My Renaultsport Machine - Glacier White Clio 200 Cup

Hello all, I recently sold my Honda Civic EP3 Type R (fantastic car) and bought myself a GW Clio 200 Cup. I have wanted one of these little cars for a long time so finally got around to buying one. Kinda the wrong order, as most people go from a Saxo, to a Clio, to Civic Tye R, then onto Subaru etc. However, I love the design and handling characteristics of Renaultsport cars and fancied trying one out. I am also about 5 years behind all the other guys who owned a Saxo when I did (FMP etc.) and they have since moved on to bigger and better things, however, I am a late bloomer so to speak, so bear with me :smile:

After many many viewings and test drives of a few dogs, I finally found one via one of the guys on here (Eddie) so thanks Ed! Had to go to Northern Ireland to find a good one with the specification I was after (Recaro's, White, Cup chassis) as all of the ones I looked at here were either not what I was after, or had something wrong with them. I don't plan to modify it as I don't think it's required. It's also my daily driver as I already have a highly tuned Peugeot S2 106 Rallye on bodies, so this is supposed to be my sensible machine! As you can tell I have a penchant for small fast French hatchbacks :smiley:

Overall the car is very clean and in excellent condition, mainly owing to the fact that the lad who owned it before me is a Renault technician so he maintained it very well, and also liked detailing so the paintwork is mint. After the long ferry journey and drive back from Liverpool to Hertfordshire she was running nicely, and I was getting used to it.

I will probably just carry out a few small tweaks to tidy it up further, and get it really nice and mint. If I do anything mechanical it will be a brake upgrade in the form of some AP discs or the like. It already has an Akrapovic exhaust system so that satisfies my lust for modifications so far!

Needless to say, I am in love with the car already and it really does handle like a slightly softened race car. Fantastic little machine it is.

Firstly, after reading about the drain holes blocking and water ingress becoming a problem, I decided to tackle this as one of the first this afternoon. Went ok, not a bad job overall just fiddly, and it started p*ssing it down halfway through so I lost my sense of humour with it after a while. I also had to make a puller (bit rough but it did the job) as my wipers were on uber tight and I didn't want to damage anything by forcing them off. This worked a treat. As it happened my drain holes weren't blocked, but there was still a lot of dirt and crap in under the scuttle so gave it a good clean anyway. A few hours later i'd got the job done, cleaned and refitted all the plastics, and more importantly cleaned the scuttle area and ensured the drain holes were nice and clear. A few pics of the work. I will get some better photos of the car once the god-damned weather sorts itself out and I can clean the thing.


Interior:

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Wheel and brake (calipers in great condition too, another seemingly difficult box to tick when finding one!)

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My DIY bodged puller (really must buy a decent one at some point they are very handy to have):

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Scuttle before:

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Scuttle after:

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With a bit of luck I can clean it tomorrow and get some more photos up.

Plans so far are to buy a full set of proper Renaultsport mats, some black Renaultsport 'RS' centre caps, two new front tyres, and possibly a silver Renaultsport steering wheel insert. A nice touch is that she has the FF steering wheel fitted, which is much nicer than the skinnier cup version.

That's all for now!

Lewis
 
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Cheers boys. :thumbsup:

Some more work today. Annoyingly it was really nice which wound me up considering I was out in the rain yesterday - never mind! Today I tackled a few more mundane jobs, but ones that make a difference to the overall appearance of the car. Spent ages cleaning the bay and under the bonnet, also cleaned door shuts, rubber seals, boot hinges and around that area, hoovered it all out inside and generally got her looking mint. Needs a good clean outside again but will get onto that soon. Hopefully Wednesday as it's my birthday and i'm taking the day off work!:smiley:

A few photos of today's efforts. Still need to take some of the whole car but will preserve those until she is gleaming. Starting to look like new though now I am stoked on it!



Scuttle clean from yesterday (bit of a cack photo but you get the idea):

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Engine bay all cleaned and under bonnet. Going to remove the intake pipe and clean it up as it's messing with my OCD. However it's too tight to clean it properly in place, hence why it's grubby still.

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Inside door shuts cleaned:

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Interior hoovered (one side, started lashing so couldn't complete driver side):

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Little black covers removed where keyless entry sensors presumably go on the FF model. Gave these a good clean:

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Done:

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Door and wheel shot, no reason for this photo just liked the angle:

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Really love the shape of the car it's a lovely design. Looking forward to giving it clean and getting some new mats for it hopefully this week.

will update further then.

Thanks.
 
Actually does anyone know if you can get a samco or similar replacement intake pipe which fits the OEM set up (in black)?
 
Hi Lewis,

Copying my car choice again mate :wink: first an ITB 16v S2 Rallye and now a Clio 200!

Like you I have regressed in to a French hatch and have yet again sunk far too much money in to it!!

(Rallye_Rich from the RR)
 
Good write up mate, and im almost in the same boat..... I went from a highly tuned LCR Stage 2, to a Evo 6 Tommi Mak, and now a proud owner of a RS200 Cup.... All the modifications that i would of wanted , were already carried out by previous owner, Exhaust, Cup Spoiler, so as im not particularly mechanically minded, my skills are in keeping it clean.... Like you , ive done the scuttle removal etc, tidied up the engine bay, Replaced the side window seals, as they were torn

Changes ive made

Sprayed the side door indicators Smoke tint
De- Tangoed the indicators
Replaced the Headunit with aftermarket as wanted Bluetooth
LED Bulb 501 Side Lights

Again, the Wheel centre caps annoy the hell out of me, and these need to be either changed or sprayed black

Steering Wheel needs replacing, as there is considerably wear on the top. Will probably go for a full alcantara retrim from Royal Steering Wheels.

....... There is plenty to keep you busy thats for sure.......... So So uncomfortable, but you put that aside and replace it with an excellent driving experience.....
 
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Hi Lewis,

Copying my car choice again mate :wink: first an ITB 16v S2 Rallye and now a Clio 200!

Like you I have regressed in to a French hatch and have yet again sunk far too much money in to it!!

(Rallye_Rich from the RR)


Ah Rich! :smile: Long time no speak! Ha ha yes, it appears we both have a penchant for rattley ass french hot hatches! Have you got a blog then?
 
Yeah it's an early mid-life crisis I think! Or because the Rallye was sold too early, my subconscious has somehow steered me into doing it all again!

Yeah blogs on here mate few posts down or a more conicse version on www.cliorsr.uk. Needs updating and still waiting for build pics, but everything has kinda of stalled for a few weeks :worried: short version is chucked a ton of money at building a forged NA lump but as of yet we haven't got results much beyond a mapped car! lol (anyway feel free to spam or laugh on my thread - I'll not destory yours this early on :smile:!!)

Must go have a butchers on PistonHeads actually and see how much further you have got with the Rallye? I'm hedging bets on probably still needing either brake lines or fuel lines :wink: You'll sure have your work cut out for you now though with 2 surrender monkeys!!