Project Lightweight, Trackday Clio 172

[scullyg40]

I currently have GAZ gold coilovers on the front, that section of the body looks a lot narrower than the BC's. On one of your pictures (maybe the angle) the Laguna hubs looked alot wider in this area.

I see what you mean. Unless the GAZ coilovers also have the thread inside the strut, I can see why the BC's are wider in that area.

Oh also. I believe this setup widens the track 12mm (I'm not sure if total or each side) I see you noticed it was wider.

Are you using the same driveshaft? And if so have you experienced any problems with them and the increased width?
Thanks

Yes, the track is increased with 12 mm per side. I specifically asked PMS if I should use wider shafts, but they assured me I could use the original ones, and I haven't had any issues.

 

[scruffydubber]

Yes, the track is increased with 12 mm per side. I specifically asked PMS if I should use wider shafts, but they assured me I could use the original ones, and I haven't had any issues.

That's a relief, I did ask them via email but they never came back to me. Thanks for the help

 

[Chambers_RS]

I’m sure they are wider where the shock bolts too over the 1*2

 

[scruffydubber]

I’m sure they are wider where the shock bolts too over the 1*2

Thanks @Chambers_RS, I've bought the plates to weld on, I'll have to do a mockup and see how it fits up. Otherwise it looks like I'll have to add some new front struts to the list. Hope it's worth it.

 

[Chambers_RS]

Thanks @Chambers_RS, I've bought the plates to weld on, I'll have to do a mockup and see how it fits up. Otherwise it looks like I'll have to add some new front struts to the list. Hope it's worth it.

I’m hoping it’s worth it too but gone a bit OTT with mine 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

 

[scruffydubber]

I’m hoping it’s worth it too but gone a bit OTT with mine 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

Yes hahah, It looks good though. The gains are getting smaller and more expensive after you get so far.

 

[scullyg40]

I had a bit of hose left from the brake cooling, and as my cold air intake had it's best time (I only had 1 intake left, and that was looking like it could fall apart every second), I decided that I would upgrade this a bit.

The intake diameter is the same, but more smooth, and now I have 2 proper cold air feeds, in stead of 1.

 

[scullyg40]

Maintenance time again.

Driving a track car isn't cheap. This is my 3rd set of brake pads already, and my second set of disks (not that they are expensive, but still), and I need another set of tyres, and my cambelt is coming up. The wife isn't going to be happy about this. I also rather spent this money on upgrades, but they don't keep the car alive, and I have to say, all this time, I really didn't have any issues with the car.

 

[scullyg40]

Birthday presents from the wife.

And I made a fixed camera mount. I always had my camera on the side of the helmet, and this was far from ideal, as I had to adjust it every time I changed the battery, which means helmet on, take a picture, helmet off, look at the picture and repeat. Now, the position is fixed, and I can start it when I'm strapped in. And it only cost me 2 Euro's.

 

[scullyg40]

The 30th of September I had Assen booked again, and met up with some guys from Volksforum.com. On of them has a really nice Golf MK1 which is below 700 kg's, and has a 200+ hp 1.6 16v engine, the other one has a kind of rough sleeper looking MK2 Golf with a 300+ hp 1.8T inside.

After the last extremely wet day at Assen, I decided that I needed a set with wet tyres. I choose the Federal 595 RSR as wet tyre, because I had good experience with them, and I can just leave them on, when the track dries up.

I also had an issue that my left front was being eaten away at the outer shoulder, so I had to get 2 new front tyres, and had to tweak my allignment. I did a bit more camber left than right, as most track are clockwise anyway, and my issue was at that particular corner of the car.

Then it was time to go to Assen.

I did 4 sessions, which all went really well, and had a really good day as a result.
Here's a video of one of the sessions.

 

[scullyg40]

After that, it was time to prepare for the oncoming Nürburgring trip.

I didn't want to carry my wet tyre set inside the Clio, because the inside will look like a mess after a while, and I didn't want a tyre rack in the front of the trailer, as it would make the noseweight far to heavy. So I made some brackets, and positioned them at such places before and after the wheel, that my noseweight is now just right with the spare set on the trailer, the Clio on the trailer, and the spare wheel of the trailer in the back of the Clio.

We were also informed by the trackday organizers that basic lighting might be required by the Nurburgring staff when weather conditions were poor. So my car had to go from this:

To this:

Using all of this to get it working again, as my electrical looms are reduced to the absolute minimum.

Next will be the Nürburgring report.

 

[scullyg40]

Then, the big event was going to happen. I was supposed to go there with a friend, but he tested positive for Covid-19, so I was there all by myself. Now, I can be alone pretty good when I'm in my garage for example, but sitting in a restaurant with nobody to talk to is just weird. But, I had to make the best of it.

I had a nice appartement.

I had the Sunday of, so I did some sightseeing. Went to Hatzenbach first.

When it was lunchtime I drove to Adenau, and went to De Blaue Ecke to get a decent burger.

I spent the rest of the afternoon checking out different spot around the Nordschleife.

At 6.45 I left the appartement to arrive at a dark parking place at the Ring. And it was wet. So I had to change the tyres. After I changed the tyres, and did the rest of the usual prepwork, I was finally ready to go to the sighting laps, which had already started. I drove 10 metres, and heard a noise at the right front. For f***s sake, not now. After some thinking, I thought it might be the balancing weights inside the wheel hitting the brake caliper. And this was the case, luckily.

So, first lap ever on the Nürburgring in the wet!

It was slippery to say the least. Went back in, did another one shortly after, and halfway through, there was a red flag already. Someone laid a huge oil trail on the track, which caused a long during red flag. When the track reopened, several people got to excited, causing another red flag.

Then it started to rain again, and late in the afternoon, the track finally started drying up. Because the sun came through it was hard to see what was wet, and what was rubber on the tarmac. Because it was already at the end of the day, I decided to just take it really easy, and got overtaken by virtually everyone. But that's all good, considering the conditions, I guess this was the right way to tackle the Nürburgring for the very first time.

In between laps, I had a good chat with @B-shaw557 and @RuskiWeldShit

Nice BMW in front of me.

The OZ Cronos in dark grey look good if I may say so myself.

Another thing I have to note is, that either the suspension is too stiff, I set the BC's at the softest setting, either, the car is too light, or the Tarmac of the Nordschleife came from the backroads somewhere in Romania or something, I suspect the latter. Anyway, I was bouncing all over the place. On the long straight, I didn't even go flat out, maby my balls aren't big enough, but bouncing around at 200 km/h is not something I'm used too. @Kev@KAM Will softer springs in the front help with this? I now have the 10kg/8kg springs. Is this possible without revalving the dampers?

Anyway, here's the video:

Beware, I'm going slow.

 

[Kev@KAM]

Hard to determine from the video how bad it is but you can easily go to a 9kg front spring and that may give you a little more compliance. The lighter the chassis the softer the car can be sprung

 

[scullyg40]

I had my project thread title changed, as the 130i is long gone, and just 'Trackday Clio 172' can't be an uncommon project thread title, so I asked to have it changed to 'Project Lightweight', as that seems to be the main subject on my car.

To continue with that theme, as the Nürburgring trip was finished, the lighting had to go again.

This is all the wiring you need to have working lights.

Replacing the lights with blanks and removing the small custom loom saved me 3 kg's for those interested. Originally it was more, as the loom was quite a bit bigger.

While the lights were out, I thought there was quite some excessive metal in the front, so I went from this:

To this:

Weight reduction isn't that much, just below 1 kg, but that's also because I replaced it with quite strong tubing to hold the bonnet in it's place.

I also freed up the air intake a bit:

Then it was time to go to Assen again. I met up with a mate and we followed each other for a couple of laps.




His car is a daily, but it is stripped out, and has a 300+hp 1.8T engine in. He is clearly faster on the straights, but in the corners I can make up for the lack of power, which makes things interesting.

My best lap was a 2.09 again, I seem to be a bit stuck at this speed, but I'm also not focussing on laptimes as much as before, but more on just having fun, like following a mate for a couple of laps.




And to show, that there are also some idiots using this organisation, look at the following video. The BMW and Civic shouldn't be on track if you ask me.




At the end of the day, I had a really good day.

Next, I've received an order from @Kev@KAM, so this will be done over winter.

 

[Kev@KAM]

Stick to making it better for the corners. Catching them there when they gallop away from you on straights is rewarding

 

[scullyg40]

Stick to making it better for the corners. Catching them there when they gallop away from you on straights is rewarding

I will. I'd love to get an LSD, but the're so goddamn expensive. 😆

 

[hostler]

Will you be at assen on the 21'st this month? @scullyg40

I should have my car back this saturday and if the weather is good i'll be there.

 

[scullyg40]

Will you be at assen on the 21'st this month? @scullyg40

I should have my car back this saturday and if the weather is good i'll be there.

Probably not, pregnant wife. 😉

 

[Kev@KAM]

I will. I'd love to get an LSD, but the're so goddamn expensive. 😆

On Monday this was the biggest failing of the car really. It lacked Traction out of the corners. Its cheaper than adding cams and significant modifying of the engine

 

[scullyg40]

Step 1 of my winter/2021 project is finished, I moved the battery from the engine compartment to behind my seat.

For those interested, I added 600 grams worth of cable.

 

[bozothenutter]

awesome thread mate!
how did I miss this!?!

if you want to add some real stiffness to the front, add the pure sump protector (or just some alu plate) to cover the subframe.
The difference on my car was amazing, and that was with Pure strutbrace already fitted.

 

[scullyg40]

The weight loss programm continues.

In this corner it wasn't really worth it, just 300 grams, but it's all part of the bigger plan.

I've also order a smaller radiator,

Saving a kilogramm alone on the radiator, which is a nice save.

I will mount it on the splitter, and I will make some ducting in front to get more efficiency from the smaller surface.

 

[Euan Baguette]

You should try a lithium battery. I saved 6kg and the one I use now is only 950 grams.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[scullyg40]

You should try a lithium battery. I saved 6kg and the one I use now is only 950 grams.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I already have a 900 gr battery. 😉👍

 

[scullyg40]

For step 2 of my winter project, I made a couple of new engine mounts.

I wasn't going to pay nearly 400 Pounds for the Pure Motorsport ones, and I've seen @RuskiWeldShit 'copy' them, but I've decided to copy the design from the original Clio Cup racers, as it looked a lot simpler, and I've always thought that the PMS design is also based on being easy to sell, just replace instead of welding the subframe like I've did. This also brings the centre of gravity down quite a bit, and cleans up the engine bay.

I will brace the ears on the subframe when the engine is out for more rigidity, and direct the pulling forces around the subframe.

This is also the reason, why the battery had to go inside, as the original mounts will be removed, now there's nothing above the gearbox anymore apart from a coolant hose and the engine loom, giving lots of room there.
I'm not able to start the engine at the moment, but from trying to wiggle the engine about, it feels a lot stiffer than original.
With these mounts alone, I have lost 5 kg's in weight, and this doesn't even include all the metal above the wheel arch where the normal engine mount mounts on, which will also be removed.

 

[scullyg40]

After my engine mounts were done, I could finish up the weighloss programm in the front.

I mounted the new radiator on my splitter to get it nice and low. With the position of the radiator determined, I could mount the cross bar. This crossbar saved me another 2,6 kg's alone, which is nice. And because the radiator is smaller than stock, I added some ducting to maximise the cooling effect.

 

[Chambers_RS]

Looks awesome mate, like what you’ve done there 👍🏻
I’m particularly liking the crash bar and rad ducting

 

[scullyg40]

@Chambers_RS Thanks 👍

 

[Asher172]

I already have a 900 gr battery. 😉👍

Which battery did you go for which is this light?

 

[scullyg40]

Which battery did you go for which is this light?

It's the Powerlite PS-09 I've got.

 

[scullyg40]

Took the engine out to do some maintenance, mainly the cambelt, and swapping the gearbox. While I'm at it, I also want to change the clutch, possibly lighten the flywheel a bit, and fix som oil leaks I've been having for some time. The main one should be the gearbox side crankshaft seal, I will know in a couple of days. Alongside this, the main engine mount structure will be removed, and I will finish the new mounts on the subframe. Small lick of paint here and there, and the engine should be going back in pretty soon hopefully.

 

[scullyg40]

So, as I've become a father a couple of weeks ago, time in the garage has become very scarce. So what do you do, you order some parts.

I ordered some heatwrap to wrap the manifold, in an attempt to get the under bonnet temperatures a bit lower.

I ordered a new clutch, as now seems like a good time to change. The old clutch wasn't worn to bad, but the fingers on the pressure plate sure had some wear.

And I made a trip to Belgium today to pick something up I couldn't resist.

A brand new Jenvey ITB kit, absolutely over the moon with this.

I've been in doubt for a very long time about what to do with the engine. Do I turbocharge it, go ITB's, swap a VAG 1.8T or maby a K20. While the K20 still seems ultimate for me, I let go of the turbo idea for three reasons. The first is heat, it causes a lot of problems that need to be solved. The second is complexity, an overall theme of this build has been to keep things simple, and the third reason is lag/throttle response. I own a Golf 7 GTI with a remap, and while it is a quite modern car, lag is still existent, and you can't control how the power kicks in when accelerating out of a corner.

So ITB's it is for me. Because my car is so light, 830 kg's at the moment, a moderate power increase will make quite a difference. I have some 197 cams waiting to go in, but I might change these for some more aggresive Catcams 421's or something similar. Ideally, I'd also like to get some porting on the head, all things combined should make more than enough power.

Also a question about the size of the exhaust ports. I have the ph1, so I should have the larger exhaust ports, but the gasket is so much bigger, I'm having doubts. Can anyone tell from the pictures if I have the bigger ports or not? Size of the ports is about 41x22 mm's.

 

[Chambers_RS]

Congrats on the little one 👍🏻 And the ITBs 😎

I have a large port head I could measure at some point if you struggle 👍🏻

 

[scullyg40]

Congrats on the little one 👍🏻 And the ITBs 😎

I have a large port head I could measure at some point if you struggle 👍🏻

Thanks. 👍

And if you could measure the ports that would be much appreciated. It's just that the gasket is a lot bigger and the ports don't seem that big to me. But unless the car had a cylinderhead change or even a full engine change in the past it must be the bigport head as I have an early phase 1.

 

[Usr117063]

What about ITB turbo for faster response?

 

[scullyg40]

What about ITB turbo for faster response?

I'd rather have a supercharger, this eliminates some of the heat issues, but the simplicity of just ITB's with a standalone suits me just fine.

 

[scullyg40]

This evening I finally had some spare time to box in the ears for the new engine mounts. I boxed them in front and rear, with angled steel plate that goes underneath the subframe, so that the forces go around the subframe, instead of just pulling on the welds of the ears.

 

[hostler]

Good progress mate! Taking mine out of storage sometime this week to have some stuff done I can't do myself since I'm moving :/

Legend has it that we might meet at the track again this year. What a time to be alive.

 

[scullyg40]

That would be nice, and I hope you're right. Progress is painfully slow now with the little one taking up all my spare time.

 

[Chambers_RS]

Measured the exhaust ports, hopefully makes sense.

Ph1 rockers I believe have this round casting on them in the centre