Lewis's Clio 200 Cup

[Sean197]

I successfully replaced the rear parts of the front wheel arch liners yesterday. Was quite a satisfying Sunday job

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I tried and failed to track down any second hand parts, so ended up deploying the debit card to order some more new OEM parts. My plan is to get the car sorted as quickly and easily as possible, then see if I can repair and sell on the old parts at my leisure.

I think the near side liner can be plastic welded as it only has a single crack. The offside liner is too far gone for me to fix, but a more experienced/resourceful person might be able to save it by welding on some scraps of PP plastic. I've never plastic welded before so taking the opportunity to learn. I bought a heat gun in preperation, which was also useful for making the plastic more pliable before removal/fitting as they need to bend.

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After having issues getting the wheels on and off at the last track day, I took the rear wheels off for a closer look. The bolt holes are looking pretty corroded, which is surprising as the discs were changed only last year. Retapping the threads had limited effect. Not sure what to do here, seems like a waste of money to replace the discs again if the bolts are going just rust out so quickly.

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Will be booking the car in for an MOT and service this month. I think I'll try taking it to a renaultsport specialist this time. Possibly Rentec in Edinburgh.

Rentec in Edinburgh pissed me about massively, not to mention bodging my car to the point Paul at RS Tuning said I was lucky the car hadn't caught fire.

 

[Johnny 99]

I successfully replaced the rear parts of the front wheel arch liners yesterday. Was quite a satisfying Sunday job

View attachment 132740
View attachment 132741
View attachment 132742 View attachment 132743

I tried and failed to track down any second hand parts, so ended up deploying the debit card to order some more new OEM parts. My plan is to get the car sorted as quickly and easily as possible, then see if I can repair and sell on the old parts at my leisure.

I think the near side liner can be plastic welded as it only has a single crack. The offside liner is too far gone for me to fix, but a more experienced/resourceful person might be able to save it by welding on some scraps of PP plastic. I've never plastic welded before so taking the opportunity to learn. I bought a heat gun in preperation, which was also useful for making the plastic more pliable before removal/fitting as they need to bend.

View attachment 132744

View attachment 132745
View attachment 132746

After having issues getting the wheels on and off at the last track day, I took the rear wheels off for a closer look. The bolt holes are looking pretty corroded, which is surprising as the discs were changed only last year. Retapping the threads had limited effect. Not sure what to do here, seems like a waste of money to replace the discs again if the bolts are going just rust out so quickly.

View attachment 132747

Will be booking the car in for an MOT and service this month. I think I'll try taking it to a renaultsport specialist this time. Possibly Rentec in Edinburgh.

I think Rentec bit off more than they could chew with @Sean197 's Megane conversion. I was very happy with them for routine servicing & they also fitted my Quaife diff & Cobra exhaust for me.

 

[Big Ben]

What rear discs are they? Surprised they’ve rusted so quickly

 

[Lewis Watson]

What rear discs are they? Surprised they’ve rusted so quickly

AFAIK they are OEM ones. It does seem crazy that they have deteriorated that fast, 8 months. The rest of the disk looks to be in reasonable condition, including the hub paint. Do OEM discs come pre painted? The previous ones weren't painted...

 

[Lewis Watson]

Rentec in Edinburgh pissed me about massively, not to mention bodging my car to the point Paul at RS Tuning said I was lucky the car hadn't caught fire.

Oh my, that is not a good sign! I'd normally take the car to my usual garage, who I've been able to build up a good 10 years of trust and good will. However, they don't see many renaultsports. A specialist might be more clued into common faults etc. The car is just in need of an MOT, minor service, possible repairs to the rear brakes and I think I can hear a leak in the exhaust. I'd hope the could handle that.

 

[Sean197]

Oh my, that is not a good sign! I'd normally take the car to my usual garage, who I've been able to build up a good 10 years of trust and good will. However, they don't see many renaultsports. A specialist might be more clued into common faults etc. The car is just in need of an MOT, minor service, possible repairs to the rear brakes and I think I can hear a leak in the exhaust. I'd hope the could handle that.

I tried SWR in Stirling, found them to be very good. Customer service was great and I had a good chat with the guy who was clearly very knowledgeable in not only standard stuff but aftermarket stuff too. My next clio will be going to them.

 

[DS197]

AFAIK they are OEM ones. It does seem crazy that they have deteriorated that fast, 8 months. The rest of the disk looks to be in reasonable condition, including the hub paint. Do OEM discs come pre painted? The previous ones weren't painted...

They didn't before but they do now come pre-painted.

 

[Lewis Watson]

Had a good experience taking the car for a Service + MOT at Rentec Edinburgh. Was able to chat with the guys there, and they seemed pretty genuine. Ended up replacing both of the rear brake discs as the bolt holes were too dodgy. Might have been ok if I was just pootling down to the shops and back, but not good enough for what I use the car for.

It's still a bit of a mystery how they got in that state so quickly though. I was a bit concerned that the threads on the TPI bolts would be damaged, so the Rentec guys restored my original OEM ones and fitted them to the new disks. They actually looks quite good, but I know OEM rust is not too far away.

 

[Lewis Watson]

I attended the 2019-04-29 Knockhill Car Track Full Day AM Clockwise / PM Reverse. I enjoyed the format, switching direction in the afternoon made things more interesting. Also helped by the great weather, and relatively small number of cars in attendance. I was actually the only Clio in attendance which was surprising.



I knew I wouldn't last the full day on a single tank of fuel, so I invested a couple of 10 litre tuff jugs, which are used in EnduroKa and other endurance races due to their auto-cutoff and high flow rate, so thought that would be more than good enough for me!


(photo courtesy of https://www.enduroka.co.uk)

I also got a wee beach tent to store my stuff while I'm on track. Bit neater than leaving everything in a pile.



I was able to last the entire day, but only because one of the ariel atom drivers was kind enough to refill one of the jugs for me when they nipped down to shell. So might need to get another can, or spend a bit more time hanging out in the pitlane next time, which will probably be June 9th. I can confirm that they empty into the car quickly, but for some reason they always leaked a bit of fuel. Not sure if I'm using it wrong...

 

[Lewis Watson]

Thanks to Fergus for the on track photos! https://www.flickr.com/photos/148190128@N05/

 

[Lewis Watson]

I'm getting gradually faster around Knockhill, my quickest lap now is ~64 seconds. I'm now going into the duffus dip in 4th gear as I was bouncing off the limiter in 3rd. It strangely makes the onboard video seem more sedate, even though I'm going faster.

This was my first time going anti-clockwise at Knockhill, and I really enjoyed it. Highlights were going up Duffus Dip without lifting, braking from ~110mph into Taylors Hairpin, and breaking into Clarks while still going round the long and fast Hislops bend (where you really need to commit to an entry speed)

 

[Pav]

 

[Djw John]

Read through this earlier (not at work, honest....)

Good thread and nice car mate, think I've seen it up at Knockhill before.

 

[Lewis Watson]

Read through this earlier (not at work, honest....)

Good thread and nice car mate, think I've seen it up at Knockhill before.

I just read your intro post, I like your red 197. I'll need to keep an eye out for you.

 

[Lewis Watson]

It has been over a year since my last update!

At some point towards the end of 2019 I decided that my track wheels were in a better condition than the original cup wheels, so the Team Dynamics 1.2's became the cars daily wheels. I still think the cup wheels look great, but now that I've lived with the TD 1.2's on for a while, I don't think I want to go back. They've proven really durable too, I twatted into a horrible pot hole over the winter, but the wheel took it like a champ.

I was initially worried that I'd need to replace a buckled wheel and tyre with sidewall damage. However, after inspection both wheel and tyre were still sound, and I just needed to touch up the paint.

The Clio dutifully performed its role as the families fun second car over the winter. I usually find it less enjoyable in winter, with all the crap on the road and slower traffic. However, I found myself choosing it over the more comfortable family wagon quite a bit. Maybe I'm getting better at driving it when its slippery

I had hoped to get a few track days in this summer, but the global pandemic scuppered those plans. So instead I bought a bunch of detailing supplies from Bilt Hamber to see how well the car scrubs up

Korrosol fallout remover showed how much metal was in the paint.

I think it scrubbed up pretty well after clay bar, polish, and auto-balm.

The clio qualified for the MOT extension, but I was keen to get some advisories from last year sorted before they got any more expensive to put right. Just as well I did as the car spectacularly failed with

Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects)

for

Nearside/Offside Front Shock absorbers likely to become detached spring cup

Bit of a bummer, but couldn't ask for a better excuse to treat the car to a suspension refresh. So in went some brand new parts:

• 4x Cup Springs (front and rear)
• 4x Cup Dampers (front and rear)
• 2x Top mounts
• 2x Anti-rollbar link

I was tempted to go with some Bilstein B14 coilovers (would have only cost a couple hundred more than the Renault parts), but decided to stick with cup suspension since it has proven itself to be such a nice balance between being hard enough for the track, while not so harsh as to make my wife and kids hate being passengers. I think the car feel firmer with the new kit, but I'm happy to report that my passengers have not complained about the new setup so far, the kids even fell asleep in the back the other day.

When I got the car back from the garage I whipped the wheels off so I could have a look, and also do a wheels-off clean.

It was a fair amount of money to spend just to replace old with new, but it has got rid of one of the last areas where the car was starting to look it age.
The TD 1.2's cleaned up well after their first winter on the car. They also got the clay bar and auto-balm treatment, so hopefully it will be easier to keep them clean over the summer.

So the cars pretty well sorted once again

And finally, I swapped out the stock gear knob for an RS one. Probably not worth the money, but its so shiny and feels nice

 

[massivewangers]

Looks nice on those wheels I must say.

I like the gear knob too, same as my old Mégane had. Much nicer than the stock one. Would like to change mine for something a bit better.

 

[Beany]

The RS gearknob is soooo much nicer than the standard. The weight and feel of it in your hand is perfect.
Just got rid of my TDs they are a great looking wheels tho!

 

[Ocsltd]

The RS gearknob is soooo much nicer than the standard. The weight and feel of it in your hand is perfect.
Just got rid of my TDs they are a great looking wheels tho!

Yeah I agree about the RS knob - love mine! A bit steep for what it is, but one of my favourite changes I've made to mine....

 

[Beany]

Yeah I agree about the RS knob - love mine! A bit steep for what it is, but one of my favourite changes I've made to mine....

I know mine came with the car when I bought it did have the receipt which I was astonished at

 

[Lewis Watson]

I suspect the rs gear knob will be like the wheels. I was perfect happy with the original parts, but now I have upgraded them I doubt I'll go back.

I hear that the rs gear knob gets really hot/cold sometimes. I might need to get it a beanie