Strugglers back!! ph1 172 project! (bit of a read)

[Struggler]

never wait around with these things!!

and nah, ive just cut the pas pipes out the way for now, i probs wont look at the rack until i drop the entire subframe next easter
short of maybe fitting my engine mounts so i can bin the old ones, getting a new belt on and maybe modding the loom to get rid of all the empty plugs, i think im pretty much finished under the bonnet!!

also ive got the airbox that you wanted off the car!! not sure when ill next see ya so ill keep in touch dude!!

 

[hybrid beeson]

that what i done on my mk1 untaped it cut everythink that wasnt need. tbh i need to look at the loom on the 172 alot off the plugs look abit s**te. also want metal do you use to make a heat sheld??

 

[Daz.]

Looking good fella!

 

[Struggler]

well ill be cutting my engine look down tomorrow lee!! im gna do the same, untape lots then cut out all the un-used plugs and trace the wires back as far as i can and tape them up!!

 

[B4RK3R]

short of maybe fitting my engine mounts

Just to rub salt in the wounds!

 

[Struggler]

exactly chris!

was going to fit the box mount today too, but this damn weather is ruining my fun!!

ill go and get a snap of my progress so far, but i dont think ill be doing any work on her today!

 

[B4RK3R]

Nah looks like it'll be downhill from now on weather wise!

Hopefully all being well i'll be paying for a yozza decat and engine mount this afternoon

£220 for the lot posted and brand new manifold / cat fitting kit

 

[Struggler]

sounds good!! but im sure there will be a few more clear days to get some work done!!

this is how she stands atm!!

infortunatley, if the weather doesnt get any better, ill be putting an aux belt and wiring up the alternator and potentially leaving her until the easter!!

however IF we do get some nice days, i want to

raise the rear coilies as theyre currently on the lowest setting,
remove the rear bumper and give it a clean up underneith,
finish fitting my arb,

and possibly fit the dogbone mount and gearbox mount, just to get them out of my way! lol

 

[dezmondo]

Buy a cheap fold up gazebo and work under that, did shed loads of stuff to my old Scooby whilst nice and dry under a cheap gazebo!

 

[Struggler]

well the weather cleared up enough for me to go and tighten all my rear suspension and fit the suspension tops!

also managed to ponse a lift to a local motor factors to get the auxillary belt so that should be arriving tomorrow!!

 

[brillco]

its lookin gd man as soon as my war wounds heal il b round to help progress lol !!!!!!!

 

[Struggler]

sorry ive been terrible with photos recently, the weathers been too shocking to take my camera out with me while working on the car!!

ive finally got the suspension sitting how i want it, its not nearly as low as my previous builds as i kinda wanted this build to be a little more serious,
however looking at the photos i think i need to raise the O/S/R slightly. but adjust the rear suspension with the arb fitted is an artform, adjusting one side affects the other side massively!!

i also fitted the auxbelt and ran a 12v iginition live from the fusebox over to the altnerator, it looks a bit messy but ill integrate it into the loom properly when i have the engine out!!

 

[Nickson]

Loving the project so far!

Ride height looks spot on in the last few pictures

Makes me miss my PH1 massively :dapprove:

 

[Harpham]

Looks awesome... I keep looking at the aero catches and getting more and more tempted .

I want to see it in the flesh when its done.

 

[Struggler]

well ill be going to meets all around the south during the summer of next year, and hopefully FCS if i get the build finished by then!!

most of what im doing atm is really tarting around the point!! i still need to remove all the subframe to fit a manual rack and all the pollybushes

remove, service and paint the engine,

make all the brake lines to remove the abs

strip it out, fit cage seats and harnesses, the paint,

but im saving most of the work for the summer when i have 3 months off!! i really cant wait!! lol

since those photos, ive fitted the grill back on, and fitted some matt black foglight blanks!!

 

[Harpham]

Awesome. Where did you get the blanks from?! My foglights don't even work, so ill be removing those at some point.

If you go to FCS, we'll have to get some photos of the cars together!!

 

[Struggler]

tbh, i was rooting throght the garage for my centre caps and i found them left over from my old ph1 non-sport! tried to fit them and theyre a perfect fit!!
if you want some just pop to a scrappie!! might even strike lucky and find them off a gloss black non-sport!

and defs get some photos together!! us ph1's need to stick together!! and perhaps ill be able to convince you to take a drill to your lovely alloy bonnet!!

 

[Harpham]

Yeah, ill have a look at the local scrappies. It looks better than just taking them out and leaving the whole.

I don't think it'll take too much convincing, as it looks awesome!! LOL

 

[Struggler]

Ok, sorry ive not updated this in a while!! with christmas, new year and general shocking weather, ive not managed to get out on the car a lot recently!!

however, ive stripped all the interior out of the car (and realised i now need to lower the rear slightly)
all the tar has been removed, un-needed plugs have been cut off and traced back to the dash loom, the rear loom has then been wrapped in tape!

after removing the airbags i feared that the airbag light was going to be an issue with the new MOT regulations!! but i soldiered on and removed the airbag ECU, all the side impact sensors and such, i then started cutting the wiring back until it disappears under the dash, (ill cut it back further when the dash comes out in easter!!) and for some reason, the airbag light turns on and goes off like its supposed too!! result!

i also removed the alarm as it was getting problematic having it with the door open sensors removed etc, it kept going off!!

Ive got my cage back from my nans garage and was hoping it would fit straight in nicely!! However because it was designed for a mk1, the dimensions are ever so slightly different!! (it was too dark to get pics but ill post some up tomorrow) i will most likely have to chop it and have the base plates welded back on at a different angle to fit!!

also ordered side mounts so that i can fit my buckets in the car in the same way as jon_r has! and finally the car is looking like a proper wagon!! :

PICS
mid tar removal! (its such a horrible job!)

ive got all the tar in a bag, ill weigh it when i get a chance to give an idea of how much comes out of the car!!

taped loom

theres so much that can be taken out of the loom, it doesnt weigh much tbh, but makes it look so much tidier when you dont have rogue plugs for the speakers/door sensors/boot light/seats/handbrake etc.....

as the interior stands now!

im leaving everything behing the dash until the easter when im on my next uni break!! ill remove the dash completely and tidy eveything up, and hopefully paint all the inrerior white!!

i also fitted a sunstrip!!

but im allowed one because i dont have any sun visors!! so NER!

 

[Stu.]

Looking slaggy as f**k Cutting out the door inards for more weight loss?

 

[one in a million]

this car is epic mate, im liking the black wheels

 

[Struggler]

cheers dude!!

and yes ill most likely be cutting the door pannels out at some point to save weight, but id like to fit the manual windows before that!!

no more updates for now unfort, the car is all tucked up and im back at university!!

ive got a few last phone pics to post!

mm adjustable

top mounts

most of the suspension is on now!!
Gaz GHA damping adjustable coilovers,
Pure motorsport solid topmounts
Whiteline anti-roll-bar
FITTED,

and
Full pollybush set
CL front pads brembo HC discs
Standard rear discs and pads
eibach camber bolts
SITTING AT HOME WAITING TO BE FITTED!!

also picked up the cage from my MK1 in the hope that it would be a simple fit....
but alas

looks like a simple case of cutting the mounting plates off and having them welded back on at a slightly different angle!!

and other work i get roped into doing nothing but clios for me!!

Not sure if anyone could tell me this, and ill post it in the other section to confirm,
but is this correct?? it looks like there might be too much camber, its the same on both sides, and this is without any camber shims!!

i do have a set of 1degree camber shims from ktec but im dubious about fitting them now!!

 

[Squeak]

What were you fitting around beesons? N the more I see this build the more I want to pick myn up and start! Already gathering a load of bits. Just need the car to fit them to!

 

[Struggler]

haha thats nevs car in the garage, solid topmounts, rear arb, leads, jiggling his zorst etc!!

and cheers dude!!
when i was clearing out my garage i found a throttle cable and almost brand new genuine clutch cable is you want it dan?!

 

[Squeak]

i realised it was the drone box lol. Has he sorted his gearlinkage since fitting his new engine mounts as i adjusted it to compensate for his crap engine mounts until the new ones arrived lol. That boy lol.

Mate seriously im getting itchy feet lol n yeah mate if you dont mind ofcourse?

 

[one in a million]

how you finding the arb kit, im fitting mine this weekend.

 

[Robclio98]

Good read bud! will look forward to seeing the car this year

 

[Djw Dave]

Awesome man. I'm lagging behind on mines i think.

 

[Struggler]

how you finding the arb kit, im fitting mine this weekend.

ive not driven on it yet!! the car has no tax or test and wont move until its finished later this year!!

cheers for the comments guys, nice to know my work is appreciated!!

 

[Struggler]

Ok, im bumping this thread as im not back from uni and plan to get on with the work!! im here for 3 weeks and in that time i plan to do the following!!

Fit front seats (already done the drivers side but it may still need some adjustment)
fit harness bar
fit rollcage mounting plates in prep for welding

Remove dash,
chop down wiring and heater system
fit cf switch pannels in appropriate places and wire them all in
fix handbrake (one of the studs has pulled through the shell)
paint the interior (white) (if i have time to prep it)
refit dash, seats and harnesses

Pin front bumper on properly
remove exhaust,
fit decat and half of centre section that i have in preperation for the rest to be made

paint rear beam (silver) and brakes (yellow)
fit new rear pads and discs

and then put it all back together and head back off to uni!!
in short, i want to get all of the interior done (bar welding the cage back to the mounts)
and all of the rear beam completed.

ive decieded im going to keep the abs at the moment and run the standard brake set up.

ill try to upload pictures as much as i can, but the car is a complete mess at the moment. and sadly my membership has run out and i dont have any money atm, damn student lifestyle!!

 

[Struggler]

26/03/2011

Been getting bits done on the clio over the last few days, everythings been going rather smoothly!!

Seat fitting
This was the first job i wanted to do obviously so that the car car was a bit more mobile. I wanted to copy Jon.G's track thread and bolt the seat directly to the floor using large side mounts!! this was harder than i thought it was going to be as the floor isnt as flat as i had hoped!!

had to cut out the rear seat rail

and drill some holes in the floor to bolt the side mounts through the floor. I somehow kept managing to get this wrong so my floor has a few holes in it that i want to fibreglass over or weld. So theres no picture with just the seat because its a bit of a mess!!

Seats fitted!!

As you can see, theyre not that symetrical!! i wanted the passenger seat lower for better centre of gravity and closer to the passenger door so as out the way of the driver!! One pic also shows the view from the drivers seat!! a little low but ill make do!!

Next thing to attack was the rear beam!!

Before

Jacked up!!

In pieces and with rear callipers painted!! i may at a later date do a random colour that shows off a bit more, but i found out only after putting it all back together than you cant really see the rear callipers with wheels im using!!

All back together!!

Last pic shows how much camber i have with 1degree ktec shims in the rear!! it doesnt look that much more than an old picture i uploated but i think the rear bearings were shot when the first pic was taken, as lots as bits fell out when i took the rear discs off!! but all new rear bearings and discs are back together now!!

Also bolted in my harness bar and snapped the rear exhaust mount bolts but i didnt take pics of them!! will do tomorrow!!

Next thing im going to do is take all the dash out and clear up all behind that!!

 

[Djw Dave]

Good progress mate. Any more pics of the mounts fitted to the floor, didnt think to do what you've done so i'd like a few more pics before i cut into mines.

Also wheres the rear harness bar from? Is it custom made? I've got my harnesses running to a seat belt mount (hate doing that). I'd much rather have it onto a bar like i did my Mk1 (but without the cage).

 

[Struggler]

Ive seen this before! I remember the 'road ahead closed' sign lol epic!

It was awkward doing the seats due to the covexity of the floor but ill take a pic of it but it is a messy from grinding the seat rails flush lol.

As for the harness bar I dont know where it came from! It was in my mates ph1 before he broke it and he just gave it to me!

Ill pic both tomorow and upload it with my next update!!

Also thanks to 'saunders_clio' for helping with seat mounts!!

 

[Jekyll]

Don't worry about having holes in the floor Alex. It's weight saving and we all know your a weight saving wh*re!!

 

[Djw Dave]

Might have to get a bar made up then. Cant see a cage going in mines anytime soon.

Yeah just a pic of where the mount meets the floor would be great.

**ahem**

 

[Struggler]

Don't worry about having holes in the floor Alex. It's weight saving and we all know your a weight saving wh*re!!

haha im trying to make her as light as possible mark, but i think holes in the floor are a little be too much!! especially when the rains come!!

also i meant thanks to clio_squeak for the help!! got names wrong!!

Dave if i see the guy anytime soon ill quiz him as to where he got the bar from!!

More updates tomorrow hopefully!!

 

[Squeak]

Got my forum naem right in the end lol. It funny i just updated my thread and mentioned you and ollie lol

good progress keep it up mate!

 

[Struggler]

haha sorry dude, i was thinking of your old clio16valver username!!

youre missing out on the job you so wanted to do the other day!! rip the dash out!!

 

[one in a million]

wow the doors still look in one piece, whats going on brother!!! your slipping lol

 

[Struggler]

haha im trying to work on one thing at a time!! not really touched the doors yet!!

Dave heres a few pics of the seat mounts. Looking back now, i would sooner buy the cobra Xlow subframes than do this!! it was a ballache to say the least!!

and my harness bar, no idea where its from though!

27/03/2012

I wanted to first fix my handbrake issue as the front stud that holes the mech to the shell had snapped out, i also took the opertunity to remove the old, rotten, leaking exhaust!!

its got so many boxes!! lol Ill fit my decat sometime in the week and the centre box that i have from my previous build.

snipped the bolt for the spare wheel off too as it was annoying me!!

I then stripped all the interior out, and started masking everything up for a lick of paint!! ive been putting this job off for so long!!

Now the end result isnt amazing, the paint i was using was cheap and tbh, it really shows!! ill go over some bits when i can but for now, im happy with the results!!

Tomorrow i would like to try and start building everything back together and may fibreglass over some of holes in the floor, just to seal the shell up a little bit!!

stay tuned!!