The High Mileage Track car

[Dowling93]

Did the first trackday in the new Clio over the weekend. Wasn't the smoothest of sailings but it was a good shakedown.

Went out for a test lap in the morning after the usual checks, was about halfway through the lap and my driver's door swung wide open, not an ideal thing to happen! After messing about with the locks and another test lap it still happened. We decided to take off the door card and have a better look. Turns out the door cable was pulled too far and wasn't properly latching itself, no door card, no more problem. Ideal one issue solved. Oh also the fuel filler cap cover fell off when we went to fill it up

Went back out for a few laps to get more comfortable with the car and differences it had issue number two arose, the perspex windows started flailing around at higher speeds so I came back into the pits and duct taped them up which solved that problem.
Most of the morning went spent sorting out those few issues and it was a very hot day around 30c + which didn't help After more laps and pushing harder I noticed there's the famous 3rd gear crunch which is not ideal, I'll drive around it for now and gather up parts for a rebuild along with a slave cylinder and clutch.

Only did shorter runs as it was roasting inside the car. The gripper diff is a totally different experience. Definitely feels different under decel and turn in required a bit more effort than usual through the steering wheels, just heavier than the blue one really. The ZPO shifter will take a bit of getting used to but the extra height over the PMS is nice, I think the PMS has a nicer shift feel to it though.
The day got cut a bit short for myself "check ignition" came up on the dash with about 2 hours to go in the afternoon and I just called it a day. Plugged in the scanner and it seems to be the throttle body or throttle pedal itself, luckily I have a spare car I can test with

The list to sort before the next day is:
- Engine oil change
- Gearbox oil change 75w-80
- Sort out perspex window
- Switch over shorter boss kit and lower steering column
- Check throttle body and clean/replace it
- Replace Throttle Pedal
- Tec7 fuel flap cover on
Makes me wonder was the car ever actually driven in anger Pretty sure that should cover it all, few hiccups and frustrations but I'll get it to where I want soon enough!

 

[turkie172]

The car looked good and seemed to corner as good as the time attack Clio on the bend leading back to the paddock. I had the Renault diagnostic gear in the boot—Renolink, RSTuner, and Clip since I was traveling so far from home, but that's a missed opportunity. If you’re thinking about selling the suspension, I might be interested, though I’m not certain yet. Does yours have the larger top mount holes?. The 911 is from up round home, good to see them being used.

 

[Dowling93]

Damn I gave the paddock a quick walk after it happened but never saw you, ah well I've been tempted to buy a clip or one of the specific diagnostic tools for Renaults anyways.
I'll have to have a look at the top mounts, it's a 2010 car so I think it could be either, I'll check when I'm down in a few weeks.
That Porsche is immaculate, I think I'm right in saying it's an actual factory built one too?

 

[Dowling93]

Did a few bits before the trackday at the weekend to hopefully sort out the Clio.
Started off by just doing an oil change and gearbox oil change. Engine oil looked healthy and fine, the gearbox oil however I could see some shiny bits of synchros in the oil towards the end. I've ordered a synchro hub and will gather up the other bits and pieces for a full rebuild along with a slave cylinder and a clutch.
Next for the day was swapping the throttle body from the fine blue Clio to the new white one. They both looked fine but we swapped them anyways. There was a tiny bit of corrosion on the throttle body pins but nothing major.

We then tackled the perspex windows, sealed them up with tec7 which worked fine for the trackday.
We still had time in the day so we decided to tackle the roof scoop I'd bought a few months ago, Jesus what a process, definitely need time and patience for this one. We had a template done and used that to drill the 4 holding bolts into the roof. The roof deformed a bit after drilling holes for air into the cabin itself so it's held on by three bolts but withstood the full trackday along with the help of some sealant too. Definitely adds to the look of the clio.

Also swapped over the wheels from the blue Clio and it looks a million times better on these than the standard wheels.
As for the trackday itself it was 6 sessions of 20 minutes this time for us. All morning the car worked flawless and I just was more patient with the gear changes so no crunches at all.

That's all the good news from the trackday. I'll have to continue a new post for the bad things

 

[Dowling93]

The bad from the trackday...
The Clio is definitely down on power which isn't great. It's not until it hits 5/6k rpm so I'm guessing it's vvt or timing related as it's the top end of the range, it's fine lower down. Myself and my friend with his Clio went out and he was able to sail by me when we reached the higher end of the rev range. I went out ahead of him for a lap and he stayed behind just so we could confirm it. So that's a new issue to look into but hopefully related to the next.

The throttle body swap didn't work, so perhaps it's the pedal instead. I'm going to check the ECU pins and there's also a bulkhead connection under the scuttle panel I'll check and give a clean to also. I still have the DF079 code throwing up and forcing me into limp mode. I won't know until the next day out of it's those or not. If it's not those it's heading down to the mechanic for a suspension refresh along with gearbox rebuild so I'll get him to investigate it properly and switch out anything he thinks/wants to

Overall not the worst. I've seen how the diff is better in the corners over the ATB ones, some teething issues to get over and we'll be right come next year's track season with the gearbox overhaul and a proper geo set up.