My first Mk3 Ultra Red R27

Djw John

Paid Member
Some of you may have seen this on cliosport.net but I’d like to have it here too, liking the site. Bit of background to me, serial clio owner, had a ph1 flame red 172 for most of the last 11.5 years but its been problematic for a while and I just want to get out and drive and do more track days. Managed about 20 or so but not a full one for nearly a year.


I decided it had been a while since I bought anything and asked some questions about 197s on Sunday night in a group chat. On Monday night I drove this home not sure it was meant to happen that quickly!

It used to be @Martin_172 and @Fraser.J. so its got known history. Dunno if that's a good thing or not.

Only mods I know of atm are 20mm spacers, powerflex torque mount, braided lines and the akrapovic. As you'll see it did have wind deflectors but I've just taken them off in the car park. Non original Stickers are next to go

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Looks way better without the sunstrip, wind deflectors and rear window sticker.


What an introduction to 197 ownership though. My daughter was desperate to go out in it so we put her seat in


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Got her to press the start button and nada. Nothing. Square root of f**k all happened. I was not pleased. Tried bumping it since I live at the top of a hill and that didn't work either.


So after 12 years and 98500 miles the tow hook looked like this


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Until 21 hours into my ownership


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The cause? A garage fitted a new starter fairly recently and totally gubbed the thread on the exciter signal stud


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Which after quite the faff


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Got sorted


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What a total pain in the dick.
 
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Managed a wee bit more to it today, Started out like this


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Wee bit of elbow grease later


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Fitted silvervisions but forgot to take a pic.


Then later on decided to remove the carbon spats and found why the tyres were down at 13psi


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f**king yay.


But I cleaned it anyway.


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Just a quick AG snowfoam and wash. Wheels are fucked so I'll need to decide what to do. Budgets on the front and punctures on the rear.
 
Not much has happened to this what with being busy with family life and that.


Rbf600 arrived today for the clutch and brakes and the RPD order arrives tomorrow so that'll keep me occupied too.


After removing 5 of the 6 air fresheners I thought I should chuck in my alpine so I can stream music and have hands free again, something I've really missed in the civic.


It was whilst fitting it I realised it's not quite DIN size. Ah well.


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Wee bit done to it tonight.


Main thing was a new top mount for the nearside, bought both though, I'll fit the offside when I fit springs.


The first thing I noticed is how much more garage it takes up over the flamer!


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The top nut was mega right but it can't be stuck there if it's liquid right?


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And then a few odds and ends like oil and thermostat change, reseating the slave cylinder bleeder bit, new wipers and jdm'ing the arch guard


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Top mount has done the job, new more knocking, thermostat has kept temps nice and steady bang in the middle instead of 1/4, actually securing the slave cylinder seems to have worked too. All helps towards feeling more confident with the car.


And just now it's new tyre day


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Gone for pilot sports at Costco
 
Went for 225/45/17 Michelin Pilot Sport 4, bit chunkier than before, when the H&R 30/40 get bought and fitted I think it'll look spot on


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Had a short time after work today with no wife or kids so quickly bled the brakes ready for track on Wednesday. Old fluid didn't look too bad but I'm sure the braided hoses only went on last year. But I'll bet it wasn't with RBF600 like it is now.


Spot the new caliper!

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1st May 2019

Well big thanks to @cpaterson76 for the standard length wheel bolts tonight, quickly whipped the spacers off and went out on track.

I wanted to do one with as it came as possible to see what sort of time it could do and what I should concentrate on mods wise. Only mods on it are the akropovic, powerflex torque mount engine mount thingy, braided lines and half worn ds2500. Used RBF600 brake fluid and brand new Michelin pilot sport 4 tyres. So to end up with a 63.9 second lap which is only 2 seconds behind my fully track dedicated ph1 with a strong engine is unbelievable to me. I thought I'd be doing well to get into the 65/66 second range. It was damp as well.


The things it highlighted is that the original rear shocks are absolutely done and need changed next. And then it's time for some 888R and better brake pads, never been a DS2500 fan and know that there's better out there like the DS1.11 and uno.


I'll keep an eye out for track pics so these will have to do for now


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Stonking introduction. Loved reading it mate.
Reminded me of where all my money has gone!
Hope to see more progress and updates as you go.
 
Thanks for the welcomes lads. I'll keep it up to date for sure. Once I've finished breaking my flamer down I'll hopefully have money to do a bit more.

You can guess what's next..

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Awesome start [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106] ill be keeping an eye out for the updates

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk
 
Welcome aboard :french:

Great read m, thoroughly enjoyed and it and you’ve been hard at work