16v_paddy's Clio 1.8 16v

[16v_paddy]

Ok it's a shameless copy & paste from my project threads dotted about on other forums but I feel it deserves to be shared on here, in full and from the beginning 8)

This is now the definitive project thread for my car

A brief history of the car to begin with. I bought her in February 2007, a bit rough & tatty round the edges but the intention was always to restore & improve the old girl





So she started as being a bit dodgy to drive, rusty arches, the engine bounced all over the shop, tracking & balancing not too clever & being waaaayy tooo low, had a lovely supersprint manifold fitted but a god awful, massive & chavtastic exhaust fitted

Cause of the engine bouncing all over the place


So replaced with a new 1 and eventually this



And to demonstrate how low it was



Next on the list was a complete overhaul of the braking system. So I got new discs & pads all round, a full set of goodrige brake hoses and some spanking new front calipers that I painted yellow 8)





Then I aquired this little beastie............very very long story about this 1 which I'll happily share with you at meets





Mechanically this thing was brand new, so it was stripped for all it's brand new good parts to go onto mine and the daft body kit was chopped off & sold to some yoof from Manchester with a 1.2 :lol:
So on went brand new std front shocks with 30mm eibach springs, new wishbones, DeCarbon rear shocks from the clio cup race cars - great for some epic lift off oversteer action :twisted: brand new steering column, leather interior, much nicer steering wheel instead of the awful looking thing with the airbag in it, decent speakers (bought my own head unit) and the nice shiney gearknob & bits around it. Magnex exhaust & custom de-cat at the time it had to be custom made as the pipes I had didn't fit together with each other but I later discovered that the supersprint manifold & downpipe were williams fitment and not for the valver. Then there was the full set of samco hoses



I also had a brand new steering rack that I left attached to the subframe I removed, but on the day I came to fit it I found that the subframe had been nicked from behind my shed

So towards the end of 2007 I'd got the car mechanically tip top & started to save up for the respray

Then came February 4th 2008, whilst blasting along a country lane at high speed the back end stepped out on me :affraid: but I over corrected it & she snapped the other way and I went up a kerb sideways, span between 2 concrete posts then clipped a post with the N/S rear quarter.
This was the damage

Bent drivers side sill


Smashed rear light cluster, bumper & wing



Plus 3 fked tyres, 3 bent shock absorbers, both wishbone ball joints, 1 track rod end, 1 bent hub & 2 pairs of pants

So some of the saved money had to be spent to fix all that

In the month following the bump I started buying parts, 1st was a rust free tailgate to replace my rotten 1 and in 1 big trip down south to 2 people I came home with a pair of rust free doors, ph1 wing mirrors, 2 cats that I later weighed in & made £80 profit magnecor HT leads, RSi side skirts and these beauties



Wilwood Dynalite 4 pots :twisted: As you can see they got fitted straight away & I've loved them ever since

I also got from other people, a full set of wheels to refurb, new front & rear bumpers and a williams boot spoiler

Then we come to the end of May & in she goes for the full respray






Old damaged sill & rusty arch cut out & new metal welded in




The battered N/S rear quarter chopped away & replaced with new metal



And she's coming together



Here's some of the wheel that I refurbed myself while the car was being done






Then they were wrapped in fresh Yokohama Parada spec2 tyres

Then came the glorious day, Saturday 23rd August 2008, my car was ready & I picked her up









[size=150][u]5th November 2008[/u][/size]

Just over 2 months since getting the car minty mint & exactly how I wanted it, disaster strikes. I got hit by this corsa that hit a kerb, flipped over a crash barrier off a dual carriageway & down 30 odd feet onto the downhill sliproad that I was on :affraid:



It's not very clear but the dual carriageway he came off is at the top of the picture moving towards the middle




He walked away from this with cuts & bruises :shock:

The damage done to my baby




What happened was the rear axle of the corsa was ripped off & hit me in the back of the head via the B-Pillar which the impact also creased the roof





Patched up with spare window & parcel tape




So back she goes to the bodyshop who sorted her 1st time round






And got her back on Christmas Eve


Some before & after pics of the damage & repair










The best Christmas present I ever got that year


[size=150][u]2009[/u][/size]

Here's a few pics from February of that year, on my driveway before the 1st problem of the year happened





Clutch cable failure after trying & failing to fix it I took it to the garage I used ops: turns out it was that my clutch had died, so out she came for new clutch & I had the cam belt done while it was out





Then followed 3 months happy thrashing until the gearbox started making ominous noises :scratch: It was at this point I found for sale a rebuilt 1.8 engine with some cams in it and a refurbed gearbox, so I bought them asap along with a ton of other goodies. Then calmed down & started sorting out money for my holiday to Thailand

I decided to do the swap on the 1st weekend of August and since the weather was predicted to be st, I bought myself this gazebo and in typical Renault fashion my gearbox completely died on the way back from collecting the gazebo :x but luckily a nice chap in a vauxhall frontera stopped & offered me a tow home so I could get it sorted

8)

To add to the goodies, I decided to go to manual steering.

So on with the engine removal



Once she was out, I cracked on with fitting the new goodies
[list=]Manual rack & column
Powerflex inner & outer ARB bushes - what a c*nt they are to fit :lol:
PTFE inlet manifold gasket
PTFE throttle body gasket
PTFE rocker cover gasket
R19 mount
Cup dogbone mount
Standard airbox
ITG filter - cheers midge
New gearbox
new battery
Loom[/list]
I did take some pics but seem to have lost them ops:

Since this was the 1st time I've removed an engine & had to put it back in I took my time & eventually ran out of it & had to go back to work, sponging lifts and using the scum shuttle :x
So 5 days later, with 4 days off work I got cracking & got it all back together and running :wav:

[size=200]BUT[/size].........it wouldn't go anywhere :shock: the clutch wasn't disengaging so I couldn't drive it anywhere :crybaby:
So after much head scratching, forum whoring & having to use the scum shuttle for work again, a possible solution was suggested.........genuine clutch cable, supplied brand new courtesy of coops 8) Also spoke to the legendary MickPM who told me how to fit it properly. Got it fitted and still had the same problem even after re-setting the ratchet god knows how many times :x
Back on the phone to mick, he told me to measure how much the clutch fork was moving to diagnose the problem. So I enlisted the help of my housemates Mrs to work the clutch while I measured the clutch fork. The fork only moved 14mm so it meant that the ratchet mechanism was fooked.
So new clutch pedal ordered from renault, 4 day wait for it to arrive due to the bank holiday and a further 3 days to wait because of work :roll: I got Mick to come & fit it for me as I didn't have a clue how to do it ops:
Got it fitted all nice & tight despite all the swearing from Mick while he was upside down in the footwell :lol: ratchet reset with a lovely 21mm of travel in the clutch fork, started her up & it had made precisely f**k all difference :shock:

So after muchos head scratching, swearing & ratchet resetting, Mick, being the legend that he is 8) got onto the phone to valeo & LUK about the clutch itself. After an hour on the phone it turned out that I had been supplied with & fitted the wrong clutch. Phoned GSF, managed not to swear or threaten mass murder & got them to get me the right clutch. I cleared up for the day & left it till the morning.

Got myself a good nights kip, decent breakfast - 4 weetabix :twisted: and got cracking with removing the engine

same scene just that the gazebo wasn't up as the weather was good

Managed to get the engine out in just over 3 hours (had a tea break) which I was well impressed with only 1 snag, I forgot to disconnect the speedo cable & completely f****ed it ops: nevermind.
Got the box off along with the clutch, tidied up & waited for my other housemate to come home from work to take me back to GSF to get the right clutch.
Got to the shop & compared the clutch I removed to the new 1 they ordered in and they were completely different. The 1st clutch they gave me had a thicker friction plate and pressure plate, they reckon someone put that particular clutch in the wrong box.

So went home, put the glad rags back on & got on with putting it all back together. While I was at it I decided that the wiring loom looked a right mess so stripped all the old manky tape & plastic off and wrapped it up nice & neat with some fresh new electrical tape. Got it all ready to go back in & called it a night to go get pissed with my housemates.
Woke up feeling rough, but a fryup & lots of lucozade sport sorted me out & I got busy. Spent all day getting the engine back in and as it was getting dark she was ready to be fired up. She fired up 1st time, so I nervously got ready to see if I could disengage the cluch and lo & behold it worked perfectly!!
I still had a few bits to do before I could drive her but I left it for the night & got completely trollied :twisted: Forgetting that Harry was coming round at 8am to get an engine mount off me :shock: It was not a pretty sight & I'm sure Harry will confirm it :lol:

So I went back to bed & got up later to finish it off. Coolant in, bumper on, back on the deck & ready to rock & roll :twisted:
Was at this point I got to find the teething problems, battery light on, exhaust blowing, discovering I fitted the wrong rubber a the bottom of the column, no speedo, oil pressure a constant 5 bar even before the engine was started, seemed quite slow as though it wasn't getting full throttle :? but it drove & I was seriously in love with manual steering and the car again after having spent a month without her & having no ides what was causing all the trouble.

Unfortunately a few days later, on my way to work, it died on me :x turns out the new alternator on the engine was fooked. So I had to jump start it & dump it at my mates house just round the corner from where it died. Got a lift into work & had to get the scum shuttle home in the morning........again :roll:
I then scavenged the alternator off my old engine, got a lift off my dad (boost FTW :twisted: ) & swapped it over on the street 8)
It was at this point I started to notice the patch of oil being left wherever my car had been parked

I eventually got & fitted a matbrown special speedo cable and removed the steering column as I fitted the rubber gaitors wrong ops: so now that's all sorted.

Now the oil leak is the main problem & I strongly suspect it's the oil seal behind the fly wheel that's at fault, so the engine is coming out again very soon :roll:

[16v_paddy]

Eventually found out that the oil leak wasn't from the rear main oil seal, it was from where the end cap nearest the flywheel, meets with the block. The guy who built the engine didn't put any sealant in there, so that's what I set about doing





Subframe off to sort the bits on it later




Engine out.....................again :roll:


And how she's currently sat



Just letting the sealant dry overnight & I'll get cracking again tomorrow as I'm knackered

[16v_paddy]

Now since all those fun & games, I added a few more goodies in preparation for my 1st ever track day at Castle Combe



I fitted some bucket seats, 3 point harnesses, 13 row oil cooler & some used R888's

Now the latest with the car, thanks to the help of the legendary sideways danny from here http://www.519automotive.co.uk/ these lovely 48mm things will be going onto the car


[quote="sideways danny"]Paddy managed to source some very cheap jenvey throttle bodies recently. The first issue being they were a different mounting bolt pattern.

So yesterday I got my hands on the bits and set about a bit of re-engineering







so now we have bodies bolted on the manifold




And just need to do some matching as they're a little bigger than the manifold




[/quote]

[150bhp]

Great write up, car looks great.(when it's not in bits!) Great job on those wheels btw

[Ash From Flux]

Great looking car mate, They look brilliant when they look just lowered like that.

[soad]

That's awesome - what a great build

[matc]

My old renault was always in bits as well! You have to love these things!

[BriC175]

Very nice!

You must have been devastated having it damaged after having all that bodywork done

Good job on sticking with it though

[Acehood]

I love those valvers! So much fun to drive. Proper hot hatch if there ever was one.

Shame you had such bad luck with it but glad you stuck it out and got it all back to new again. Looks fantastic.

[16v_paddy]

Thanks for the comments guys

I was absolutely gutted when it had that smash but managed to get it sorted very quickly thanks to helphire
Unfortunately an unforseen problem has recently arisen from that smash, it would appear that the underseal in the new bits of arch was damaged which has meant that the tin worm has come back
She's a bit rough around the edges now & I'm undecided on getting her properly mint again as I'm now more interested in driving it.......HARD!

As for the wheels, they're not that good anymore, sort of wish I'd paid a professional to do them but on the other hand I needed something to tinker with while someone else was doing the hard work with the rest of the car. So I can't complain too much

[dabofoppo]

I love clios for some reason. Off to the clasifieds to find a naples red valver.

[16v_paddy]

Just stumbled across this & forgot I'd ever made a thread on here

But quite a bit has happened since 2010, I'll spare the long winded details but here's what I've been up to with the Clio since getting hopelessly hooked on track days

At the end of 2012 I got myself an ex-works rally shell already caged up etc, not quite a works shell per-se, but was owned & ran by aguy called Mark Carson & competed in the Irish Rally Championship, AFAIK he wasn't a fully works backed driver but his points contributed to the constructors championship for Renault.



Stripped down



Sandblasted






Primered up





Painted inside & out





Lots of underseal applied everywhere, only pic I've got but you get the idea



Coming together nicely now







Now onto the engine I've built for it, brief spec is:
Clio Williams block
bored to 2.1 with wossner high comp pistons and catcams forged con rods
Worked Megane cylinder head with catcams 213 cams & pullies
45mm Jenvey itb's & adjustable trumpets
Mk2 Clio 172 gearbox






Currently in the process of plumbing in all pipes & wiring, hoping to have it up & running and ready to be mapped by the end of the week, then out on track at Bedford on the 19th to see if it all works & find any faults so they can be sorted then drive it as much as possible & have fun

Edited by 16v_paddy on Monday 5th May 01:37

[GrumpyTwig]

Nice

[alangtt]

Great read, have you still got the red one?

[16v_paddy]

alangtt said:

Great read, have you still got the red one?

Unfortunately not. I finished the itb conversion





Done quite a few track days, then the piston rings gave up so replaced the bottom end with a rebuilt item, done some more track days - it was still my daily driver at that point as well - then at the end of 2011 the gearbox completely shat itself & I decided that it was time to go mental with a high compression engine which is when I acquired the 2.1 bottom end that I've got now.



But the tin worm came back so it got chopped up & scrapped, it became the parts donor for the white one and the red one I replaced it with to use as my daily hack




Got some abuse at Castle Combe after fitting the suspension from the old red one



Then suffered catastrophic head gasket failure on the way home from Combe




So that engine got ripped out & replaced, also did the obligatory clutch, cambelt & water pump, technically free as I already had those parts sat in the back of the white car




Also found a pic of the white car from when the guy I bought it off had just got it from Ireland

[Basil Hume]

Great thread Paddy. Naples Red is a lovely colour.

I had a Black Gold 16V from 2001 to 2003 - my first performance car. People these days don't seem to know just how fab the 16V was...that it was built by RenaultSport in Dieppe and had loads of motorsport pedigree, although of course the Willy is fondly remembered. I had both cars; the Willy after the Valver.

Mine was a 1994 model with factory leathers. It needed a lot of work in the time I had it and I think I spent about £7k (this is when I was a student...yes, I did need a part-time job to keep me solvent!). From memory, I had: a partial respray, sourced and refurbed the original Speedline Vega wheels, Momo contact points, £1k of ICE, filter, lowered suspension, straight through exhaust and lots of small bits and bobs. It had an engine rebuild before my time.

I had it rolling roaded at 137bhp at the wheels, which is what it should have been making at the flywheel - it was a quick little thing! My favourite scalp was a contemporary 530i at motorway speeds.



My Willy was a real minter. No.123 of the original 400 and only 55k on the clock - shouldn't have sold it. Felt a bit spartan after the 16V, but it was a great drive and the most attention-drawing car I've had.

[16v_paddy]

I've got a williams now as well, no. 131. Funny thing is that I only went to see a guy to buy some roof trim for the new red one and ended up buying the williams off him



Plan with that is a full restoration, only needs 1 of the arches doing and an engine rebuild, then sell it on as the values of them just keep going up. I've done the hard work & learned the lessons from doing similar in the past to the valvers so shouldn't be too difficult

[16v_paddy]

Pics speak for themselves I think





237bhp 181 ft/lb

[FRA53R]

Please tell me you got a video of the dyno run, bet it sounds immense!

[Stedman]

Yes Paddy!