New 197 Cup owner

[G197]

Hi everyone, I've recently acquired my first ever Renault sport! I am now the proud owner of a white 197 Cup which I am going to be using to compete in hill climbs and sprints!

Despite it being my first RS I am not unfamiliar with them as I have been sharing a friends 172 Cup for many years both on track days and more recently hill climbing and sprinting.

Getting a Clio RS has been an inevitability for some time, firstly they are perfectly suited to hill climbing/sprinting but also because I nearly bought one in my 20's but ended up going down the CTR route, so it was a scratch I'd never quite itched! First impressions are promising as it definitely put a smile on my face on my drive home after collecting it.

Being a child competition car there are going to be a few mods on the cards! Initially in preparation for the season next year I need to get the car caged (most likely go for Safety Devices), new bucket seats and a racing steering wheel.

If anyone can save me a bit if hunting and point me in the direction of any threads about the best seat and subframe combinations or which steering wheel boss is the best that would be really helpful.

I will Also be changing discs, pads and brake hoses ready for next year.

Over time other mods will include:

Clio 197


Aero Catches

Spherical top mounts

Strut Brace Front

Strut Brace Rear

Suspension

new track rods and track rod ends, it’s an opportunity to upgrade any 197 or non-Cup 200 to the slightly quicker Cup rack.

Polybush mounts: suspension & Engine

Shims

Spacers

Limited Slip Diff

Exhaust

Exhaust Manifold & Sports cat

Uprated Cams

And as much weight reduction as possible.

Looking forward to immersing myself in all thing Renault sport.

Geoff

 

[LOCKE]

Welcome in Geoff, hope the 197 brings you many happy times. Enjoy.

Colin

 

[sevenfourate]

Morning Geoff and welcome to the forum.

Congrats on the new weapon; and looking forward to some reports and pictures; especially once the car is competitively in operation !

Also sounds like your Renault knowledge might help out a few people here

Enjoy your stay..........

 

[Big Ben]

Welcome aboard Geoff. If you finish that list then you'll have a weapon on your hands!
Have fun

 

[Foxspeed]

welcome

 

[-Eddie-]

Welcome along! Some tasty plans there


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Johnny 99]

Welcome. Looking forward to hearing reports, seeing pics of you competing.

 

[Jimmy]

Welcome to the forum, Geoff! Great introduction, hope the plans go well for you!

 

[Pav]

welcome

 

[G197]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. Most of my knowledge is based on a 172 Cup do not sure how transferable that is to the 197 but suppose it's better than no knowledge.

 

[nutnutwelshman]

Welcome Geoff to the Family were are you based bud

 

[G197]

Thanks, I'm based in Worcestershire in the midlands.

 

[Sean.]

Thanks, I'm based in Worcestershire in the midlands.

Where abouts mate? I'm by Bewdley!

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[G197]

Not far away - just over in Droitwich.

 

[G197]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on here so having just re-signed up (now as a platinum member) I thought it was about time ibit of an update and some photos given I set out quite a list of jobs a few years back. (See posts above)


Some pics before the work started:






So what have I achieved to date:

Well before any real work started I took the car over to Mick at Diamond Motors for the cambelt, dephaser and water pump to be replaced. Some key work not documented on the service book so wanted to be sure it was done and done right.

After that the fun stuff started. I stripped the car (as much as my competition regs allow) and fitted it with Safety Devices cage, OMP Champ bucket Seats, Driver & Passenger Airbag Delete, Racing Steering Wheel, Brembo Brake Discs, Mintex Pads, 1.2 Pro Race Wheels with 45 Offset, R888R Tyres, and stud conversion kit.
















As a race car I thought the car needed a bit more in the way of decals to make it look the part (maybe not everyone’s cup tea but ok for now). Also added the OMP tow strap.









Some pics from racing:










More recent work:

I have recently fitted the ITG induction kit and as part of the process decided to relocate my battery to the floor behind the passenger seat for better weight distribution. Eventually I’ll change it fir a light weight battery but this was good enough for now. I did a fair amount of research on this and went for the bulkhead pass through connector for safety and it actually made the whole fitment process quite easy. I was amazed when everything worked first time after it was all reconnected.

I was amazed at the amount of stuff that came out with the original air box and battery case, there’s certainly plenty more space in the engine bay now.


I also created an aluminium bracket for the fuse boxes/connector boxes that were attached to the outside of the original battery box and I’m quite please with how neat it looks.















So what’s next? Well I’m about to buy some spacers so that my standard wheels have the same offset as my 1.2 pro Race wheels. Annoyingly I will need to change my studs for the longer ones to accommodate this so I will have a spare set for sale if anyone’s interested (I will add a post to the For Sale section). I’m also going to get some Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres for my road wheels as the car has been on some budget tyres since I bought it and they are awful on the road. I might also get the wheels refurbed to freshen them up a bit. I’ve also got some OMP pedals on the way to make the heal
& toe a bit easier and a new horn button for the steering wheel (not worked properly since it was fitted). I also still have my airbag lights on which is a pain come MOT time so need to investigate why the resistors haven’t worked.

The car also needs a good clean and thorough detailing as it’s been sat in the garage since last Sept and hardly moved so is covered in all sorts of grime and dust. Just waiting for some new products to arrive and then that’s my next lockdown task. More photos to follow after it’s cleaned.

I also plan later this year to get the full race exhaust system (manifold through to back box) from Pure Motorsport ready for the season next year (and will prob do engine mounts at the same time).

After that the new Bilstein coilovers from PS look good and of course all the relevant bushes, roll bars, adjustable top mounts and strut braces will be fitted at the same time (funds allowing).
All of that should give me the few extra 10ths I need to challenge some of the front runners in the hill climbs and sprints. To be fair to the car though it’s going pretty well and isn’t too far off the pace as it is.


Here’s a link to my you tube videos of some of the events I’ve done.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Ce1BZaZAJZb9htZ8gsKhA

Hope you all have found this interesting. I will try to be more timely with my updates in the future.

 

[massivewangers]

Looks good. Do you have links for the bits you used for the battery relocation?

 

[G197]

Yep sure, here’s the links:

Pardon our interruption...

Pardon our interruption...

Motamec Std Size Alloy Car Battery Tray Aluminium Box Holder Titanium Anodized | eBay

Manufactured from 2mm aluminium. Anodized titanium finish. Supplied with 8mm socket cap bolts, nuts. Swaged holes for lightness and strength. Escort Parts > Body Shell. These countries include, but aren't exclusive to, Switzerland, Norway, Malta, Canary Islands and the Greek Islands.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[massivewangers]

Yep sure, here’s the links:

Pardon our interruption...

Pardon our interruption...

Motamec Std Size Alloy Car Battery Tray Aluminium Box Holder Titanium Anodized | eBay

Manufactured from 2mm aluminium. Anodized titanium finish. Supplied with 8mm socket cap bolts, nuts. Swaged holes for lightness and strength. Escort Parts > Body Shell. These countries include, but aren't exclusive to, Switzerland, Norway, Malta, Canary Islands and the Greek Islands.

www.ebay.co.uk

Great, thanks. Any chance of a little guide on how you did it?

 

[G197]

Great, thanks. Any chance of a little guide on how you did it?

Here’s a quick guide. Can provide more details if needed but fairly straight forward once to work out once you have the parts to see how it all goes together.

First I followed the ITG guide for fitting my new air filter as that shows how to remove the battey and it’s case.

https://itgairfilters.com/downloads/download/1560336625-5d00d8f190f52/

Once that is all out the way you’ll need to secure some of the fuse boxes that were attached to the outside of the batter case. I made a bracket out of aluminium for mine and bolted to where the battery was fixed and also to the plastic fringe by the bonnet switch (see pics above).

I then connected my new cable directly to the original positive terminal and taped it all up so there was no metal showing. This can then be cable tied down to the rest of the loom.

Then drill your hole for the bulk head adapter. I did this just to the right where all the brake lines converge (easy spot to access).

The cable kit comes with all the electrical connectors you need, although I did have to drill out a bigger hole in two of them to fit the bulk head adapter. It also has an extra fuse which you need to fit somewhere between the original terminal and the battery. I put mine on the side of the tunnel in the passenger footwell (see pics above).

The battery cage I drilled holes in the base of it and the into the floor and then riveted it to the floor of the car (watch outfor your brake lines as they run close to this area if fitting behind the passenger seat.

Hope this helps.