16v_paddy
ClioSport Club Member
Valvers & 172 Cup
Ok it's a shameless copy & paste from my project threads on other forums but I feel it deserves to be shared on here, in full and from the beginning 8)
A brief history of the car to begin with. I bought her in February 2007, a bit rough & tatty round the edges but the intention was always to restore & improve the old girl
So she started as being a bit dodgy to drive, rusty arches, the engine bounced all over the shop, tracking & balancing not too clever & being waaaayy tooo low, had a lovely supersprint manifold fitted but a god awful, massive & chavtastic exhaust fitted :evil:
Cause of the engine bouncing all over the place
So replaced with a new 1 and eventually this
And to demonstrate how low it was
Next on the list was a complete overhaul of the braking system. So I got new discs & pads all round, a full set of goodrige brake hoses and some spanking new front calipers that I painted yellow 8)
Then I aquired this little beastie............very very long story about this 1 which I'll happily share with you at meets
Mechanically this thing was brand new, so it was stripped for all it's brand new good parts to go onto mine and the daft body kit was chopped off & sold to some yoof from Manchester with a 1.2 :lol:
So on went brand new std front shocks with 30mm eibach springs, new wishbones, DeCarbon rear shocks from the clio cup race cars - great for some epic lift off oversteer action :twisted: brand new steering column, leather interior, much nicer steering wheel instead of the awful looking thing with the airbag in it, decent speakers (bought my own head unit) and the nice shiney gearknob & bits around it. Magnex exhaust & custom de-cat at the time it had to be custom made as the pipes I had didn't fit together with each other but I later discovered that the supersprint manifold & downpipe were williams fitment and not for the valver. Then there was the full set of samco hoses
I also had a brand new steering rack that I left attached to the subframe I removed, but on the day I came to fit it I found that the subframe had been nicked from behind my shed :evil:
So towards the end of 2007 I'd got the car mechanically tip top & started to save up for the respray
Then came February 4th 2008, whilst blasting along a country lane at high speed the back end stepped out on me :affraid: but I over corrected it & she snapped the other way and I went up a kerb sideways, span between 2 concrete posts then clipped a post with the N/S rear quarter.
This was the damage
Bent drivers side sill
Smashed rear light cluster, bumper & wing
Plus 3 f**ked tyres, 3 bent shock absorbers, both wishbone ball joints, 1 track rod end, 1 bent hub & 2 pairs of pants
So some of the saved money had to be spent to fix all that
In the month following the bump I started buying parts, 1st was a rust free tailgate to replace my rotten 1 and in 1 big trip down south to 2 people I came home with a pair of rust free doors, ph1 wing mirrors, 2 cats that I later weighed in & made £80 profit magnecor HT leads, RSi side skirts and these beauties
Wilwood Dynalite 4 pots :twisted: As you can see they got fitted straight away & I've loved them ever since
I also got from other people, a full set of wheels to refurb, new front & rear bumpers and a williams boot spoiler
Then we come to the end of May & in she goes for the full respray
Old damaged sill & rusty arch cut out & new metal welded in
The battered N/S rear quarter chopped away & replaced with new metal
And she's coming together
Here's some of the wheel that I refurbed myself while the car was being done
Then they were wrapped in fresh Yokohama Parada spec2 tyres
Then came the glorious day, Saturday 23rd August 2008, my car was ready & I picked her up :heart:
5th November 2008
Just over 2 months since getting the car minty mint & exactly how I wanted it, disaster strikes. I got hit by this corsa that hit a kerb, flipped over a crash barrier off a dual carriageway & down 30 odd feet onto the downhill sliproad that I was on :affraid:
It's not very clear but the dual carriageway he came off is at the top of the picture moving towards the middle
He walked away from this with cuts & bruises :shock:
The damage done to my baby
What happened was the rear axle of the corsa was ripped off & hit me in the back of the head via the B-Pillar which the impact also creased the roof
Patched up with spare window & parcel tape
So back she goes to the bodyshop who sorted her 1st time round
And got her back on Christmas Eve
Some before & after pics of the damage & repair
The best Christmas present I ever got that year
2009
Here's a few pics from February of that year, on my driveway before the 1st problem of the year happened
Clutch cable failure :evil: after trying & failing to fix it I took it to the garage I used turns out it was that my clutch had died, so out she came for new clutch & I had the cam belt done while it was out
Then followed 3 months happy thrashing until the gearbox started making ominous noises :scratch: It was at this point I found for sale a rebuilt 1.8 engine with some cams in it and a refurbed gearbox, so I bought them asap along with a ton of other goodies. Then calmed down & started sorting out money for my holiday to Thailand
I decided to do the swap on the 1st weekend of August and since the weather was predicted to be s**t, I bought myself this gazebo and in typical Renault fashion my gearbox completely died on the way back from collecting the gazebo :x but luckily a nice chap in a vauxhall frontera stopped & offered me a tow home so I could get it sorted
8)
To add to the goodies, I decided to go to manual steering.
So on with the engine removal
Once she was out, I cracked on with fitting the new goodies
Since this was the 1st time I've removed an engine & had to put it back in I took my time & eventually ran out of it & had to go back to work, sponging lifts and using the scum shuttle :x
So 5 days later, with 4 days off work I got cracking & got it all back together and running :wav:
BUT.........it wouldn't go anywhere :shock: the clutch wasn't disengaging so I couldn't drive it anywhere :crybaby:
So after much head scratching, forum whoring & having to use the scum shuttle for work again, a possible solution was suggested.........genuine clutch cable, supplied brand new courtesy of coops 8) Also spoke to the legendary MickPM who told me how to fit it properly. Got it fitted and still had the same problem even after re-setting the ratchet god knows how many times :x
Back on the phone to mick, he told me to measure how much the clutch fork was moving to diagnose the problem. So I enlisted the help of my housemates Mrs to work the clutch while I measured the clutch fork. The fork only moved 14mm so it meant that the ratchet mechanism was fooked.
So new clutch pedal ordered from renault, 4 day wait for it to arrive due to the bank holiday and a further 3 days to wait because of work :roll: I got Mick to come & fit it for me as I didn't have a clue how to do it
Got it fitted all nice & tight despite all the swearing from Mick while he was upside down in the footwell :lol: ratchet reset with a lovely 21mm of travel in the clutch fork, started her up & it had made precisely f**k all difference :shock:
So after muchos head scratching, swearing & ratchet resetting, Mick, being the legend that he is 8) got onto the phone to valeo & LUK about the clutch itself. After an hour on the phone it turned out that I had been supplied with & fitted the wrong clutch. Phoned GSF, managed not to swear or threaten mass murder & got them to get me the right clutch. I cleared up for the day & left it till the morning.
Got myself a good nights kip, decent breakfast - 4 weetabix :twisted: and got cracking with removing the engine
same scene just that the gazebo wasn't up as the weather was good
Managed to get the engine out in just over 3 hours (had a tea break) which I was well impressed with only 1 snag, I forgot to disconnect the speedo cable & completely f****ed it nevermind.
Got the box off along with the clutch, tidied up & waited for my other housemate to come home from work to take me back to GSF to get the right clutch.
Got to the shop & compared the clutch I removed to the new 1 they ordered in and they were completely different. The 1st clutch they gave me had a thicker friction plate and pressure plate, they reckon someone put that particular clutch in the wrong box.
So went home, put the glad rags back on & got on with putting it all back together. While I was at it I decided that the wiring loom looked a right mess so stripped all the old manky tape & plastic off and wrapped it up nice & neat with some fresh new electrical tape. Got it all ready to go back in & called it a night to go get pissed with my housemates.
Woke up feeling rough, but a fryup & lots of lucozade sport sorted me out & I got busy. Spent all day getting the engine back in and as it was getting dark she was ready to be fired up. She fired up 1st time, so I nervously got ready to see if I could disengage the cluch and lo & behold it worked perfectly!!
I still had a few bits to do before I could drive her but I left it for the night & got completely trollied :twisted: Forgetting that Harry was coming round at 8am to get an engine mount off me :shock: It was not a pretty sight & I'm sure Harry will confirm it :lol:
So I went back to bed & got up later to finish it off. Coolant in, bumper on, back on the deck & ready to rock & roll :twisted:
Was at this point I got to find the teething problems, battery light on, exhaust blowing, discovering I fitted the wrong rubber a the bottom of the column, no speedo, oil pressure a constant 5 bar even before the engine was started, seemed quite slow as though it wasn't getting full throttle :? but it drove & I was seriously in love with manual steering and the car again after having spent a month without her & having no ides what was causing all the trouble.
Unfortunately a few days later, on my way to work, it died on me :x turns out the new alternator on the engine was fooked. So I had to jump start it & dump it at my mates house just round the corner from where it died. Got a lift into work & had to get the scum shuttle home in the morning........again :roll:
I then scavenged the alternator off my old engine, got a lift off my dad (boost FTW :twisted: ) & swapped it over on the street 8)
It was at this point I started to notice the patch of oil being left wherever my car had been parked
I eventually got & fitted a matbrown special speedo cable and removed the steering column as I fitted the rubber gaitors wrong so now that's all sorted.
Now the oil leak is the main problem & I strongly suspect it's the oil seal behind the fly wheel that's at fault, so the engine is coming out again very soon :roll:
A brief history of the car to begin with. I bought her in February 2007, a bit rough & tatty round the edges but the intention was always to restore & improve the old girl
So she started as being a bit dodgy to drive, rusty arches, the engine bounced all over the shop, tracking & balancing not too clever & being waaaayy tooo low, had a lovely supersprint manifold fitted but a god awful, massive & chavtastic exhaust fitted :evil:
Cause of the engine bouncing all over the place
So replaced with a new 1 and eventually this
And to demonstrate how low it was
Next on the list was a complete overhaul of the braking system. So I got new discs & pads all round, a full set of goodrige brake hoses and some spanking new front calipers that I painted yellow 8)
Then I aquired this little beastie............very very long story about this 1 which I'll happily share with you at meets
Mechanically this thing was brand new, so it was stripped for all it's brand new good parts to go onto mine and the daft body kit was chopped off & sold to some yoof from Manchester with a 1.2 :lol:
So on went brand new std front shocks with 30mm eibach springs, new wishbones, DeCarbon rear shocks from the clio cup race cars - great for some epic lift off oversteer action :twisted: brand new steering column, leather interior, much nicer steering wheel instead of the awful looking thing with the airbag in it, decent speakers (bought my own head unit) and the nice shiney gearknob & bits around it. Magnex exhaust & custom de-cat at the time it had to be custom made as the pipes I had didn't fit together with each other but I later discovered that the supersprint manifold & downpipe were williams fitment and not for the valver. Then there was the full set of samco hoses
I also had a brand new steering rack that I left attached to the subframe I removed, but on the day I came to fit it I found that the subframe had been nicked from behind my shed :evil:
So towards the end of 2007 I'd got the car mechanically tip top & started to save up for the respray
Then came February 4th 2008, whilst blasting along a country lane at high speed the back end stepped out on me :affraid: but I over corrected it & she snapped the other way and I went up a kerb sideways, span between 2 concrete posts then clipped a post with the N/S rear quarter.
This was the damage
Bent drivers side sill
Smashed rear light cluster, bumper & wing
Plus 3 f**ked tyres, 3 bent shock absorbers, both wishbone ball joints, 1 track rod end, 1 bent hub & 2 pairs of pants
So some of the saved money had to be spent to fix all that
In the month following the bump I started buying parts, 1st was a rust free tailgate to replace my rotten 1 and in 1 big trip down south to 2 people I came home with a pair of rust free doors, ph1 wing mirrors, 2 cats that I later weighed in & made £80 profit
magnecor HT leads, RSi side skirts and these beautiesWilwood Dynalite 4 pots :twisted: As you can see they got fitted straight away & I've loved them ever since
I also got from other people, a full set of wheels to refurb, new front & rear bumpers and a williams boot spoiler
Then we come to the end of May & in she goes for the full respray
Old damaged sill & rusty arch cut out & new metal welded in
The battered N/S rear quarter chopped away & replaced with new metal
And she's coming together
Here's some of the wheel that I refurbed myself while the car was being done
Then they were wrapped in fresh Yokohama Parada spec2 tyres
Then came the glorious day, Saturday 23rd August 2008, my car was ready & I picked her up :heart:
5th November 2008
Just over 2 months since getting the car minty mint & exactly how I wanted it, disaster strikes. I got hit by this corsa that hit a kerb, flipped over a crash barrier off a dual carriageway & down 30 odd feet onto the downhill sliproad that I was on :affraid:
It's not very clear but the dual carriageway he came off is at the top of the picture moving towards the middle
He walked away from this with cuts & bruises :shock:
The damage done to my baby
What happened was the rear axle of the corsa was ripped off & hit me in the back of the head via the B-Pillar which the impact also creased the roof
Patched up with spare window & parcel tape
So back she goes to the bodyshop who sorted her 1st time round
And got her back on Christmas Eve
Some before & after pics of the damage & repair
The best Christmas present I ever got that year
2009
Here's a few pics from February of that year, on my driveway before the 1st problem of the year happened
Clutch cable failure :evil: after trying & failing to fix it I took it to the garage I used
turns out it was that my clutch had died, so out she came for new clutch & I had the cam belt done while it was outThen followed 3 months happy thrashing until the gearbox started making ominous noises :scratch: It was at this point I found for sale a rebuilt 1.8 engine with some cams in it and a refurbed gearbox, so I bought them asap along with a ton of other goodies. Then calmed down & started sorting out money for my holiday to Thailand
I decided to do the swap on the 1st weekend of August and since the weather was predicted to be s**t, I bought myself this gazebo
and in typical Renault fashion my gearbox completely died on the way back from collecting the gazebo :x but luckily a nice chap in a vauxhall frontera stopped & offered me a tow home so I could get it sorted To add to the goodies, I decided to go to manual steering.
So on with the engine removal
Once she was out, I cracked on with fitting the new goodies
- Manual rack & column
Powerflex inner & outer ARB bushes - what a c*nt they are to fit :lol:
PTFE inlet manifold gasket
PTFE throttle body gasket
PTFE rocker cover gasket
R19 mount
Cup dogbone mount
Standard airbox
ITG filter - cheers midge
New gearbox
new battery
Loom
Since this was the 1st time I've removed an engine & had to put it back in I took my time & eventually ran out of it & had to go back to work, sponging lifts and using the scum shuttle :x
So 5 days later, with 4 days off work I got cracking & got it all back together and running :wav:
BUT.........it wouldn't go anywhere :shock: the clutch wasn't disengaging so I couldn't drive it anywhere :crybaby:
So after much head scratching, forum whoring & having to use the scum shuttle for work again, a possible solution was suggested.........genuine clutch cable, supplied brand new courtesy of coops 8) Also spoke to the legendary MickPM who told me how to fit it properly. Got it fitted and still had the same problem even after re-setting the ratchet god knows how many times :x
Back on the phone to mick, he told me to measure how much the clutch fork was moving to diagnose the problem. So I enlisted the help of my housemates Mrs to work the clutch while I measured the clutch fork. The fork only moved 14mm so it meant that the ratchet mechanism was fooked.
So new clutch pedal ordered from renault, 4 day wait for it to arrive due to the bank holiday and a further 3 days to wait because of work :roll: I got Mick to come & fit it for me as I didn't have a clue how to do it
Got it fitted all nice & tight despite all the swearing from Mick while he was upside down in the footwell :lol: ratchet reset with a lovely 21mm of travel in the clutch fork, started her up & it had made precisely f**k all difference :shock:
So after muchos head scratching, swearing & ratchet resetting, Mick, being the legend that he is 8) got onto the phone to valeo & LUK about the clutch itself. After an hour on the phone it turned out that I had been supplied with & fitted the wrong clutch. Phoned GSF, managed not to swear or threaten mass murder & got them to get me the right clutch. I cleared up for the day & left it till the morning.
Got myself a good nights kip, decent breakfast - 4 weetabix :twisted: and got cracking with removing the engine
same scene just that the gazebo wasn't up as the weather was good
Managed to get the engine out in just over 3 hours (had a tea break) which I was well impressed with
only 1 snag, I forgot to disconnect the speedo cable & completely f****ed it nevermind.Got the box off along with the clutch, tidied up & waited for my other housemate to come home from work to take me back to GSF to get the right clutch.
Got to the shop & compared the clutch I removed to the new 1 they ordered in and they were completely different. The 1st clutch they gave me had a thicker friction plate and pressure plate, they reckon someone put that particular clutch in the wrong box.
So went home, put the glad rags back on & got on with putting it all back together. While I was at it I decided that the wiring loom looked a right mess so stripped all the old manky tape & plastic off and wrapped it up nice & neat with some fresh new electrical tape. Got it all ready to go back in & called it a night to go get pissed with my housemates.
Woke up feeling rough, but a fryup & lots of lucozade sport sorted me out & I got busy. Spent all day getting the engine back in and as it was getting dark she was ready to be fired up. She fired up 1st time, so I nervously got ready to see if I could disengage the cluch and lo & behold it worked perfectly!!
I still had a few bits to do before I could drive her but I left it for the night & got completely trollied :twisted: Forgetting that Harry was coming round at 8am to get an engine mount off me :shock: It was not a pretty sight & I'm sure Harry will confirm it :lol:
So I went back to bed & got up later to finish it off. Coolant in, bumper on, back on the deck & ready to rock & roll :twisted:
Was at this point I got to find the teething problems, battery light on, exhaust blowing, discovering I fitted the wrong rubber a the bottom of the column, no speedo, oil pressure a constant 5 bar even before the engine was started, seemed quite slow as though it wasn't getting full throttle :? but it drove & I was seriously in love with manual steering and the car again after having spent a month without her & having no ides what was causing all the trouble.
Unfortunately a few days later, on my way to work, it died on me :x turns out the new alternator on the engine was fooked. So I had to jump start it & dump it at my mates house just round the corner from where it died. Got a lift into work & had to get the scum shuttle home in the morning........again :roll:
I then scavenged the alternator off my old engine, got a lift off my dad (boost FTW :twisted: ) & swapped it over on the street 8)
It was at this point I started to notice the patch of oil being left wherever my car had been parked
I eventually got & fitted a matbrown special speedo cable and removed the steering column as I fitted the rubber gaitors wrong
so now that's all sorted.Now the oil leak is the main problem & I strongly suspect it's the oil seal behind the fly wheel that's at fault, so the engine is coming out again very soon :roll:
