing at some stage anyway lol. But generally, they aren't bad at all pal!

 

[chris blue]

Thanks guys. Hadnt thought of putting jump lead on alternative earth to the negative terminal- might try that. Always turned for a second, before solenoid clicked. Reckoned not enough current after a second, to turn the starter motor, on a cold engine. The couldnt fathom why a jump didnt work

At the moment i havent had starting issues for a couple days, which makes me think battery (Being charged via alternator every day now) but we'll see.

Great fun driving- put my first load of V-Power in tonight- seems even more keen and throaty

 

[chris blue]

More recent shots of mine- headlamsp need more work, its as if the discolouration is on the inside

Being real honest, it looks better in the photos ha-ha!
Inside:

 

[chris blue]

Had the o/s driveshaft done today, getting rid of the ABS kicking in at low speed
Fab
Bit pricier than i first thought, but not as pricey as when he called me with the diagnosis
Accelerator cable to do (Do that myself for sure) soon, then thats about it till first track session, to see whats what
Maybe change brake fluid to Dot 5.1 (After testing it hasnt got DOT 5.0 synthetic in first)
Very small change in engine noise recently, wouldnt mind meeting uo with someone local to see what they think. Dont think its the cone filter, not sure if its the dephaser, cambelt only changed 7k miles ago (Bet they didnt change the dephaser)

other than that to figure, Loving it :yum::up:

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Will keep an eye out..

 

[chris blue]

where you Jeff?