CLIO 197 CUP - Project TF

[Tarticmonkey]

Cheers both. Cars been driven some more and seemingly fixed itself.

 

[greenrocketdude]

For anyone else’s reference, it seems the issue was steering angle related. Adjusted the tie rod end so the wheel points more straight and the error hasn’t come back.

 

[Tarticmonkey]

Saturday Shenanigans:

So this Saturday has been very car oriented (as per usual I suppose). Started the day attending the Steel City Porsche Cars and coffee at Porsche Sheff.

Good turn out as per! Though this eg was definitely my highlight!



Always wanted one of these. Best looking civic shape in my humble opinion! Spoke to the owner and the B18 revs to 9.5k with a capability to go to 11 if he wanted.

After that it was a garage day with @greenrocketdude working on both our cars In preparation for Blyton in a couple of weeks.

First job was a new OMP wheel for me.



Fairly straight forward job to do that I think most active members of the forum have done so won’t bother with a write up fully of doing the swap but will say putting the standard wheel through 180 degrees so the air bag release mech is facing upwards makes the job far easier.



That’s the wheel fitted. Need to tidy up the wiring and sort the horn but very happy. After a little test drive it feels miles better than the dinging of the standard wheel.

I’ve also got a wheeler motorsport wheel lowering kit to go on but being blunt I couldn’t be arsed with the faf today so that will be done next weekend.

We also serviced both cars inclusive of gearbox oil changes!

Here’s the patented (bodged) gear box oil filler we came up with!

We even had a visit from my mates dog! So all in all the days been a winner.

 

[Dowling93]

I’ve also got a wheeler motorsport wheel lowering kit to go on but being blunt I couldn’t be arsed with the faf today so that will be done next weekend

I remember doing that, f**k me that was a pain to do. Maybe doing it with the drivers seat out might give you more room to lie down rather than trying to hang from weird angles in the car

 

[Tarticmonkey]

I remember doing that, f**k me that was a pain to do. Maybe doing it with the drivers seat out might give you more room to lie down rather than trying to hang from weird angles in the car

That sounds like the exact faf I wanted to avoid then ahah.

Do you have any photos taken during the install?

 

[Dowling93]

That sounds like the exact faf I wanted to avoid then ahah.

Do you have any photos taken during the install?

Unfortunately not sorry! Here's a video on it that kinda covers it which hopefully helps you out! The hardest part was trying to hold the weight of the unit and get the bolts threaded then to hold the weight

 

[Tarticmonkey]

Unfortunately not sorry! Here's a video on it that kinda covers it which hopefully helps you out! The hardest part was trying to hold the weight of the unit and get the bolts threaded then to hold the weight

Thanks for this, I will give it a watch.

 

[Tarticmonkey]

Reyt then - Blyton Park 26/10/2024

So this trackday felt like a bit of a weird day going into it. But then again it’s been a bit of a weird year! So it’s my third time at bylton this year. Don’t get me wrong I love this track for what it is. A glorified car park / air strip with some turns and kerbs. It’s not the most complex track in the world but I do enjoy it. It’s fairly local to me being under an hour to get there from home, it’s cheap, everyone buggers off at lunch and the staff and Marshall’s are lovely to speak to and let you drive your car in a slightly more spirited way if it’s under control and you’re not near anyone.

I was joined by @greenrocketdude in his Cammed 200 running Gaz golds now too and our friend Harry formally of TT QS fame. Now opting to use his old 987 cayman for track stuff.


We’ve all done a trackday so as you’ll know sighting laps came and went. I decided to go out straight after these. The first proper session lasted less than two laps. Thanks to a focus RS mk1 blowing up right in front of me. I felt like a much slower fatter verison of Kimi Raikkonen at Spa in 2002. I couldn’t see anything through the smoke from the Rs’s blow up.

The session was naturally red flagged (only flag of the day I think) and oil cleaned up began. That drenched bunga bunga in oil for the rest of the day making any attempts at improving lap time over my last visit impossible; even after most of the track dried out in the afternoon.

I know everyone has mechanical failures but these always slightly irk me as I think they’re avoidable.
I have this pre set thing in my head that all stuff like this is from Scotland as an old boss who used to race Jags once said to me “oh it’s all turbo nutter stuff in Scotland, they’ll do two laps and either be in the pits with it broken or heating issues”. I know this is most likely wrong but it does make me smile.

During the red flag ; I decided to take to the opportunity to switch over the MRF’s on
The white x85s. The track definitely wasn’t ready for them as I would find out but just thought sod it. What’s the worse that can happen.

After the red flag I ventured out on the mrfs to discover that it was like driving on ice so took the time to begin learning car control a bit more and sliding the car through a few corners. Amazingly I caught up to Harry in the cayman and through the Ump I managed to have the car complete sideways at 90 degrees for both parts of the chicane. Convinced I was a driving god I attempted to do the same thing in the next session in front of Bean in his clio only to nearly get T boned. (D’oh!).

As the track went to wet to wet ish and dry; I naturally started picking up the pace, chopping at a new M240i driving by a guy with a painted helmet and racing boots which awash gives me a boost.

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The rest of the day functioned for the most part as a normal day the track was fairly green and bunga bunga was like ice but a good day was had. Until…. Puncture time.

I was giving some passenger rides to friends who had made the journey up and was possibly taking a kerbs a bit too agreesively then pop. The right front went out under breaking into bishops. Causing me to nearly end up in the field.



Managed to limp the car back to paddock without damaging the wheel.




I don’t think that hole is meant to be there right?

In addition to the blow out, I started getting some gearbox issues later in the day. As the car didn’t seem to like to select fourth or second. I have a feeling this is going to be the synchros going on the gearbox (it’s a tl4 after all). But the lads seem convinced that it’s going to be the shifter inside the car. Though I’m not overly convinced. I’m not heartbroken as I wanted to wait until the box broke to stick the lsd in i bought last year. So it’s a win win I would say. Gives me a reason to take the box off. Tight Yorkshire nature wouldn’t want to do that twice.




Despite the issues the car made it home safe. Ready for winter works to begin.

So all in all a good day. I want to do more wet days in the car as I enjoy sliding it around quite a bit! Sadly no footage from the day. (Winter job is 100% go pro set up.

Though I now think it’s time to start towing. As that would make me a lot more comfortable going to tracks further afield. And be a lot more comfortable too.

Winter jobs so far:

Inner tie rod and bush change
Box off to be built with lsd
Aftermarket exhaust manifold on
New tyres for the x85s
Battery relocation
V6 airbox (maybe)
Ported manifold
Mapped.
Go pro / action camera

 

[Tarticmonkey]

Nah then, the last track day I was on with the clio in October I started facing some issues with shifting gears. This was diagnosed to being the gear cables that have frayed / split. Never had these fail on a car before but then again this is French and 17 years old!

So I had a discussion with myself and wondered what to do; whether to use this as an excuse to opt for a PMS shifter as that changes the cables out for solid linkages. However after discovering that my garage needs a new roof; a decision was made to go for the used unit I had found on eBay for £40 - a complete shifter assembly with cables.

All in all a simple job in the grand scheme of things - made far easier by having a pit to use. I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of changing this out as 90% of the active people on the forum have changed their shifter out at some point I think?

This is the old shifter cables the came out of the car…. Easy to see why shifts weren’t feeling right.



New shifter installed in the car using @Helpimonfire and @LiamP ebay shift knob set up. I think I will turn down the parts work to lower it further but it is an improvement and shifts feel the best the ever have. Plus it looks race car!



Also sadly discovered that that car might be on its last legs. It’s a shame but it’s stock to the car. I have a man to go on so it might be decat time?