RE: Shed of the Week: Renaultsport Clio 172

[Axionknight]

320touring said:

heh

I reckon all the mx5 is missing (apart from sills/chassis legs etc) is enough oomph

Then fit a turbocharger.

[anything fast]

"Our Clio is unmodified apart from a stainless steel exhaust"


Funny how he does not mention the stty rear lights! bet it had some halfords wheels on it that were probably binned by the previous owner who couldnt afford to replace the tyres after endless wheelspins behind mcdonalds!

apart from that looks like a decent little shed for £600.

[tbc]

i know it's only £600

but surely giving the thing a decent clean or wash and wax for a few quid would help

[ferrisbueller]

Great little cars, I love mine, though it isn't a shed.

Worth noting in this case that the cambelt service, which is overdue, will see off the rest of the shed budget.....

[Oh Behave]

Just bought a 172 cup and haven't stopped driving it for two weeks, such fun cars. Rs4 is tucked up in the garage but really must stop driving 172 as was only bought as a track toy ! Surprised how nippy it is

[Mr Pies]

Has anyone on here changed a belt on one of these themselves? Maybe they could give an insight as to how hard it actually is?

[helix402]

Some Renault dealers actually sold brand new "special" edition Clios with these lights fitted.

[Gixer_fan]

anything fast said:

"Our Clio is unmodified apart from a stainless steel exhaust"


Funny how he does not mention the stty rear lights! bet it had some halfords wheels on it that were probably binned by the previous owner who couldnt afford to replace the tyres after endless wheelspins behind mcdonalds!

apart from that looks like a decent little shed for £600.

There was a 172 cup for sale opposite me recently, complete with 'sporty' back box. Young fella whose warm up technique was to drop the clutch at 6000 and rev out in 1st and 2nd immediately from startup.... every time from what I saw.

[KM666]

Air bag light is linked to wiring under drivers seat. Made worse by tilting the seat forwards often. The one in the family is on 190k and has seen a track or two. The original engine was removed on 178k to be rebuilt at home, a 60k engine went in with the original but refurbed gearbox. Bodywork is faultless, plastic headlight covers only slightly cloudy. Its my fathers daily.

The crap back lights could be factory fit. IIRC they featured in the back of the standard clio brochure.

@ Mr Pies, I assisted my dad in one change. The answer is very hard indeed, you'll never get it 100% right. We had the correct tools too.

Edited by KM666 on Friday 1st November 22:17

[DaveL485]

Mr Pies said:

Has anyone on here changed a belt on one of these themselves? Maybe they could give an insight as to how hard it actually is?

On a scale of 1 to 10, i'd give it an 8.5 the first time, maybe a 9. Subsequently, a 7.

Haynes destruction comic would give it a five spanner I reckon.

[DaveL485]

KM666 said:

@ Mr Pies, I assisted my dad in one change. The answer is very hard indeed, you'll never get it 100% right. We had the correct tools too.

If you have the right tools, you can't get it wrong. Lock the crank, lock the cams, lock the pulleys, loosen the pulley nuts so the pulleys spin on the end of the locked cams. Detension and remove old belt, fit the new belt, tension the belt, Lock the cam pulleys THEN tighten the cam pulley nuts back up.

Very unnatural, tensioning the belt before tightening the cam pulley nuts, but thats where most slip up.

It's that spring loaded aux belt though. I fecking HATE that thing.

[KM666]

DaveL485 said:

Very unnatural, tensioning the belt before tightening the cam pulley nuts, but thats where most slip up.

Thats the one! We didnt get it first time.

[Munich]

DaveL485 said:

If you have the right tools, you can't get it wrong. Lock the crank, lock the cams, lock the pulleys, loosen the pulley nuts so the pulleys spin on the end of the locked cams. Detension and remove old belt, fit the new belt, tension the belt, Lock the cam pulleys THEN tighten the cam pulley nuts back up.

Very unnatural, tensioning the belt before tightening the cam pulley nuts, but thats where most slip up.

When you lock the cams and then lock the pulleys, is this not the same as locking the cam pulleys? If so, how can the cam pulleys be locked again when they already are locked? (please bear in mind, I am no expert DIYer and I have never worked on a 172...)

[Limpet]

KM666 said:

DaveL485 said:

Very unnatural, tensioning the belt before tightening the cam pulley nuts, but thats where most slip up.

Thats the one! We didnt get it first time.

This is a commonly used setup nowadays. The Alfa Busso V6 is the same, as is the Ford Zetec. It's very logical from an engineering viewpoint, as it means the tension gets spread evenly across the entire belt instead of bearing mostly on the tensioner side of the cam pulleys.

[Sampaio]

I drive a supermini from around the same year with 75bhp, I can only imagine what a supermini with 100 extra bhp would be like... That steering wheel looks dreadful though

[sef535]

Track day Slag at its finest strip out and enjoy ,,,, rough around the edges but its entry levels clio money with a third of the bhp .....

[pSyCoSiS]

That looks like a good bargain and an excellent SOTW.

Get it for £500, spend £250 ish to get bits sorted and you have a good car well under shed budget.

Seems to have been looked after and it's reassuring to know the previous owner has had it for a long time.

[MonkeySpanker]

Munich said:

DaveL485 said:

If you have the right tools, you can't get it wrong. Lock the crank, lock the cams, lock the pulleys, loosen the pulley nuts so the pulleys spin on the end of the locked cams. Detension and remove old belt, fit the new belt, tension the belt, Lock the cam pulleys THEN tighten the cam pulley nuts back up.

Very unnatural, tensioning the belt before tightening the cam pulley nuts, but thats where most slip up.

When you lock the cams and then lock the pulleys, is this not the same as locking the cam pulleys? If so, how can the cam pulleys be locked again when they already are locked? (please bear in mind, I am no expert DIYer and I have never worked on a 172...)

The cam pulleys are of a 'floating' design i.e there's no keyed locking device between the cams & the pulleys (the crank is the same). So you must lock the crank & the cams & then tension the belt, the pulleys can then & only then be tightened up. There's no timing marks so the only way to time these correctly is with the locking tools.

[Alex10391]

I owned one of these up until very recently and can verify the articles comments about how durable the engine is (if looked after - Cambelt and regular oil and filter changes)

I've driven a lot of cars and I genuinely think as an out an out performance car these take some beating for the price.

Mine was on 120k when I sold it and was running lovely. According to the new owner it made 170 on a recent rolling road and he now uses it for track days where it performs brilliantly! Wish I'd done the same as him when it was mine!

Edited by Alex10391 on Saturday 2nd November 10:09

Edited by Alex10391 on Saturday 2nd November 10:11

[anonymous-user]

Wash the thing and give it a vacuum and you'll possibly be able to ask at least £50 more just for presenting it nicely.

Smacks of 'How quickly can I shift this on?' which would make me wary.