Clio 172 Cup

[iacabu]

After over 7 months without a car I've finally got one. The budget kept creeping up until it reached enough where I could look at the Clio Sports.
I've tried to be careful on the car I chose as I have made many mistakes in the past, so I was only interested in ones with good history and that appear to have been cared for. This was on PH as well as Cliosport so after a bit of digging I was confident this was going to be a good choice.

It has a few mods and thanks to Brentacre insurance, it's fully declared at a very decent price...the cheapest I've ever paid in fact it's so nice to deal with a specialist company after being with the likes of Admiral in the past. Highly recommended for service so far and price.

The car has done 87k with history of multiple belt changes etc. Previous owner had it for over 4 years it's only had 4 previous owners before me, with I think 3 of them on CS.

Mods are:
RS tuner map
K-tec stealth exhaust
Bilstein B14 coilovers
Clio Williams wheels
Eibach camber bolts
Full suspension and 4 wheel geometry set up by Grinspeed
Ferodo DS2500 pads

Only picked it up today but I'm very happy so far. Pretty quick too.

Noticed a couple of issues since getting it, very slightly noisy clutch release bearing and I'm almost certain there's a knock from the front end, I don't expect it to be anything more than a bush or TRE but it needs further inspection. Few creaks from the suspension occasionally too but not sure if that's normal.

It's pretty much going to stay as is. I was planning on changing the wheels but I actually like them a lot more now I've seen them in the flesh. May debadge and put a new RS one on but not bothered just now.

First job though is to order a 3m headlight restorer kit to polish them up

Only got a few of my own pics so far...
On the way home

[iacabu]

PH Smiley on!




For anyone wondering about the Minis, I was at Mini Technique in Pilling earlier

[Feirny]

Bill's old one?

[iacabu]

Feirny said:

Bill's old one?

That's the one

[danjama]

That looks very good! The alloys suit it well and you don't see them often.

[Ruskie]

If the knock is on hard acceleration it could be the engine mounts. Common fault.

[John D.]

The clutch creaked on mine once hot. Never seemed to cause an issue.

Not sure of about the Williams alloys. The 172 Cup is hot hatch perfection out of the box in my opinion.

[joefraser]

Ruskie said:

If the knock is on hard acceleration it could be the engine mounts. Common fault.

Quite correct I reckon. My 1*2's I've owned have both needed that replaced at some point- it's an easy enough job to do at home :-)

[iacabu]

I didn't like the wheels much when I saw the advert and planned to change back to some Turinis. Looks so much better in the flesh though, so I plan on keeping them

Unfortunately, it's knocking over uneven roads and had it up on the ramps giving things a jiggle. Definitely movement in the coilovers.
Also got a rotting back box which will be sorted this week as it's starting to sound a bit st

[joefraser]

yozzasport was the exhaust I went for, massive improvement over the ktec. BTB also make a splendid offering, both do stealth models to which don't ruin your bumper :-)

[SebringMan]

It seems that these Clios are flooding PH as of the moment. Now that sounds like a lovely spec! If you ever get to the bottom of the knocking let me know. I have a very mild knock on mine on certain bumps but it only does it with the car in gear, and not on acceleration. It is perplexing to say the least but it is a minor knock thankfully.

Have fun! I am surprised the back box is rotting away if it is the Stealth exhaust.

[iacabu]

There certainly are a lot on here at the moment

I'm just going to get it welded for now. I slapped a bit of putty on to quieten it a little though. It's a mild steel system...

The knocking is from the coilovers so not as easy a fix as I'd hoped

[iacabu]

Finally got around to giving my headlights a bit of a refresh

[iacabu]

Update: Since I've had it I have replaced a few minor cosmetic parts on the car...new rear number plate light unit, silver indicator bulbs, shorter aerial and mist washer jets. I did re-did the headlights too as I wasn't happy the first time round.

I've also had to fix a few things, the main item was the gearbox which developed a noise. Had a rebuild along with a new clutch costing a total of £620 also a new injector at £45 and fixed the horn which wasn't working properly.

Good news though, it passed the MOT with no advisories.

Over the 3000miles or so I've done, 35mpg seems to be the average on the trip computer. I'm otherwise enjoying the car, but there's still a few things I need to do.

And a pic seeing as I've just washed and waxed it...