Sbridgey's budget track/sensible ph2 project thread

[sbridgey]

I started out with a bog standard iceberg ph2 172.

IMG_0026 by sbridgey, on Flickr

The cambelt needed doing so it was booked straight in at BTM.
-Cambelt+dephaser - £650

289332_10150246237701439_729556438_7461831_1348790_o by sbridgey, on Flickr

I then made the standard CS approved modifications:
-Skoda Splitter - £12
-Smaller plate - £12
-Cup Spoiler - £150

IMG_0184 by sbridgey, on Flickr

IMG_0175 by sbridgey, on Flickr

The exhaust then decided it wanted to fall off so a bought a new one for the immense sum of £30 + £45 fitting.

IMG_0411 by sbridgey, on Flickr

Next it was time to look at the brakes as mine wouldn't work when cold

I purchased Brembo HC's, Brembo OEM pads, goodridge braided lines and Carbon Lorraine Fluid. Totalling £150 fitted at BTM no labour because Fred was being generous (and it took 3 months to get hold of my brake lines!).

A friend then persuaded me to do a track day at oulton park, i must say it was amazing and the clio was brilliant, the only issue i had were that my brakes cooked themselves after 3/4 laps as the Ferodo DS2500's i ordered didn't turn up in time, my mistake really as i ordered them a bit late. £126.99 for brake pads.

IMG_2338 by sbridgey, on Flickr

After my track day i checked the car over to find that i had RS stamped inlets which is a bonus!

RS stamped inlets by sbridgey, on Flickr

I have purchased some new wheels, they are require painting and tyres. £120.

Untitled by sbridgey, on Flickr

Currently the car has a minor issue, with the dash deciding it wanted to rival Blackpool illuminations every so often.

Error by sbridgey, on Flickr

I think it is a dirty ABS sensor as it hasn't been washed since december.

Cost so far - £1295.99

 

[Skeeter]

Looking good! What else is in the list?

If your anything like me you will see your list of things to do will gain new things just as fast as you cross things off!

 

[daveski]

Wheels look good on the car. What tyres are you going to go for?

 

[imprezaworks]

Looks good mate.

 

[sbridgey]

Wheels look good on the car. What tyres are you going to go for?

either yoko parada spec 2's or hankook v12 evo's. Depends how the bank looks after i have painted the wheels.

 

[daveski]

Colour? I have a set of F1s now if you're interested :rasp:

 

[sbridgey]

Slightly darker than before, i think.

I should rename this thread to "daveski's parts bin special"

 

[daveski]

I picked up yet another standard Renault exhaust from Harpham yesterday so dont think it will be long before I have another stainless one fitted.

How are you finding the brakes with the new pads?

 

[sbridgey]

Seriously you get through exhausts very quickly.

Brakes are incredible now, i locked up momentarily coming off the motorway whilst doing 50mph.

 

[Meek_racing]

Nice project, when is the next track day?

 

[daveski]

Seriously you get through exhausts very quickly.

Brakes are incredible now, i locked up momentarily coming off the motorway whilst doing 50mph.

Not my fault the standard Renault ones are crap, still this one was cheap so still cheaper than something like a KTEC Stealth.

Brakes on my list to replace soon, ones on my car are shocking.

 

[sbridgey]

Nice project, when is the next track day?

Possibly brands hatch in a few weeks, if i have enough money

 

[Meek_racing]

Give me a shout if you need a hand for the odd job, I'm only just down the road.

 

[sbridgey]

Give me a shout if you need a hand for the odd job, I'm only just down the road.

Will do, thanks for the offer!

 

[sbridgey]

*Update*

I put the Renault storm Alloys on.

IMAG0507 by sbridgey, on Flickr

Did a trackday with them

_DSC8091 copy by sbridgey, on Flickr

Decided they were too thin and caused a load of roll and tyre squeal so purchased these.

s**t picture

Which allowed me to do this

Courtesy of Pete. for the picture (hope you dont mind).

Couple more pictures. Thanks to Dan Freeman.

Standard suspension with decent wheels/tyres is so so good, no idea why anyone would change it.


I also have fitted a Ph1 airbox and removed the rear seats and door cards.

Plans now looks like getting Bucket seats, fitting harnesses and maybe a cage. I dont want to ruin the handling so standard suspension + sportlines seem to be the best option for an RS clio IMO.

 

[BIGASH]

Didn't realise you had a thread for the car mate Cars looking great round Llandow! You are correct about the standard suspension, also it's much comfier than coilovers! Took mine down the road tonight to check everything over and it is so hard I don't know how people put up with coilovers on the road lol!

Plans sound good for it will look forward to seeing it soon!

 

[Daniel]

I have to say, of all the clio's there at llandow, yours was the hardest to keep up with, both me and sam said the same.

Admitedly we're not comparing yours to Chips 190bhp one or the guy with the ITB's. Because A) that's not fair and B) We never really went out at the same time as them!

It just goes to show that a competent driver can get more out of the car than some coilovers.

 

[sbridgey]

Didn't realise you had a thread for the car mate Cars looking great round Llandow! You are correct about the standard suspension, also it's much comfier than coilovers! Took mine down the road tonight to check everything over and it is so hard I don't know how people put up with coilovers on the road lol!

Plans sound good for it will look forward to seeing it soon!

Cheers mate, it went really well at Llandow, the suspension + tyres seemed to really suit the wet track.

One of the many reasons not to get coilovers really, I was talking to Jay and if you think about how many trackdays you can get from the cost of a set of good coilovers its stupid to buy them.

 

[Fred@BTM]

^he does hold the industrial estate lap record

 

[sbridgey]

I have to say, of all the clio's there at llandow, yours was the hardest to keep up with, both me and sam said the same.

Admitedly we're not comparing yours to Chips 190bhp one or the guy with the ITB's. Because A) that's not fair and B) We never really went out at the same time as them!

It just goes to show that a competent driver can get more out of the car than some coilovers.

Thanks, I thought the same actually, really does go to show these fancy sachs/coilovers mean nothing if you cant drive and i am pretty sure I was reeling the ITB'd trophy in when i got behind him.

 

[sbridgey]

^he does hold the industrial estate lap record

Who?

 

[Fred@BTM]

you

 

[sbridgey]

Oh right, thats news to me

 

[Adam G]

Glad his butt can take the potholes and bumps:S

 

[imprezaworks]

Have to agree with the standard suspension remark. I drove a 182 this evening and it was superb, grinned all the way.

 

[sbridgey]

Oh yes, forgot to mention that there is something up with the brakes, they are juddering uderbraking from 50+mph now, hopefully going to see Mick tommorow to diagnose it.

 

[Adam G]

Standard suspension is great fun, can really chuck it in to the bends.

 

[sbridgey]

Oh yes, forgot to mention that there is something up with the brakes, they are juddering uderbraking from 50+mph now, hopefully going to see Mick tommorow to diagnose it.

Mick and I decided that the brakes were definitely fucked but we couldn't pin point the issue due to Mick wanting to go home...

I wanted a whittling ARB so I went to BTM to get one and got the brakes fixed at the same time but the car still had vibrations just not as bad and the front wheel nuts kept coming loose.

I went back to BTM for further investigation we fitted a new front wheel bearing and discovered I had badly buckled a rear wheel so I purchased one from Fred and the car i running really well again now.

 

[sbridgey]

Took the car drag racing, I have to say its not my thing, not enough corners...

 

[sbridgey]

Bit of an update:

So after Llandow I had a rather large amount of juddering under braking so it was decided i had killed a set of brake discs so new ones were purchased and I had a Whiteline ARB fitted at the same time at BTM.

IMAG0253 by sbridgey, on Flickr

I still had a judder and I found the front left wheel kept coming loose so back i went to BTM for further inspection, I had a new front left wheel bearing and Fred noticed that my rear left OZ f1 was badly buckled, luckily Fred had a stack of black OZ F1's so i purchased one from him and the juddering was gone.

I decided to go for on a drag racing day at shakespeare county raceway with the rest of the west mids guys, it was a good day out but I just found myself getting bored driving in a straight line and the corner at the end of the strip was the most fun part of the whole thing for me.

Me and a Mustang, it seems he was too scared to race against the mighty clio and I had to run alone....

After setting a 15 flat the car developed a rather large judder under acceleration and then after one final run the rear brakes ran out of material.

IMAG0250 by sbridgey, on Flickr

And the rear discs weren't much better.

IMAG0248 by sbridgey, on Flickr

I had the juddering diagnosed by Mick@Diamond motors as a worn Dog Bone mount so it was time to go Polybushed.

IMAG0257 by sbridgey, on Flickr

I also got Mick to fit some camber bolts at the same time.

This resulted in -2.4 degrees of camber and I had the toe set to 5mins out either side.

IMAG0251 by sbridgey, on Flickr

The car now handles seriously well.

I also sourced a set of Team Dynamics pro race 1.2's with really good Federal RSR's on.

IMAG0263 by sbridgey, on Flickr

I put them on for the first time at Oulton park where I met up with James (BigAsh), Nick (Cr33do) and Mike (Meek_Racing).

James spent the a good amount of time giving me driving tips and helping me with his top secret tyre pressures.

The car performed incredibly well and everyone was surprised how well a relatively standard car handled, it had so much more grip than my last trip to oulton, the car was absolutely fantastic and there were very few cars it wasn't able to overtake.

I had a couple of on-track incidents, firstly with a lotus elise who seemingly decided that after moving over to let me through he no longer wanted to do so and closed the door on me leading up to druids, luckily I saw it coming so I was able to get out of its way. There was also a 1.3l escort rally rep being driven by an absolute tool, he was trying to drift around every corner, he was clearly an accident waiting to happen so I slowed down to give him some space and nick and mike overtook me and were pretty close to him when he did finally lose control halfway through druids, luckily they escaped any contact and we decided to both promptly return to the pits for a bit after that.

Just before the lunch break I noticed my brakes were beginning to judder under heavy braking so that meant I removed the plastic arch liners to try and increase cooling to try and reduce the heat causing the juddering, it sort of worked but I could only manage 5 lap runs in the afternoon due to the brakes which was a shame. I did manage a 2.14 lap time in the afternoon which I am told is pretty quick so I am pleased with that.

Big thanks to James for being really helpful all day and giving me a hand getting my car ready and working properly and checking the tyre pressures every time i came in.

in the garage at oulton.

IMAG0243 by sbridgey, on Flickr

I took the wheels off to revert to back to road wheels and found the front discs looking like this. Covered in heat spots.

IMAG0247 by sbridgey, on Flickr

Before my next track day i am going to need to get some better brake pads, I am thinking DS3000's but they are a bit harsh for a road car so I hear, I will have to have a search around the forum and see what other options I have.

 

[BIGASH]

Lol at secret tyre pressures

Thanks for the passenger laps it was really good and I enjoyed it! Hope you get the brakes sorted

 

[2Damnsly Andy]

Like the new wheels Si, they look spot on. Are you still running standard front pads and discs now or have you got the brembo HC front discs? I can't recommend the DS2500/3000 as I don't use them I have just bought another set of Pagid Blue pads, not cheap but awsome kit. In was mean't to be at Outlon two weeks ago but I've also got suspension and brake problems so until that's sorted I won't be back on track for a while.

 

[sbridgey]

Cheers, I quite like the wheels too.

I am running brembo HC's those are my second set and i got them replaced after Llandow, the pads i have are DS2500's, I am tempted by some carbon lorraine RC6 pads or maybe DS3000's not sure yet.

At least it's only winter and you have a few months to sort it until its time to get out on track again. Are you getting cooksport springs by any chance?

 

[2Damnsly Andy]

Not sure on the springs, I was going to have a chat with Fred and see what he recommends. I could do with the car being a tad lower and slightly stiffer. Got some camber bolts as well and looking into some shims for the rear. We'll see what happens just want to get it sorted and back in track condition. My suspension issue is new front shocks which I have and inner track rod ends. Hopefully going to get the fitted at work foc at the end of the month before the MOT is due.

 

[sbridgey]

Nothing too difficult with the suspension then, new shocks springs and TRE's are pretty simple stuff to sort, I am torn between sportlines and cooksport springs at the minute, I am just waiting on the honest reviews about the cooksport springs as they are cheaper and the car sits lower on them.

Camber bolts are superb you will love them.

 

[sbridgey]

I found a video of me on youtube.

From 1:46.

 

[Sam@NP]

WOW didnt realise you had a thread going! Glad Ant sorted you out on the wheels! The looks entertaining for sure, got any future plans? Ill try and pop over next time you do a trackday!

 

[sbridgey]

I dont think many do! yeah I am also glad i got the wheels, they gave me so much grip, it was really really good.

Future plans are looking like bucket seats, bimarco futura's probably, half cage for harness bar and harnesses of course, probably get a smaller steering wheel too at some point, oh and some lowering springs, either cooksport or eibach.

You may be waiting a while for my next track day, don't think i am going to bother with the december ones, its just too much expense especially when I need new front brakes.

 

[2Damnsly Andy]

Agreed Si, I want to know which springs are better. I would like the car a bit lower (not alot) but definatly a bit stiffer to reduce body roll. I looked into coilovers but for the expense and what the car is for its just not worth it.

 

[antnee]

Yours goes well from the vid, some good lines from the looks of it too.

I have some Bimarcos available