Glacier White 200 Cup

[burrellbloke]

I have just had a thought - the clamping plates have 2 rows of three holes. Both of the front dampers have been sent with the bolts in the clamping plates in a. diagonal pattern (x marks where a bolt is):

Row 1: o - x - x

Row 2: x - x - o

Should the dampers be set up with the clamping bolts in a parallel pattern, so something like this:

Row 1: o - x - x

Row 2: o - x -x

 

[PITA]

I have just had a thought - the clamping plates have 2 rows of three holes. Both of the front dampers have been sent with the bolts in the clamping plates in a. diagonal pattern (x marks where a bolt is):

Row 1: o - x - x

Row 2: x - x - o

Should the dampers be set up with the clamping bolts in a parallel pattern, so something like this:

Row 1: o - x - x

Row 2: o - x -x

Yes, they should be the same both sides

 

[burrellbloke]

Day two and the Gaz Golds are now on properly.



We reused the original top mount bolts. I gave them a bath in some Bilt & Hamber Deox C rust remover and it removed the vast majority of surface rust from the bolts and washers.



The top mounts and strut nut were tightened up. A rough guess was made to get the camber equal on both sides.



The rear dampers went on okay, but the passenger side may be rubbing on the body work.

The car is now sitting lower than it was before on the B14s. The back is really low - the front and back height probably needs adjusting a bit more.



The front now has a lot more negative camber.



The Clio is booked in with AW Motorworks next week to sort out the geo set up.

 

[suj]

Great work, the rubbing is normal, it needs some hammer persuasion (even the race car YouTube video said it needs smashing a bit haha).

Also RIP to your archliners soon....join me and @RSRowe with running none

 

[RSRowe]

Time for some hammer work on that N/S/R inner arch

 

[burrellbloke]

I did get the club hammer out and give the passenger side rear arch multiple hefty whacks but it did not do much - so we decided to tighten everything up and put the rear beam back on the floor to see how bad the rubbing was. I have only taken the car for a short test drive and I cannot hear any terrible sounds. I will see if Alex can sort out any rubbing issues next week.

 

[RSRowe]

From the ones I’ve worked on, the issue usually isn’t anywhere near as bad on the 200’s

I had to take a grinder to mine and then there was a lot of hammer work. Maybe Renault finally learnt how to put them together properly by the time the 197’s ended.

 

[suj]

From the ones I’ve worked on, the issue usually isn’t anywhere near as bad on the 200’s

I had to take a grinder to mine and then there was a lot of hammer work. Maybe Renault finally learnt how to put them together properly by the time the 197’s ended.

The Clio Cup car build was a 200, so it's probably French "quality control" on the line....

 

[Big Ben]

I’ve never got my head round this rubbing. Mine never did it at all yet they all seem to rub now

 

[RSRowe]

They built yours before they’d had their wine and cheese dinner break

 

[Big Ben]

They built yours before they’d had their wine and cheese dinner break

Either that or I’ve got a bent coilie

 

[burrellbloke]

I took the car out for a few journeys yesterday and this morning. @EthanMenace decided to set the Gaz Golds to full hard just to see what they were like on the stiffest settings. My journey down a dual carriage way at 70mph was amusing but very bumpy.

I think that the car has a great stance at the moment, but it does need the back end raised, or the front end lowered to give it some more rake. I am not going to adjust the ride height as the car is having it's geo set up this week.



I have been driving around with the radio off trying to listen to any rubbing of the passenger side rear spring, or just general arch liner destruction - but it is impossible to hear anything as the set up bounces about at the minute and all I can hear is general road noise and the back end of the car going up and down.



I am hoping after a full week the springs will have started to settle.



I like how the tops of the tyres are just tucking under the arches at the moment. I now need to sort out the Oz Ultraleggeras that we bought - they should poke out a little bit more than the Speedlines with 20mm spacers but the negative camber should, hopefully, help to avoid rubbing the front arch close to where the bumper joins he arch.



The car is off to AW Motorworks this week for a gearbox refurb, a Gripper, a clutch damper delete, new purple PowerFlex ARB bushes, and for a geo set up. I am super excited to get the car back and see how it performs. I have been throwing it about roundabouts and with the Gaz Golds it is really hard to find any faults - it is really grippy. I am less excited to add the extra few thousand pounds worth of work on the the spreadsheet I have been keeping since I bought the car to track how much is spent on the Clio.

The first track day (evening session) of the year is Brands Hatch on 6th April 2022. I have been looking at everyone's track day photos on Instagram and cannot wait to get the car out on to a track this year. I really want to attack Paddock Hill Bend and see what difference the upgrades to the Clio have made. The first time I went round Paddock Hill Bend I quite literally crapped myself thinking that the car was going roll or skip off the track with bouncy suspension and end up in the gravel. This year will be different going lower, stiffer and with a gripper to keep the power on.

 

[Sean197]

Sits perfectly

 

[PITA]

I’d agree that you need some more rake. My dampers are 10 clicks from hard and it’s still rock hard lol.

 

[Big Ben]

Touch higher on the rear imo

 

[Helpimonfire]

I was always a big fan of the rear of cars sitting lower, I guess that's from my days of owning 306's! Mine sits higher on the rear and I think it looks brilliant. Lots of money spent on this though, gunna be an absolute blast at Croft!

 

[burrellbloke]

I dropped the car off at AW Motorworks today and have asked Alex to batter the passenger rear arch to make sure the passenger side rear coilover stops rubbing.

 

[Big Ben]

I dropped the car off at AW Motorworks today and have asked Alex to batter the passenger rear arch to make sure the passenger side rear coilover stops rubbing.

I’m seeing him Saturday. I’ll take my sledge hammer see if I can help out

 

[burrellbloke]

We picked up the Clio from AW Motorworks today. Alex has:

1. Stripped the gearbox, given it a refurb and replaced the 3rd and 4th gear synchros
2. Installed a new clutch
3. Installed a new slave cylinder
4. Installed a Gripper plated diff
5. Installed a clutch damper delete kit
6. Installed some purple Powerflex ARB bushes
7. Corner weighted the car
8. Set up the geo

Alex ran out of time to sort out the geo on the rear beam as the car had not originally been booked in for a geo set up - just the gearbox work. The front now has about 3 degrees of negative camber and the rear has about 2. The rear needs a few shims to even out the current camber and set the toe. Alex said he would send me the details of the shims we need and we will whip off the stub axles and slip them in.

I saw @Big Ben at AW Motorworks earlier - he was sorting out his rear beam

The car is now sitting slightly higher than last week. I will take some photos and take some measurements tomorrow.

When the rear shims have been sorted out I will have a base set up that I can tinker with if I ever want to go for a more aggressive set up.

The car also has a purple PowerFlex bushes everywhere now, with he exception of the front wishbones (as they have brand new Renault rubber bushes) and the rear damper top bush (as it has new Gaz rubber bushes that came with the coilovers).

I have had a quick drive in the Clio. The Gripper makes the car sound like it is broken when you are performing tight turns as slow speeds. But the car feels good driving "sensibly" at speed round corners. The dampers have been softened by Alex so the ride is not as hard. I can't feel any noticeable difference with the clutch or the clutch damper delete yet. @EthanMenace drove the car back from AW Motorworks and he thinks that the clutch and gearbox feels smoother and more precise.

I think that we will play with the dampers and see how stiff they will go before it adversely affects the handling of the car, or my sanity when driving the car. Some good news is that the passenger rear coiler is no longer rubbing,.

Roll on the Brands Hatch evening session on 6th April 2022.

 

[suj]

"I don't want Gaz Golds"
"I don't want a gripper"
"I don't want the car too low"
Good work lads