Non 172/182 shells - are they the same?

[Greg.w]

Hi all,

Quick one. Are non 172/182 shells the same as a 172/182? Eg if I had to re-shell a 172/182, could I pick up a dirt cheap 1.2 etc and all the 172/182 bits would swap over?

Eg rear beams, front subframes, engine mounts, etc etc

Thanks

 

[Louis]

Hi all,

Quick one. Are non 172/182 shells the same as a 172/182? Eg if I had to re-shell a 172/182, could I pick up a dirt cheap 1.2 etc and all the 172/182 bits would swap over?

Eg rear beams, front subframes, engine mounts, etc etc

Thanks

I don't know why you'd want to make your life harder? It's easy to pick up a cheap 172 nowadays.

 

[Clio_fool]

I don't know why you'd want to make your life harder? It's easy to pick up a cheap 172 nowadays.

But what if you already have one but it's rusty as f**k? 👀

 

[Louis]

But what if you already have one but it's rusty as f**k? 👀

Wheres your 182 mate?

 

[Clio_fool]

Wheres your 182 mate?

I don't own one. What do you think this is, a clio club or something?

 

[Greg.w]

Just thinking if you've got a rusty complete 172/182, or its been rear ended or something along those lines. You can pick up a 1.2 etc for a couple hundred quid.

I think I saw that the non 172/182s are less prone to rust due to no side skirts?

 

[Mcaff]

Hi all,

Quick one. Are non 172/182 shells the same as a 172/182? Eg if I had to re-shell a 172/182, could I pick up a dirt cheap 1.2 etc and all the 172/182 bits would swap over?

Eg rear beams, front subframes, engine mounts, etc etc

Thanks

Everything in theory would swap over. Although tough to find one without a sunroof so possibly be better with a campus model or similar. You’d be correct that they are a tad less likely to rust due to not having side skirt brackets riveted on.

 

[Greg.w]

Everything in theory would swap over. Although tough to find one without a sunroof so possibly be better with a campus model or similar. You’d be correct that they are a tad less likely to rust due to not having side skirt brackets riveted on.

A 172/182 with a sunroof would be kinda cool? 🤣

 

[Mcaff]

Hard to find a non leaking sunroof, I swapped a rear ended 172 into my non sport with sunroof back in 2009/10

A 172/182 with a sunroof would be kinda cool? 🤣

 

[Clio_fool]

Renault didn't do a sunroof in the mk2, it was a rain roof. Stay well away😂.

 

[Greg.w]

View attachment 1644749
Hard to find a non leaking sunroof, I swapped a rear ended 172 into my non sport with sunroof back in 2009/10

Fantastic.

So what's actually different?

I'm assuming front subframes and hubs etc are different. But what about rear beam? Front wings?

 

[Mcaff]

Fantastic.

So what's actually different?

I'm assuming front subframes and hubs etc are different. But what about rear beam? Front wings?

You can use the front subframe but it’s missing a hole for the gearbox mount so if you’ve got the 1*2 one there you’d be as well changing it all with the wishbones etc.
Rear beam is different.
Sport wings/full body kit is different.
To be honest you really do just need to swap everything in from the sport.

I wouldn’t even bother as the looms on the sport these days have seen their best days. That’s probably where most issues are with them wiring being a total ballache. You start to disturb it and it’s going to be issue after issue. Be better spending the money buying a good 172 or 182 to start with and just leave it as is.

 

[Brigsy]

Resale value in the future is worth considering. Non sport converted will be worth less than a genuine sport. All depends what you want it for i guess.

 

[Greg.w]

You can use the front subframe but it’s missing a hole for the gearbox mount so if you’ve got the 1*2 one there you’d be as well changing it all with the wishbones etc.
Rear beam is different.
Sport wings/full body kit is different.
To be honest you really do just need to swap everything in from the sport.

I wouldn’t even bother as the looms on the sport these days have seen their best days. That’s probably where most issues are with them wiring being a total ballache. You start to disturb it and it’s going to be issue after issue. Be better spending the money buying a good 172 or 182 to start with and just leave it as is.

Are the rear quarters the same? Or sport models flared a little?

 

[Greg.w]

Resale value in the future is worth considering. Non sport converted will be worth less than a genuine sport. All depends what you want it for i guess.

Yeah good point tbh. If its a dedicated track car then it would matter I suppose

 

[Mcaff]

Are the rear quarters the same? Or sport models flared a little?

Not flared but sports are rolled in on the edge.

 

[Greg.w]

Not flared but sports are rolled in on the edge.

Ah for the wider track I guess

 

[Martin_172]

Identical shells if you get one without a sunroof, myself and @aldo_87 have done a couple of reshells with ours, much better condition shells on the non RS cars now. As brigsy says, only worth it if it's a long term project so future resale isn't a concern

 

[Chrisgti6]

Insuring it will be interesting too I'd imagine, wouldn't it essentially be a modified 1.2?

 

[Martin_172]

Insuring it will be interesting too I'd imagine, wouldn't it essentially be a modified 1.2?

Only an issue if your young I suspect, I'm under £200 a year for mine

 

[dangerous dave]

 

[hopgop1]

No idea what the legality of it would be, but if you had a bare shell, what's stopping you from putting the 1*2 VIN on the 1.2 shell and using that v5, plate etc.?

 

[Louis]

No idea what the legality of it would be, but if you had a bare shell, what's stopping you from putting the 1*2 VIN on the 1.2 shell and using that v5, plate etc.?

The law which is @Sunglasses_Ron

 

[aldo_87]

You can declare an engine swap with the DVLA, and make it all properly legal.

 

[Brigsy]

No idea what the legality of it would be, but if you had a bare shell, what's stopping you from putting the 1*2 VIN on the 1.2 shell and using that v5, plate etc.?

Its a no no unless its a new shell.

 

[aldo_87]

I had a flamer that was hanging with rust so it ended up stripped bare. Found a 57 reg black Campus that had been garaged for the last 10 years which was £800. The shell is in really nice condition.

I used the complete wiring from the 172 and laid it into the Campus. I think that was the most different area of the reshell.

Hopefully I'll have mine running in the next month or so.

 

[aldo_87]

No idea what the legality of it would be, but if you had a bare shell, what's stopping you from putting the 1*2 VIN on the 1.2 shell and using that v5, plate etc.?

I expect that if you had a matching colour for your donor, black, flame red etc it would be unlikely to come back at you.

It's pretty illegal though lol

 

[Clio_fool]

I worked with a guy who built a rover V8 hilux on a defender chassis. It was his daily for years running on lpg and all was fine until one day he was pulled and asked why anpr said his Toyota was a land rover? He had to have it inspected like a kit car and it ended up on a Q plate after.

 

[hopgop1]

I expect that if you had a matching colour for your donor, black, flame red etc it would be unlikely to come back at you.

It's pretty illegal though lol

Makes sense, not something I've got the skills to do (re-shell a car) anyway, just an interesting thought.
Two essentially identical bare shells next to you, one is a rusty 182 other is a 1.2, swap the VIN plates over, bring all the 182 gubbins over, give it a respray and I'm not sure anyone would ever be able to tell.
Obviously never do that if it's illegal or whatever