Budget Clio MK3 1.2 Turbo project, DAILY

danfisher · Sep 12, 2014

Been after something for winter then this little Clio came about last week, my friend is going to Uni so she had to get rid.

Its fairly ropey on the bodywork side of things (women drivers) but the engine is sweet as a nut with just 70,000 miles on the clock

I matched her webuyanycar after meeting offer of £1100 and now its mine

Yes £1100! for an 08 plate with just 70k!

Ive set my budget for this project including buying it of just £2000 which leaves £900 for the following...

My parts list is as follows, ill get these from breakers.

front bumper
bonnet
both doors
passenger wing
bootlid

Then ill get the following done

rear quarter sprayed
rear bumper smoothed and sprayed
wet vac of seats and carpet

Other planned mods (price depending after parts)

197 Xenon headlights
Alloy wheels
lowering springs
interior mats
gel plates
stubby aerial

Here are a few pics of the car when i got it on monday...

Emblem · Sep 12, 2014

What a bargain...........

Good spec as well with the half leather etc..

Looks a base to start with.

Welcome to MK3 Ownership..

danfisher · Sep 12, 2014

Emblem said:
What a bargain...........

Good spec as well with the half leather etc..

Looks a base to start with.

Welcome to MK3 Ownership..

Cheers matey, yeah its ideal for a daily with the mpg and running costs

Dont suppose you know much about the wiring differences between the halogen headlights and the 197 Xenon's?

roryb · Sep 12, 2014

HID kit instead of xenons? Looks like you got a right deal there! You will need to do the timing belt soon so try to budget that in too. Also whats wrong with the bonnet? Can't see anything bad from the pictures?

danfisher · Sep 12, 2014

roryb said:
HID kit instead of xenons? Looks like you got a right deal there! You will need to do the timing belt soon so try to budget that in too. Also whats wrong with the bonnet? Can't see anything bad from the pictures?

Would that just be a straight swap with the xenons? i thought the connection into the headlight unit may be different?

Luckily my dads a mechanic so the timing belt will only cost me for the actual belt, winner

what mileage are they normally done at on these?

The bonnet is all rippled, hard to see on some pictures but looks awful in person :s

roryb · Sep 13, 2014

danfisher said:
Would that just be a straight swap with the xenons? i thought the connection into the headlight unit may be different?

Luckily my dads a mechanic so the timing belt will only cost me for the actual belt, winner what mileage are they normally done at on these?

The bonnet is all rippled, hard to see on some pictures but looks awful in person :s

Ahhh alright, around 71000 miles not sure about the xenons. I put a HID kit I'm my mk3 it was only 30 ish quid but did have to take the bumper off, if your thinking of changing the headlight unit you'll be taking is off anyways haha

danfisher · Sep 24, 2014

Bit of an update guys ive been gathering some parts and panels over the past 2 weeks ready to put on, bargains of course

so far ive managed to get the following, all in my NV676 colour code too, winner!

Dynamique S bootlid with spoiler - £60
Passenger door complete - £40
Bonnet lightweight version - £60
Passenger wing - £40

This brings the total so far to £1300
Ill be selling some bits such as wiper motors, door handles etc from the parts to recoop a bit of money as well

So today i managed to put the bootlid, passenger door and bonnet on, here are a few pics.
I also took the Renault and Clio badges off the bootlid so make it look smoother

Old bootlid off

New one going on

Old door off

New one going on

New bonnet on

Removing the badges off the back

What i used

Gave the bootlid a quick polish

After the polish

danfisher · Oct 30, 2014

Will be a big update coming in the next few days!!
Out of curiousity, i think so but are 16's a little small for the mk3's? Considering as well that no coilovers are on the horizon due to my budget

Martin_172 · Oct 30, 2014

that's a cracking buy that!
FMIC, panel filter, exhaust, 182 injectors, RSTuning hello 140bhp+

danfisher · Oct 30, 2014

I was thinking about all that but its only my daily so drive it like a granny most of the time :smile:
Might get a remap if i find one cheap enough though.

Prefer to spend the money of my weekend car really, still got a few plans for the clio though, mainly front end changes but unsure as yet

JP83 · Oct 30, 2014

Billy Bargain that!

danfisher · Nov 1, 2014

Decided to extend the budget to £2200 or £2300 now as i wont be happy with it otherwise

If anybody knows of some coilovers for sale id be very interested, cant fit the £500 into my budget but i dont think springs will look as good as id like :S

danfisher · Nov 2, 2014

Soooo the big update is here bodywork wise, luckily a friend of mine is a very good sprayer so got the rear quarter panel beat out and sprayed.
I also got him to smooth over the rear bumper and respray it, looks wise nicer now without the rub strips!

While there i also got the door rub strips colour coded to the car along with the door handles.

Onto the price i spent, got the lot done for £300 so broke it down
Rear quarter repair - £150
Rear bumper smooth and spray- £100
Rub strips and door handles - £50

I then gave the car a full 3 stage detail as the paintwork was awful!
Deep scratch's everywhere and generally dull all over, still hasnt come out to a show quality shine but looks amazing compared to before!

TOTAL SPEND SO FAR = £1600 (including buying the car)

Before picture of the dents and paintwork condition

Polishing products i used

After shot showing the repair and rub strips, rear bumper and handles sprayed

M90SR · Nov 2, 2014

@danfisher looks really good! should make a tidy profit if it comes to sell

danfisher · Nov 2, 2014

Yeah, id just be happy to not lose money after doing the mods to it

not a bad little car though, plenty of things left to do but all part of the fun

M4rk7 · Nov 2, 2014

cars looking great mate, what a difference on the paintwork too, also welcome to the smoothed bumper club haha! :-D

danfisher · Nov 2, 2014

M4rk7 said:
cars looking great mate, what a difference on the paintwork too, also welcome to the smoothed bumper club haha! :-D

Had a good read through your thread yesterday mate, lots of nice choice mods and cant beat the rear bumper smoothing! Was tempted with the facelift version but i think the pre facelift looks nicer when smoothed anyway

Paul.M · Nov 2, 2014

Cheap as chips!
Good effort, get some pics of the M3 up too, they are probably just as popular as clio's on here!

danfisher · Nov 2, 2014

Paul.M said:
Cheap as chips!
Good effort, get some pics of the M3 up too, they are probably just as popular as clio's on here!

I was wondering when someone would ask about the M3 haha, here's a couple of pics

Paul.M · Nov 2, 2014

Lovely looking car that, there are a lot of people on here that have owned them previously

danfisher · Nov 3, 2014

Been tempted to get some 197 grills as well but with the euro look the standard ones would look better i think, any opinions?

danfisher · Nov 3, 2014

anyone?

JP83 · Nov 3, 2014

It's personal preference dude.
When you say euro look, are you going for slammed, deep dish rims, etc?

danfisher · Nov 3, 2014

JP83 said:
It's personal preference dude.
When you say euro look, are you going for slammed, deep dish rims, etc?

Well, not so much major euro just nice and smoothed off front and rear, wont be going on deep dish's though as its just my daily. Waiting on coilovers too but will be reasonably low, nothing inpractical though

danfisher · Nov 3, 2014

Managed to get a few more bits put on today now its been fully detailed

Gel plates - got 2 free blanks off a friend then bought the gel characters for £16 so total cost - £16

Stubby Aerial - £8

Tinted rear lights - bought a set off ebay for £30 then spent £10 on spray tint and lacquer, ill be selling my old ones for £40 as i got a bargain on these so total cost - £0

If your wondering how i did them - 2 coats of spray tint, wet sand 1500 & 2000 grit, 4 coats lacquer, 2000 grit wet sand, compound polish, cherry glaze polish, sealant & a coat of wax.

Black rear badge cover - £6

TOTAL SPEND INCLUDING THE CAR - £1630

Plate before

Making the gel plates

Installed on the car (not a brilliant picture)

Old aerial

New one

Before tinted lights

After

Rear badge after

dann2707 · Nov 4, 2014

Great work mate!

danfisher · Nov 4, 2014

Ooooh now for my favorite part of the project, the front end is coming off ready for the bodyshop!!

3 major updates coming in coming week

Mr Plums · Nov 4, 2014

Great buy/bargain this mate, you are doing a great job too.

danfisher · Nov 4, 2014

MrTom said:
Great buy/bargain this mate, you are doing a great job too.

Thanks Tom, appreciate the comments

danfisher · Nov 6, 2014

Such a hard decision deciding about coilovers or lowering springs!! would mean an extra £350 spending which i didnt plan or want but ill never be happy with the handling or the lows otherwise :s

roryb · Nov 6, 2014

Springs are cheaper, thats what i would mostly weigh it down to

danfisher · Nov 6, 2014

Think ive decided on coilovers now, ill never be happy without them!

After a week at the bodyshop my new front bumper is now finished. A boat load of work has gone into it but it looks amazing!
Will get some pics up soon as its built back up and put on the car

danfisher · Nov 10, 2014

Out of curiosity would you class tyres as being part of the budget or are they considered more consumables like petrol, brakes etc?

JP83 · Nov 10, 2014

Definitely a consumable.

danfisher · Nov 11, 2014

Another little update on the car, one of many coming up this week as i hope to have it near finished by thursday

Picked up some Genuine Renault 197 Xenon lights for £100 so got them fitted
Will be selling the standard ones to recoop some of the money as well

Also picked up some 17" Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2's for £125
These have now been sent off for a full refurb at city powdercoaters

TOTAL SPEND (including buying the car) - £1855

Crappy picture showing a comparison, looks a million times better with the black insert and Xenon upgrade

Picture of the Pro Race's off the ebay advert where i got them

danfisher · Nov 11, 2014

As you can see the centre caps were a little worse for wear and i had 2 options, spend £40 on a set of new centre caps that i didnt need that much or option 2, find some 45mm domed inserts and replace them.
Decided for option 2 but they werent Team Dynamics branded, think it looks pretty good with what i chose, they were £10 posted as well

TOTAL SPEND - £1865

danfisher · Nov 17, 2014

Another update on progress.
The wheels have now come back from the paint shop after a nice powdercoating in gloss black - £100

After over 2 months of searching some well priced coilovers finally arrived! A set of AP racing coilovers for just £220!!!

I also painted all the brakes matching gloss black with some hammerite i had laying about - free

TOTAL COST INCLUDING THE CAR - £2185