Mechanical Issue

Hi Guys,

I have a 197 F1 Clio thats been pretty heavily modified, i purchased it as my first track car and have since done a few very enjoyable days at Cadwell.

Yesterday I successfully installed a V6 air-box, upon completion I took the car out for a 30 minute drive to see if the difference was noticeable. Pulling on to the motorway heading home I dropped from 4th gear into 3rd to overtake, the car went into third gear and revved up but there was no power to the wheels, I pressed the clutch (which felt normal) and put it into 4th gear, again no power to the wheels. I pulled up in the hard shoulder and got a friend to come toe me home.

Upon getting home I pushed the car into my garage and began to try and establish what the issue may have been caused by, I put the car into first and lifted the clutch to bite point, the gear box engaged and the car moved forward slightly, I put it in reverse and the same thing happened. I was in a rush to leave so didn’t take the car out for a test drive through all the gears but I’ll be doing that today.

The car has a RS200 gearbox with a CG motor sport stage 3 clutch and Quaife LSD. I’m reasonably mechanically minded but by no means a mechanic. Any thoughts surrounding how to diagnose what the issue may be and fix would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
 
*update*

I’ve take the car out and slowly ran it through the gears, all gears working ok but 4th no longer exists. Fairly awful noise coming from gear box.
 
If the gearbox is knackered get it rebuilt and add in a LSD. I think it is one of the best upgrades you can do to your Clio. That is is you haven’t got one already.
 
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Shifter cables been checked? I hope it's something simple and cheap, but it sounds like the gearbox might need some love sadly
 
My thoughts was shifter cables too - they can pop out of the bracket on top of the box on occasion.
Obviously that isn't your issue as you wouldn't be able to select reverse.
 
*update*

I’ve take the car out and slowly ran it through the gears, all gears working ok but 4th no longer exists. Fairly awful noise coming from gear box.

That sounds like the usual synchro issue, but losing the ability to move forward in traffic sounds more like clutch issue - maybe it overheated? Do you get any slip if you do hard shifts at the top of the rev range in lower gears?
 
If it’s making a horrible noise I suspect it’s internal and not cable related. Sorry, but likely expensive. Here’s the noise mine was making at idle when the gearbox had been run without oil and cooked itself:



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the car went into third gear and revved up but there was no power to the wheels

Then the gear was not selected or the clutch was slipping.
No gear selection = cable issue
Falling out of gear = synchro issue
Slipping clutch = worn clutch plate or oil on flywheel/clutch plate
 
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Seems a bit of a random coincidence with you doing the V6 airbox. Defo not knocked anything when faffing about above the gearbox?