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The Cheap Track-ish 172 Project



  133/225/CLS AMG
Well rather than keep updating my thread in the media section I thought I'd do a proper project thread with the work I've done or had done so far.

Originally a close friend bought a 2003 Clio 172, good service history, good condition and about 55k on the clock. Very little needed doing on the car, here's how it looked when he got it.

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Anyway, he had the car less than a year between him and his other half. His wife didn't like it that much, plus planning a family meant a bigger car. Unfortunately he managed to drive the car (don't ask), through his garden fence leaving it with a dent and scrape.

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So on those grounds and because my mate didn't think he'd get much for it, I was offered the car for £800!! :eek:

First job on the list was the induction it, it had a mangled, filthy old cone filter so as a temporary measure I fitted this enclosed Halfords special. Far from the best but sufficient to begin with.

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Replaced the side light and interior bulbs with LEDs from eBay.

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Then the MOT came round and failed due to a hole in the backbox so had a Powerflow backbox made for it.

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Up to this point the car is looking fairly tidy with some, non-too-serious stickers (don't worry they're gone now)

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As the original side bullets were tarnished my mate painted them black, which was ok but didn't look good. So I had a friend who does paint repairs, spray them up for me. The colour is slightly off so they'll be re-done at some point.

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Then had a go at wrapping some interior parts of the car in carbon film. I had fancied having them hydro-dipped but works out expensive on small items. (Excuse the interesting tablecloth)

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I finally succumbed to my OCD and gave the car a proper wash, polish and wax for the first time since owning it. I was intent on not being too precious about it as my Twingo 133 and Megane 225 are the fair weather cars but I couldn't help myself.

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Also had a bit of a deal with Halfords as they price matched this Pioneer MP3 only headunit for £50 and I picked up some Pioneer door speakers just to beef things up a little.

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Decided to go for a cleaner look for the car so whipped off (most of) the stickers and bought myself a new style RenaultSport badge.

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My Mrs and mum bought me a Oreca steering wheel and boss from K-Tec for my birthday. Amazing how it changes the whole feel of the car.

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Here's the 172 next to it's younger brother! lol

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Now the last week has been somewhat eventful with my Clio as the dephaser decided it wanted to make a shed load of noise this past couple of months. So I booked it in with K-Tec to have it replaced, I thought whilst it's in I'll have the cambelt done (again) along with all of the auxilary belts.

I couldn't be there having that work done without having something else done so I went for their cams/re-map performance package at the same time. They ran the car initially and it only made 155bhp, about 10bhp less than they expected. They suspected it could be due to my Halfords induction kit combined with a patent part centre pipe.

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So after the mechanical work was done, I opted for one of their induction kits and the car made an extra 23bhp to 178bhp.

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They recommended fitting a 2 1/2" centre pipe as they suspected it should make another 5bhp+ with the right system fitted. Either way I'm really pleased with it, I've had people think that doesn't seem like a huge gain but on this car it was a huge gain. Plus the way it sounds and drives is transformed, far smoother but a sharper kick higher up the revs.



The weather being just about ok meant I was able to get outside and detail the car properly. Washed the car, clayed, washed again, polished with some Autoglym SRP (love that stuff) and waxed with some Collinite 845. Then today I cracked out the DA and finished off the headlights. My mate had wet sanded the headlights and we'd gone over them with some Scratch-X and a drill bit attachment but they weren't 100%.

Today I used a light polishing pad with Meguiars Scratch-X again and then finished them off with a finishing pad and Autoglym Super Resin, I'd say 99% sorted now.

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Phew, so that's pretty much everything I've done in the last 12 months since I got the car. She's now looking almost mint, engine is running and sounding spot on. Next things on the list are sorting the exhaust, even if I have the back box adapted (if possible) and the centre pipe replaced with a 2 1/2" one. Get some lower/stiffer springs fitted and have the wheels refurbished. That'll probably have to be it this year as my mini-me arrives in September.

Thanks for reading (if you got this far haha)
 
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Greeny.

ClioSport Club Member
  440i + 182
Looking good and a good write up :) Power gain was silly from those changes lol :) Which cams are they? 438's?
 
  133/225/CLS AMG
​Well typically for a british summer, it rained but at least the Collinite is beading nicely!

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  133/225/CLS AMG
  133/225/CLS AMG
Aaah I see, I hoped that's what you meant haha. But yes, it's a really good result and the car drives so well now. I would imagine just swapping out that induction kit possibly brought it up by 5-10bhp anyway.
 
  133/225/CLS AMG
It was £1,200 for the Cam/re-map package, plus I paid extra for the auxiliary belts and dephaser. I then added the induction kit and one of the engine mounts was knackered so I had those replaced although they didn't charge any extra for fitting either.

It wasn't cheap but a good percentage of that cost was work that was needed in the first place and I didn't think K-Tec's labour charges were bad at all. Probably not the cheapest of places but they were a really nice bunch of guys, plus I didn't feel any of their advice was unnecessary or a ploy to spend more money. I'd gladly use them again. :)
 
  133/225/CLS AMG
Just don't get sucked in with the whole 'if it's expensive it's the best and will make your car look better than everything else'. I'd recommend Collinite either 476 or 855 for lasting ages and being about £20! I've used more expensive waxes which are lovely to use but for a day to day car you can't beat a super long lasting, tough wax.

Oh and thank you for the compliments on the others cars, here's a couple of better pics :

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George@RTR_Parts

ClioSport Trader
  need BRAKES? PM me
I won't be spending £££ on one mate! Just wanting a half decent one at not daft money, so will look into the collinite but I can get hold of Autoglym so was looking at their HD wax and also poor boys products so ill have a read in detailing section before buying any.

Look well all of them!
 
  133/225/CLS AMG
I've heard that the Autoglym HD wax is very good and you can get it off the shelf in Halfords which is handy, especially if they have a 3 for 2 offer on.

I have a couple of Poorboys glazes and they're really nice products. I will hold my hands up and say that the Dodo Juice range of waxes are a real pleasure to use, if you buy one aimed at your colour car then they're about £35 a pot and will last you ages, also don't mark black trim.
 

George@RTR_Parts

ClioSport Trader
  need BRAKES? PM me
I've used their "wax it wet" express wax and give decent results. I'm not a detailer by any means but try clean it once a week and will wax it few times a year.

Can get hold of dodo products and cars are silver/grey.

Ill look into it more before buying, but was thinking around that price mark.
 
  133/225/CLS AMG
Ar$e and b*gger, I think my photobucket account has reached it's limit of views.

Probably one of my pictures being linked to a random site. Had that happen with some random .gif file that ended up linked via Photobucket to some random joke site.
 
  133/225/CLS AMG
Read the entire post mate, 23bhp from the induction kit, cams and a re-map!

I'd imagine the induction kit brought up the power by maybe 5-10bhp from the piece of cr*p induction kit that was on there, the rest of the parts then gave me the rest of the power.
 
  133/225/CLS AMG
It's ok, I'll let you off haha.

23bhp would be some impressive aka bullsh!t power from an induction kit but goes to show how cheap ones don't help at all. :)
 
Ar$e and b*gger, I think my photobucket account has reached it's limit of views.

Probably one of my pictures being linked to a random site. Had that happen with some random .gif file that ended up linked via Photobucket to some random joke site.

I have binned photobucket now, used to be a really good hosting site. I now use imageshack.us Fliker is ok, but crap to view on iphone/pads.
 
  133/225/CLS AMG
Yeah Photobucket used to be really good, now it's just awkward. I often find that I'll upload some photos, next thing you know they've vanished!

Annoyingly it says I've got 15 days until it resets!! :(
 
  133/225/CLS AMG
Haha yeah it would mate. I've had that Megane from new and it's my baby haha, got the plate from my parents for my 21st birthday, with my dad not around now it's kinda sentimental too.

I wouldn't mind a plate for the 172 but can't justify it at the moment lol

This was my old 172, have to forgive the wheels, it was nearly 10 years ago haha

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  133/225/CLS AMG
You could get a fairly cheap plate. My 51 reg plate was like £250 so it's not the end of the world

Yeah they don't have to cost the earth and do make a nice difference. I got T121 NGO for my 133 for £250 which although not personal to me, if I ever sold the car I'd leave it on the car. :)

For the time being though, the next spend will be the exhaust and wheels powder coated.

Great thread, would love cams!!

I'd recommend them to anybody. It's not the cheapest of options but certainly if your car is due a cambelt/dephaser change a bit part of the labour is included with the cams being swapped over. :)
 
  133/225/CLS AMG
Little update....

I decided to order some plain and simple number plates on Sunday and they arrived today so I got em fitted. The old plates were ok but apart from a bit scruffy looking, had that GB logo that I just don't like.


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So off with the old and what a pain in the ar$e cleaning up behind the previous plates was though. Obvious had two previous plates fitted as it had two sets of massive sticky pads, not your usual strips but massive great things. Still some patience, Autoglym tar remove, few cloths, some polish and got the recesses looking clean...


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On with the new...


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Protective plastic off....


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Next on the list is getting my engine cover back from my mate who's been painting it for me, then do something about my centre pipe on the exhaust and then lastly a wheel refurb later in the year...oh and springs maybe!! :)
 
  133/225/CLS AMG
Another update on the Clio, I finally have a picture of my engine bay and it's looking a little bit brighter.

My mate offered to paint the engine cover for me as the previous owner had rattle canned it black and the finish was pretty rubbish. So as a homage to my Megane 225 the engine in the Clio is now RenaultSport Inferno orange!

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Not very subtle but it's looks really smart, just highlights how badly the inlet manifold needs cleaning up though haha.

This is the K-Tec induction kit.

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  133/225/CLS AMG
Well there's been a bit of an update on the cheap Clio 172. I'd been unsure what to do with the wheels as the grey originals were kerbed and I just wasn't keen on the colour anyway. I was considering a refurb but couldn't decide on the colour, then I started looking at wheel/tyre packages. So I opted for these Cades Eros 15" wheels with Toyo Proxy tyres for a rather reasonable amount of cash and went for a 40mm drop on some Apex springs.

Now I know these won't be to everyone's taste but I'm rather pleased with them, think the orange contrasts the Iceberg silver well. Plus it leaves the original wheels for track use when I finally get round to it. Anyway, here it is....

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As much as I'm sure the car would look a little better maybe 10-20mm lower, this is low enough to remain practical. Plus the handling does feel more direct and less crashy all be it very firm. I know Apex springs haven't received that great a press on here but actually I'm quite impressed.


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Looks even smaller alongside the Duster now!!


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