Project 172 B road blaster with occasional trackdays

[matt_182]

After the nightmare I had 2 weeks ago when I picked up a 2003 172 Cup only to have it spin number 3 shell on the way home, I needed something cheap. So after a week of snoogling eBay every day and a few cars in my watch list I decided I'd bid on another standard example. So in the last 15 seconds I placed my bid of £1001.01 on a hope and a prayer as the bidding was at £930, to my surprise I ended up winning the car for £950! Knowing it needed a couple of bits (tax and possibly driveshaft) doing I thought I got a pretty good deal as it also has full service history and a few receipts from a Renault specialist.

Turned up yesterday to pick the car up and it's a really clean car. Paranoid about another bottom end knock I let it warm up and then took it for a test drive and was pleased to hear no rattle. However on the way home I stopped off for fuel and noticed the dephaser pulley rattling and it only had a cambelt 10k ago which is a bit of a shame but will give me peace of mind once I've had them done. I also noticed when pressing the clutch there's a whine that gets louder when you press the accelerator. When idling its fine no noise from it at all. The clutch is quite stiff so will probably have a new clutch kit and cable fitted in the near future.

Overall very happy with the car, needs a bit of work but that's not a problem. Once it's all sorted and serviced I will concentrate on getting it ready to enjoy with some good suspension, brakes and good tyres.

Anyway, best put a couple of pics up after I got it home:

I'd be interested to hear people's suspension/tyre combos for track days/fast road and also what brake discs people are using as I suspect the Ferodo DS2500 pads are most popular?

Cheers,
Matt

 

[cmcquitty]

Sorry to hear about your cup mate.

Did you not consider a new engine?

Either way - the replacement looks nice.

RE tyres - I've got Pirelli P-Zero Nero's on mine, and they're absolutely brilliant for all types of road use. Could not recommend them enough.

Track I've got Yoko Advan 048's and a set of Toyo r888s - I've not had a chance to make my mind up on which I prefer, though.

 

[matt_182]

Cheers bud, I reshelled the engine and it still knocked slightly when warm so the crank needs regrinding. I did consider a new engine but was going to cost too much so decided to cut my losses.

I had those yoko's on my previous 182 Cup and thought they were awful. This is my old 182 Cup a car I truly, truly miss:

Sold it with interior and standard exhaust in the end:

Got a lot of love and respect for for RenaultSport Clio's

 

[Greeny.]

I think I remember that racing blue cup from one of our RR days

 

[matt_182]

One of the most enjoyable cars I've ever had. Nothing came close no matter how powerful/expensive, that was so much fun

 

[cmcquitty]

That RB looks lovely, I don't normally like that colour but with white wheels it's awesome. Why'd you sell it?!

Interesting to hear your views on the Yoko's - you've got me second guessing mine now!

 

[matt_182]

I sold it because my insurance for it a year ago was £90 a month and at the time I couldn't afford that, no I'm paying less than half that I can have another RS Clio to enjoy albeit not another Cup. One day I will get myself a Trophy, I have a lot of love for the Trophy.

Maybe it was just me but all I seemed to get was understeer with them. I am a big lover of Continental Sport Contacts. I've only ever had Sport Contact 2's but would really like to try the 3's. I also like Toyo's, for the money I think they offer excellent levels of grip and I think they wear quite well. I also rate Uniroyal Rainsports quite well.

 

[eddy_172]

Where them parada spec 2's you had on the old 182? i love them tyres, its all i buy now other than a048's what i have on the 306

 

[matt_182]

Yep Parada Spec 2's mate, bloody awful in my opinion and they hate even the slightest bit of damp conditions. I will look at A048's and other tyres while I'm bored at work see what reviews are like.

 

[matt_182]

Well after finishing my second job this morning at 3:30am it was lovely to come out to this:

There really are some arseholes about! The thing is there was nothing in the car at all, which you could clearly see through the windows. The only thing in the car was the cd player which wasn't fitted correctly as I couldn't get it clipped in and the faceplate was also in the car somewhere but these were not taken, nothing was taken which makes it even more annoying! Will be getting replaced tomorrow.

 

[George@RTR_Parts]

Some right scum bags about :dapprove:

Both your old and new cars look decent though

I rate the contisport contacts 2 as well and also the Michelin pe2 are worth a look-very good road tyre ime

 

[matt_182]

So this morning after the police had been round have me the chance to fully inspect the damage, some little scrote had thrown a bottle of rosé through the window! Spent a couple of hours stripping the interior and cleaning/hoovering it and left most of the rear interior out until the new window is fitted tomorrow as only more glass will fall. At least it will fall on to metal tomorrow so ill be quickly hoovered up!

Interior on inspection this morning before hoovering:

Need 2 new tyres and a new exhaust now as 2 rear tyres leak and are cracked etc and the exhaust is just old and rotten and the mount has collapsed meaning its rattling on the axle...annoying! At least I can get my Conti Sports bought and fitted and will upgrade to Oreca Group N I think. Although I am torn between that and K-Tec recessed...

Thanks G, I picked the black one up from near Wakefield actually a place called Havercroft. I love being back in a fun little car and will enjoy it even more when I get the driveshafts replaced!

 

[matt_182]

Another boring update:

So this morning I waved goodbye to my Cup Hated seeing it leave but hey ho, you win some you lose some!

Got a call at 12 today by the Autoglass technician saying he could be 40 mins early so I was happy with that! so by 1pm I had a new window fitted by 3pm it had been cleaned:

So happy to have it back to a usable state! Not happy with the scum that put the window through with the wine bottle and even more unhappy as it's chipped the paint through to bare metal under the window:

Not the best picture but you get the idea!

Next up tomorrow is a service and new handbrake cable as one has snapped, The driveshaft and exhaust need replacing as they have seen better days. Exhaust wise I'm torn between Oreca Gr. N and K-Tec Recessed.... Opinions?

Cheers
Matt.

 

[matt_182]

3/4 plate just ordered, should be here Thursday hopefully

Need to get hold of a cat as MOT isn't that far away and I would like to fit one along with the new exhaust, which I think will be the K-Tec recessed Sport (silenced centre section). Also need a new rear exhaust mount as mine has pretty much disintegrated.

Had handbrake cable fitted yesterday along with new oil and filter, will do plugs and all other filters at the weekend so it's all fresh and also get the service book stamped for it.

 

[matt_182]

Picked up a cat from Rob-Gee on Tuesday night, had that fitted yesterday and upon inspection the rest of the exhaust systems isn't as bad as first thought so a new exhaust is well down the list now...which saves me a few quid in the short term!

3/4 plate turned up yesterday, excellent service from Fancyplates! Been busy on eBay today, ordered 4 x Silvatec bulbs and a new rear wiper arm as my car is missing it!

Had this turn up today, ready to be fitted to the rear mount at the weekend:

Anybody know what size bolt the centre mount is? My car doesn't have one and I'd like to get one on there asap!

Also after work today I decided to fit my 42 LED side light bulbs, which went well.......

......not! That can wait til Saturday when I remove the headlight (not looking forward to that!).

Quick trip to Halfrauds to pick up some heavy duty velcro and 3/4 plate fitted:

Can't get on with the bits I want to do for a while as I have a £655 garage bill to pay at the end of this month which is rather annoying. Dephaser pulley is rattling like mad so that, cambelt, aux belt, waterpump, thermostat and coolant change will be the next job and that's going to cost a fair wedge I'd imagine! Also needs a passenger driveshaft as when you put your foot down it feels like it's galloping and vibrating, and it didn't have a boot on the gearbox end of the shaft so the 3 bearings on the tripod are knackered which I think is why it feels awful when pressing on!

Was contemplating going down the 182 Trophy route around September/October time but if I'm spending on my money on this one then is there really much point?

The peoples choice, Renault F1 Team stickers should arrive tomorrow. Had one on the leading edge of the bonnet on my previous RB 182 Cup, but thinking of these ones perhaps going under the side repeaters or on the rear of the side skirt each side? Headlights need refurbing if anyone does it locally for some beer tokens?

 

[matt_182]

Woke up this morning to the sound of the postman delivering 2 packages to me, 1 was the 4 Silvatec bulbs the other was my new rear wiper arm

Finally got out of bed at 11 after not getting in from my second job until 4am this morning (the things we do for a little extra money!), removed rear light clusters, cleaned behind them and fitted the new Silvatec bulbs, same with the front! My spare wheel well had a puddle in it which has caused the sound deadning of the boot carpet to get wet so removed all that and washed the boot floor and dried that, while the boot carpet is still drying! Also took the oppotunity to fit my stereo properly and remove the wires that arent being used that was stopping it fit properly, now all snug and not flying out. I noticed over the last week that the passenger door speaker was farting badly, suspected split rubber. Removed the cover and the rubber had indeed split away from the edge of the speaker. As a quick, temporary fix I applied RTV Silicone which is currently drying so will hopefully reduce the farting a bit until I have the mechanicals/drivetrain sorted and then will replace! Last week I fitted my Bosch Aero blades and as normal they are a huge improvement over the standard style blade. Fitted the rear wiper and it has tidied the back end up so much and I'm now extremely happy with that although the base needs spraying matte black as it's faded badly. After that I fitted my 3/4 plate a bit better as the velcro was falling off as water had got underneath it. Cut off a new strip for the bumper, cut that in half and put each side of the small recess either side of the numberplate recess so no air/water can get in! Also used some double sided tape as well to help a bit. After all that I then sprayed my front diamond matte black, which will be going colour coded when I get my car into the bodyshop. The rear diamond will also be going body coloured too.

Still undecided whether or not to strip it out and fit some buckets and harnesses like my old 182 Cup or leave this as a car that can be used comfortably each day while doing some trackdays as well.

Some pics of todays progress, no before's I'm afraid but we all know what the before's look like as plenty of other people have done all this...

Going to order the Fabia splitter today as the front end badly needs one! Still undecided where to put my Renault F1 Team stickers, the sideskirts where the Trophy graphic is on the Trophy's is where I fancy but I also like the Megane F1 style on the front bumper and I like the leading edge of the bonnet too!

The car is skinting me at the minute with the amount of work it needs, but I still love it and I rally enjoy driving it, which to me is worth far more than the real value of the car!