Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
CLIO 197 CUP - Project TF
- Thread starter Tarticmonkey
- Start date
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
Reyt then,
Where to start with this update.
I think the best way to summarise my life the 197 over the past few weeks is stressful.
Set myself the goal of getting the car ready for cars and coffee with Steel City Porsche on 10th of Feb. Prior to getting the car done for the track day that is on Saturday coming. All that was left to do was get the car through an MOT so it can be driven. That is when the stress began.
So the car failed on 2 things:
Corrosion on underbody (surface rust with them being keen)
Ball joint.
Got the welding sorted for peace of mind and set about changing the ball joints. As I had fresh arms with poly bushes and new ball joints to go on the car. Arms were changed after some drama with a rounded bolt. Welding, grinding and tears and it still wouldn't budge. Thanks for a mate having a recip saw on hand. 30 minutes of cutting later it was off. (That bolt is now on my mantle piece in my kitchen like a hunting trophy and warning to all other bolts who dare mess with me).
During this he car was advised on loose brake lines.. despite being secured, inner tie rod having play - despite not having play and play in real wheel bearing.. again despite not having any play and the car shaking when the test was done. Leaving me thinking I am not best pleased with these but hey ho. I know the cars fine with these anyway.
Took the car for retest for them to fail it again.... on a ball joint. I asked the question that can be summarised by "what ya playing at dickhead?" They explained that this was due the swivel hub.... adding insult to injury that I asked about this when the car failed originally and they said ball joint on the arm. Sulkingly drove home ready to set the car on fire in the garage. What made this more likely is that again there is no play with the swivel hub either. Just a bit of CV grease from when the boot popped off over xmas when working on the car.
It makes me laugh that the car having bucket seats, shaking during idle thanks to black series engine mount bushes, no rear seats, a PMS rear beam and cut down rad support. That none of these were mentioned...
Frustratingly this garage have always been fair with MOTs . However it turns out they passed a Merc a few months ago with the fuel light on that allegedly was leaking fuel. So are now me stringent than ever.
So anyway moving on. The car is fully pollybushed, welded and gaz golded; currently getting rebuilt hubs curtsey of Rickyrpm. I am hopefully going to be picking up the car soon with a fresh mot ready for Saturday either today or tomorrow.
So TLDR my clio has been a clio and given headaches for the past month. Onto Blyton Saturday for a shakedown then celebratory pizza and pints if it survives.
Where to start with this update.
I think the best way to summarise my life the 197 over the past few weeks is stressful.
Set myself the goal of getting the car ready for cars and coffee with Steel City Porsche on 10th of Feb. Prior to getting the car done for the track day that is on Saturday coming. All that was left to do was get the car through an MOT so it can be driven. That is when the stress began.
So the car failed on 2 things:
Corrosion on underbody (surface rust with them being keen)
Ball joint.
Got the welding sorted for peace of mind and set about changing the ball joints. As I had fresh arms with poly bushes and new ball joints to go on the car. Arms were changed after some drama with a rounded bolt. Welding, grinding and tears and it still wouldn't budge. Thanks for a mate having a recip saw on hand. 30 minutes of cutting later it was off. (That bolt is now on my mantle piece in my kitchen like a hunting trophy and warning to all other bolts who dare mess with me).
During this he car was advised on loose brake lines.. despite being secured, inner tie rod having play - despite not having play and play in real wheel bearing.. again despite not having any play and the car shaking when the test was done. Leaving me thinking I am not best pleased with these but hey ho. I know the cars fine with these anyway.
Took the car for retest for them to fail it again.... on a ball joint. I asked the question that can be summarised by "what ya playing at dickhead?" They explained that this was due the swivel hub.... adding insult to injury that I asked about this when the car failed originally and they said ball joint on the arm. Sulkingly drove home ready to set the car on fire in the garage. What made this more likely is that again there is no play with the swivel hub either. Just a bit of CV grease from when the boot popped off over xmas when working on the car.
It makes me laugh that the car having bucket seats, shaking during idle thanks to black series engine mount bushes, no rear seats, a PMS rear beam and cut down rad support. That none of these were mentioned...
Frustratingly this garage have always been fair with MOTs . However it turns out they passed a Merc a few months ago with the fuel light on that allegedly was leaking fuel. So are now me stringent than ever.
So anyway moving on. The car is fully pollybushed, welded and gaz golded; currently getting rebuilt hubs curtsey of Rickyrpm. I am hopefully going to be picking up the car soon with a fresh mot ready for Saturday either today or tomorrow.
So TLDR my clio has been a clio and given headaches for the past month. Onto Blyton Saturday for a shakedown then celebratory pizza and pints if it survives.
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
Also mate was reading the thread over the weekend and wanted to tag @Helpimonfire and confirm this car has gone past a simple seat time stallion and money has been poured into it like you said it would at the start of this thread haha!
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
RSRowe
Paid Member
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
I agree mate. I have been slacking in getting some photos of the car whilst work has been going on. I will dig out what I have and get them up once I am back from the gym,
burrellbloke
Paid Member
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
not reallyGavin. I’ve got a screen grab from a video I sent to my tester friend.
I’ll get it up later but doesn’t show too much.
I’ll get it up later but doesn’t show too much.
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
Dug out some photos.
As mentioned I have been slacking taking photos with the car. So these aren't the best.
Dropping the old rear beam down.
Something is missing here?
Can't be rounded if I cut it in half!
New arms installed
Example of corrosion @burrellbloke. Crusty but definitely not structural. All repaired now however.
Humans of working on a clio 197.
New Wheeler Motorsport rad support powder coated and ready to go on the car; leaning against an out of date to do list.
Empty garage showing the pit and fancy door I had installed pre xmas. Rest of the garage is to get TLC some time in summer.
As mentioned I have been slacking taking photos with the car. So these aren't the best.
Dropping the old rear beam down.
Something is missing here?
Can't be rounded if I cut it in half!
New arms installed
Example of corrosion @burrellbloke. Crusty but definitely not structural. All repaired now however.
Humans of working on a clio 197.
New Wheeler Motorsport rad support powder coated and ready to go on the car; leaning against an out of date to do list.
Empty garage showing the pit and fancy door I had installed pre xmas. Rest of the garage is to get TLC some time in summer.
Helpimonfire
Paid Member
I've been there and it was purely out of experience
Mega jealous of that garage though!
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
It’s like the cars can tell they’ve got a trackday tomorrow.
Clio is all done and dusted now. But had a misfire due to a wet coil pack thanks to leaking washer jets. All dried out and sorted.
My friends rx8 has thrown wobbly and the coils aren’t working.
Let’s see what tomorrow brings
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
Blyton done. No major issues. No deaths. No marriages. Good day had by all.
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
Grinchly
Paid Member
Better than my recent Blyton experience then...
Attachments
Helpimonfire
Paid Member
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
I think the official term there is “whoopsie”
Was the car okay?Looks like you need a jet boatBetter than mine too... This was the braking zone for Bunga Bunga
Grinchly
Paid Member
Yeah it was a coolant leak due to the bleed valve deciding to leave its home, ended up bodging it with a bolt from the isofix railI think the official term there is “whoopsie”
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
Yeah it was a coolant leak due to the bleed valve deciding to leave its home, ended up bodging it with a bolt from the isofix rail
Tarticmonkey
Paid Member
02/03/2024 - Blyton Park
Reyt then, last Saturday played host to my first track day of the year at Blyton Park.
I quite like Blyton as a track. I know it is not the best or most glamorous track there is in the world but i still find myself being drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. I think it's the mixture of: cheapness, localness, half of the people sodding off after lunch time for an empty track in the afternoon, lack of ego's driving E92's thinking they're Joachim Winklhock and track having a really good "vibe".
As some might have seen, the fun started the night before on Friday the track day. I had collected the car from Ricky; now freshly MOT'd and hubbed ready to go. All it needed was a service (no idea why I didn't just get Ricky to do this) and it was good to go. However what I thought disaster had struck. The car was intermittently braking up over 3000 rpm. I got the car home and got it serviced thinking the car required an "Italian Tune up" as it had been driven in anger since July! Buying house really makes your priorities shift eh?
Once the car was serviced I had a drive over to my friend Tom Parkin at Parkin Race Developments. His unit is about 25 minutes away from me down the section of the A1 that conveniently detours through Mexico. A perfect chance to get the car some stick before the trackday.... the car began breaking up and miss-firing as I was nearing my Journey end. Normally I catastrophise anything like this and think it is going to be costing me an engine thanks to my experience with the mini . But pulled up thinking this is going to be something simple.
"It's not looking goof bruv". Lifted the bonnet to find coil pack 2 was drenched in washer jet fluid; caused by a loose washer pipe that popped off during the MOT and was just used on repeat by them. The coil and pack were dried. However we noticed that the threads used for holding the coil pack down had stripped and required retapping. A quick fix later and we were up an running. A test through Mexico on the way home confirmed as much.
Then possible disaster 2 had struck. Thankfully not for me. The RX8 had began to play silly buggers and was missing and just running lumpy. Pulled it into my Garage scratched our collective heads and decided to just lick the stamp and send it bringing the car along. It turned out to be the right choice and both cars ran faultlessly all day pretty much.
So what we all care about the actual day of the track day.
I had a few friends who have decided to get cars to bring a long to use on track. These are:
Me - The 197 this thread is about
Bean - Cammed 200
Chris - Rx8
Harry - TT Quattro Sport
JJ - Lemmon and Herb Mirca
As the above photos might allude to. It was a wet day but more Turkey 2021 wet rather than Spa 98 wet in F1 Terms; with rain coming and going throughout the day.
First session of the day came with me vert timid with the car. No nerves persay but just not having any trust in the trust in the car. As everything was pretty much new on the underside and despite being checked and getting through an MOT I was still nervous. However I suspect that it was also linked to me not having driven the car since July as mentioned before and not driven the set up with this being done in the wet for the first time. That and also having what we call a "Bean spec allignment on the car". Max camber at the front and make sure the wheels straight ! Ahah.
So the car feels completely different to how it felt before (pretends to be shocked). It feels a lot better and more fun to drive I would day but has taken some getting used to. The car certainly feels more tail happy under braking - see me doing a pirouette into Bunga Bunga a couple of times as evidence of that. But I definitely felt more and more comfortable as the day progressed and began enjoying the challenge of driving in mixed and changing conditions. As sporadic heavy rain would change how the track felt during a session. With no true dry line appearing until much later in the day.
"This is why I spent so long in the garage with you lot over xmas mate". Getting more and more confidence in the car as the day progressed. Feeling like my old self when driving on track.
It was also a good chance to have a play with some of my mates cars for once too. It was interesting to see the difference between a 300 brake TT and the clio. In the corners the TT was nowhere to be seen but the 300 brake made up for that on some of the longer straights. If Harry was in front I could pull a gap going through the ump that equated to half of the straight going into bishops on him.
One of the highlights of the day was this 328 race car. The chap driving it was taking it steady as he had just bought the car and was learning it. But chasing it in the clio felt amazing. And I know it's silly but as far as I am concerned: that photo is 2005 at Imola with me being Fernando Alonso and the Ferrari being Schumi. The ten year old in me is beaming from ear to ear writing that.
Chirs went grass cutting in the Rx8
All in all a good day on track. I am happy with progress made with the car and look forward to doing more work on it in the coming weeks. I really want to get the car set up properly and run on semi slicks. I will also add that the the black series engine mount make the car horrid to drive at slow speeds on the road but are fairly okay at speed.
The slightly disappointing thing to mention is the Clio putting itself into limp mode on the drive home. This is due to the knock sensor on the car and it is the second time it has thrown this code in all honesty so it will be getting changed.
I also have a list of Jobs before the next track day. Which might be the 6th of April at Blyton as I have just been invited whilst writing this.
Jobs:
- fit diff
-Knock Sesnor change
- New plugs
- Now ignition coils
- Geo / coilover set up
Possible jobs:
- interior strip
- interior paint
- cage (deposit paid)
Reyt then, last Saturday played host to my first track day of the year at Blyton Park.
I quite like Blyton as a track. I know it is not the best or most glamorous track there is in the world but i still find myself being drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. I think it's the mixture of: cheapness, localness, half of the people sodding off after lunch time for an empty track in the afternoon, lack of ego's driving E92's thinking they're Joachim Winklhock and track having a really good "vibe".
As some might have seen, the fun started the night before on Friday the track day. I had collected the car from Ricky; now freshly MOT'd and hubbed ready to go. All it needed was a service (no idea why I didn't just get Ricky to do this) and it was good to go. However what I thought disaster had struck. The car was intermittently braking up over 3000 rpm. I got the car home and got it serviced thinking the car required an "Italian Tune up" as it had been driven in anger since July! Buying house really makes your priorities shift eh?
Once the car was serviced I had a drive over to my friend Tom Parkin at Parkin Race Developments. His unit is about 25 minutes away from me down the section of the A1 that conveniently detours through Mexico. A perfect chance to get the car some stick before the trackday.... the car began breaking up and miss-firing as I was nearing my Journey end. Normally I catastrophise anything like this and think it is going to be costing me an engine thanks to my experience with the mini . But pulled up thinking this is going to be something simple.
"It's not looking goof bruv". Lifted the bonnet to find coil pack 2 was drenched in washer jet fluid; caused by a loose washer pipe that popped off during the MOT and was just used on repeat by them. The coil and pack were dried. However we noticed that the threads used for holding the coil pack down had stripped and required retapping. A quick fix later and we were up an running. A test through Mexico on the way home confirmed as much.
Then possible disaster 2 had struck. Thankfully not for me. The RX8 had began to play silly buggers and was missing and just running lumpy. Pulled it into my Garage scratched our collective heads and decided to just lick the stamp and send it bringing the car along. It turned out to be the right choice and both cars ran faultlessly all day pretty much.
So what we all care about the actual day of the track day.
I had a few friends who have decided to get cars to bring a long to use on track. These are:
Me - The 197 this thread is about
Bean - Cammed 200
Chris - Rx8
Harry - TT Quattro Sport
JJ - Lemmon and Herb Mirca
As the above photos might allude to. It was a wet day but more Turkey 2021 wet rather than Spa 98 wet in F1 Terms; with rain coming and going throughout the day.
First session of the day came with me vert timid with the car. No nerves persay but just not having any trust in the trust in the car. As everything was pretty much new on the underside and despite being checked and getting through an MOT I was still nervous. However I suspect that it was also linked to me not having driven the car since July as mentioned before and not driven the set up with this being done in the wet for the first time. That and also having what we call a "Bean spec allignment on the car". Max camber at the front and make sure the wheels straight ! Ahah.
So the car feels completely different to how it felt before (pretends to be shocked). It feels a lot better and more fun to drive I would day but has taken some getting used to. The car certainly feels more tail happy under braking - see me doing a pirouette into Bunga Bunga a couple of times as evidence of that. But I definitely felt more and more comfortable as the day progressed and began enjoying the challenge of driving in mixed and changing conditions. As sporadic heavy rain would change how the track felt during a session. With no true dry line appearing until much later in the day.
"This is why I spent so long in the garage with you lot over xmas mate". Getting more and more confidence in the car as the day progressed. Feeling like my old self when driving on track.
It was also a good chance to have a play with some of my mates cars for once too. It was interesting to see the difference between a 300 brake TT and the clio. In the corners the TT was nowhere to be seen but the 300 brake made up for that on some of the longer straights. If Harry was in front I could pull a gap going through the ump that equated to half of the straight going into bishops on him.
One of the highlights of the day was this 328 race car. The chap driving it was taking it steady as he had just bought the car and was learning it. But chasing it in the clio felt amazing. And I know it's silly but as far as I am concerned: that photo is 2005 at Imola with me being Fernando Alonso and the Ferrari being Schumi. The ten year old in me is beaming from ear to ear writing that.
Chirs went grass cutting in the Rx8
All in all a good day on track. I am happy with progress made with the car and look forward to doing more work on it in the coming weeks. I really want to get the car set up properly and run on semi slicks. I will also add that the the black series engine mount make the car horrid to drive at slow speeds on the road but are fairly okay at speed.
The slightly disappointing thing to mention is the Clio putting itself into limp mode on the drive home. This is due to the knock sensor on the car and it is the second time it has thrown this code in all honesty so it will be getting changed.
I also have a list of Jobs before the next track day. Which might be the 6th of April at Blyton as I have just been invited whilst writing this.
Jobs:
- fit diff
-Knock Sesnor change
- New plugs
- Now ignition coils
- Geo / coilover set up
Possible jobs:
- interior strip
- interior paint
- cage (deposit paid)
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