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The slow rise to the Top



BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
Its been many years and many times I've said I'd do a build thread but as you can tell I'm never in any particular rush that is until now, this is that build thread I've put off many a time.

Sooo lets wind the clocks back to 2008 26[SUP]th[/SUP] of February to be exact, my current car at the time was in dire need of a new gearbox so found this little number at Renault Liverpool it had done 33k miles and that golden 1 lady owner lol. After a bit of push and shove we managed to settle a price and it was mine.

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It was in alright nick considering when we first looked at it, it looked like it had been through a muddy field and the inside was rank, but when I had the second look after it had been cleaned it was sweet.

In my mind I already knew what I wanted to do to it but it was all down to that thing we all rely on… money! Seeing as Id just spent a fair chunk of my student loan on a new car, mod’s were going to be few n far between.

Things I added to the car were things like a Megane front splitter and yellow fogs for that European look after seeing Daves? Exclusive and I also added a gashtastic “eurotrash” sticker.

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Then after a few months I decided that the textured door trims needed to be swapped for some painted ones and swap is exactly what I did with a member of the forum from Hull.

Id really turned into a massive fan of the whole “e**o scene” before a bunch of c**t’s ruined it for everyone and my aim was to buy some BBS RM’s this a kept to myself and then a couple of months down the line an old friend Ross turned up with this…

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And it blew my idea out of the water, which was gutting at first but then it made me realise how good it would look if I did this regardless of what people would say. So after doing some hunting and realising how little money I could scrape together to buy a set of BBS wheels that needed refurbing Lenso released the BSX which was a copy of the all time classic wheel but at a fraction of the price. So my plan was set, with my 21[SUP]st[/SUP] birthday creeping up I saved up some money so that I could afford some Wheels and Coilovers at the same time.

So September came and so did the money so instantly I ordered some FK high sport coilovers from Rimstyle which at the time sold coilovers and I also ordered 4 Lenso BSX wheels in the 15x7 guise. My plan was in full swing all I had to do now was wait for them to be delivered and fit them all at the same time, but as luck goes with me it wasn’t to be. When ordering the coilovers from FK, rimstyle managed to order the wrong front struts so I couldn’t fit them. Anyway 2 weeks later and a direct delivery from Germany my new FK’s arrived.

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So after organising to fit my new mod's I couldn’t resist in offering up the wheels on the car…

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I was so excited to get these fitted I thought I was going to be “well scene init bruv”, little did I know it would take more that a set of wheels with a poor choice of tyre size and coilovers to make this car scene. So the week past and it was the big day, started nice and early so that we could sort everything out and if we had any problems fix them and have the car done by mid day.

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Lowered on standard wheels

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Over the mood didn’t cover it but in the back of my mind it was FAR from being my dream.

After driving the car round like this for a few weeks I felt it needed something quirky doing to it that would stand out from the crowd at the next Clio sport meet so I ripped the rear view mirror out and cut up a cheap white sun strip from the local car spares shop. ; )

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After this I knew the car needed to go lower so I photoshopped a photo of it to see how low would look good enough.

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So that was it for several months before anything happened to the car and winter arrived so being the scene c**t I am and the fact I wanted to look after my wheels the “winter” wheels came out to play, which happened to be my standard Dynamique wheels.

Then it was Boxing day 2008 and upon leaving my estate and crossing the traffic lights disaster struck!

Some silly bint in a Suzuki Swift thought it might be a good idea to do a U-turn behind the traffic lights, so after her being a pleb my car looked like this…

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This was a massive set back as id never had and accident before in 4 years driving and this was my pride and joy. Modding took a back seat for a month or two but came back alive and kicking.

Id always loved the All red rear lights on my 106 and I thought I just had to have ago at doing the rears on the Clio. Many people just said fit some ph1 rears and have done with it but the set up for ph1 light just looks horrible and the lights themselves look very dated so it was back to the custom table and I ordered some Red Lamin-x and got to work cutting out the required shape. Pain in the arse doesn’t cover it TBH I nearly gave up but I pushed on and got it finished.

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April came and the wheels and lows appeared again along with some new pressed plates and more Yellow Lamin-x for the headlights this time.

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And the most ironic photo of all time considering Fake splits are such a crime ;)

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This was one of the main pic's advertising these stickers…

Then it was time for the French car show so once again the creative side in me kick started and rather than doing the same old paint the dash strips effort I did them in playing cards.

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Also just before the French car show I looked into getting some old school Renault diamonds from an early 90’s Mk1 Clio but sadly the diamonds are too small to replace the new ones so I designed a sticker for sticking over the chrome diamonds to turn them into the classic diamonds which gave the car an old school Renault vibe IMO and to this day people comment on them which is cool.

As for the show I had loads of comments about it at the show and also a weird one in FAST CAR magazine.

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Hmmmm

Anyway two from the show

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After about 6 weeks though sadly the playing cards were no more because the red had faded so severely it was White where it should be Red. After that not much happened with the car I just went mad taking photo’s of it when ever I was bored.

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Id also fitted some 10mm spacers to the rear wheels which made a hell of a difference but I then needed to add some camber, this is where Foxy’s Rig-up rubs off on me, I found out off Ryan about adding camber to the back wheels with washers to which I jumped straight onto and it gave me some much needed clearance. This was ideal as I was taking slivers of rubber off the rear tyre down big bumps and dips in the road. (Not that I aim for them just can’t be helped when your in Widnes FML).

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So meets and cleans later it was starting to look more and more better as I was getting my scene legs and ditching the s**te stickers and finding the Real “scene” after a crazy but fun filled winter.

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Once the snow pissed off I really got my arse into gear with the car and lows really came on.

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Then French car show was about to rear its ugly head Again and the checker mirror was here there and everywhere so it was ditched for another one of my creative idea’s and along came the custom leopard print mirror cover which my mum helped me make. Also getting binned off was the yellow Lamin-x off the headlights and it was replaced with some real yellow bulbs all because there were things out there that were all too similar.

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Also making a first time appearance was my new American Licence plate to match my Fatlace and illest stickers.

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After FCS I knew the car wasn’t good enough and me needing 4 new tyres meant I needed to make the next biggest step and along came the 165/50’s!

These were awesome only I knew they would need far bigger spacers than 10mm as the wheels have poor offset really. So someone on the forum was selling some 25mm hubcentrics and someone else was selling some 20mm hubcentrics so I snapped them both up. At this point the car looked awesome from a good 10-15ft away but bits where a tad shabby IMO.

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Now came the lime light.

After posting the above pictures on the forum people absolutely loved it and there were plenty of compliments coming in then Neil who “worked” for FAST CAR magazine commented so I thought oh why not (the cars not 100% but it’s a kick up the arse to make it) so I asked Neil about maybe featuring both me and Andy (Android) in the magazine. The next day I received an email from him saying the big cheese said yeah why not! That was it a date was sorted and my quest for money to fund the finishing of the car started.

I went out and had both the door trims and door handles painted, new interior pieces etc etc.

So 6 weeks down the line its photo shoot time, both me and Andy had agreed to meet halfway between Kilmarnock and Warrington, which happened to be Carlisle to meet up with Steve McCann the Photographer.

We met at a Tesco in Carlisle at 1:15pm

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Then we drove around for a further 2 hours trying to find a decent location for the shoot.

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As Im English and Andy's Scottish we decided to make it a rival’s shoot so as Hadrian's Wall wasn’t too far away we focused on trying to get to it but close enough so we could get the cars and wall in shot which took a further hour or so lol. Then eventually we found a car park with a dry stone wall a bit like Hadrian's Wall so we made camp.

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So yeah, after spending a good 6 hours there we moved to a tarmac car park for some panning shots etc. Then we lost what light we had to Steve said he knew a place over the boarder that had plenty of light and we could get more shots etc so at 10:30 we arrived in bony Scotland and got the shots we needed and we eventually left at 12:30 and I arrived home at 2:30 after having a wee rest half way. I had great fun but it was such a tiring day.

It would be another 6 months before the feature and I had to keep my mouth shut which was so hard as all I’ve ever wanted to do was get a car featured in a magazine and id finally done it.

Anyway here’s the final picture’s.

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Then after that it was just a case of enjoying it and taking to meets and getting more photos. ; )

After having a rest over winter and the feature being released, it was show season once again and after being featured I said id try and make as many as possible sadly this didn’t happen but I got some more fame on speed hunters for one.

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Modified Live at Oulton Park

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Then after this me and James Bryan headed out to Liverpool to take advantage of their massive multi-story car park on the Albert Dock.

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And that it so far nothing else has happened apart from me Final getting a Full time job and that is no doubt to conclusion to my story as now I'm after Bigger and Better.

Thanks for reading such a poorly structured thread LOL.

Mike Dean AKA BIFCAIDS!
 

BurnyC

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 197
Good work buddy! Enjoyed reading through it all and seeing the car progress - love these kinda projects, where someone takes a tidy little car and goes on a bit of a journey with it! Congrats on the mag feature too. ;) Also, *graphicdesignerhi5*.

What you eyeing up after this then?
 

BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
hee hee Thanks and Hi5, as for next car Im being old but flash and Ive been looking at E90 saloons and coupes massive leap but job pays well enough and finance options arnt to shabby either on second hand ones.

Thanks Chris not the best writen project thread on here but it gets the message across.
 
  clio 1.2 dynamique
what a thread mate, just read start to finish and its making me want to start mine now, but funny thing is, i too seem tight for cash atm :p

again top notch thread and im glad you finally done it :D!
 

BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
Thanks, just read the last bit and its full of errors ha ha ha oh well.
 
  clio 1.2 dynamique
haha, i just put up a thread on the discussion part as im unsure now whether to get a 172 rear bumper or just keep the standard one? also how much is your car lowered and is it practical :p
 

Chris205

ClioSport Club Member
  Many Things
I've always hated fake splits but even I will admit you've got that looking perfect mate, its a shame the rear isnt packing more width but you've done the best you can with the money you had so hats off to you :)

Now all you need is a cleaned bay with an F4R on ITBS :)
 

BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
Thanks guys!

Shmunn its practicle to an extent lol girlfriend lives down a road with big speed bumps only thing that catches is the front splitter. When i lowered it for the last time small speedbumps at Asda and work catch the underneith of the car every time now but at least the car looks good ; )

LOL thanks Chris, f4r i could do a engine swap for a sport but i need a change and its time to move on to something far better built and bigger engine. If it wasnt for my money issue it would of been on some BBS RS's with gold bolts and nice 3" dishes on the rear and 1.5 on the front with air bags and red leather retrim.
 
  BMW 330ci
Just read all your project. Looks quality, quite simple mods as well tbf. Shows just how good you can make a non sport look as well. Congratulations on the mag covers as well.

Any more plans ?
 

BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
If you have the money get them if id have started this car now id be buying them.
 
  Arctic Blue FF 182
Often see photo's floating around of your car. It's nice to finally see how it all pieced together along the way! Top work!
 

BIFCAIDS

ClioSport Club Member
  340i M-Sport & 182
Washers FTW unless you want to spend Blah blah on shims pointless on a 1.2 its no track car is it.
 


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