Racing Blue MK1 Clio revival

[Jay_Kay]

Not a huge amount of progress. Been faffing tbh as it's at the point where it needs to be dropped on its wheels and sent over to have the exhaust chopped to meet the manifold.

Managed to get the shafts built up.

Also fitted the oil temp into the sump plug and wired it up.

Blasted the brake calipers as they were the colour rust.

Gave them a coat of silver.

Will build these back up tomorrow with new seals and sliders from biggred.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Been busy with the car but with all the small bits.
When I fitted the throttle cable I found the pedal to be too heavy. The Honda throttle wheel is smaller in diameter compared to the Clio one.

So adapter the Honda throttle body to accept the Clio wheel and spring so it feels like normal on the pedal.

One issue then was I made my new cable too short with the larger diameter wheel I didn't make enough slack in the cable 🤦🏼‍♂️.

Also wasn't a huge fan with universal cables, don't have proper grommets for the fire wall etc. You can't buy genuine 16v cables anymore and ph1 172 are no longer available too which people used before. On eBay I noticed there's quite a few genuine Renault cables for random models. Bought one was too short, second one I bought it was the perfect length. No idea what Renault it's for but it has the proper firewall grommet so can't fault it!

Next up was fitting the front suspension together. With my new rack noticed the hubs where toeing out massively so tried to correct it and bottomed out the threads on the rod. Even after cutting the outer track rod as mine are noticeably longer than standard it still didn't give me enough adjustment! Realised you need ph1 172 inner track rods when doing the conversion 🤦🏼‍♂️

Man maths kicked in and I thought screw it new inner rods and have sent the hubs to bridgecraft engineering for their roll center kit as mine has seen better days! Over 7 years ago I made it.

Also undersealed the arches with por15 as it needed a tidy up. Just waiting for my coilovers and hubs to turn up and the car can go back on its wheels.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Been playing with the speedometer clocks.
Was going to go down the arduino route but this little clock came up cheap so bought it instead.

Took the clock apart away from the main metal case and was left with this.

Glued it to the backside of the arcylic backlighting board. Had to shave the board a little to bring the needle up high enough for the Clio one to fit in.

Cut the dial face to allow viewing of the new kilometer and trip screen. Will cover the old areas with bits of carbon. I would like a new dial face to be created but not sure how much that would even cost.

Also wish I was a bit neater with a knife 🙄
And then push the needle back on after drilling it out a to 1.1mm.

One cable to electric converted clock 😁 just need to glue it into the casing and the button that allows it to be programmed and resets the trip.

Also chucked the arch liners back in with new drivers side brake line and new hel Flexi lines for both sides. Still waiting on hubs and coilovers but it was to be expected.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Also started on painting the rear arches and found a crack in one of the discs... So new genuine discs and brembo pads have been ordered with RPF fluid.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Finally the hubs turned back up so got on with fitting them.

Brakes are all on just need someone to give me a hand on bleeding them.

Also started the car up today for first time.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Been fiddling with the dash clocks again. This is as neat as it's going to get really without me spending £350 to have someone cut me custom dials.

Slowly trying to get the lights to work too. So have the oil pressure warning and engine management lights working. The battery light does work but not sure if the ECU only kicks it on when running and alternator not charging.

Got the wiring diagrams for how the oil pressure and temp dials work too. They weren't working and now I realise why having these diagrams.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Pushed the car outside for the first time in years!

Started it up and noticed the oil pressure gauge is working so that's a positive!

All of the pressure with the high cold start idle.

Chucked the very dented bonnet on 🙈. Need to get that sprayed some time!

Off it went for its exhaust . Came back and now it's quieter could actually have it running for a bit and noticed an oil leak. I hadn't done up the oil pressure sensor. That's all sorted so now the final stretch before mot 😁

 

[Jay_Kay]

Got the car all sorted for its MOT, she's slowly looking a bit more rusty underneath but still structurally solid so need to sort it out before it gets worst and costs a bomb to fix. It is 29 years old so its going well.

Also the aux belt jumped a few ribs when I booted it. Don't think it tensioned it up enough. New belt on and a lot tighter this time.

 

[Ben perry]

Looks mint mate !! How’s the gearing on the 15s?
Has it been mapped?

 

[16V F7R]

Bloody awesome this.. nice work👍👍

 

[Jay_Kay]

Looks mint mate !! How’s the gearing on the 15s?
Has it been mapped?

Need to properly check the Speedo is calibrated right using the GPS on the phone. But it's pretty short 😂, but then I'm not used to having a nearly 9k limiter 😆.

Mapping is next Saturday if everything goes to plan 😬

 

[Ben perry]

Need to properly check the Speedo is calibrated right using the GPS on the phone. But it's pretty short 😂, but then I'm not used to having a nearly 9k limiter 😆.

Mapping is next Saturday if everything goes to plan 😬

Nice 😂😂
What ecu you running and who’s mapping for you

 

[Jay_Kay]

So had the car mapped today by jcal!
Been fighting a few coolant leaks and had them all sorted, couldn't put a crazy amount of miles on the car as it's running 410cc injectors over the stock ones so the fueling was a tad off, especially low down rpm.

Drove down to Swansea banged it on the rollers made 255hp and 176ft lb.
Jcal seems to think the 182 manifold certainly isn't much of a restriction if any so anyone thinking of using it for the swaps it's a bargain way of getting a manifold to fit!

 

[Jay_Kay]

Also had the front bumper painted so can't wait to get that back on the car!

 

[Jay_Kay]

Been driving the car for a bit now. Exhaust is a tad loud at motorway speeds so will look into sorting that out before I ever take it to the nurburgring.

Also fitted the fog lamps back in. Looks so much better now!

 

[Jay_Kay]

Haven't updated this in a while because not a lot has broken on the car 😂

Added a tow hook to the car as it doesn't have one on the front. I tuck it behind the bumper when not in use so keeps it nice and clean looking.

Sprayed the door pockets too as with all mk1's they all go a bit funny with age. Looks a lot neater now.

Went on a track day at Anglesey. Start of the day it was seriously wet and the ar1s were not good for it!
Dried up later in the day and the car was damn good! Forgot how well a lsd works on clios! Never had such good turn in and if I needed corrections could use the throttle to turn the car more in or let off to let it release itself a little.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Line up of me and my mates cars after a successful trackday with everyone driving home for once!

Getting it sideways down the corkscrew

Made a start on the roof too so hopefully I can get that fitted soon as the sunroof was pissing me off during the trackday 😂

 

[16V F7R]

Great pics, it sits and fills the arches spot on. Looks mega.

I bet that LSD was making it behave a lot better and allowing you to push it harder.

How are you going about the roof swap, are you just taking the top skin off and swapping or chopping the roof off at the pillars? I want to swap the roof on mine and am looking for one. What did you use to spray the door pockets, it looks a good match?

 

[Jay_Kay]

Great pics, it sits and fills the arches spot on. Looks mega.

I bet that LSD was making it behave a lot better and allowing you to push it harder.

How are you going about the roof swap, are you just taking the top skin off and swapping or chopping the roof off at the pillars? I want to swap the roof on mine and am looking for one. What did you use to spray the door pockets, it looks a good match?

Cheers man!

Im trying to make a mould to make a carbon roof. Being a bit of a mong with the fibreglass but hopefully it comes off the car soon and see what it looks like.
If it works I'll make more for other people as the Achilles heel of any mk1 is a leaking sunroof.

I used buzzweld PIO 7043, everyone on the clio williams group use it and its a decent match!

 

[16V F7R]

Thanks for the info on the paint. I will eagerly await the outcome of the roof! My roof severely pisses me off as well. Especially as my valver lives outside and i hate keeping a car under a cover outdoors.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Haven't updated this in a while.
Started noticing the oil pressure gauge wasn't doing a lot so sent it off for repair.
It kind of now reads some pressure, still ain't a lot but I'm just going to send it till the oil light comes on 😂

Heres a before and after of the sensor being repaired.

Also after driving it around for a bit the drone of the exhaust was getting on my nerves.

Chucked a midbox in to see if it made much of a difference. Only a slight change so went a bit bigger on plans...

Took the car down to kis Motorsport and had them fit two offset backboxes. Huge difference now! Almost sounds like a normal car on idle and driving around. Registered 85db at 4.5k so thruxton is on the cards for a track day too now 🤔

Next up was fitting a bucket seat. I wanted to keep the retro look going though so had the seats upholstered in the original ph1 cloth.

Used some Jon foz bases, recaro sliders and generic sidemounts. Chucked it in the car and the seat was a bit too far towards the door so waiting on new sidemounts to push the seat over.

Nurburgring prep has started so chucked some new ds1.11 pads in, got direzza tyres on order and a few other bits.

Also fitted brand new headlights and indicators.

Last photo of the car in the local supermarket carpark. If you don't turn around after parking it do you even like your car 😂

 

[Brigsy]

Looks class. The dual backbox is a great idea to get the noise down.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Update time

Chucked some sound deadening in the boot to try and tame some of the sound as old car problems. Not sure if it's made any difference but every little helps I guess.

Bought some different side mounts for the seat and managed to get it sat in the right position finally!

The direzzas turned so had them fitted.
Size comparison between 205 ar-1 and 195 direzzas.

As I spoke about previously, the car hasn't made the best oil pressure lately. So to try and prop it up a little I chucked some 10w-60. I know not the correct way to do it but seeing as I was going to Germany in less than a week worth a try..... Yeah it made no pressure. The pump was so knackered it couldn't even pull up the oil 🙈.

Guess I was changing the oil pump, better late than never as they say. Quick order of a new one

Took the old one out.... Yeah that's seen better days

No idea how it's happened or when as the engine for ages hasn't made the greatest pressure. The pickup was spotless too so don't think it's ate anything. Took a Conrod cap off to confirm the bearings were ok. They looked in decent condition so full sends ahead! Banged the new pump in over 6 bar on start up and 2.5bar when warm! Never had such good pressure.

On to Germany we go!
It was 30c outside for the weekend so wasn't expecting the car to do great but it didn't better than I expected.

Engine didn't miss a beat and used very little oil if any!

Managed to do 6 laps. Brakes were getting hot as had smoke coming off them when leaving the carpark. The ds1.11 didn't give up and I didn't experience a long pedal! So just need some ducts to feed a bit of air to them.
Tyres didn't let go either! Well recommend them to anyone!
Suspension.... Not sure. The car was bouncing all over the place, as if the damping wasn't right. Going to look into it, also feel the rear squats down too much so may refit the torsion bars and drop the rear spring rate down.

Some pictures and videos of the car on track.

And a YouTube lap, don't expect to hear a lot as you'd expect 30c with no Aircon meant windows wide open 😂

 

[Jay_Kay]

Been a bit quiet updating.

As previously said didn't like the rear end so had some 24.7mm torsion bars made to try and stiffen it up. Same bars as the R5 extra vans.

And have also added another degree of camber. (-2 total now) and made the toe parallel to hopefully liven up the rear end to aid turn in.

I had a steering wheel extension made from a local machine shop. Gives me perfect bent arms as before I was straight armed which I don't like at all.

I've then concentrated on the front end.
As we know the Clio top mounts leave next to no room for adjusting. So after look at what the Clio maxi's did and other race cars decided to make my own. Bought some generic compbrake top mounts that have been modified to allow even more adjustment. Welded a flat plate on the tower for it to mate against. Drilled some holes and hey presto adjustable top mounts. I did want the largest hole bigger to allow more adjusting but that was the only holesaw I had. Can always come back and redo if I need more adjusting. At the moment it's giving me 3.5 camber on the front. Haven't checked castor but I've gone for as much as I can get.

Lick of paint and all is good. Hopefully it gives a decent upgrade to the front end.

Also fitted 215/50/15 direzza to the front. Tight squeeze in the arches. Had to trim it with the angle grinder to give it enough clearance. May need a tad more on the bumper.

Next up is changing the brake bias valve as it seems to be a bit dodgy so hopefully more updates soon.

 

[Jay_Kay]

Few more updates.

Decided rear didn't look good with the massive tuck so changed to a 10mm camber shim.

I've also taken a leaf out of a few lads books on here and have sound insulated the inside using dynomat and a sound absorber. All the panels definitely have a nice sound when giving them the knock test. Have to wait and see on a Germany trip if it makes a bug enough difference.

Fitted some Porsche Macan air ducts too as for a fiver each it's worth a gamble on. Will see if they make a difference next week at combe.

Also may have got carried away and bought a pair of ast's for the front 🙈😂

Quality on them is insane, night and day over the avo's. Ride quality is immense too.

Just need to sort the tracking out and it's ready for the first trackday!

 

[hardy]

Love the updates on this!
How does returning the rear suspension to torsion bar from coilover behave now?

 

[Jay_Kay]

Love the updates on this!
How does returning the rear suspension to torsion bar from coilover behave now?

After going on track it seems a lot better on the rear, doesn't sit on the back wheels anymore. The angle of the coilovers just wasn't right, I'd have to weld in upright turrets to make it work.

Soo ended up cocking up my alignment the day before the track day. I have something like 3mm toe out on the rear and toe in on the front.
Had to send it either way as the weather was good.

The car was a beast! Never had a car that wanted to turn in so eager. Could just about hang on to my mates in a e92 M3, MK2 meg with 340hp, E46 M3 and a M2.

Just needs a few issues addressing, idle control valve broke in half 😂 and a slight oil leak on the sandwich plate. Taking it to cooksport next week for a proper alignment as it needs it now.

Last clip showing how loose the rear was 😂🙈

 

[Brigsy]

Lively that! bet it was mega fun though.

Interesting about the old rear coilovers on an angle not optimal. My kangoo rear coilovers are similar, feels soft on the rear for 70nm springs might need to look at it.

 

[Jay_Kay]

After the trackday had the car alignment sorted by cooksport. Good bunch of guys will definitely be having my suspension setups sorted by them from now on.

After that it was the spa trackday I had booked......

Nice picture of the morning of the trackday.

So was doing my sighting laps all was good. Went back into the pits check the car, went back out, after the first initial lap started revving it out. Oil pressure was doing alright. No great but not terrible. Went around the long left hander at spa oil pressure went down to 1 bar 😬. Not good, chucked it into 6th and instantly rod knock... That's the end of that trackday then. Didn't even manage one full lap 😫.

Luckily the photographer was out for the sighting laps or I would have no photos for the day 😂

So luckily the crown performance boys managed to collect me from spa to the ring as I had storage already paid there for the month it gave me time to make a plan on how to bring it home. Really appreciate the crown lot proper life saver!

So a few days ago I went back out as my mate had another trackday at the ring with a few of the lads. Paid for my mates car and trailer to come over to collect the car.

And now it's back home. Need to decide if I want a k24 or k20 in the car now. K24 maybe a tight squeeze as it is a taller engine, but they are roughly the same price. Decisions to be made 🤔

 

[Jay_Kay]

Here's a flying lap around castle combe. Feel if I chuck a k24 in I'll miss the high revs. The more torque lower down will help out especially in corners like tower corner where 3rd is too high and 4th a tad too low.

 

[Brigsy]

Whats the verdict on old engine dying, worn out or oil starvation?

 

[Coops Mk1]

Whats the verdict on old engine dying, worn out or oil starvation?

Because Honda

 

[Jay_Kay]

Whats the verdict on old engine dying, worn out or oil starvation?

It was an ex race engine so I think it's just worn out. I had oil pressure issues last year with a knackered pump and I think the mains have taken the brunt of it. With the mains so loose on clearance I think the bigends were just starved.

 

[16v_paddy]

Here's a flying lap around castle combe. Feel if I chuck a k24 in I'll miss the high revs. The more torque lower down will help out especially in corners like tower corner where 3rd is too high and 4th a tad too low.

View attachment 1642818

Have you thought about getting a different final drive for the gearbox?

 

[Jay_Kay]

Have you thought about getting a different final drive for the gearbox?

Nah it revs bad enough on the motorway.

Tbh a JDM 4th and 5th would fix that as it packs the gears closer together.

 

[scotiamr2t]

Here's a flying lap around castle combe. Feel if I chuck a k24 in I'll miss the high revs. The more torque lower down will help out especially in corners like tower corner where 3rd is too high and 4th a tad too low.

View attachment 1642818

You won’t miss the high revs of the K20, I made the switch from K20 to K24 frank in my PH1 172 and the extra torque and slight increase in peak power means you don’t miss the extra 1000 or so revs from the K20

 

[Jay_Kay]

Bit of an update.

Tore the old engine down and its in a sorry state. Bearing material everywhere 😬. Number 1 Conrod has let go. I think the engine was just tired. Seems to be the case of a lot of k20's. Most are over 100k miles and revving them to 8.8k just takes it toll eventually.

Picked up a k24 as it was inevitable that I was going to go down that route 😂.

New oil pump that I cut for clearance on the k24 block.

Painted the valve cover wrinkle red. Proper honda OEM look for it.

Also bought a rrc inlet manifold as wasn't sure which head to use and I can chop the rrc to suit.

I ended up having the k20 head refurbished as I want the engine to make easy power. Engine was very clean when I took the sump off to fit the new oil pump.

Dropped the engine in. Luckily I use the OEM drivers side engine post so just needed to buy a k24 version and it drops right in.

Everything fitted up, powder coated the inlet, fuel rail and some other bits. Will eventually get the mounts and other bits done.

I've driven it around a bit the last couple of days. It badly needs a new exhaust manifold made as it's touching the underbody and making it a tad toasty inside. But bar that it's going good, just needs a map as currently on a base map at the moment.

 

[Jay_Kay]

 

[Jay_Kay]

So bought some new wheels.

Konig ultragrams 8j front 7j rear.

As cool as it looks I couldn't actually move the car 😂. The wheel would smash the front bumper and arch near the front and rear. Somehow the tyres which were fine on a 7j alloy are now bigger or more square on a 8j.

So I bought some 1 inch wider arches from MC racing in France.

Gone from smashing arches to tucking the 8j wheels in 😂. Sadly the other side doesn't look quite as good as i had cut the front bumper previously. But there will be a fix for that soon!

 

[Jay_Kay]

Next up is something special.

With the k24 the engine was now taller and as such the manifold was hard up against the underside of the car. So I took the car to kis Motorsport for them to make a new exhaust manifold.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The quality on this manifold is crazy! Honestly can't recommend these lads enough. Defo going back for any more fabrication work.

Long tube manifold so should hopefully make some good power when it goes on the Dyno.
Shouldn't be too long till we find out as it's book in for mapping soon.