phase1 172 track car

[hughesclio]

right thought i would start a project thread as i have done a bit to the clio now .#

i bought the car back in september as a non runner and a rear end bump
the car got delivered to me at 10.30 in the evening so just put it on the drive until the next day. the person on ebay said it had run out of petrol but would not start once they put some fuel in.

next day i went to investigate the issue, no ecu in the car what so ever, so contacted the seller and amazingly he knew nothing about it it had been at his brothers so he said he would contact him and get back to me.
needles to say no call and not answering the phone.. c**k

so the first job was to source an ecu which mr paul murray(rs tuning) gave me and unlocked it for me.
the car would still not start so once again mr murray came round with his testers only to find a corroded live wire to the ecu hence no power.
10 minutes later she came to life and sounded great

how she arrived.

i hen set about fixing the back end bump which needed a new tailgate and a bumper which i sourced in the same colour to save time on painting

once trying to fit the bumper we realised the back panel was pushed a fair way in so out came the chains
we tied i to the elegraph pole a the bottom of my drive and gave her a little tug to make things fit nicely.

refitted the bumper and tailgate and looks fine for now maybe a few tweaks needed on the bumper but can live with it for now,
i also fitted a set of phase 2 rear lights a the same time.

 

[hughesclio]

next on my list was to strip it out and fit my steering wheel and find some bucke seats as we had a rackday at elvinton booked (nice and close o home just in case as you never know with a new car)

 

[hughesclio]

i then fitted some carbon lorraine pads and flushed he brake fluid for all new as i didnt know how old the brake fluid was that was in there.

the car managed 150 miles on track at elvington and didnt miss a beat so i was pretty impressed wih the old girl.

i then purchased some eibach sportlines to lower the car a bit but acually seemed to make no difference whatso ever, however the car did drive and handle much better

after that i hen bought a nice new set of r888s o fit to the oz f1s so i now needed another set of rims to run on the rd with so bought a set of 17" prima racing alloys and had them powder coated in black.

as you can see i also put some decals on to make it look a bit more like a track car (not to everyones taste i know)

 

[hughesclio]

whilst keeping myself busy i fiited the aerocatch bonnet pins,
i know im bad for cutting up an original alloy bonney but nevr mind needs must

 

[Gray]

And the best colour! you got the cage I was enquiring about on ebay

 

[ForceIndia]

Not planning ring trips?

 

[leeds_182]

Good work.

I think it could still do with going a little lower but if it handles ok then fair enough.

 

[hughesclio]

after all this we booked cadwell park and the car was going really well then unfortunately coming onto the back straight the clutch decided to explode,
i wasnt even in the car it was a friend driving so he was getting the job of putting the new clutch in ha ha unlucky.
few pics of the day.

my friends 172 with mine (his bought off of here might i add )

 

[hughesclio]

after the clutch had gone the car sat on my drive for around 3/3 months as it was christmas and i was getting married in january so money was tight and things were a bit hectic
i eventually bought a clutch and delivered the car to the said clutch breaker who incidentely teaches problem children mechanics.
so out came the engine and new clutch wen in and a good check on he timing belt to be sure as the car came wih no history.
all was good and back in wen the engine

in the meantime a unused cup racer cage came up on ebay which i bough 2 days before the wedding (wife to be wasnt to happy lol)
i went and picked the cage up and at his poin i realised how much work i had let myself in for

 

[hughesclio]

i also forgot to mention that whilst he engine was out i had a deca fitted and a blue flame full system fited, i then whipped off the inlets and did a bit of DIY maching which turned out to be better than expected as i then got the car dynod at rs tuning with the 3 month old fuel in and it made a healthy
172.8 bhp

i was really pleased with the figure and it definately fel livelier mid range

 

[hughesclio]

after a week of driving it round i thought enough putting off he inevitable and set about the cage

first off was to remove the dashboard and some of he un needed wires.
that was a job in its self, he wires for he boot were all removed and the wires for he back lights were tucked into the sill hrough grommets then run in the rear quarters to the back leaving no wires on show at all

 

[hughesclio]

Not planning ring trips?

lol not in the clio if i was travelling that far id be going in the m3
i need comfort as im disabled

 

[AdamAnderton]

Car looks good nice figures
whens the next trackday

 

[hughesclio]

Good work.

I think it could still do with going a little lower but if it handles ok then fair enough.

i agree mate it will be going on coilovers once a few other things are done, sportlines were just a temporary measure tbh even though i really cannot fault them.

 

[hughesclio]

Car looks good nice figures
whens the next trackday

not to sure yet as the plan is to rip it all apart again soon to repaint the outside

i will update the thread later on tonight just downloading the pics which seems to be taking forever

 

[shiftspark]

Ah ha so that's where the cage went! I was also after it thought no one would notice it on eBay and get it for nowt lol
I bet it's a right job to fit it though.
Cheers

 

[hughesclio]

Ah ha so that's where the cage went! I was also after it thought no one would notice it on eBay and get it for nowt lol
I bet it's a right job to fit it though.
Cheers

lol you have no idea how awkward it was
i paid strong money for the cage but worth it now its in and done,
rest of the pics will be up shortly of it all fitted and done

 

[shiftspark]

Car looks good! just seen pic in flocked dash thread.
Cage looks superb.

 

[hughesclio]

Car looks good! just seen pic in flocked dash thread.
Cage looks superb.

cheers

 

[hughesclio]

right i have he rest of the pics downloaded

next on the list was to remove all the ar and clean off all of the remainder of he glue, at the same time i removeved the seat crossbars that are spot welded to the floor and various unused brackets throughout the car

we then set about trial fitting the cage and cutting the spreader plates to size then drilling the floorand bolting down.

at the same time i had to rial fit the dash as it had to go around the front crossbar of the cage,i ended up having to cut the dash mounting bracket into 3 pieces and grinding bits off here and there o make it fit.

no dash

then the messing around

once that was all done the car was shipped to SPRAYFIX in leeds for them to weld he plates.
he tacked the plates then we removed the cage so he could get all the way round the plates properly

try removing a cup cage its like a fookin jigsaw the windscreen got broke and the roof got dented in a couple of places.

 

[hughesclio]

next was to prep the cage as it was brand new and had been coated in oik to stop it going rusty (just what you dont need when you want to have it sprayed )
so i set about it all with degreaser and scotchbrite and got it gleaming
so then i primed here up and it actually felt like i was getting somewhere eventually
in the meantime id dropped my bottom half of the dash off at yukspeed for them to flock for me along with the steering cowling.

then the best bit is having it in painted

mmmmmmmmmmmmm shiney paint

 

[Scott™]

Prodject is looking good mate. How many times you had that cage in and out lol.

 

[hughesclio]

after the cage had dried i wrapped it up in bubble wrap and stored it well out the way and got started with preparing the inside for paint.
had to put some filler where id drilled a bit far on some of the spot welds, also i prepared it for the seam sealer ( its great stuff and hides a multitude of sins ie the creases in the boot floor)

then after the seem sealer

 

[hughesclio]

then we got it all masked up for paint and cleaned it and degreased it for about the 10th time lol

then the paint went on

 

[hughesclio]

next day after the paint had dried we dug the cage out and started fitting it
what a frickin job that was 3 of us lifitng it in and still managed to scratch it in a few places (nothing a litle local cannot sort)
after that i put in the new lightweight oddysey battery (thanks burp )
and put in the cable along with the cutoff switch.

 

[hughesclio]

then came he job of refitting the dash bottom, time to see if all my measuring and cutting and grinding has worked (fingrers crossed )

IT FITTED YEY

then i set about fitting the seats and harnesess

and then the hard bit fitting the dash top to go round the cage,
i seriously hought it was going to snap when we were bending it, rowan at SPRAYFIX did the measuring and cutting to perfection as i was just sure i was going to do it wrong lol
she is back together and seemed like one hell of a long road but i think it has been worth it

sorry if i have bored you all with my thread but never done one before so thought id give it a litle go
compliments and critisism welcome

 

[hughesclio]

Prodject is looking good mate. How many times you had that cage in and out lol.

lol just the 3 times and hat was to many,
i created a new language

 

[Gaz2405]

Interior in this is awesome!

Very nice mate

 

[hughesclio]

also since he pics i have made some new fron and rear door card and have fitted a set of white pro race 1s, braided brake lines were also fitted today and tomorrow the camber correction bolts will be fitted.
update will follow tomorrow with pics

 

[Riad]

Looking good!

Love the dash and cage!

 

[hughesclio]

and a couple of cheeky ones of my daily driver

hope you like

 

[SammyT]

both cars lovely

 

[Jamie]

Like that steering wheel. Flocked dash looks great.

 

[AdamAnderton]

That looks sooo good, just makes me want to get mine done

 

[Topgeartom]

Absolutely mint. Thats all that needs to be said.

 

[hughesclio]

managed to get a few pics of the front door cards that i made,
i made the out of 3mm mdf and covered them with some suede material i had.
also had to make some spacers for the handles as hey dont sit flush without them.

i also got the pro race 1s fitted, they do have the wrong size tyre on but that will be changed for my slicks then these will be used for trackdays only

 

[Alexander]

Amazing interior. Nice white handbrake

 

[hughesclio]

Amazing interior. Nice white handbrake

cheers,
handbrake was the painters idea but that will be getting changed rather soon as its not doing it for me im afraid

 

[Alexander]

Yeah, was going to say it would get pretty dirty.

 

[hughesclio]

a little update i have had the braided brake lines fitted and new fluid flushed through again just to be sure

pedal definately fulls a bit more solid now, the old rubber flexis must of been a bit tired and past there sell buy date