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

[Struggler]

Update 12/07/2012

So for once the sun has been shining all day!! so i was out that the crack of dawn to get painting!!

masked a few things up and jumped straight to it!!

inlet

engine mount brackets

Gerbox bits! lol

rocker cover

Rebuilt the upper inlet

was going to run a pipe to a breather for the ICV as i couldnt fit it in the induction pipe, but i just neded up turning the ICV upside down and plonked a breather on the end of it. think it looks really cool pointing over the top of the mani!!

Re-assembled

to say im pleased with the result is a massive understatement!!
i dropped £128 at renault during the day of some replacement bits! (including £70 on a new oil decanter seal as the old one was leaking!). ill be picking them all up saturday so the engine will then be fulling back together!!

Ordered some ATE superblue brrake fluid today so that i can bleed the brakes as soon as my mate gets the wishbones welded.
Also orderd an oil catch tank that ill been fitting soon!! i can see the end of the project within the next couple of weeks, im so excited to finally drive my creation!

 

[Jekyll]

It's starting to really take shape now mate.

Engine looks great.

 

[Bluebeard]

Looks fantastic!!

 

[Struggler]

UPDATE 18/07/2012

Ok so ive not been very good for the past week and ive not got much interesting done!

changed a lot of gasket and the thermostat. (no pics)

i reassembled the bits of the gearbox so i now have a pretty box to go with my pretty engine!!


View attachment 81548

And since im getting very sick of my mate taking ages with my wishbones ive decieded to scrap the plan of putting all the track back together before putting it on the car and just fitted the subframe/arb/steering rack as one!! (polybushed of course! lol) it was heart breaking moving it around as it wanted to scratch the paint, but oh well

View attachment 81547


i then went on to fit the manifold to the decat with a new flexi kit, and then the decat to the centre section until the rains came,



next job that i should really be getting on with is getting the engine loom reducted and re-routed. i cant to any touches to the interior until it is rolling again as i dont have enough room down the side of the house!!

and also it would seem that technology hates me today, and photobucket wont let me upload pics, and neither will CS, so only the two photos for now!!

 

[Squeak]

update?

 

[Struggler]

haha ye sorry, ive kind of slacked off massively with the pictures recently.....

but ill try and bring this up to speed if my internet and photobucket holds out!!

 

[Struggler]

Update 02/08/2012

Ok so ive not documented this very recently,

built up all the track and subframe back on,

with the exhaust manifold and radiator aswell

looked very smart! this had the pollybushed arb bushes, and poverty spec non-pas rack!

the plan was to build all the track back on with the wishbones on and having a rolling shell to drop the engine into,
but my mate who was meant to be welding the wishbone bushes for me was useless for the longest time!

so instead i got all the engine sorted and dropped that back into the car while it was still on axle stands!!

Gearbox all back together with vibratechnics mount

Then removed all the loom, chopped it all down to the minimum, and re-routed it with blue casing. i know this is not to everyones tastes but i really quite like it!

Engine fitted (sorry, no inbetween photos)

Still in the air though unfort,

with all the bodywork fitted back on!

but then, on one fine evening a few weeks ago (sorry my terrible updates) the wishbones come back, so first thing the next morning, i was out and fitting all my brakes etc!

so it could go back on the floor for a test start! (my mate also dropped off the various oils)

tried to start it...but ahh, no battery power! so the charger came out for the night)

then i quickly blead all the brakes with ATE superblue and the engine was pretty much done!!

so tbh, all i did then was became a bit gay and took loads of photos of it!!


I also took the dash all out and fibre glassed over all the holes too, ill try and take a piccy of it next time im working!! only thing left to do really is to have a back box made, and sort the interior. i need to strip it out, fibreglass over some more holes, and mount the cage to the car!! unfortunately i will not be insuring and taxing the car from the first of september instead of now, it works better and i still dont have any need for a car! lol

aallssooooo need to sort the dash out as im not going to have those big holes in it, might put a sheet of carbon fibre over the holes!!

as usual, comments welcome!! thanks guys!

 

[Wick]

Looks cracking mate! Brilliant last few updates!

 

[Struggler]

i will update this thread tomorrow all being well!!

car is all built taxed MOT'd and insured! just a case of ironing out the kinks now!!

had a new annoying rattles that i managed to lock down!

got an exhaust pipe cheap off a friend of mine.

had an annoying knock that ive narrowed down to be one of my solid top mounts,
a new throttle cable should be arriving tomorrow as the current one is frayed.
had to remove the rear camber shims as having such large camber on the rear was playing havok with braking!

im going to give it a clean tomorrow and take some final pics, but the only real thing left for the car is to have the camber set up properly and save for a cage!

 

[Struggler]

also heres a late night video from a deserted industrial estate!

slightly irresponsible and chavy i know but i wanted to give her a test blast!

 

[Cw Tuning.]

certainly like weight saving wow haha

 

[Struggler]

i would have loved to have gone further with the weight saving, may still cut the inner door skins out and such.

 

[Rob]

Wow, you've really gone somewhere with this.

I absolutely love it mate, it's pretty much perfect. Great job.

If you're over my way (or even the 'close' side of essex) anytime soon give me a shout, I'd love a passenger ride.

 

[Squeak]

Nice mate!

Mine is currently on hold as i think my cut down loom is not letting the car run!

Its going on the back burner now! Fishing in france at end of the month and spent way to much money not to devote some time to that!

 

[Struggler]

cheer rob! its far from perfect in my eyes but i think ill be happy with it once i sort the cage an other niggles out!

and dan im disappointed, do,nt lose heart in it! need to see you on track next year!!

 

[Rob]

Are you ever over the normal side of Essex? i drove to yours once and it was MILES away.

 

[Struggler]

haha at what point does it become the "normal side of esssex? im currently sat in elite tyres having my camber set up does that count??

 

[Struggler]

not even sure if its an update, but

took the car to surrey rolling road on saturday,

pulled 171.2bhp, which believe it or not is a very good result, as most will know most F4R engines pull mid 160's,
so ive gained around 5/7 horses from PAS/AC delete and a 2.5" straight through exhaust!!

had a little play with my mates fully clothed 172 that pulled 166bhp on the rollers, and its safe to say that its a fair bit quicker.

next job is to sort the cage, and the exhaust as they informed me at SurreyRR that itll probs never get on track as its too loud!