My new Clio 197 Progress Thread

[Nick197RS]

I measured it by fingers.
The front only dropped a tiny amount, I.e my pinky
The rear dropped more! It sits perfectly level now, so the rear dropped by about a ring finger and pinky!
To be more precise - front dropped 1 Digitus Mi'nimus Ma'nus
And rear dropped 1 Digitus Annula'ris and a Digitus Mi'nimus Ma'nus

I sure did, swivel joints can be a pig... especially with my car as I had issue getting the drive shaft out the hub!
I had to destroy the outer cv joints to get them out the hubs... they were put in a press and pushed out- even the press struggled!!!
The pinch bolt for the lower swivel joint has to be one of the most stupidest things Renault have ever come up with.
It is a shallow headed torx bolt, tightened up by an ape...
to remove you MUST weld a torx bit to the bolt, the heat frees it off and you can wind it out then.
After that it was plain sailing...
Passenger side took 2 days to complete (EVERYTHING BROKE)
Drivers side took an hour to do (used bigger hammer and more heat)

To do lower swivel joints... you need oxyacetylene bottles and an air chisel, with out them you will struggle.
New swivel joint needs to be in freezer for 24hours prior to fitting.
The alloy hub, around where the swivel joint is, needs to be heated up to about f*#%ing hot
You then drive it out with the air chisel. (Should come straight out with barely any effort)
Whilst it's still hot, you get frozen joint and tap it in- it goes in easily with little restance...
Once the temps have equalised, you have an uber duper tight fitting!

I'm off to wake the neighbors now with mr karcher, then I'll go and take some pics somewhere nice

 

[Pav]

Would have joined you at Oulton but car will be in bits..
Hope you manage to sort your box..

 

[sevenfourate]

lol at your precise measuring of the drop

Interesting you say your car now looks level and say that the rear dropped more than the front in order to achieve that.

Mine has definitely held the stock trait of having more weight pitched forward on the front wheels and if anything i would say the Eibach's even exaggerated this a bit more - so they lowered slightly more on the front compared to the back.

My drop was around 23mm front and 20mm rear in real terms (Ignoring what they claimed !). This may change very slightly as i've literally done 40 (?) miles on them so not sure if they might settle at all.

Told you these Pro-kits gave some interesting and completely different results !

Lower ball joints sound oh-so fun ! Cant wait for that......NOT. Got all the gear at; and can "easily" do at work.......and yes i knew they were a shrink fit job. Thanks for the heads-up though.

Piccies you say...........

 

[Nick197RS]

So ive had a very busy weekend!
Ive given the girl a good clean and wax.
Ive also been to see Adam's poor Clio which was written off.
Had a good scavenge and bought some bits and bobs, included full powerflex engine mounts.
So... Saturday I fitted the engine mounts... they are a great improvement. The engine feels like it is attached to the car now, and I have to say, the 3rd gear crunch is a lot less now and doesn't do it as much!!!
I gave the car a good wash down, and treated her to Poorboys world Black hole glaze topped off with their EZ Sealant.

Ive taken a few pictures aswell.
Firstly some pics of before and after the Eibach Springs were fitted (sorry about poor quality)

Pre Drop-


Post Drop- bit hard to tell, however it has settled more since this pic.


Wash down...




After wash, looking clean finally (God I hate the winter months)


Wax on, Wax off...




Interior got a quick clean too, aswell as the engine bay.




New steering wheel trim courtesy of @Adam_C


The new powerflex bushes also from Adam (Top guy)


Led instrument conversion (still need to do the lower display, quite time consuming) @sevenfourate


A shot of the Carnimat TomTom


Finally, a morning beading shot...



More pics soon. Bumpers are hopefully getting painted next weekend. I will also try and get some action shots from Oulton park on the 14th
That's all folks.

 

[sevenfourate]

You have been a busy boy Nick...

Paintwork and shine in the last full shot of your car looks stunning

Dont the PowerFlex joints just make a huge difference. Best thing is yours were even "run-in" - so you havn't got to suffer the amazing vibrations you suffer from brand new. What a bonus that is from experience !

LOVING the instrument panel LED's. Go on - tell me how hard / time consuming ?

 

[Chris]

Cracking effort Nick! Stunning car

 

[Big Ben]

Brilliant pics Nick. Love what you've done especially the Nav and LED clocks. Can't imagine the stress and time they took

What's the red wheel cleaner you using? Any good?

 

[Nick197RS]

Thankyou chaps!

The bushes are awesome, quite an increase in vibrations but it's not too bad. The car feels nice and tight now!

The led's are a tough one to do,
They are soldered onto the circuit board. I bought a 182 kit from crazy LED's
The original ones are smaller than the new ones so we're tough to solder on.
They are bloody tiny though, so you need a magnifiying glass and a very steady hand. I also had to file down the end of my soldering iron down to a needle point!

 

[Nick197RS]

It was quite stressful, but I kicked myself when it all came together as I was over thinking things and made it difficult for myself. If anybody wants to attempt the the nav conversion I have diagrams and guides available and if people struggle with wiring I don't mind making up the looms

That is a wheel cleaner from my local detailing shop.
The Polishing Booth!
Give him a try he's a top bloke with fantastic products, and knowledge. His own line of gear is brilliant!

 

[Dystant]

Can't stop looking at that picture after you just waxed, looks absolutely stunning!

I've recently fitted Powerflex upper torque arm bush, so I know exactly what you mean the car feels so much better. The vibrations do calm down a bit after 500 miles or so once it's settled a bit by the way

 

[Pav]

what a great effort..really like the led conversion of your dash

 

[Jimmy]

Awesome work, Nick! Deep Black looks immense when it's freshly waxed I quite like those decals on the doors too!

 

[Micah]

Excellent progress there, must be great to know what you're doing and have the resources to do it.
Great pics too, can't beat a clean deep black (biased).

 

[brunodias]

I like where this build is going. Subd.

 

[Nick197RS]

Thanks for your nice comments chaps!

Small update - The exhaust has now been decatted and center silencer removed. Now it sounds like it should!!!!
bit of a flat spot now though... my have to contact Henk at Fastchips.nl

 

[brunodias]

Thanks for your nice comments chaps!

Small update - The exhaust has now been decatted and center silencer removed. Now it sounds like it should!!!!
bit of a flat spot now though... my have to contact Henk at Fastchips.nl

Can you make a video of it? I was thinking the same thing but I think It might sound bad for my taste..
I have a weird flat spot at around 4000rpm but then it pulls like a train.

 

[Nick197RS]

I will upload one later for you, ill stick the go pro on the back

 

[brunodias]

I will upload one later for you, ill stick the go pro on the back

Did you managed to do that sneaky little video for me?

 

[Nick197RS]

I didn't I'm afraid, I hated it so much I put my exhaust back to standard (apart from decat)
The car had an absolutely horrendous flat spot/stutter. And it was too loud and too raspy. It lasted two days haha.

 

[DS197]

An aftermarket system will give a good sound all round. Usually a deep low down growl and plenty of pops (and bangs with a decat).