Nicole ? Papa ! - Clio 197 F1

Actually nothing else meant by that :relaxed:

Jimmy actually is a ridiculously slow eater lol! I can finish my plate full and jimmy is maybe 3 bites in.
Haha. Just messing mate:grinning:

Think you boys might need to clean this guys thread up!:oops:
 
Well we've had a few weeks since the last update, and all is well, ish...

After the beating the car took around Oulton Park it seems to have developed a sticking rear caliper. :grimacing:

It squeals like a piggy and seems to prevent the car from free rolling but doesn't seem to generate a lot of heat.

I have an MOT coming up in a few weeks so it may be a case of run it through the MOT see if anything else is wrong.

Hopefully there wont be anything else wrong! But we shall see.
 
So today was MOT time. After spending some time over the weekend cleaning up my sticky caliper i was feeling confident...

It did however fail :coldsweat:

But not on brakes!

It seems to have a leaky nearside shock, and my centre pipe delete looks to be leaking.

No major issues then!

Looks like i can get the left shock from here https://www.kamracing.co.uk/car-tun...clio-mk3-rs-cup-dampers-197-renaultsport.html

And while thats being done i can get the garage to paste up the exhaust.

Few advisories for play in the rack and some worn tyres (knew these would need replacing soon) so all in all not too bad.
 
Shes back!

Car has a nice new shock and feels all the better for it, also had the small leak patched up and the car is feeling tip top.

Next on the shopping list is 2 new tyres, really tempted by PS4's but i know conti's are great tyres.

Other than that i'm going to enjoy the car as much as i can now its healthy and has a fresh ticket.
 
Good to make it through an MOT, if one of your dampers have been leaning I'd be planning on what you're going to be doing with the rest of them soon. Perfect excuse to think about upgrading soon.
 
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Echo Tom's comments! If one was dodgy, common sense suggests the others might start going the same way!

Great to hear it's gone through the MOT!
 
I thought this myself, but it seems from looking back through the history folder the Offside shock and spring was done around 20k ago! Bit of a result :sunglasses:
 
Time for a well overdue update.

Over Xmas the car didn't get much use, i couldn't bring myself to trudge up and down the country with the roads being salty and horrible.

Not getting dirty went well...

First weekend after Xmas me and the Mrs decided to have a day out in the countryside, the a/b roads were lovely. But off the beaten track they were a little muddy :tongueclosed:

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Right, it's having a wash!

Living in an apartment i have no way of washing the car, so a local drive in place had the pleasure. for £7 they did a pretty solid job and the car was once again blue.

Goodies!

I entered a competition over on MSV's Facebook page to win some Dodo Juice products, to my amazement i won a goodie bag that contained a little taster selection.

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Now i know little to nothing about detailing cars, the most i have ever done is some T Cut and Turtle Wax, i did try claying once but never got decent enough results.

I read the handy tutorial and decided to give it a go.

I am very impressed with this stuff, i started by using the Lime Prime which cleans paintwork in prep for waxing, applied with one cloth, buffed with another.

Then i set about with a foam pad and some of their Hard Candy wax, once applied i buffed with another cloth. The paintwork came up a real treat and for saying this was my first time the car was swirl free and baby smooth.

Tip run, then you can play.

Orders from the Mrs were given and off on my way i went, as a side note its surprising the amount of junk you can fit in one of these.

tip run.jpg

Once the car was emptied i headed out onto my favorite roads up here, they were quiet but greasy in places. The Clio really is a little star on a back road, the chassis can take bumps well and there always seems to be just the right amount of grip. A trip up to Holme Moss did however show that this chassis can tramline on uneven cambers.

A few pictures

Wanting to showoff my shiny paintwork i broke out the camera.

25813098528_92950b2fbc_k.jpg20180114-9I3Y4495 by Alexander Dunlop, on Flickr

38787364125_559a0b5330_k.jpg20180114-9I3Y4494 by Alexander Dunlop, on Flickr

25813107098_7487652f5f_k.jpg20180114-9I3Y4487 by Alexander Dunlop, on Flickr

38787372295_ca8939b9fb_k.jpg20180114-9I3Y4481 by Alexander Dunlop, on Flickr

After these pictures i carried on around some more of the roads just for the hell of it. Car behaved well apart from deciding it needed an oil top up, luckily i had some on me so pulled over and attempted to top up. Apart from a gust of wind meaning i slightly soaked the engine in oil this went well :sweatsmile:

I haven't really got any plans for the car as yet, i wanted to do another track day but i may have booked a bookatrack drift day in a Caterham so that's swallowed up my track day funds for now.

The small list of jobs i have is to get some new front tyres soon and i maybe should give the gearbox oil a refresh. Other than that i will use the little Clio until i need to sell!
 
Update time!

Fresh Rubber

So with my Contis starting to get a little low the clio wasn’t feeling it’s best. After a rotation front to back it was time for some new tyres.

I’d be wanting to try Pilot Sports for some time and thought now was the perfect time.

Quick 10 mins on Black circles and I had 2 ordered to a tyre place nearby

Got them fitted up and they were looking good.

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Also gave the car a cheeky wash as was down at the parents house.

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Just getting them scrubbed in now before I give a proper verdict. If I like them I will most likely get a set stuck on the rear.

As a side note I have ordered some gearbox oil and a new plug and washer so will get that done after the next track session. I have a slot booked at the pistonheads Sunday service in April!
 
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Another update!

More track time!

After the "Beast from the east" hit England pretty hard the first pistonheads Sunday service was cancelled, but it had been rescheduled for the upcoming bank holiday, so all was not lost. I had time to wear the tires in and get used to the cars new found pointy front end.

Not more bloody snow...

Waking up at the in laws house on Monday morning i was expecting a light dusting of snow, not this bloody much! Car cleared off in no time and i was on my way. Weather began to clear up and the rain settled in.

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Sunday Service

Pistonheads organize these days for free, you can book a slot of track time for a small fee and have the chance to donate to Mission Motorsport, fantastic charity who help ex soldiers through motorsport.

It was a very wet day down there and the turnout wasn't great, i did however get chatting to a Lexus UK employee who let me have a real poke around the GS-F, what a lovely car. Everything you would ever need!

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Time to go sailing!

My track slot came around and the track was still very wet, it had stopped raining very briefly but there was a fair amount of standing water.

I was in a Novice session due to me never having driven Silverstone National before. Despite this i was pretty confident in the Clio and spent some time hunting down more exotic machinery.

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I was really impressed with how the PS4 tire handled the wet i had a lot more grip and confidence than on the old Conti's. Still having those Conti's on the rear did lead to a few loose rear end moments but if anything this made the car feel more alive and on its tip toes.

I still need to change the gearbox oil and i think new rear pads are on the agenda soon. I am still smitten with this car, its just flipping ace!
 

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