Renault Clio 172 Cup - Restoration

[andyc123_123]

Hi,

I thought I'd start a thread for the 172 Cup as momentum has gathered and the parts have started to arrive.

The car itself belongs to my partner, she's been interested in picking up a clean one of these for a while now. After numerous days, weeks.. months. Searching on Ebay, Facebook, Forums etc. Nothing really fitted the requirements. This was until over the NYE' when I saw a 172 Cup on eBay - auction only, not that far away from me. So we decided to arrange a viewing and test drive prior to bidding and make sure all the paperwork, parts and car are what he says it is.

We we're both happy and in the position to purchase it that day, however the seller didn't want to end the auction early and decided to let it run. We kept a close eye on it and placed our maximum bid. Following a few nervous days watching the bids increase, woke up the next day to find out we had won the auction under budget, only paying £1800.

Promptly arranging with the seller to come by the following weekend and complete the purchase and drive it away. The car itself is a Clio 172 Cup, best of all 1 Owner from new. The seller had the car over 16 Years as his commute to work and weekend runabout. It's been serviced by main dealer its whole life with all the documents to proof including the receipt of purchase when he brought it new back in 2003.

Positives
Totally standard car
Unmarked interior, it is spotless inside
Dephaser & Belts changed twice already.
Original glass throughout
1 owner & 115,000 miles
Drove fantastic, felt very tight, no knocks, clunks or bangs.
All electrics functioning, including alarm and original stereo
MOT & taxed, not been left standing for months
Original tool kit still in boot
Document / Receipts since new.
Two Keys


Negatives
Centre section has a slight hole.
Some minor scratches to paint.
Some dents on the doors (parking dents)
Paint chipping on door edge, spoiler ideally needs a very good touch up / repair or respray
4 heavily corroded alloys
Cloudy headlights
Cracked and faded number plates
Rust patch front corner of bonnet.
Worn steering wheel & Grips.

Plans

We'd like to keep the car as original as possible, due to the history of the car and its condition already we feel it won't take much to bring it back up to the standard it should be. I've replaced a number of items already with majority of larger jobs purely just awaiting quotations. Over the coming weeks the car should start transforming into a restored cleaner version of what already is a great base.

Parts
Steering Wheel Refurb (Won at Cliosport Fest) - Fitted
Replace Belts & Dephaser - Fitted
Alloy Wheel Refurb - Fitted
Front End Respray (Bonnet & Bumper)
Repair Dents (Both Sides)
Centre Section Exhaust
Renault Upper Front Grille - Fitted
Renault Lower Front Grille - Fitted
Polish Headlights
New Ariel - Fitted
New Boot Struts - Fitted
New Number Plates - Fitted
Silvertec Indicator Bulbs - Fitted
4 x Cup Shocks - Fitted
Cooksport Springs - Fitted
Vapour Blast (Engine Parts - Inlets, Fuel Guard, Cam Cover) - Fitted
Service Items - FIlter (incl Pollen) Oil & Filter - Fitted
New Coolant Bottle & Type D - Fitted
Non Sticky Interior Plastics - Fitted
New Number Plate Bulb Holder - Fitted

I'll keep the parts list updated with anything else I've missed or needs changing. As you can see majority of the items above replaced already. Time for some images, only ones I have at the moment are at home. I'll grab some once the bodywork is sorted and we're allowed to roam freely!

Here's the car after I picked it up;

Clio 172 Cup by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

Clio 172 Cup by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

A couple of progress images;

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress - Snappy Wheel by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

How it currently stands today;

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

Thanks for looking, I'll hopefully have a couple more small additions to update over the weekend. The plan is to restore it back to factory standard (as good as possible!) use it for a weekend car and list for sale at the end of April. I may delay the last bit a little longer given the current circumstances.

[jaybarts]

Nice buy, good to see one being kept standard and looked after.

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

I'll be watching this with interest. I would have LX52 WJM back in a heart beat.

[C. Grimsley]

Nice to see one looking standard, looks great, can’t see you loosing any money now, only way is up with a nice clean example.

Carl

[Ruskie]

Go steady with it, mine nearly killed me a couple of times when my talent ran out!

[chillbill]

Does look rather nice and standard. Not lowered or blacked out alloys or anything. Having owned a standard ph2 172 some 10yrs ago - I'd never sell this one.

Also, it's shocking how cheap you can get 172/182s in the UK for. In continental Europe, a similar lhd cup would fetch, I presume, anywhere between 5000 and 10.000 eur (4400 - 8900 gbp). There are some regular 172/182s for sale here, but cups (sometimes called Ragnottis) are rare as they were really meant for the UK from the onset... Not that there's a huuuuge world of difference in how they drive (regular vs cup) but still. Lucky sobs

[tvrfan007]

Confused. You wanted one for ages and wanted to resto it but last paragraph says you will sell at the end of April?

Lovely example.

[anonymous-user]

tvrfan007 said:

Confused. You wanted one for ages and wanted to resto it but last paragraph says you will sell at the end of April?

Lovely example.

It's a for sale ad.... duh!

[andyc123_123]

Thanks for the positive comments so far. I can understand the confusion regarding the sale, but it's not set in stone. I'd quite like a phase 1 172 or maybe a 106 Rallye. Plus I'd rather let others enjoy it too.

I do have a Clio 182 for those fun outings..

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

DoubleTime said:

tvrfan007 said:

Confused. You wanted one for ages and wanted to resto it but last paragraph says you will sell at the end of April?

Lovely example.

It's a for sale ad.... duh!

That it may be, but I'll enjoy the thread, being about the favourite car I've ever had. Damn you Corona and damn you Bat eating Chinese morons, as it stands I have £3k of work queued, not in my bank..... I could have been interested if your prediction's correct

[andyc123_123]

Update Time

I've been doing a couple of smaller jobs on the car recently. It's pretty much complete now all bar the bodywork, which I can't wait to get done once the lock down is lifted.

First job was to change the horrid rusty old bonnet catch for new;
172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

Replaced the woeful wipers for new Bosch Aero ones. Whilst I was doing this I fitted the much improved Mist Washer jets.

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

Lastly I removed the door strips and badges to clean and polish behind. I'm hoping to polish and clay the car later this week.

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

172 Cup Progress by ANDREW COLLINS, on Flickr

Thanks for looking.

Moderator edit: no advertising please

Edited by jeremyc on Tuesday 14th April 16:28

[5harp3y]

great progress

Edited by jeremyc on Tuesday 14th April 16:28

[p4cks]

Just had a quick look on eBay and some of the sellers are in absolute dream land with their pricing.

Don't get me wrong they're good cars, in fact they're very good cars but they're not £4K good

[egor110]

p4cks said:

Just had a quick look on eBay and some of the sellers are in absolute dream land with their pricing.

Don't get me wrong they're good cars, in fact they're very good cars but they're not £4K good

What else are you going to get for 4k with handling to match and as limited ?

[anonymous-user]

egor110 said:

p4cks said:

Just had a quick look on eBay and some of the sellers are in absolute dream land with their pricing.

Don't get me wrong they're good cars, in fact they're very good cars but they're not £4K good

What else are you going to get for 4k with handling to match and as limited ?

These were £12,995 brand new back in 2002 when I bought my Clio 1.2 Dynamique for £8800

Wish I could go back in time and have a word with myself.

[anonymous-user]

egor110 said:

p4cks said:

Just had a quick look on eBay and some of the sellers are in absolute dream land with their pricing.

Don't get me wrong they're good cars, in fact they're very good cars but they're not £4K good

What else are you going to get for 4k with handling to match and as limited ?

This I believe is what it's starting to come down to now.

Most cups are now track cars and battered or complete sheds. If you have one that's in good nick and want a certain price for it, by all means try your arm.

In fact, try getting a good example of any clio 1*2 for under £2.5K now and I'll bet it's a very tough ask. Most are up around £3K and above in this condition now.

It was only a matter of time.

[Andy_5]

p4cks said:

Just had a quick look on eBay and some of the sellers are in absolute dream land with their pricing.

Don't get me wrong they're good cars, in fact they're very good cars but they're not £4K good

A good one is worth every penny of £4K!! Epic little cars....

[Cambs_Stuart]

That is a lovely looking cup. One of these days I'll have to learn how to detail under the bonnet.

[anonymous-user]

DoubleTime said:

This I believe is what it's starting to come down to now.

Most cups are now track cars and battered or complete sheds. If you have one that's in good nick and want a certain price for it, by all means try your arm.

In fact, try getting a good example of any clio 1*2 for under £2.5K now and I'll bet it's a very tough ask. Most are up around £3K and above in this condition now.

It was only a matter of time.

Look at the prices of MK1/2 Golf GTIs, 205 GTIs and Renault 5 GT Turbos at the moment, you are looking at £20k to £30k for the best ones now. I remember part exchanging my 11 year old 205 GTi for £1k back in 1997.

I would say a nice 172/182 is a cast iron investment right now, infact there is an immaculate 172 I keep looking at which I would have bought it I had somewhere to keep it indoors. I think it would be cool as hell to be driving one of these around on a nice day in ten to fifteen years time.

[egor110]

Joey Deacon said:

DoubleTime said:

This I believe is what it's starting to come down to now.

Most cups are now track cars and battered or complete sheds. If you have one that's in good nick and want a certain price for it, by all means try your arm.

In fact, try getting a good example of any clio 1*2 for under £2.5K now and I'll bet it's a very tough ask. Most are up around £3K and above in this condition now.

It was only a matter of time.

Look at the prices of MK1/2 Golf GTIs, 205 GTIs and Renault 5 GT Turbos at the moment, you are looking at £20k to £30k for the best ones now. I remember part exchanging my 11 year old 205 GTi for £1k back in 1997.

I would say a nice 172/182 is a cast iron investment right now, infact there is an immaculate 172 I keep looking at which I would have bought it I had somewhere to keep it indoors. I think it would be cool as hell to be driving one of these around on a nice day in ten to fifteen years time.

Not so sure about a standard 172/182 but the 172 cup is worth keeping hold of.

It's got to be the proper 172 cup though with no abs/air con not a standard 1*2 with cup packs .

Now companies just up the horse power in the 90's 2000's they kept the same 2l engine and removed weight , how novel .