Racing Blue MK1 Clio revival

[Jay_Kay]

It's been a few years since I've really played with this car so back story. Owned the Clio for about 3 years and in usual turbo Clio style it kept on breaking so threw a tantrum and bought a BMW M5.

Had a E39 M5 that was a boss did a fair few trackdays and nurburgring trips in that car, smashed the miles on it and wanted something different after 4 years of owning it.

After selling the M5 I got the Clio out for a year. Did 3 trackdays in it and actually got it to the level where it was pretty reliable. Until the engine spun a bearing on pretty much it's last trip before being taken off the road for winter.... 🤦🏼‍♂️
At cadwell

At castle Combe

And at Anglesey

So threw another tantrum and bought a 2JZ swapped M3 with 630hp. This thing was ballistic on the straights useless in the bends even with ohlins r&t coilovers.

Sold that after 2 years and then decided I want to get my Clio back out. It's been over 3 years since I've seen it let alone driven it.
Ripped the engine out replaced the crank, made it all nice and made the fatal idea of having my inlet manifold vapour blasted. Didn't realised they used a media blast and then vapour blasted it. It was full of media that then dropped into the engine bores and wrote it off 🤬.

So with a trackday booked and no car. I called up my mate and asked if I could borrow his spare track car.....

 

[Jay_Kay]

The spare track car was a k20 swapped Mk1 Clio 😁.

It was flying around track all day and was faultless until I broke the clutch pedal but that was expected as it was a bit of a home brew affair.
I was hooked and so the path of building my own k20 Clio started 😁.

Bought a k20 with TDI ultimate cams, clockwise baffle sump, RBC inlet, 70mm throttle body, rdx injectors etc. So should make a decent amount of power!

I want to keep all the originals dials working so opened up the oil level and temp sensor and glued the thermocouple into a 1/8 not generic sensor that I drilled out.

The oil pressure sensor I tapped a thread for it into my sandwich plate and screwed it into that.

The water temp sensor I'm going to run a sensor into one of the coolant pipes.
So there's only one dial on the dash that won't work.... The speedometer.
I'm going to run an Arduino to run a needle that I'm going to retro fit onto the dash instead of the Speedo cable.

So I've programmed the board just need to wire it all up into some spare clocks and see if they work!

 

[Jay_Kay]

Didn't like the red fuel rail so took that off sanded it down and left it as bare aluminium.

And also bought a new coilpack cover for the engine.

Bought a ktuned side pulley kit to reduce the height of the engine as the top pulley can be high. Plus the subframe on the MK1s mean you can't run a p/s deletion kit as the alternator will clash with it.

So you may notice I bought the custom production engine mounts.... If your fitting this engine to a MK1 Clio don't get these mounts! The engine sits wayyyy too high to the point it's comedy level at how little the bonnet closes 😂 and how much the driveshafts will clash with the chassis rails.

So for the drivers side engine mount I've had to drop the engine 38mm. I did this by machining the chassis side 10mm and adding 24mm spacers on the engine side of the mount.

You will have to notch the subframe for the sump to clear. I know the steel sumps have more clearance but I didn't want to split open the engine as it already has a baffled sump inside of it.

Clearance is tight but all good once I've strengthened it back up with some steel.

Next up building the gearbox mount.

 

[Jay_Kay]

On the gearbox side the plate in the kit just doesn't match a MK1 chassis rail at all. Wrong shape, thickness, etc.
So I just got some 3mm steel and started welding up some pieces together.

With the mount made can see the diff on the k20 sits near enough the same place as on a jc5.

Started to add some strength back into the rail. Capped the ends up added a sheet of steel. Was about to triangulate some of it and then the welder ran out of gas!

Welds aren't the prettiest but it all has good penetration with lots of underseal burning while doing it.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Some of the goodies I've bought for the car are ktuned pro shifter

Kpro ECU

Big itg carbon filter. My mates k20 is an open cone filter and oh my days is it loud on the induction noise to the point it gave me a headache on the trackday! So definitely wanted something that was enclosed!

Mfactory racepac diff fitted with a longer 6th as it don't half rev high on the motorway with the small 15" wheels!
This was done by kinetic Motorsport.

Universal conversion adapter loom.

Brand new clutch with facelift flywheel as it's a tad lighter.

 

[Chambers_RS]

Subscribed to this 👌🏻

The K20 certainly sits nicely in the Clio chassis

 

[matty w]

Epic combo mk1 clio an a k20. Would make a good YouTube build series

 

[Jay_Kay]

So done some strengthening to the chassis rail and subframe.

There's a triangle bar welded against the chassis rail on the other side too to spread the load down the rail between the notch too. Doesn't budge so guess it's working now.

Added a notch in the drivers chassis rail to ease aux belt changes.

 

[Chambers_RS]

So done some strengthening to the chassis rail and subframe.

View attachment 1553643

View attachment 1553645

There's a triangle bar welded against the chassis rail on the other side too to spread the load down the rail between the notch too. Doesn't budge so guess it's working now.

View attachment 1553648

Added a notch in the drivers chassis rail to ease aux belt changes.

View attachment 1553649

All makes sense to me now 🤦🏻‍♂️😂😂

 

[Jay_Kay]

Through the art of seam sealer and some paint no one will ever see my welding 😂

 

[Jay_Kay]

With the engine back in

Started next with plonking the engine loom on.

Next up was feeding the brown and white plugs on the Renault loom back up inside by the glovebox as that's where the ECU is going to live. The ECU will tap into the brown and white plug for stuff such as starter wire, fuel pump wire etc etc.

Tapped it all back up and stuck the grommet back over it all.

Next made a mount for the power steering pump. Using the usual mercedes pump.

And lastly finished off the dog bone mount. Chopped the original bracket and rewelded it to suit the next height the engine sits at now.

Next up tomorrow is sorting the exhaust manifold out hopefully 😁

 

[Jay_Kay]

So today started with the exhaust manifold.
I'm using a standard 182 manifold like my mate had done. With the engine being sat so low it's in near enough the same position as the f4r sits which means I it's in theory a flange swap away from fitting.

Chopped the flange off which was hard work as I'm cutting right on the welds so it's about 6-7mm thick in places.

The k20 port spacing is very similar with the clio outer ports needing a bit of bending in to match. Did this with a few pie cuts and tack welded for now in.

And how it looks from the flange side

Was trying to get all the ports flat ready to weld to the flange but forgot my ear defenders and tinnitus was slowly creeping in so called it a day.

 

[Krarl]

Proper thread this is! No f**king about

Make sure you bang a couple of silencers on that exhaust though, because its gonna be f**king loud!🤣

 

[rctempire]

Looks bloody good this. Top notch.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Bit of a delay been to the Nurburgring and North Wales the last week.

So back on to the manifold

Mocked it up started welding around and forgot I don't have the 172 ARB fitted 🤦🏼‍♂️.
Fitted it, low and behold it hits the ARB 😂.

Did another cut further down the manifold on where it's 2 pipes and bent it up to clear the manifold.

Lovely now!
Also changed the plugs on the injectors to allow me to run rdx injectors.

Hopefully the rad turns up soon so I can crack on with that. Once that's complete I'll send the subframe off for powder coating.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Still no rad as it was lost in the post 🤦🏼‍♂️.

So been finishing off the manifold by welding a 3" flare and then 3" flange to suit my exhaust

Next up cut out a plate to plug the hole where the original shifter would live.

Welded it up and ground the welds back

Chucked a coat or two of black paint over it and bolted the shifter in so that's done.

Also trail fitted the intake

Next up probably mocking up the driveshafts for the length I need which I don't fancy as I'll get CV grease everywhere.

 

[Coops Mk1]

Disgusting, ruined the car tbh

 

[Jay_Kay]

Disgusting, ruined the car tbh

If you don't love it the car will try and kill you 😂

 

[Chambers_RS]

Same intake as me. Bargain they are.
Is yours the full big boy version? 90mm piping to throttle body and 120mm intake trumpet?

 

[Jay_Kay]

Started on the pedal box with the civic master cylinder.

It has a really annoying bolt spacing so had to bring one of the bolts in real close to it.

This is the angle it sits at, slight canter but enough to be fine.

The support brace is in the way of where the master cylinder is going to work off the pedal.

So chopped it and re-welded it back on. Also tack welded the nuts to make it easier to removing and refitting on my own.

Radiator turned up today too!

Chopped the front crash bar off as it's been so hacked up over the years for intercoolers etc that I'm going to make a new tubular one.

That's how's the oil cooler and rad are going to sit. I want to bring them together so I can have fogs again and have the front end looking stock.
Clearance for the water outlet on the block is decent.

Slave cylinder less that ideal. May tilt the rad slightly.

Going to order supplies and attack the car in the next few days.

 

[Chambers_RS]

Good progress. Funny how your rad clearance problems are reversed to mine. I really struggled to get a neat solution for the bottom hose as the thermostat housing outlet was so close to the fans/rad but clutch slave miles away. Must be how it sits in the Mk1.

You got the engine and box level and the angle of tilt sorted?

 

[Jay_Kay]

Good progress. Funny how your rad clearance problems are reversed to mine. I really struggled to get a neat solution for the bottom hose as the thermostat housing outlet was so close to the fans/rad but clutch slave miles away. Must be how it sits in the Mk1.

You got the engine and box level and the angle of tilt sorted?

I think if I had to keep the rad in the stock position I'd be knackered with the outlet pipe 😬. With the front cross member chopped out its given me a lot more freedom but I don't want to go too far forward or ill be chopping the front bumper grill out which I don't want to do on the new bumper.

I've ordered a clutch pipe with a banjo fitting for the slave to hopefully save me some room.

Yeah I kept the angle of the tilt the same as the kit. Made sure the engine mount was sitting nice and level before starting the gearbox side.

 

[Chambers_RS]

I think if I had to keep the rad in the stock position I'd be knackered with the outlet pipe 😬. With the front cross member chopped out its given me a lot more freedom but I don't want to go too far forward or ill be chopping the front bumper grill out which I don't want to do on the new bumper.

I've ordered a clutch pipe with a banjo fitting for the slave to hopefully save me some room.

Yeah I kept the angle of the tilt the same as the kit. Made sure the engine mount was sitting nice and level before starting the gearbox side.

Sweet all covered 👌🏻

Tubular and removable front is on my list once done.
My engine didn’t sit right with the engine mount on and gearbox mount bolted to the strut tower 🤦🏻‍♂️ Took loads of fiddling and faffing but glad I spent the hours doing so.

 

[scotiamr2t]

Sweet all covered 👌🏻

Tubular and removable front is on my list once done.
My engine didn’t sit right with the engine mount on and gearbox mount bolted to the strut tower 🤦🏻‍♂️ Took loads of fiddling and faffing but glad I spent the hours doing so.

tubular front cross member makes engine removal so much easier. That’s what I have done, all be it I have a tubular subframe with no bar across the front so also have an engine cradle that allows me to wheel the engine in and out with front cross member removed.

 

[Chambers_RS]

tubular front cross member makes engine removal so much easier. That’s what I have done, all be it I have a tubular subframe with no bar across the front so also have an engine cradle that allows me to wheel the engine in and out with front cross member removed.

Sounds good.
Any pics you can share?

 

[Jay_Kay]

Been a while since I've worked on this been flat out in work 🙄.

So started with capping off the ends of the front slam panel.

Bar will sit like so on each end.

Plugged up the ends of the bar with captive nuts so it bolts on and off.

Radiator on, in two minds if it needs all 4 mounting points 🤷🏽‍♂️.

Oil cooler on

 

[Jay_Kay]

Here's me showing its I can unbolt it for each front end access.

Also I badly need a new front bumper 🙈. Ordered a new reproduction one so hopefully it's decent.

The bar also supports the bumper so this is with nothing bolted bumper wise and it sits quite well.

 

[Daz.]

I've come to the sad conclusion recently that I'll never own another MK1

 

[Chambers_RS]

Nice work 👌🏻

 

[Chambers_RS]

I’m going to sell my exhaust manifold and down pipe if your interested or decide the 182 manifold don’t work

 

[Jay_Kay]

I’m going to sell my exhaust manifold and down pipe if your interested or decide the 182 manifold don’t work

Thank you for the offer but I'm going to stick with the 182 manifold for now.

Managed to finally get the clutch pedal working.
Version 1 worked lovely. Bolted it up on the car and the steering shaft just went directly in its path so that failed.

Version 2 basically a m8 rod bent into shape to go around the shaft.

Just needs a small washer added on the pedal stop but shows I'm getting full travel in the cylinder.
Also a quick grind and paint to stop it rusting.

Added a small coolant overflow tank too.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Heat wrapped the manifold. Need to check the flange is flat before bolting it up tho.

Front crash, radiator support bar is now painted and fitted.

Pedal box fitted and just bent the hardlines around the master cylinder.

Wired up the bus bar for the battery cable, interior cable and engine loom to connect to.

And just bought this. As we all know MK1 clios were graced with such terrible sunroofs. Mine leaks badly so to fix that I'm swapping over roof skins 😂.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Finally got the gear shifter cables sorted.

Went with the racing circuits versions made to my length. The ends they use didn't really work with my setup. So there was huge play on the shifter.

So ended up turning down the bolts on the gearshifter to accept a M6 rose joint and also filing the gap just a fraction wider for them to fit into.

Also picked the subframe up from powder coaters and my 172 rack has turned up so can finally start building the front end up again now.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Started with building the subframe up.
New drivers rear bush fitted and 172 steering rack.

Still had to bend one of the pipes on the rack but less hassle than the valver rack plus less turns lock to lock is always a plus.

Fitted the new oil cooler.

Clutch line fitted and gear cables grommet fitted.

Slowly coming together. Will fit clutch reservoir tomorrow and start building the front suspension ready to measure shafts.

 

[Chambers_RS]

K20 Looks clean in that bay 👌🏻

 

[Jay_Kay]

Starting with the driveshafts.
Easy way I found out was the Honda shafts are solid and the Clio ones are hollow. If you cut the Honda one before the CV boot attaches on the shaft it slides perfectly inside the Clio one.
So cut the Clio one up, slide Honda shaft inside, bolt to car and with the springs out jack the arm up and down to check full droop and compression. Make sure the tripod isn't going to fall out or bottom out.

Max droop

Max compression also check full lock at both positions.

Two shafts with a tripod and CV ready to be sent to satchell engineering to be made into nice one piece shafts.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Made a new power steering feed line out of PTFE hose. It's just about strong enough to hold the psi the pump outputs.

Fitted it up and chucked a bit of nimbus heat shield on, will have to take it off as forgot I haven't done the throttle cable yet 🤦🏼‍♂️

Oil cooler lines are done as well not much to photo on them really.

Started with the wiring. Fitted the ECU up behind the glove box using some old oil cooler rubber mounts.

Have labeled up the required wires and will start splicing it together in the next few days.

New bumper turned up so had to get a photo with the whole front end kind of together.

Going to order a slightly larger splitter than OEM as feel like the front ends always look really high on mk1 clios.

 

[Jay_Kay]

The new shafts turned up.

Managed to get new skf CV joints for the shaft. Was going to build them up but noticed the new shafts diameter is slightly smaller than a standard Clio one so the CV boot would be slack around it. Going to order some universal ones and fit them on instead.

So fitted the new splitter instead. It's only 20mm deeper than stock and brings the front bumper level with the sills as on mk1 clios the front bumper is higher for some reason. Hopefully allows me to raise the car slightly on the front too.

 

[Chambers_RS]

Where the shafts from?

Mine are the same, to small for the outer and inner. I’ve fitted universals ones and even they seem to fit s**t. I ordered a 1 new outer joint and the boot fitted really well iirc, want me to get the part number for you to try as I kept the box.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Where the shafts from?

Mine are the same, to small for the outer and inner. I’ve fitted universals ones and even they seem to fit s**t. I ordered a 1 new outer joint and the boot fitted really well iirc, want me to get the part number for you to try as I kept the box.

Satchell engineering made my shafts.
I'll try the universal first as the CV boot for the Honda inners fits nice and snug to the shaft so it's just the outers that need sorting out for mine. If the universal fails I'll message you for the ones you used, thank you