197 Cup Hillclimbing Car

[Zuban]

great build! any issues with the rear bumper flexing or flopping around after removing the support? been looking at that myself

 

[G197]

No it’s absolutely fine, the diffuser does a really good job of holding it in place and stops any air getting under it. I probably wouldn’t lean against it or anything but from a general perspective its fine and saves a good few kg’s.

 

[G197]

Thought it was about time I provided another update on the progress with my Clio.

As planned this winter the car has now been to Andy at Engine Dynamics for the Level 2 Performance Package which is essentially a cambelt change, uprated Piper Cams and a much needed re-map.

As always with cars there was good news and some bad news! On the initial dyno run the car made 188HP, after a small tweak to where I'd placed the cold air feed it then made 192HP, which we both felt was reasonable for the standard map. In hindsight some alarm bells should have been ringing at this point as it probably should have achieved better than this given the intake and exhaust mods! I'll come back to this in a minute.

After the Piper Cams were fitted and Andy got it back on the dyno and worked his magic with the mapping he got the car up to 206HP (as shown on the graphs). On a later run, once it had cooled down, he did get a reading of 208HP. So overall we'd seen an increase of 20HP (188HP to 208HP).

The bad news is that 208HP isn't as much as Andy was expecting it to make and he was beginning to suspect there may be an issue somewhere. After a quick compression test he found that cylinders 3 & 4 were down 10% and 15% respectively. :-( Andy suspects this may just be the valve seats but further investigation is needed.

After lots of consideration I decided to hold off doing any further work at this point and to run the car as it is for this season and make the most of the extra 20HP I've gained and the significant improvements in torque (especially the terrible flat spot I had)! So watch this space next year for an update on the situation and hopefully I'll gain another 12HP to take the car up to it's true potential of 220HP.

Andy was super helpful throughout and I can definitely recommend his services, although the 5am get up's to get the car down there were a challenge! Also a shout out to my mate Rich for towing the car down for me! I really didn't fancy the 3 1/2 hour journey in the Clio!!!

 

[G197]

Updated list of mods:

• Cambelt, Water Pump & Dephaser - Oct 2017
• HEL Braided Brake hoses
• Brembo Discs
• Mintex Pads
• Safety Devices 6 Point Roll Cage
• OMP Champ Bucket Seats & Subframes
• Harnesses
• Driver & Passenger Airbag Delete
• Racing Steering wheel
• Steering Wheel Boss
• Team Dynamics 1.2 Pro Race 45 Offset
• Wheel Stud Conversion Kit
• Front Towing loop
• Drivers Foot Plate
• ITG Induction Kit
• Battery Relocation to Rear Footwell
• Bilstein Full Coilover Kit - Rates: 70N/mm (400lb/in) front, 300lb/in rear)
• Adjustable Top Mounts
• Front Strut Brace
• OEM wishbone bushes
• Adjustable anti roll bar links
• Adjustable anti rotation links
• Rear Axle stiffening plates
• Rear axle bush kit
• Engine Bushes
  • Lower Engine Mount Insert
  • Upper Engine Mount Insert
  • Gearbox Mounting Bush Insert
  • Upper Engine Mount Torque Arm Bush
• Oddessey Race Battery
• Gearbox rebuild - Jan 2022
• Gripper Diff
• Cup front splitter
• 200 Steering Rack
• Fog light cold air feed
• Clio Cup Spoiler
• Carbon Canister Removed - 0.5kg
• Tar / sound proofing - 5kg
• Rear bumper support removed - 3kg
• Rear Tow Strap
• Single Exit Pure Motorsport Manifold & Exhaust - 6kg weight saving.
• Cam belt & Aux Belt Feb 2024
• Piper Cams
• Spark plugs
• Re-map - Engine Dynamics
• Airbag light disabled