Slow and steady progress is being made stripping the interior.

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Most of the plastics have come out now.

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The radio and speakers have now gone. Years ago we spent a small fortune on finding an OEM bluetooth Renault radio and another few hundred quid having its firmware uploaded so it would work. But we are now trying to create a proper track car.

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I still do not understand why there is cardboard stuck to the ceiling of the car.

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Ethan has has weighed what he has removed so far which is basically the plastic trims, OEM door cards, the radio and speakers. He says that it came to 25 kilos.

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The dash will be removed at some point so that we can get access to the sound deadening behind it.

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The car will look very different when all of this work has been completed. It will be nice to have the base of the ZPO shifter in display.

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Does anyone have a rough idea how much weight the Clio can lose from taking out the plastic trims, door cards, radio equipment, and sound deadening before trying to remove every other unused bracket and before touching the loom? I am not sure how far we will take the weight reduction idea but I was just curious to know how much weight this heavy beast can lose on a medium intensity diet.

We have decided to invest in some PMS top mounts to increase the amount of caster we can get on the front wheels. After Ethan installed some PMS top mounts on his Megane I came to realise that most Meganes have very little camber but cope with handling and cornering well because that have lots of caster.

As the car is now going to be fairly unpleasant to drive anywhere apart from a track we will also get some PMS solid engine mounts.

Hopefully we can get the new PMS parts ordered at the end of the month.
 
Hi Burrellbloke. Are you going to be keeping the siren unit after the stripdown? If so and if it is still working, would you be interested in selling it?
 
No, we aren’t putting it back in. It was working earlier this week. Send me your details and I will see what the postage costs are.
 
We did a cheeky track evening on Thursday on the Indy layout at Brands Hatch.

I took my GR Yaris and @EthanMenace took his Megane 250. We left the Clio at home.

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I really enjoy driving the Yaris, it is a good B road blaster car and as it is a homologation special people will sometimes give me a wave or speak to me about it. My Yaris is completely stock and had a fresh set of Michelin PS4S tyres on it. Ethan had changed the front discs and replaced the front and rear pads at the weekend. As I was driving it about I couldn't help myself from thinking that I would be prepared to take more risks and might even be faster in the Clio.

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The Clio feels really good on track at the moment and has so much grip through corners. It is both planted at the front and slightly lose at the rear when you want to push it.

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During the track evening we swapped cars and I took Ethan's Megane out for a session, and he took out my Yaris. The Megane felt heavier to me but also felt more planted generally and especially when going thought Paddock Hill Bend. The power of the Megane was excellent on the straights.

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Ethan managed to clock similar 59 second laps in both the Yaris and his Megane. He probably could have gone faster in the Yaris had the fear factor of smashing up my car been taken away.

Back in the world of the Clio this is the exciting work that is now going on, removing the sound deadening.

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@burrellbloke is the missus car white too? :tearsofjoy:

Think I once watched a program where they used dry ice to remove the sound deadening... is your car now "sound deafening"? :laughing:
 
@burrellbloke is the missus car white too? :tearsofjoy:

Think I once watched a program where they used dry ice to remove the sound deadening... is your car now "sound deafening"? :laughing:
It's a white Renault Zoe :tearsofjoy:

I did consider getting some but I'd seen a man with a mullet on YouTube do it quite effectively with a blow torch which I already had. It seemed to work pretty well.

I need to drive the clio to work a few days next week so I'll find out if it's made much of a difference noise wise!
 
It's a white Renault Zoe :tearsofjoy:

I did consider getting some but I'd seen a man with a mullet on YouTube do it quite effectively with a blow torch which I already had. It seemed to work pretty well.

I need to drive the clio to work a few days next week so I'll find out if it's made much of a difference noise wise!
Put road tyres on it if you do drive when stripped. The noise with semis will blow your mind
 
The strip down is making steady progress.

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Ethan has now removed most of the interior so that he could remove the front carpets, sound deadening and the foam that goes all the way under the dash.

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It all looks a right state now but once it goes back in it will look good, even if it does sound dreadful on the road.

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So far about 44 kilos has been removed from the car.