ClioSport.net
Register a free account today to become a member!
Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
-
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Read more here.
Niall's BG 182
- Thread starter Niall
- Start date
-
- Tags
- 182 black gold full fat
Yeah there was a lot of steering with the throttle to get the nose in etc. As you can see not much traction out of the bends too. I'll pick two good used ones up before the next day.
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
After watching that, that's not just tyres. You need the alignment setup on that with some toe out.
It's all over the place 😂
It's all over the place 😂
Oh I know mate. Inner track rod ends are buggered aren't they, all going to be replaced around the time of the coilovers.
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
Will handle spot on when it's done.
Yeah definitely. Will benefit from a whiteline too.
I found the car was twitchy compared to my ph1 and James's 183.
Still it's an absolute hoot, driving a Clio on track is basically just varying levels of out of control.
One of my favourite points of the day was a dialog between myself and Niall which went like this;
Niall; Brett, I do not want that gearbox to be worse after you drive it
Me; You've got no confidence in me have you?
Niall; No, none at all.
Brotherly love eh?
Still it's an absolute hoot, driving a Clio on track is basically just varying levels of out of control.
One of my favourite points of the day was a dialog between myself and Niall which went like this;
Niall; Brett, I do not want that gearbox to be worse after you drive it
Me; You've got no confidence in me have you?
Niall; No, none at all.
Brotherly love eh?
Best thing you can do! Makes you realise how good they are. This is my 4th time, 3rd time at Oulton.
More progress.
Firstly, got around to getting rid of the black diamonds, they'd been bugging me for a while but I was busy fixing/improving other things. But a scour of eBay later and I'd sourced a BG rear bottled handle with the diamond, a front diamond and some centre caps from a 1.2, which use the same centre diamonds as the 182 ones.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Old diamonds were a bit tacky for me, didn't mind the black front one too much but at the back and on the centre caps they looked a bit naff. Plus I'm sticking to a black/silver colour scheme what with the standard interior dash strips, boot badges, bullets etc, so these silver ones were the final piece of the puzzle for the outside of the car.
Old (excuse the flies I massacred on the way to collect the new exhaust):
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
New:
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Looks much nicer now, a lot cleaner and more tasteful. Can't beat that clean OEM look with the right additions around it.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
A couple of nights before I finally found a Milltek Non-Res & Decat system through somebody on CSOC on Facebook and went to collect it. I'd wanted this exhaust from the beginning; the best sounding system for the 182 IMO. They feel like a quality bit of kit and of course the reputation of Milltek.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
A few days later, my Powerflex exhaust mounts, new genuine centre hanger and new genuine fitting kit arrived. So this meant I could get on with fitting it.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Got the car jacked up on my new axel stands, they were 50% off at Halfords so got all 4 for £20, bargain!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Now for my old exhaust, it's a Powerflow custom exhaust, and the receipt is from 2005 lol. Also, somebody had done some questionable work attaching the decat section to the centre section. Also had some awfully filled in exhaust mounts I couldn't stand, worked but just not for me. So clearly this had to go, it sounded okay, very raspy but it just lacked any tone on the throttle despite being a similar design to the Milltek. No blows or anything, works for what I needed but it was time to replace and refresh, as well as preferring the sound of the Milltek.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
I set about soaking these years old nuts and bolts in penetrant, and gradually wrestling the thing off the car. It was a bit of an awkward task being on your back on the drive on your own, but slowly but surely it was coming off. Snapped two exhaust mount bolts which was annoying, but I couldn't have done any more, used lots of penetrant on them and used my shock and unlock but it seemed they were past it, so this will be being sorted this week so I can get some new bolts in there. This is how it was looking at this point.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
I then set about hacking all of the old rubber out of the old mounts to make way for my nice new Powerflex mounts. As always with Powerflex, they fitted like a glove and are a quality bit of kit, couldn't be happier with these, they look so tidy and purposeful under the car.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Half way there, and managed to wrestle the centre section and backboxes apart after much swearing and penetrant, and it was finally off. Time for the new Milltek.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Aaaaaand it's on. Very happy with how it looks, so shiny and in combo with those red Powerflex mounts it just looks so purposeful and clean under there now, one of those very satisfying car geek things lol.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
As you may be able to see it's hanging to the right, and the left exhaust mount is only being held with 1 bolt which won't help. So it's going up to @bloke this week to get the old bolt threads removed so this can be sorted, and then drilling the mounts so I can move it over to the left so it's lined up nicely.
And of course the noise, it'd be rude not to.
Final thing is an OCD job, when I first got the car my wiper arm was knackered and corroded, so I replaced it with a cheap one. It did the job but it's been bugging me it isn't a genuine one which most people would probably think is a bit silly but stuff like that really grates on me, I like doing stuff with the proper parts so it was nice to finally sort this even if it was very costly just for a wiper arm, should never need doing again now though so one of those bite the bullet purchases.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
New (genuine on the car) vs old (one in my hand, note the rounded cover for the nut vs the more squared off one on the genuine part):
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
All in all a good few things sorted that I've wanted to do for a while. A lot happier with the car after these things, some only small but make a big difference to how it looks, and with the new exhaust how it feels to drive. Starting to take shape in how I wanted it from the beginning.
Next up in the coming week or two, I'll be ordering the coilovers and other associated bits so the more exiting mods can begin!
- Standard diamonds added
- Milltek Non-Res & Decat added
- Powerflex exhaust mounts added
- New genuine centre exhaust hanger
- New genuine exhaust fitting kit added
- Genuine rear wiper arm added
Firstly, got around to getting rid of the black diamonds, they'd been bugging me for a while but I was busy fixing/improving other things. But a scour of eBay later and I'd sourced a BG rear bottled handle with the diamond, a front diamond and some centre caps from a 1.2, which use the same centre diamonds as the 182 ones.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Old diamonds were a bit tacky for me, didn't mind the black front one too much but at the back and on the centre caps they looked a bit naff. Plus I'm sticking to a black/silver colour scheme what with the standard interior dash strips, boot badges, bullets etc, so these silver ones were the final piece of the puzzle for the outside of the car.
Old (excuse the flies I massacred on the way to collect the new exhaust):
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
New:
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Looks much nicer now, a lot cleaner and more tasteful. Can't beat that clean OEM look with the right additions around it.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
A couple of nights before I finally found a Milltek Non-Res & Decat system through somebody on CSOC on Facebook and went to collect it. I'd wanted this exhaust from the beginning; the best sounding system for the 182 IMO. They feel like a quality bit of kit and of course the reputation of Milltek.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
A few days later, my Powerflex exhaust mounts, new genuine centre hanger and new genuine fitting kit arrived. So this meant I could get on with fitting it.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Got the car jacked up on my new axel stands, they were 50% off at Halfords so got all 4 for £20, bargain!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Now for my old exhaust, it's a Powerflow custom exhaust, and the receipt is from 2005 lol. Also, somebody had done some questionable work attaching the decat section to the centre section. Also had some awfully filled in exhaust mounts I couldn't stand, worked but just not for me. So clearly this had to go, it sounded okay, very raspy but it just lacked any tone on the throttle despite being a similar design to the Milltek. No blows or anything, works for what I needed but it was time to replace and refresh, as well as preferring the sound of the Milltek.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
I set about soaking these years old nuts and bolts in penetrant, and gradually wrestling the thing off the car. It was a bit of an awkward task being on your back on the drive on your own, but slowly but surely it was coming off. Snapped two exhaust mount bolts which was annoying, but I couldn't have done any more, used lots of penetrant on them and used my shock and unlock but it seemed they were past it, so this will be being sorted this week so I can get some new bolts in there. This is how it was looking at this point.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
I then set about hacking all of the old rubber out of the old mounts to make way for my nice new Powerflex mounts. As always with Powerflex, they fitted like a glove and are a quality bit of kit, couldn't be happier with these, they look so tidy and purposeful under the car.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Half way there, and managed to wrestle the centre section and backboxes apart after much swearing and penetrant, and it was finally off. Time for the new Milltek.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Aaaaaand it's on. Very happy with how it looks, so shiny and in combo with those red Powerflex mounts it just looks so purposeful and clean under there now, one of those very satisfying car geek things lol.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
As you may be able to see it's hanging to the right, and the left exhaust mount is only being held with 1 bolt which won't help. So it's going up to @bloke this week to get the old bolt threads removed so this can be sorted, and then drilling the mounts so I can move it over to the left so it's lined up nicely.
And of course the noise, it'd be rude not to.
Final thing is an OCD job, when I first got the car my wiper arm was knackered and corroded, so I replaced it with a cheap one. It did the job but it's been bugging me it isn't a genuine one which most people would probably think is a bit silly but stuff like that really grates on me, I like doing stuff with the proper parts so it was nice to finally sort this even if it was very costly just for a wiper arm, should never need doing again now though so one of those bite the bullet purchases.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
New (genuine on the car) vs old (one in my hand, note the rounded cover for the nut vs the more squared off one on the genuine part):
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
All in all a good few things sorted that I've wanted to do for a while. A lot happier with the car after these things, some only small but make a big difference to how it looks, and with the new exhaust how it feels to drive. Starting to take shape in how I wanted it from the beginning.
Next up in the coming week or two, I'll be ordering the coilovers and other associated bits so the more exiting mods can begin!
Stefan.
ClioSport Club Member
Miles better. Nice work
dann2707
ClioSport Club Member
Great update buddy. Looking good.
Cheers! How quiet is it as just a cat back? Interesting to hear how much difference the decat decat and centre section make. Yeah the wiper arm is a bit annoying, can't really use second hand ones either because they corrode and then slip if you try to reuse a second hand one, so it's a £30 bill for a new one, won't need another one ever though probably I suppose!
Cheers! Got some goodies on the way too, can't wait for it all to get here.
GavC
ClioSport Club Member
Black Gold 182FF
It's great! I briefly had a straight through centre section as a cheap option to replace the previous damaged silencer but couldn't bare the drone on the motorway. It didn't last long so I bought a new silencer
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Fair enough. It isn't too bad drone wise when on partial throttle or cruise at like 70 ish, but above that it is a bit noisy for a motorway car really. Well worth it for when you're giving it some though!
GavC
ClioSport Club Member
Black Gold 182FF
Oh I absolutely loved it when hooning and especially blipping the throttle on down shift Sounded awesome even on idle
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
MartinL1993
ClioSport Moderator
Sounded good this the other day few cracks from it also!
Major update time.
I've finally been able to do a number of things that have really needed doing on the car, the biggest thing being a full suspension/handling refresh. The plan was just to refresh and uprate everything, very much in the way of the fast road/track setup that I'm going for. Everything looked original, so it was great to get rid of 13 year old perished rubber bushings and floppy tie rods and have everything all as it should be, and better than new even.
Changes/new parts are:
Here's everything apart from the coilovers and PMS stub axel bolts ready to be fitted, gotta love boxes of new car parts.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
First up, we set about fitting the Powerflex rear beam bushes. We knew this would be a bit of a ball ache so dedicated a whole night to doing these. It did indeed prove to be a ball ache, with the bolt on one side not being able to clear the fuel tank, and just wrestling with the rear beam being on the drive, being careful of brake lines etc etc. In hindsight maybe a job for someone with a ramp really, still, doable on the drive!
Old tired original bushes out.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
New ones in. Do love the purposeful look Powerflex stuff has on the car like this, one for the geeks out there for sure.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Next up were the rest of the Powerflex bushes, we were going to do some ourselves, but with the inner ARB and rack bushes needing a ramp I decided to get the remaining lot done and just get it done. While I was there and the wishbones were off it made sense to do the ball joints at the same time also, so it was off to @bloke on the Wirral!
Inner ARB ones in.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
VERY tired rack bushes out, replacement well overdue on these. Forgot to get a pic of the new Powerflex ones fitted.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Outer ARB ones in.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Wishbone ones in.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
And lastly the ball joints on.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
The next day, and I had the delivery I'd been waiting for for quite some time!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
And the choice...BC DR's, 8kg/8kg springs with the BC adjustable solid top mounts. These coilovers seemed like the perfect choice for my fast road/track setup; lots of adjustability for between road and track, custom spring rates, solid top mounts to replace my tired knocking standard ones, and just a great quality product. I'd heard really good things about these from people on here, and it's easy to see why even off the car. The design is great what with the adjusters being on top so it's super easy to change them as and when you like, and the height is adjusted with the bottom collar which allows for the full damper travel. Also, these are the DR or 'Digressive Valve' version, which apparently means they're much better over small bumps etc and can react faster to that resulting in a better ride and I'm sure much more, which was perfect for my needs for the road.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
That night rolls around, and we're back at it on the drive.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Rears on, and looking good!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Fronts on, with the Eibach camber bolts in also.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Quick pic showing the lovely adjustable top mounts and adjusters for the dampers. Look great in the engine bay, and of course killing two birds with one stone by replacing the old tired top mounts that knocked, as well as adding some nice adjustability and stiffness.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Last on the list for the night were the new inner tie rods and track rod ends. The old rod ends really didn't want to play ball, so they were angle grinder'd off, then just a case of getting the tie rod itself off, which was really easy with the long tie rod tool we bought from Ebay. Always a challenge with older cars, but we got it done.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Another late night done. Few quick pics and a rough before and after showing the drop the coilovers gave. The fronts are just on the height out of the box, which was perfect funnily enough, then the rear has none of the spacers and with only the spring platforms in place. Perfect straight out of the box as I said, lovely!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Camber and toe was just set by eye and guesswork, but somewhat ideally in the way it worked out in the end, I had my slot at Blink Motorsport booked in, so it was off to there for them to set it up properly. Anyone who knows them will know their reputation.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
And all done, time to see how this all feels!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
WOW, what a difference. The car felt perfect after all of the above coming together. Everything felt super tight, car felt very pointy and sharp, wanted to turn in much more, and mid corner grip was greatly improved. All of the little knocks and tiredness was gone. Coilovers felt great on the road, had them 5 clicks from soft at this point and they felt great then, but I've since knocked them down to 1 from soft and the ride is great, more or less the same as sportlines, no harshness or bounciness, couldn't be happier! Very glad I went for the 8kg front springs now too, fine on the road and also with the car being quite low now stops a lot of potential scrubbing. If you're going to get coilovers you want to feel the difference anyway really, so 8kg springs is the sweet spot IMO. On soft it doesn't feel like a coilover'd car, on hard it feels like a full on race car (god awful and basically unusable on the road actually, felt like the rear wheels were square on what looked like a flat piece of road).
That weekend, myself and @JamesBryan were heading to Tunerfest North at Oulton Park, and decided to book on a session each of the public track sessions. Thought behind it was that it's a cheap test for the coilovers and setup, and for James a cheap test of his new diff that was cut short last time by an exploding power steering pump.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Track wheels with knackered R888s put on (overkill I know for one session, but it was looking dry at this point and I wanted to test the setup with my dry track tyres).
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
And as we're queuing in the assembley area the heavens opened. Great. These R888s are pretty bald too (was to be their last outing) so I wasn't feeling terribly confident at this stage. Nonetheless it was too late to change to the road tyres, so we headed out.
It actually wasn't too bad in the end, definitely felt lively but it always does in the rain regardless of tyres. There wasn't really any standing water which was the saving grace, the rain ended half way through so the last two laps I was able to get a bit more pace up. I've also got no ABS at the moment because of a faulty ABS sensor, so I was also wary of that with how hard you brake on track and especially in the rain, so I had to brake earlier and softer than I would normally.
The car however felt great! All of the new additions had come together and made for a great setup, felt a lot pointier, grippier and more stable than before even despite being in the rain. Money absolutely well spent it seems, can't wait to get out in the dry and really push on.
Spent the rest of the day watching the Time Attack cars setting blistering pace, and having a nosey round the car park and club standards, then packed up and got ready to leave. Another good bit of track time!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
The next day, and the final few jobs of this whole bunch of stuff. Firstly, we attempted to change my faulty rear ABS sensor, only to find ECP had supplied the wrong one. It also transpired they don't actually stock the correct one which was good lol, so I have a second hand one from eBay on the way to me.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
While we were there, we fitted my new rear stub axel bolts from Pure Motorsport. Nothing fancy, just to replace the old ones. I bought them just incase mine were totally knackered, which they weren't really, but for the sake of a tenner it's a headache avoided in future.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Next up was the new rear disks and pads. Very overdue, couldn't wait to get rid of the shitty drilled and grooved items the previous owner had fitted like I did with the fronts, plus they were very worn now, and the offside one's bearing used to come apart when you take the disk off which wasn't ideal.
Old.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
New.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
And just a pic I took showing a number of the new shiny bits on the back end.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Quick drive after, and it seems the rear brakes were definitely due a refresh, can actually feel the rear brakes working with the fronts now, feels more stable under braking too because it's lurching forward less with the rears doing more now. Once again another great addition to the way the car drives.
All back together, and a pic of it looking great with the new lows. Really happy with the stance it has now, so squat, none of this huge arch gap malarkey that standard Clios are ruined by.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
About time to thank some people for all of the above, @JamesBryan (and John) for the late nights put in through the week, @bloke for wrestling all the bushes and ball joints onto the car, @Feirny for suppling me with some of the stuff, KAM for the Coils and camber bolts, @George@RTR_Parts for the epic service as usual for the inner tie rods and rear brakes etc, Blink for their awesome setup which has made all the difference, and everyone I've mithered about advice on different stuff related to the above.
So yeah, that's it for now! Still loads of stuff coming up as usual, but felt great to finally do loads of stuff I've wanted to do all in one go, the car feels totally transformed for it too. It's starting to take shape as the well sorted car I set out to make it, bit by bit anyway. It's been a bloody expensive couple of months lol!
I've finally been able to do a number of things that have really needed doing on the car, the biggest thing being a full suspension/handling refresh. The plan was just to refresh and uprate everything, very much in the way of the fast road/track setup that I'm going for. Everything looked original, so it was great to get rid of 13 year old perished rubber bushings and floppy tie rods and have everything all as it should be, and better than new even.
Changes/new parts are:
- BC DR Coilovers (8kg/8kg with the BC adjustable solid top mounts)
- Eibach camber bolts
- Genuine Renault inner tie rods
- Lemforder track rod ends
- Lemforder lower ball joints
- Powerflex wishbone bushes
- Powerflex rear beam bushes
- Powerflex inner ARB bushes
- Powerflex outer ARB bushes
- Powerflex steering rack bushes
- Genuine Renault rear brake disks
- Brembo rear brake pads
- Pure Motorsport rear stub axel bolts
Here's everything apart from the coilovers and PMS stub axel bolts ready to be fitted, gotta love boxes of new car parts.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
First up, we set about fitting the Powerflex rear beam bushes. We knew this would be a bit of a ball ache so dedicated a whole night to doing these. It did indeed prove to be a ball ache, with the bolt on one side not being able to clear the fuel tank, and just wrestling with the rear beam being on the drive, being careful of brake lines etc etc. In hindsight maybe a job for someone with a ramp really, still, doable on the drive!
Old tired original bushes out.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
New ones in. Do love the purposeful look Powerflex stuff has on the car like this, one for the geeks out there for sure.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Next up were the rest of the Powerflex bushes, we were going to do some ourselves, but with the inner ARB and rack bushes needing a ramp I decided to get the remaining lot done and just get it done. While I was there and the wishbones were off it made sense to do the ball joints at the same time also, so it was off to @bloke on the Wirral!
Inner ARB ones in.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
VERY tired rack bushes out, replacement well overdue on these. Forgot to get a pic of the new Powerflex ones fitted.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Outer ARB ones in.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Wishbone ones in.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
And lastly the ball joints on.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
The next day, and I had the delivery I'd been waiting for for quite some time!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
And the choice...BC DR's, 8kg/8kg springs with the BC adjustable solid top mounts. These coilovers seemed like the perfect choice for my fast road/track setup; lots of adjustability for between road and track, custom spring rates, solid top mounts to replace my tired knocking standard ones, and just a great quality product. I'd heard really good things about these from people on here, and it's easy to see why even off the car. The design is great what with the adjusters being on top so it's super easy to change them as and when you like, and the height is adjusted with the bottom collar which allows for the full damper travel. Also, these are the DR or 'Digressive Valve' version, which apparently means they're much better over small bumps etc and can react faster to that resulting in a better ride and I'm sure much more, which was perfect for my needs for the road.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
That night rolls around, and we're back at it on the drive.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Rears on, and looking good!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Fronts on, with the Eibach camber bolts in also.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Quick pic showing the lovely adjustable top mounts and adjusters for the dampers. Look great in the engine bay, and of course killing two birds with one stone by replacing the old tired top mounts that knocked, as well as adding some nice adjustability and stiffness.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Last on the list for the night were the new inner tie rods and track rod ends. The old rod ends really didn't want to play ball, so they were angle grinder'd off, then just a case of getting the tie rod itself off, which was really easy with the long tie rod tool we bought from Ebay. Always a challenge with older cars, but we got it done.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Another late night done. Few quick pics and a rough before and after showing the drop the coilovers gave. The fronts are just on the height out of the box, which was perfect funnily enough, then the rear has none of the spacers and with only the spring platforms in place. Perfect straight out of the box as I said, lovely!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Camber and toe was just set by eye and guesswork, but somewhat ideally in the way it worked out in the end, I had my slot at Blink Motorsport booked in, so it was off to there for them to set it up properly. Anyone who knows them will know their reputation.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
And all done, time to see how this all feels!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
WOW, what a difference. The car felt perfect after all of the above coming together. Everything felt super tight, car felt very pointy and sharp, wanted to turn in much more, and mid corner grip was greatly improved. All of the little knocks and tiredness was gone. Coilovers felt great on the road, had them 5 clicks from soft at this point and they felt great then, but I've since knocked them down to 1 from soft and the ride is great, more or less the same as sportlines, no harshness or bounciness, couldn't be happier! Very glad I went for the 8kg front springs now too, fine on the road and also with the car being quite low now stops a lot of potential scrubbing. If you're going to get coilovers you want to feel the difference anyway really, so 8kg springs is the sweet spot IMO. On soft it doesn't feel like a coilover'd car, on hard it feels like a full on race car (god awful and basically unusable on the road actually, felt like the rear wheels were square on what looked like a flat piece of road).
That weekend, myself and @JamesBryan were heading to Tunerfest North at Oulton Park, and decided to book on a session each of the public track sessions. Thought behind it was that it's a cheap test for the coilovers and setup, and for James a cheap test of his new diff that was cut short last time by an exploding power steering pump.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Track wheels with knackered R888s put on (overkill I know for one session, but it was looking dry at this point and I wanted to test the setup with my dry track tyres).
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
And as we're queuing in the assembley area the heavens opened. Great. These R888s are pretty bald too (was to be their last outing) so I wasn't feeling terribly confident at this stage. Nonetheless it was too late to change to the road tyres, so we headed out.
It actually wasn't too bad in the end, definitely felt lively but it always does in the rain regardless of tyres. There wasn't really any standing water which was the saving grace, the rain ended half way through so the last two laps I was able to get a bit more pace up. I've also got no ABS at the moment because of a faulty ABS sensor, so I was also wary of that with how hard you brake on track and especially in the rain, so I had to brake earlier and softer than I would normally.
The car however felt great! All of the new additions had come together and made for a great setup, felt a lot pointier, grippier and more stable than before even despite being in the rain. Money absolutely well spent it seems, can't wait to get out in the dry and really push on.
Spent the rest of the day watching the Time Attack cars setting blistering pace, and having a nosey round the car park and club standards, then packed up and got ready to leave. Another good bit of track time!
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
The next day, and the final few jobs of this whole bunch of stuff. Firstly, we attempted to change my faulty rear ABS sensor, only to find ECP had supplied the wrong one. It also transpired they don't actually stock the correct one which was good lol, so I have a second hand one from eBay on the way to me.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
While we were there, we fitted my new rear stub axel bolts from Pure Motorsport. Nothing fancy, just to replace the old ones. I bought them just incase mine were totally knackered, which they weren't really, but for the sake of a tenner it's a headache avoided in future.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Next up was the new rear disks and pads. Very overdue, couldn't wait to get rid of the shitty drilled and grooved items the previous owner had fitted like I did with the fronts, plus they were very worn now, and the offside one's bearing used to come apart when you take the disk off which wasn't ideal.
Old.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
New.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
And just a pic I took showing a number of the new shiny bits on the back end.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
Quick drive after, and it seems the rear brakes were definitely due a refresh, can actually feel the rear brakes working with the fronts now, feels more stable under braking too because it's lurching forward less with the rears doing more now. Once again another great addition to the way the car drives.
All back together, and a pic of it looking great with the new lows. Really happy with the stance it has now, so squat, none of this huge arch gap malarkey that standard Clios are ruined by.
BG 182 by Niall97, on Flickr
About time to thank some people for all of the above, @JamesBryan (and John) for the late nights put in through the week, @bloke for wrestling all the bushes and ball joints onto the car, @Feirny for suppling me with some of the stuff, KAM for the Coils and camber bolts, @George@RTR_Parts for the epic service as usual for the inner tie rods and rear brakes etc, Blink for their awesome setup which has made all the difference, and everyone I've mithered about advice on different stuff related to the above.
So yeah, that's it for now! Still loads of stuff coming up as usual, but felt great to finally do loads of stuff I've wanted to do all in one go, the car feels totally transformed for it too. It's starting to take shape as the well sorted car I set out to make it, bit by bit anyway. It's been a bloody expensive couple of months lol!
Last edited:
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Looks awesome mate.
Looks great Niall, will be doing exactly the same towards the end of the year and having read all the above will be taking it to Carl to fully poly bush (blacks) track/tie rods, etc and DR's and whilst I'm there gonna get him to do my belts, and fit a set of 197 cams with EFI tuning. Should be a beast next year.
How much did Blink charge you for the set-up by the way?
How much did Blink charge you for the set-up by the way?
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
Definitely worth getting Carl to do the rack and arb bushes Phil, be an nightmare to do on the ground.
Think Blink charge around £90.
Think Blink charge around £90.
Cheers, the rest not to bad to do on your own then? Already got the wishbone bushes inserted in a spare pair of wishbones as I know these can be a pain. The rear beam bushes would seem to be a pain on your own?
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
Yeah they would be on your own. You've got the fuel tank on the driver's side in the way so you can't pull the beam bolt out because it's so long, on the passenger side you can just about squeeze past the brake lines. We ended up dropping the 6 bolts that hold the beam bracket to the car, but it's not recommended as they are captive bolts and if they spin you're a bit fucked. Would need replacing which i've seen some people do.
Think I'll just leave it all to Carl TBH, will feel like a new car if it's all done at once. You reckon the 197 cams are worth it?
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
If you're getting the belts done anyway then yeah, but if not i'd leave it until you do.
Good to get the rocker cover resealed anyway cos most of them weep oil from the bolts.
You'll make high 180's - early 190's with them.
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
I think you get more mid range torque with the 197 cams too, which these cars need really. They've not got a lot below 5k really.
Yeah the belts need doing so might as well drop some cams in whilst its open, 190 would be nice. After watching @plees go around Oulton with 197 cams its seems they suit the track really well as you get more rpm out of the lower gears for the lower speed corners like Brittens, Knickerbrook and shell.
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
Yeah, he drove that thing really quick! Had a diff in it too i think. One of the only Clio's i've seen on there getting the front discs glowing going into Old Hall!
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
Yeah it's rapid! Think that might have been the day i saw him there, went down for a look.
Looking at the speedo through Druids it's quick, looks to be about 90mph which is quick in anything this side of a Porsche/BMW really.
Looking at the speedo through Druids it's quick, looks to be about 90mph which is quick in anything this side of a Porsche/BMW really.
Yeah definitely a good move mate, not cheap but it's something you'll never have to do on the car as long as you own it probably.
197 cams are a good move too, would be doing exactly the same if my belts were due.
As James said, Blink setup was £90, more expensive than some but it's peace of mind that it's been done properly.
Cheers! Yeah really does. Especially with the condition of some of the old ones when they came out.
Front plate is the custom 3/4 size, there's a thread on here somewhere with the exact dimensions, it's the size everyone uses for the '3/4' plates on these. Standard width but with a custom height.
plees
ClioSport Club Member
S/C Iceberg 172 Cup
@JB21 @JamesBryan Cheers lads! yeah correct it has a quaife diff and I was on B14s then too. The 197 cams made a nice difference, especially on mine as before the timing was miles out and lacking loads in the lower rpm.
If your having belts done, for the sake of around £200 extra its worth chucking the cams in. Mine made 191bhp and 172lb/ft at EFI. That was with the cams, 182 manifold, exhaust, filter and matched inlets.
I'm supercharged now and have AST's so be interesting to see the difference when i go back to Oulton!
If your having belts done, for the sake of around £200 extra its worth chucking the cams in. Mine made 191bhp and 172lb/ft at EFI. That was with the cams, 182 manifold, exhaust, filter and matched inlets.
I'm supercharged now and have AST's so be interesting to see the difference when i go back to Oulton!
Fuckin hell mate you'll be sub 2 minutes, need a passenger ride in that thing. When are you next at Oulton?
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
