Clio cup 172

[egor110]

Just bought myself a sheddy clio cup 172 for £1200.

Cambelt was done 5000 miles back, clutch seemed fine on test drive, gearbox mounts seem fine (no knocking in 1st 2nd), electrics all work, no abs or aircon to worry about.

Only thing that needs attention is the exhaust, fk me it's loud.

Couldn't do anymore than 70 on motorway due to the noise.

[egor110]

iacabu said:

I'll definitely have to watch this one...make sure you keep us updated as I'm keen to know how much of a gamble a near shed 172 is.

Get some pics up!

Will do tomorrow when i pick it up.

I looked at the buyers guide and checked the cambelt,gearbox mount issues and everything seemed fine on a decent test drive over fast b road then motorway.

Being the cup version it's lightened so no abs or air con so very basic inside.

[egor110]

Well its home, had a good look thru the folder of bills and there's nothing for a cambelt grrr.

However there is £700 worth of kW adjustable coilovers and £400 of brake upgrades.

[egor110]

LordHaveMurci said:

Awesome little cars, had mine almost 5yrs, BTB exhaust on mine so not too noisy lol!

Enjoy & keep us updated.

Where did you take yours for cambelt change?

I'm in Somerset and there's a Renault Indy in taunton or a chap in Glastonbury who they recommend on cliosport.

[egor110]

iacabu said:

Still looks nice for the money

Can you not contact the seller for any evidence of a cambelt change? just in case

I can but it was a private sale so at the end of the day i should of checked the paper work more carefully.

It's not the end of the world been quoted £500 for cambelts,tensioners and dephaser plus oil change at a renault specialist.

[egor110]

LordHaveMurci said:

Dan in Glasto, seems like a nice chap & spoken highly of on CS.
Remapped mine & did a few other small jobs too, a 60ml trip each way for me but glad I did.

The lad I bought mine off claimed the belts had been done, no receipts or evidence of any kind to support this though. Had it 3yrs before I had them done to be on the safe side, did think about having the cams changed at the same time but approx £600 extra for 8-12bhp didn't stack up for me.

Edited by LordHaveMurci on Tuesday 27th January 09:47

Been on contact with the seller and proof of cambelt change was in the service book, i was looking in the massive wad of bills.

Think i'm still going to get it done though as it was done 5000 miles ago but in april 2011, so it will need doing next year anyway.

Tyres i need 2 fronts , the car is on contisport contacts at the moment but to unisport rainsport 3's or toyo t1r's as there cheaper, what do you use on yours?

[egor110]

Right it's booked in for cambelt,tensioners,dephaser,waterpump and oil a filter on the 9th.

Now exhaust needs sorting not sure if i'm going to blow £400 on a ktec or just get a cheap pattern part to get me thru the year.

Suspension, it has kw adjustable coilovers and at present is very harsh/crashy ride, hopefully there adjusted for the track and the mechanic can adjust them for road use as realistically the cars only going to get on track maybe twice this year.

If the suspension is fked i think i'm going to go back to stock.

[egor110]

LordHaveMurci said:

Don't get a K-Tec. I can't recommend BTB highly enough, no association just a very happy customer.

Plan b , there's a magnex system on the eBay for £180, worth getting?

Edited by egor110 on Wednesday 28th January 22:04

[egor110]

LordHaveMurci said:

egor110 said:

Plan b , there's a magnex system on the eBay for £180, worth getting?

Edited by egor110 on Wednesday 28th January 22:04

Not sure, don't know anything about them. Are you on cliosport.net? If so, you may get some feedback, lots of them are younger owners though & their preference isn't always the same as an old fart like mines!

There are frequently exhausts for sale on there too so well worth joining TBH.

I'm 41 so probably in the same boat as you.

Think i'll just get a pattern part from euro car parts then if it lasts a year i have a year to think about a stainless.

[egor110]

TVaRt said:

Eibach sportline springs on the cup dampers are a great mildly uprated choice, very good for road work and track. Best suspension mod is whiteline rear anti roll bar. But if you get rid of the kw I might be interested, mine is mostly a track car.

Fingers crossed the kw's are adjusted for the track, hopefully they can be adjusted for road use.

Jeeps is sorn sat and then clio will be my daily driver

[egor110]

So quick update.

Clios had cambelt, dephaser, waterpump replaced and new quieter exhaust fitted.

Bad news, power steering pump is leaking and clutch release bearing is sticky.

Also kw coilovers are seized so can't be adjusted.

Sat in traffic for about 30 mins, b road detour then 10 mins on motorway and got 38.8mpg, happy with that compared to my grand cherokee that would only get 24 driving like a saint on the motorway.

[egor110]

So took the clio out for a decent run down to the haynes musesum breakfast club.

The dual carriage ways really showed the little clio's weak points, in 5th doing 70mpg revving the tits off at 3k revs however everytime you get to a roundabout it shows the strong points, it goes round them like its on rails.

Before the clio i was wafting around in a 4l straight 6 jeep so very different engines, i think i need to use more of the revs as i've normally changed up by the time i get to 2500 revs.

So this month the 172 is getting a new clutch fitted and if they have to remove the gearbox (not sure if they do or just subframe) i might as well get new gearbox mounts fitted and change the gearbox oil.

Also the leaky power steering pump is being replaced.

[egor110]

LordHaveMurci said:

Mine failed its MoT test yesterday, 1st fail in 3yrs.

Seized rear caliper & a front gaiter split!

Here's to another years trouble free motoring (hopefully)!

Could of been a lot worse, did they repair or replace the caliper?

If your around april 12th see if you can get down to the haynes musem breakfast club, today i failed at getting there anytime around breakfast and missed a couple of v6 clios and a 182.

[egor110]

LordHaveMurci said:

Collected it last night, it was the rear pads worn out causing the caliper to bottom out apparently.
Anothers years motoring for £165 all in - bargain

Have you replaced the gearbox mounting or dogleg on yours?

Just thinking when the subframes lowered for the clutch change should I replace anything else in that area?

[egor110]

LordHaveMurci said:

Dogbone was knackered when I bought the car so was replaced with Powerflex one.
Tempted to Powerflex the front end completely but some say it's too harsh & I don't want the hassle of gettin it wrong!

Is the dogbone different to the gearbox mount?

Getting new steering pump fitted to so anything else worth replacing whilst it's being done?

[egor110]

davidsc said:

Out of interest how many miles has yours done?

I just bought one on 60k and wander how much life the clutch has in it. It feels fine and I've read that some people are on over 100k on the original clutch.

Great little cars!

96k.

The clutch still works it's just the noise pisses me off.

[egor110]

iacabu said:

Now that I'm officially in the market for a Clio sport I though I'd post again... How is the general condition of this having got it at this price? I didn't realise cups were holding stronger prices until this week

Useable but i got the cambelt changed and they noticed the steering pump was leaking and clutch thrust bearing is noisy.

The coilovers are also no longer adjustable due to age, however i paid £1200, i think in hindsight i'd of been better paying up to £2000 and getting one in really good nick , but this car was right on my doorstep.

[egor110]

So last few months the clios had a new clutch, new gearbox oil, new handbrake cables, rear brake calipers rebuilt as they were sticking.

And now I can't change down to 2nd or 1st which is a pisser as the subframe has to come off to get to the gearbox.

Hopefully its something little like the selector rod knocked out of position, if not it gets expensive.

Do I rebuild the gearbox, do I spend £300 on a used one and if it works fine if not sell it and move on?

I don't really want to sell as I've already done cam belt dephaser, clutch but there comes a point where you think is it actually worth it.

[egor110]

LordHaveMurci said:

Gearboxes are a known weakpoint on these, no point using a 2nd hand one unless you can prove it's been rebuilt.

Good luck, they are worh it

Think the plan is get it to the tractor mechanic get the gearbox off and have a poke around then send it off to be rebuilt.

There's a place recommended on cliosport that does it for £350

If I jacked it in and sold it as it is no idea what I'd get, although wouldn't mind another Subaru legacy.

[egor110]

Update -

So today was mot day for my cup and it passed after the headlights were cleaned/polished and a new wiper blade was put on.

For the 10 months I've had it the airbag light has been coming on randomly I can go months with it off and luckily It stayed off for its mot.

In the last 10 months I've done quite a bit to the car :

cambelt and dephaser and waterpump

new exhaust

clutch

steering pump

all fluids replaced

hand brake cables

stiff shift gear kit

and today a full service so new oil, filter, air filter and spark plugs.

Obviously being French its feisty, when it went to the garage I mentioned the boot wouldn't unlock ,now it unlocks but wont lock.