My First Renault - Clio 197 Weekend/Track Toy Project

[J18NYR]

Great work to the rest of the car though, really good to see.

 

[Helpimonfire]

Admiring the work going into this so far! One thing I'd look at potentially is using grip tape on the footplates over the chequer plate. Other than that I love how quick it's being turned around and your rattlecan paintwork makes me think I can repair the dinks on mine one day.

 

[bigsid]

Admiring the work going into this so far! One thing I'd look at potentially is using grip tape on the footplates over the chequer plate. Other than that I love how quick it's being turned around and your rattlecan paintwork makes me think I can repair the dinks on mine one day.

Thanks. Being a solid colour helps a lot when it comes to the paint. I wouldn't attempt a metallic finish in a million years.

 

[bigsid]

Bit of an update re: RSTuner. Must have been the time difference; I got a response to my VCI unlock code early on Monday morning, which I suppose isn't too bad. No update on my support ticket about buying the wrong Airbag module however one of the emails does say...

Engine calibrations, Unlock codes, Modules and car (reprog) licenses are digital content.

NOTE THAT DIGITAL CONTENT IS NON-RETURNABLE AND NON-REFUNDABLE.

So that'll be a bit of a punch in the dick if I have to swallow the €50 for the wrong module and then fork out another €60 for the right one.

 

[PITA]

You can borrow my clip if you want?

 

[bigsid]

You can borrow my clip if you want?

I might take you up on that if I don’t get any joy from fastchip. Thanks!


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[bigsid]

Quick update on fastchip.nl. Henk emailed me regarding my request to swap the airbag module. He said it couldn't be returned, as once it's part of the app, it's always part of the app, but he's asked me to just pay the difference between the Bosch module and the Temic one (10 euros), so pretty pleased with that. Good service so far. I've sent the payment, so hopefully I'll get the correct module soon.

However, I've added GSM Performance aka SportSeats4U to my shit list. They've been a bloody nightmare to deal with. I placed an order with them for nearly £1K back in October. Most of the stuff arrived quickly, but the seats were on a 6-8 week lead time. It's been over 9 weeks so far and I got an email a few days ago saying the order for the seats was complete but I've had no tracking info (I was told I'd get it within 24 hours of the email saying the order was complete). Their website doesn't show any orders for me when I login. I've emailed them and phoned them multiple times and it's been painful. I'm still trying to get a tracking number so I can figure out when to expect my delivery, but no luck so far. Gonna ring them again tomorrow.

 

[RSRowe]

Ring your bank if they’re completely radio silence.

 

[bigsid]

Lol, as soon as I moan on here whatever it is gets sorted. Seats just arrived [emoji3]

Really annoyed I’ve never won the lottery...


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[lewishunter98]

Lol, as soon as I moan on here whatever it is gets sorted. Seats just arrived [emoji3]

Really annoyed I’ve never won the lottery...


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Nice try, hope it works out for you [emoji23]

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[bigsid]

Got my seats fitted

 

[bigsid]

I've had a bit of time over the last couple of days to play with RSTuner. Henk from Fastchip.nl was very helpful with the airbag module issue (I bought the wrong one) and let me pay the difference to get the module I actually needed. That has worked perfectly and I've been able to disable all the missing airbags.

Yesterday I took the car out for the first time since the last round of work I'd done on it. It's had new brakes front and rear, new rear shocks and poly bushes, new anti-rotation links on the front, rear camber shims and new inner tie rods. It feels good, really tight. It was pissing it down yesterday so driving around on semi-slicks was a bit dicey. I found a nice, flat, straight, quiet stretch of B road and ran the RSTuner Performance Analyser. Did two 3rd gear pulls in opposite directions and got some "results".

Both runs were almost identical in both torque and power figures. I'm not sure how accurate this RSTuner Performance Analyser is, but the torque curves really threw me. Almost completely flat. The power figure was 185hp at the wheels which if true, for an engine with 120,000 miles on it, is very, very good.

This morning I applied the Stage1 map using RSTuner. I took the car out again. Similar amount of fuel, same load, similar weather. Went to the exact same stretch of road and did a couple more runs with the Performance Analyser...and, the power is down!

Now the car feels almost identical to drive, maybe even slightly more torquey low down. The flat spot is still intermittently there. Weirdly both yesterday and today (pre and post stage 1 map) the flat spot doesn't seem to happen when the engine is cold and gets worse as the car warms up. It always used to be the other way round.

Anyway, here's some graphs. Blue and Pink is yesterday before the map, red and green is today after the map. Think I might drop Henk an email and see if he has any advice for me.

 

[R27mxf]

great read!! great workmanship's gone into it and the welding has defiantly got better!! looking forward to the next updates!!

 

[Justmatt]

enjoyed your thread so far, just need to get my hands on a nice 197 now to tinker with

 

[R20BTG]

Great thread, just read through it. If you fancy making another passenger foot plate I'd be interested in buying one

 

[R20BTG]

Another little update. Tried to fit the roll cage this weekend. Spent ages trying to get the thing into position and became convinced SWMotorSports had sent me the wrong one. It just would not fit. I was just about to write a strongly worded email when it suddenly dawned on my that I was trying to fit the cage back to front...

After coming to terms with being a f*@king idiot, I got it out, turned it round a tried fitting it the right way round.

Sorry, I had to laugh, totally something I'd do

 

[Robjones888]

Top job

 

[Jossjohnsonn]

Quick note on the subject of Oil Sump Gasket replacement based on my recent experience; don't reuse an old gasket... probably obvious. Don't bother with silicone like Red RTV. Don't bother with a combination of old/new gasket + Red RTV. You also don't need to pay £25+ to get it from KamRacing, RPD or your local Renault Dealership. The Febi Bilstein part number which is the same as the OE one is 21741. I picked one up from Amazon for about £15 even though Amazon's website warned me that this wouldn't fit my car (it does).

Link for the lazy -> https://lmgtfy.com/?q=febi+bilstein+21741

The other issue with silicone is that when it fails or when you next need to get the sump off you've got to spend an hour carefully picking every last crumb of the stuff off the slightly textured surface of the sump which is a pain in the ass.

Attempt #2, new Febi Bilstein gasket.

No leaks so far, but will check again after I've ran the car for longer.

Did you need to drop the subframe / move anything to get the sump out? Or once the under tray is off, are all bolts accessible?

thanks,

joss