Tom's Track Car - BMW E46 -Engine Number 3

if you fancy you could let me know next time you are doing Oulton park..see if i can make it too...

Will do [MENTION=41063]Pav[/MENTION], there's a group of 3/4 of us with Clios that are doing track days together, Look up the group TrackTime on facebook, I'm Tom Taylor on there, Just been to Anglesey this weekend, you're not that far from me either.
 
Quick video from Anglesey at the weekend, another track day under the Clio.

Had some massive bills after the last track day but ill update about that later in the week, Car's running fantastic now!

[video=youtube;Nbdy8tOmDSY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbdy8tOmDSY[/video]
 
what a great video..was watching it and its such a great track..your car could eat up that Megane for breakfast..very impressive car and skills...
 
Thanks @Pav was a really good couple of laps some of the best of the day that, got some other really good footage I want to do some proper editing with first though.

Anyway.. little up date...

After Oulton park around 3 weeks ago I developed a shocking noise from the engine and thought I was down on power in the afternoon. With Anglesey less than a week away I stumped up for a full cam belt kit, dephaser, water pump and aux belt.
While we had the car apart we found the crank pulley at the bottom was nackered which ended up costing another £190.
While I was at it i treated it to a new set of plugs, oil, filter and an ITG Air filter.

Total parts bill... £650 good job I did a lot of the servicing my self and a friend of a friend did the Cambelt change.

Carrying out from the video above here's some photos from Angelsey, Shocking wet in the morning and bright blue skies and a dry track from dinner time.

Chasing Sarah in the fellow Grey 200.
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Looking good in the rain rocking the Track Time stickers.
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12 O'clock came around and the sun came out with bright blue skies.
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Little update... Had a really annoying click from the gear stick when going from neutral to first. Decided to investigate... Removed the exhaust, heat shield and found the bottom of the gear selector. Managed to rip off the sealed on cover so I could have a look inside... Had a poke around while someone went through the gears inside the car. Turns out the screw that holds the spring that holds it in the middle was loose and sliding side to side causing the click. All put back together and wow the gear sticks never felt so tight. Obviously the springs been moving around to the middle of the box is neutral was slack.

Now to get to the bottom of the squeeky clutch pedal tomorrow... I have a theory...
 
It started the same day I bled the brakes with ATE200.. So there's something going on there. Initially I thought maybe air in the master. So today I bled the clutch and it's gone a little worst. Stripped the clutch pedal down and greased everything. Still as bad. Ordered some different brake fluid for tomorrow. 2 litres so I can completely flush everything out of the brakes and clutch. Done some research into it and taking on board other people's experiences I've got an idea about the type of fluid causing the problem. Will find out tomorrow. Plan it to strip the car so I can get to the gear box then pick the fluid up at 10.
 
the brake fluid you mentioned above has been known for causing this..bleed and drive it for a while..it should go away soon...
 
Great pics and Anglesea is such an awesome circuit. Totally unpredictable weather as well, I'm going there beginning of June.

btw yes ATE superblue seems to cause the squeaking noise, I had it myself. It didn't bother me as such but the fluid was (is) **** and that was what bothered me. It got the boot at the first opportunity.
 
Fixed.
Took it all apart this morning. Went down to euro parts for the opening time.
Pulled all the ate200 out of the system. Bled the brakes and then the clutch. Used the full litre of fluid and let it run through the clutch until it was completely flushed.
Put it all back together. No squeak when using the pedal and it feels noticeably smoother through it travel now.

Happy!
 
Gone back to Pagid for the time being which I've used to completely flush the whole brakes and clutch out with and then bleed. At least it works correctly and it's completely fresh in the whole system. Will see how it fairs up at the next track day. Nice smooth clutch action now though!
 
Had another few little jobs done this weekend, Managed to get some KTEC spacers with longer bolts from a lad on the Clio forum on Facebook.

Took the wheels off the car and sat it on axle stands for a few days to do a couple of jobs.
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Cleaned, painted the discs and the spacers in black.
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Fitted, 20mm makes a massive difference to the way the car looks on the road, should have come from the factory like that.

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Trying my best to not spend any money on the car at the moment.

Got some adjustable top mounts in the pipeline to get it dialed in with some more camber for track days. Trying to focus on handling for the time being before any power upgrades.
Start saving for some coilovers... or Exhaust and remap.. but that opens in a can of worms with what to do with the manifold... Remove the pre cat too to stick with that and just replace the flexis. Cant decide to be honest. probably look at the KTEC Y pipe and delete the pre cat too.
 
MMM... not a fan of spacers, puts extra stress on your bearings by moving the rotating mass outward. If Reno wanted to change the suspension setup I'm sure they'd done that by now. Plus all that extra weight in the wrong places is not worth it IMHO of course.
 
If yours is a track build then I really wouldn't be putting spacers on it for looks... Buy some wheels for a bigger offset if you want them to stick out more.
 
If yours is a track build then I really wouldn't be putting spacers on it for looks... Buy some wheels for a bigger offset if you want them to stick out more.

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments. Yeah it's being built and focused towards a track car but maybe not as serious as some on here. I have done a fair bit of reading and research into running spacers on track cars and spoken to a number of people on track days. The main reason with going with KTEC Hub Centric spacers was i wanted to use the best quality ones available from a good quality supplier. Was interested to experiment with a wider track especially when I can get the adjustable top mounts fitted this month when they are manufactured. More caster and camber to improve the front end grip and improve the turn in on the car. I'll see how I get on with them over the next few months, new lighter wheels would be perfect however I've got a to do list as long as my arm and I would need two sets for wet and dry tyres.
 
Another couple of weekends pass a few more jobs done.
Dropped the subframe, removed and replaced the existing Renault manifold for a new manifold without the precat.
Really good quality product, fits perfectly with noticeable larger exhaust ports.

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Aside from that I've been working with Compbrake a local Motorsport Engineering company on the development of a set of top mounts for the Clio to run OEM springs and any other coilovers designed around the same Diameter spring. Will also be rolling out a similar design for the Newer style top mounts with templates for cutting the top mount on the chassis and a strengthening plate to allow adjustable top mounts to be run on the newer clios. Should have the final bits from the machine shop this week and get them fitted and the car set up properly.
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Got the next track day scheduled for the 3rd August at Angelsey, [MENTION=41063]Pav[/MENTION] will get that booked in the next week or two if you fancy it? Should be 3/4 of us in clios 197/200's
 
good stuff there Tom..happy with the new manifold??
thanks for your invite...would have joined you but on holiday..may be doing Blyton on 3rd...hope you have good time...
 
Really happy with it for £150 with a new gasket and fitted it my self a couple of hours.
I thought my Flexi joints where about to start blowing and they where on offer so snapped one up after fitted one to a Clio the weekend before. Sounds a lot better even with the standard exhaust on there, deeper note too it and it certainly revs up a little quicker. It's had both Cats removed now, trying to decide on whether to replace the current exhaust for after market or stay standard due to there being no performance just weight saving with an aftermarket exhaust.
Working my way around the car still with poly bushes too before getting it aligned with the new top mounts.