Project 432 - Mk1 Track Car

[hardy]

Hi all.

Finally after over a years worth of the car being sat, SORN, feeling sorry for itself being in a poor state due to me having to travel with work in something 'normal' and moving house a lot.

It is now back!

Some of you may remember the car from my old thread on Clio16valver.co.uk quite some time back but I didn't get round to making a thread on here before now.
http://www.clio16valver.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=48130

Since all of that it had been my daily which didn't give me chance to sort things that needed sorting.

Now I have a house with a garage and a daily car, it will get the attention it has desperately needed.

It once used to look like this before it was taken off the road:

French Car show 2012 spec with ATPower throttle body. V6 airbox was re-fitted after the show.

Earlier on in the year me and my good friend Ryan at Race Performance & Transport transported the Clio from my home town of Worksop to Coventry using his single car trailer.

As you can see the Clio was in a 'bit' of a rough state.

Since then the Clio has just been sat in the garage waiting to be worked on.

The Plan

Restore the shell back to a 'rust free condition' with:
- New bonnet (got)
- New doors (got)
- New passenger wing (fed up with the 'drift stitching') (got)
- New rear outer and inner arches
- New front inner arch sections
- New inner sill sections
- New floor sections
- Reconditioned subframe
- Fully seam weld the shell

Get hold of:
- Polycarb windows for the rear quarters and rear screen
- Cage from Custom cages, basic cage with additional members to front turrets and single (non-crossed) door bars (Group A configuration to keep weight down, ease of access and ability to use the window winder)
- Manual poverty spec window winders
- Non-sunroof skin
- Flocked top dash

Fit all the other parts I have accumulated over time

Powdercoat my not-so-white wheels back to white and fit my set of A038's

The overall idea with this is to make it as you would expect to buy it from a dealership with a decent finish, no rough edges, whilst maintaining usability and reliability on the road and track.

Oh, and enjoy the thing!

Josh

 

[hardy]

09/06/2014

Not much of an update on the progress on the Clio - just a bit of a prep of the working space around it. But still thought I'd get some pictures of it and get in the daily RT

The daily and not-so-daily...

Also mounted my pin board to help organise and manage the project

More updates coming soon.

Cheers for looking.

Josh

 

[hardy]

Seeing as I haven't updated the thread in quite some time, it is about time to do it.
16/08/2014
The beginning of the front end strip-down.

24/08/2014
Further strip-down of suspension.

14/09/2014
Subframe removed and dropped the engine.

 

[hardy]

Further updates continued...

05/10/2014
Made a start on the interior strip-down.

Nice bit of rot...

12/10/2014
Made a start on the brakes too.

23/10/2014
Things were getting a bit dark in the garage so I wired some stip lights to a 3 pin plug. Winner.

Cheers for looking.

 

[hardy]

Only just realised that I hadn't worked on the car for a very long time - basically the complete winter season and it was very sporadic with little direction...
Here is a bit more progress.

11/05/2015
Started chopping the rotten areas away after taking delivery of my new R-Tech welder.

To uncover more lovely rot...

Spare bits.

Welded in seat rail removal.

21/06/2015

Shifted the engine out of the way so that the shell can be moved outside for better working access.

Out in the open.

30/06/2015

Knocked up a cardboard template to make sure both rear arches turn out the same as each other.

05/07/2015

Ready for the chop.

11/08/2015

Chopped.

To uncover a whole world of rot.

More spare bits.

Cheers.

 

[hardy]

15/08/2015

Got properly stuck into re-modelling the inner arch using poverty spec repair panels. By no means are they a direct fit for a 16v/Williams. These are Klokkerholm items and are good quality.
If you want to replicate the 16v/Williams rear arches using these panels then you will have to use the panel in sections.
Chopping back to the decent material.

20/08/2015

Started offering up the poverty spec sills to the original 16v/Williams inner arch and I am left with this amount of gap.

The plan is to keep the standard 16v/Williams profiles as much as possible as I am fussy about stuff like that. So I will have to extend the sills to fit around that profile.
Offered up the second part of the inner arch.

Cheers.

 

[hardy]

08/09/2015

I knocked together one of my trolleys which the shell will sit on in the garage for ease of movement.

18/09/2015

Started to crack on with the inner arch again. This, again, is not by any means a direct fitment as plenty of marking up and testing had to be done to get this in the right position and shape.
The slits cut into the panel helped when manipulating the panel to join the 16v inner arch and to achieve the correct shape.

Just need to knock up a plate to sit in the window at the base of the arch and one for the gap between the repair panels.
The paint is just weld through primer to give it that extra bit of protection during work and resting times.
The welds will then be ground back, primer removed and seam sealed once I have welded everything.

More updates will follow.
Cheers for looking.

 

[jamesycc]

Blimey, this is a project and half. Hope it goes well. I'll watch this with anticipation.

 

[hardy]

Blimey, this is a project and half. Hope it goes well. I'll watch this with anticipation.

Cheers. :up:
It is certainly a rather demanding project. The outcome should be good once done.
Josh

 

[hardy]

20/09/2015

Small update.
Spent 1.5 hours on the car and added further material to the rear arch.

Cheers for looking.
Josh

 

[Jesse James]

Amazing work, pretty inspiring

 

[hardy]

Amazing work, pretty inspiring

Cheers :up:
Just need to keep cracking on with it now!
Josh.

 

[Jekyll]

That is a LOT of rust!

Glad to see your still persevering with it :smile:

 

[hardy]

That is a LOT of rust!

Glad to see your still persevering with it :smile:

Yeah would be a shame not to! It will effectively be a new/clean shell once finished.
Cheers!
Josh

 

[Djw John]

Wow. Now thats a big job! Good effort mate, still have a hankering for a mk1 even after all these years

 

[hardy]

Wow. Now thats a big job! Good effort mate, still have a hankering for a mk1 even after all these years

Cheers!
Josh

 

[areece]

Wanting to do the exact same only thing is mines a sh*it 1.2 hopefully a 16v front end coming soon if any parts available please do let me know cheers

 

[terryc101]

Loving it so far!

Really need to sort out the rust on mine (been saying that for 3 years lol)

 

[hardy]

Wanting to do the exact same only thing is mines a sh*it 1.2 hopefully a 16v front end coming soon if any parts available please do let me know cheers

Not sure if I will have any parts available but I will be selling the 172 engine and JB3 (valver) box soon for something rather different in its place :tonguewink:

 

[hardy]

Loving it so far!

Really need to sort out the rust on mine (been saying that for 3 years lol)

Cheers!
Yeah that's what I said with mine about 4-5 years ago! Only just getting round to doing it.
Josh

 

[firehorizon]

Project looks good mate I'm going through the same right now, look forward to updates. is the 172 engine plug and play? and how much are you after for it?

 

[Scrooge]

Brave! nice work!

 

[hardy]

Project looks good mate I'm going through the same right now, look forward to updates. is the 172 engine plug and play? and how much are you after for it?

Cheers!
It's not plug and play as you have to modify the engine loom to fit the valver plug, your exhaust either to take the standard 172 cat/decat, get an ECU which has to be virginised and the immobiliser bypassed and modify the inlet to relocate the coil pack to sit away from the rain catcher.
I can sell you a plug and play setup; engine, engine harness for a ph2 Clio 16v, decat, cat, exhaust manifold, ECU, ph1 inlet and throttle body (cable type). Pm me if you are interested.
Josh

 

[hardy]

Brave! nice work!

Cheers!
Josh

 

[hardy]

Bit more of an update:
25/09/2015

Finished adding material into the rear inner arch.

Ground the welds back.

Sealed the welded areas. Might not be the prettiest sealing but if it stops water ingress and rot then I'm happy.

27/09/2015

Started chopping away the drivers sill and the rust in the inner sill.

Rear section if the inner sill is prepped and painted with weld through primer ready for the new plate to go in.

Cheers for looking.
Josh

 

[theburns1]

Love the work going into this, proper job!

 

[hardy]

Love the work going into this, proper job!

Cheers! :up:
Just need to keep ploughing through it!
Josh

 

[gudger12345]

Awesome work mate
Will be worth it once finished

 

[hardy]

Awesome work mate
Will be worth it once finished :smile:

Cheers mate. I keep telling myself it will be worth it!
It will also be nice to have a mk1 without any rust!
Josh

 

[theburns1]

Mad to think I bought my valver for £800 rust free, was 12 years ago though

 

[hardy]

Mad to think I bought my valver for £800 rust free, was 12 years ago though

£800 back then was cheap! I've had this one nearly 8 years and it still had a bit of rust on it back then...
Josh

 

[theburns1]

Back then most expensive one I saw was £1500 and it was mint, the one I bought was really clean, then I bought some oz super t's for £80 haha student living

 

[Advikaz]

Good work!

 

[hardy]

Back then most expensive one I saw was £1500 and it was mint, the one I bought was really clean, then I bought some oz super t's for £80 haha student living

Haha! Student funding is the best. I practically built the car whilst being a student! Shame you cant really say you can get hold of a clean and tidy valver any more.
Josh

 

[hardy]

Good work!

Cheers! :up:
Josh

 

[bauderline]

Great work on your valver, any recent work / updates ?

 

[Jack-C]

Cool project, I've always loved the look of mk1's

 

[hardy]

Great work on your valver, any recent work / updates ?

Cheers mate.
I have some updates but have been a bit slack with uploading them. Will crack on shortly.

Cool project, I've always loved the look of mk1's

Cheers mate. I have always been very partial to a mk1.

Cheers, Josh

 

[hardy]

Bit more of an overdue update:

09/10/2015

12/10/2015

14/10/2015

16/10/2015

18/10/2015

02/11/2015
Since the weather has been getting worse and I was getting to the point of it stopping play, the Clio ended up back in the garage.

Also made it look like a car a bit more. Only a bit...

05/11/2015
Started chopping away at the drivers footwell/A-pillar flooring.

07/11/2015
Smaller update but significant still - the first step of parts progress/gathering for the Clio - Renault Safrane front hubs (same as the Clio cup racer ones).

Hope to have more frequent updates!
Cheers for looking.
Josh

 

[bauderline]

Thanks for uploading your progress photos! I am currently restoring Clio Dimma 31, I was concerned about cutting away the rotten inner sill around the seat rails until I had the rest of it welded up as they are the only things attaching the inner to the floor pan at the moment. I see you found a novel solution.... Same difference I guess

What are the specs on the Safrane hubs ? Do they allow for bigger discs / caliper upgrade. I was thinking about fitting 172 hubs/discs/calipers as by all accounts they are more than sufficient in terms of stoppage.