Milan's Clio 197 Tracktool

This weekend I went on to put the rear crankshaft seal that was leaking. I've read that some people put the seal flush to the block, so did I and I regret it because some told me it will most likely leak again when they sit flush. As I am a bit in a hurry, I decided to still assemble the rest of the car. I just need to go on the dyno as soon as possible, after that I can replace the seal. So I mounted up the new lightweight flywheel, stock clutch, the stronger Trw slave cylinder and the new gearbox on saturday and hooked up the CAE shifter :

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The next day, I finally have mounted my Cup Racer subframe with the wishbones on the car :

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Now I am waiting for my longer driveshafts that I have ordered from Richard at Rentune, I hope they come soon, so the Clio can finally stand on its legs again after 6 months.
I've also ordered a 330mm big brake kit from Godspeed that should come in the next weeks.

Cheers !
 
Got some progress made on the Clio. I relocated the battery to the back, in which I decided to use the existing grommet to go through with the battery cable since I don't have much room to drill with the LHD setup. And it was probably the most frustrating thing I've done on the car. It took me almost 2 hours to get the cable through, because I couldn't cut all the isolating tape on the interior side. In the end I got it through with a big welding rod and some electrical tape :

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After that I located the battery and fuse holder, to which I used an existing threaded hole of the isofix bar :
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And after some cutting, crimping and tucking, the cables are finished and the battery is savely secured :

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To the engine bay side I've modified the existing fuse holder and mounted it up on the V6 airbox. I mounted it on the ''output'' side of the filter, which surely isn't the best thing to do, but I used locknuts and will check them every weekend I drive which should eliminate the problem :

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Next step is to mount the longer driveshafts which are on the way right now and sorting out the exhaust, then we will be ready for the first start up since 7 months :grimacing:
 
So, many things happened in the last weeks and I'm really getting close for the first drive.
My driveshafts from Rentune finally came and they look amazing, special thanks to Richard for making them so fast for me :
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I then finally completed the front axle and mounted up my 330mm brakes :
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So then I took my Clio to the workshop so I have a lift to complete all the little details that's left.
First step was bleeding the brakes and the clutch. The clutch is fine but the brake pedal feels a little weird.
I had the complete brake system empty before, could this be ABS related, did someone had this problem ?

Anyway I then mounted up my rear Cup Racer dampers that replace the self made Elise dampers I had on this car and also fitted my Cup Racer exhaust :
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So then I tried to crank it the first time this year and it fired right up !
I had it rolling through all gears on the lift and adjusted the CAE shifter. The sound of this car is so amazing with
this exhaust, its so raspy and pops really nice.

Thats how things are for now, the next steps will be figuring out my brake problem, then doing an alignment and corner weighting.
I have already booked a test day at Anneau du Rhin in France at the 9th August, I hope the car will be drivable till then !
 
So finally found some time to update this thread.
My previous brake issue was fixed, I just bled the whole system one more time, then I've welded a bung for the second Lambda sensor.

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After that, I did a wheel alignment with a bit less camber at the rear than in the previous photos :

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I then bought a set of Nankang NS2-R's and mounted them up on the white wheels.
The Clio was ready for my first Testday since the rebuild :
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So I then prepared a second car with spare parts and tools and headed out to Anneau du Rhin, where I drove exactly 1 year ago with the older spec I had (KW Clubsport's, Powerflex....).
I did a couple of laps and immediately noticed that I had massive understeer.
The turn in wasn't really bad, mid corner was catastrophic and the exit also bad despite the new Gripper LSD.
I then tried only adjusting the front tyre pressure and let the rear pressure go up till 2.5 bar.
For some laps I was battling with one of Fahrbachs tuned Clio IV RS and it was interesting to see that my car despite the wider Cup Racer axle wasn't as sharp and neutral as the other Clio. At the corners I could keep up
just enough, at the straights it was hopeless and on the brakes, my Clio was a bit better.
So I then jacked up the car and removed a bit of camber at the rear, that would automatically also make the toe
go more out.
But the wheel speed sensor at the rear left wasn't already in the best condition and it gave up after I mounted the stub back on.
The ABS didn't work anymore, but I still tried driving it and it was a little bit better not much, but a bit better.
I couldn't go all out, because the wheels would immediately lock up, so after troubleshooting the problem hopelessly at the track, I decided to head back home.
When I came back, I mesaured the toe at the rear and it was 11mm out total, so theoretically it should have been much more oversteery than it really was.
Even last year with the stock rear axle the car was really neutral, so now I am in the process of putting a rear adjustable arb instead of the PMS stiffening kit, we'll see if that works.

Lets hope for a better future !
Cheers !
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Ditch the NS2’s for a more track focussed tyre. All the work going into the geometry setup is wasted if you have poor rubber
 
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Look at all the quick cars at the Nürburgring, they've all got DZ03G's fitted.
As close to a road legal slick as you'll get.

A friend of mine runs A052 on his race car. But they don't last too long. He does do 45 minute races though.
 
I use Dunlop DZ03G now having previously used AD08R. The difference between the two is significant. I wouldn’t want to use the Dunlop’s on the road however.
 
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Well its time for an update here on my thread :
After the disappointing Trackday at Anneau du Rhin I lost motivation for the Clio and the German Time Attack Masters Event came closer and closer. I then said to myself, that I won't drive there since it was not drivable for me and the DZ03G's that I ordered have gone lost during delivery. But then 1 week before, something made like a click in my head and I really wanted to drive there. So I said to myself I'll give the Clio one chance to impress me, or else I will part her out and sell all the parts.
So then i quickly started working and removed the gearbox as I had an oil leak, which I thought was the crank seal that I've put flush instead of proud, but the crank seal was fine, it was the slave cylinder which was only 500 km old.
It wasn't a genuine one. It was a TRW metal one instead of the fragile plastic.
But I decided to put a new Oem one in, as I had a new one already laying around from the clutch kit I bought some months ago.
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After that I mounted up the old rear axle (Pure Motorsport Version) and changed the rear wheel speed sensor, as I had a fault code on at Anneau du Rhin in which I didn't had ABS.
So then after bleeding the clutch and brakes and doing a complete check I took the Clio for a test drive and I couldn't delete the fault code it had despite the new sensor (the rear discs were also only 500 km old).
I then plugged out the sensor and found heavy metal debris magnetized on the ABS ring, probably because I grinded the stiffening plate of the rear axle a bit out as it was rubbing against the rear damper.
After that the ABS was fully functioning and I aligned her again. Last time I did a setup that was recommended from several local Clio Cup Teams, this time I did it on my own experimenting, and hoped it would work out better than last time.
So I then drove last Saturday to the Nürburgring, mounted up all the decals and passed the technical scrutineering without problems.
The day after was show time. I had 2 free practice sessions in the morning, which was wet so I couldn't get an opinion on the setup, but then in the warm-up session it was dry and it really felt like I've put slicks on now compared to last time. It had so much grip and was phenomenal to drive. There were many from the Dutch Superlap with stripped out Clio 2 RS race cars and I was 1.5 seconds faster than them in my Clio with still most of the Interior on and Nankang NS2-R tyres.
In Qualifying I couldn't get one single clean lap, as there was so much traffic.
The first 3 laps I was behind a Toyota Supra, which blasted away at the straights, but was really slow at braking and cornering, so I made a little ''Kamikaze'' attack at the Dunlop hairpin and managed to go away.
I was then on a really good lap, then there was again more traffic at Sector 2, so I flashed my lights and overtook a Fiesta ST but I misjudged the braking and almost ran into a Focus RS, it was very very close to a crash, but despite that, I still concentrated on finishing that lap and then got in to the pits to kinda calm down my nerves.
There was 5 minutes left so I wanted to get one clean lap, so I headed out and noticed the fire extinguisher came loose, I then abadoned the lap and went to the pits, hoping I would qualify to the Top 5 Finale.
And it did thankfully I was 0.7 seconds faster than the MX5 behind me.
So for the Finale you only have one flying lap to score a time, so I swapped the wheels to front & back and for the first time I had a traffic free lap as there were only 5 cars at the track and I've set my goal to get in the 2:32's as my Quali lap was in the 2:34 range and I knew there was more left, and it worked out !
I got a 2:32:934 and got P5 on my very first Time Attack Event and the 3rd ever time driving on a race track.
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Photo by The Unleashed

And now did the Clio impress me ?
Yes. definitely, I already made plans for the next season. My goal is to drive next year again at the Nürburgring and break the 2:30 barrier with some minor mods.
Until then, here's the Onboard of my Hotlap :


Cheers !
 
@bedoef Yes it has been a big journey for me, I think I will finish the new axle with the adjustable anti roll bar for next year, just because I can play a little more with the settings with that.
 
So, preparations have started for the 2020 season. The first thing I wanted to do is putting on scales, to see how heavy she really is and I was really surprised ! With a full Wiechers roll cage, most of the interior plus 20 liters of fuel I got 1184 kg ! I think that's a good figure comparing on other Clios. (Don't mind the cross weight, because the floor wasn't fully flat)
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After that, I started removing the interior of the car and also the Wiechers roll cage, which I want to replace and came across to this disgusting welding :
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Don't buy modified cars, unless you can trust the seller !
This will for sure be removed.
Anyway, the car is almost stripped and now I am searching for a new bolt in roll cage. I've wanted it to be out of T45 steel but it seems like there aren't any companies out there, that do it out T45 (SW Motorsport can only do the straight parts out of T45, Safety Device only out of CDS).
So now I'm thinking of getting a Safety Device R019, but I don't know if it would be much heavier than the Wiechers roll cage, which is also out of CDS steel.
I'm really interested, what other people run and could recommend for me !
Cheers !
 
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