Where does it end? 2003 Clio 172

[Helpimonfire]

Don't judge me... This car was an absolute bargain and I can't turn those down.
It all began with the usual casual browsing on Facebook marketplace of a Friday evening. I saw this listed for £900 down from £1700, figured it was a shed and I love a shed. Sent a message expecting to get told to piss off but I found myself heading to Hopton near Great Yarmouth with an empty trailer... It came back loaded.
Don't get me wrong, it's not a particularly tidy example but for £600 I wasn't arguing. It was sold as having an electrical fault when the weather is wet or after the car has been washed, so I had a quick check under the bonnet, pulled the fresh battery and went to work clearing the debris in the battery tray and around the fuse box.

Yummy.

The fuse box and main connector was full of grime and general grot, so each fuse was pulled, each connector unplugged and every relay pulled so I could work the contact cleaner into it and tidy everything up, it was gross.

I then gave the car a quick wash and it scrubs up ok... From 10ft or further. She's no show pony but the plan is to use it as a daily and to use it for targa/nav rallies while the 306 is in dry storage until I learn to weld


Not bad for £600. Needs a bit of work and it has an airbag light on but it drives well, only 112k on the clock and has 10 months MOT on it. First job is new discs and pads and a set of tyres! Might treat it to some wheels as the standard 16s are a horrible looking wheel. Turinis or Speedline 2118s are the likely candidates right now.

 

[RSRowe]

 

[Helpimonfire]

Feeling that was an attack on my personality there Nathe

 

[RSRowe]

I’m looking forward to the next purchase

 

[Helpimonfire]

Had a bit of time on the 172 this afternoon, cleaned the inside again as I missed a few bits last time. Previous owner had used baking soda and vinegar to clean a few bits and I realised there was loads still in the carpet to get rid of.

Decided to break the polishing compounds out too, couldn't be arsed to get the machine polisher out so I did it all by hand, started with the OSF wing which had a very dull top section. Turns out it was covered in overspray!
Much better. Did a temporary tidy up of the headlights too because they're duller than my future.
Before.

After the first pass with some 3M Fast Cut

Second pass with some Farecla G10 finishing compound


I think I need to split the lights and clean the projector bulbs out though, they're looking fairly cloudy. At some point I'll do a proper restoration on them because they're actually in decent condition, I've watched a few videos of how to do it properly and I reckon I can manage it.


It's tidied the front end up a huge amount. Sadly the drivers door can't be saved as the paint has crazed and split, I might have a go at painting the bonnet myself but we'll see!

 

[Helpimonfire]

Done very little with the blue turd lately. Other than replacing an upper gearbox and upper engine mount, I've just been daily driving it and enjoying it.

Wes was bugging me tonight to go for a blast, partly because he got the Golf back on the road but mainly so he could drive the little 172.

Mega drive out, really need to change the tyres and sort the brakes though, found out the NSR caliper is actually doing nothing. That's handy!

 

[Helpimonfire]

Spent a few hours on the blue turd last night and this morning and found exactly what I'd expected. Lots of shite.

As you can see the NSR caliper hasn't actually ben doing anything. I'm pretty certain this car had a Bluetooth MOT...

New caliper, disc and pad fitted, it finally had something resembling a handbrake!

The fluid that came out reminds me of the first piss in the morning after a heavy night of drinking. Yummy.

NSF next and oh dear. This bleed nipple has been missing for some time... New disc and pad, I'll get this one sorted at some point but the brakes have always felt decent so didn't feel the need to upset it too much.
OSR was seized up so that got freed off and the pads installed correctly. For those that don't know, on these there's a shaped piston and you need to have the brake pad with a tab on it nestled into this shaped piston, otherwise the caliper won't adjust as the pads wear.

OSF up next and oh dear. Again.

And again. The previous owner had completely destroyed the disc retaining screw so that needed drilling out and throwing in the bin.

Small victories.

Just been out to bed the brakes in a little, I don't plan on driving too far knowing that the front spring is broken so that's the next purchase! I'd been looking at the cheaper coilover kits but I think I'm going to stick to a decent set of springs instead. Maybe.

 

[Helpimonfire]

After a week or so of not driving the car, I had to get the car back on the road as I miss flinging it around, so I ordered a set of Eibach Sportline springs to replace the broken one. Once I'd stripped the strut down I watched as the chrome rod dropped from full extension to fully compressed by itself in a few seconds... Not ideal. Top mounts were also shagged so they needed replacing too!

Order went in to KAM racing for some 172 Cup dampers, new spring caps and SNR top mounts.

Scared yet?

No other photos as it was all fairly straightforward. Took it out for a drive and it's been settling for a few days now while in daily use.


Needs tyres and an alignment next, the old Toyos are somehow hanging on but they're rather plasticy and the opposite of confidence inspiring.

Had a new toy delivered too, the fuel light came on and there was a jerry can of V-Power in the garage from my last trackday soooo...

£27 off ebay and it'll pump 9 litres a minute. Worked an absolute treat, definitely going into the trackday spares!

 

[Helpimonfire]

With the 197 throwing a tantrum, the shedtastic 172 was pulled in for track duties at Snetterton on Tuesday. Oh boy...


The Accelera Phi-R budget tyres held on surprisingly well. The brakes were very upset about the whole situation though, starting the day with boiled fluid, then having to change a caliper which I planned to do at some point anyway because of a snapped bleed nipple. That was the NSF. The OSF had a completely rounded bleeder on it so a 7mm socket and a hammer were used to free it off which worked a charm thankfully!

It had been a bit of a shitty couple days with the impending need for an engine in the 197 and the 172 needing a few bits doing but it was all last minute so needs must. I ended up calling it a day around 3.30, the rear brakes had gotten so hot because the car magically decided the ABS and ESP would start working so it was grabbing the rears which ended up so hot they wouldn't turn freely!

Long story short, it won't replace the 197 and it'll continue with daily/weekend duties, however in a pinch it'll work on track. Just need to sort the brakes out and get the thing aligned.

In a straight line it was keeping my mates freshly built 200 at bay but I couldn't touch him in the corners or corner exit.

Depending on my findings this weekend it may go up for sale to fund an engine for the 197 but we'll see!