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My 182. It's the little things that count.



So I thought it was time I put my lovely little Clio on here.
This might come in handy for me when selling the car one day too so I can point potential buyers at this thread so they know how much I care about the machine.
This might be a bit of a read but I hope I can make it an interesting one. Hopefully this thread will show that the little things matter to me when I take something on. :)

During my university years I’d had to forgo having my own car due to the piss poor financial situation that comes with being a filthy student and I decided that once I had the money to buy a car, I was going to do it properly.
I graduated 2 years ago now and back in February 2013 while browsing for cars I spotted that a guy in my estate was selling a 182. Knew very little about them beyond what my friend (who has owned two) had told me about them. They require very understanding owners and that two litres in a fag packet equals a lot of frantic fun.

Day I bought it

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Had 50k on the clock, 4 questionable tyres, wonky exhausts, misty lights, but I brought my friend who knows everything if it has an engine and unsurprisingly he knew all the cars previous owners including the seller (he's good like that) and told me the car had, thus far led a very easy life.
Seller was pretty honest and told me he didn’t believe the car had ever had a belt change.
Went for a quick spin and decided I needed to risk it. :rasp:
£2400 later (got him down from £3k after he told me about the belts situation) I had a 182 on the drive.
A few hours later I had a cs.net membership which has more than paid for itself!

Looked through the cars history properly and to my horror the seller had been correct. Nothing about a belt change. In 9 years. :eek: One call to BTM later and the little Clio blob was booked in but it meant due to the fear of breaking it, I didn’t drive it the first week I had it.
On a side note - Fred is an absolute top man for getting me booked in so quickly.
He also gave me a list of things to replace:
- All pads and discs
- Manifold downpipe seal was due to die
- Tyres. For the love of god please think of the tyres!

Beyond that I was pleased to have his seal of approval that my car was one of the tidier examples he’d seen.

The upper engine mount broke while I was at BTM so that was one thing off the list to fix.
Spent the next couple of weeks building a relationship with my new personal rollercoaster and started working on my rev matching and driving skills. I still struggle to heel-toe in it as the throttle is so much lower than the brake. :(

First things first – Fix those exhausts! Couple of powerflex bushes and a dash of bad language later and they were straight again.

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Next came a set of Brembo OE brakes and discs for the front which my friend and I fitted one rainy morning with some more bad language and tools. Can’t find any of the pictures I took of this one but it looked like they were the original pads from 9 years ago too. There was but a slither of pad left.

I decided to go with the official Renault brakes for the rear. The set on there had lasted 9 years so I figured they don’t do much work.

Next – tyres!
Didn’t beat around the bush on this one. Car came with 4 worn bits of rubber made of aloe vera and jizz that shook the car above 50mph and induced bad language from both passengers and myself so 4 new Continental Sport Contact 3s went on.
It was finally starting to feel good.

Started to dabble with the aesthetics next.
Unleashed the carpet cleaner on the car and replaced the awful poundland mats with some RenaultSport ones and added an aluminium footrest. There’s 8bhp in that footrest and 32 in the mats.

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Next came some footwell LEDs with a bit of help from Tom Brentall and his easy to follow guide.
I know they’re not everybodys cup of tea but I think in the right colour they add to the car and I’ve managed to hide all the cabling perfectly. I’m all about OEM+

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Picked up a new gear insert from SprayShack and some new interior trim that read "RenaultSport" as opposed to s**tty "Airbag" while at CSS. Can't find a picture. Will find one later.

Tidying up the engine bay started to play on my mind a bit so one quiet afternoon the bay went from this:

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To this:

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Added the usual silvatec bulbs, LED sidelights and rear plate light and refurbished my lights one sunny Sunday too.

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Went for a drive to Brecon one day and noticed under low revs the exhaust made a new rattling sound. After some bad language I figured the downpipe seal had finally given up seeing as one of the bolts was pointing downwards - so it got replaced. Didn’t enjoy working on the exhaust. While on the job I replaced the exhaust clamp too as it looked like it had spent a decade under the sea. Yes in this picture the caps are on backwards. It was dark. :/ I’ve since fixed the mistake.

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Next I put a Pipercross filter in the airbox and I acquired myself an RSTuner and loaded the 98Ron map into the car however the filter wasn’t in there long as I replaced it with a KTec induction kit a few weeks later. Call it a placebo but I swear the car pulls harder with it on.
I’ve hung onto my original airbox and the filter to sell it as stock.

I then started looking into refurbishing my wheels as the previous owner(s) had left me with a few kerb marks but when a set of mint Turinis came up on here for £300 I didn’t haggle. Bought them straight away and sold the original alloys.

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I started to grow bored with the orange dash and after having seen a few LED conversions done on the forum, I thought I’d have a bash at my own and I personally feel it worked out quite nicely.

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About a month ago I noticed the engine was shuddering more than normal under acceleration and when I eased off the throttle so in went some new gearbox oil, a new Renault standard upper gearbox mount and I polybushed the dogbone. Thanks to the guides on here I set aside 5 hours to get the job done and was done in 3.
Ever seen a crowbar in an engine bay?

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Getting those bushes out of the dogbone required some… creative hammering. Anyone who’s done it will understand what I’m talking about.

I believe that’s everything so far.

I’m finally done!... Said no car guy (or girl) ever - so where do we go from here? :rasp:

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The car needs to be lowered so some new springs, dampeners and top mounts are due soon and I’ve managed to crack the splitter. Must have hit a panda or something at speed so a carbon fibre one will be going on.
The car is now on 57k so I’ll give it an oil change and filter in a week or two just to keep it happy.
I've been tidying up the black trim below the windscreen and around the exhausts so it looks a lot smarter now than it is in the above picture.
A stubby aerial needs to go on there just to smarten it up a bit too.
Beyond that I drive it whenever I get the chance, clean it often and practise my driving skills.
It's been a great car so far and I've caught any problems before they've had a chance to develop.

​Hope this read hasn't been too much of an endurance for you and thanks for sticking with it. :cool:
 
  Phase 2 clio 172
Car looks good mate

ive got a silver ph2 aswell, a 172 though,

I've got the same problem with the engine and box moving about if I decide to give it some welly so I'm thinking of Buying a poly bushed dog mount from ktec

my mate had a go at correcting my front lights but they seem to have misted up again, how did you go about doing yours? And what did you use to protect them?

I've just put on a set of eibach sportline springs -35mm, I've found they make the ride a fair bit firmer but they're well worth it!

I thought it was just me that found heel and toe hard in the clio, was a piece of piss in my fiesta!
 

danward

ClioSport Club Member
  TTS
Great thread, you've modded and maintained very well and tastefully. I like the engine bay
 

Mr R.

ClioSport Club Member
  A special one.
Cracking work there, just needs to sit a bit lower now. :)

Oh and the cup washer has been fitted the wrong way around, it should go over the top of the spring.

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Cracking work there, just needs to sit a bit lower now. :)

Oh and the cup washer has been fitted the wrong way around, it should go over the top of the spring.
He mentioned that after posting the photo.

Very nice touches to your car mate, improved it no end :)
 
Thank you for the positive feedback. :) it means a lot.

I can't really take the credit for my lights as I had my friend do them for me but they were wet sanded at 800, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500 then machine buffed with Meguires #80 and #83 Polish and they've stayed a treat.

The soldering and bits like that I did myself as I'm better with a soldering iron than a spanner but I'll have a bash at most things. :)

Polybushing the dog mount was the best and worst thing I ever did. There's a fair bit of vibration but my god it's responsive. Gear changes are also much smoother.
Getting the original bushes out was much harder than getting the new ones in, or yeah I guess you could just buy a direct replacement from Ktec.

The dash mod is not too difficult to do. I still need to do my cruise buttons and window switches. Maybe I'll do them tomorrow! If anyone lives in Wales and needs a hand then if you supply the lights I'll fit them for you for a little bit of beer money. :)

I use remembered I want to get the steering wheel retrimmed too but as the leather on mine isn't that bad it's quite low down the priority list.

Again thanks for the feedback and if anyone has any ideas I'd really appreciate the input :)
 
Think I prefer the RS logo bullets to the standard bullets, but just in a lighter shade to match the colour of the Turini's.

I bought them off Dawn at CSS.
I've since removed the Rs bullets and painted the 2l bullets in anthracite and gone over the lettering in silver. Courtesy of yet another guide on here :)
I'll upload a few extra photos when I'm home.
 

Jack!

ClioSport Club Member
I bought them off Dawn at CSS.
I've since removed the Rs bullets and painted the 2l bullets in anthracite and gone over the lettering in silver. Courtesy of yet another guide on here :)
I'll upload a few extra photos when I'm home.

Haha, pretty sure I said I liked them on Dawn's project thread for the BG182 too; they're good.

But yeah, think it looks tidy when the bullets match the colour of the wheels.
 
Love the led dash really fresh look I want it !
If you have a bit of time it's a mod well worth doing. Tidies up the inside no end. Like I said if anybody lives in/near South Wales and supplies the lights, I'll fit them for a wee bit of beer money.

Found a couple of extra pictures. :)
​I'm very fond of this little car.
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Sunglasses_Ron

ClioSport Admin
South Wales is a bit far for me but cheers for the offer. Any chance of writing a guide? It could get put in the guides section.
 
I'd love to be able to take the credit for the idea but there's already a couple of brilliant guides on here which proved to be really handy.
It was written back in 2006 but it's still applicable for both Ph1 and Ph2s.

I personally couldn't be bothered with selecting individual SMDs and LEDs so I just bought a pack online. They give you a few extras incase you balls it up. :)
http://www.crazyleds.co.uk/Clio-MK2-Full-SMD-LED-dash-conversion-kit..html

Guide for Dash & Other Bits:
http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?175675-How-to-convert-your-dash

Guide for Climate Control
http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?448765-LED-Dash-Information&highlight=led
 
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Gave the wee blob a service this weekend (08-09-2013)
As I was doing it I could tell this was well overdue. The oil had been changed when I went to BTM but the spark plugs looked ancient, the cabin filter didn't look like it had been changed in years.... you get the idea. On a more positive note the car is so much smoother now and my rough idle has gone away. Very pleased.

Mileage:

Bought the car about 6000 miles ago but I'll keep up the regular servicing. :)

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Oil:

Decided the Clio had earned a decent oil change so I splashed out a little for the Fuchs Pro S. Was contemplating the Nano Drive stuff but settled on the Fuchs.

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Plugs:

Just the usual stuff here that the entire forum recommends. :)

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Cabin Filter:

Ever seen a cabin filter with its own ecosystem? Couldn't believe how easy it was to change on this car. Seriously a 5 minute job for anyone who's done it before.

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Not Photographed (yet):

I neutered the poor thing and gave it a stubby aerial. It's tidied it up no end if anyone is looking for a really simple mod.
 
Popped in to see the boys at Pro Speed today. (10-09-2013)
Decided I didn't want my centre silencer anymore. :rasp:
Somehow after it it's gained a meatier, "Don't f**k with me" rumble but it's quieter at 60+ mph. I don't understand this dark magic but I'm very pleased with the result.
Seriously contemplating one of their full systems in the new year as I've heard the results and it just tidies everything up nicely.

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On a side note, the lads down at Pro Speed are brilliant. Very chatty, very helpful and a good laugh. Charlie knows his stuff.
 
Fantastic work on the work on your 182, really top job.

Where did you source your mats from (Just Matz?)

Love the Turinis.

I've got a DC2 Integra but my wife a full fat 182 which we both absolutely love! I need to sort the headlights out like you've done.
 
Alright mate!
Love the car, so nice and them mods are suited so well.
If I wasn't getting rid of the clio I would get my dash lights done, they're awesome

I didn't even know you went to CSS even haha and I aint seen you round lol
 
Thought it's time for an update. :)

I gotten around to the suspension refresh finally.
Over the course of last week I was buying up new parts for the 182 and spend a chunk of my afternoon today bolting new parts on.

Today (27-10-2013) the Clio gained -


  • Pure Motorsport Top Mounts
  • 4x new OE shocks
  • 4x Eibach Sportlines

Got up bright and early to meet Vinnie182 and purchase his Eibach springs. He was kind enough to meet me early on the official lie-in day so I had the rest of the day to play. :approve: Big thumbs up to the guy.
I've still got to do the outer ARB bushes but that's a job for another day when I have time (or when I can be arsed)

Oooo. Shiny!

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Off comes one of the old springs and shocks.

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All in place!

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The old top mounts actually looked fine but the old springs (especially the rears) looked like they'd spend a decade under the sea.
I've yet to take any shots of the car outside courtesy of the sideways rain, but suffice to say it now looks poised and angry!
I've had a drive. Car feels a lot more responsive and the steering feels more direct than it did previously. There is no added noise from the solid top mounts however that is probably overshadowed by the polybushed dog mount. I currently have the black mount on there which will be coming off soon and it's a bit too intense.

I'll get a snap or two up tomorrow with the daylight.

Next on the list of things to do -

  • Steering wheel retrim (I'm currently on the Snappy waiting list :) )
  • Pro Speed exhaust
  • Maybe the Pure Motorsport Strut Brace
  • Rear ARB
  • Polarised Wheel Bolts
 
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  Dynamique 1.2
Your new Dash looks great, purchased one of those kits straight away. Hope mine look as good as they did in your photos. :)
 
Looks superb, good effort!
Much appreciated and thanks for the positive words. :) It means a lot coming from folk on this forum.

Your new Dash looks great, purchased one of those kits straight away. Hope mine look as good as they did in your photos.

Looks bloody lovely that good work.


How come your dash lights are a nice blue rather than the normal orange/red?

You're welcome to drop me a PM if you need a prod in the right direction. Tbh it's not a difficult mod to do and I've put links to the appropriate guides in post #22. I couldn't be bothered with sourcing and counting out the right SMDs and LEDs so I just ordered a set from Crazy LEDs. They give you plenty of spares in case you f**k it up too. :) http://www.crazyleds.co.uk/Clio-MK2-Full-SMD-LED-dash-conversion-kit..html
Obviously helps to have a bit of soldering skill and the right tools lying around but I know plenty of people with little to no soldering skill who did it successfully.
 
  RS Clio 182
Dash lights look amazing. I'm going to order myself. Just to clarify, on the drop down menu on their site, there are different colour combinations. Which combination are yours in the pics? Is it white with blue LCDs or blue with blue? Thanks in advance
 
So, time for an update on this. I understand if you can't be bothered to read it, but this thread also helps my peace of mind and in time if I sell the Clio, allows any potential buyers to see the continued history. :approve:

Time of writing - Milage: 59185
So, not a huge amount has happened to the car since my last update.
First I failed an MOT. Seems I'd chewed a pair of Contisport 3s in 6500 miles :eek: but I don't drive the car hard on a daily basis and especially not at this time of year, so I figured the tracking must be significantly out. It was.
So a new pair of Contisport 3s went on there and a pair of new trackrod ends have gone on there too and the steering feels lighter and is incredibly responsive. There is no play in the wheel. You breathe on it and it turns.

03-12-2013

I decided it was time to splash out on making the Clio a little angrier so I left the car with Charlie down at Pro Speed and he built me a custom pipe.
I decided to leave the cat in for noise purposes and for the sake of an easier MOT. I know I could just give the MOT man an extra bit of paper or add and remove the cat each time but I just didn't fancy it. Charlie also cut back into the cat to remove the 2 1/4" restriction normally present.
Charlie was kind enough to lend me one of his courtesy cars for the day too, a Nissan Almera. Was nice to be able to hear the radio for once while driving. :rasp:

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I did a quick sound test on the day as well. Apologies the video quality is so poor.



The noise has gradually gotten a bit deeper with use over the last few weeks.

Also after having seen "that thread" about grubby induction cones and the mess they leave I decided to remove mine for the winter. The hose was surprisingly clean, as was the cone but I'm back on the stock airbox with a washable Pipercross filter. It doesn't quite have that roar the K-Tec kit used to. Bit gutted I didn't take any of the engine bay. Oh well, another day perhaps.

After having read about the problem of failing climate control so many times and thinking "it'll never happen to me", one icy morning my climate control finally packed in. Lit up like it normally would and I could hear the motors telling which way to send the air - but nothing. The MOSFET in my resistor pack had finally caved in.
I was about to buy a new one but I decided to man up and order a pack of MOSFETs instead and solder a new one on myself. Gutted I didn't take any snaps on the job, but I was successful in my task. Not a job I want to do again as Renault glue that f**ker up.
Like most things I do, I followed a guide on here and credit @benkay for his excellent guide here:
http://www.cliosport.net/forum/show...iring-Climate-Control-Resistor-Pack-(Clio-II)

Last but not least I put my hands on an updated badge which I fitted on 28-12-2013.

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I only cleaned the bloody thing yesterday, and it's filthy again. I hate this time of year.

And so this was the car today.
It's dropped further since I put those springs on to a point where it's now difficult to get the jack under there. :rasp:

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Still a few bits to do in the new year.


  • A carbon splitter
  • Restore the front trim to a glossy black (though I'll see what a heatgun does first)
  • Polarised wheel bolts

I'm still waiting on Snappy to get back to me with a wheel retrim but he must be busy, otherwise I can't think of much else to do beyond driving it and patiently waiting for the warm weather. :)
 
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