What are the differences between a 1.4 and a 172

[Dougman]

I am looking to build a Clio for motorsport use, but it must be under 1400cc for the class I will be entering. The obvious way is to buy a 1.4 and upgrade certain parts, however another line of thought was to get a 172 Clio and fit it with a 1.4 engine, as the base car would have certain higher spec parts such as brakes etc. This is the reason for the thread to find out the differences between the 1.4 and the 172.

Does the 172 have rear discs?

Does the 172 have higher spec front brakes (my son’s 1.4 has single pot callipers on the front) ?

Are the dampers / springs, stiffer / different spec from the 172 to 1.4 ?

Are the gearboxes the same. Either way what are the ratios for both 172 and 1.4 ?

Are gearboxes interchangeable ?

Are the driveshafts stronger on the 172 ?

If I did go down the 172 route would the car work by fitting a 1.4 ECU and modify the wiring loom ?

With the exception of cosmetics, are there any other significant different parts between the two cars ?

Thanks
Doug

 

[theduck]

To answer your questions:

Yes 172s have rear discs, but they are not worth the extra investment in buying a 172 as they do little braking.

Yes the 172s have higher spec single pot calipers, but good pads and discs on the 1.4 setup would be adequate imo. You can also upgrade both cars to 4pots.

Dampers, springs, etc are different spec, but, a good set of coilovers would be best for either car, so no reason to change. the 1.4 would benefit from the 172 front ARB and both benefit from fitting a rear ARB.

Gear boxes are different, sorry i cant help with ratios or interchangability.

Shafts there probably isnt much in it tbh.

Yes you could fit an unlocked 1.4 ecu and chop the looms together.

Not really.



If it was me, I'd get a clean 1.4 and modify it, as the mods you'd want to do/should be doing to the 1.4 you'd be doing to the 172 anyway. What other restricions are there? I may know of some trick parts that would fit a 1.4 engine that may interest you.

 

[Ali]

What other reg's are you having to follow? Surely can't be just the motor.

 

[hilldawg172]

just get a 1.4 and strip the living s**t out of it!
Does it have to be a clio? as if not id reccomend a saxo westcoast over the clio will be alot lighter as standard and alot more chuckable in to corners, plus parts will be alot cheaper.

 

[Martin_172]

what series is it and full regs? how do they verify engine?

id buy a 1.6 16v and put the 1.4 16v engine cover on it lol

172 has a slightly better gearbox however the ratios will be longer i would think but cant confirm it, however its not really better in any sort of way to warrant changing it over the 1.4 box, however they are swapable. can also use the 1.2 box from memory if the ratios are better suited.

driveshafts again 172 items are probably a bit stronger but not enough to warrant changing it, i know some guys are running 172 conversions with 1.2 driveshafts.

the main difference to concern you is the better front anti roll bar which could be fitted to a 1.4 and in turn would use 172 bottom arms, hubs and brakes (280mm front discs against 259mm front discs on 1.2,1.4,1.6,1.5dci models)

 

[Dougman]

Thank you for your answers to my questions, which has confirmed that our budget will be better spent on upgrading the 1.4 rather than converting the 172.

Initially we will be competing in three different disciplines. Autotesting, autosolos and road rallying, possibly with some long distance endurance events later on.

The modifications we are allowed to do are fairly unrestricted but the engine size must be under 1400cc.

Autotesting in particular is very hard on the transmission, hence the driveshaft question.

Above all, on the three types of event, the handling is top priority as a correctly set up car can more than make up for lack of power, so we will probably keep the engine standard to keep costs down and have better reliability.

The easiest way to get lower gearing would be to fit smaller wheels, which would work for autotesting and autosolos but we need high ground clearance on road rallies so a lower ratio final drive would be the preferred option.

Does anyone know the gear / diff ratios for the 1.4 and a 1.2 ?

Thanks again
Nick