Fast Road/Track Ultra Red 197

[VeiRoNv2]

Just wanted to to make a thread for my work in progress 197 I bought 2 weeks ago,my previous car was a Saxo VTS used mainly for track,was a lot of fun,it made 171hp still NA and weighed 840kg with a full cage,unfortunately piston 4 failed catastrophically and just couldnt be bothered to do another engine rebuild after the last one I had done 2 years ago when I did all the power upgrade,altough it would have been quite cheap to get the parts for the bottom end again,pictures of the aftermath:

Condrods studs:

The Clio is a 2006 one with 90k as I bought it and pretty much completely stock,it had quite a few things replaced before i bought it,this is the list:

Cambelt done at 71k

Has all new of the following:
Front calipers, discs, pads
Rear calipers, discs, pads
Radiator support
Air con rad
Air con re charged
4 x 4k old PS4 sports
No gearbox crunching
50k old cup front struts & springs
New genuine cup springs rear
New genuine main fuse box
Recently made 166hp at the wheels.
2x key cards.
New ABS sensor
New battery
New fan belt

It drives great no knocking or anything,I was really impressed with the handling by the way,it handles better than VTS and that had semislicks,quaife and decent coilovers,altough it feels about the same power it does sound great even from stock,this was a picture from the day I got it:

So I just started with a few mods to make it more personal and how I like it.

Nut and studs conversion and also 20mm spacers all around:

Sabelt steering wheel:

Carbon mirrors:

 

[VeiRoNv2]

KTR sunstrip:

Sparco seat,decent weight saving at 6.5kg.

Blanked the mirrors adjuster since i dont need it anymore:

Got a new decat manifold on,wasnt too happy when i found that it is a subframe out job but in the end it wasnt that bad at all,only thing the two track end threads got absoultely demolished undoing them so got new ones in for a grand total of 22£ lol

To be honest I dont even know what brand is as couldnt find any markings but it looks quite decent quality and only paid 150 for it (used).

new manifold weight:

stock manifold:

Altough i can hear the manifold touching the subframe espcially in first gear pulls so i have ordered a Vibra Technics driver side mount and go from there.

I was susprised at the total weight of the Clio 1280kg,quite a lot so it will be going on a major diet to get it as close as possible to 1000,quick 50 kg off:

To that end i also put a smaller washer bottle:

 

[VeiRoNv2]

Sprayed the rear diffuser as it was looking a bit faded:

After:

Of course one of the studs on the diffuser mounts broke,so fixed it with a stainless rivnut:

Recharged the AC which i want to keep for now even if it saves 10-15kg as it is nice to have lol

quick wash and first small road trip to Durdle door:

 

[VeiRoNv2]

Does anyone know what these connectors are? they are just behind the fog light on the passenger side,thanks in advance!

 

[S24nrc]

That looks the plugs for the Xenon ECU. Has it got Xenon or Halogen bulbs in? Looks like it might have been bodged over to Halogens judging by the fact you have headlight washers.

 

[VeiRoNv2]

That looks the plugs for the Xenon ECU. Has it got Xenon or Halogen bulbs in? Looks like it might have been bodged over to Halogens judging by the fact you have headlight washers.

Hi,it has Xenon and they work as they should so dont think it has anything to do with them

 

[VeiRoNv2]

Fitted K Tec Cup style spoiler I found in their clearence items as it had one mounting snapped but was able to fix with some structural adhesive,all seems solid for now:

Finally received and fitted the Volantech buttons panel,great piece of kit worth the money straight fit hassle free and no messing with cutting wires and all works great:

 

[VeiRoNv2]

Fitted a catch tank to keep the thottle body cleaner,I cleaned it up but it wasnt that bad to start with,thought it would be worse,before:

Just cable tied until I found the final mounting position:

Got a Vibra Technics right engine mount to reduce the manifold touching when accelerating:

Done a few hundred miles but it still get quite a bit of vibrations at idle,gets better with the AC on,also when coasting there is a drowny noise too,will see if changing the other two mounts makes it any better.

 

[VeiRoNv2]

Got some H&R lowering springs and fitted the back ones for now,the arch gap looks a little bit better now,ride is a bit firmer but not by much,at least it removed the "floaty" back end when braking hard at higher speeds,that was a bit scary.

Removed the fog lights and put some carbon blanks for now until I fit some proper brake cooling ducts.

I put some heko deflectors too.

And swapped the centre console for a carbon dipped one,not the real deal but still looks a lot better than the stock silver one imo,also put some oil temp and oil pressure stack gauges but still need to plumb these in.
I made a mistake and bought the panel from a non auto climate Clio but still made it fit anyway lol.

Started removing unnecessary weight in the boot area mainly,front roof sound deadening:

and the weight:

weight of all the spot welded brackets and original sound deadening,i will make it looks nicer though,fiberglass over all the holes left behind and spray it next.

 

[d6n]

Any tips for removing the sound deadening?

 

[S24nrc]

Any tips for removing the sound deadening?

Dry ice is the quick way. Gets it so cold that it goes brittle and you can break it up with a few taps of a hammer. Other than that, lots of glue and tar remover.

 

[VeiRoNv2]

I've used a butane torch I bought from Halfords and a metal scraper just being careful not to put too much pressure or heat on the metal,comes off quite easy.

 

[VeiRoNv2]

Polished the headlight lenses as they were a bit faded especially the driver side,used this kit,it comes with a drill attachment,never used it before but worked well:

During:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Also fitted gloss black badges from diamond performance.they are just covers that fits on top of the original:

Upgraded the oil dipstick to metal before the plastic one breaks and need to fish it out of the sump:

Moved the battery in the boot,used an Odyssey PC680,saves about 7,5kg from the original battery:

Used a bulkhead trough fitting:

I cut and welded the original tow hook to be able to fit an OMP tow strap for track days,need to do the rear one next but that looks a bit more difficult to do:

I forgot the external air temperature sensor is in the mirror and when i fitted the carbon ones i removed the wiring loom for it,so i just cable tied it back in inside the mirror housing lol:

 

[VeiRoNv2]

Fitted a Scorpion exhaust the other day,non res catback,I'm happy with how it sounds,never too loud even with the rear all stripped out,no engine emission light as I kept the second cat and pops on gear changes it's great lol.

Also saves 11 kg from stock which is great too lol.

Quick video of how it sounds:

 

[Helpimonfire]

They sound even better at full chat!

 

[VeiRoNv2]

They sound even better at full chat!

It does,did you keep one cat as well on yours? I might remove it soon just to see how loud it is lol.

 

[Helpimonfire]

It does,did you keep one cat as well on yours? I might remove it soon just to see how loud it is lol.

Mine originally had the OEM manifold with the cat knocked out, then the standard 2nd cat, then the same Scorpion system as yours.

 

[VeiRoNv2]

You know,i was looking at this picture i posted and noticed the massive fuel leak,so i decided to investigate:

Looks like somebody has decided to drill trough my fuel tank?? looks way to round for it to be a debris damage.i barely touched it with my finger and fuel started pouring out:

Does anybody know the best way to repair plastic? I really dont want to have to replace the entire tank,i have used some metal epoxy as thats what i had but it still leaks a little bit.

 

[RSRowe]

I would thread it and put a blanking fitting in it. Perhaps some Araldite around the edges to ensure that it doesn’t vibrate loose.

I’d use an NPT thread or something similar.

1/2” plug - https://www.advancedfluidsolutions.co.uk/12-npt-solid-male-plug-6144-p.asp

Tap - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071DJXS1F/?tag=clio197-21

18.25mm tapping drill - https://www.engineeringsupplies.co.uk/1825mm-hss-standard-jobber-drill-din338.html

 

[RSRowe]

Obviously I’m not certain what size the hole you have is. I just assumed around 1/2” / 12mm