New owner of worlds most un-interesting Clio...

[CAS233]

Hi!

First off I'm Dan, 19 years old and a huge car enthusiast, mainly classics. I'm to buy my fourth car tomorrow (I'll get to that), after owning a '53 Fiesta, a '74 Triumph Toledo and a '61 Herald S - which I still own. Funny thing is, I have no license yet/still!

Anyway, tomorrow is when I buy my Clio (hopefully), which is genuinely the most boring car imaginable. It's a 1997 Renault Clio MK1 Phase 3 1.2 RL in white - very very base spec. The paint is rough, very rough, it has a good 55'600 miles on it, few months tax and a 'little bit' of MOT. It's also relatively clean, one tear on the drivers seat, and some small bits of rust, nothing frightening at all. It also has two clip-on hub-caps, and signs of a possible head gasket failure. However, it's damned cheap.

For some reason I found myself attracted to it, I like the idea of giving it some love and freshening the neglected car up a bit! Quite a long-winded introduction, and I'm sure 99% of you will find it as boring as I expect you will, but either way it'll be good for me to find some info on here and share progress as I go along.

Looking forward to experiencing the Clio community, not really one I thought I'd ever find myself wandering into!

Dan

 

[The Boosh!]

Welcome to ClioSport, CAS233

 

[jesus]

An interesting introduction - welcome to the forum Dan!

 

[GCC]

Welcome

What's the plans for the car overall then? Other than a refresh?? Are you talking engine and all bits refreshing, or just bringing it back to how it should have been??

 

[McGherkin]

Welcome!

First of all, pics of the Toledo and Herald! We aren't just interested in clios, lol. Secondly, it'd be nice to see a Mk.1 get made good again, so definitely get a thread up.

Stick around and enjoy

 

[CAS233]

Cheers for the welcome!

Plans so far are along the lines of a full mop and polish, ditch the 'caps and get the steels looking nice and tidy - which will probably result in a weekend of sandpaper. I've heard these cars can have a few issues as well, so best to have a good mess under the bonnet, that's generally all I have in mind for the time being.

Although I have promised myself I'm only buying it as a cheap run-around, I can guarantee I won't be able to resist a bit of modification - problem is with these cars (Clio's as a whole IMHO) is that they're very easily made to look like racer-boy/chav cars. Obviously no offence intended, it's just an image I find these cars have. Naturally that's not a look I'm after, so no Halford's light's, wheels or stereo's are making their way onto this car

I'm unsure of the direction I want to take it in tbh, I do think the 'valvers' look awesome, but I'm sure that's a route many take, and in all honesty I think it'd be a bit pointless trying to make a replica of one (bumpers etc..), as they're cheap cars - I may as well just buy one! On a similar note, I'm not really interested in the whole euro look - it's something that many people/cars pull off with great style, but it's not where I wish to take this. Also, I highly doubt I'll be exploring the boundaries of Clio performance tuning, despite the fact many people use these as track day car bases it's just not something I want to go for (unless the engine goes bang of course, then we'll see!)

Haha, now you see how much I've thought this through?! :rasp: I'm thinking I'll try and do something 'different' from the usual Clio scene, this doesn't exactly mean it'll be outrageous and obscene just to stand out though! I have a few ideas in my head, keeping it retro/period for the car, and subtle.

Either way I'll be sure to whack a thread up soon, it'll be a bit of fun whatever I do!

As requested:

The never finished Toledo, I had such epic plans for this and had everything ready almost - then lost storage, funds ran out and I practically gave it away...

[/URL]IMG_2687 by clougher951, on Flickr[/IMG]

& the Herald S (for those sad as me, it's one of three 'S's in working condition in the world..!)

[/URL]IMG_2876 by clougher951, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/URL]IMG_2879 by clougher951, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/URL]IMG_2881 by clougher951, on Flickr[/IMG]

Dan

 

[McGherkin]

Must be awesome to own something as rare as that!

 

[CAS233]

Must be awesome to own something as rare as that!

Haha, until something 'S' specific breaks! Can't exactly pop into my local Triumph Dealer for a replacement
Yeah it's quite interesting to an anorak, but they're really very similar to normal 948 Herald's; it's really just exterior and interior trim, and as it was the cheaper version (S stood for standard), they tended to get neglected, hence why none exist anymore - but I'm sure as they early cars become sought after, a few more will re-appear

 

[CAS233]

Annoyingly, the garage that have this for sale appear to be useless... -_-
With any luck I could get my hands on it today, but more likely to be later in the week.

Also, can anyone recommend any companies that tune/modify the mk1? Just interested in what's out there and what's available

Cheers,
Dan

 

[CAS233]

Annoyingly, the garage that have this for sale appear to be useless... -_-
With any luck I could get my hands on it today, but more likely to be later in the week.

Also, can anyone recommend any companies that tune/modify the mk1? Just interested in what's out there and what's available

Cheers,
Dan

Looking like early next week now, in order to get it with a 12 month MOT.

Some plans are starting to form in my head now, depending on how things go this could turn out to be quite a fun little project Failing that, it'll certainly be great to tidy the car up and get it sold on again, not my plan to sell it, but at least I can smarten it up a bit beforehand if I do.

I mentioned earlier on I was concerned it may have a HGF - I'll take it on a test drive to see if it overheats or anything, and if not I'll have it. What made me think it could have a HGF is the white 'mayonaisse' gunk that forms, but I reckon it could just be down to condensation - we shall see!

Again, if anyone could recommend tuning companies or anything that'd be great, not finding much for myself tbh.

Thanks,
Dan

P.S, been looking around the forum a lot, wow, some impressive cars! I've quickly became quite a fan of the sporting Clio's

 

[MarkCup]

Wow! Any other pics available of the Toledo?

My old man gave me his, HKW 480N, in the exact same colour of yours...I drove it for three years and put 120k miles on it...cheap motoring!

I learned so much about driving, mechanics and maintenance owning that thing, great fun LOL

 

[CAS233]

Sounds great, only wish I had the chance to do the same with mine! I'm afraid I don't have many pics, not ones that show it in un-stripped condition anyway!
Feel free to have a look through this (if the site isn't private), it's a photo blog of everything I did to/for the Toledo in reverse order, so most recent first
http://triumphtoledo74.blogspot.co.uk/

I'm hopeful I will have another at some point

 

[MarkCup]

Sounds great, only wish I had the chance to do the same with mine! I'm afraid I don't have many pics, not ones that show it in un-stripped condition anyway!
Feel free to have a look through this (if the site isn't private), it's a photo blog of everything I did to/for the Toledo in reverse order, so most recent first
http://triumphtoledo74.blogspot.co.uk/

I'm hopeful I will have another at some point

Nice, I'll have a proper look through it all later.

 

[rctempire]

Yay a Mark 1 owner.
Join the club, I have two.

Trust me, the 1.2L engine (reckon its the D-Type), just watch for the Head warping. Had two, both did the same.

Anyway enjoy the club, we are friendly really. PS - Mark 1 bits, head to Clio16valver. Not many people own mark 1s here now, but still is the best community spirit.