Yellow

It's all coming together now.

Direct fit is probably the simplest way of doing things. I've got OMP bases and just regular bucket seat side mounts on mine. I did have to drill my own holes in the bases to get the seat lined up properly though
 
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yeah just need to pick some harnesses - ideally black with yellow logo detail to match the theme!

that'l probably finish the clubsport main pieces, just need to get some tracks booked in now... preferably with other clios i can follow and learn from :smiley:
 
some photos of this weekend's work:

official recaro sub-frame ('direct fit' ... bs) for LHD Passenger seat, and stock recaro side mounts, mounted on top of OEM renault sliding rails.
recaro-rhd-subframe.jpeg
more details on the recaro pole position thread but generally not bad - just not as good as the price demands and i want more height adjustment for the driver side. direct fit side mounts for the driver side methinks.

and the KTR induction kit .. honestly forgot i bought this until i saw the email thread from KTR and realised i must have chucked it in the shed when hungover. now fitted:

ktr-inductionkit.jpeg

Fitting 7/10 - relatively easy to fit, instructions are a little lacking (fail to mention the existence of the front fuse box)
Quality 7/10 - not bad, i hope the filtering is sufficient, but the heat deflector is relatively nice. it all looks good once fitted.
Design 6.5/10 - again, not bad, but you get the impression the KTR workshop guys who must fit this regularly have never provided any constructive feedback to the designers. the pipe is probably 0.5cm too long at each end, making it a tight squeeze, and the cone-to-heat-deflector mounting is just awkward given how easy it would be to improve..
Sound - 8/10 - pretty fun! i'd liken the impact (coupled with the scorpion exhaust and Toyosport manifold) to a stock scooby impreza. burbley, raucous and throaty but not too artificial fortunately. it's a keeper!

Car now just needs a full detail and vacuum! Ran out of time for the cage, i suspect i need a mate with spare hands to assist too.
 
Cage now test fitted and drilled, gotta add the PU40 seal and give it a coat of underseal. Looks proper now!

bought a sabelt 4 point and some FIA stress plates for the central tunnel eye bolts, hoping i can get those fitted with just a jack to access the tunnel from underneath! If it all works i’ll get another sabelt harness.

and the wheeler steering wheel lowering kit because i read somewhere it was good and easy fitting, and before the recaros i already had the wheel as low as possible!

also just pulled trigger on some supreme side mounts from @R27WTF so hopefully that is the end of seat mounting faff!

Will document the cage install more once it’s finished, it’s pretty easy but i think JP Cages could do with some minor tweaks to their jig for bolt in - as the isofix cage holes dont line up with the isofix mount points perfectly (and its braced so no chance of bending it).
 
Definitely agree with JP cages sorting out their jig. Ours was pretty wonky along the front edge, had to bend the front legs together to get it to fit properly.
 
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Trackday @ Croft 23/9/22


Arrived about on time after a two hour final stint from Newark; greeted by a row of garages full of clios.. to which more clios arrived later. I think 11 in total on the day, 8 of which from the forum and one token 182.

Vibrations/road/exhaust/induction noise levels on the motorway are on an exponential scale from about 60mph upwards. After 5 hours of practice… 69 proves to be a good number for yet another thing and is a nice balance on cruise in this clio!

Quickly checked all the bolts i did in the dark the night before, the inside rear seat floor bolt was .. not done enough (probably because it was the last to be done and my t40 bit snapped… thanks @burrellbloke and @EthanMenace for volunteering theirs to check things).

Looked like a well balanced crowd of cars until the Radical arrived but numbers were low enough that the day didn't really have any major queues. After the sighting laps … which aside from watching @R20BTG 's video from May was the first exposure i had to the track (i always wondered who turned up to the safety briefing so underprepared they needed to see those track map boards showing the layout… it was me this time) i did the novice session, fortunately wasn’t the slowest by any stretch.

Quick pit to check pressures and re-route the OEM belts through the outside belt hole on the pole positions and away we go. I think i started at around 2 min laps, with the tuition from Nick i dropped to around 1:52-1:54, and after some savage rides from @Big Ben and Iain i quickly realised how hard i could push even my stock suspension/no-LSD car.. ending the day with 1:46 as the best time. Thanks to @RSRowe for the quick harness install! Gives some added confidence when on the brakes.

Confident i could have done better .. perhaps 1:45s would be my limit with that setup...

…If my car didn’t inhale it’s battery cover and fill the track with a plume of white smoke wasting a few hours of my day. Didn't really notice any change in the car.. just moved over for some faster cars and noticed it in the rear mirror… Came in immediately, marshals guessed ‘Brakes on fire’, others said ‘gearbox blown’ but it was driving fine .. and when looking under the bonnet Ethan asked if i had previously had a battery cover... doh.

About an hour of idling to burn the remainder off the manifold and some of @Helpimonfire heat proof gloves and pliers to pull off the sticky plastic chewing gum from behind the (hot!) engine and i went out for the last session to burn the rest off.. only to get black flagged for dripping liquid. Which in the end was just a teardrop shaped blob of re-hardened plastic hanging off the undertray. Great day and nice to meet some people, although i think most had some sort of issue!

PhiIA21l.jpg

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IpxbMO6l.jpg


--

Drove home via a night in York and some tourism in the morning to appease the wife. Jacked up the front end at home and pulled 34 more pieces of hardened plastic string from behind the under-tray; i’ll get it double checked when on the ramps next but should be all of it.

Also dropped the arch liner to stick a multimeter on the washer pump plug to confirm the pump is dead - new one ordered, along with a new battery cover (which will be tied to something going forward..), a front bumper plastic fastener as i noticed the left headlight area protruding too high, and a new t40 bit because halfrauds are out of stock on their warranty bits.. great.

Probably going to spring for another sabelt harness - but debating a 5/6 point for driver side and relegate the 4 point to passenger.. undecided as to whether it adds much value.

Have also tidied the excess harness with some cable ties and re-trimmed the rear carpet around the cage for neatness - still not perfect but perhaps fine for now and doesn’t irritate my minor OCD so badly now.

Next stop - Gaz Gold install, and probably belt/dephaser, and a service for good measure. I can already see a quaife on the horizon. so much for a cheap track toy...

FabN8FDl.jpg
 
Your car looked great out on track. Your times were good bearing in mind you were running stock suspension. I would have definitely been slower that you in a similar car.

It was good to meet you last week.
 
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Great write up Jimmy.
Nice to put a face to a name on Friday. Hopefully bump into you again in the near future.
Car looked lovely mate:thumb:
 
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Nice to meet you and have a chin wag, car looked fantastic I do love LY. Once I've sorted all my footage and data I'll upload your passenger laps.
 
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had a spare hour yesterday
- new washer fluid pump fitted and has resolved that issue,
- new battery cover fitted and added some black wire added as a cable tie on both pieces of the battery cover. won't be suffering that issue again! shame there's not better latches on those things...
- bought a bag of mixed renault clips and went around the car replacing all the worn ones that have clearly been re-used too many times... front bumper is now a more secure fit

would like a way of securing the ktec rear carpet at the front edge.. perhaps a hidden cable tie connecting it to the rear footwell carpets or something.

also removed the plastric trim either side of the rear glass - where the rear parcel shelf used to hook on to... determined that was the cause of many a rattle (wish i had worked that out before the 10+ hour return trip to croft..). fortunately it doesn't make a huge difference to the look. saved around 300g of weight too that'l be a game changer on track...
 
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bit of a pause in progress over winter - very busy with work and some impending life changes.. fortunately all good and given how cold it is it seems an ideal time to get ready for this year. Would like to get as many days done this year as possible! Shout if any forum days start to form :smile:

On my to-do list:
  • Chat with Alex @ AW for suspension fitting, potentially a diff (might go quaife and maintain some road comfort) at the same time, and i think it's due belts around now so may as well do a full service and checkover. no idea how i get the car out that way, given i'm south london .. but so many positive reviews i'm willing to have a go. I'd use two-techs again but i think i want Alex's experience with the track setup and alignment.
  • sunstrip. driving around in winter and the low buckets mean sunvisors are not much use.
  • tempted to get a plate, i like the CL10 ones :smiley: i can probably tell SWMBO my tax bill was more than it was and the plate just magically appears..?
  • test fitting the steering column lowering kit i bought, see if it helps. i got used to the position but remember initially being annoyed enough to purchase the kit.
  • acquire some track wheels with some MRFs for track use.
I think after that the only thing i could think to do would be the ZPO shifter, and they are lovely... but expensive.

In pursuit of maximum use, i had dreams of the wife and mates also using the clio with me on trackdays, so i thought i'd make the driver seat more adjustable. I went down a rabbit hole with seat mounts again.. attempting to add sliding rails to the driver side. bought an OMP subframe and slider, but with the pure motorsport side mounts that were designed for direct fit, they don't work on the OMP subframe; and then the recaro side mounts i have won't work with the OEM side buckle as there's nowhere to mount them (even if i do some drilling, the angles just don't work), and i'm committed to retaining the OEM seatbelts as well as the harnesses.

Also bought a second 4-point harness for passenger, so need to get around to fitting that (drilling passenger side central tunnel, as initially i only did the driver side).Probably want get it up on some ramps so i can check the state of those after some use, i wasn't able to seal the support bracket due to it's location so might need replacing.
 
Mention me when speaking to Alex. Will likely add 10% to your bill!!

No he’s fair on prices and does all my work. Highly recommend
 
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Another one for Alex .. He's maintained and built my car over the past two years of ownership. highly recommended!
 
Right, busy week but managed to get in touch with Alex at AW.

in short… YOLO.

booked in for:

  1. gaz gold install (finally!)
  2. Alignment for track
  3. Service … it’s belts time
  4. Tuning (might not do this, but exhaust/intake/engine mounts might mean it needs doing at some point)
  5. Gearbox tidy up and… Gripper diff
So .. balls deep.