KevC
ClioSport Club Member
Clio 172 PH1
Considering 50% of my usage of Cliosport is looking at other project threads, the other 50% looking to see if others have had the same issues I'm having, I thought it was about time I started my own. They can be a wealth of knowledge and I also love seeing how other people get along with owning a similar car.
Back in April 2023, I got a text off a friend to say he was selling his Clio. He had owned it for about a year and after getting all the belts, dephaser, etc. done, it just sat on his driveway and it was time to sell up. My first response was I already had two cars as well as my daily and I didn't need another. That text was sent on the Monday and by Sunday, I was down looking at the car and a deal was done. It wasn't running, it was rusty (more on that later) but it was cheap and the cherry on top was that it was an original Irish car sold from a dealer only 20 minutes down the road. I have a history of nearly buying phase 1 172s and on my fourth try I was successful. In fact, this account was started back in 2010 when I first starting looking at them.
After collecting the car and getting it into dry storage, I set about trying to find out why it wasn't starting. It's worth noting that I am no mechanic. I can do the basics but I was heavily reliant on sources of information like here to help me out. My first port of call was to remove the very poorly installed alarm incase it was also an immobiliser also. Out came a bunch of wires and up she started. Amazing, it's sored, I'm a real mechanik! Long story short, that was just a pure coincidence and it had nothing to do with the rats nest of an alarm, and many months later a new crank sensor and wiring fixed it for good.
As some of you might have noticed in the second to last picture, the seats in the car aren't the correct blue leather that came in a phase 1. As well as that, it was missing the rear bench and the closer I looked, the longer the parts shopping list grew. Thankfully, as rare as these cars are in Ireland, I managed to get in touch with two other guys that were able to sort me out with 95% of the parts I needed. There are still things that I want like original blue interior door handles but they are just finishing touches. Making it drivable was step number one.
Parts trip no 1:
Trip no 2:
Then it was time for the dreaded R-word. Rust! No car of this age is immune to rust and this particular car was no exception. Before buying the car, I knew the lower quarter panel above the side skirt was showing bubbles, particularly on the drivers side so I knew it was going to be worse once the skirts came off. So off we went to body shop for an inspection of what's in store. I had already taken out the rear interior plastics to get a look inside the quarter panel and it didn't look good but I wasn't prepared for how bad it actually was. Some poking revealed both sills were completely rotten and the bubbles mentioned earlier quickly popped to reveal a rather large hole. On a positive note, the corrosion was mostly contained to both outer sills and one rear quarter with just minor work required to the inner sills. The person tasked with doing the work was rather positive about it considering his floor was littered with the finest 2000's French metal so we got it booked in for later in summer 2024.
Compulsory rig shot:
Some progress shots:
Fast forward a number of months and it was ready for collection. Once home it was joined by my Dad's 25.
The keen-eyed amongst you might notice something missing from the last one and I don't mean the body panels, they were fitted afterwards. The rear glass had to be removed during the repairs and in doing so the trim around the glass was damaged. This trim is bonded onto the glass and isn't available through Renault or third parties. Having looked into alternative window trimming solutions, I spoke to some owners that went through the same thing and it seemed getting glass from a breaker was the best option. With no 3 door Clios being broken in Ireland, up stepped Callum Lowe from The Garage in Barnsley who happened to be breaking a phase 1 and most importantly for me, was willing to take an angle grinder to it and send the glass to me with metal still surrounding it. So thanks again Callum if you ever read this. I painstakingly cut them out of the metal frame making sure to not go near the exterior trim and while getting a new windscreen fitted this week, I had them fitted as well.
That pretty much brings everything up to date now. Getting the glass fitted was the final piece of the puzzle before sending it off to the mechanic for a proper once over as it meant it's now water tight, I hope. It's booked in for the end of the month and we'll see what's required to get it road worthy.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. All going well, I'll have some updates in a few weeks and fingers crossed it will be on the road for some part of the summer.
Back in April 2023, I got a text off a friend to say he was selling his Clio. He had owned it for about a year and after getting all the belts, dephaser, etc. done, it just sat on his driveway and it was time to sell up. My first response was I already had two cars as well as my daily and I didn't need another. That text was sent on the Monday and by Sunday, I was down looking at the car and a deal was done. It wasn't running, it was rusty (more on that later) but it was cheap and the cherry on top was that it was an original Irish car sold from a dealer only 20 minutes down the road. I have a history of nearly buying phase 1 172s and on my fourth try I was successful. In fact, this account was started back in 2010 when I first starting looking at them.
After collecting the car and getting it into dry storage, I set about trying to find out why it wasn't starting. It's worth noting that I am no mechanic. I can do the basics but I was heavily reliant on sources of information like here to help me out. My first port of call was to remove the very poorly installed alarm incase it was also an immobiliser also. Out came a bunch of wires and up she started. Amazing, it's sored, I'm a real mechanik! Long story short, that was just a pure coincidence and it had nothing to do with the rats nest of an alarm, and many months later a new crank sensor and wiring fixed it for good.
As some of you might have noticed in the second to last picture, the seats in the car aren't the correct blue leather that came in a phase 1. As well as that, it was missing the rear bench and the closer I looked, the longer the parts shopping list grew. Thankfully, as rare as these cars are in Ireland, I managed to get in touch with two other guys that were able to sort me out with 95% of the parts I needed. There are still things that I want like original blue interior door handles but they are just finishing touches. Making it drivable was step number one.
Parts trip no 1:
Trip no 2:
Then it was time for the dreaded R-word. Rust! No car of this age is immune to rust and this particular car was no exception. Before buying the car, I knew the lower quarter panel above the side skirt was showing bubbles, particularly on the drivers side so I knew it was going to be worse once the skirts came off. So off we went to body shop for an inspection of what's in store. I had already taken out the rear interior plastics to get a look inside the quarter panel and it didn't look good but I wasn't prepared for how bad it actually was. Some poking revealed both sills were completely rotten and the bubbles mentioned earlier quickly popped to reveal a rather large hole. On a positive note, the corrosion was mostly contained to both outer sills and one rear quarter with just minor work required to the inner sills. The person tasked with doing the work was rather positive about it considering his floor was littered with the finest 2000's French metal so we got it booked in for later in summer 2024.
Compulsory rig shot:
Some progress shots:
Fast forward a number of months and it was ready for collection. Once home it was joined by my Dad's 25.
The keen-eyed amongst you might notice something missing from the last one and I don't mean the body panels, they were fitted afterwards. The rear glass had to be removed during the repairs and in doing so the trim around the glass was damaged. This trim is bonded onto the glass and isn't available through Renault or third parties. Having looked into alternative window trimming solutions, I spoke to some owners that went through the same thing and it seemed getting glass from a breaker was the best option. With no 3 door Clios being broken in Ireland, up stepped Callum Lowe from The Garage in Barnsley who happened to be breaking a phase 1 and most importantly for me, was willing to take an angle grinder to it and send the glass to me with metal still surrounding it. So thanks again Callum if you ever read this. I painstakingly cut them out of the metal frame making sure to not go near the exterior trim and while getting a new windscreen fitted this week, I had them fitted as well.
That pretty much brings everything up to date now. Getting the glass fitted was the final piece of the puzzle before sending it off to the mechanic for a proper once over as it meant it's now water tight, I hope. It's booked in for the end of the month and we'll see what's required to get it road worthy.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. All going well, I'll have some updates in a few weeks and fingers crossed it will be on the road for some part of the summer.
