Mike's racing blue 197

[Miked5]

Thought I'd start up a build thread to document what I've been doing. I bought the 197 in April 2023 with the idea of doing a handful of trackdays a year and some weekend blasts, never done any trackdays in any of my previous cars so thought I'd buy a dedicated car just for that. Still not sure or not whether it's a Cup or not because it seems to have all the bits but these could have been fitted separately over the years I suppose.

Anyway despite having 100k miles it had a decent spec with a large service history file:

Recently new clutch, radiator and swivel joints
Cup shocks with cooksport springs
Cup brembo brakes
Braided brake lines
Unbranded cat back exhaust
Retrimmed steering wheel
Some genuine Renault sport bits like front splitter and spoiler
Full engine bay power flex kit

 

[Miked5]

After the 2hr motorway drive home I was glad the intention was only a weekend car, it sits high in the rev range while cruising for a daily! That would get annoying real quick. First impressions were pretty good, no obvious issues with the car which is always a bonus.

A few observations
Clutch pedal feels really heavy compared to any other cars I've driven (excluding my old kit car)
Exhaust may be a tad loud (I'm in my thirties now!)
Map sensor is really loose, I guess it's sealed on the o-ring but still doesn't feel right
Brakes are great
Seems like driver seat bolsters have disintegrated? You can feel the metal frame instead of nice soft foam
Some MEGA steering wheel vibration at idle which I'm guessing is down to the powerflex engine mounts

Gave the car a quick wash and a look over in daylight because I bought it when it was getting dark. Front and rear bumpers have been resprayed at some point and aren't a perfect match for colour. Now I've seen it I can't un-see it! It's really quite noticeable in sun light.

 

[burrellbloke]

Thought I'd start up a build thread to document what I've been doing. I bought the 197 in April 2023 with the idea of doing a handful of trackdays a year and some weekend blasts, never done any trackdays in any of my previous cars so thought I'd buy a dedicated car just for that. Still not sure or not whether it's a Cup or not because it seems to have all the bits but these could have been fitted separately over the years I suppose.

Anyway despite having 100k miles it had a decent spec with a large service history file:

Recently new clutch, radiator and swivel joints
Cup shocks with cooksport springs
Cup brembo brakes
Braided brake lines
Unbranded cat back exhaust
Retrimmed steering wheel
Some genuine Renault sport bits like front splitter and spoiler
Full engine bay power flex kit


View attachment 156406
View attachment 156407

I would guess it is a full fat with a cup pack. If you have a proper key with a metal blade that goes in to an ignition barrel then you probably have a Cup. If you have a flat black keycard but have red Brembos, cup suspension and a quicker rack then you have a full fat with a cup pack.

 

[RSRowe]

Based off the door rub strips, it's a cup pack.
The 'Renault' app is free to download. Pop your reg into that and you'll get the original build data.

 

[Miked5]

Thanks both for the advice, did a bit more googling and I’m even more confused haha I’ll download the app and go from there

 

[dan_87]

Nice almost the same as mine, i got mine last April too haha

 

[Miked5]

I‘d left the exhaust a month or so before but it was just too loud and droney so got booked into a local exhaust place for a centre silencer……much better. Still loud enough when it needs to be but agrees with my ears now. they also re-done some questionable welds where the back box meets the centre pipe and noticed the first cat must have been knocked out at some point. Hopefully no MOT issues with only the 2nd cat!



The vibration at idle was something else I soon got sick off, looking through receipts all mounts were power flex road version but upper engine mount was the race version. Decided to change this one to the road version aswell, wasn’t expecting a massive change but any improvement is better than nothing and it was also doing my OCD in with one mount different to the rest haha

 

[Miked5]

Had a good scratch about underneath and found a couple of small issues, nothing that can be fixed though. Some shoddy workmanship when fitting the braided brake line at the rear, the metal spring clips weren't fully extended meaning the brake hoses must of literally been rattling about the whole time ordered some new spring clips which did the job and flushed through some new brake fluid in anticipation of my first track day.




Handbrake cable mount was loose and causing a knocking noise (took me a while to find it), should be spot welded to rear beam if the other side is anything to go off. Anyway I can’t weld so a cable tie will have to do for now, see how long it last……





Radiator mount has seen better days! Strange that driver side looks brand new, photo below is passenger side

 

[Miked5]

Had my first track day in June last year, it was at Teesside Autodrome which is a karting track but they do car track nights in the summer. It’s a 2.1km circuit and they do drifting events there so plenty big enough for a car.

With it being my first track day I was pretty nervous beforehand but it was good fun and got to grips with the car pretty quick. There were a few other Clio’s that were more track orientated than mine that looked quick

The last 30mins I started to develop a knocking/clunking noise when hitting the curbs so decided to call it a day there just incase it was something serious. This is the start of the long journey to find the source of the knocking

 

[RSRowe]

Great little tack Teeside

 

[Miked5]

In search of the knocking noise from the track day I had the top mounts changed as they were both split.



My wipers started to play up and would wipe 3 times then stop in the middle of the windscreen, 2 issues found. Wiper motor was goosed and linkage was pretty much seized solid. Removed linkage to free it off but I need to work on my hammer accuracy



Luckily a mate at work was able to weld it back together and its good as new after a good rub down with some emery tape and some grease, oh and a cheap eBay wiper motor.

 

[Miked5]

Another track day done at Teesside Autodrome in July, double bad news. Knocking/clicking noise is still there and it’s happening under braking and riding the curbs now, something definitely not right. To make matters worse 3rd gear started crunching on the way home welcome to the money pit lol

Prior to the track day a fitted some Accelera 651 sport tyres, they were ok but seemed to overheat pretty quickly and loose grip.

 

[Maidens1979]

Are you up in the north east @Miked5? I’m not far from Teesside autodrome but haven’t tried it yet. You should give Croft a go if you haven’t already.

 

[Miked5]

Clicking noise sorted! The 2 rear subframe bolts were both slightly loose although you couldn’t visibly see but when I checked if they were tight they definitely weren’t 105Nm or whatever it should be.

Trackday at Croft was mega, some proper motors there and I was looking in my mirrors most of the day letting them past lol again the accelera‘s lasted about 5 laps then had pretty poor grip after overhearing.

Suspension is Cup dampers with cooksport springs according to the previous owner, to me these are way too soft and I’m getting a lot of body roll. Would be interesting to hear if other people have witnessed similar with this setup.

 

[Miked5]

Are you up in the north east @Miked5? I’m not far from Teesside autodrome but haven’t tried it yet. You should give Croft a go if you haven’t already.

Yes I live in Barnard Castle mate so not far, got one day in at Croft towards the end of the year. Definitely more on the cards this year.

 

[Maidens1979]

Nice, might bump into you at Croft. I’m currently booked in for June the 15th but hoping to get a couple more booked in also.

 

[EthanMenace]

Removed linkage to free it off but I need to work on my hammer accuracy

View attachment 156457

Luckily a mate at work was able to weld it back together and its good as new after a good rub down with some emery tape and some grease, oh and a cheap eBay wiper motor.

I remember laughing when I read loads of people had done this and then did exactly the same on the second hammer swing. Just before a winter track day as well, not ideal

 

[Miked5]

Haha yeah I did the exact same mate

 

[turkie172]

The wiper linkage each post has an e clip holding the posts into the body which need to be removed to disassemble else you break the casting as above

 

[Miked5]

Yeah I did remove the clip and washer but my hand eye coordination was lacking