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Russ 16v's Cup Road Racer Blog.



  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
Thought i had better start to make a progress report, i have about 200 hundred pictures so far so need to find somewhere to upload them LOL!

1. looking around for a sutiable car had to be a psh1 172 didnt want to spend too much but wanted a lower mile chasis in a genral good condition, looked at a few then found a black 172 phs1, 50k on the clock, good price and no rust, excesivle worn parts etc,

2. got the car brought it home and started to strip it down, first off the wheels, sold on ebay ;) then other odds and sods, cd changer etc.

3. at first i had decided to go for a light engine tune, cams, inlets and a remap.....so i didnt want to take the car down to AWT so decided to strip the engine out, that way i could give the bulk head a good clean etc!

so engine out;

1. Get a suitable work space, using a cracker bar loosen but do not remove the wheel nuts, then take your 21 mm swan neck spanner and crack the top mounts of the suspension, jack the car up at the front end and secure with axel stands giving a decent amount of height.

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Remove the front bumper. to do this firstly remove the top grill which is held in by two push pins, then under the front of each wheel arch there is a 10mm bolt (its hard to find but common sense would lead you to it) then under the car remove the sump cover (4 x 10 mm bolts) then there should be a further two bolts holding the bumper on attached the sub frame. ***note if you have an mrk1 172 there is two extra 10mm bolts holding the bumper on just below the lights.

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then i removed both radiators,


With the bumper off return to the engine bay and remove the air box, induction bend and vacuum hose, mrk2 172 there is 3-4 10mm bolts holding the box in place and the mrk1 172 is just a rubber strap holding it of, the vacuum hose will pull put and the elbow is secured via a Jubilee clip.


Then remove the battery (this is held in by a 16mm bolt on the right-hand side (you will need an extension bar for your socket) once that is removed remove (or move right over the ECU bract and ecu (this is held down by a number of 10mm bolts remove them all and whip ALL THE BLACK BRACKETRY out.

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Now (with the engine stone cold) get a pair of mole grips and remove the clip holding the water hose to the lower part of the radiator, the water should empty for about 30 seconds, I removed the other water hose around the gearbox too just for ease of access. The this bit is a pain in the arse = look in the pic at fig 2 these are the in and out for the heater matrix the pipes are held in buy clips that need depressing on either side (there hard but once there both in the hose will pull out.

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Next remove the Dog bone mount on either side 13 or 16mm bolts then just leave it to hang (the dog bone mount is under the engine and is bolts to the gearbox and sub frame)


Back under the car – remove the exhaust from the cat back (DO NOT REMOVE THE CAT AS THERE A PAIN TO DO)Then remove the gear selector rod (13mm bolt and it just pulls off)
Then at the back of the engine is the exhaust manifold. This held on buy around 8-10.... 10mm bolts remove all these (people all ways get stock on the driver side one as it a bit to find let alone remove) once there all off the manifold should just come of with ease if not a little tap to free it, if it doesn’t then don’t force it you will have missed a bolt!

IMG_1815.jpg


Back under the car take an oil pan and a your 8mm sump key to drain the gearbox oil and the engine oil.

Then remove the 4 16mm nuts on the top mount don’t remove the whole mount just the 4 nuts

Back down the hubs now remove the track rod arms (13mm) bolt to do this either take a trolley jack and jack the base of the joint where it mounts the hub (DO NOT JACK THE METAL ROD) this will allow you to remove the 13mm bolt if you don’t jack it up the bolt will just spin and spin!

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Now remove the brake calliper and the brake disk and unclip the ABS plug (you must know how to do this ;) ) just leave the calliper dangling on the hose it should be fine you can remove it if you want but you will have to bleed the brakes.
Then remove both sides of the suspension (2x 19 or 20mm bolts on each side) and the top nut that you previously crack will just spin off. Pull the shocks out and leave it assembled.Then under the hub there is two 17 or 18 mm bolts remove these and remove the drive shaft (on the drivers side it will just slide out) BUT DO NOT REMOVE THE HUB ON THE PASSENGER SIDE UNTILL YOU HAVE REMOVED THE 3 10MM OR 13MM BOLTS HOLDING THE SHAFT SEAL TO THE GEARBOX!!!

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Now take a bit of wood 20cm by 20cm is fin, place the wood onto of the trolley jack and support the underside of the gearbox DONT PUSH IT UP JUST TAKE A TINY BIT IF THE WIEGHT!


Now remove the lower gearbox mount, it bolts through the bottom of the sub frame into a bracket on the box. Remove the nut from under the frame and then remove all the nuts holding it to the box. The mount won’t come off yet as the thread will be going though the sub frame but later on all will come clear. But make sure all the bolts are off and the earth strap is removed.


then remove all the loom clips etc, any hoses, PAS lines, i also removed the AUX belt, alternator, air-con etc.


then i got a tow rope and wrapped it round the engine.


took my trusty clarke engine crane and started lifting the block out, once it was out i removed the box then dropped the engine on a sheet of wood!

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woooohooo!



next
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
then i started buying parts,

looked around for suspension, went out in a few cars running KWs, Ledas, FK and H&Rs, after mucho thinking i decided on the H&Rs coilovers, camber shims and camber correction bolts,

see pic

Hr2.jpg
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
took the standard manifold and my new yozzasport de-cat.

hung them from the roof! and sprayed them both with 6 coats of high temp matt black paint, (if you ever heatwrap you must do this or the welds will split with the moisture held in the wrap)


then started to heatwrap with stainless steel ties! this s**t hurts sooo much! make sure you wear gloves! and dont buy cheap stuff!!! its crap. i used 50 meters of this stuff

http://www.demon-tweeks.com/products/ProductDetail.asp?cls=MSPORT&pcode=DEI010110



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direct to head bodies and charger I'm guessing?

Well impressed with the level of detail and work gone into this, seems a shame to have a charger on there though for what could be an amazing track car, as wont it just be just dangerously sensitive on throttle being FWD? or you going to 4WD it, as I think that might be the best bet running all that power and torque.
 
  F4R'd ITB'd '92 cup racer
good read :D

i thought you would have got the manifold coated at somewhere like cam-coat as you like spending money on top quality stuff :p

think there site has proven results over wrapping, especially when you are pumping all that power, that thing is going to get mighty HOT!
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
next, clean the rack and change both track rod ends

gloves
car029.jpg



old shagged track rod end. (changed both)

car044.jpg


the new rod end

car045.jpg


old one in the vice and loosened off

car046.jpg



new one fitted. phhhwww

car047.jpg


now the rack was covered in s**t and needed a good clean!...bang and the dirt is gone

car048.jpg


half cleaned on the ally pipes to be polished

car049.jpg
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
next up was the interior to be removed,

removed (in these pics)

the plastic, door cards, pannel sound proff, seats, carpet, sponge lining, piller covers, seat belts, roof grab handles etc

lots more has been removed since, no pics yet though!

car004.jpg


car002.jpg


car005.jpg
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
at this point the dash was staying in... so that was to be left.. next up was the seats and the mountings!
 
i may keep it NA. im just not sure yet

I'd do one or the other, I cant see 350bhp being particularly fun on track though personally... least in a Clio anyway. 300bhp at a push maybe, but I find mine hard work driving quickly sometime with nowhere near that power.
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
old electric mech
car005.jpg


then the new mech fitted, it saved a lot of weight and also as the door cards had gone i had no where to mount the swich etc, also i could chop this part of the loom out to further save weight <--- sounds petty but it all adds up so far i've lost about 90kg.. i will explain later.

so after about 20 mins i had fitted both wind up mechs and gave them a quick wiz up and down! perfecto!


see pics


car054.jpg


car055.jpg
 
love this kind of thread, your around my area (south manc) are you not ben? sure i saw you breifly at a trafford centre meet.

would like to have a gander in the flesh if i may?

jamie
 
yer i know... we i need to decide by friday LOL

ITB's, cams, stand alone, steel crank, HC pistons, steel rods, race balance and someone good mapping it all, 250bhp+ EASILY. Cat have some new profile of cam out now as well, iirc it's something mental like 4.25mm lift at TDC lol
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
now it was time to measure up for the steel seat frames. as the seat i have bought have ally side mounts i did not want to mount them to the super high cobra frames.. i cant stand the seating position!

so i took a trip to GAP steel and bought 5mm thick 40mm wide steel strips x10 (spares just incase)

then layed them out and marked where they need to be cut!
car052.jpg


cut the steel with a grinder

car053.jpg


Set the steel up in a vice and clamped, then time to use the welder!!!

came out quite nice =

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layed up on the floorplan and marked up to cut the tails

car058.jpg


where the floor pan drops off i had to pack it up for the weld!

car059.jpg


then i bought a drill press and some Tin toped drill bits £50!!! to drill the hols for the side mounts (which will be welded too)

car062.jpg


then grinded up the exhaust tunnel to weld the frame to.. fook me that paint stinks when it burns but need to remove it to get a strong weld, see pic. please ignore the back bolt.. its just a choped head on the frame LOL i would never drill that close to the side!!!

car061.jpg


then time to weld the frames to car.. took about an hour! but were rock solid once they were in! the chasis will do before they will go!!

car071.jpg


car072.jpg


both sides done
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
yer i know... we i need to decide by friday LOL

ITB's, cams, stand alone, steel crank, HC pistons, steel rods, race balance and someone good mapping it all, 250bhp+ EASILY. Cat have some new profile of cam out now as well, iirc it's something mental like 4.25mm lift at TDC lol


i already have all that.. i have heard about these new cams, when are tey on the market?
 
ITB's, cams, stand alone, steel crank, HC pistons, steel rods, race balance and someone good mapping it all, 250bhp+ EASILY. Cat have some new profile of cam out now as well, iirc it's something mental like 4.25mm lift at TDC lol


i already have all that.. i have heard about these new cams, when are tey on the market?

yeah, I was speaking to Andy and at the time they were not on the website, but he's able to purchase them, so I'm guessing they are available now, just not on the site yet. I was going to get them on mine, but I think they may be a bit to wild as the whole point of my car is so it can be used daily even with cams and ITB's.
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
next i had to remove the Renault bushes from the wishboes....

this is the hardest thing i have ever had to do! basically i bought the biggest vice i could from Machine Mart then used the following set up to remove them. it took me around 4 hours (i would of taken them to a gargage but no1 would touch them!)

see pic.

Untitled.jpg


oh and after i got the last one out the "don1" vice broke :(
so bought a new one ;)

car085.jpg
 
Last edited:
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
in the meantime i had sent my;

subframe
wishbones
lower mount
top mount
dog bone mount
both parts of the gearbox mount


to be shot blasted and powder coated in citronic acid green :)

they looked s**t hot! see pics

car083.jpg

car086.jpg





Then i had to re-fit the brand new Pollyflex withbone bushes, (bought a brand new "don1 vice)

car084.jpg

car088.jpg

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also took a trip to Renault and ordered 4 new clamps and a 182 ARB (there 3mm thicker) the new clamps were needed to fit the thicker bar. i also then ordered the new pollyflex bushes from K-tec for the outer and inner clamps for the 182 ARB.

fitted it all together and re fitted the PAS rack with new bolts ordered from renault.

car091.jpg


car092.jpg


car096.jpg
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
LOL,

next delivery was my multipoint weld in roll cage, there was soo many bars on it i get lost with it! but anyway.

went out and bought a 50ltr compressor (3hp), line, spray gun and a 1tr ofthe green, primer and 2k laqur.

preped and started to spray the cage


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there soooooo many more bars than that still in the packaging.. god knows where they go!
 
  VRS
amazing work, did u change car halfway through or something as theres a silver ph1 then a black ph2?

its black all the way through fella :D the silver bits are the unpainted areas which are exposed as its been stripped :) its a ph1 with ph2 sidestrips by the looks of the pics :D
 
  Lionel Richie
you big girl! wearing gloves to MIG weld!

those subframes don't look thick enough mate

top bombing though!
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
next up was to fit the suspension, as said at the start of the thread i have decided to fit;

H&R coilovers,
camber shims,
new rear bushes.

after doing a bit of digging i knew i wouldn't be happy with the ride hight of the rears, so i decided to remove the adjusting platforms and secure the mounting plates from under the axel (this would drop the car around a further 15-20 mm)

before fitting the new suspension and brakes i dropped the rear beam off the car, removed the 6 bolts (3 perside , inside the car), supported it on 3 trolley jacks and dropped it to the floor! fook there soooo heavy wouldn't want to drop that on your toe!

then I started to sand the whole beam down, this took about 4 hours but needed to be right ready for the paint.

Then removed the old bushes from the beam.

Removed the sub axels give them a good clean down with parafin.

I then primed the beam, then gave it 4 coats of smooth black hammerite (sp). left overnight to dry.



next i re fitted the new Renault bushes

re fitted the sub-axles and new 2 degree camber shims

all brake lines back in... doh managed to cover parts of them in paint :( gutted!

then supported the axle with the trolley jacks and lifted it up under the car then secured with the 6 bolts, nipped up nice and tight!

car011.jpg


next i got a delivery of my new groved rear disks and mintex extreem pads, (these are only on the rear and seem a nice upgrade from the standard renaut pads) the rear disks didn't have bearings in so took a trip to Euro Car Parts and left £60 lighter. took them to a local garage who pressed them in for me for £20 :)

so back home i cleaned the rear calipers in parafin and gave them 4 coats of smooth silver hamerite.
car039.jpg

then fitted the disks and castle nut (niped it up to 175nm with my new machine mart wrench ;) )
car009.jpg


then fitted the new pads and caliper! used some coper grease from halfords for the back of the pads. job done......

car042.jpg




well then i decided to order some Mocal S/S brake lines for the rear. fitted these and double checked all the brakes ... all good! (you can jsut see the lines in the cornor of the pics *top right)


car020.jpg
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
Next up was to fit the rear coilovers.

I had decided to loose the adjusters and just secure the platforms under the axel!

car013.jpg


Then I stripped the old shocks down and gave the dust covers a good clean. Checked the condition of the rubbers which looked in good nick so no need to replace these!

car015.jpg


Refitted the new dust covers assembled both rear shocks, then fitted them to the car.

Next job! Fit the springs, had a friend hold these in place while I pumped up the jack, secured the springs on the platforms and then nipped up the 18mm bolts holding the rear shocks in place.
car014.jpg


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Rear H&Rs fitted J
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
i know, well i spoke to prodrive and he said have them so the groove bits the pad, ive fitted brembo max on the front.
 
  80MPG BEEZA
when tf do you get all the time to do all this? im still trying to grab time to take the seats out to take the front carpet up managed to take the passenger seat out today think i'll force myself to do it tommorow
 
  C63 AMG, F430 & 172
LOL i work from 9-7 6 days, work on the car from 8-10 each nite and all day sunday for the last 9 weeks
 


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