imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Great update and little potato looks at home messing with cars.
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Potatoes does a project - BG 182
- Thread starter Potatoes
- Start date
He loves it @imprezaworks! Loves to get involved and his hands dirty, much to the dismay of his mother
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
It's great you share a hobbie mate.
For those who can’t be arsed to read the post, here’s a summary:
I’m an idiot. Picture of a Clio. Example of me being an idiot. List. The end.
For those who like reading posts, here’s a post:
Last time I ventured onto this forum in a non-lurking capacity I was getting stuck into jobs on my 182. Following the last post above my focus changed; I started a busy period in my job, joined a rugby club, did a PH Sunday Service at Silverstone, boiled my brake fluid, cracked a brake disc, seized another caliper, got all esoteric with a referee about rugby’s new scrum laws after a few pints, bought 10mm spacers, sold the 10mm spacers, decided I don’t like my job, and made a monumental fool of myself.
Rather than going into detail on all of the above, I think it’s wise that I focus on the last piece in the hope that others may learn from my cretinous attempt at mechanics… actually, “mechanics” isn’t the right word; I didn’t get to the bit where I was doing any mechanics.
This story starts at a cold Autumn day at the Silverstone PH Sunday Service where I got to meet some fellow PistonHeaders, folks from VX220.org and a few chaps from here (Thanks Ash1751 for my new profile pic :smile. I was on track in the morning and having a great time on my utterly atrocious tyre combination however 10-15 minutes in, my brakes began to fade. I took myself off to the pits knowing that my brake fluid was shot and I suspected there was an issue with the off-side rear brake owing to the screeching sound coming from that area whenever the car moved. Here’s a picture of my Clio on track:
Anyway, later that afternoon I limped home, parked the car and ignored it for a month or so whilst I got on with life…
Last weekend I was watching Youtube videos. I watched a Clio go around Brands Hatch Indy circuit when it dawned on me that I was going there in 2 weeks, there was work to do! I blasted out of my seat, dusted off the jack and the jack stands, opened my Halfords toolkit up-side-down, put my tools back into my Halfords toolkit box, got my brake-fluid and braided lines out of the cupboard eager to get to work. Now on a mission, I started to loosen my wheel nuts before jacking it up and getting the wheels off to start work.
All standard nuts loose, I began work on the locking nuts. First one loosened, I moved onto the near-side rear wheel, after applying some pressure, the key popped off the nut. I tried again and it popped off… the words “f**k it” happened - words that were then embarrassingly repeated by my 3 year old (I’m not proud of that fact) - I moved onto the off-side locking nuts which loosened with a little more ease although the key continued to pop loose. I took a look at the key before getting back to work on the near-side rear and noticed there was ¾ inch length crack down the flange and it had become totally misshapen so wasn’t securing to the outside of the nut. I gleefully grabbed the hammer and got to work beating it back into shape which. Although this was fun, it turned out to be totally pointless; when I got back to work on the final locking nut, the key would pop off any time I applied pressure and the flange would fall out of shape again. It was totally borked.
This where things went full stupid. I decided the best thing to do was get a torque socket and, using a mallet, apply it forcefully to the offending locking nut. My thinking was that the teeth would dig into the locking nut and allow me to turn it and get the nut out. Torque socket applied, wrench applied to torque socket I turned the wrench and for a very brief, blissful moment I thought “f**k yeah! Success bitches!!” before I quickly realized it was turning too freely and not actually turning the locking nut. Picking up a locking nut I’d removed from the near-side front it became apparent that I’d royally fucked it. With my forefinger and thumb I gripped the outside the of nut and turned, it span freely whilst the nut remained in place; a security device to stop thieving b******s from doing exactly what I’d tried to do.
I looked at the project in front of me, looked at my bottles of brake fluid, the jack, the braided lines and my toolkit and realized I’d failed before I’d even started, quite literally… I hadn’t even removed a wheel!
Exasperated, frustrated, confused, sober, thirsty, angry and frustrated, I drank beer. Then, after taht I grababed the malallet nd tryed to bang it 0ff with mallet. Alhtough this was claerly nt giong to work, I continue to hammre it, probly, in reshrospect making The worse probem. It was getting late and it was cold outside, I quickly sobered up and realised I was hammering my rubber mallet in the rough area around the locking nut and not really achieving anything so I stopped and went inside for more beer.
I saw sense, conceded defeat and called my mate Joe who is an actual mechanic. I told him a paired down version of the story above and dropped the car into him. The result:
I’d almost forgotten the Action List:
I’ve removed the springs and doorcard from the action list as I’m less bothered about them, I’ll probably do something about them at some point or maybe I might not.
Brands Hatch, 17th December, the Clio’s first full trackday! My goal for the day is “don’t bin it”, I’ll report back on whether I was successful or not, in the meantime, happy Clio-ing
I’m an idiot. Picture of a Clio. Example of me being an idiot. List. The end.
For those who like reading posts, here’s a post:
Last time I ventured onto this forum in a non-lurking capacity I was getting stuck into jobs on my 182. Following the last post above my focus changed; I started a busy period in my job, joined a rugby club, did a PH Sunday Service at Silverstone, boiled my brake fluid, cracked a brake disc, seized another caliper, got all esoteric with a referee about rugby’s new scrum laws after a few pints, bought 10mm spacers, sold the 10mm spacers, decided I don’t like my job, and made a monumental fool of myself.
Rather than going into detail on all of the above, I think it’s wise that I focus on the last piece in the hope that others may learn from my cretinous attempt at mechanics… actually, “mechanics” isn’t the right word; I didn’t get to the bit where I was doing any mechanics.
This story starts at a cold Autumn day at the Silverstone PH Sunday Service where I got to meet some fellow PistonHeaders, folks from VX220.org and a few chaps from here (Thanks Ash1751 for my new profile pic :smile
. I was on track in the morning and having a great time on my utterly atrocious tyre combination however 10-15 minutes in, my brakes began to fade. I took myself off to the pits knowing that my brake fluid was shot and I suspected there was an issue with the off-side rear brake owing to the screeching sound coming from that area whenever the car moved. Here’s a picture of my Clio on track:Anyway, later that afternoon I limped home, parked the car and ignored it for a month or so whilst I got on with life…
Last weekend I was watching Youtube videos. I watched a Clio go around Brands Hatch Indy circuit when it dawned on me that I was going there in 2 weeks, there was work to do! I blasted out of my seat, dusted off the jack and the jack stands, opened my Halfords toolkit up-side-down, put my tools back into my Halfords toolkit box, got my brake-fluid and braided lines out of the cupboard eager to get to work. Now on a mission, I started to loosen my wheel nuts before jacking it up and getting the wheels off to start work.
All standard nuts loose, I began work on the locking nuts. First one loosened, I moved onto the near-side rear wheel, after applying some pressure, the key popped off the nut. I tried again and it popped off… the words “f**k it” happened - words that were then embarrassingly repeated by my 3 year old (I’m not proud of that fact) - I moved onto the off-side locking nuts which loosened with a little more ease although the key continued to pop loose. I took a look at the key before getting back to work on the near-side rear and noticed there was ¾ inch length crack down the flange and it had become totally misshapen so wasn’t securing to the outside of the nut. I gleefully grabbed the hammer and got to work beating it back into shape which. Although this was fun, it turned out to be totally pointless; when I got back to work on the final locking nut, the key would pop off any time I applied pressure and the flange would fall out of shape again. It was totally borked.
This where things went full stupid. I decided the best thing to do was get a torque socket and, using a mallet, apply it forcefully to the offending locking nut. My thinking was that the teeth would dig into the locking nut and allow me to turn it and get the nut out. Torque socket applied, wrench applied to torque socket I turned the wrench and for a very brief, blissful moment I thought “f**k yeah! Success bitches!!” before I quickly realized it was turning too freely and not actually turning the locking nut. Picking up a locking nut I’d removed from the near-side front it became apparent that I’d royally fucked it. With my forefinger and thumb I gripped the outside the of nut and turned, it span freely whilst the nut remained in place; a security device to stop thieving b******s from doing exactly what I’d tried to do.
I looked at the project in front of me, looked at my bottles of brake fluid, the jack, the braided lines and my toolkit and realized I’d failed before I’d even started, quite literally… I hadn’t even removed a wheel!
Exasperated, frustrated, confused, sober, thirsty, angry and frustrated, I drank beer. Then, after taht I grababed the malallet nd tryed to bang it 0ff with mallet. Alhtough this was claerly nt giong to work, I continue to hammre it, probly, in reshrospect making The worse probem. It was getting late and it was cold outside, I quickly sobered up and realised I was hammering my rubber mallet in the rough area around the locking nut and not really achieving anything so I stopped and went inside for more beer.
I saw sense, conceded defeat and called my mate Joe who is an actual mechanic. I told him a paired down version of the story above and dropped the car into him. The result:
- Near-side rear caliper seized (likely due to years of misuse)
- Cracked near-side rear brake disc (likely overheating due to antics at Silverstone and a fucked caliper)
- Near-side rear brake pad worn (definitely due to fucked caliper)
- Me = a lot poorer
- Clio = sorted
I’d almost forgotten the Action List:
- Install grille clips
- Dephaser rattle: I will take it to a specialist to get belts, pulleys and dephaser done (+plus a service) for peace of mind
- One of my calipers is sticking so I'm going to get it up and investigate (more to come on that I'm sure)
- Get the tyre situation sorted out
- Clear the fogged headlight lenses
- Do something with the inlet manifold and fuel rail guard which are currenty very pitted
- Clean and possibly paint the plastic engine cover
- Wash the seatbelts and fix the driver seatbelt retractor
- Buy a catalytic converter (for MOT time!)
- Obtain a 2nd set of wheels, probably 15" for sticky rubber trackday fun
- Fit braided brake lines and replace brake fluid
- Replace/fix the windscreen which has scratches from the windscreen wiper (this isn't a priority)
- Remove passenger seat and diagnose/fix the seat rails
I’ve removed the springs and doorcard from the action list as I’m less bothered about them, I’ll probably do something about them at some point or maybe I might not.
Brands Hatch, 17th December, the Clio’s first full trackday! My goal for the day is “don’t bin it”, I’ll report back on whether I was successful or not, in the meantime, happy Clio-ing
Great update. I have been defeated by locking wheel nuts in the past, it's such an anticlimax when you've spent minutes planning a job and days building up the enthusiasm to get off the sofa and do it. Your drunk typing skills are high level, did you do a course at work? Hope Brands goes well [emoji106]
Cheers @OssPoop , those drunk typing skills have been honed over many years
Brands Hatch should be a lot of fun mate, I've never driven at Brands and it's one of my favourite circuits.
You're absolutely right. The anticlimax after psyching yourself up, getting all the gear out and starting the job is utterly pants. Putting all the gear away again was the most defeated I'd felt for a while!
Brands Hatch should be a lot of fun mate, I've never driven at Brands and it's one of my favourite circuits.
You're absolutely right. The anticlimax after psyching yourself up, getting all the gear out and starting the job is utterly pants. Putting all the gear away again was the most defeated I'd felt for a while!
Great stuff and good luck on the 17th
Clio 182
Entertaining update as always! :smile: I have a feeling I may have a similar locking nut issue as it's pretty misshapen and it barely came off last time! Fortunately I haven't needed to get a wheel off since, so that basically means the problem isn't there right?!
Good luck at Brands, should be a fun track in the Clio I'd imagine!
Good luck at Brands, should be a fun track in the Clio I'd imagine!
Merry Christmas ClioSport!
I hope you've all been good this year and, in return received a load of free stuff. TBH, I'm not convinced that being good means that we get free stuff, I've not been brilliant this year but got 2 scarves and a jumper! The Clio's is an inanimate object fabricated by French people in 2003/4 so it isn't predisposed to behaviours that we'd typically reward with presents but I ended up treating it to a number of things over the Christmas period... mainly to please myself. Very little of this has has anything to do with trying to please a French vehicle, it has evertything to do with me buying things, often when a little tipsy:
I decided to hop on this bandwagon having lurked on a few threads about air intake systems. I had already installed a K&N panel filter earlier in this project thread however my chronic impulsivity (f**k off spellcheck, that's definitely a word) meant I ordered this when I was a bit drunk a few weeks back... and a sticker for some reason, still deciding where to put the sticker.
@MarcR™ battery and induction cover:
I'll probably put the sticker on this along with the PH Smiley My PistonHeads Secret Santa sent me
Whiteline ARB:
This came up for sale recently following a poor chap crashing his Trophy, I promise to look after this and use it well, looking forward to installing. Still unsure whether to go hard or soft:
Brake cooling equipment:
It turns out Santa Clause has a 3D printer!
Will plug these into the car before my next track day
So, I bought some stuff (I also got some HC front discs and a top strut brace) which I now need to install, I'm sure this possibly may happen at some point in the future maybe. After a very slippery track day at Brands Hatch on the 17th I'm also on the hunt for some used 195-205/45/16 track tyres to stick on my spare wheels.
Brands Hatch:
Whilst on the subject, the 17th December 2016 will go down as the day everyone who was at Oulton, Snetterton and Brands wished they weren't booked onto a trackday on the 17th. The fog was brutal. We were luck at Brands as we got around 3 hours tracktime but I managed to go out two laps before every red flag so ended up doing about 8-9 laps all day. I spent more time chatting to @loggyboy and a chap who was driving a £1,000 stripped out BMW. My dad, brother and little boy joined us toward the end and we just enjoyed the day out:
I'll be back with a proper update but wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, until the next installment, happy Clio-ing
I hope you've all been good this year and, in return received a load of free stuff. TBH, I'm not convinced that being good means that we get free stuff, I've not been brilliant this year but got 2 scarves and a jumper! The Clio's is an inanimate object fabricated by French people in 2003/4 so it isn't predisposed to behaviours that we'd typically reward with presents but I ended up treating it to a number of things over the Christmas period... mainly to please myself. Very little of this has has anything to do with trying to please a French vehicle, it has evertything to do with me buying things, often when a little tipsy:
- @The Fatty induction kit
- @MarcR™ battery and induction cover
- Whiteline ARB
- Brake cooling equipment
I decided to hop on this bandwagon having lurked on a few threads about air intake systems. I had already installed a K&N panel filter earlier in this project thread however my chronic impulsivity (f**k off spellcheck, that's definitely a word) meant I ordered this when I was a bit drunk a few weeks back... and a sticker for some reason, still deciding where to put the sticker.
@MarcR™ battery and induction cover:
I'll probably put the sticker on this along with the PH Smiley My PistonHeads Secret Santa sent me
Whiteline ARB:
This came up for sale recently following a poor chap crashing his Trophy, I promise to look after this and use it well, looking forward to installing. Still unsure whether to go hard or soft:
Brake cooling equipment:
It turns out Santa Clause has a 3D printer!
Will plug these into the car before my next track day
So, I bought some stuff (I also got some HC front discs and a top strut brace) which I now need to install, I'm sure this possibly may happen at some point in the future maybe. After a very slippery track day at Brands Hatch on the 17th I'm also on the hunt for some used 195-205/45/16 track tyres to stick on my spare wheels.
Brands Hatch:
Whilst on the subject, the 17th December 2016 will go down as the day everyone who was at Oulton, Snetterton and Brands wished they weren't booked onto a trackday on the 17th. The fog was brutal. We were luck at Brands as we got around 3 hours tracktime but I managed to go out two laps before every red flag so ended up doing about 8-9 laps all day. I spent more time chatting to @loggyboy and a chap who was driving a £1,000 stripped out BMW. My dad, brother and little boy joined us toward the end and we just enjoyed the day out:
I'll be back with a proper update but wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, until the next installment, happy Clio-ing
Happy New Year followers of my attempt at a project.
I hope you made some life changing resolutions that you’re going to work hard to keep… I made a resolution once, I resolved to get fit by going on a diet and swimming twice a week. It was during my first swimming session a few days letter that I thought “What am I doing?! I f**king hate swimming!” I went home, ordered a pizza and drank some beer. I spent the year fat, happy and drunk; that was a good year. Anyway, good luck with your resolutions I hope that you blablabla.
Christmas has been a busy period involving a few thought-through purchases and some drunk purchases for the Clio. We’ve had some brilliant weather in NW London over the last few days so I got a chance to install some of the goodies. My performance on the installations ranged from slightly idiotic to utter clusterfucks, involving swearing, sweaty brows, panicked searches through ClioSport threads, more swearing, followed by another realisation that I should probably give up my foray into fettling… but I don’t give up!
Actually, that’s a lie, I give up on a lot of things, swimming is an apt example… diets also, I’ve given up every diet I’ve ever tried, I once went to Ikea and gave up every opportunity to go back. Also, I plan on giving up being fat too at some point.
Despite my flaws, I’ve managed to install the following pieces of kit over the last week:
Santa Clause used his 3D printer to produce stealth brake duct scoops (from eBay) and included far too much piping, 2 jubilee clips and a few cable ties. These appeared under the tree on Christmas day and stayed there until today, when I finally got around to installing them. Jacking the car up was successful on this occasion; I wasn’t scuppered by a locking wheel nut and got the car in the air. Removing the drivers-side wheel I was reminded about the bloody carbon canister that lives behind the fog lamp. A quick read of a few threads here made me want to leave it in place and see if I could fit the 63mm bore piping around the canister. I got it around with a bit of force… I’m not sure how much this bend will impact the cooling provided:
My original plan of having the pipe run alongside the rear wall of the wheel well and turn toward the rear of the caliper attached to the lower wishbone failed when I realised the wheel would rub whenever I turned left slightly. I chopped it back to here, again unsure if this would actually provide any cooling to the brakes… the driveshaft and lower wishbone would stay nice and cold though:
The passenger side was a doddle in comparison, I simply moved one horn from the bottom to the top of the bracket. These will be so great for cooling my drive shaft and lower wishbones but I am sceptical about them keeping my brakes cool:
In total I spent about 4 hours on this! Although I wasn’t working fast, I cannot believe it took me that long!! If I did it again, it would take me around 1 hour, I wasted too much time being stupid, drinking tea and taking pictures of my progress.
The Fatty induction kit:
Thanks to my regular lurking on this forum I bought a DIY induction set-up one evening after many beers and a few whiskeys. All the bits arrived shortly thereafter and sat in the corner of my room for a few weeks. @DJR1210 VERY kindly sent me a juibilee clip to attach the 90 degree pipe to a bracket, receipt of that reminded me I had a DIY induction set-up in the corner of my room, the weather was nice so I thought “to hell with it, life without a loud engine is a shower of s**t, I need some induction roar in my life”. I proceeded to remove my airbox, completed with almost all of the original screws and a 700 mile old K&N panel filter:
*My hand is not small, it’s just really far away
It was just after this I realised I had a jubilee clip to attach to a bracket, but I didn’t have a bracket. I popped down to Wickes and grabbed a generic bracket, headed home, removed the negative cable from the battery terminal and installed the gear. Job jobbed:
Very proud of my efforts at fettling I wanted to take her for a spin. Key in ignition, hand on steering wheel and excited grin across my face I turned the key. The engine turned around 4 times and cut out; I repeated this 4-5 times while descending into mild panic and I swore a lot. Eventually, I gathered myself and came inside to lurk the f**k out of ClioSport. After 10 minutes I realised that installing an induction kit is not going to give me this problem, I then worried it was one of the earths that I’d possibly damaged. Continuing to lurk it slowly became obvious that I’d actually engaged the immobiliser… and it worked! @bloke had posted the details for resetting your immobiliser on another thread, I gave this a go and the bloody thing fired up! I swore a bit more and went for a drive. Much fun was had.
The induction kit sounds great when peddle is on the metal but I can’t say I’ve noticed any performance difference positive or negative… but it sounds AWESOME!
Whiteline ARB:
This was my most daring attempt at fettling yet! I’d picked up an ARB from a chap on ClioSport and like hell was I going to leave this lying around, I couldn’t wait to fit it!
I jacked the rear of the car up and got to work. Starting on the passenger side, I stuck the jack under the cross beam, underneath the spring compressed the spring slightly and took the lower shock absorber bolt out. I put in the drop link bracket and started to screw the lower shock absorber bolt back it… it just spun. I continued to ineffectually wiggle it around, take it out, look at it with that frown you get when you’re confused but want to feel like you know what you’re doing while your inner-self is rolling around laughing and asking if we can just go to the pub instead of doing this s**t, but it just spun. I got my torch and looked through the bolt hole and realised it was 5-7mm higher than the stub axle(?) bolt hole.
“FOR f**k SAKE!”
That’s what I said; my middle class neighbours were unimpressed. Stupid thoughts went through my head before I realised I just needed to jack the spring up a little higher. Did that, bolt in and continued. The driver side took no time at all having learned from my previous douchebaggery. I went a bit tight on the drop link bushes, I’ve subsequently loosened these up again:
I took her for a spin this evening as I’d not driven for driving sake in a few days. The car is going well, the noise is brilliant, the understeer seems to have been reduced and the lower front wishbones are probably very cold.
There are a few more plans for upgrades and activities which I’ll share as and when, in the meantime, happy Clio-ing
I hope you made some life changing resolutions that you’re going to work hard to keep… I made a resolution once, I resolved to get fit by going on a diet and swimming twice a week. It was during my first swimming session a few days letter that I thought “What am I doing?! I f**king hate swimming!” I went home, ordered a pizza and drank some beer. I spent the year fat, happy and drunk; that was a good year. Anyway, good luck with your resolutions I hope that you blablabla.
Christmas has been a busy period involving a few thought-through purchases and some drunk purchases for the Clio. We’ve had some brilliant weather in NW London over the last few days so I got a chance to install some of the goodies. My performance on the installations ranged from slightly idiotic to utter clusterfucks, involving swearing, sweaty brows, panicked searches through ClioSport threads, more swearing, followed by another realisation that I should probably give up my foray into fettling… but I don’t give up!
Actually, that’s a lie, I give up on a lot of things, swimming is an apt example… diets also, I’ve given up every diet I’ve ever tried, I once went to Ikea and gave up every opportunity to go back. Also, I plan on giving up being fat too at some point.
Despite my flaws, I’ve managed to install the following pieces of kit over the last week:
- Brake cooling equipment
- @The Fatty induction kit
- Whiteline ARB
Santa Clause used his 3D printer to produce stealth brake duct scoops (from eBay) and included far too much piping, 2 jubilee clips and a few cable ties. These appeared under the tree on Christmas day and stayed there until today, when I finally got around to installing them. Jacking the car up was successful on this occasion; I wasn’t scuppered by a locking wheel nut and got the car in the air. Removing the drivers-side wheel I was reminded about the bloody carbon canister that lives behind the fog lamp. A quick read of a few threads here made me want to leave it in place and see if I could fit the 63mm bore piping around the canister. I got it around with a bit of force… I’m not sure how much this bend will impact the cooling provided:
My original plan of having the pipe run alongside the rear wall of the wheel well and turn toward the rear of the caliper attached to the lower wishbone failed when I realised the wheel would rub whenever I turned left slightly. I chopped it back to here, again unsure if this would actually provide any cooling to the brakes… the driveshaft and lower wishbone would stay nice and cold though:
The passenger side was a doddle in comparison, I simply moved one horn from the bottom to the top of the bracket. These will be so great for cooling my drive shaft and lower wishbones but I am sceptical about them keeping my brakes cool:
In total I spent about 4 hours on this! Although I wasn’t working fast, I cannot believe it took me that long!! If I did it again, it would take me around 1 hour, I wasted too much time being stupid, drinking tea and taking pictures of my progress.
The Fatty induction kit:
Thanks to my regular lurking on this forum I bought a DIY induction set-up one evening after many beers and a few whiskeys. All the bits arrived shortly thereafter and sat in the corner of my room for a few weeks. @DJR1210 VERY kindly sent me a juibilee clip to attach the 90 degree pipe to a bracket, receipt of that reminded me I had a DIY induction set-up in the corner of my room, the weather was nice so I thought “to hell with it, life without a loud engine is a shower of s**t, I need some induction roar in my life”. I proceeded to remove my airbox, completed with almost all of the original screws and a 700 mile old K&N panel filter:
*My hand is not small, it’s just really far away
It was just after this I realised I had a jubilee clip to attach to a bracket, but I didn’t have a bracket. I popped down to Wickes and grabbed a generic bracket, headed home, removed the negative cable from the battery terminal and installed the gear. Job jobbed:
Very proud of my efforts at fettling I wanted to take her for a spin. Key in ignition, hand on steering wheel and excited grin across my face I turned the key. The engine turned around 4 times and cut out; I repeated this 4-5 times while descending into mild panic and I swore a lot. Eventually, I gathered myself and came inside to lurk the f**k out of ClioSport. After 10 minutes I realised that installing an induction kit is not going to give me this problem, I then worried it was one of the earths that I’d possibly damaged. Continuing to lurk it slowly became obvious that I’d actually engaged the immobiliser… and it worked! @bloke had posted the details for resetting your immobiliser on another thread, I gave this a go and the bloody thing fired up! I swore a bit more and went for a drive. Much fun was had.
The induction kit sounds great when peddle is on the metal but I can’t say I’ve noticed any performance difference positive or negative… but it sounds AWESOME!
Whiteline ARB:
This was my most daring attempt at fettling yet! I’d picked up an ARB from a chap on ClioSport and like hell was I going to leave this lying around, I couldn’t wait to fit it!
I jacked the rear of the car up and got to work. Starting on the passenger side, I stuck the jack under the cross beam, underneath the spring compressed the spring slightly and took the lower shock absorber bolt out. I put in the drop link bracket and started to screw the lower shock absorber bolt back it… it just spun. I continued to ineffectually wiggle it around, take it out, look at it with that frown you get when you’re confused but want to feel like you know what you’re doing while your inner-self is rolling around laughing and asking if we can just go to the pub instead of doing this s**t, but it just spun. I got my torch and looked through the bolt hole and realised it was 5-7mm higher than the stub axle(?) bolt hole.
“FOR f**k SAKE!”
That’s what I said; my middle class neighbours were unimpressed. Stupid thoughts went through my head before I realised I just needed to jack the spring up a little higher. Did that, bolt in and continued. The driver side took no time at all having learned from my previous douchebaggery. I went a bit tight on the drop link bushes, I’ve subsequently loosened these up again:
I took her for a spin this evening as I’d not driven for driving sake in a few days. The car is going well, the noise is brilliant, the understeer seems to have been reduced and the lower front wishbones are probably very cold.
There are a few more plans for upgrades and activities which I’ll share as and when, in the meantime, happy Clio-ing
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Great write up mate
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
How you finding the apex springs?
Nice writing, made me laugh at how many of these same problems I've had as well!
Crashy as hell, I have to take avoiding action everytime I see a pothole or a pebble. They're ridiculous. I've been on track with them twice and they're pretty s**t... it's on my list of upgrades but I haven't decide between Eibach spring or coilovers yet.
I'm so glad to read this, I often think it's just me!
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Odd as I liked mine on my old cup. H@rs are good. What coilovers you looking at?
andy_coops
ClioSport Club Member
172, VRS, Clio 5
Brilliant thread - it isn't just you; these bastarding little cars like to get all French now and again. Pizza and beer works every time.
Ideally Gaz, I have experience with them and they were great. I'm struggling with the Apex partly because I've come from coilovers so my expectations are out of sync with reality!
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
I've not used gaz but if I was opting for coilovers it would be b14's. Pretty sure mark @Dr Jekyll went from gaz to them. Or bc's which are a touch dearer
Jekyll
ClioSport Club Member
I've had all 3 mentioned above and yes, I went from Gaz's to Bilsteins.
Now I'm not slating Gaz as they are decent for the money but I had the Gaz and B14's side by side and the quality on the latter is much more superior.
Gaz offer damping adjustability but the b14s don't need it. The latter feel more compliant on the road, but ive never taken mine on track to compare the both.
I did however love my BC's and they probably was my fave of the 3 mentioned but are more expensive. Cost comes into this too.
Now I'm not slating Gaz as they are decent for the money but I had the Gaz and B14's side by side and the quality on the latter is much more superior.
Gaz offer damping adjustability but the b14s don't need it. The latter feel more compliant on the road, but ive never taken mine on track to compare the both.
I did however love my BC's and they probably was my fave of the 3 mentioned but are more expensive. Cost comes into this too.
Good to know, thanks @imprezaworks and @Dr Jekyll
I'll take a look at them. I expect I'll end up either staying on Apex or move onto Eibachs as the cost of coilies is quite prohibitive... as much as I'd love them!
I'll take a look at them. I expect I'll end up either staying on Apex or move onto Eibachs as the cost of coilies is quite prohibitive... as much as I'd love them!
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
B14's are about 580 I think. Bc are closer to 7 I think
Jekyll
ClioSport Club Member
The Gaz's are around £500 for the full coilover type - height and damping adjustable, bilstein are around £650 but seperate shock and spring - height adjustable only, BC's are around £750 and are separate shock and spring - height and damping adjustable. All have full coilover fronts.
I'd look into cooksport springs too as they are more track focused, if your planning on keeping it cheap and running with standard shocks.
I'd look into cooksport springs too as they are more track focused, if your planning on keeping it cheap and running with standard shocks.
I've been resisting the urge to pull the credit card out and spunk it on some Gaz's for a few weeks. This will at least distract me for a bit...
These little cars can become very expensive if we're not careful!
But you're right @Dr Jekyll that Cooksports (which is what I meant when I said Eibach earlier) are probably the way to go for cheap(er) track options. As I'm only on track 2-4 times per year, it makes more sense to me to go for the best springs and stick to the cup dampers.
These little cars can become very expensive if we're not careful!
But you're right @Dr Jekyll that Cooksports (which is what I meant when I said Eibach earlier) are probably the way to go for cheap(er) track options. As I'm only on track 2-4 times per year, it makes more sense to me to go for the best springs and stick to the cup dampers.
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
I've had cooksports and at Oulton. My h&rs would be better on track. B14's I've used on track and they were spot on
How are you finding the Whiteline ARB? Worth getting? Trying to decide if I need one in my life or not!
I'll second that :up:
I'll second that :up:
I attacked a few roundabouts after installing it and there's a definite reduction in understeer, a load more grip. I was surprised at the difference it makes to the handling actually. Well worth it based on my experience so far but I'm looking forward to getting into track to test it properly.
Yo Clio friends,
I'm back again to update on the Clio and my continued issues with organisation, memory and general aptitude for anything other than writing s**t.
It's been a slow few weeks, there's a very good reason for that which I will get to later (scroll down if you prefer to just find out why there's been a delay of a few weeks... honestly, do. It proves I achieved something without arsing anything up, which I appreciate goes against the grain of this thread to date).
Being an Idiot is Tyre-ing:
Having now done 2 track sessions, 1 on 3 different budget tyres and 1 premium tyre and 1 on a set of 4 Proxes T1-R I was keen to get some good track rubber. Although I've completed a few TD's in my life the first 2 in the Clio were the first I'd done on road tyres, it was a shitshow.
I'd set my mind on getting a smaller set of track wheels as tyre prices and options for the spare set of original 182 wheels I was not great. I sold the spare 182 wheels and picked up a set of black 15" Valver wheels (Speedline Vega's) from a chap on here and began sourcing some used 15" track tyres. Within a few days of Ebay mining, I found a chap selling 195/50/15 Nankang NS-2R 180 tread for £55 a pair. I made contact, made a deal and headed out in the Clio with my 3.5yr old on a 5 hour round trip to pick up 4 track tyres. Super excited as
I got there was quickly distracted from checking the evenness of the tread, or the size of the tyres, or the condition of the rubber by 2 things:
Talking to the chap selling them, he mentioned that these had come from his friend's VW FunCup race car after the series organiser changed the control tyre at the end of the season. I ignored the fact that these had come from a friend's car and he knew very little about racing, I asked many questions about VW FunCup racing cars and, on hindsight made the chap visibly uncomfortable. I learned very little about VW FunCup race cars.
2. Stickers
I noticed that some of the tyres had Nankang stickers on them and thought how cool they'd look.
I loaded my boot with 4 tyres that either had stickers or a good amount of thread and drove home. I rolled the tyres around to the back of the garden and lined them up. Something didn't look quite right about them lined up together so took a look at my 195/50/15 tyres and one said this on it:
FFS!
I contacted the chap on Ebay to say I was an idiot and brought home 3 50mm profile tyres and 1 55mm tyre, explaining I hoped I could send one back to him to swap for a 50mm tyre... like f**k was I driving back there again. He said not to worry about sending it back and he would post a replacement to me... what a hero! It wasn't his mistake, it was mine... because stickers!
So the replacement tyres arrived and garage locally stuck them onto my Valver wheels:
You'll see that 1 tyre had been badly overheated, 1 has been slightly overheated, 2 are okay and 1 has a sticker on the wrong side. The wheels were balanced and I stuck them on to get ~100 miles to see how thy felt:
I tried with and without the spacers but the offset on Valver wheels means that they give a wider track anyway so spacers were no longer needed and sold. It handles okay but the rear (overheated tyres) is a bit lumpy and I was getting steering wheel wobble over 60 mph which does not exist on my road wheels/Proxes T1-R's. I assumed balancing issues but not sure so I jacked the car up to a height where I could just spin the wheels, the front passenger side front wheel scraped the ground for half a rotation and span freely for half a rotation... I think I found my issue but no idea whether it's the tyre or the wheel.
It's not serious enough for me not to get on track though and am aiming to get to Brands in late February to give them a run-in
What Next:
I dropped her off with Mark Fish today to get the cambelt/dephaser/blablabla done, something I've been meaning to do for a while but as I've got 2 weeks off work, now seems like a good time. I'm also on the hunt for a set of used damping adjustable coilovers as the Apex springs are not great on track. The problem for me is the spring rates on the coilovers that may be in budget (Bilstein's/KW's) are too soft, especially at the rear so adjustable dampers are also attractive as I don't plan on adjusting the ride hight and can source my own springs.
A Very Good Reason:
So I focused much more on "project family" over the last few weeks and managed to produce this:
A very happy little girl called Phoebe Rose. This picture was taken at the exact moment that we told her what her name was, she LOVES her name :wink:
Still, despite the sleep deprivation I managed to enjoy some metal with the little lad with the Porsche lads at the Ace Café, he especially liked this one with a confused number-plate:
I am so looking forward to getting the car back from Mark Fish, installing my MarcR battery cover and teaching Phoebe Rose how to Clio. I remain on the hunt for a good set of used coilies or adjustable dampers, I feel this might be a long hunt!
In the meantime, happy Clio-ing
I'm back again to update on the Clio and my continued issues with organisation, memory and general aptitude for anything other than writing s**t.
It's been a slow few weeks, there's a very good reason for that which I will get to later (scroll down if you prefer to just find out why there's been a delay of a few weeks... honestly, do. It proves I achieved something without arsing anything up, which I appreciate goes against the grain of this thread to date).
Being an Idiot is Tyre-ing:
Having now done 2 track sessions, 1 on 3 different budget tyres and 1 premium tyre and 1 on a set of 4 Proxes T1-R I was keen to get some good track rubber. Although I've completed a few TD's in my life the first 2 in the Clio were the first I'd done on road tyres, it was a shitshow.
I'd set my mind on getting a smaller set of track wheels as tyre prices and options for the spare set of original 182 wheels I was not great. I sold the spare 182 wheels and picked up a set of black 15" Valver wheels (Speedline Vega's) from a chap on here and began sourcing some used 15" track tyres. Within a few days of Ebay mining, I found a chap selling 195/50/15 Nankang NS-2R 180 tread for £55 a pair. I made contact, made a deal and headed out in the Clio with my 3.5yr old on a 5 hour round trip to pick up 4 track tyres. Super excited as
I got there was quickly distracted from checking the evenness of the tread, or the size of the tyres, or the condition of the rubber by 2 things:
- The story of where the tyres came from
- Stickers
Talking to the chap selling them, he mentioned that these had come from his friend's VW FunCup race car after the series organiser changed the control tyre at the end of the season. I ignored the fact that these had come from a friend's car and he knew very little about racing, I asked many questions about VW FunCup racing cars and, on hindsight made the chap visibly uncomfortable. I learned very little about VW FunCup race cars.
2. Stickers
I noticed that some of the tyres had Nankang stickers on them and thought how cool they'd look.
I loaded my boot with 4 tyres that either had stickers or a good amount of thread and drove home. I rolled the tyres around to the back of the garden and lined them up. Something didn't look quite right about them lined up together so took a look at my 195/50/15 tyres and one said this on it:
FFS!
I contacted the chap on Ebay to say I was an idiot and brought home 3 50mm profile tyres and 1 55mm tyre, explaining I hoped I could send one back to him to swap for a 50mm tyre... like f**k was I driving back there again. He said not to worry about sending it back and he would post a replacement to me... what a hero! It wasn't his mistake, it was mine... because stickers!
So the replacement tyres arrived and garage locally stuck them onto my Valver wheels:
You'll see that 1 tyre had been badly overheated, 1 has been slightly overheated, 2 are okay and 1 has a sticker on the wrong side. The wheels were balanced and I stuck them on to get ~100 miles to see how thy felt:
I tried with and without the spacers but the offset on Valver wheels means that they give a wider track anyway so spacers were no longer needed and sold. It handles okay but the rear (overheated tyres) is a bit lumpy and I was getting steering wheel wobble over 60 mph which does not exist on my road wheels/Proxes T1-R's. I assumed balancing issues but not sure so I jacked the car up to a height where I could just spin the wheels, the front passenger side front wheel scraped the ground for half a rotation and span freely for half a rotation... I think I found my issue but no idea whether it's the tyre or the wheel.
It's not serious enough for me not to get on track though and am aiming to get to Brands in late February to give them a run-in
What Next:
I dropped her off with Mark Fish today to get the cambelt/dephaser/blablabla done, something I've been meaning to do for a while but as I've got 2 weeks off work, now seems like a good time. I'm also on the hunt for a set of used damping adjustable coilovers as the Apex springs are not great on track. The problem for me is the spring rates on the coilovers that may be in budget (Bilstein's/KW's) are too soft, especially at the rear so adjustable dampers are also attractive as I don't plan on adjusting the ride hight and can source my own springs.
A Very Good Reason:
So I focused much more on "project family" over the last few weeks and managed to produce this:
A very happy little girl called Phoebe Rose. This picture was taken at the exact moment that we told her what her name was, she LOVES her name :wink:
Still, despite the sleep deprivation I managed to enjoy some metal with the little lad with the Porsche lads at the Ace Café, he especially liked this one with a confused number-plate:
I am so looking forward to getting the car back from Mark Fish, installing my MarcR battery cover and teaching Phoebe Rose how to Clio. I remain on the hunt for a good set of used coilies or adjustable dampers, I feel this might be a long hunt!
In the meantime, happy Clio-ing
Jekyll
ClioSport Club Member
Mr Pots!
If you look in my thread I have pics of having removed the carbon cannister. This will help with your cold air feed and also free up some space under the drivers arch.
All you do is loop the feed from the inlet back on itself and remove one carbon pipes. If I get a chance I'll get some more pics for you over the weekend.
Baby pic is great btw!
If you look in my thread I have pics of having removed the carbon cannister. This will help with your cold air feed and also free up some space under the drivers arch.
All you do is loop the feed from the inlet back on itself and remove one carbon pipes. If I get a chance I'll get some more pics for you over the weekend.
Baby pic is great btw!
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Can't get konis for a ff?
@182_steve, it turns out it was s**t installation, one of my d-brackets fell off meaning only 1 d-bracket on the passenger side that was securing the arb to the sway bar! Removed are until a new arb bracket arrives
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Jekyll
ClioSport Club Member
Rears you can as there all the same, fronts you cannot as they only come in 54mm spacing as far as I'm aware.
