Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio!
Another update time!
Tuesday 20th March
Well after all the painting with the engine now complete it was time to start assembling all of the nice sandblasted and lacquered parts
First of all I attached the brackets at the rear of the engine. (The one that holds the starter motor in place and the start motor heatshield)
I also attached the oil pressure sensor.
I then attached the recently chemically cleaned fuel injectors, Fuel rail and the Min/Max Sensor
Wednesday 21st March
Although I had spent ages sand blasting the engine parts I wasn’t particularly happy with the state of the inlet manifold (on the inside) so I decided when I was next down at works dip brazing facility I would stick it in the hydrochloric tank to clean it up a bit.
To say the least I wasn’t particularly happy with the outcome. Basically the aluminium casting had a chemical reaction which then started to colour the aluminium a light grey colour.
Well the inside of the inlet manifold was clean but the outside looked s**t so I ended up spending some more time using the sand blaster. This was the finished outcome.
I then took them home and gave them a coat of lacquer hopefully this will stop the oxidisation process so they don’t end up looking s**t!
Thursday 22nd March 2012
Well the other half kindly brought me home a headgasket set as I basically needed to replace every gasket on the engine except the headgasket itself. The only one it did not include which frustrated me a bit was the throttle body one
but oh well I have to get that separately.
Also my mates Alex (Alex-clio / Struggler) and Ollie popped over to basically oversee me doing the cambelt. I just wanted a 2nd / 3rd opinion. Plus it was a bit of company in the garage lol.
First of all I put the new cam cover gasket on and then the cam cover. You need the cam cover on as it has reference marks on it for when doing the cambelt. I also replaced the waterpump and waterpump gasket.
The next thing I did was remove the crank pulley. This wasn’t as easy as you may think. Some complete t**t decided to loctite the crankshaft pulley in place but not with anti vibration stuff it must have been the stuff “this bolt don’t want to f**king budge” stuff. The end result was my lever (an old part of a crutch) snapping in two.
I did manage to get it off closely followed by the oil pump sprocket and then the plastic cambelt cover.
Please note at this point the engine was already in place with a crank locking tool in.
I then put on my old guide bearing and tensioner bearing that had done 5k (from my last engine build) genuine Renault stuff too! Slipped the cambelt on and made sure all of the timing marks where correct. I then tensioned the belt and spun it over to ensure that all of the markings lined up once again. Which they did:
I then proceeded to attach various parts to the engine like map sensor pipes, coolant metal pipes, inlet manifold, supersprint manifold etc. This was the final result:
I Then gave the gearbox end cap a coat of red (as I didn’t have black), I let it go touch dryish and then assembled the gearbox mount and the strengthening mount that is attached to the Williams models.
Friday 23rd March 2012
I had a day off work so thought I might as well spend it on the clio whilst the weather is good.
Also picked up Alex on the way as he didn’t have much planned for the day (result for me!). Also the last time he saw the car was when we went up to view the car.
So went down to the clio and removed all of the components in the engine bay (master cylinder, brake lines, plastic mounts that the headlights bolt to etc)
This is the grubby engine bay shot.
I then went into the clio and removed all of the parts that I have in there so I can do some work on the inside.
I did notice that there was some honeycomb plastic in the passenger and drivers door that I didn’t think was necessary so I decided to gut that out.
Between Alex and I we then jet washed, degreased, jet washed and degreased the engine until we got it looking like this!
After doing that and the engine still being at home I wasn’t sure what to tackle next. After a little think I decided I wanted to under body seal the whole underneath of the car to try and protect it against some of
englands crappy weather!
As I had no under seal a quick trip to Halfords was made and also back to alex’s to pick up a heat gun (as I couldn’t find mine in the messy garage!
)
The tar went from this:
To this:
I then attacked the sound deadening in the scuttle panel:
The areas were then cleaned and degreased ready for when I decide to spray the inside (another job I have to do)
Alex and I then went around the inner arches. Chassis legs, and the whole underneath of the car in underseal. (I will be giving it another coat or two as I bought a massive tin! Its surprising how far this stuff goes!)
Pics:
I really am pleased with how the under seal looks. I know its only under seal but it does make the car seem a bit cleaner underneath.
I also think Alex hates me know as I think he has this planned for his as well and yes alex I will be helping!
We also chucked a few bolts to hold the subframe and wishbones up just to see how the suspension parts look. TBH I don’t think they look to bad! Well I think polybushes look cool anyway!
Saturday 24th 2012
Well finally the day has come! Been waiting for this for a while! After a short little journey this was chucked in the back of a van I rented:
Which turns into this:
Yes a Clio Cup 197 roll cage made by MATTER.
I know its not designed for this car but with a bit of fabrication anything can fit.
This build really is confused! A MK1 engine, A MK2 Shell and a MK3 cage................
I did spend an hour on my own trying to kind of wedge this in the car but I had no joy
Sunday 25th March 2012
I wanted to see how far out the cage was to my requirements and how much fabrication is actually involved so I asked a mate to kindly pop over and lend a hand. After a bit of measuring and head scratching I determined that the width of the cage would just fit, and the height. The problem was combining the two and getting it through the door. Eventually we did get it in.........but there was a slight sacrifice.
No it was in the car I could see that due to the bends at the A Pillar it was not going to fit in. The door does close but when the rear of the cage is pulled up to meet the rar part (that is not yet in the car) the bend
fouls on the A Pillar.
Please note that the rear part of the cage needs to be brought up so the bend will in fact be closer to the front.
The plan is to trim the two horizontal bars a little bit and angle the front of the cage in by a couple of inches so that the bend misses the A pillar. I am then thinking of rebending the rear part of the cage or ratchet
strapping across the width so that it will mate up into the rear part of the cage. This isn’t finalised yet this is my intilal thought but before I proceed anymore I am going to properly plan this out so I don’t make a pigs ear of it!
Comments welcome and flame suit is on for those that will have a go for destroying a 197 cup cage!
