Nickson's Titanium PH1 172

[Nickson]

Hi guys,

Thought it would be a good idea to get a progress blog going for the Clio seeing as I have had it a few months now!

Well I started out with a 106 GTi, in Cobalt Blue with less than 50k on the clock, as seen here:

I wanted something a little bigger and faster, and a Clio 172 just seemed to fit the bill!
So I went on the lookout for a 172 Cup.

Stumbled across Nick (quik99) who had a PH1 172 for sale. And after some negotiations, and a lot of thought on my half, as I wasnt sure I wanted a PH1, I had my heart set on a PH2, a swap went ahead.

When I first saw the PH1 in the flesh I was blown away, as it looked so much better than I had imagined!

I was very happy with the trade, and managing to clear my shed as I gave Nick box fulls of spares with the 106 to get rid of them .

Pic from when I first got her home:

This is how she stayed for the first week!

 

[Nickson]

A week went by, and I was really liking the car, felt more.. "Grown up" than the 106.

I had one hell of a cleaning session the weekend after picking her up:

After having my new Ph1 for a week, I thought the need to clean it, as it was such a hot day!
I dont have any pics of the wheel arches , took me ages to take each wheel off and scrub the arches clean

Enjoy!! :star:

Need a new exhaust!

 

[Nickson]

I then went on another cleaning spree, and scrubbed those arches clean!
Cleaned the arches, inside of the wheels, painted the calipers and the rear beam.
Pics are below :

How much dirt came out of the arches!
(Need a new exhaust)

Satin black instead of silver and rust

Inside of the wheels, idiotic of me not to get a picture whilst they were off..

Cant really see.. but the rear beam has been wire brushed, treated and painted. There was hardly any rust to begin with, but I would like it to stay that way

 

[Nickson]

A few months past without me really doing a lot to the car.

I went on another cleaning spree mid October though..

Pics!

The eagle eyed will have noticed the exhaust has been changed!

I managed to get hold of, what seemed to be a custom Magnex Stealth(ish) system, and fitted that.

100x better than the rusty shite piece that came off!

 

[ben81]

Very nice! How have you had weather like that? Whats the plan then?

 

[Nickson]

Very nice! How have you had weather like that? Whats the plan then?

Not finished yet

A few more weeks went past, and unfortunately this happened:

Broken and dislocated wrist, inflicted on myself whilst mountain biking.. Ironic. I can survive 3 weeks every year out in the Alps, one run on a piddly little trail in the UK and I break my first ever bone.. Meh.

Which put all plans for the Clio on hold, and I had this pile of goodies waiting to go on

 

[Nickson]

I got very bored having that stuff sat around doing nothing, and being off work and Uni due to breaking the wrist.

So..

*at the time, approx 2 weeks ago* I have spent the last 2 weekends, with a broken wrist fitting my Coilovers, Decat, New Exhaust and Polybushes to the Phase 1.
Took bloody ages, but I am pretty happy with the results
The back needs raising a fair bit though, but it will do until next weekend!

Bloody dents..

Please bear in mind I havent been able to wash it for 6 weeks due to my wrist being in cast :dapprove:

 

[Nickson]

There are a few parts which I have not had a chance to take pictures of, but I will do on the weekend!

The car has had Vibratechnics engine mounts, which I must say are amazing! Somehow I have had a bugger all increase in internal vibrations on idle, yet an amazing difference when driving, and the response of the engine is unreal!

Basic spec of the little beasty:

• Vibratechnics Upper Engine and Gearbox Mounts
• GAZ GHA Coilovers, serviced 1 week prior to fitting at a cost of £160.
• Powerflex Dogbone Mount
• Ktec Supersport Stealth Exhaust System
• Ktec Silenced Decat
• Powerflex Anti Roll Bar Bushes
• Chrome(silver, whatever) Indicator Bulbs
• Titanium Colour coded handles from a 182
• Replaced a few standard parts which werent in the best of condition, and these were the induction hoses (pictured), the airbox strap and a load of missing clips from the wheel arches.

 

[Nickson]

No progress blog would be complete without the standard car in the snow pics

Looking sorry for herself

And that is how things stand to this day!

 

[Chrisjk]

Oh god I miss mine

 

[quik99]

So pleased to see that she has been taken care of!! Car looks really good and the work done is spot on! You can get that k-tec exhaust more hidden than that though.... thats how mine sat on the cup until one day i got under there and played around with the bracket mounting positions... and now you cant see it (stealth lol)

Going to start a progress blog of my cup now iv got all the pics.... oh and when i have her back from London lol

 

[Nickson]

So pleased to see that she has been taken care of!! Car looks really good and the work done is spot on! You can get that k-tec exhaust more hidden than that though.... thats how mine sat on the cup until one day i got under there and played around with the bracket mounting positions... and now you cant see it (stealth lol)

Going to start a progress blog of my cup now iv got all the pics.... oh and when i have her back from London lol

Ah right!

Bear in mind.. the PH2 bumper hangs lower than the PH1

 

[danzman1991]

Probably the best thing about being on this forum is seeing cars that you really really like being looked after!

Really like the car mate, hoping to get a Ph1 early January next year. Cannot wait!

Safe to say you don't regret getting a Ph1 over a Ph2?

Dan.

PS. Only thing I'd change is putting some Ph1 lights back on it

 

[Jewson172]

Looks very nice.

 

[Nickson]

Probably the best thing about being on this forum is seeing cars that you really really like being looked after!

Really like the car mate, hoping to get a Ph1 early January next year. Cannot wait!

Safe to say you don't regret getting a Ph1 over a Ph2?

Dan.

PS. Only thing I'd change is putting some Ph1 lights back on it

Haha thanks mate

Ermmm, I do and I dont regret getting the Phase 1. I would still love to own a 172 Cup.. Lol.

It came with the PH2 lights, I wouldnt mind getting hold of some PH1's to see what they look like. So that might be in the pipeline.

Plans for this weekend are..

Fitting of Goodridge front and rear hoses

Lowering the front coilovers a bit more to get a better stance.

Very thorough wash to make up for the 8 weeks of neglect!!

Cheers for the comments guys!

 

[Nickson]

After the bout of baaaaaaaad weather, I braced the cold today and managed to give her a good wash!
There has been zero progress, with Christmas and all having bugger all money left to pump into the car.
But there will be some nice changes in the new year!

Enjoyyyyy!

Im thinking Skoda Fabia splitter next, along with Solid Top Mounts, get a few panels sprayed as they arent in the best condition and possibly a wheel refurb.
Nothing exciting.. haha

Cheers!

 

[105e]

Nice, looks exactly like mine did before i dumped the sport body kit, i do much prefer the phase one front end i must admit

 

[Ben]

Looks lovely, I like what you've done so far.

 

[Daz.]

I'm still always tempted by phase 1's! Looks a good one - cup spoiler would finish the back off nicely for me

 

[Finny]

nice and fresh mate looks lush

 

[Greeny.]

This looks mint, great choice of mods as well, good work!

 

[Naith]

looks really well this, we need to coily ours and either refurb the wheels or upgrade. great work though chap

 

[JackJack]

Sweet titanium is the best colour imo.

 

[p@blo]

Real nice example-love the silver ph1s. The coils really transformed the looks

looks really well this, we need to coily ours and either refurb the wheels or upgrade. great work though chap

Indeed you do naith! Red 2118s... :rasp:

 

[Naith]

Real nice example-love the silver ph1s. The coils really transformed the looks



Indeed you do naith! Red 2118s... :rasp:

your just teasing now, TEXT ME.

 

[Nickson]

Few updates!

I have had a play with the coilovers and managed to get a better, nose down stance. Handles so much nicer, no more understeer!

I have also taken delivery and fitted a set of matched inlets from JMS, courtesy of Russ Rallye!

Fitted brand new gaskets and throttle cable with them .

So much more torque in the middle of the rev range now. Appears to have cured the little flatsport that I had going on. Very happy indeed!

Pic:

Obviously cleaned them up before they went on .

Uploading pics of the new stance now!

 

[.Stevo.C.]

I'm looking at getting some matched inlets from Jms. Apart from the improved torque what other differences have they made does it feel more free revving?

 

[Nickson]

Pics of new stance!

Please excuse the dirt!!

 

[Nickson]

I'm looking at getting some matched inlets from Jms. Apart from the improved torque what other differences have they made does it feel more free revving?

Erm..
I have noticed an improvement in power delivery.
Feels smoother throughout the revs.

Thatsn about it really! Ha.

 

[Nickson]

Admittedly the car doesnt look too good in the above pictures, I can only appologise for that!
Lack of cleaning, poor camera angle and poor photography are to blame.. :dead:

Right, updates!

Been having problems with the runners on my two front seats, being stiff and just plain not working as it should! A quick trip to see bomber, and I had a pretty much entire PH1 interior.

Most of it I managed to fit in the garage in a mess:

But these had to end up in the corner of my room..(please ignore the disgusting decor..)

Fitted them today, and I am very happy. To have runners that actually works is a godsend!
Look no different, and hardly an update or progress, but I like to keep things working and looking as good as they can .

Picture during the fitting:

After fitted : (cue steering wheel comments )

I also have another pile of goodies that needs to be fitted ASAP, hopefully this weekend. But dependant on spare time, and being arsed... Not likely!

Joining this soon should be an RSTuner (New style ) and a new steering wheel and boss.

Also have a little update for the front end!
I dont like the look without a splitter. A Fabia one will soon sort that. For the bargain price of £16 posted, cannot really say no!

Having a bit of trouble with seatbelts at the moment..
The rear drivers side stopped working completely. Constantly locked on, couldnt pull or push it.
So I replaced it with a new belt from bomber.. A few tugs later.. (Yes I know that sounds dodgey!)

Same again....
Any ideas?

Cheers!

 

[Nickson]

Made some real progress today!
Managed to drag myself out of bed at 2pm..

Thought that I would start on the car, as its been a while since I last bought something for her (bar the interior)

So set about fitting the Ktec topmounts.
Very easy and simple job to do actually.
Took about an hour and a half, and so far I am very pleased!

Obviously there is more noise when going over bumps etc, but on a normal road you wouldnt know they werent standards!

Feel much better on turn in, its hard to describe how the improve the handling, but they definitely have!

Pics

 

[.Stevo.C.]

It's looking swell mate.

 

[Nickson]

It's looking swell mate.

Cheers mate

Looks better than that in the flesh.
The camera on my BB is pretty w**k if im honest
Will have to start using the DSLR...

Cheers!

 

[Nickson]

Another little update!
Mr DHL came today with a remedy for my steering wheel situation!

May not be to everybodies tastes, but good and bad feedback are both welcome .

Will be fitting this tonight when I'm home from work.
So updated pics will be posted then

 

[Nickson]

Managed to geth the new wheel fitted this afternoon, feels much better.
Although it is a bit of a stretch for the stalks now!

Before:

After:

Comments welcome

 

[adam172]

you will get used to the stretch in no time. i don't even notice any more

 

[Nickson]

you will get used to the stretch in no time. i don't even notice any more

Haha yeah I am getting used to it already!

Having problems with stiffness though.. And a bit of clicking.
Feels as if its rubbing on something. But I cannot see it being in contact with anything!

When steering it clicks as well, sounds like the airbag and horn wiring thing. Not sure what I have done wrong!

 

[quik99]

Car is looking absolutely brilliant! Engine bay looks tidy too!

Now you need to look at more power

 

[Nickson]

Car is looking absolutely brilliant! Engine bay looks tidy too!

Now you need to look at more power

Cheers man you need to see it soon!
Engine bay is very tidy but its a very poor pic, on a very poor Blackberry camera haha.

Also, found a few quid when I had the seats out

More power is on the list!

 

[Nickson]

Little update!

I have been playing with one of these over the past couple of days:

The live data streams are good fun!
Watching what the car is doing is very interesting tbh!

Anyways. I uploaded the performance map to the car, and ohh my. Made a world of difference!
Much much much more torquey in the middle of the rev range, pulls much better.
Made a bigger difference than the matched inlets, but both together is an absolute godsend.

Would recommend to anyone!

(Its not for sale btw, check out the for sale section )

Few more bits being fitted this weeken, so keep your eyes peeled for a few little updates!