As the title suggests, it's been 6 months now since i bought my '02 172, and i'm still loving it like the first day.
I've done about 12K miles so far and she hasn't missed a beat, and everything keeps on working fine.
I especially love the fact that it's a stealthy looking car, so not much people expect it to be as fast as it is
Anyways this is how she looked when i first got her, all nice and bog standard, exept for the wheels, OE renault wheels were also included in the sale.
About a month later i decided on getting a SS catback exhaust, the decision was easy as it had to be recessed, so i bought a k-tec recessed one, which sits flush with the bumper and was therefore the nicest zorst imo, plus i read some good reviews about it on here.
Having the exhaust shipped over, i got some powerflex bushes and spark plugs too while i was at it.
A week or 2 later the exhaust was delivered and fitted and i was one happy camper.
Next i threw the old airbox out and replaced it with a Ph1 item with a ITG filter and CAF, which seemed to free up the engine abit.
Next it was wheels time, so i decided upon refurbishing the F1's i got with the car, so i painted them matt black, which came out very nice imo, so when i whacked the wheels under, i decided it needed a proper clean, so i ventured out on my first detailling session, after which the car looked like this.
A few weeks later i came across a pair of cheapo eibach springs which i couldn't let go by, so bought them and installed them the same day
Then at the end of may i came into contact with a rallyteam, that had bought a lot of used speedline 2018's from renault sport in Dieppe, and they sold them at 60euro's a piece, so it's needless to say that i got there faster than lightning and returned home with a set of 4 2018's.
They were in bad nick paintwise but all nice and straight, so i started refurbing them. The first three went without any problems, and i discovered that i had 2 magnesium ones and 2 alloy ones.
But offcourse it wouldn't be right if something didn't go wrong, the 4th one appeared to be covered in epoxy paint:dead:,on which no paint stripper had effect , so that one will have to be shot blasted (still need to get this done), if someone knows a better way to get ridd of this stuff please don't hesitate to let me know.
But all is good and i wasn't going to give it all up because some wheel didn't do what i wanted.
Meanwhile a month passed and i was apauled with the ride quality the eibach's gave, on original shocks:dapprove:
So i contacted K-tec again, and ordered a set of H&R coileys, and a straight thru decat, which took only 5 working days to arrive, while they had to order them from H&R too (hooray for K-tec:star
So last friday i got it all fitted, and all i can say is; what a major diffrence, the ride on the H&R's is sublime, sporty and firm, but never unconfortable.
The decat made a huge diffrence too, there was an immediate torque gain which is much more noticeable than i could have hoped.
Needless to say i'm pleased as punch, best £££ i've ever spend.
So this is as far as i've got in the past 6 months, but offcourse the car is far but finished.
There are still some mods to come power wise, and after those some styling ones like the much loved silvervisions, clear side repeaters and cup spoiler, later maybe some carbon fibre bits.
Anyways, hope you like it, i know i do:rasp:
I've done about 12K miles so far and she hasn't missed a beat, and everything keeps on working fine.
I especially love the fact that it's a stealthy looking car, so not much people expect it to be as fast as it is
Anyways this is how she looked when i first got her, all nice and bog standard, exept for the wheels, OE renault wheels were also included in the sale.
About a month later i decided on getting a SS catback exhaust, the decision was easy as it had to be recessed, so i bought a k-tec recessed one, which sits flush with the bumper and was therefore the nicest zorst imo, plus i read some good reviews about it on here.
Having the exhaust shipped over, i got some powerflex bushes and spark plugs too while i was at it.
A week or 2 later the exhaust was delivered and fitted and i was one happy camper.
Next i threw the old airbox out and replaced it with a Ph1 item with a ITG filter and CAF, which seemed to free up the engine abit.
Next it was wheels time, so i decided upon refurbishing the F1's i got with the car, so i painted them matt black, which came out very nice imo, so when i whacked the wheels under, i decided it needed a proper clean, so i ventured out on my first detailling session, after which the car looked like this.
A few weeks later i came across a pair of cheapo eibach springs which i couldn't let go by, so bought them and installed them the same day
Then at the end of may i came into contact with a rallyteam, that had bought a lot of used speedline 2018's from renault sport in Dieppe, and they sold them at 60euro's a piece, so it's needless to say that i got there faster than lightning and returned home with a set of 4 2018's.
They were in bad nick paintwise but all nice and straight, so i started refurbing them. The first three went without any problems, and i discovered that i had 2 magnesium ones and 2 alloy ones.
But offcourse it wouldn't be right if something didn't go wrong, the 4th one appeared to be covered in epoxy paint:dead:,on which no paint stripper had effect , so that one will have to be shot blasted (still need to get this done), if someone knows a better way to get ridd of this stuff please don't hesitate to let me know.
But all is good and i wasn't going to give it all up because some wheel didn't do what i wanted.
Meanwhile a month passed and i was apauled with the ride quality the eibach's gave, on original shocks:dapprove:
So i contacted K-tec again, and ordered a set of H&R coileys, and a straight thru decat, which took only 5 working days to arrive, while they had to order them from H&R too (hooray for K-tec:star
So last friday i got it all fitted, and all i can say is; what a major diffrence, the ride on the H&R's is sublime, sporty and firm, but never unconfortable.
The decat made a huge diffrence too, there was an immediate torque gain which is much more noticeable than i could have hoped.
Needless to say i'm pleased as punch, best £££ i've ever spend.
So this is as far as i've got in the past 6 months, but offcourse the car is far but finished.
There are still some mods to come power wise, and after those some styling ones like the much loved silvervisions, clear side repeaters and cup spoiler, later maybe some carbon fibre bits
.Anyways, hope you like it, i know i do:rasp:
