Nicole ? Papa ! - Clio 197 F1

[l33th3tr33]

sounds like my average weekend!
Regarding the dogbone mount, i just hammered mine back in. It's tight but it'll go.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Pav]

great work..they are awesome cars..enjoy

 

[AmosMoses]

Small update, but an update non the less!

Haven't really had chance to get out in the car recently as work has been hectic and I was out at the revival last weekend.

Screwdriver, chisel, hammer, saw?

After finally managing to find an 18mm spanner it was time to retry the upper torque arm bush.

Would this bugger come off? No it wouldn't!

In the end I snapped 3 screwdrivers, a chisel, bent a c spanner and yet it still wouldn't budge.

So after ruining most things in the toolbox I broke out my handy saw. Having to saw some of the collar away seemed the best way forward. After removing a couple of the tabs one swift thump of the hammer and off it came.

Picture of ruined tools laid out in an OCD fashion.



Fitting the new insert was literally a 30 second job, following the motto of when in doubt lubricate the new insert was in.



Engine seems to be tightened right up and the increase in vibration is noticeable at idle.

Buzzing to drive the car tomorrow and get reacquainted.

If I can be arsed I may have a crack at the lower engine mount...

 

[matt9566]

Glad you get it sorted in the end mate!

It took me ages to get the bloody thing off too, in the end I gave my dad a go who's a bit more heavy handed than me!

The vibrations settle a little once you've done a few miles with it on.

 

[l33th3tr33]

Should have used a beefier screwdriver [emoji23] good job, enjoy the fruits of your labour [emoji106]


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[Johnny 99]

Small update from the fun packed weekend i had...

God i forgot how good this car was

On Saturday morning i had chance to drive the Clio properly, the last few weeks its been filling in as a station car for the Mrs and has been used for general pottering around, in other words it needed a good thrash.

Out on some of my favorite roads i had chance to really open it up, i forgot just how good the car is. It loves to rev and the chassis has a really nice flow to it when your pushing on, it's got real character in the way it drives and that really does matter.

Time to break out the spanners

So it was now time for some light servicing and general titivating.

First job was to drain the oil, easy enough. Luckily I had done my research before hand and had the 8mm square socket for the drain plug. Oil was drained without a hitch and i then moved onto the oil filter and that's where it went all wrong.

Geoff Capes with a 12 foot long wrench

That is how i presume the oil filter was last attached, when you reach up to unscrew a filter and it doesn't come off with your hand its usually a bad sign.

Not to worry, i'll try the old screw driver trick, so hammered a screw driver through, Would it turn? No

Chisel? No

Oil filter wrench? No

Right F this where is the crow bar?

After a couple of hours of hammering and general b*stardization me and dad managed to get it off.

The resulting mess:

View attachment 113288

New filter was screwed on hand tight and car was then filled back up with oil.

This disaster kind of set the tone for the rest of the day.

I don't really care anymore

The the next bits i had to do were to fit a few powerflex engine mount inserts. Or as they shall be known the evil yellow lumps of doom. I had popped out the lower engine mount dogbone and put the inserts in easy enough. Coated them in copper grease hoping they would slip in, not a chance! It looks like the gap is real tight with these fitted so i'm going to need to lever it in. However the chassis brace bolts are seized meaning i cant really lever it in... Popped the powerflex inserts out and put the dogbone back in. I will revist those seized bolts with fire and my breaker bar.

So how about the upper torque arm insert? No that's not going in today that sodding metal collar wont come off right i'm done with this!

Dont you need to do the spark plugs/ Arghhhhhhhhh View attachment 113289 Yes i do, luckily this only took 10 minutes...

Aaaaaand relax

Car was put back together and i'm pleased to say it all works! Seems to drive a little better and the "fix" for the map sensor has lessened the flat spot but not eradicated it.

A very frustrating weekend, but you learn from these things i suppose! I'll have another crack at these parts at some point but for now the car at least has had a service.

I love your writing style & the pics that go with it. A thoroughly entertaining thread!

 

[Deer_Dodger]

Brilliant updates Amos, I'm smiling as I read, well written mate


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[Pav]

Take the arm off your car and it won't take you more than 5 mins..that's how I did it...

 

[sevenfourate]

Glad you get it sorted in the end mate!

It took me ages to get the bloody thing off too, in the end I gave my dad a go who's a bit more heavy handed than me!

The vibrations settle a little once you've done a few miles with it on.

500 miles under your belt and you won't even remember you fitted the insert.

They do a great job though hey......

**Good luck with the lower mount !

 

[AmosMoses]

So yesterday we had some success!

Right! You're going in and that's that

Yesterday morning me and the mrs went for a walk, when we got home I felt mentally prepared to get this lower mount in.

After taking a new approach of removing the lower brace I had a lot more room to work.

Engine mount came out easy, I fitted the insert and used the powerflex grease that I had left over.

A wiggle, a few smacks and only minor cursing and guess what? IT WENT IN!!!!!!!

So proud of my achievement I had to take a picture.



A small victory but a victory none the less.

Test drive time!

Pleased to say the car feels a hell of a lot better with the new mounts. There's was a certain movement when coming off heavy throttle and that has been irradicated, after putting a 100 miles or so on the car the vibrations are also reducing.

Next weekend we are taking a trip up to the north york moors and Whitby. Plenty of great roads up there and I may make a trip to Olivers mount!

 

[Benno]

Braver than me doing the mounts, however after reading this I may have a little go...car looks brilliant, the more Recaros I see, the more I wish I waited out a few more months for one with them in..!

 

[sevenfourate]

Good work buddy !

**The only person ever not to moan / complain or doubt themselves after fitting uprated mounts / bushes.....

HARDCORE !!

 

[l33th3tr33]

Braver than me doing the mounts, however after reading this I may have a little go...car looks brilliant, the more Recaros I see, the more I wish I waited out a few more months for one with them in..!

Use a hammer and chisel, and whack it like fuck. I found that bends the rounded bits out enough to force it off. And do it off the car!


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[Benno]

Use a hammer and chisel, and whack it like fuck. I found that bends the rounded bits out enough to force it off. And do it off the car!


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You're talking to me, the one who managed to break their finger just by shutting the driver's door! (Admittedly on an Audi...about 10x the weight I imagine)

I'd probably tear my arm off or something using a hammer and chisel again, few years since I last did that...:excited:

 

[l33th3tr33]

You're talking to me, the one who managed to break their finger just by shutting the driver's door! (Admittedly on an Audi...about 10x the weight I imagine)

I'd probably tear my arm off or something using a hammer and chisel again, few years since I last did that...:excited:

Yeah true.... [emoji23] if you were closer I'd do it for you!


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[AmosMoses]

An update from over the weekend.

We start with Friday afternoon.

Dinner time!

The Mrs had found out that a local farm shop near us does a drive through hog roast! As we were both working from home seemed rude not to pop out and grab one.



Saturday came around and we were off to North Yorkshire for the night, a little break away is what we both needed. Just so happens my favourite roads are up there!

The journey was split into a trip to the moors for a steam train ride, then on to Whitby, then to our accommodation in the Dalby forest.

Just how fast were you going?

While the Mrs was reading her magazine I took full advantage of to roads and really got to stretch the Clios legs.

What can I say? It’s engine is perfect for those snappy little overtakes, it’s chases the redline beautifully and the snickety gearbox really makes changes a pleasure. This combined with the balanced chassis makes driving this quickly a real pleasure.



After a walk around Whitby we headed back to our accommodation. That meant back over the moors.

You really couldn’t ever get fed up of this car on those roads, it’s just epic!



Are you joking me?

The accomadation we had booked was let’s say, rural. It didn’t actually have a road to get to it, not what you want in a cup chassis clio. After a spine jolting trip down this track we got there.



Clio was tucked up for the night and we watched the sunset with some booze.



I had planned on visiting Oliver’s mount on the Sunday after we had been into Scarborough, however there was a bike race event on meaning I had to shelve that idea.

All in all a really good trip, I’m a lot more confident with the car and I’m pleased to report I’m still smitten!

I have a trackday booked this Friday where hopefully I can see what this car has to offer.

Thanks all for reading my ramblings!

 

[Big Ben]

An update from over the weekend.

We start with Friday afternoon.

Dinner time!

The Mrs had found out that a local farm shop near us does a drive through hog roast! As we were both working from home seemed rude not to pop out and grab one.



Saturday came around and we were off to North Yorkshire for the night, a little break away is what we both needed. Just so happens my favourite roads are up there!

The journey was split into a trip to the moors for a steam train ride, then on to Whitby, then to our accommodation in the Dalby forest.

Just how fast were you going?

While the Mrs was reading her magazine I took full advantage of to roads and really got to stretch the Clios legs.

What can I say? It’s engine is perfect for those snappy little overtakes, it’s chases the redline beautifully and the snickety gearbox really makes changes a pleasure. This combined with the balanced chassis makes driving this quickly a real pleasure.



After a walk around Whitby we headed back to our accommodation. That meant back over the moors.

You really couldn’t ever get fed up of this car on those roads, it’s just epic!



Are you joking me?

The accomadation we had booked was let’s say, rural. It didn’t actually have a road to get to it, not what you want in a cup chassis clio. After a spine jolting trip down this track we got there.



Clio was tucked up for the night and we watched the sunset with some booze.



I had planned on visiting Oliver’s mount on the Sunday after we had been into Scarborough, however there was a bike race event on meaning I had to shelve that idea.

All in all a really good trip, I’m a lot more confident with the car and I’m pleased to report I’m still smitten!

I have a trackday booked this Friday where hopefully I can see what this car has to offer.

Thanks all for reading my ramblings!

Nice update. Was up on the moors and Whitby myself recently. Lovely driving roads if they're not to busy.
Glad you enjoyed it


** if your missus was reading a mag you weren't going fast enough**

 

[Pav]

great write up and pictures..the Moors and Whitby was done by us about 2 years ago..great roads..really glad the car makes you happy-most important factor..
keep enjoying it as much as everybody else on here..

 

[Benno]

That hog roast looks amazinggggggg...loving this thread!

 

[AmosMoses]

Had a great day yesterday!

Wet wet wet

Arrived at Oulton Park with the weather being typically British, it was cold, wet and wasn’t showing an signs of brightening up. Feeling a little bit disheartened at this point as the forecast yesterday was better...



Really?!

So as I queued up for the first session I realised I had been put into the faster group of cars. 911 Turbo, 370z, 400bhp Octavia, TVR Chimera were some of the highlights. There was also a smattering of Type R civics and an M3. Feeling a little under equipped we headed out.

However as it was so wet no one could put the power down and as a result the clio was holding its own. The car felt good but was struggling for grip out of some of the tighter turns. Sadly Aforementioned TVR was struggling with grip and had a big off resulting in a red flag, not a good omen for the rest of the day.

Is that the sun?!

As we got to mid morning the rain had stopped and that mysterious yellow ball appeared in the sky! Track was starting to dry out and I was really getting to know the clio becoming more and more confident with each lap. Some corners were still greasy so full commitment couldn’t yet be reached, I found this out after a huge lift off oversteer moment in the first corner...

Follow me this lap?

I got talking to a couple of lads who had tuned skodas, one was the bat st mental 400bhp Octavia and the other was a tuned fabia running about 220bhp. For most sessions I went to the front of the queue, as it was a novice day and I had been to Oulton before i didn’t want to get held up. These 2 lads were impressed with the clios pace and wanted to come out with me. So we queued up and headed out.

The track was now bone dry and as a result the Octavia was putting all that 400bhp down. Jeeeesus did it shift in a straight line! He shot off into the distance but never really gained any ground for saying he had twice the power. I put this down to the clios excellent brakes and chassis.

As for the Fabia he was behind me and trying to keep up, he had the legs on the straights but again the braking and agility of the clio gave it an advantage.

As we returned from this session the Octavia was running out of fuel and the Fabias brakes were on fire

Seems the clio can really set a lap when pushed! The only thing I did note was my contis has got quite warm, but I will most likely get some PS4s before the next day.



One more for the road?

Last session of the day was epic, track was dry and few cars were out. Clio was running on full form.

What I found out was that the car is so capable, I felt supremely confident in the car and lap after lap I got faster. The grip levels were off the charts and the the big Brembos just don’t fade.

I returned to the pits with a huge smile on my face, I was so chuffed with how myself and the car had done.



I can’t really fault the car, it ran perfect all day and really made me push myself. I feel I learnt a huge amount on track and the clios performance meant I kept a few of the faster cars humble.

It needs a wash and the wheels are covered in brake dust, but that’s a job for later on.