My cheap(ish) 172 Cup

[ex-Chinese Dave]

You can see the road rash. Still need to protect the rear jacking points.

 

[Brigsy]

Looks much better with the turinis in silver.

 

[mumpy]

New tyres fitted. I was going to do this last autumn but there was a lot of tread left on them. However, with tyres being THE most important thing on a car it was long overdue. They look much better, too.View attachment 1748506View attachment 1748507

Nice! I had the Uniroyals on my 172 for about a year and a half and recently switched to PS5s. I noticed a bit of a "floating" sensation on b roads at speed with the Uniroyals, perhaps due to softer sidewalls. It definitely went away after switching to PS5s. Mine were 205/45/R16 load index 83 though. Good value for money for sure.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

They definitely feel nicer than the old ones. The ride is much smoother than before.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

Another Saturday free so a chance to do a bit more....

I have the choice of sanding and polishing the headlights again to a better finish, removing the front bumper to align the n/s headlight correctly with the bonnet or try and replace my dog bone which I think is shagged. The dog bone should be the first job but I'm not sure how easy it will be even if the car is jacked at the front onto axle stands. I'm not sure I can get it high enough to work under it and I don't have a long bar to crack the nuts, only a standard socket set. It was off a few months ago if if torqued up I may not be able to shift it.

Decisions, decisions....

 

[Matt Cup]

You want to borrow a breaker bar for your dogbone? Got a 1/2” one you can use?

 

[Louis]

Where abouts are you Dave

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

Where abouts are you Dave

North Manchester

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

You want to borrow a breaker bar for your dogbone? Got a 1/2” one you can use?

I'll let you know. Cheers Matt.

 

[Mr Trailer Man]

Dogbone is really easy to do.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

Dogbone is really easy to do.

It looks like it, just two bolts. It's access that's the problem but it's doable.

 

[Louis]

North Manchester

North Manchester, where? I'm in Milnrow. Can borrow my impact if you need it but dogbone is an easy job

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

Thanks guys. I’ll see how I feel in the morning as to what jobs I do. The car is at Birchdown in about 3 weeks so if I don’t do the DB they can.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

In the middle of the dog bone project…..

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

All done. Gear change is a lot better at slow speeds and the clunking noise when coming to a stop and leaving dipping the clutch to the last second has gone. I can still hear a slight clunk when going on and off throttle is 4th and 5th at around 30mph but the car still needs the upper gearbox mount and top engine mount replacing. A huge improvement though.

I cleaned the threads up on the two bolts and used a makeshift breaker bar. I had the gearbox/engine weight supported with the trolley jack and had the leverage the dog bone towards the rear a little to allow the larger bolt to screw in with ease. I’ll ask Birchdown to torque up the bolts but I have them as tight as I could get them.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

I’ve just given the headlights another rub down with 2000 grit sandpaper and then a polish with a medium cut polish and then a super finish swirl remover polish. They certainly pass the 2m test, but these are not new headlights and I think they would have to be totally refurbished to be perfect. There seems to be dust and debris inside and I think the inside of the lenses will also need to be cleaned. Apart from separating the lense from the body, I’ve no idea how that would be done. They are way better than they were originally when I got the car and also after I had my first attempt to polish them. I think these will do for the moment as the rest of the car paint work is what it is, 22 years old.

 

[NorthloopCup]

If you’ve got access to a compressor, you could always try blowing some of the crap out of them using an airline blower.

It won’t get it all out, but it should get some of it out.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

If you’ve got access to a compressor, you could always try blowing some of the crap out of them using an airline blower.

It won’t get it all out, but it should get some of it out.

It’s a good idea. I had thought about making a tiny flexible attachment to go onto the vacuum cleaner and putting through the holes where the bulbs go.

 

[NorthloopCup]

It’s a good idea. I had thought about making a tiny flexible attachment to go onto the vacuum cleaner and putting through the holes where the bulbs go.

If you could combine the hoover with the airline blower in there, you’d get more of the debris out.

 

[Brigsy]

Leaf blower is also another option to give the lamps a bit of a blow job.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

A little update:

I took the car to Birchdown this morning to have the rear brakes done and an MOT. They fitted 'new' refurbed rear calipers, the new cables I got and also a set of rear pads. The handbrake works perfectly now and I'm sure I can feel that the brakes overall are a little stronger (they should be as the rears were goosed!). The car has flown through the MOT with no advisories, apart from the tester saying that the exhaust was loud lol.

I also had them fit 2 new OEM spec engine mounts (top and upper gearbox) and they had already fitted a good lower gearbox mount last time it was in. I had fitted a new OEM spec dog bone a few weeks ago. but....oops! Schoolboy error from me as i'd fitted the new one as the old one had come off and it was upside down (don't laugh as the window that was blown out of that passenger jet that result in the pilot being half sucked out was caused by the engineer fitting new bolts that were the same as he took out of the window,,,the wrong ones!) Tit!

Has all of this cured the 'clunking' noise when on/off the throttle (such as in 5th at 40mph and lightly tapping the throttle)? No. So i'm still scratching my head about this. If I change the lower gears and i'm gentle there is no noise, but do it a bit rough and you can hear it. There is obviously something worn, loose or knocking somewhere at the front end but I can't find it. Could it be play in the driveshaft splines? I seem to have a noisy diff also so could it be that? All the wheel bearings are fine and all the suspension has been sorted and worn parts replaced already. The car drives well and is tight, except for this clunk.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

I’m back under the car looking for this clunking noise and the only thing I can see that moves or is loose is the actual gear change linkage. If I move it around it seems to make a similar noise to what I hear in the car. I’ll post in another section about this to try and find a resolution.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

So to the next steps of getting this car to a 'decent' level for a daily. No, i'm not fitting aircon although it has been needed over the past few days here in Manchester. When the weather is this hot using a Cup without it is not comfortable, but for the other 95% of the year it's fine. Man up!

Firstly, it will go back to Birchdown in a few weeks to have the gearbox oil changed to a one that will quieten the noisy diff. Whilst it's there exhaust!

Yes, my exhaust. I do think it's goosed for all the reasons i've posted previously. I don't want to spend a fortune on a SS system that may end up being louder so I', going to replace like for like. It has a Klarius system on it at the moment so i'll get the same along with the gasket and clamp as per the image below. When the car was being tuned at EFI Chris said it seemed that a baffle had collapsed so renewing with the same is my best bet. If it sounds the same i'm ok with that and i'll look to a SS one in a few years time.

The 'clunk'. Ahh, this gem. I'm convinced now that it's either from the gearchange linkage (new spring will be fitted soon) or the clutch linkage. It has had a new clutch pack fitted a few months ago so unless there is anything that is known about early failures there has to be something loose/worn in the mechanism from the pedal to the gearbox. I've no idea what it looks like as I'm posting this before looking at diagrams, but I think my problem is here.

The lovely Monaco bumper. I know you all love it but it my hybrid Mondial/Monaco paint job looks sh1t. It was temporary until it went to the body shop. However, I can't get the car in there for the next few months so i'm going to order the best paint I can (From St Helens Autopaints) and do it myself ...again! I also have to repair the damage from the gate I caused. I can't wait to start! (insert sad face)

I'm nearly there with it although i'm sure it will do something else to give me more work.

 

[Matt Cup]

You (Birchdown) are fitting another gearbox?

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

You (Birchdown) are fitting another gearbox?

lol

(adds the word 'oil')

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

I had a Klarius exhaust on my old Cup years ago. Weirdly, I had an issue where a baffle collapsed in the mid section. It used to rattle like mad. I replaced it with another one and it was fine after that.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

All bits now ordered. For the effort and expensive i've put in i'm never selling this car. If the engine ever goes pop it'll be rebuilt with a TC or SC because why not spend more?

 

[bowen86]

How are your exhaust hangers?

I had a clunk that ended up being the centre hanger. The rubber has a metal ring in it and mine wore through the rubber, so the metal ring was touching the metal hanger of the exhaust.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

Back one is new but I’ve ordered a new centre one. The back one when I got the car was goosed so I fully expect the centre one to be as bad.

 

[bowen86]

With the movement of the engine and the exhaust, it was just enough to clunk the metal hanger and the metal of the exhaust. Push the exhaust forward and back and you may hear it.

Report back, nothing better than diagnosing a noise on a clio!

 

[Trainerbrow]

Who are you booking it in with for paint? Travis Autos in St Helens is brilliant. If you want someone Manchester based, N J Autobodies in Whitefield is bang on

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

With the movement of the engine and the exhaust, it was just enough to clunk the metal hanger and the metal of the exhaust. Push the exhaust forward and back and you may hear it.

Report back, nothing better than diagnosing a noise on a clio!

I did all that when I first got the Clio and the exhaust wasn’t knocking against anything but I noticed the hanger at the back was badly perished. That was changed and I’ve since checked the exhaust again for knocking and there is nothing from it whatsoever.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

Who are you booking it in with for paint? Travis Autos in St Helens is brilliant. If you want someone Manchester based, N J Autobodies in Whitefield is bang on

I did a good job of it myself a few months back, although the paint match wasn’t obviously not exact. I will do the same again this time and then it will eventually go to a local body shop that I trust for a proper job. The front of it does look like a Monaco Blue bumper, although I did get the correct paint code from the local auto shop. This time if there is a closer match I should be able to do a reasonable job which won’t annoy me for the next few months.