Clio Trophy #490/500
Discussion
Have now owned the car a little over a month so I thought it was about time to get a thread up about it to help document it's progress as much as anything. I wasn't really specifically in the market for a Trophy, I was initially looking at getting a regular 182, but I looked at a few and they weren't quite the perfect car so I started to ponder the possibility of stretching the budget to get the holy grail of the breed and having watching Harry Metcalfe's video on them countless times here I am! Now I went in at the lower end of the market value wise but it seems an honest car, with good service history but showing it's mileage in a few areas, mainly cosmetically, but the interior and mechanicals seems very good so far.
This is the only pic I have from when I bought it after getting it home parked next to my mx5 that it was replacing
Soon after buying the car I had started to draw up a list of the little bits and bobs that needed doing, first up was a trip to Ren7oaks to sort some bits which I was unable to including the aux belt. Next up was to sort the common Clio problem of the yellowing headlights from UV damage. I ended up using the 3M kit as that seemed to give decent results with just using a drill and I'm happy with how they came out, the odd deeper scratch are still present but a whole lot better than they were.
Quite hard to capture the worst of it but hopefully gives an idea
Half way through on the O/S, this was the first one I did and wasn't too sure whether to take all the coating off, you can see it towards the bottom but it isn't noticeable once done thankfully.
Finished O/S
Half way on the N/S, this time taking it right back all over
And finished, slightly better end result than O/S but I put that down to practice!
A much better look now!
Next little jobs were to replace the gear knob insert and gear stick gaiter which suffered the common broken clips at the rear of the base
Old vs new
Old gaiter tucked in
It's the little things!
Another small job jobbed was to replace the boot struts after they decided to start to fail on the day I was using the car to move house, why do these things always happen at the most inappropriate times!?
The car has the Milltek cat back fitted which to me is a good alternative to the original as it really isn't that loud, especially when compared to my mx5 before however, I love induction noise on NA cars so ended up going the "Fatty" induction setup which has released the inner child again whenever you put your foot down! No doubt not actually that great in terms of performance but my arse can't tell the difference to standard, no pics of this though.
So that's pretty much it up to now, the to do list still has a few things on it
Source a boot carpet
Replace the rear tyres as it has ditchfinders fitted atm
Fit a wiper stalk with the adjustable intermittent as the current one does my head in!
Eventually get a mate to detail the car as the paintwork looks very dull with all the swirls in it.
Enough drivel, some pics in its current state
Obviously
This is the only pic I have from when I bought it after getting it home parked next to my mx5 that it was replacing
Soon after buying the car I had started to draw up a list of the little bits and bobs that needed doing, first up was a trip to Ren7oaks to sort some bits which I was unable to including the aux belt. Next up was to sort the common Clio problem of the yellowing headlights from UV damage. I ended up using the 3M kit as that seemed to give decent results with just using a drill and I'm happy with how they came out, the odd deeper scratch are still present but a whole lot better than they were.
Quite hard to capture the worst of it but hopefully gives an idea
Half way through on the O/S, this was the first one I did and wasn't too sure whether to take all the coating off, you can see it towards the bottom but it isn't noticeable once done thankfully.
Finished O/S
Half way on the N/S, this time taking it right back all over
And finished, slightly better end result than O/S but I put that down to practice!
A much better look now!
Next little jobs were to replace the gear knob insert and gear stick gaiter which suffered the common broken clips at the rear of the base
Old vs new
Old gaiter tucked in
It's the little things!
Another small job jobbed was to replace the boot struts after they decided to start to fail on the day I was using the car to move house, why do these things always happen at the most inappropriate times!?
The car has the Milltek cat back fitted which to me is a good alternative to the original as it really isn't that loud, especially when compared to my mx5 before however, I love induction noise on NA cars so ended up going the "Fatty" induction setup which has released the inner child again whenever you put your foot down! No doubt not actually that great in terms of performance but my arse can't tell the difference to standard, no pics of this though.
So that's pretty much it up to now, the to do list still has a few things on it
Source a boot carpet
Replace the rear tyres as it has ditchfinders fitted atm
Fit a wiper stalk with the adjustable intermittent as the current one does my head in!
Eventually get a mate to detail the car as the paintwork looks very dull with all the swirls in it.
Enough drivel, some pics in its current state
Obviously
I've had mine about a month too. Similar story to you; Starting looking at 182s then found a slightly unloved Trophy for a good price. Fortunately parts are cheap and they are very easy to work on. I'm really enjoying getting stuck in to tidying mine up and I seem to be doing similar jobs to you.
Just recently I fitted an aftermarket steering wheel and removed the spacers from under the drivers seat which has really improved the driving position and feel for me. Looking forward to seeing your tinkering
Just recently I fitted an aftermarket steering wheel and removed the spacers from under the drivers seat which has really improved the driving position and feel for me. Looking forward to seeing your tinkering
Gingerbread Man said:
Quite fond of these. It was a toss up between one of these and a Caterham as my only car. I went back to bare bones and got the 7.
I ofen wonder how life would be different with a roof.
Similar here.I ofen wonder how life would be different with a roof.
Around 9 or 10 years ago I had £10k to spend on a car and went to a dealer at Ware in Hertfordshire who had some interesting cars.
It came down to an Impreza WRX or a lovely looking Trophy (both around the 10k mark back in those days) but in the end I had to scratch the WRX itch, so to speak.
Can't think that I've seen a Trophy in the flesh for a number of years (last one I remember was at a petrol station on the North Circ in the Gunnersbury area!)but seeing them always makes me wonder what might have been.
benny.c said:
I've had mine about a month too. Similar story to you; Starting looking at 182s then found a slightly unloved Trophy for a good price. Fortunately parts are cheap and they are very easy to work on. I'm really enjoying getting stuck in to tidying mine up and I seem to be doing similar jobs to you.
Just recently I fitted an aftermarket steering wheel and removed the spacers from under the drivers seat which has really improved the driving position and feel for me. Looking forward to seeing your tinkering
I've spotted your posts around and about, I do find it quite therapeutic putting a bit of love back in cars again! Interesting you mention the seat spacers, I actually went and attempted removing them earlier this week while doing a service on mine, could get 3 of the nuts removed but struggled with the one under the exhaust, did you manage to get access without taking it off out of interest? It seemed like that might be the only way and at the time the thought of fannying about with that didn't really interest meJust recently I fitted an aftermarket steering wheel and removed the spacers from under the drivers seat which has really improved the driving position and feel for me. Looking forward to seeing your tinkering
Eddd said:
do find it quite therapeutic putting a bit of love back in cars again!
Me too mate. It's been a while since I've had the opportunity.I tackled the awkward bolt first figuring that if I couldn't get that one out I wasn't going to bother with the others. I undid the bolts holding the exhaust heat shield in place on the drivers side (2no, 10mm bolts) so that the shield could be pulled down against the exhaust. That gave me just enough room to get a 13mm ratchet spanner and my fingers in between the shield and bodywork. It took a little while to get the bolt off as the spanner can only move maybe 20 degrees but it was easy enough. Refiting was much easier.
Although it only drops the seat about 15mm it does make a fair difference. I fitted 3 washers to the front bolts which has given the seat a nice, small rake backward. A much better position all round. I'll try to get a quick photo tomorrow.
Edited by benny.c on Friday 7th August 00:15
benny.c said:
Me too mate. It's been a while since I've had the opportunity.
I tackled the awkward bolt first figuring that if I couldn't get that one out I wasn't going to bother with the others. I undid the bolts holding the exhaust heat shield in place on the drivers side (2no, 10mm bolts) so that the shield could be pulled down against the exhaust. That gave me just enough room to get a 13mm ratchet spanner and my fingers in between the shield and bodywork. It took a little while to get the bolt off as the spanner can only move maybe 20 degrees but it was easy enough. Refiting was much easier.
Although it only drops the seat about 15mm it does make a fair difference. I fitted 3 washers to the front bolts which has given the seat a nice, small rake backward. A much better position all round. I'll try to get a quick photo tomorrow.
Thanks for that, I will attempt it again when I have a moment as it is something I would like to get done even if it is a very small difference. I tackled the awkward bolt first figuring that if I couldn't get that one out I wasn't going to bother with the others. I undid the bolts holding the exhaust heat shield in place on the drivers side (2no, 10mm bolts) so that the shield could be pulled down against the exhaust. That gave me just enough room to get a 13mm ratchet spanner and my fingers in between the shield and bodywork. It took a little while to get the bolt off as the spanner can only move maybe 20 degrees but it was easy enough. Refiting was much easier.
Although it only drops the seat about 15mm it does make a fair difference. I fitted 3 washers to the front bolts which has given the seat a nice, small rake backward. A much better position all round. I'll try to get a quick photo tomorrow.
Edited by benny.c on Friday 7th August 00:15
I absolutely love these. Had a blackgold 182 FF for nearly 7 years which I sold in 2012 and I certainly miss it. I have a look now and again about getting one as a fun car and I'm hoping this will happen one day.
It always felt very special. Used to love the rough idling when the engine was cold, the sound of the engine, the handling, how good the brakes were even though they were standard. A mate of mine had a Z4 3.0 at the time and he couldn't believe how quickly you could shed speed.
I even thought the interior was quite nice, good spec. I did a lot of journeys down to Devon and Cornwall and the south coast in general plus the lake district (from Herts) and found it was fine, settled down on the motorway.
I must get another. Very jealous person here a but I hope you enjoy it.
It always felt very special. Used to love the rough idling when the engine was cold, the sound of the engine, the handling, how good the brakes were even though they were standard. A mate of mine had a Z4 3.0 at the time and he couldn't believe how quickly you could shed speed.
I even thought the interior was quite nice, good spec. I did a lot of journeys down to Devon and Cornwall and the south coast in general plus the lake district (from Herts) and found it was fine, settled down on the motorway.
I must get another. Very jealous person here a but I hope you enjoy it.
Eddd said:
Thanks for that, I will attempt it again when I have a moment as it is something I would like to get done even if it is a very small difference.
This is the drop it gives. Not massive but it is noticeable.Did you use wet and dry when you did your lights BTW, or just the buffing pads and compound?
benny.c said:
This is the drop it gives. Not massive but it is noticeable.
Did you use wet and dry when you did your lights BTW, or just the buffing pads and compound?
I was going to use wet and dry after watching a few vids on techniques to do it but in the end just went through the processes in the 3M kit, you dry sand to begin with then wet with finer grades. It's a good one box solution for most needs but you would be able to do a better job with wet and dry by hand I'd say and then machine polish to finish if you had the facilities. Did you use wet and dry when you did your lights BTW, or just the buffing pads and compound?
I became the owner of #493 about 3 months ago and it has been fantastic!
Anyway to the point, I had to replace the boot struts on mine and after some internet searching found that the bonnet struts from a BMW 1 series are an exact fit and considerably cheaper than the proper Renault parts, I think I paid about £25 for a pair from ebay.
Anyway to the point, I had to replace the boot struts on mine and after some internet searching found that the bonnet struts from a BMW 1 series are an exact fit and considerably cheaper than the proper Renault parts, I think I paid about £25 for a pair from ebay.
TheStig44 said:
I became the owner of #493 about 3 months ago and it has been fantastic!
Anyway to the point, I had to replace the boot struts on mine and after some internet searching found that the bonnet struts from a BMW 1 series are an exact fit and considerably cheaper than the proper Renault parts, I think I paid about £25 for a pair from ebay.
After looking on the Trophy forum there is a lot of talk of using the 1 series ones as replacements, I initially ordered a pair from SGS but after further research saw they actually do Trophy specific ones so quickly changed my order to those. I've read they can squeak a little but so far I've not had any issues so we'll see.Anyway to the point, I had to replace the boot struts on mine and after some internet searching found that the bonnet struts from a BMW 1 series are an exact fit and considerably cheaper than the proper Renault parts, I think I paid about £25 for a pair from ebay.
These are the ones I went for in the end
http://www.sgs-engineering.com/car-boot-tailgate/r...
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff