Toms 172 Cup project

[TRB182]

Hi all, new 172 owner from Northern Ireland. I’ve had a few clios before but never a Renault sport model so when this came up for sale I had to buy it as I enjoyed the little clios so much. It’s an 02 car with 81k miles, I bought it without actually viewing so was pleasantly surprised when it arrived tonight on the recovery truck. It’s on IOM plates so first thing to do is to get it MOTd, insured and then imported back onto UK plates.
My plans are to tidy it up, daily it and do a few trackdays in between. There’s a Cliosport.net sticker on the rear window so maybe someone recognises it? Only have these two pictures for now.

 

[Clio_fool]

Welcome to cliosport Tom. Bit risky buying one of these unseen, I hope it's a good one. Has it been on other reg plates before? If you could find out what the previous reg was a search of it in here might turn something up.

 

[TRB182]

Hey and thanks, for the money I gave for it I was happy to take a chance. It needs tidied here and there and a few odds and ends but thats to be expected on a 16 year old car. I must try that on the search function now!

 

[TRB182]

So since buying the clio I have been out tinkering a few nights at it. The first thing I done was remove the amp, 6x9 speakers and the ten miles of wiring etc associated with them. I’ve changed the oil and filter, rack end and track rod end. Everything else seems tight and ready for MOT.
Today I removed the front calipers to find that one of the sliding pins had seized so I removed them all and gave them a good greasing. While I was in there I noticed I’ll need new discs and pads so I am going to order a set of Brembo HC discs. Can anyone recommend a good pad for road and the odd trackday? I also cleaned and painted both the calipers and hangers which has freshened up the look of the car lots!

 

[Mbeau]

Looking good. The sliders all seem to suffer from seized sliders or bleed nipples. The standard Brembo discs and pads are more than up to occasional track day use. DS2500 pads are a good upgrade over the standard pads. Worth upgrading to higher temp brake fluid if you are looking to do track days. If you contact @George@RTR_Parts on here he can provide with the best prices on discs and pads.

 

[TRB182]

So today I set about removing the Clifford alarm system which was poorly fitted to say the least as you can see from the photo. Can’t stand car alarms and hated having to press the unlock button before turning key in ignition etc. Spent 8 hours doing it but it’s finally out, if I could get my hands on who fitted it I’d choke them with the amount of cable I have here!

 

[TRB182]

So today the postman arrived with a few presents for the clio.

Thanks to George at RTR for the Brembo HC discs and pads, the gearbox Mount was bought off another member on this site. First things first I set about fitting the discs and pads. The old ones where certainly past their best

New ones fitted, unfortunately the discs only came with two new bolts so I ended up reusing one of the old ones on each side. No big deal as they came off perfectly anyway but it would of been nicer with 4 new screws.

After fitting the new brakes I flushed the old fluid and replaced. Got off to a bad start with the nipple breaking off flush with the caliper even though I’d soaked them in penetrating fluid and used plenty of heat. I drilled it and put a torx bit in but it also broke off flush ?

Bled up the rest of the system and the brakes are working perfectly but I will be fixing this caliper soon, either by drilling right out or by fitting a recon caliper. Has anyone got one? Passenger side front. When attempting to fit the gearbox Mount it was apparent a butcher had been in there previously and broken the bottom of the mount where the nuts are held captive. So instead of just fitting the mount with the two bolts I had to remove the big bracket the mount fits to, remove what was left of the recess where the nuts go by grinding it down flat and fit the mount to the bracket, then put the whole lot back on the car. Fitting this has really helped but I still need the other two mounts aswell just to leave everything right, so that is next on my list.

It was good to get the wheels back on, take it for a quick spin and then give it a quick wash to remove all the dirt and handprints I had put on it crawling around it in the garage! MOT is booked for early July so once that’s done I’ll be getting it transferred back onto UK plates, fitting some good tyres and taking it to the local track for a blast round.

 

[TRB182]

Just back in from the garage after a long day at the mighty cup! The doors on the car had been sprayed at some stage and I wasn’t happy with the rather flat finish, so out with the 2500 sandpaper and flattened it down

Then using g3 and a compound pad I done a few passes over the door and finished off with autoglym super resin.

While I had the DA out I went over a few other panels that were tired looking and had a few light surface scratches. After that I took the car outside, washed all the dust off, dried the car and then sealed in the fresh finish with some Autobrite Addiction. I’m quite pleased with the finished door and it’s helped the overall look of the car a lot!

 

[TRB182]

These pictures under the LED shows the improvement
Before

After

 

[TRB182]

Today I went to the local scrap yard and collected a few bits and bobs to smarten up a few things on car that where annoying me. Here’s what I got

Everything is purely cosmetic apart from the gearstick, I got this because my ball is worn so I have crazy play in the stick. I haven’t fitted this yet as the heatshield is looking like a real pain to remove. Will it fit out past the exhaust? My passenger side tail light had a crack on the lens

So on with the new one

The number plate light was very cloudy and yellow

So a much cleaner was fitted which has helped the car look a lot cleaner

I fitted new door handles as my old ones where all keyed and scratched. Also while I was there I got a new switch for the passenger side window as the old one was all tacky and horrible

The final thing I done was replacing the centre console as when the monkey who fitted the alarm was in there he had drilled a lovely big hole in it to accommodate the Clifford LED. Much happier now with the interior but still a few bits and pieces to go.

 

[Iain C]

Good work sir. She's looking good.

 

[TRB182]

Not much of an update but I decided after reading through other members projects I would remove the throttle body and give it a clean. What i was met with upon removal

After a bit of elbow grease

After this I removed the old gear stick assembly which had a worn ball and replaced with one from a low mileage 1.2. This has totally transformed the gear change. Only issue is now I need to swap the gear knobs. I literally think I could hang the clio off the old gear knob and it still wouldn’t come off. May have to cut it off and replace with a new one, if they are still available!! Next plans are to remove the Ram air induction and put back to standard airbox so the induction kit will be available for sale.

 

[20vKarlos]

The RamAir filter setup was probably the easiest mod I’ve done so far! Then the car sounded great too ??

 

[TRB182]

Not much of an update but since last posting I have successfully MOTd the car and sent all necessary forms to DVLA to get it brought back onto UK plates. Also, today I removed the front bumper to fit fog lights and associated wiring as they had been removed by the last owner. I assume this was to allow cooling of the brakes. Really tidies the front end up having the fog lights fitted. Next on the list is the timing belt kit and dephaser which I will be doing myself in the next week or so.

 

[TRB182]

.

 

[TRB182]

.

 

[TRB182]

It's been a while but quite an update since last posting. The car is now on it's original UK plate after importing it from IOM. It was seriously over due a cam belt and dephaser change so a renault kit was bought and I set about fitting it.

Belt removed

While in this far I opted to change the cam seals

Then it was time to reassemble,new dephaser on

Then I put the belt on and spent a while getting the timing perfect. Myself and @rik220 spent longer than we would like to admit getting the timing perfect. We found that degreasing all pulley faces, cams and crank was the best approach to stop the timing from slipping easily. It is very fiddly but persevere with it until you can get the cam tool sliding in and out of the end of the cams with ease! Anyway, on the way back up again, new renault aux belt

New spark plugs and cam caps fitted

Refitted everything and added new renault coolant

Treated her to a new grill as the old one is faded and broken

Starting to take shape now, I have cup 172 door badges to go on aswell.

 

[TRB182]

Quick test drive, I love how this car drives,

 

[TRB182]

Went out to the garage today and removed the induction kit (I'd sell this, open to offers)

I bought a second hand airbox and air feed pipes, fitted that

Another thing which was annoying me was the bullets had been badly painted by someone.

Again I managed to source some through the forum and fitted them. Really improves the look of the car.

The car is on axle stands in the picture because I have a pre-cat lambda fault. Went in below and tried to loosen it but no joy so I've soaked it in wd. Will try again tomorrow, final job was to put on my cup 172 badges. Small things like this are all adding up to greatly improve the look of the car. Still a long way to go though.

 

[Gibbo205]

Looking great, I got a cup 172 few weeks back and am doing exactly the same.

What paint did you use for painting the calipers silver please?

 

[TRB182]

Looking great, I got a cup 172 few weeks back and am doing exactly the same.

What paint did you use for painting the calipers silver please?

Thanks mate, it's getting there. I used hammerite direct to rust smooth silver. Wire brushed the calipers then just brushed it on.

 

[Darren61]

Keep up the great work!

 

[Gibbo205]

Thanks mate, it's getting there. I used hammerite direct to rust smooth silver. Wire brushed the calipers then just brushed it on.

Looks great, would not have thought was brushed on.

 

[Brigsy]

Looks tidy ? Get the exhaust hot before trying to removing lambda sensor, get a ring spanner over the wiring connector so you have a good purchase on it. Shock with hammer if needs be

 

[TRB182]

Lambda sensor swapped with post cat lambda which has left the car as it should be. After fitting standard airbox I found the car to be very quiet. Myself and @rik220 decided to do a back to back test between the airbox and ram air induction measuring intake temps. The standard airbox set up delivers cooler air at all speeds. The induction kit certainly sounds better but the car is smoother on the standard airbox and with running cooler temps it's a no brainer. Such a pity as I love the sound of the induction kit when the car is on full chat.

 

[TRB182]

Took the clio out for a blast today. It's far from the fastest or most expensive car I've owned but it's certainly the most fun. It's such an involving car to drive. The confidence it gives is unreal. Took a quick picture.

 

[TRB182]

Just a picture from last week when me and @rik220 went for a blast round the north coast over here in Northern Ireland. Probably should of took more pictures but we were to busy blasting about enjoying the clios!

 

[TRB182]

Just a small update, bought a second hand refurbished wheel and fitted it yesterday. The wheel in the car wasn't actually bad, however the thumb grips were plastic which felt horrible. New moulded thumb grips weren't much cheaper than what I paid for the refurbed wheel so it was a no brainer. Here's the wheel that was in the car with the hateful thumb grips.

Removed the wheel and set it beside the refurbed one for comparison.

5 minutes later and the new wheel was on. Really pleased with it, it's amazing the difference it makes both to look at inside the car and even the driving. The softer thumb grips are much nicer to hold.

After that I took this picture at a friend's house just as he was driving in with the headlights on the side of the clio. Don't know why but there's something about this photo I like.

 

[TRB182]

Today is a lovely day here in Northern Ireland so myself and @rik220 set off early and done over 100 miles of a mix of A and B roads around the coast. Being a Monday the roads where quiet so we had a great run. Enjoying the car more with every drive. Here's a few pictures we got.

 

[G Hut]

Looks tidy ? Get the exhaust hot before trying to removing lambda sensor, get a ring spanner over the wiring connector so you have a good purchase on it. Shock with hammer if needs be

@Brigsy Top tip this, worked a treat and original 20 year old lambda out in a few mins no hassle or skinned knuckles!