18 months of ph1 ownership

[Spongebob 172]

In easter of 2008 i finally disovered what a 172 felt like to drive,so after a week searching ebay and autotrader i found this little gem..

It was local to me and in my budget of 2k..so i went and had a look and snapped her up straight away,ideally i was looking for a ph2 but couldnt find one this cheap..ok so she had a few dinks and high miles but she came with shed loads of history and she was mine..

A week later the rad burst so out came the wallet and £175 lighter i had her all fixed and running again..

A few months past and so i set about giving her a little makeover with some silvervisions and a set of ph2 rear lights and a set of ph2 alloys

Then one weekend i got a call from couzens to say there was a ph1 in his local scrapyard that had a decent bonnet as mine had loads of dents in,so of i went to have a look and got a real shock when i got there,it was an ally bonnet and cost me only £60 with a few other bits

By this time summer was here and i was going to a few meets with jamestone(jms)and noticed that the handling was seriously poor at the rear but i stuck with it until i nearly rear ended james on evening on the shires meet..so i decided i needed new rear shocks,so with the help of james we changed them over..

All was now good but i felt i needed more power so i went to see jamestone and got a remap done,then headed down to surrey rolling road to get her sorted..so with saner and 22 others already having their cars on the rollers it was my turn,i was expecting much seeing as my baby had done 102k by this time,so when the results came up on the screens i was in disbelief..177.2bhp

So autumn was fast approaching so i decided one more little mod had to be done this was in the form of a seat cupra front splitter that i got of couzens..

By this time i was racking up the miles and was now on 105k but still my little clio was going well and was due for a service..

Winter came and went so the little clio didnt see much action other than a few washes and attending a few meets..

Then in may came the oppotunity to get a set of vmaxx coilovers that ive always wanted but couldnt afford,so after what felt like eternity they finally arrived and got them all fitted and set up

So here we are today and the clio has now covered nearly 109k and still going strong..so whats next on the agenda i hear you say..well ive just got hold of a ph2 dash,bumpstrips and bullets so fingers crossed they will be going on sometime over the next month

thanks for taking time to read my little write up..i now its not as good as others on here but this is all i could manage

And for anyone thinking of getting a ph1,go for it..

 

[Ben]

Looks very nice that. Although I prefered the F1's

 

[Alastair.]

good work, i like threads like this, ph1 are by far the best looking, grown on me so much.

 

[Whisker biscuit]

Nice car pal and its as well u didnt have the £££ for a ph2, dont u know its ph1 ftw lol.


This is my next mod as well

 

[Fletcher]

Looks very nice that. Although I prefered the F1's

+1.

 

[W17GLE]

Good little write up my ph1 is on 115k and still goes well so i'm sure it'll be good for a lot more miles yet. I hope you keep enjoying it.

 

[Spongebob 172]

Im liking the f1's again so when a decent set comes up again in my budget i will probably go back to them..although saying that the car sits nicely on the ph2's since i had it lowered

 

[WILLIE]

Good to see the power's still there after so many miles. Sit's just perfect as well

 

[Fletcher]

It's good to see lots of CS members with 172's over 100k running well

 

[Spongebob 172]

thought id do a little update....

the car is now on 113k and going reaaly well...back in december i got all the belts done along with a new water pump and dephaser..The new year came along and so did the snow which ripped of the front splitter so that sanother job to do...as of lately ive been busy on the car,a few weeks ago i got these from paul16v and fitted them in less than an hour

heres what they look like after dark i went with 8k bulbs and they do look very good

so then next up was a mild steel stealth exhaust from ktec,still not sure about it yet as it hangs quite low.so i might change it yet for a recessed exhaust..also i got a bmc cda from robbos(photos to follow)and finally got round to fitted the colour coded door handles

and then yesterday i mot'd her at work and slightly raised her

next up is to get the bumpstrips and bullets painted and then detailed..hope you like the pics i will get some more up tomorrow

 

[danjf]

i think that looks gorgeous mate, really good read

 

[Danith]

how much you lowered it on the vmaxx's? how much did it cost to buy and fit them?

 

[DannoTheGreat]

Stunner fella

 

[Greeny.]

Looks great on those wheels, didnt think they would work in all honesty!

 

[ABOO]

Looking good mate, what's next? Really do like the Cupra splitter, what model is that from, is it old shape Leon Cupra r? 100k+ club for the win!!

 

[Rob]

Looks really nice mate, the ph2 wheels (when they're clean) really suit it actually. I'm quite suprised.

Wish I could find a perfect bonnet in a scrappy somewhere, may have to get on the hunt....

 

[Daz.]

Really needs to be back on the f1's for me!

Rest is all goooood

 

[Brett]

Nice car. Get the F1 Cups back on though, they're a big part of what makes the ph1's look much better than ph2's.

 

[yellowbelly]

Good RR result, what the full engine spec?
Also where di you get that splitter from, how much?

 

[Gally]

Get the f1's refurbed.

It'll look like a totally different beast when dropped on them.

 

[yellowbelly]

^^^^ gotta put the F1's back on imo

 

[The Dark Knight]

Good wee bargain you got there. Agree with some of the others though, looks better with the f1's on.

 

[Spongebob 172]

***UPDATE***

So this morning i decided to have a go at polishing my fuel rail gaurd,so at 10.30 i started and have now finally finished...i really is a tough job to do but well worth the pain.

before

during

finished

so tomorrow i will put the finishing touches to it and make a start on the plenum