The trials & tribulations of racing a Clio

[RuskiWeldFab]

yes it is. Is that the difference?

Yes. Mine is a non cup with only 2 outlets. So one splits for the front and another goes to rear and splits after bias.

Sorry probably shouldn’t post pictures in your tread [emoji13]


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[robzracing]

Yes. Mine is a non cup with only 2 outlets. So one splits for the front and another goes to rear and splits after bias.

Sorry probably shouldn’t post pictures in your tread [emoji13]


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Ah that explains it! Don't have a problem with you posting pictures mate. (as long as they're relevant of course :wink: )

 

[Chambers_RS]

Coming along nicely.

Where do you get the brake lines from?

 

[robzracing]

Coming along nicely.

Where do you get the brake lines from?

Thanks.
https://www.prolinemotorsport.co.uk...io-ph1-172-inc-cup-rs-abs-delete-internal-kit
Have a look here. He will also make up custome lines if you need something different.

 

[Nafoff]

Great thread, but you haven't half had some bad luck - blimey.
Will be referencing this thread also in my rebuild - interested to hear how the brake lines are as I will be fitting some shortly

 

[robzracing]

Great thread, but you haven't half had some bad luck - blimey.
Will be referencing this thread also in my rebuild - interested to hear how the brake lines are as I will be fitting some shortly

Glad you're enjoying it. I'm enjoying following your thread too!
I'm hoping this car (and me) has had it's quota of bad luck now. I'm trying to stay positive about next season having now had a whole season without any racing.

 

[Nafoff]

Glad you're enjoying it. I'm enjoying following your thread too!
I'm hoping this car (and me) has had it's quota of bad luck now. I'm trying to stay positive about next season having now had a whole season without any racing.

Mine is a little slow in comparison to the summary in this thread, ha.
I must admit the bad luck and ultimately expense you have faced is why I do not think I will ever commit to a series/season. I think trackdays and one off events may be my choice. Good luck though for the future.

 

[Adamxx]

What an awesome build thread! You had some s**t luck to start with, things look to be improving nicely tho

 

[robzracing]

What an awesome build thread! You had some s**t luck to start with, things look to be improving nicely tho

Thanks Adam, I'm hopeful next season will go better!
Should be another update very shortly as the breaks are nearly finished and I finally have the pulleys back from Nick at Pure motorsport so the engine can finally be buttoned up and bolted to the gearbox ready for install.

 

[robzracing]

Brakes are now finished and ready to go back on the car. I still have the new lines to run though, so that's next. And as the season is now over with out the car ever touching a track I may as well start getting on with some of the jobs that were supposed to be done in stage 2, after the car had been back together for a while.
So, once the brake lines are in the rear beam is coming off to be sandblasted and powder coated and then the whole rear end will be fresh along with the PM rear anti-rollbar.

brakes stripped and ready for paint

primed with VHT primer

New set of 10mm hub spacers will be going on with 2degree negative camber

hubs and axles painted in wrinkle black. And then discovered an anomaly.

After some investigating it appears I have 1 axle off a 182 and one off a 172. Odd that it wasn't noticeable on the car, but with one rear quarter replaced and the arches rolled if I had noticed a difference I probably would have put it down to that rather than the axles.
Anyway a second hand one was supplied by Tim Finch so I now have 2 182 axles. (The thicker ones. These are 6mm wider than the 172s.)

Painting all finished

...and new stainless steel bleed nipples

and all reassembled with new seals on the fronts. The rear calipers were already pretty new so were in good condition.

 

[robzracing]

I then got on with making up a simple brackets to take the bias valve, so gave the handbrake a once over at the same time.

ready for paint

...and installed. Just the lines to run now.

 

[RuskiWeldFab]

What an elegant solution for bias valve!!! Brilliant


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[robzracing]

What an elegant solution for bias valve!!! Brilliant


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Thanks! Although I do like the bracket you made up for yours. (I still haven't replaced the gas on my welder so had to come up with a different plan!)

 

[RuskiWeldFab]

There is certainly more than one way to skin a cat [emoji121]️[emoji28]


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[robzracing]

As all the hubs and brakes have been refurbished it didn't make sense to leave the rear beam alone.
So off it came and has gone off to the powdercoaters while I wait for some Powerflex Black series bushes and rear top mounts which will complete the chassis overhaul.
Thanks to Kevin at KAM Racing for the bushes and also sorting out replacement bolts. One of which was well and truly seized!

No amount of heat and penetrating oil was shifting this!

Bushes cut out along with excess metalwork.

One surviving bolt. New ones ordered.

 

[robzracing]

Fresh out of the oven!

If it's not too cold may start reassembly tomorrow.

 

[robzracing]

Mock-up complete. Juat waiting on Bushes and bolts from KAM Racing.

 

[robzracing]

A quick update before Christmas..
Just brake lines to complete and steering column to fit and finally everything can start going back in the car. (Doesn't sound like much when I say it like that!)
Bushes and new bolts arrived from KAM so rear beam is now back together.

So much easier to install off the car and newly powdercoated.

No pressing required, just a few firm taps with a rubber mallet

Then installed the PM Anti roll bar.

Unable to fight off the OCD I fixed helicopter tape to areas where the ARB would be clamped to the beam.

and on the U Bolt plate

All will be torqued up properly once on the car.

 

[gez 172]

I've just re-read this thread out of pure interest in the attention to detail on this.

Keep it up!

 

[robzracing]

I've just re-read this thread out of pure interest in the attention to detail on this.

Keep it up!

Thanks mate. I'm trying! Hoping to get a decent amount of time on it over the Christmas break. We'll see.

 

[robzracing]

Rear beam and suspension installed in the car yesterday. Everything torqued up so now I can move on to the remaining jobs listed below.

Finish removing brake pipes and fuel pipes from under car

Remove front brake pipes

Install remaining brake lines and drill bulkhead

Drill and clip brake lines and finish clipping fuel lines.

Check all brake line connections

Check all fuel line connections

Remove ARB from front sub frame

Remove material on inner poly bush and re-install

Remove steering column

Run wiring for EPAS controller

Install EPAS column

Fit steering rack conversion kit

Remove PAS pump from engine and install pulley kit

Fit front sub frame, steering rack and suspension assembly

Clean up gearbox and paint where necessary

Join engine and gearbox and install in car

Connect up plumbing and wiring

Hopefully get this done in the next 3 months ready for the new season.

 

[robzracing]

Difficult to see here but I think 2 degrees negative camber will allow the wheels to clear the arches, even with the additional 10mm spacing each side. If not I can add another shim and roll the arches a bit more.
Won't know for sure until it's back on the ground.

 

[robzracing]

Small diversion from mechanicals today. Before fixing the new internal brake hoses I wanted to tidy up and respray the interior behind the seats. While I was at it I took the opportunity to lighten the bootlid a bit.
After this and removing a few redundant brackets in the back of the car I've managed to shave off another 2.3 kg.

 

[robzracing]

Started EPAS conversion today. I was surprised by the weight difference between the Epas column compared to the standard one so as I've been working to gradually shave weight during the rebuild I brought the scales out to compare the total weight difference of the 2 systems.

Standard column 3.6kg

EPAS column 8.3kg

Power steering pump 2.5kg

Pump delete kit 625g

Hoses, pipes and reservoir 3.1kg

Not including the weight of the fluid I’m saving 275g!

A small victory this time!

 

[bloke]

you can get away with running it without the idler in place of the pas pump if you want.

 

[gez 172]

@robzracing what are you doing with the old power steering pipes?

 

[robzracing]

you can get away with running it without the idler in place of the pas pump if you want.

Thanks, I had already bought it before I learnt that. and as I already had bought the 4pk belt I decided to run it for now. I'll probably remove it later.

 

[robzracing]

@robzracing what are you doing with the old power steering pipes?

I'll sell them once I'm happy with the EPAS. If you look carefully you'll see that I've had Pirtek make a flexi hose to replace the High pressure pipes to the pump. They always seem to leak around the pressure sensor.

 

[Brucefil]

I think my wife said it best "are you serious" try spending a few weekends with no beers...


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[Brucefil]

What does she know it's more fun spending a grand and a few weekends. Good work boys.


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[robzracing]

EPAS instal is taking shape and also tidying up a bit of wiring under the dash this week. Hopefully have the column and rack back in the car by the end of the weekend.

A busbar for all ancillaries powered up with ignition 2nd position.

New 4pin plug for connection to the torque sensor on the column

installing the Proline Steering rack bung and loop kit. Topped up fluid and hopefully got all the air out!

wiring in the EPAS controller

And finally for tonight.. bought some 30mm aluminium bar to make some spacers so I can drop the steering column down to a better angle.

 

[Adamxx]

Looking good! I love my epas, even on track it feels great. I’m planning on dropping my steering coloum down a bit to but haven’t got round to it yet.

 

[robzracing]

Looking good! I love my epas, even on track it feels great. I’m planning on dropping my steering coloum down a bit to but haven’t got round to it yet.

Are you using the same rack or the 1.5DCI rack? I've got both to try and I'm interested to know how they'll both feel.

 

[Adamxx]

I’m using the standard rack looped, not sure how a DCI one feels to be honest but very impressed with mine.

 

[bloke]

dci rack gives you a slightly more positive feel, hardly noticeable though to be honest.

 

[robzracing]

dci rack gives you a slightly more positive feel, hardly noticeable though to be honest.

That's interesting. My concern with the DCi rack is that it only mounts on 2 bolts and doesn't look all that strong. That's why I've made up some reinforcement plates for the bracket on the passenger side. I still imagine it could flex under load on the track though.
I'd like to try both on track and mount a GoPro facing it under the car to see what happens. Maybe try that this year some time.

 

[bloke]

i've got a few tarmac rally cars and one forest car running them and they've been fine so far. only downside is you can't get a quick rack conversion for the dci rack.

 

[R29TJR]

installing the Proline Steering rack bung and loop kit. Topped up fluid and hopefully got all the air out!

How did you ensure the was no air in the system? I'm currently fitting EPAS.

Cheers.

 

[robzracing]

How did you ensure the was no air in the system? I'm currently fitting EPAS.

Cheers.

Filled the rack slowly (it was already pretty full) until fluid was showing in both openings and then worked the rack one way and then the other several times and tipping it slightly to allow the air to work through and exit out of the holes.
Did this a few times, topping it up as I went until no more bubbles were showing. I don't think it's absolutely critical to be honest, the fluid is no longer under pressure and is really just lubricating the system now as I understand it.

 

[R29TJR]

Filled the rack slowly (it was already pretty full) until fluid was showing in both openings and then worked the rack one way and then the other several times and tipping it slightly to allow the air to work through and exit out of the holes.
Did this a few times, topping it up as I went until no more bubbles were showing. I don't think it's absolutely critical to be honest, the fluid is no longer under pressure and is really just lubricating the system now as I understand it.

View attachment 1355489

Cheers.

Mine was pretty full so I wont stress too much at present!