The Bandit | Monaco 172

[TheBandit]

After lurking for 7 years I have found myself in a position to do something stupid with my money. I could invest in a OEM spec Clio, keep it tasteful and sit on it as an 'investment'. Or buy something outrageous and hopefully have a lot of fun...

The spec sheet is on the forum from some old for-sale posts but to recap:

Interior
Genuine RenaultSport Recaro Trendlines
Sparco Suede 300mm Steering Wheel and Momo Hub (Fitted with resistors, so no airbag light)
Retrimmed Gearstick Gaitor (Snappy)
Genuine RenaultSport Clio 197 Gear Knob
Adjustable Stiff Shift 3.0 (Yanoo)
 
Exterior
Genuine Clio V6/Trophy Rear Spoiler
Sprayshack Smoothed Door Bullets (Monaco Blue/Anthracite)
 
Wheels/Tyres
Clio Cup Speedline Turinis (Anthracite)
Wheel Stud & Nut Conversion Kit

Engine/Transmission
Port-matched Inlet Manifolds/Gas-flowed Throttle Body (January 2016)
438 Fast-Road Cat Cams (Engine Dynamics - September 2016)
Low Temperature Thermostat (Engine Dynamics - September 2016)
Full Dyno Custom Remap – Printout for 187.6 BHP/161.8lbft torque (Engine Dynamics - September 2016)
 
Brakes
Renaultsport Clio 197 Brembo 4-pot Brake Calipers (Red)
Brembo 300mm Mounting Bracket Kit (Pure Motorsport)
Brembo High Carbon 300mm Brake Discs (Front)
 
Suspension
Bilstein B14 Coilover Kit from Pure Motorsport - December 2017
Pure Motorsport Solid Top Mounts - March 2016
Whiteline Rear Anti-roll Bar - March 2016
Powerflex Bushes (Wishbones, Front ARB, Steering Rack Mount, Rear Shock Upper Mounts, Engine Mount Insert, Dog Bone Inserts, Rear Axle) - March 2016
Eibach Camber Adjustment Bolts – March 2016
 
Exhaust System
182 Exhaust Manifold (4-2-1)
Custom 182-Style Cat-back Exhaust System (Built by Fast Road Conversions - December 2016)

From the receipts most of the work was done in the ownership of Tony White (if that name means anything to anyone), I bought from @Louis1979 after his own good few years of ownership. If you are reading this, thanks man - it was a pleasure meeting you, I will take good care of it!

The seats are shockingly comfortable, the engine feels amazing and the exhaust is far to loud. I love it.
Initial work in my first month of ownership includes full Cambelt/Dephaser/Water pump service, tracking, AC Re-gas and headlight polishing at Two Techs. Followed by Rainsport 5s all round and new Brembo Pads for the 4-pots.

MOT said pad material was running low...

Being a retrimmed Snappy Gaitor I didn't want to replace it, so out come the self tappers:

After Re-gassing, the A/C would only blow hot. A broken gear under the dash was the main suspect. F*cking difficult to get to in a one car garage, but I am still young enough to form myself into a sort of half-pretzel. One 3D-printed housing later and the cog is strengthened and the A/C is blowing cold once more:

There is so much more to do, but at least its a start. I want to thank the forum for all of the useless useful conversation over the years. And may you continue to talk s**t be an essential resource to the community as a whole.

If you can recommend any paint shops / wheel refurbs / dent removal in Somerset it would be much appreciated - Thank you for reading

 

[Cookson]

I must admit, I love a good Monaco, and I really like the 182 rear pipe conversion that will upset the purists.

 

[Pegasaurus Rex]

Are there any purists?

Car looks great Monaco is a great colour, mildly ruined by @sUpErShOoTeRs 46

 

[TheBandit]

Hopefully when @sUpErShOoTeRs 46 fully moves onto beemers and he splits the car I can have some panels off him 👀

 

[TheBandit]

Older Thread: https://cliosport.net/threads/t12s-monaco-blue-172.788152/

@T12

 

[T12]

Older Thread: https://cliosport.net/threads/t12s-monaco-blue-172.788152/

@T12

Yeah that’s my old car, and I’m the Tony White you’re seeing on a lot of the paperwork/receipts. Most of the modifications were carried out during my ownership, but unfortunately I failed to keep the project thread up to date at the time.

The car was absolutely fantastic during my ownership, and I would have held onto it if not for a house purchase forcing the sale.

Enjoy it mate!

Any questions, feel free to shoot me a message.

 

[Crayola]

Are there any purists?

Car looks great Monaco is a great colour, mildly ruined by @sUpErShOoTeRs 46

Hopefully when @sUpErShOoTeRs 46 fully moves onto beemers and he splits the car I can have some panels off him 👀

Ruined mine. Monaco ones are faster

 

[TheBandit]

The 2118's look amazing, hopefully I can get through the other hundred things that need doing and get the brembo brackets shortened to fit them

 

[TheBandit]

I would have held onto it if not for a house purchase forcing the sale.

Will probably sink a silly amount of money in and end up doing the same in a number of years... But that's a problem for then!

Appreciate you dropping by, will give you a shout if anything a comes up - appreciate it

 

[TheBandit]

Time to look over the car while its off the road for a few weeks, interesting....

Also interesting...

If anybody has sources to replace these plugs please give me a shout

Also the clutch fork boot is loose, I wonder how much old oil has made its way in there

Oh well, time to get the bumper off. Great...

Airbox out. The right pipe is broken and the underside was floating in the bay

Replaced with a fatty induction for the lulz, feels like a right of passage. Will either fix/adapt the pipes for the original airbox or get a Proram cone if I get on with it.

Autistic Acoustic valve removed, carbon canister removed

 

[Crayola]

I might have a couple of those plugs on a spare loom I have

You acoustic valve🤣🤣

 

[TheBandit]

Headlights out. The left headlight had a popped out adjuster but I replaced it anyway. The right side adjuster had blown into 12 pieces as well as the middle pop mount out of place... As there are mismatching bulbs I can only guess someone had a real hard time trying to replace the bulb while the headlight was still in place.

I found silicone spray mega useful to pop the difficult middle one back in. The left headlight adjuster had cracked right ad the ball. Managed to get the mount out with a pick. I drilled a hole in the ball and run a self tapper through to turn it to dust so I could replace.

Something easy for a change

I knew the tab at the back of the block was close, seeing it on my own 1*2 for the first time doesn't fill me with confidence. Angle grinder coming out when the next opportunity arises. Still plenty to do, thank you for dropping by

 

[TheBandit]

I might have a couple of those plugs on a spare loom I have

You acoustic valve🤣🤣

Let me know if you do and what you want for them. They obviously still work... for now.... Will have to play the guessing game of how long 🤷‍♂️

 

[TheBandit]

Last little update for now. Was loosing first gear sometimes when stopping due to the stiff shift rocking around. As its a 3.0 it had bolts that would get in the way of a large o-ring. Also if I tighten the Stiff Shift down is squeaks loudly like a clown car made of balloons. Solution was to 3D print some spacers:

 

[TheBandit]

Been flying round the Somerset countryside for a few hundred miles having a great time, but now back to planning and/or worrying about maintenance. To start off with I am not sure what the aux tensioner bushing is doing here. May need to give TwoTechs a bell. Only done 1K mile so far but not sure if I am happy putting another 10K down with it looking like that. Oil looked alright but changed it for Millers + new filter to start off my own service history

First time experiencing Christmas Tree Mode™️, had a little afternoon panic - but it fired up fine the next day with no lights on the dash so we will just pretend it never happened. Car has hit 100K on the odometer now so by Facebook marketplace rules its halved in value, shame.

Interior trims came out and got The Pink Stuff, came out really well. Just need to do the top dash but will wait as I want to install an amp back there while it is off

Underside is coated in oil, so it's rUnNiNg MiNt. Cleaned it up a bit so I could see how perished the dampened pulleys are. Will have a good think about those while I am at full chat. Have a feeling the eventual engine refresh will sting so should probably start saving for it now

Forum said the fuel rail guard is either 10mm or 12mm nuts. Turns out this car has 10 AND 12mm, so that's fun. I wonder what else I will uncover in time

Passenger arch liner shattered when I put the bumper back on so bought a replacement while these are still in existence. along with an audio stalk blank because I love buying expensive plastic

Not too fussed on the Fatty Induction. Either I need to put the old airbox back in or get a smaller cone as the current one stops all access behind the light. Had to replace the headlight height adjustor, and then the height itself with less than a fist-space of room.

Also been umm'ing and arr'ing about running a catch can or bunging a breather on the crankcase vent. Made a proper pikey beer-can catch-can and ran it for a few hundred miles and it came out clean so breather route looks best. Car will be back in the garage for a few weeks so will look at getting the inlet manifold off, change spark plugs and gaskets etc

Car gets 33mpg everywhere which isn't awful. Not getting 40's on the motorway, think its around 35, like others have had. But it does have cams and remap... Maybe that's just copium and something isn't right, need to pick up an iCarsoft and start making some graphs

 

[botfch]

Looks like they’ve used the wrong bolt for that tensioner, should’ve at least added a washer to it.

 

[Crayola]

Aye that's the wrong bolt and doesn't have a washer

Let me grab you a pic of what it should look like

 

[FatRS]

I’m sensing a relief I side stepped this when I was trying to buy it. Not being mechanically minded I’d be paying for everything to be done.

 

[TheBandit]

@FatRS I have to keep reminding myself it's a project car

Hopefully my desire to learn remains greater than the desire to burn

 

[TheBandit]

Got my s**t together and tackled the tensioner. I messaged TwoTechs and Terry gave me a call, I could get the tensioner replaced under warranty otherwise he gave me some tips on how to tackle removing the bolt

The trick was to wedge a screwdriver between the tensioner and the mount to hold it in place. Terry advised against using a hose clamp, but I did anyway. Just enough to release the full tension so if you ever read this Terry... Sorry. I also cable tied the tensioner against the alternator to minimise the risk of it slipping away from the mount/screwdriver if it was to get knocked by accident. Could have jUsT sEnT iT but I wanted to do this once rather then end up with a big blue paper weight

Had to loosen the engine mount and jack the engine to get this c*nt out

Cleaned the intake/engine top. Bunged up things that need bunging. Breather filter on the back

Plug holes look clean and the spark plugs look new, so I'm jUsT gOnNa SeNd it and assume that's all fine as it runs fine

New intake gaskets, I have a lower one as well but oil seems to be coming out of other places so that can wait

Before:

After:

3 bottles of Redline MTL just arrived so those are going in tonight. The Bandit got fresh Titan Sintofluid Oct 23 but I have had issues with gear selection from stationary as well as gear selection 3rd-4th. Might be the box/link/Yanoo kit but at least this will rule out fluid.

Thinking of going to the Newbury meet Podium Place 26th of may, will need to figure what I want to have done for then. Rear brakes need doing and the paint work needs a lot of attention that my initial images thankfully hid the worst of

 

[Louis]

Got my s**t together and tackled the tensioner. I messaged TwoTechs and Terry gave me a call, I could get the tensioner replaced under warranty otherwise he gave me some tips on how to tackle removing the bolt

View attachment 1688663

The trick was to wedge a screwdriver between the tensioner and the mount to hold it in place. Terry advised against using a hose clamp, but I did anyway. Just enough to release the full tension so if you ever read this Terry... Sorry. I also cable tied the tensioner against the alternator to minimise the risk of it slipping away from the mount/screwdriver if it was to get knocked by accident. Could have jUsT sEnT iT but I wanted to do this once rather then end up with a big blue paper weight

View attachment 1688665View attachment 1688666

Had to loosen the engine mount and jack the engine to get this c*nt out

View attachment 1688667


Cleaned the intake/engine top. Bunged up things that need bunging. Breather filter on the back

Plug holes look clean and the spark plugs look new, so I'm jUsT gOnNa SeNd it and assume that's all fine as it runs fine

New intake gaskets, I have a lower one as well but oil seems to be coming out of other places so that can wait

Before:
View attachment 1688668

After:View attachment 1688669

3 bottles of Redline MTL just arrived so those are going in tonight. The Bandit got fresh Titan Sintofluid Oct 23 but I have had issues with gear selection from stationary as well as gear selection 3rd-4th. Might be the box/link/Yanoo kit but at least this will rule out fluid.

Thinking of going to the Newbury meet Podium Place 26th of may, will need to figure what I want to have done for then. Rear brakes need doing and the paint work needs a lot of attention that my initial images thankfully hid the worst of

Did they explain why they'd done such a s**t job in the first place?

 

[TheBandit]

Did they explain why they'd done such a s**t job in the first place?

🥲

The rest of the work is sound and the offer to sort on warranty there or at my local renault garage was there - will chalk it down to "it is what it is"

The answer to your question is no, but I am trying trying to avoid any sh*t flinging

 

[Louis]

🥲

The rest of the work is sound and the offer to sort on warranty there or at my local renault garage was there - will chalk it down to "it is what it is"

The answer to your question is no, but I am trying trying to avoid any sh*t flinging

Just hearing some bad things about TwoTechs recently.

 

[TheBandit]

The gift that keeps on giving. Shaftec's fitted a few years ago. How is the Borg and Beck holding up @Crayola ?

 

[botfch]

Is that boot held on with a cable tie. 😂

 

[Une_Baguette]

Is that boot held on with a cable tie. 😂

They're cable tied from factory lol

 

[Crayola]

View attachment 1689052

The gift that keeps on giving. Shaftec's fitted a few years ago. How is the Borg and Beck holding up @Crayola ?

Borg and Beck has been sound as a pound

Part of me feels I should buy more of their parts because I've never once had an issue with the quality of their stuff with the limited bits I've bought

 

[TheBandit]

Is that boot held on with a cable tie. 😂

PANIK

They're cable tied from factory lol

Phew...

If it's standard it will probably need replacing sooner or later

Borg and Beck has been sound as a pound

Part of me feels I should buy more of their parts because I've never once had an issue with the quality of their stuff with the limited bits I've bought

Sound as, never heard any complaints either worth a punt

 

[Brigsy]

Borg and Beck has been sound as a pound

Part of me feels I should buy more of their parts because I've never once had an issue with the quality of their stuff with the limited bits I've bought

Borg and beck used to be a decent brand back in the day, used their parts without issue. Kind of dropped off the radar but have been seeing bits from them again recently

 

[TheBandit]

Went to remove cat, and the silencer rotates with it...

fun fun fun fun

 

[Stay Puft]

Wasn’t this quite expensive? Coming across a fair few issues. I appreciate it’s getting on!

 

[TheBandit]

Wasn’t this quite expensive? Coming across a fair few issues. I appreciate it’s getting on!

Priced to reflect issues, but this was not an issue I was aware of at the time 😅