My Clio 197

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dunny83

Original Poster:

105 posts

183 months

Sunday 21st September 2014
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Hi guys, I've owned the new wagon for a couple of months now and done a few bit's so thought I'd get a new thread up and running, I'll warn you now it could end up being a long one.

Firstly moving on from my 335i, thread here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

I was blown away by that car, the power and sense of being in something special was something that I always enjoyed. However I'm starting to think about getting a house and my short daily commute to work barely got the oil warmed up. Plus having that amount of money depreciating all the time scared me a little.

So the replacement...... it had to be quick and fun so I didn't get bored, still have a few toys as it was my daily, cheaper parts so I could go for more spirited drives/track days without the thought of tyre and brake costs festering in the back of my mind and finally a max of 6K so i could keep it for a while and not have to worry about what it would be worth in the future.

I already had an idea in my mind of a Clio 172/182 but then I was surprised to see that the 197 was in my price range. I remember years ago first seeing one at a place I do courses at for work and it always caught my eye every time I went back there.

After the usual research I decided on the spec I was after on top of the standard kit. This was ......
Xenon headlights
Climate control
Cup chassis
Recaro's
Any colour but BLACK (I've had a few anf was sick of the paint up keep!)

So quite a list then and after a couple of weeks only three turned up in the whole country at the time with the exact spec I wanted. I enquired about them all. Two were form traders, one was sold and the other had a guy on the way with the intention of buying. The third being the cheapest, private but the furthest away, oh and BLACK rolleyes was still available.

Seeing as the others had sold within 24hours I wasted no time in travelling to Manchester to have a look. The guy on the phone sounded like a really nice guy, was very honest and was also a real driving enthusiast. When I got there he had quite a fleet including a Caterham and a Megane R26 F1 edition. The Megane was low mileage but a little rough so he'd bought it as a project and therefore the Clio was going to make way. After a test drive, a look through the massive wedge of service history and receipts a deal was done.

So after all that waffle, here she is....









The drive home was boring! All motorway so I just put the cruise control on and sat back in the amazingly comfortable Recaro's and just relaxed (and got 33mpg as a bonus). The next day I went out to see whats what and WOW, this thing is a go kart! I love having the n/a experience back and I was grinning like an idiot the whole time biggrin It doesn't shove you back in the seat exactly but it just feel's so right, if I'm on a straight road now it just feels like a waste of petrol lol.

I always enjoy having a bit of a play with my cars but first I like them to be 100% so I drew up a list of things to sort (some asap, some just as and when funds/time allows) It went....

Give the paint a clay, polish, wax, clean & feed all rubber seals etc
Replace the the rear side window door seals
New Tax disc holder
New mats
Fit Citroen spray washer jets
Get air con serviced
Fit a Miltek exhaust system
De tango all indicator bulbs
Sort the Renault (patent pending) peelable steering wheel
Sort the flaking laquer on the front bumper
Possible cup spoiler
Possible ITG pannel filter
Get the 2.5k flat spot mapped out

Looks like a big list but only because I'm picky, it really has been very well looked after by the first two owners. The first guy had it as a company car and then bought it off the company so on the V5 I'm technically the fourth owner.

Thanks for reading if you've stuck with it, I'll write up the rest as I get chance thumbup




andy118run

866 posts

205 months

Sunday 21st September 2014
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An interesting read. I quite like these. The seats look great.

larsson7

305 posts

141 months

Sunday 21st September 2014
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Congratulations, lovely looking car, those seats look like they are in great condition, which isn't always the case with the recaros in the 197, I'm very tempted to buy one of these in the near future, will be interested to hear how you get on with it. Good luck with it and hope you continue to enjoy it.

dunny83

Original Poster:

105 posts

183 months

Sunday 21st September 2014
quotequote all
andy118run said:
An interesting read. I quite like these. The seats look great.
larsson7 said:
Congratulations, lovely looking car, those seats look like they are in great condition, which isn't always the case with the recaros in the 197, I'm very tempted to buy one of these in the near future, will be interested to hear how you get on with it. Good luck with it and hope you continue to enjoy it.
Thanks guys, the seats we're a real bonus that i thought would be the hardest part to find. They've had a small repair on the drivers lower bolster but it's been done quite well

ninjacost

980 posts

221 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
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I won my class in sprinting in one this year great handling car ! only criticism is theres no torque you got to rev it past 4500 to get it moving :-)

dunny83

Original Poster:

105 posts

183 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
quotequote all
ninjacost said:
I won my class in sprinting in one this year great handling car ! only criticism is theres no torque you got to rev it past 4500 to get it moving :-)
Ah congrats on the win thumbup

I know what you mean about the lack of torque. Can be a little frustrating on the road some times if something happens quickly and your in the wrong gear. I do enjoy working the engine when I'm out in the mood though driving

smiffygas

148 posts

205 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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I can recommend royal steering wheels to get your peeling leather wheel sorted. He offers an exchange and you can pretty much have anything you want within reason.

nick s

1,368 posts

216 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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New tax disc holder? Is there any point? You don't need to display your tax disc as of 8 days time! biggrin

dunny83

Original Poster:

105 posts

183 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
smiffygas said:
I can recommend royal steering wheels to get your peeling leather wheel sorted. He offers an exchange and you can pretty much have anything you want within reason.
Thanks for the tip, Jack was the first place I went and his reputation is fully deserved biggrin


nick s said:
New tax disc holder? Is there any point? You don't need to display your tax disc as of 8 days time! biggrin
That is a fair point but my current tax lasts until December and with the amount it costs I am going to display it with pride until then lol

dunny83

Original Poster:

105 posts

183 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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Right, I'll try and get this up to date

My first weekend with the car gave me a chance to give it a good clean. After a snow foam and Megs APC on all seals and shuts I clayed it. Was nice to find that very little came off on the clay bar. After that it was polished with Poorboys black hole which looks great on dark paints. I then finished it off with two coats of FK 1000p on the paint and wheels.



Next I fitted my new tax disc holder (as previously mentioned, won't be needed much longer)



Then I replaced the seals on the leading edge of the rear windows. From what I can gather these are known for deteriorating on 197's and mine looked like the cat had been at them and flapped about while driving paperbag





Now I think it was new mats



I thought I better get my scuttle looked at after reading a few other people had put it quite high on their list of things to do. So I stripped it all down...



...and I'm glad i did! The drivers side drainage hole was totally blocked





Everything got unblocked, cleaned and the bolts all got sprayed with gt85. All plastics got bathed in 303 Aerospace and left to soak







Did the whole bay while I was at it



By now I was starting to feel like I was getting somewhere but something was still missing, a Milltek non res cat back system made the car look and sound alot more complete imo





I got it fitted at my local Renault dealership as I wanted them to give the car a full check just for piece of mind. They also service the air con which is now ice cold. When I got it back the manager said the cheif mechanic had commented on how RS Clios usually get treated on of two way's either thrashed and poorly maintained or enjoyed by enthusiasts and very well looked after. Thankfully he thought mine was the latter.

By now the only thing that was bugging me was the state of the steering wheel, my wife had a clio mk3 DCI a few years back that was exactly the same confused





I've only ever read good things about Jack at Royal steering wheels and with an exchange basis the price was a lot lower than I expected. When we spoke I said that I wanted an OEM look but much higher quality and that dreadful zigzag stitching on the red band changed to leather. We arranged a date and he managed to fit me in the day before he was leaving for his summer holiday so I was lucky there. I'm over the moon with the quality of his work, it looks and feels great biggrin







Fast forward to last weekend and I thought I'd have a look at the state of my air filter, good to see it was OE, not too healthy though. I know this car has been properly maintained but I think manufacturers make the interval between changes on some items far too long.





Thanks to KTR I soon had....



Also treated her to these all round



took the opportunity to do some cleaning while I was at it











Next on the list is a brake upgrade, they feel ok but I know they could be alot better. The rears are pretty worn and the front's have alot of meat left on the pads and discs but the discs just look in a sorry state, very corroded. The plan is upgraded Renault Sport rears, upgraded Brembo/KTR front discs with Ferrodo DS2500 pads and a fluid flush/upgrade. I think that should do the trick.

I had DS2500 pads on my Leon Cupra R and would always go for them but I'm not sure about what fluid to use so and recommendations welcome

The first part turned up today bounce my rears, I love new parts!





Well that's me up to date, in the few weeks I've owned the car I've loved every minute. It's made me really enjoy driving again in the purest form and I find my self getting up early on weekend just so I can enjoy a few windy roads to myself.

Thanks for reading this novel thumbup

dunny83

Original Poster:

105 posts

183 months

Thursday 26th March 2015
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01/10/2014
Well thats the final parts ordered for the brake overhaul, Mr Pinks pins, KTR black edition front discs and ferrodo DS2500 pads to go with the megane RS rear set up. Hope it all arrives next week so I can fit it the weekend after. Now I'm just praying for good weather and non corroded pins lol

dunny83

Original Poster:

105 posts

183 months

Thursday 26th March 2015
quotequote all
12/10/2014
Tried to fit my brakes today, KTR we're out of stock on the black edition discs so I got Megane R26R discs instead for the same price, cheers KTR . Rears went on ok but if you imagine worst case scenario with regards to the front pins I think I'm there Started off on the passenger side, lots of penetrating oil left to soak over night, a decent quality punch thought I was all set. After a good few whacks, boiling water, blowtorch ect all I ended up with were bent pins. I've cut out what i can, tried drilling them out but just snapped all the bits. I've now run out of ideas, tool's and talent so tomorrow I'll be removing the callipers and taking them to a garage or engineering firm to be removed. The first derivers side pin came out fine but the second was business as usual

The pads look almost new thickness wise and they are genuine brembo pads but they were corroded in really badly so have been there along time. They definately weren't working to their full potential. I've managed to scrape off all the corrosion, muck and sanded the mating surface back to smooth so with plenty of grease it should all work much better when back together. The brakes will be getting stripped and cleaned yearly in my ownership.

Now it's time for a beer and google some where to help me out tomorrow, Cheers

dunny83

Original Poster:

105 posts

183 months

Thursday 26th March 2015
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Hi everyone,

Thought it was time I updated this. The good news is the car is going well and is still being used as intended. To go back to where I left things though......

I got the pin's out (or what was left of them) thanks to a great local garage that I've always taken my wife's cars to. Unfortunately I did have to remove the calipers in the end but there was no other way.

Kit already to go, full of hope, of an easy time ha!





And this is what I was dealing with (I'm sure this will bring back painful memories for some of you lol)







And this is what I was left with....



Here you can see the corrosion that I believe was causing the old pads to struggle to move smoothly in the caliper, hence the old but meaty, glazed pads.



Still, got it all fitted in the end and flushed and bled through with ATE Racing Blue fluid (more on this stuff later). I went for a test drive and the first time I put my foot on the brake using the normal amount of force and I nearly shot myself through the windscreen lol. Even though over the next few days I was being careful, bedding in the new pads etc, the difference was very obvious and well worth all the blood sweat and (almost) tears.

Next up on the refresh list.... tyres. The car came with two Conti Sport Contact tyres on the back but one was a 3 and one was a 5. They probably had a bit of life left in them but I wanted a matching pair for safety reasons as well as the fact it bugged me.

After much reading and head scratching I had it down to either Michelin PS3's or Goodyear F1 Asy 2's. In the end I went for the Michelin's, there was very little in it but from what I can gather the PS3's are slightly grippier in the wet so that seemed like a good UK option.



So far they've been great and fully deserve their reputation, once the Pirelli P-Zero's on the front are dead I'll be putting the Michelins on there as well.


Around the same time I started getting a weird symptom where my boot either wouldn't open at all or would randomly pop open while I was driving. It got to the stage where I had to close the boot and run round to the front, shut the door and press the lock button to stop it from happening lol.

Firstly this looked daft and after a while the boot refused to open more often than not. A search on here and the rest of t-web pointed to water in the boot switch or the connection to it so I stripped the boot lid and cleaned the offending item with WD40. This didn't work and shortly after the switch fell apart in my hand, revealing corroded connectors and a split in the rubber cover. A new one was ordered and it's all back to normal thankfully.



A few days after my brake overhaul I noticed my clutch pedal started squeaking, this is properly annoying! After some searching it seems this is what happens when you use ATE Racing Blue brake fluid in a Clio 197/200.

Also in Jan I went to the Auto Sport show at the NEC, I've been a few times and it never disappoints. This year I got a good price on some HEL braided brake lines to finish off my brake overhaul. I'm also taking this opportunity to replace my brake fluid with Motul RBF600 which I'm lead to believe will get rid of my squeaky clutch pedal... So thats this weekends project



Last friday Clio went into Renault to have a platinum service and today had a new hand brake cable as the rear brakes were binding on after being parked for any length of time, feels good now.

Ok thats me pretty much upto date, thanks for sticking with it. Hopefully things will get more exciting soon as I'm getting an itch for spacers and lowering springs......

Cheers

Nezquick

1,453 posts

125 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
Nice write up.
I'm currently in the same situation you were in, in that I'm in the process of buying a house and need another (cheaper) car seeing as I've just sold my Z4.

I keep thinking about a Clio Sport but not sure whether to go for the 197 or the newer 200. I love those Recaro seats though.

What difference does the Cup chassis make over the non-Cup? Is it just a firmer ride?

dunny83

Original Poster:

105 posts

183 months

Friday 27th March 2015
quotequote all
Nezquick said:
Nice write up.
I'm currently in the same situation you were in, in that I'm in the process of buying a house and need another (cheaper) car seeing as I've just sold my Z4.

I keep thinking about a Clio Sport but not sure whether to go for the 197 or the newer 200. I love those Recaro seats though.

What difference does the Cup chassis make over the non-Cup? Is it just a firmer ride?
Hey, thanks. I initially didn't really like the look of the 200 hence why I went for the 197 but the 200 has grown on me and now I quite like it.

As for the cup chassis you get stiffer springs and beefier dampers, visually you get anthracite alloys and red brembo calipers. I can't recommend the recaro's enough, worth digging out a car with them imo

melvster

6,841 posts

184 months

Sunday 29th March 2015
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Nice report mate; i am having Goodridge hoses and RBF600 installed on my 197 next Saturday.

How do you find the non res system ? you running a decat or not ?

8cylinder

232 posts

141 months

Sunday 29th March 2015
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Very very nice,so much so I nearly bought one before the focus,sure it was a cup version in black.
Ure making a good job of this,something I would do.

XJR500bhp

1,191 posts

209 months

Sunday 29th March 2015
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Great car - just about to sell mine, has just had the gearbox rebuilt. Does yours have the 3rd to 4th crunch?


dunny83

Original Poster:

105 posts

183 months

Saturday 4th April 2015
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melvster said:
Nice report mate; i am having Goodridge hoses and RBF600 installed on my 197 next Saturday.

How do you find the non res system ? you running a decat or not ?
Hi, I nearly went for the resonated system but I'm glad I went for the non res now as I think it sounds just right, I'm not running a de cat though. As far as I know a de cat usually makes exhausts louder so if I did that I would probably go resonated. Did you get your lines and fluid done today?

dunny83

Original Poster:

105 posts

183 months

Saturday 4th April 2015
quotequote all
8cylinder said:
Very very nice,so much so I nearly bought one before the focus,sure it was a cup version in black.
Ure making a good job of this,something I would do.
Hi thankyou, if it wasn't my only car I'd have definitely gone for a cup