The Confused Track Clio MK1, MK2 & MK3 Content (01-Sep-12 DEADLINE)

[escyscott]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

I hate to say this but if you read through the MSA 2012 Regulation handbook section K Competitor safety, I would think that because you've cut away so much of the integral structure of the car around the sills etc and you've chopped up the cage, I can't see it ever passing scrutineering if you ever wanted to compete the car in motorsport. I have a few pals who race in saloon car racing and i'm building a clio cup to race next year which i'm getting a sparco 6 point cage fitted on monday but the cage is only ever as good as the car its bolted / welded into.

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

I hate to say this but if you read through the MSA 2012 Regulation handbook section K Competitor safety, I would think that because you've cut away so much of the integral structure of the car around the sills etc and you've chopped up the cage, I can't see it ever passing scrutineering if you ever wanted to compete the car in motorsport. I have a few pals who race in saloon car racing and i'm building a clio cup to race next year which i'm getting a sparco 6 point cage fitted on monday but the cage is only ever as good as the car its bolted / welded into.

I have already explained that the material i have removed is going to be replaced so the strength is put back in there. Also the bits around the sill will be tied into the cage. I cant see me chopping the cage being a problem as i have only chopped through the welds. The tubes shall have the weld removed and the tubes profiled back to the other part so that its a nice snug fit.

I will never be competing the car in motorsport this is only a track day hack so scruteneering isnt a concern tbh.

In fact the stuff i will be putting back in the car will be stronger than the original as it will be a thciker gauge and stitch welded as apose to spot welded.

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Friday 11th May 2012

First of all i decided to have a little clear out as the car was getting full up again and it was becoming a pain to work on as i had to keep removing everything and putting everything back. Whilst clearing out the car i found the F16 that goes over the HT Leads. So i did the old mod of putting in two of the white screw clips from the body (interior) into the HT lead tray so that i could use screws instead of those crappy things Renault use.
I then got the engine loom and connected it up to the engine so that it was already in place to be connected up to the main loom as and when required.

I had also remembered to bring some Moly grease down with me so that i could fill the steering rack gaiters and cable tie them in place.

I had stupidly forgot to bring some cutters with me and could not be bothered to try and find some in my granddads shed so they were left as they are.

I then put the starter motor in place and all of the wiring was already connected up so hopefully it would not need to come off again. Also i need the heatshield in place later on for when i finally get around to mocking up the 172 manifold.

My non water cooled bits finally turned up! The reason i wanted this is so that i can mount my mocal straight to the engine block and i can also use the less complicated water hoses so everything is as simple as possible.

Saturday 12th May 2012

Went round to my mates house to pick up the welder my mate shall be using to weld the cage and the strength back into the structural parts. We are going to use this one as my mates one at his house is a bit on the big side so ideally just to make things easier we are going to use a portable one.

Then i got home and grabbed hold of the new angle grinder as the last one decided to blow up! This is before shot.

This is the manifold i am planning to use on the f7r. One problem its not designed for the F7R. The flange is not correct for the head so that is going to have to be chopped off and a new one fabricated. Also the manifold fouls against the starter motor so the pipes leading to the head shall need to be extended to miss the starter motor but not to far so that it hits the bulkhead. I know this is a lot of pissing about but i feel that this manifold will really help the F7R get a little bit more power.

This was the after shot with a little bit of help from the hacksaw with the bits that i couldn’t get into with the grinder.

It was very surprising how thick this manifold is. Its approximately 0.090” (2.3mm) thick, so for the pipes to extend it they are going to have to be around 13SWG (Standard Wire Gauge). With any luck i will be able to have a few off cuts from work but as its 13SWG im not going to hold my breathe as this is not a common size we manufacture with. If not worst comes to the work ill jump on the lathe and bore out some solid to the size i require.

This was removed from a MK1 phase 1. Its part of the interior loom. _PAUL_ kindly let me pinch this out of his PH1 just before it went to the scrappers This is the loom i am going to use to get the car working and then i can chuck my chopped down one to see if it works. If my one fails this one shall get the snip once its all running. Anyway back to the question this was removed from the offside rear quarter. It was earthed against the chassis does anyone know what it is?

Wednesday 16[SUP]th[/SUP] May 2012

Didnt take a lot of pictures of this but Luke had a few hours spare so we decided to dp a bit of work to the cage. Unfortunately there are no in process shots but one of the final outcome. We have the drivers A pillar bar in place. Not a great deal done but its progress none the less.

Camber bolts turned up today thank you very much Adamio.

Thursday 17[SUP]th[/SUP] May 2012

I was having a look through the forum on the hunt for a Ktec Stealth and came across a thread by poriordan. He was after a swap for a different exhaust. A mate of mine Barker was selling his Stainless steel powerflow exhaust. I was going to buy it just to chop up and make something decent out of it as the tip was about 3.5”. It was huge! In the end i came to a deal with Phil the powerflow and cash his was for the mild steel catback Ktec exhaust. Another item off the wanted list!

Picked these up off of Hybrid_Beeson. I said i would have them when he started breaking his car, gave him the money but didn’t bother taking them with me lol. Anyway these shall look better than the standard PH1 items.

Saturday 19[SUP]th[/SUP] May 2012

Managed to pick these beauty’s up off of ebay. I guy in Colchester was selling them. I emailed him and asked how much to end the auction early as the ones i was bidding on ebay i kept loosing!

They are 3” 4 point TRS harnesses with the option of adding a 5[SUP]th[/SUP] and 6[SUP]th[/SUP] point. They were a bit dusty when i got them but they do clean up nicely. Also not that it matters to me but they are still in date until the end of the year. Also they have only been used half a dozen times.

Sunday 20[SUP]th[/SUP] May 2012

Managed to dedicate a whole day to working on the car so i was quite pleased that i could once again get stuck in!

The first thing that i tackled was the height of the drivers seat on the runners. IMO i was to high up and i was worried that when wearing a lid my head may hit the cage. First of all i removed those silly plastic cups that the seats bolt into. I then flipped the seat over to find this.

Easily another inch in height i can come down if i take these off.
So i undone the bolts and removed the nuts. I then chopped the thread of the bolt down by the thickness of the three nuts to ensure that it did not bottom out on the bottom of the seat base.
I then had to bore out the holes on the base as the previous owner who had sone this hadn’t lined them up exactly right. I don’t this then refitted the bolts. Finished article below. Much better.

Next was the tar residue. I had done the hard work of removing the tar but not removing the horrible residue. I then brushed on some white spirit, let it soak in then mopped it up with a cloth. This was the before shot,

And after, much better

I then decided to remove the extra brackets that i did not require, more hassle than its worth and really wish i hadn’t of touched it as i now have a few small holes that i have to patch up, I did remove more than just these brackets but i forgot to take pictures of them.

The final task of the day was to remove as much paint as possible from the roll cage in preparation for welding it al together. I know that now i have removed the coating they shall oxidise slightly but i am not to worried as some fine wet and dry shall cure that.

Anyway the pics...

Before

After

Halfway through and then my granddad grinder started making a high pitched squealing so i thought i would call it a day. Plus the fact i had a nice headache at this point.

A quick snap of everything back in place (with the door rubbers now on as i was fed up with hitting my head on the inner door).

Sneaky snap shot of the back of the engine through the pedal box hole.

Also maybe selling this adjustable, flexi decat but probably will not be up for sale until i have done the 172 manifold and that works all ok.

 

[Struggler]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

nice work dude!! any chance you'd be able to borrow that welder again over the summer?? is i really need one for a few bits on mine!
secondly, if youre changing the rad hoses to the ones without oil cooling, any chance i could steal the existing ones to use with my oil cooler??

works looking great so far, youre really powering through the build nicely!

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

nice work dude!! any chance you'd be able to borrow that welder again over the summer?? is i really need one for a few bits on mine!
secondly, if youre changing the rad hoses to the ones without oil cooling, any chance i could steal the existing ones to use with my oil cooler??

works looking great so far, youre really powering through the build nicely!

Thanks mate, I dunno ask Mr Robson its his welder. Also if you are welding your cage you need to find out what material it is, Im having to get a different one to the bits that i will be welding in the car as the materials are different.

I already said that you can. Im sure we can sort something out on the 6 disc changer

Thansk mate it is getting there. The main bits are welding the cage in and fabricating the manifold. Once this is done its just a case of bolting bits on. Soooooo want to get this done before the summer is over.

TBH i think the only things i am going to need are:

Lockable Aerocatches
Standard Bonnet Pins
Polycarb Windows
Coilovers
Possibly new steering wheel

Thats probably at least £800 there (the astra needs to hurry up and sell lol)

I think i got the rest covered.

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Wednesday 23[SUP]rd[/SUP] May 2012

Another very small update and not a lot done as my uncles angle grinder decided to s**t its bearings.

Anyway with the roll cage in place Luke and i mocked up the passenger side of the cage to see how much modification is needed to make it fit. The answer was quite a bit so we cut the cross bars off of the passenger side of the cage. I have some spare tubing that i have cut of the cage which is the same wall thickness and diameter so i am going to using this and profile some new tube.

Just after this is when the angle grinder decided to die. So out came the hacksaw this lasted about 2 minutes before i gave up using that as 1 the blade was fucked and 2 it was wayyyyyy to hoooooot.

I decided to do some work on other parts of the car. This was a tad difficult as i had limited tools and all of the stuff was sprawled out in the shed which i couldn’t be bothered to go through lol.

So i put the top alternator bracket that the alternator mounts to onto the engine and put the alternator in its dummy position.

Ended up calling it a night as it was hot and all i wanted to do was go home have a shower andhave a nice cold beer.

Got home to find some goodies had turned up!

PH2 Steering wheel boss and new Goodridge Braided Brake Lines. (Thanks Djw John).
Bonded Window Screen Removal Tool and some Anodised Black Bonnet Pins.

As the boss had turned up i decided to fit my steering wheel and my snap off boss kit to it.

Picture of my old steering wheel that was on GLP. All bolted up to my removable boss and PH2 boss.

This shows the two lugs that are meant to be on the boss to be able to remove the steering wheel. Unfortunately one is missing.

Also as a little extra im sure my uncle will not mind but he fired off a few pictures of his new car he is building. Its called an RSR Escort. ill let the pics do the talking

Thursday 24[SUP]th[/SUP] May 2012

Not a massive update. Ended up taking one of the lugs for my removable boss off and took it into the training centre at work. Spoke to one of the instructors and asked if i could get a couple made up. As its very simple to manufacture he got one of the apprentices to mock it up so hopefully by the end of the day i shall have 2 lugs for my removable boss. Winner saves me getting dirty.

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Update Time!

Thursday 24th May 2012

Managed to get these made up by the apprentices at work so that it looks a bit tidier and i dont have to use a different boss that was to big. Well pleased especially as i didnt have to get dirty.

Also popped round to _PAUL_'s house to change his clutch and flywheel. I done the flywheel but could not do the clutch as the bolts that hold the clutch onto the flywheel where different. So waiting on him to get the bolts so i can finish the job! While i was there i realised he was breaking his 172 so i kindly removed these parts from his car. The shocks i am borrowing the mount i shall be using on the track car. Thanks again Paul for lending me the shocks will make my life so much wasier when moving the car.

Saturday 26th May 2012

Popped down to my nans with Beeson again and done a bit of work on the car.

First of all i drilled and mounted the mocal oil cooler using the rubber mounts i had purchased a while ago. I did have to cut a little bit of the section out of the slam panel to do the nut up to hold the oil cooler in place. Its a bit of a shabby job atm as i dont have a working angle grinder but once i get it back i shall clean it up.

I did also fit one of the pipes. I tried the other one but the thread on the oil cooler is a bit s**t so im going to clean it up prior to putting it on as i do not want to damage the thread as the oil cooler shall be scrap. Bit of a set back and did wind me up but hey ho im still optamistic.

Also on Friday i had popped into my local bolt place to get some new bolts to fit my megane non PAS set up as i didnt have anything laying about. Now i had the correct bolts i could fit the alternator and all of the brackets.

Also connected the pipes up at the thermostat end but did not fully tighten them as i may need to route the slightly when i do the other pipe at the oil cooler end.

Also found the Williams dogbone stabiliser when clearing out the garage so i thought it would bre a good idea to fit it before i lost it again lol.

Final shot of the day after a quick clean up.

Monday 28th May 2012

Well work kindly gave me this bit of stainless steel. 14" long, 3" wide and 0.5" thick. This is what i shall be using to make my flange for my F7R head.

Gasket in place and the profile scribed out.

Then my dad told me about an old drill that we could turn into a pillar drill which would really help me out as i do not want to be trying to hold this material whilst drilling because if that snatches that could probably break my arm lol.

Centre drilling done and 2 9mm holes (clearance holes for the studs).

Nearly there

By this point it was about 10pm so i thought i would call it a night as my neighbours would not really appreciate me drilling through the night lol. I have marked out the bits i shall be removing with a blue pen as it was very difficult to show the scribed marks. Still more to come.

More updates soon!

 

[Struggler]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

nice update dude!! really missing mine now!! but ill be back in 4 weeks!!

also williams stabalizer bar?! i wasnt aware such a thing existed! would it be worth trying to fit on to a ph1 do you think??

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

nice update dude!! really missing mine now!! but ill be back in 4 weeks!!

also williams stabalizer bar?! i wasnt aware such a thing existed! would it be worth trying to fit on to a ph1 do you think??

Thanks dude its nothing major unfortunately. Just all the little bits that take ages! Im trying to be in a position so that once the cage is welded in there isnt still an army of things to do. Easier said than done.

When do you reckon yours will be done?

I think that is what it is called it was kind of a guess as that what it kind onf does it stabilises the gearbox and dogbone a bit more. Also if you can get old of one without being raped for it i cant see it hurting,

 

[Z1gZa]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

OMG. That's a lot of work and patience!
Great job there mate

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

OMG. That's a lot of work and patience!
Great job there mate

Thanks mate.

 

[Struggler]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

hmm well its not actually too much left on mine

engine out and give it a clean up and bit of a service.
front track painted and everything fited.
cage modded in and a few tiny interior touches
backbox made and bosh done!!

its more down to fund than anything else now unfortunately!! but hopeful summer job should solve that!! lol
then ill just be tearing it around everywhere to blow the cobwebs out!! lol

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

cant belioeve you actually going to get a summer job lol

 

[Struggler]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

haha cheeky sod!! thats all if i can actually find something these days!!

 

[Jeffers_S13]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

By this point it was about 10pm so i thought i would call it a night as my neighbours would not really appreciate me drilling through the night lol. I have marked out the bits i shall be removing with a blue pen as it was very difficult to show the scribed marks. Still more to come.

Seriously ??? you're going to remove all that with a pillar drill and maybe an angle grinder !?? GIVE IN NOW ! do yourself favour (and your drill), get a fabricators with a laser or water jet cutter to cut one for you, take the gasket as a template or draw the shape in CAD.

I also think you've wasted a perfectly good 197 cage, and a hobby-spec, gasless, 130 AMP MIG set isn't going to get anywhere near the penetration you need when you start rewelding it back together.

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Seriously ??? you're going to remove all that with a pillar drill and maybe an angle grinder !?? GIVE IN NOW ! do yourself favour (and your drill), get a fabricators with a laser or water jet cutter to cut one for you, take the gasket as a template or draw the shape in CAD.

I also think you've wasted a perfectly good 197 cage, and a hobby-spec, gasless, 130 AMP MIG set isn't going to get anywhere near the penetration you need when you start rewelding it back together.

Thank you for your comments however yes I could do all of that and get it drawn up on cad and laser cut but that would cost more money. I am quite happy spending fuxk all on the metal and spending some time fabricating it to shape.

Also I haven't wasted the cage as I am making use for it. And also that's your opinion and frankly I'm not going to listen to some keyboard warrior know it all. I'm am going by a welder who has 40 years experience in aerospace welding. If it winds you up reading my project thread then quite frankly do t read it

 

[Z1gZa]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

If you don't want to spend money and don't mind spending hours in that, I approve. In the end you'll feel proud for doing it manually

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

If you don't want to spend money and don't mind spending hours in that, I approve. In the end you'll feel proud for doing it manually

Thank you someone finally gets it

 

[Jeffers_S13]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

And also that's your opinion and frankly I'm not going to listen to some keyboard warrior know it all.

OK, good luck with it all.

 

[Djw John]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Why the f**k is this not finished yet?! Get the finger out

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Why the f**k is this not finished yet?! Get the finger out

Because England weather is so shockingly crap its unreal. Managed to house the car under some shelter for a few days last week so more updates very soon just ned to write them up!

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Update Time

Monday 4th June 2012

Well earlier in the week I finally got off my arse and when to my local machine mart to pick up some of the supplies for the welder so I picked up this:

Also these arrived during the week:

I made sure that I bought the lockable ones as one of my mates bought the non locking ones and annoying people like me wait until he is in the car and his harness all connected then you pop it just before he sets off so less learnt. (Thanks Alex)

After sorting out the thread on the oil cooler I fitted it to the car without the standard water cooled item so it’s fitted straight to the block, hopefully it won’t leak!

I also fitted the oil filter as well.

Quick shot of the rear of the car with the Phase one lights fitted.

And now with the Phase 2 lights fitted. Much better in my opinion.

Lower rad hose fitted

Gearbox Drip Tray

Then I got a bit bored of being at my nans so went home. As I chucked a few things in the garage I noticed that my exhaust was looking a bit sorry for it self. It was a nice day so cleaned off the flaking paint and transformed it from this:

To this:

Wednesday 6th June 2012

Didn’t really do a lot to be honest popped round to pauls to pick up the bonnet stops and the radiator bungs that go in the sub frame (thanks again mate). It wasn’t raining so I though I would take the opportunity to move the car as my granddads shelter for his caravan wasn’t being used so I thought sod it just encase the weather is crap I can still work undercover. All I can say is don’t try moving a car on your own over grass that is dippy with flat tyres

This is the clios new home for a little while so hopefully now I can crack on with some work!

Thursday 7th June 2012

Now this is where the progress actually starts! As I had this week off work, done the bit with the girlfriend yesterday (took her to Colchester zoo) and the forecast for the remainder of the week Friday, Saturday and Sunday was crap so we didn’t really want to go for a day out in London like we had planned. This suited me as means I could crack on with the Clio!

First of all I wanted to start fitting the stuff on the inside of the Clio so that when the cage is mocked up I know that I am not going to hit anything.

First of all was the pedal box, but before I fitted it I thought it would make sense to fit my momo pedals on the bench rather than in the footwell of
the car.

I then fitted the servo, dab of grease on the 'stick' in the 172 Cup servo and then on with my 172 Cup Master cylinder.

Pedal box fitted in the car:

I then set about TEMPORARILY adjusting the column to lower it a bit more over the standard position. This shall ensure that I will not hit my hand on the tube going from the ‘A’ Pillar to the floor. Also this shall make my driving position much more comfortable. I had put four nuts in place (I shall be making something more suitable like a spacer once I decide on the final position). After sitting in the car for a bit longer I removed one nut and went down to three. Who knows I may even go down to two at a later date.

I then went onto painting the gear stick casing and the bracket for the coolant expansion bottle. I didn’t want them going in looking naff so I thought a few coats of brushed on silver hammerite may do the trick. It’s not an ‘Andy’ job but its good enough.

I let the gear stick get tacky then set about fitting it in the car.

I then sorted out all of the parts I had scattered here there and everywhere. On my hunt I found the gaiter that I needed to fit to the steering rack to keep the water out so I fitted that. Fiddly bloody thing!

Then this happened

….. all I can say is t**t as this was my only key!

Oh well need to source a new lock set now FAIL!

I then fitted the following things:

Coolant Expansion Bottle Bracket,
Oil Catch Tank
Coil pack

I think they look quite good in the positions they are but they may change once all of the stuff is in the bay.

I had also dug out the front headlights that I will be fitted so I whacked a couple of bolts in them to hold them in place.

I wanted to crack on with the rear of the car so I jacked it up nice and high to try and give myself as much room as possible!

I started to remove the rear shocks but the bolts where an absolute b*****d and where seized solid so lots of WD40 later and let them soak in overnight so called it a night and went home.

Did get home to find these lovely items though. Thanks again Andy you’re a star!

Friday 8th June 2012

After a goodnights sleep and a yorkie for breakfast I managed to get the rear shock bolts out! So not long after that I had the rear beam off.

I then removed the filler neck as it was really dirty and I wanted to get into the rear arches to clean them up.

Then I took a few before pictures of the arches and the underneath rear part of the car.

Filler neck cleaned:

Nicely under sealed underneath!

Then fuel tank given a quick clean (top side) and then fitted to the car.

Finally the rear beam fitted to the car

Offside rear arch under sealed

Nearside rear arch under sealed

I then fitted the rear brakes whilst using a bit of Loctite 222 – This stuff is not the concrete never going to undo again stuff this is anti vibration stuff so it can still be removed it need be.

I have been using this quite a bit throughout the car. It is very handy stuff.

Once both sides had been done I set about putting the studs I got off Andy in. But before I loctited them in I decided to trial fit them and then put a wheel on to see how far out the studs sit.

Just the studs:

Wheel fitted:

I was really happy with how they looked they don’t stick out too far in my opinion so out came the loctite and I loctited them in place with the 222.

I then fitted the clutch cable and the vacuum pipe from the Cup Servo to the pipe that runs to the inlet manifold.

I pretty much called it a night after that so I packed everything away and chucked the cover on the car.

Saturday 9th June 2012

Had a visit from Beeson again this morning he offered to lend a hand which was nice so thought I would get the two man jobs out of the way lol.

After remembering to bring the copper grease I thought it would be a good idea to fit the rear pads so slapped a bit of copper grease on them and slapped them in. Beeson kindly did one side whilst I did the other.

I then put copper grease on the internal threads of the nuts and on the external threads of the studs to ensure they don’t seize at a later date.

I then decided to fit these to the car.

Before:

After they were all fitted from front to back.

As Beeson stuck around for a little longer I asked him to help me so that I could set up the gear linkage on the car. I put the gearbox in reverse using the selector and then Beeson held it in the reverse position whilst I connected it and tightened it up.

He then helped me fit the handbrake cables to the car. I did not realise that one was longer than the other and typically the first time I fitted them the wrong way round.

After Beeson left I wasn’t sure what bits to do on the car. I then thought I would turn my attention to the roll cage again. So I went out and bought another angle grinder FAIL!

First thing was first I still needed to remove all of the paint off of the roll cage so that was the first job, The only bits that remained with a lot of paint still on them was the main hoop and the passenger side bars.

Before:

After:

As some of the tubes have started to oxidise very slowly as I removed the paint such a long time ago this time I thought I would put a bit of grease on the tubes to prevent them rusting. I then chucked them in my granddads shed.

As this took a good hour to do and by this point I was covered in paint dust and my hands were numb from the vibration I thought I would do some piddly little jobs lol.

First of all as everyone will know that has removed a handbrake mechanism the studs are so weak and normally snap when you remove them.

Well it has done on mine so I sorted that with a nut and bolt.

Before:

After:

I decided to drill two new holes and attach to extra bolts just to make it sturdier. Probably a bit overkill but as I said before I didn’t want to do a lot lol.

I then removed the cam cover bolts as they were blue and did not match my engine colour.

Before:

After:

As the rear end of the car was basically done I didn’t see much point in having the rear end jacked up anymore so I fitted the rear wheels and lowered her down.

Quick shot of the rear stance with no springs in place.

I then gave the boot a quick clean as it was disgusting:

Earlier when I was rummaging for parts I came across some grommets and the rear wiper plastic so I did the following to tidy it up.

The finished article:

That’s pretty much it for now. I may continue with the manifold flange soon as I would really like to get the exhaust fitted to the car.

More update soon!

Comments welcome

 

[Struggler]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

ahh i remember the days of people constantly undoing my bonnet catches "for the banter"!! looking really good mate!! cant wait to get home and have a nose!! what have you used to get the rear wheels so far out the arches on the back?? stance looks awesome!!

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

ahh i remember the days of people constantly undoing my bonnet catches "for the banter"!! looking really good mate!! cant wait to get home and have a nose!! what have you used to get the rear wheels so far out the arches on the back?? stance looks awesome!!

Lol i know the banter! I dont think i will ever grow up so you best get lockable ones lol. Yeah definately mate not long now until you are back.

Thats the standard stance i dont think the powverty shells have the arches rolled as much as the 172's. I may have to roll the arch a bit to get better clearance i dont want the tyres rubbing.

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

A few more small updates

Wednesday 13th June 2012

Well I managed to grab Luke for a couple of hours work on the car so we set about doing a bit of work on the roll cage. First of all we thought we would test the welder as I had managed to get some welding wire from work This was good as the stuff we needed they did not sell on the small spools for this welder. It comes on 15kg massive spools and they are not cheap!

While Luke was testing playing with the welder to get the right gas flow, feed rate and power I was stuck doing nothing so I set about actually bolting the front end on properly.

Nearside wing and nearside headlight in place

Once luke had finished the test pieces we then looked at the weld to ensure we had proper penetration and that the weld had not cracked or anything. It hadn’t so spot on!

Luke then started grinding off the welds off of the main hoop that we had cut through for the bars that we are going to have to reposition. As we both couldn’t do that I continued with bolting on the front body panels.

I then put the front slam panel in place. I had to grind some of it away so that it did not foul against the inlet manifold. I also had to remove the bit that was spot welded on the underneath and bolted to the front cross member. This has taken a little bit of rigidity out but im not to worried as it cant be that bad if all the ITB people done even run one.

That was pretty much it as I had to move the car back that night to my little place as my Nan and granddad needed the space back.

Thursday 14th June 2012

Not a massive update but I got 4 bits of stainless steel 1.5” OD by about 5 inches long cut up so that I could extend the 172 manifold away from the starter motor so it didn’t foul.

This is what it will look like eventually (a bit of imagination required)

Also my lovely girlfriend had got some parts for me!

New Petrol Filter
10M of Fuel Lines (8mm ID)
Some Elbow and T Piece connectors for my oil catch tank.

Unfortunately that is if for this update.

Monday 18th June 2012

Unfortunately there was no progress due to the fact that me and 13 of my mates had gone to Butlins for a 4 day bender. To say the least when I got home Monday afternoon I was not really up to much so decided against going down and working on the car.

However these had turned up...

I had got them very cheap considering that they had only done a few thousand miles at the most. The other reason was that they had two snapped bolts in them aswell.

As I already had the drill set up as I was doing the manifold flange I thought I may as well drill them out and re-tap them. The first one took about half an hour as I was taking it very steady and taking the drill up in small stages (plus trying to find the right size drill amongst 2 draws of them was difficult enough). Once I had the first one done and the drills to had the following hole took about 5 minutes and was a much neater job. Fully functional AST top mounts for £60 SORTED .

A few snaps I took along the way.

I also did a very silly thing today but hopefully this will be the motivation I need to pull my finger out my arse and get the car finished. The insurance was up for the DCI 100 so whilst sorting out the renewal for this motor I thought I would insure the track car from the 1st of August as well. I am kind of regretting this as I have been really lazy since I done this but hey ho what can you do!

Wednesday 20th June 2012

Wednesday seems to be the day that Luke pops over to give me a hand and today was no different. After getting some off cuts of sheet metal and plate (to patch up the inside and for the cage feet) we cracked on with cleaning up the area for the main hoop.

First of all we removed the seam sealer and all of the paint in the surrounding area, we then put the plate in and offered the cage up. As soon as we did this we realised that the geometry of the cage had changed slightly so we spent the rest of the evening fiddling with that to try and get it right. Its suprising how much time this actually takes because once we got somewhere near this the time is always up . We will get there in the end. Anyway a few pictures.

Saturday 23rd June 2012

Managed to get down to my nans to do a bit of work but tbh I wasn’t really in the mood. I took the Ktec Stealth and decat down and picked up a few new exhaust clamps on the way round.

I had also planned to run the fuel lines underneath the car and fit the MK1 fuel pump. I had my mate Beeson with me who said that I should run the fuel lines through the car, however I am a bit on edge with running rubber lines through the car. I am not to sure whether that is safe or not. I know people run braided lines through car but what are peoples opinions with running rubber ones through there?

Well first of I hit my first hurdle when trying to fit the MK1 pump into the MK2 fuel tank. This is because the id of the MK1 pump is bigger that the ID of the MK2 pump. I am unsure what i am going to do. I may just run a MK2 PH1 2.016v pump (if they have a flow and return as standard they only have one fuel line from front to back iirc). Or i am going to open out the hole a mm or 2 so that the MK1 pump fits. This maybe easier so that i don’t have to change any wiring to the pump but then again if the pump does not seal properly there will be petrol vapour in the car that wouldn’t be good.

After that hurdle i decided to fit the backbox but due to the weiht of it and the f**ked exhaust hanger i had on the it just would work so off that came and off came the old exhaust hanger. I did also notice that the middle exhaust hanger that the 172’s have i didn’t have on mine so that basically put an end to that aswell.

After this i was pretty fed up and could no longer be bothered to work on the car. The only good thing to come out of that day was I was just chatting with one of my mates who does banger racing and he told me that he recently purchased a plasma cutter so i will be using this to finish off the manifold flange. That should speed things up a little .

Comment welcome , more updates soon

Lots to do and with a deadline of Wednesday 1st August!

Stay tuned.

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Monday 25[SUP]th[/SUP] June 2012

Well a very small update. Not really done much to the car but did get some more bits for it.

I popped round to see Paul as he is breaking a PH1 172 and I desperately needed some parts that I had either lost or didn’t have altogether. Also I wanted to kick him for trying to sell up!

The list was as follows:
Fuel Pump – (My MK1 unit’s diameter is too big)
Centre Exhaust Hanger – More to the fact I didn’t know what it looked like Pauls one was broke so that was no good.
Steering Column Gaiter – I have lost my one....FAIL
Bonnet Bolts – I have lost mine and that is the only piece of bodywork I need to attach to the car.
Steering Column Shrouds – Somehow mount my MK1 indicators to the column somehow.
Dashboard – As I learnt that some track days will not let you run without a dashboard.
Lock Set – (well part of it) as I snapped my key in the ignition barrel.
PH1 Gearstick – So I can fit a Yanoo stiff shift and the car will not be off the road.
Metal Frame - To mount the dash to ...... somehow.

Paul went to work and I carried on removing a few bits. After I was done I was speaking to his mum and she said that the 172 exhaust was being a bit of a b**ch to remove so I offered to get it off for him...............well that was a pain in the arse job it took me about 10 minutes of wiggling and persuading it off before it finally came free!

Anyway Thanks again Paul.

So now I nearly have a complete lock set..... The only parts I am missing are the passenger door lock and the boot lock this is because Williams Paul bought the door and boot off Paul but Paul did not remove the locks before selling them. Anyway got in contact with Williams Paul sent him some money over and he said he would post the locks out to me. Thanks again guys!

Tuesday 26[SUP]th[/SUP] June 2012

I started doing a little research on the exhaust mounts for the MK2’s as they are notoriously pony! I came across this thread. http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?558057-Uprated-modified-exhaust-mounts (really useful thanks Yellow Dave). After having a quick read through and establishing what I needed I jumped on eBay and ordered the following bits for the rear and the centre exhaust.

Rear - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/POWERFLEX...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item256de70734


Middle - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/POWERFLEX...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item231adcb022

So once these turn up I’m going to make them up so I can finally get my exhaust mocked up in place so that when I put the manifold in position (because I’m extending it) I will see how far out it is going to put my exhaust all the way down the car.

 

[Djw John]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Good stuff mate, good to see it looking more car like again

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Thanks dude its getting there. Did a bit more work tonoght but havent written it up yet. Also picking up something vital to the build tomorrow can't wait!

 

[Z1gZa]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

I love this project! Very well done. Continue please

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

I love this project! Very well done. Continue please

Thanks mate and will do.

34 days until insurance kicks it so need to get moving with the project!

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Tuesday 26[SUP]th[/SUP] June 2012 Continued

Well after work I decided to do a bit more work on the car. Also Beeson had kindly offered to come down to lend a hand. Unfortunately I didn’t grab a lot of pictures as we just got on and done it.

Well first of all i put the petrol cap in with my new key! Thanks Paul

Then the ignition barrel.

I did also attach the drivers door lock as well but did not picture that. I am just waiting on the passenger and boot lock to arrive in the post from WilliamsPaul Thanks again bud.

I then moved onto removing the existing rubber from the rear exhaust mount. I started but cutting it out but got really bored of that and decided to get fire involved to help the process. With any luck my exhaust mounts will turn up shortly so i can fit the exhaust in place which will help when making the manifold so i can see how far back i need to go.

Lee turned up not long after the burning had stopped. It then started to spit with rain which is bloody typical of the English weather but we carried on regardless.

I didn’t actually stop to take any pictures of this (stupidly) but what I done was mark out a template for the bits around the ‘B’ pillar I removed so that I can repair that prior to the main hoop being welded into position. That’s all that got done really as it was fine tweeking, deburring and removing paint in preparation for my mate to come down and weld it in place.

Wednesday 27[SUP]th[/SUP] June 2012

I had the day off work which was nice, the only bad point was I was that busy I didn’t have time to get down and do any work on the track car.

Anyway I went and picked up the big box pictured below from a local supplier and the little one with fragile wrapped around it from the post office as I missed the collection.

Behind box number one:

A brand new Coolant Bottle just to tart up the engine bay a little.

Behind box number 2 is the following goodies.

Brand new Gaz GHA coilovers. When I ordered them I advised that the car was mainly going to see track so they gave me 350lb front and rear springs. This is slightly different to the set up I got my mate for his fast road car. He got 275lb front springs and 250lb rear springs. (PH2 172).

All of the bits are starting to come together now. Just need to bolt it all together and it will be done.....if only it was that easy.

More updates soon as im going round with my mate to do a bit of welding on the car tonight.

By Sunday I am hoping to have the following done.......

1. Suspension on the car and set up reasonably well.
2. Exhaust mounts to turn up and get them on the car along with the back part of the exhaust.
3. Main hoop welded in the car.
4. Front door bars and ‘A’ pillars mocked in place ready for welding in.
5. Fit the remaining door locks.
6. Finish the cooling system pipework
7. Manifold Flange cut out ready to be surface ground at work.

Just a few things

Watch this space for hopefully more frequent and better updates.........

I need to finish before Mr Struggler: http://www.cliosport.net/forum/show...glers-back!!-ph1-172-project!-(bit-of-a-read)

 

[Struggler]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

good update dude! slightly scared, your project seems to be picking up some pace!!

 

[Struggler]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

also with your welding all done.....

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

good update dude! slightly scared, your project seems to be picking up some pace!!

Nothig to worry about dude still have a million and 1 things to do lol

Just want it finished now!

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Haha welding is nowhere near done!

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Thursday 28[SUP]th[/SUP] June 2012

Well this evening after work was surprisingly productive. Although I had removed some bits I didn’t want to I really did have to once the welder came out.

Anyway first thing was first. We originally put the the feet in position for the main hoop. We had tack welded them in place and offered the main hoop up last time we were here. Once we had the main hoop in place it became apparent very quickly that the feet were too big.

First thing on the cards was to cut the feet down which is what we did,

Passenger side

Drivers side

We then got the scurfer out and started cleaning up the material ready for welding.

While my mate was doing this I was adjusting the templates Beeson and I had made earlier in the week so that it would make it easier for Luke to weld in place.

Unfortunately I forgot to take some pictures of these but you will see them once they are welded in place.

The next thing on the cards was to weld the foot plates in place. So out came the welder and Luke got welding. One thing I forgot to mention to Luke was that I had put the fuel tank back in place and that the under seal was still around the areas he was welding. I left him for two minutes come back and see pepsi max splashed on the underneath of the car. It caught fire then lol.

After that I thought it was best to remove the fuel tank as the weld was extremely close to it and I didn’t want to melt t in situ.

So off came the heatshields.

Then the hand brake cables where disconnected and finally out came the fuel tank.

Next step was out came the scrapper and remove all of the underseal around the area that Luke was welding. After that was done the welding could begin. I was laying on the floor on fire watch whilst he welded.

This was the end result.

Passenger side: (didn’t get one of the drivers side as at this point I had packed up stuff in the car and couldn’t be bothered to remove it for one picture)

We then offered the main hoop of the cage in the car and realised that we would have to flatten I small section of the back weld so that the feet would sit properly.

It was getting late at this point so it was decided to call it a night.

Luke went home and I did a few silly bits.

First of all I removed and cleaned behind the drivers side wing mirror and then replaced it. Then I removed the broken passenger one, gave it a quick clean on the paint work and then fitted the new passenger one I had got from the local scrappie.

Then I just put my coolant bottle in place (didn’t connect the hoses)

Much better now really finishes off the bay!

At this point it was about 9.30pm I was nackered and hungry so I packed up and called it a night.

I got home and had a few parcels:

New Middle and Rear exhaust mounts!

Receipt from the stud conversion I got of Andy so I know what ones to get! Thanks again for posting it mate!

Unfortunately I have not done anything on my list so far. I was hoping to, got close and then hit another problem. Oh well just means I cant fit all of the bits I want to.

As it stands

1. Suspension on the car and set up reasonably well. (Job for Friday)
2. Exhaust mounts to turn up and get them on the car along with the back part of the exhaust. (Now have but need to refit petrol tank, heatshields and handbrake cables before hand)
3. Main hoop welded in the car. (Another two hours and should be done)
4. Front door bars and ‘A’ pillars mocked in place ready for welding in. (god knows)
5. Fit the remaining door locks. (when they turn up 5 minute job)
6. Finish the cooling system pipework (Once I figure out how I am going to get around the problem of the bottom hose not lining up to the rad)
7. Manifold Flange cut out ready to be surface ground at work. (If my mate gets his new compressor then I will be doing this Saturday afternoon)

The updates will get better I promise!

Thanks for reading

 

[Struggler]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

in response to your text this morning mate, pictures of my centre exhaust mount,

sorry if theyre not all that good but i didnt get the jack or anything out today so had to kind of crawl under to take them!!

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Thanks dude where abouts is tht behind the hand brake?

 

[Squeak]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Friday 29[SUP]th[/SUP] June 2012

Right so after work I thought I would continue with the car as I had some goodies to put on it.

First of all I thought I would tackle the rear suspension. So I jacked the car up and put stands underneath the sills.

First thing I did was remove the rear shocks and rear springs.
I needed to fit the adjuster platform to the rear beam but as I had painted it, it didn’t fit. So I removed the paint from around the lip.

I then bolted the adjuster and the main thread to the underside of the rear beam and put the rubber on the top of the mount and placed them in the correct position.

The next step was to put the new shocks in place. I did remember from doing a mates 172 ages ago that you have to shave a little bit off of one of the rubbers to make them fit. So I did this:

I trial fitted them and had no joy so I removed them again and then got a rasp to them to take a little bit more off. This was the end result.

I trial fitted them again and had no joy. By this point I was getting the hump so I walked away from the car (this was a mistake). I very quickly got roped into removing three of their doors off of the log cabin and shaving the bottoms of them so they shut nicely as currently they are getting stuck.

After doing this I was a bit calmer and thought it would be a good idea to get stuck into the car again.

I removed the mounts and then did this to them as a last result to get them fitted.

Once this was done I fitted them once again and this time I had enough thread to get the mount through the hole! Happy days! With the mounts on I chucked the wheel back on and lowered her to the ground.

I gave the shocks a bounce up and down to try and get them to settle but instead of the shocks compressing the top rubber (inside the car) that goes between the chassis and the nut was moving on compression. I wasn’t very happy with this but left it to address at a later date as they had already pissed me off today. Another thing was that the rear ride height was way to high for me. I know I have to refit the fuel tank and a few other bits but that is not going to make that much of a difference. It looks like the rear adjuster will be coming out when I sort the shock issue.

I then turned my attention to the front shocks.

I trial fitted my AST top mount to find this:

This topped it off for me today as I couldn’t use the Gaz top hat as the diameter of the hole in the top was not big enough.....great.

I pretty much packed up for the day after that as I was on the verge of getting a hammer to make the rest of the parts fit the car.

Saturday 30[SUP]th[/SUP] June 2012

Reasonably early start for a weekend and I had the pleasure of Beeson’s help again.

First of all I showed him the problem with the AST’s and the Gaz coilovers.

He tried thinking of different ways to get around it but I wasn’t particularly happy with machining the AST top hat (as this would really weaken it). Also the Gaz top hat had strengthening on the underside so I was not really happy with drilling out the hole and doing that. The only option was to make the ID of the spring bigger. It was only 1.5mm different (approximately) so I set about using a file and enlarging the hole.

Beeson very kindly had brought two good condition rear rubbers to replace the ones I hacked so he removed them and replaced the bottom mounts with his ones and only put the washer (and not the top rubber mount) on the top. We did the suspension travel test and unlike last time the shock stayed against the chassis and the shock compressed rather than moved.

Beeson then came in and grabbed a file and set to work on the other spring. I had already been filing for about 30 minutes and could not see light at the end of the tunnel. After Beeson doing it for about 10 minutes I basically said f**k this im going into work to use one our our air compressed hand held grinders.
The plan was for Beeson to remove the rear adjusters while I was gone but before he could make a start he checked his phone and realised he was 30 mins late from picking up his other half.....OOPS.

Anyway I went into work armed with the springs and top hats. 30 minutes later and I was left with this:

Whilst I was in work I did manage to get the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] mount sand blasted to remove all of the rust and s**t. Nice and clean.

I then built up the shocks with a bit of grease and put the top mounts in place.

I was just about to go and start fitting them when I thought it would be best to put a bit of black hammerite on the spring to prevent it from rusting and going crap (plus I didn’t want it to stick to the top hat).

Before:

After:

I had forgotten that Beeson had not removed the rear adjusters so whilst the jack and the axle stands where at the back of the car I thought I would remove them.

So I removed the adjusters and the threaded tube that the adjuster sits on. As the adjuster has been removed I though it would be best to put the OE rubber in place so the spring does not ruin the rear beam platform.

One OE Rubber Spring Platform and the adjustable tube that the adjuster sits on.

One hole cut:

The finished article:

I then did the same for the other side and fitted them to the car along with the spring.

From this:

To This:

Lowered the car back on the floor and this was the rear arch gap. Wasn’t too pleased with this as it doesn’t appear to have moved, even with the adjuster removed. Perhaps it will go back down a bit once I fit a few more things to the car.

Next I made a start on the front coilovers.

So jacked the car up, removed the front shock, replaced with the coilover and fixed the AST top mount in place as well. I had preset the measurement from the bottom thread of the coilover to the locking platform at 80mm just to see how high/low the car would be. It was a complete guess as the AST top mount is a lot shallower than the gaz item. As you can see in the below pics:

Anyway coilover in place and bolted up

Before jacking the car down I loctited in the four remaining wheel studs that I bought off of Andy (just because the wheel was off). I still need to buy 4 more studs and nuts for the nearside front as I had only purchased 12 off of Andy as he was going to run Locking Wheel Nuts.

I then did all this again to the nearside (apart from fitting the studs and nuts I haven’t got yet)

Lowered the car on the floor and this was the end result.

A bit low for my liking.

That was pretty much it for the work down my nans as I had to go down to my mates yard use his plasma cutter to try and remove some more of this material from the manifold flange I am making.

Didn’t get any pictures of this apart from this:

Unfortunately its not as neat as I had hoped and we had a few problems with his new compressor as it wasn’t set up correctly. But it has still removed a lot of material that I did not want. WINNER.

After this I called it a day and got home to find a parcel waiting for me:

The remaining door locks to complete the set! Thanks a bunch Williamspaul much appreciated. Now all I need to do is fit them and get another key cut so that if I do snap it again I have a spare!

Sunday 1[SUP]st[/SUP] July 2012

Wasn’t feeling a 100% today but none the less I wanted some progress on the car!

The freshly sand blasted 4[SUP]th[/SUP] mount that I had previously done at work yesterday got a little bit of the clear lacquer treatment.

Whilst that was drying it fitted the boot lock and the passenger lock to complete the set

I then tried to remove the remaining rubber out of the rear exhaust mount whilst the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] mount was still drying.

After about 5 minutes I got bored (didn’t have a sharp knife to remove the remaining rubber so was resorting to fire) Plus burning rubber stinks!

The 4[SUP]th[/SUP]mount was reasonably dry at this point so I fitted the rubber and here was the finished item.

As from the previous pictures you can see the front of the car is extremely low and that the wishbones are not in a good position at all! So I decided to raise them up 15mm to see how the car sits.

Before:

After:

After doing this I wanted to play with the AST’s as I didn’t really get the opportunity to do this yesterday. This is the angle of the suspension strut at the following position on the AST’s.

The reason I took this picture is because I was hoping to show a before and after shot. Unfortunately the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] mount beat me as it did not want to sit against the sub frame and gearbox in a nice enough way to bolt it together. I tried everything and eventually gave up.

I then lowered the car on the ground and was still not happy with how the car was sitting so I raised the car another 10mm.

Side Angle of the car:

Quick engine bay shot showing AST positioning:

I then turned my attention to the middle exhaust mount. I am using a ‘D’ shackle as I saw someone on Cliosport do the same thing with exactly the same powerflow exhaust rubber. I don’t mind copying a good idea if I see one lol.

Bolt in place and rubber on ‘D’ shackle:

Next thing on the agenda was the cooling system as I had a few hoses that needed to be modified to ensure that they fit the car. Plus as I am nt running a heater matrix I needed to put the pipework in such a way that it would route back on itself. My dad had recently replaced the shower. It jsut so happened that the pipe that the shower head runs up and down on was the correct size and made from copper. RESULT.

I will let the pictures do the talking:

The only remaining hose that was not fitted was the bottom rad hose but I have addressed that a bit later on.

Bit of Front bumper modification for the oil cooler.

Before:

After:

I then removed the front bumper, front slam panel and grille so I could get better access to the oil cooler and bottom rad hose.

I then made the following for the oil cooler to stop it swinging and potientially getting damaged on part of the car.

I then made the following bracket to solve my bottom rad hose problem:
I will let the pics do the talking.

The reason I had to do this is because the mounting points for the 172 rad are wider than the 16v rad. Because of the width difference the bottom rad hose was too far to the driver’s side of the car to reach the radiator. This was a nice simple fix and I was a lot happier doing it this way rather than modifying the water hoses.

The last thing I did for the night before packing up was move the oil cooler mounting holes closer to the radiatior as the rubber mounts that hold the top were constantly under tension which I did not think was ideal.

Much better now.

Below is the list that I had planned to get complete by the end of the week.

1. Suspension on the car and set up reasonably well. (Job for Friday) [Now complete apart from rear ride height will address when everything in the car.]
2. Exhaust mounts to turn up and get them on the car along with the back part of the exhaust. (Now have but need to refit petrol tank, heatshields and handbrake cables before hand)[No more progress as yet]
3. Main hoop welded in the car. (Another two hours and should be done) [No more progress as yet]
4. Front door bars and ‘A’ pillars mocked in place ready for welding in. (god knows) [No more progress as yet]
5. Fit the remaining door locks. (when they turn up 5 minute job) [Done]
6. Finish the cooling system pipework (Once I figure out how I am going to get around the problem of the bottom hose not lining up to the rad) [Done]
7. Manifold Flange cut out ready to be surface ground at work. (If my mate gets his new compressor then I will be doing this Saturday afternoon) [50% there]

Not as much as I would hope but a few more niggle sorted out. Also I’m not going to bodge this car in anyway just to meet the deadlines. Deadlines are meant to be missed lol

Thanks for reading, comment always welcome.

 

[Djw John]

Re: The Confused Budget Track Clio! * Inc 197 Cup Cage Content*

Must remember to only look at this thread on wifi, it's a 3G killer!!