Soon to be turboed

[Michael Woodford MST]

Hey,

I'm Jack from MWMSport. This is my Ph1 172 that I bought shortly after Mike bought his.

I brought it for £600 off eBay with a snapped cambelt.

We started to rebuild the old engine but the cambelt snap had caused more damaged than we first thought.

We travelled from Staines too Carlisle on Christmas eve to collect the new engine and a set of Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2's

I fitted an exhaust, de-cat, Ktec engine mounts and some apex lowering springs just to get the ball rolling. I'm really impressed with the car and started using it for trackdays.

After sitting down the pub one night, having a bit of technical banter, we decided, pretty much just for the crack of it, to see what the engine would run like with a 197 inlet fitted as some people had said it wouldn't fit.

The results are, It does fit, it does improve power, but is probably not worth fitting as a sole modification.

Now I have decided to see just how far you can push a standard engine with a turbo conversion. We believe we have found a way to safely and reliably lower the C/R of a standard engine to allow running bigger boost with a turbo.

We have 99% of the parts and are going to be starting the turbo build later on this week.

Cheers

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

What improvements did the 197 inlet make and also what was needed to make it fit?

 

[Silent_Scone]

These things need to be done at least once Any details on what it made? I know there are at least another 4 or 5 differences (internally alone) also between the original engine and the 197

 

[mantis946]

Nice work with the inlet manifold ! How far you taking it power wise ? Losing the aircon etc ?

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

What improvements did the 197 inlet make and also what was needed to make it fit?

It has improved the top end power but hasn't lost any mid range. It doesn't bolt straight on, the head needs a couple of holes drilled and tapped as the pattern is different to standard inlet.

These things need to be done at least once Any details on what it made? I know there are at least another 4 or 5 differences (internally alone) also between the original engine and the 197

It made 182.3 bhp.

Nice work with the inlet manifold ! How far you taking it power wise ? Losing the aircon etc ?

Thanks. Going to go for a reliable 240 + bhp. Yes, aircon is going.

 

[Cupman29]

Thanks. Going to go for a reliable 240 + bhp. Yes, aircon is going.

Nice project so far trying new things!

But I thought you were pushing the standard engine to see how far it could go?

 

[Tutuur]

Lower the cr by machining the pistons?
I don't think the engine will be the problem. However the tranny will!

 

[Aaron182]

do you know what it made before the manifold? whats the cost of the conversion ?

 

[Jack@MWMsport]

Update

Well, Tuesday was the day the car came off the road for the turbo conversion. I didn't have to take the engine out to do this but i wanted to do the clutch, Paint the block and clean the engine bay so it just made life so much easier.

We pulled it in the workshop and took the engine out and the work begun.

Next I put the engine on the engine stand, stripped it down and gave it a paint.

Then we steam cleaned out the engine bay

This is where the clever bit comes in!

We needed to find a way to cheaply lower the compression ratio that wouldn't compromise the reliability or strength of the engine.

After doing some work on a Clio 197 we noticed they use domed pistons but ran a similar compression ratio to the 182. After CCing the head the 197 head has a much bigger combustion chamber. Therefore bolting a 197 head on a 1*2 lowers the compression ratio!

In this picture you can see the difference in the 2 heads and where Renault Sport have removed the metal.

1*2

197

We have taken a scrap 1*2 head to the machine shop recently and it is possible to machine the combustion chamber to the same as a 197, so you do not have the cost of a 197 head and inlet manifold. That's just what we are using here as we were not sure the machining was possible at the time.

To run the 197 head we had to drill out and tap a bolt hole for the cambelt idler. this requires some proper measuring as it must be in the correct place.

The next thing to do was to find and fit a supply pipe for the oil to the turbo. We have tee'd into the oil pressure swtich and got some custom line and fixings from think automotive.

By the end of today we hope to have the head on and torque'd up, the turbo on the exhaust manifold and the oil return sorted.

 

[Sir_Dave]

Good boost skills. Ford tuners should have started playing with Renaults years ago imho ....

 

[Eddie.]

This should be a good read, look forward to seeing how you get on

 

[T.Trophy]

Good effort lads, any idea how much of a CR change it causes?

Think you might find the standard 197 cams a little too wild for a turbo conversion, especially at the boost levels your likely to run on stock internals.

 

[Scrooge]

Great efforts!

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

Good effort lads, any idea how much of a CR change it causes?

Think you might find the standard 197 cams a little too wild for a turbo conversion, especially at the boost levels your likely to run on stock internals.

The 182 cams, dephaser and solenoid all fit in the 197 so were going to use them.

were hoping to see figures over 250bhp with the standard bottom end.

We do know the exact CR but are keeping it to ourselves at the moment.

 

[Heez]

Looking good!

Too many 'broughts' in the first post though :S

 

[Jack@MWMsport]

UPDATE

The engine is almost ready to go back in!

We got everything back from the powder coaters for this car and the "soon to be supercharged" Car

I must say, I'm very very happy with the finish.

As the rocker cover was back we torque the head down and installed the cams.

Next was the lower inlet, Megane 225 blue flag Injectors and the timing belt

Now the upper inlet and a couple of brackets

The modified sump will be ready at 2pm. That needs fitting then the engines going back in. We are trying to have it running well enough to come to the dyno day this Saturday!!!

 

[Nickson]

Awesome read!
Look forward to pictures/write up about the finished article

 

[Eddie.]

Those powdercoated parts looks so good! keep up with the updates!

 

[Andyrg@ ClioTurbo]

Very impressed

 

[stevo172-RWD]

Good work

 

[Brian172]

Nice stuff guys.

 

[Will.]

Wow that's impressive. Good job. Looking forward to the results.

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

Update From Todays Work

Today work was a bit quite witch gave us some time to work on the Clio. Im happy to say we got a massive chunk out the way.

Firstly getting down to the business end of things was to fit the turbo!

Once we had fitted the turbo we were quite worried of the engine was going to fit back in the bay as this turbos a bit of a big boy! Next we took the engine off the stand and fitted the flywheel, helix 4 padle clutch and the gearbox.

Next was to see if it would fit!

Shes in! With a fag papers width to spare!

Were going to need to do some serious heat proofing around the bulkhead and possibley move the brake lines but apart from that shes there! We are getting a custom downpipe made Friday, then it will be live map the standalone ECU over night and make it to the dyno day saturday!

 

[Daniel]

Fcuk me you boys don't hang about!

 

[Will.]

f**k me. You like to get things done. This sort of thing would take months for most others.

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

We started the whole project last Tuesday! If we didn't have to earn a living it would have been done by now! lol

 

[jenic]

This sort of thing would take months for most others.

My thoughts exactly!

Looking good this, looking forward to seeing what packages you bring to the marketplace too

 

[Daniel]

Amazing.

 

[Will.]

We started the whole project last Tuesday! If we didn't have to earn a living it would have been done by now! lol

So IF someone was paying you to do this, you could get this done quicker? Top job if this is true. I hope you go far.

 

[Wick]

Top turn around chaps!! Fair play to you. Looks like some serious work has gone into that engine

Time to post a write up on CS as well lol!

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

So IF someone was paying you to do this, you could get this done quicker? Top job if this is true. I hope you go far.

God yes! If all the parts were on the bench ready to rock and roll id say 3-4 days max. When you are doing the first one theres all ways bits you overlook and have to think about witch cost time. In the mean time we've had other jobs in keep keep the business above water.

 

[Gray]

That is close to the bulkhead!

Is there enough room for a downpipe, it looks very tight on the photo?

Hats off though, super fast build!

 

[jamie.91]

cracking project

 

[Matt350.]

This is fantastic really can't believe how quickly you have put this together, look forward to seeing the results, nice work fellas

 

[Michael Woodford MST]

That is close to the bulkhead!

Is there enough room for a downpipe, it looks very tight on the photo?

Hats off though, super fast build!

Its is very close. Theres problery no more than 12-15mm. But the car has all three k-tec mounts so hopefully she will not hit.

The downpipe will be a hard one but the guy making it said he can do it so hopefully, he can

 

[TimR26]

Good work, you don't f**k about!

 

[mpm]

Awesome

 

[Austin-182]

This is mint! No messing about, no 50 pages before it gets exciting, f**king quality!

 

[MarcB]

As said by many others , well done!

Nice car and super work carried out.

Will be good to see the end result

 

[mx1_champ]

great progress.

which turbo is it you have fitted ?