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T-Cup - Clio 172 Cup Track Day Turbo Conversion



haimsey

ClioSport Club Member
  ph2 172
Sounds good mate. Can't believe how easily its all been done via buying a kit!. Very tempting, lets put it that way!
 
  Cup Turbo, Flamer
Can't believe you've done all this in that short time! Hats off sir! I'm up for a turbo meet when I get mine back eventually!
 
Haha, can't say I remember tbh.

I have spotted a couple of RS Clio's around recently, a Silver one on London Road with a cage, and a Black one... also with a cage.... I need a cage! :(

What colour is yours? and i'll look out for you in future!
 

haimsey

ClioSport Club Member
  ph2 172
Silver, with black cage. Rolling on standard 172 alloys at the moment. The f1's can't go on yet, can't get on my driveway with them on haha

getting your dash flocked? I had mine done, makes a massive difference!
 

haimsey

ClioSport Club Member
  ph2 172
Good work Paul, gonna have to copy the catch tank.
Also, this ^....air con delete kit needs ordering now...

Ive just had the top section flocked for now, the bottom will be done at some point. Only downside to it is, the first few times you put the blowers on all the loose bits go in your face
 
Yesterday I took the car to Mallory on a track day and things didn't really go to plan....

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Nothing catastrophic, but every 2-3 laps the turbo to manifold joint started to blow, and I had to stop to tighten them.
Initially I thought it was the nuts vibrating loose, however on further inspection it seems the studs were coming out of the manifold.
Eventually the gasket let go, and the car was noticeably down on power...

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The turbo and manifold are off, i'll be fitting a new gasket, new studs, full size nuts (old were 14mm hex with no flange, new are 17mm), and some nord-lock washers.
I also noticed a tiny oil leak, which appears to be the exhaust cam seal, for the tiny tiny amount that was leaking i could of left it, but whilst it's in bits I might as well sort that too.

On a good note however, my wilwood 4-pots performed exceptionally!
 

haimsey

ClioSport Club Member
  ph2 172
Bad times. I've read good things about the nord lock washers. We used them on a project at work, no complaints yet.

Wish I'd have known about Mallory, would have been worth a trip down
 
Yeah nord-locks are the business.

However i'm kind of doubting the usefulness of them in this situation after doing some reading, people that run turbo'd MX5's have similar problems with the turbo coming loose from the manifold (also T2 flange), and it's nearly always the stud coming out the manifold same as my situation, however they think this is down to heat stretching the studs rather than them just rattling loose.

Once the stud stretches any locking washers are rendered useless, and it just rattles the rest of the way out, a common fix is to use Inconel studs, but I can't find a UK supplier and they appear to be pretty expensive.
 

haimsey

ClioSport Club Member
  ph2 172
Not something someone like ktec could help source? Could try set up a group buy, might be so etching Andy from clioturbo could offer as an extra/upgrade.

on another note, when you tapped the sump for the temperature sender was there enough metal thickness to get a decent amount of thread into? Looking to fit gauges soon, may weld a boss on at work
 
  HBT 172 Cup
Do yourself a favour, and don't refit a new gasket. Thank me later.

I used nordlocks, looked into inconel studs e.t.c But at the end of the day, removing the gasket solved every issue i had.
 
I've made some 10.9 grade studs now, along with nord-locks and copper nuts.

The old studs were soft as anything, when using 2 nuts locked against each other to remove the stud rather than the stud coming out it just stretched the stud, but didn't snap it...
After doing some reading it seems that some 4.6 grade M10 studs exist and are commonly sold cheap, but are for manifold to head use, not turbo to manifold, my guess is these were supplied with my kit.

I have heard of people not using a gasket, but I've gone for a supposedly 'uprated' gasket, if it lets me down again I will ditch it and block up the mating faces... I don't think there'll be an issue now I'm using different studs.

on another note, when you tapped the sump for the temperature sender was there enough metal thickness to get a decent amount of thread into? Looking to fit gauges soon, may weld a boss on at work

There was a good 3mm of material IIRC, so with an M10x1 thread there's at least 3 threads holding it in, I also used a dowty seal and locking compound, my first thought was to weld a boss in, but I decided it was unnecessary... plus I hate welding aluminium when it's been impregnated with oil!!
 
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haimsey

ClioSport Club Member
  ph2 172
There was a good 3mm of material IIRC, so with an M10x1 thread there's at least 3 threads holding it in, I also used a dowty seal and locking compound, my first thought was to weld a boss in, but I decided it was unnecessary... plus I hate welding aluminium when it's been impregnated with oil!!

Not bad then, should be fine
 
Cars been back up and running for a few days now, and all is running well.
Did a few jobs while it was off the road...

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-Made some 10.9 Grade M10 Turbo to Manifold Studs, fitted with Copper Nuts & Nord-Lock Washers.
-Replaced Cam Seals... along with cam pulley nut & bolt kit (to fix tiny oil leak on Exhaust Cam Seal)
-Added A MAC Boost Solenoid for the facility of Electronic Boost Control via the AEM F/IC-8
-Switched from a 3.5bar Fixed Fuel Pressure Regulator to a 3.0bar with Vac/Boost feed (as advised by Scoff at EFI-Parts)
-Added a Rad Fan Override switch inside the car for track days and such
-Modified crappy rear exhaust hanger to fix rattles and clangs when going over bumps.

Just need to pop it up to EFI-Parts for a mapping session soon :)
 

haimsey

ClioSport Club Member
  ph2 172
Good to hear mate. Got a text last night from a mate that spotted you - black fabia vrs

How have you gone about wiring in the fan override? I was looking at slimline fans the other day and thought it would be ideal to have an override
 
Lol, not on Sir Frank Whittle Road then onto the A52 was it?

The fan over ride is really easy, the Fan relay (in the fuse/relay box under the bonnet... the Purple relay iirc) has a permanent Positive Feed to one side of the coil (which links out to the open switch of the relay to feed the fan when energised).

All you have to do is splice into the negative side of the relay coil (pink wire iirc) and have a switch to short it to ground, this will then bring the fan on regardless of if the ignition is on, but as you've only spiced in, the ECU can still bring the fan in as usual.

If you want the switch inside the car (like I've done) then it's only a case of bringing 1 wire in, as you can pickup ground inside the car.
 

haimsey

ClioSport Club Member
  ph2 172
Lol, not on Sir Frank Whittle Road then onto the A52 was it?

The fan over ride is really easy, the Fan relay (in the fuse/relay box under the bonnet... the Purple relay iirc) has a permanent Positive Feed to one side of the coil (which links out to the open switch of the relay to feed the fan when energised).

All you have to do is splice into the negative side of the relay coil (pink wire iirc) and have a switch to short it to ground, this will then bring the fan on regardless of if the ignition is on, but as you've only spiced in, the ECU can still bring the fan in as usual.

If you want the switch inside the car (like I've done) then it's only a case of bringing 1 wire in, as you can pickup ground inside the car.

Yeah, SFW/A52
Nice simple job then, on the list to do over winter when I can get to the garage (hopefully)
 
Got bored yesterday and decided to Makes some big holes in the Bumper & Crash Bar :D

Just for a bit of additional air through the Radiator for track days etc.
On the road the number plate will be staying in place and covering it up.

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Also moved my Oil Cooler up slightly, so it's more in the air flow. and not hidden behind the lip of the crash bar.
 
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haimsey

ClioSport Club Member
  ph2 172
I have one of the Prima racing exhaust mounts on my car. Worth buying imo, some one here have had them where the movement of the exhaust elongates the holes, but I've had no issues with mine (apart from when the metal body felt apart after winter, but was replaced for free)
 
I looked at those, but someone I know has some polymer resin that comes in various shore ratings for making mounts etc.
Hoping to cut the rubber out of my standard mount and fill it with that stuff to make a mount the same as the Prima Racing ones.
 
Took the car to EFI Parts yesterday for a mapping session.
Had a couple of issues, firstly the Boost Control on the F/IC-8 wasn't working, and was simply applying max boost at full throttle.... a simple firmware upgrade resolved this.
Secondly the clutch (using new OE at the moment) was slipping whilst the car was on the rollers, so the car was mapped with a little less mid-range torque.

Heres the Result - 252.5 Bhp & 236.5 lb/ft

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Compulsory Rolling Road Shot...
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Really happy with the power, and the way it drives. EFI-Parts did an excellent job.
Getting clutch slip in 4th and 5th now, so I have a Helix Paddle Friction Plate on order from the chaps at ClioTurbo :approve:


Also on a side note, added some AeroCatches.
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Was a 5000mile old Valeo Clutch (fitted just before I got the car), I didn't expect it to last long at this power, but I thought it would do for a while.
However I removed it yesterday and found the pressure plate was 'coned' inwards so this explains why it slipped so easily.
 
Helix 4 Paddle Cerametallic Clutch Plate (supplied by ClioTurbo.co.uk) fitted with new LuK Pressure plate and Bearing
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Seems to have cured the clutch slip, it's a little more bitey in slow moving traffic than before, but otherwise perfectly acceptable for road use.
 
Powerflex Black Series Wishbone, ARB and Rear Beam Bushes & Lemforder Ball Joints Ready for fitting.
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Made a start on fitting the Rear Beam bushes yesterday, bit of a nightmare, but hopefully worth it, the OE bushes are really soft!
 
Received my Safety Devices Rear Roll Cage from the Mark Fish Motorsport Group Buy a week or so ago, and also some Corbeau Club Sport seats (on OMP Subframes) and TRS 4 Point Harnesses, and a fire Extinguisher for good measure.

Welded the cage mounts in and fitted eye bolts and spreader plates for the harnesses last week, and installed the rest yesterday & today.

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Currently waiting on Wishbone's and ARB to come back from powder coating so I can re-bush them and get the car back on the ground.
 


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