Ed Hall
Paid Member
So here it is its a 2007 Renaultsport Clio 197. I bought in July 2016 from a garage in Birmingham for £3,600 which at the time and even now isn't too bad, yes you can get them cheaper, but in no way are these a cheap toy so you have to expect a few niggles and things to put right or to your liking. It had 73k on the clock and it's now just gone over 80k. At the time it was straight piped.
First got it:
Now:
July 2016:
So the first thing I wanted to change was the exhaust. Straight piped it was just insane! But I felt it was too loud and so I replaced it with a Milltek Sport Resonated System. It was loud in multi-storey car park but on the road sounded standard, but obviously the bigger exhaust tips look better.
The steering wheel was re trimmed by RoyalSteeringWheels as the old wheel was peeling really bad. Its perforated leather on sides, Black Alcantara 9040 top/bottom + Yellow center stripe at 12 o'clock, Yellow stitching.
I managed to get complete new set of interior dash console, vents, and the radio for I think £70 off ebay. The originals were silver and faded and tired looking, so the anthracite grey is a bit of change, but having searched for weeks these rarely come up in such condition.
October 2016:
I had it serviced and the auxiliary belt changed at a local garage. Some would argue to use a specialist, but they did a good job and rightfully so with their £150ph labour charge. Before it went in for its service I managed to find on ebay an original air box and resonator pipe work. It had a K&N Vortex jobby but it had well and truly seen better days! Whilst it was in for the service they also duly noted the battery clamp was missing, handbrake cables were poor condition, the brake pins needed replacing, and the steering ends needed replacing. But I got the parts in relatively cheaply and a local tyre place which does servicing etc did the work for two hours labour at £45ph.
Fitted an ITG panel filter, which is lot better than the filter the garage put in:
December 2016:
I bought the Renaultsport Cup Spoiler! I had that fitted and painted (£240 and £195 to paint and fit), literally transforms the rear end, and it actually does actually help the rear end in the twisty's!
February 2017:
MOT Time. Well it would seem that I bought the car with a dodgy MOT. Now in between the above I managed to find the old owner and found out quite a bit about his ownership. He had the Toyosport Manifold
fitted and a KTR Cat, but he got fed up when it failed two MOT's because of emissions and having just done the ball joints he threw in the towel. So when I took it in for MOT I got the dreaded call to say it had failed on emissions. After a bit of investigative work, it was narrowed down to the KTR Cat.
The garage the previous owner had taken it to had rammed the lambda sensor into the cat and sheered all the metal inside, and completely wrecked it. So a new Milltek Cat was fitted with a new sensor and hey presto it passed its emissions before it had even got hot.
May 2017:
PH Sunday Service - Santa Pod - 15.574 - Not too bad...
I fancied a bit of noise and brought the Milltek straight pipe, and had the resonated pipe taken out for now. I am still undecided on this, as the resonated system isn't too bad. The difference being its a little louder in the mid range, a few pops and crackles and it really rasps when you want it to, but it is manageable, it can cruise quite quietly when needed.
First got it:
Now:
July 2016:
So the first thing I wanted to change was the exhaust. Straight piped it was just insane! But I felt it was too loud and so I replaced it with a Milltek Sport Resonated System. It was loud in multi-storey car park but on the road sounded standard, but obviously the bigger exhaust tips look better.
The steering wheel was re trimmed by RoyalSteeringWheels as the old wheel was peeling really bad. Its perforated leather on sides, Black Alcantara 9040 top/bottom + Yellow center stripe at 12 o'clock, Yellow stitching.
I managed to get complete new set of interior dash console, vents, and the radio for I think £70 off ebay. The originals were silver and faded and tired looking, so the anthracite grey is a bit of change, but having searched for weeks these rarely come up in such condition.
October 2016:
I had it serviced and the auxiliary belt changed at a local garage. Some would argue to use a specialist, but they did a good job and rightfully so with their £150ph labour charge. Before it went in for its service I managed to find on ebay an original air box and resonator pipe work. It had a K&N Vortex jobby but it had well and truly seen better days! Whilst it was in for the service they also duly noted the battery clamp was missing, handbrake cables were poor condition, the brake pins needed replacing, and the steering ends needed replacing. But I got the parts in relatively cheaply and a local tyre place which does servicing etc did the work for two hours labour at £45ph.
Fitted an ITG panel filter, which is lot better than the filter the garage put in:
December 2016:
I bought the Renaultsport Cup Spoiler! I had that fitted and painted (£240 and £195 to paint and fit), literally transforms the rear end, and it actually does actually help the rear end in the twisty's!
February 2017:
MOT Time. Well it would seem that I bought the car with a dodgy MOT. Now in between the above I managed to find the old owner and found out quite a bit about his ownership. He had the Toyosport Manifold
fitted and a KTR Cat, but he got fed up when it failed two MOT's because of emissions and having just done the ball joints he threw in the towel. So when I took it in for MOT I got the dreaded call to say it had failed on emissions. After a bit of investigative work, it was narrowed down to the KTR Cat.
The garage the previous owner had taken it to had rammed the lambda sensor into the cat and sheered all the metal inside, and completely wrecked it. So a new Milltek Cat was fitted with a new sensor and hey presto it passed its emissions before it had even got hot.
May 2017:
PH Sunday Service - Santa Pod - 15.574 - Not too bad...
I fancied a bit of noise and brought the Milltek straight pipe, and had the resonated pipe taken out for now. I am still undecided on this, as the resonated system isn't too bad. The difference being its a little louder in the mid range, a few pops and crackles and it really rasps when you want it to, but it is manageable, it can cruise quite quietly when needed.
