Picked up a 172!

[teccyjim]

Hi to all.

Been a 'member' a while, however only now have cicumstances personally and financially meant getting one become a sensible idea.

The car? Well it's an '04 plate (yes a 172 on an '04!!!) basically, a late registered '53 built model. It's 'ice' blue which is a personal favourite! Done 103k but drives like less than half the mileage....bizarre considering other french cars I have owned in the past felt worse than their mileage! It has it's issues as most used cars do which I will cover in a moment but I'm frankly amazed at the economy of it on longer journeys....an indicated 38mpg at motorway speeds is increadible. I had 41mpg having got stuck in a long queue of traffic behind a lorry on an 'A' road.

While I intend to join as a full member because of the extended benefits, if anyone could give me their 2p worth on the two main issues I'm currently having, I'd be very grateful!

1) When started from cold, car gets upto just under halfway on the temp gauge, no 'hot' air from the fan to warm the cabin....at best it's luke-warm even after a long journey or sat in traffic. Switch off the engine, go back to it 5 mins later, restart and drive again and in most cases you get hot air with the temp gauge moving up slightly to half way, maybe slightly over. I'm assuming I have a 'sticky thermostat' thats stuck partially open and just letting cooled water through all the time?

2) It feels like it has far less low end torque and 'urgency' or willing to rev (upto 4.5k rpm) than my mate's 182? Is this normal?

I can't imagine it's anything serious as I doubt the car would be returning such decent fuel economy?

Looking forward to contributing!

Regards,
Jim

 

[The Boosh!]

Hello and welcome from the ClioSport Admin Team

 

[hilldawg172]

Sounds like a fooked thermostat, pretty cheap and easy to change though.

The 182 mani is better in the low range but you should have a little better 5k kick.

 

[teccyjim]

Thankyou!

Does seem like a dicky thermostat to me too.

I have already considered a 182 manifold (for other reasons) but now seems like a very sensible idea. It's a pity the cost of the accompanying cat and custom exhaust makes it quite prohibitive. I may go down the RS tuner route with a PH1 airbox instead.

The car isn't slow or bad to drive but a little more urgency and response around town and pulling out of junctions would be nice.

 

[levaz]

Thankyou!

Does seem like a dicky thermostat to me too.

I have already considered a 182 manifold (for other reasons) but now seems like a very sensible idea. It's a pity the cost of the accompanying cat and custom exhaust makes it quite prohibitive. I may go down the RS tuner route with a PH1 airbox instead.

The car isn't slow or bad to drive but a little more urgency and response around town and pulling out of junctions would be nice.

I'm in the process of making my own custom sports cat link pipe using a dead section of old 172 cat and a ramair sports cat to work with the 182 manifold and 172 back end.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RAMAIR-HI...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item51a3223298

Welcome to the loony bin btw!

 

[aldo_87]

Christ! You must be strong! (ref title)

Welcome to CS!

From my experience, the 172's are stronger lower in the rev range compared to the 182's. However your plan of a map and airbox should give you a noticable difference (not power but delivery). Martin_172 on here had those mods on a Ph1 172 and I couldnt believe how much better it was lower in the revs than my 182. I suppose 15" wheels would have helped as well though.

 

[teccyjim]

Hmmm, I suppose if you can accumulate all the neccessary parts and then get a good welder to put it all together for you you could be onto something. KTec's adapter seems too steep to justify doing it.

Outright numbers aren't important, just like you say, 'delivery' is. It does give an obvious 'kick' at around 5k rpm and builds speed nicely from there but as most driving is (sadly!) spent below there, some balance would be useful.