Toms daily 197 cup

[Tom Baynes]

So, a lot has happened since my last post. had a crazy summer which has involved me buying my first house which is my new money pit!
but....Double garage (Y)
without absolutely spamming my thread i will update it slowly with the updates and issues i have faced.

Starting from where i left the last post.

i managed to purchase a full set of PS4s for the car. if i am being honest i am not sure if i am blown away from the dry performance on some 'honest' b roads. i can however vouch for the performance of the tyres in the wet. they have not let me down yet and they seem to be wearing at an acceptable rate.

 

[Tom Baynes]

As bordem strikes and you scroll through FB clio pages, sometimes you come across what you think a bargain is...

so, i bought this Second hand non-branded (but i think its a Direnza) system.

its by far the worst decision i have had for the car, nothing fits well, the joins don't seem to seal correctly and its blowing like crazy from where it meets the Cat.

lesson learnt but i am going to make it work. when the time is right and funds allow i will be swapping this as i really don't like the product.

from what i can review in terms of the sound i really do enjoy the deeper note it provides. - unfortunately this is over-ruled by the bad product. (slap on my own wrist)

 

[Beany]

Looking good...

Sorry to hear about the exhaust scenario.. never good when you spend hard earned cash on something and it never transpires to be what you wanted / expected. Can always use it as a lesson learnt going forward

 

[Tom Baynes]

Looking good...

Sorry to hear about the exhaust scenario.. never good when you spend hard earned cash on something and it never transpires to be what you wanted / expected. Can always use it as a lesson learnt going forward

Thanks man, yeah i am more annoyed at myself as i always vouch for premium/OEM parts. - i'll take this as a reality check and move forward with future modifications.

 

[Tom Baynes]

Whilst we are on the subject of exhausts, another reason why i will be replacing the full system is because of the work i have found on the flexi's...
as we all know these are very common issues. when i purchased the car i noticed it was blowing and quickly diagnosed it to be the flexi's. i took it back to the garage i bought it off and they soon replaced it under warranty.

The garage that the car was sent to is a fabrication shop very local to me... i have never used them before nor will i ever again... what i found from these so called 'specialists' was this.... and please note, these guys are known for building rally cars.

 

[lewishunter98]

Christ that's awful! [emoji51]

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[Tom Baynes]

Christ that's awful! [emoji51]

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Man, so annoyed that this is on my car haha!

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[Tom Baynes]

Also, had a health check around the cars braking system.

All wheels off, put it onto stands and crack on with some work!
First thing is that the wheels are SUCH an eyesore that i could not ignore/try and make them look presentable.

All of the wheels were in this kind of condition and it was REALLY letting the car down...


So these are being sent off for some TLC.
No colour change as i want to keep these wheels for a second pair/track wheel...

Under inspection i found that the rear calipers were completely shot, tried every tool in every garage imaginable, no success. After admitting defeat i decided to purchase some brand new OEM rear calipers. OBVIOUSLY paying a premium for that super expensive red paint...

so as a breakdown, this check has cost me the following:

4x Wheels to be re-furbished.
2x New TRW rear calipers in RED.
2x MTEC groved rear discs
2x EBC REDSTUFF brake pads.
APE TYP200 Brake fluid.

Updates, item reviews and general concern to follow...

 

[lewishunter98]

Best and worst thing doing a general check over the car! [emoji23]

Best for your car and knowing it's all good

Worst for your bank account haha!

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[Tom Baynes]

Best and worst thing doing a general check over the car! [emoji23]

Best for your car and knowing it's all good

Worst for your bank account haha!

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

Tell me about it! - ah well, peace of mind for the parts which have been changed atleast.

Glad I got to change the brakes in summer, this winter is going to be a tough one for swapping parts [emoji24]

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[Tom Baynes]

Small update on the car.
I never uploaded a picture of the wheels once they came back from the shop. pretty happy with them. they look 100x better now the surface rust and flake has been fixed.




Annoyingly a light went pop and that soon transitioned into a front end strip down! -.-. i ordered a full set of OSRAM night breakers as well as some LEDs for the sidelights, reg lights etc..



As you can see, the tedious front end bulb change was on...

whilst inspecting the front end and the damage this poor weather has been doing to my car, i noticed the drainage points were looking very 'minimal'... i took about taking the panel off and finding a bendy stick to unclog what felt like mud within the drain pipe. When i say ALOT of water came out of the car, i mean ALOT......



Anyway, after a successful wash the car was presentable again and had a new set of blinkers ... Really need to keep an eye out on them drainage points. a lot of electrical good were within a few inches of being submerged.

 

[Tom Baynes]

Well, i suppose i best update this thread!

Reason for the lack of content was a huge house move... i managed to find a house that needed more maintenance than the clio!
This being said i have some what neglected the car over the years or so and pretty much used it as a van.... a bloody good one at that!

With that in mind i plan on bringing it back to its former glory... and MORE!!

The car is sat cosy in my garage with the majority of its parts all over the place. - Pictures and commentary to follow.

 

[Tom Baynes]

So, this is how the car currently sits! looking and i am sure felling extremely sorry for itself!.

The car is now over 80k miles and the front bumper as you can imagine is looking rather 'worse for wear'. - This will be getting re-sprayed in the near future with some goodies applied!.
However, don't let the state of the exterior fool you, i have extreme mechanical sympathy for all my vehicles so it's had all necessary work done to keep it running sweet.

 

[Tom Baynes]

Also chaps, don't run your Clio as a daily without your arch liners! (mine did snap)

Gutted i found this but with the new bumper inbound i was replacing the fogs with some ducting... No harm no foul!

 

[Tom Baynes]

So here is the majority of the faulty exterior. The rear quarter, where it meets the bumper was flaking over winter and the inevitable jet wash finished the job... This is my main concern with the exterior as moisture is clearly under the skin and will spread if not captured soon.

Unfortunately, when windy my driveway is some what of a wind tunnel, i found out the hard way as my door was ripped out of my grip and t**ted the side of the house. - Creating this lovely reminder .

Even though covered by the spoiler end plates, the spoiler shows clear sign of water damage, meaning over time the paint will eventually flake off... Granted all little things! but hey-ho might as well get stuck in, we've made it this far!

Also, not shown in pictures below but i think my rear bumper has had some kind of cheap re-spray in the past as there is over spray on the reg light fittings and i think i can see some colour changes in different areas of the bumper. This will get rectified along with the front bumper.

 

[Tom Baynes]

First proper job to get sorted was the O/S ABS sensor. - just before coming off the road for a bit of love, there was a horrible scratchy noise coming from the rear. Having stripped both sides i found no obvious reason for the noise until i got down to the rings.
Now replaced i hope the noise has disappeared. (sorry for the bad photo).

Also, bad news was O/S rear brake was COMPLETELY seized. - Another item on the list i need sorting...

Whilst they are off, i was thinking of a colour change.... perhaps YELLOW?
View attachment IMG_20210226_185855.jpg

 

[DS197]

Worth checking where the rear quarters meet the side skirts as I’ve had rust repaired there, especially inside the wheel arch.

 

[Tom Baynes]

Worth checking where the rear quarters meet the side skirts as I’ve had rust repaired there, especially inside the wheel arch.

Yeah, fair point might as well get the skirts off and clean up what may have gathered over the years.