The trials & tribulations of racing a Clio

[robzracing]

Bottom end came back this week. (finally) So have spent the weekend starting to build it back up.
It's nice to start getting some of the newly powdercoated bits out of its wrapping!

Firstly, cleared some space at the front of the car. Still a couple more jobs to do here.

And these finally arrived from Pure Motorsport. Their newly developed vernier pulleys.

The Pure Motorsport lightweight pulleys were not designed for the "Cup" setup and Nick wasn't sure that the alternator pulley would line up. Fortunately it works perfectly. Just need to order the correct length 4pk belt.

And to finish off just had to test fit the throttle bodies!

So this coming week hopefully get the cams in and everything timed up.

 

[AdamCup]

How comes you're keeping the HPAS ?

 

[robzracing]

Just for now. EPAS is being prepared for some time next season.

The 1.5DCi rack has quite a weak mounting bracket on the LHS so I'm having some reinforcement plates CNC'd up at the moment. I'll also be selling these to anyone who's interested as I had to order 15 sets to make it worth while.

 

[RuskiWeldFab]

Depending on price I would be interested. As I already looked in to reinforcing that joint.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[robzracing]

Probably be about £25 a set plus postage. I'll put details up once I receive them. They'll need to be welded obviously.

 

[scotiamr2t]

I for one will be interested in the reinforcement plates. So count me in for a set

 

[20vKarlos]

Rather good read!

 

[scottishjon]

crackin build buddy , makes me want more power out mine

 

[gudger12345]

Epic build.

 

[robzracing]

Just a small update this week.
Correct length 4pk belt arrived so that can be checked off the list.

And finally got the cams in and Pure Motorsport's new vernier pulleys on. Unfortunately though, the dowel locating the pulleys on the end of the cams is in the slightly the wrong position for my engine, leaving me with either too much advance or too much r****d and not enough adjustment. Probably something to do with me running a 1mm gasket. Nick has offered to drill a second locating hole but I think I'm going to ditch the dowels and just go for a friction fit. Which is how the old Piper pulleys used to be anyway as their dowel hole never aligned with the cat cams dowel either.
So, I'll make those adjustments at the weekend and then it's ready for installation.

 

[BuCkLeY...]

good to see another person using paint to know what bolts are done

 

[RuskiWeldFab]

This is looking Awsome!!! What cams did you go with?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Looks lovely that!

 

[robzracing]

good to see another person using paint to know what bolts are done :smile:

So easy to miss one! But not only that, it means I can give the engine a visual inspection at any time and see straight away if a bolt is coming loose. Nothing worse than your alternator dropping off in the middle of a race!

 

[robzracing]

This is looking Awsome!!! What cams did you go with?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cat Cams 5503433s. Same as Pure Motorsport's 240 engines. Good mid range torque is the idea, with out having to rev the cahoonas out of it.

 

[Akay]

Id be interested in dci rack plate for sure! No welding im assuming?

 

[Akay]

Re-read it, still interested pending details.

 

[robzracing]

Re-read it, still interested pending details.

I for one will be interested in the reinforcement plates. So count me in for a set

Sold one set untested. I started to fit a set before I ran out of gas but if you're interested I'll do them at £15 plus postage for now until I have had a chance to weld some up and test them properly.
Eventually I'd like to have them installed and rig up a GoPro pointing at the bracket while I'm at Brands one day to see how it looks under load.

These are cut from 2mm mild steel and are handed as the outer side of the bracket has a larger internal diameter than the inner side.

 

[robzracing]

So, I decided to send the pulleys back to Pure Motorsport after all, as the dowels weren't coming out of the cams easily and I didn't want to have to strip it all down again. So new dowel holes will be drilled.
Slowly getting through the little jobs while waiting for the pulleys to come back.
Finally finished mounting the oil cooler

Should get enough airflow through the lower grill if I open out the closed off grill section on that side.
I've got 2 second hand front bumpers on their way to me so I can prepare a spare as well. The one I have at the moment is cracked in a couple of places and although its been repaired a couple of times they're never as strong unless you start reinforcing them with plates but that just takes away the flexibility so they then crack somewhere else the next time they get a nudge.
I've also finished connecting the fuel lines to the tank and started work on a modification to the dash to take the new fuel pressure guage. Again, this will all change again next year when the dash comes out completely and the loom gets sorted properly.

And finally, last week I purchased these...

Only one year old and done about 6 races I believe. Spring rates are already what I wanted too, so although they were on the shopping list for next year, they don't come up for sale too often second hand and in this condition.
I had them on my other clio race car so I know how good they are.

 

[Fraser.J.]

Coilies look nice [emoji15]

 

[robzracing]

Coilies look nice [emoji15]

Hoping they'll arrive today! Thanks mate, they're going to a good home!

 

[Bays]

Thanks Jim. The cost to get a track car ready for racing would really depend on how much of the work you can do yourself really. Assuming your track car doesn't have a cage that's going to be the biggest expense, so if you're not fitting it yourself you should allow £1500-£2000 for that at least. After that it's just cut-off switches and fire extinguisher whch are the main things which are not hugely expensive. Finally you need a race license of course! I think the test is about £300, but fit it into a trackday and its a good day out anyway.

Mines cost me a lot more and it's only a track toy ha ha
Got a nice set of light weight alloys of your self tho that I'm still using

 

[robzracing]

Mines cost me a lot more and it's only a track toy ha ha
Got a nice set of light weight alloys of your self tho that I'm still using

Good to see they're getting some use. I assume you've changed the tyres by now!

 

[Bays]

Good to see they're getting some use. I assume you've changed the tyres by now!

Yeah put 595s on them but only done one track day and ten laps of another , had two engines and on my 3rd box as we speak ! Next years should be all done and ready to be enjoyed ha ha running 197 cams and a sm inlet 190bhp runs well

 

[robzracing]

Still waiting for my vernier pulleys to come back from Nick at PM so got on with more stuff.
After receiving the ASTs my OCD was going to make it dificult to fit them without doing some refurbishment to the rest of the suspension and brake setup.
So off with the hubs and brakes for renovation.
Ideally the front hubs would have been stripped down with bearings removed and then sent off to be blasted and powder coated but for now I'm leaving the bearings in situ and have doone a quick refurb of the hubs and driveshafts at home.

After that I ordered new discs etc from George at RTR and while I'm at it I'll also install the brake lines that Mitch at Proline has supplied.

..and brakes removed ready to be stripped

seals were definitely ready for the bin.

Fortunately everything looks fine internally and the pistons are looking ok.

That's as far as I've got with these this weekend.
But during the week I finished the oil pressure guage install and also swapped my water temp guage to a Stack one to match it.

 

[Nathan Evans]

Good luck with the brake lines.

 

[bloke]

Good luck with the brake lines.

:tongueclosed:

 

[robzracing]

Good luck with the brake lines.

As the engine is out I'm hoping they won't be too tricky!

 

[Nathan Evans]

As the engine is out I'm hoping they won't be too tricky!

They won't fit. That's the problem.

 

[robzracing]

They won't fit. That's the problem.

Really?? I take it you've tried these then. What was the problem?

 

[Nathan Evans]

Really?? I take it you've tried these then. What was the problem?

Yeah I have them. Some lines to long, some lines way way way to short.

And it's not only me who's had issues. It's everyone that I've ever come across who's bought them.

From rear calliper to bulkhead on mine was so short. I've had to swap lines from the rear T piece to make it work.

 

[robzracing]

Yeah I have them. Some lines to long, some lines way way way to short.

And it's not only me who's had issues. It's everyone that I've ever come across who's bought them.

From rear calliper to bulkhead on mine was so short. I've had to swap lines from the rear T piece to make it work.

Thanks for the heads-up. I hadn't heard anything bad about these before I bought them and Mitch seems to do a pretty tidy job of the stuff he does. I'd better check them all out then and get on to the phone to him if it's going to be a headache.
Annoyingly I had already bought hardline for this to make up myself and only changed my mind at the last minute!

 

[Nathan Evans]

Thanks for the heads-up. I hadn't heard anything bad about these before I bought them and Mitch seems to do a pretty tidy job of the stuff he does. I'd better check them all out then and get on to the phone to him if it's going to be a headache.
Annoyingly I had already bought hardline for this to make up myself and only changed my mind at the last minute!

He did replace a line for me free of charge, but when I went to fit them I had more issues and needed to get them fitted. So I had to bodge it. The lines are good quality and I did see he was after a doner car on Facebook to redesign the kit. Hopefully you have the new kit that's fits.

 

[robzracing]

He did replace a line for me free of charge, but when I went to fit them I had more issues and needed to get them fitted. So I had to bodge it. The lines are good quality and I did see he was after a doner car on Facebook to redesign the kit. Hopefully you have the new kit that's fits.

Me too! Watch this space!

 

[gez 172]

Enjoying watching this progress!

Quick question: are you using the standard plastic timing belt tensioners/rollers or are you using the PMS steel upgrade ones?

 

[RuskiWeldFab]

Really?? I take it you've tried these then. What was the problem?

I actually had no issues fitting the kit at all. Apart from one pipe from master cylinder was m10 and I needed both M12 apparently. But Mitch sent one Free of charge next day.
The only slight niggle I have with it is one of the rear pipes a little too long so kinda had to loop it a bit. Other than that, all bitching ha ha

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[robzracing]

Enjoying watching this progress!

Quick question: are you using the standard plastic timing belt tensioners/rollers or are you using the PMS steel upgrade ones?

:smile:

Glad you're enjoying it. Could do with it going a bit quicker myself!

Using the standard tensioners. I'm not too concerned with these as I'm sure the engine will be apart again long before these get close to needing replacing and I'm not tensioning the belt any further than standard. (Although I know Nick at PM does tension his higher than standard)
These could be famous last words of course!

 

[robzracing]

I actually had no issues fitting the kit at all. Apart from one pipe from master cylinder was m10 and I needed both M12 apparently. But Mitch sent one Free of charge next day.
The only slight niggle I have with it is one of the rear pipes a little too long so kinda had to loop it a bit. Other than that, all bitching ha ha View attachment 1344518


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was going to ask you how you found yours! That's good to know, although I don't think you've got exactly the same kit as me. I don't have a tee piece for the front brakes like yours. Mine come straight from the MC left and right, so I'm only capping one outlet not 2.

 

[RuskiWeldFab]

Is yours a cup MC? With 4 outlets?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[robzracing]

Is yours a cup MC? With 4 outlets?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

yes it is. Is that the difference?