2005 Clio 182 FF - Occasional track car
Discussion
The modding continues... 
Wheels picked up, looks really good and 4 good centre caps. Apparently worth a good amount, so might make some money back on the wheels.
Tyres; Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R's are what I'm looking at, £320 for a set, then probably £50-£60 to get them fitted. Would hope to get 4 driving days out of a set, so less then £100 a go.
Wheels picked up, looks really good and 4 good centre caps. Apparently worth a good amount, so might make some money back on the wheels.
Tyres; Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R's are what I'm looking at, £320 for a set, then probably £50-£60 to get them fitted. Would hope to get 4 driving days out of a set, so less then £100 a go.
Edited by illmonkey on Wednesday 15th February 09:51
Spent a bit of time today with the new parts. Some of the old stuff is shocking.
1 of the exhaust brackets was fine, just needed reseating, the other was a mess! One of the thumb grips was perfect under the tape too. The new ones are cheap rubbish, but it's so much better with this already.
Turns out there is also a leak from the handbrake(?) on the offside rear...
1 of the exhaust brackets was fine, just needed reseating, the other was a mess! One of the thumb grips was perfect under the tape too. The new ones are cheap rubbish, but it's so much better with this already.
Turns out there is also a leak from the handbrake(?) on the offside rear...
Connectors clean and fog light flashing has gone!
Car wouldn't start after the key change. It was actually an immobiliser issue, I swapped the key housing over and must have done something. The immobiliser light wasn't staying on though, so didn't think that was the problem. Anyway, held the unlock button with the key in the ignition for 10 seconds, locked, unlocked and it worked.
MJ85 said:
There is a gizmo you can buy to override the immobiliser, if you ever have long term issues with it. Plugs in the OBD socket and wiring block to the immobiliser ring.
Glad you are enjoying!
Interesting, but I think it was just because I was messing about. I've purchased a new battery as the remote only works a short distance from the car. May need a reset again...Glad you are enjoying!
I certainly am! I have a long list of people wanting a go on track, so I'll be doing a fair few trackdays this year! Can't complain.
I've also done 1250 miles in a month (well just over), the Z has also done 300 or so, so I'm now averaging over 1500 miles a month. Although that includes several long trips (to collect it, track day, and to collect wheels). But still..!
Edited by illmonkey on Wednesday 1st March 10:25
Over 2,500 miles done and not missed a beat. Really enjoy driving it, a bit of a shame that I've not got had any more track days. I plan on doing the brakes over Easter. braided hoses, discs, pads and replace that leaking caliper. Sticky tyres (Federal 595RSR's) are on back order too. Anyway, treated the Clio to all this today. Done the headlights as they were poor, but most focus was on the Z today. So you get pic's of both!
Weird one, but I cleaned the belts recently. they were filthy! Black obviously hides it well. Unravel and wedge some paper in, voila!
That water is from 1 of them.
Finally getting some upgrades sorted in the form of:
Front DS2500 pads
Rear Brembo oem pads
Front Brembo HC Brake Discs
ATE blue fluid / ATE type 200
Goodridge brake lines
That's a good £300 worth to be fitted this weekend. The tyres will be here early next week too. Just need to get them on the spare rims and we can go racing!
I'll also be giving it a clay and polish over the weekend, should give me at least 15BHP more
That water is from 1 of them.
Finally getting some upgrades sorted in the form of:
Front DS2500 pads
Rear Brembo oem pads
Front Brembo HC Brake Discs
ATE blue fluid / ATE type 200
Goodridge brake lines
That's a good £300 worth to be fitted this weekend. The tyres will be here early next week too. Just need to get them on the spare rims and we can go racing!
I'll also be giving it a clay and polish over the weekend, should give me at least 15BHP more
Edited by illmonkey on Thursday 13th April 16:36
si_xsi said:
Nice one Sam, can't best brembo disc and ds2500 pads, I have the same on the R32 and it such a great set up. See you on the run out on 23rd..
Glad for some positive feedback Simon! It's so mixed online, so I just went for uprated, but not sky high pricing. The stuff that came on the car is what I tracked it with, will be interesting to see what condition they come off in. A brake specialist for these and I both think they are ebay specials, i.e. crap!
See you then, maybe in the clio!
An other spirited drive has seen the exhaust pop out, then burn more of the plastic. Those exhaust surround trims are £30 a pop! So I need to get this right.
Before...
Makeshift spacers...
After for levels
Think I need a new bumper, luckily can be picked up for £60 delivered, the price of 2 of the exhaust trims.
Yodel playing silly buggers (surprise!) with my brakes, still not turned up, although marked as delivered on Sat and today.
Before...
Makeshift spacers...
After for levels
Think I need a new bumper, luckily can be picked up for £60 delivered, the price of 2 of the exhaust trims.
Yodel playing silly buggers (surprise!) with my brakes, still not turned up, although marked as delivered on Sat and today.
Following on from the last (but one) post, my exhaust keeps dropping, and making a racket! May have to shell out for good brackets, they run £60 each 
So Yodel did mess up, they arrived last Tuesday, so I had to get it all fitted this weekend. I probably spend 12 hours over 3 days doing the work. From sorting out the stones on my drive (for the load spreading wood) to having to drill out the disc retainer bolts. 3 trips to Halfords/diy shop to buy a grinder amongst other stuff. Unfortunately due to the amount of time and dirt on my hands I didn't do any photos for this bit...
I started off working on the offside front, purely as it was closest to my tools. Everything took a bit of grunt to get cracked, the long handled torque wrench helped. Fairly easy sailing on both the front, but ended up with discs I couldn't spin. Carried on regardless with the braided hoses (queue lots of brake fluid on my pebbled drive) a fairly easy job, on the fronts at least! Redone the caliper mounting, incase I'd screwed up and still nothing, so gave up and headed to the rear of the car.
At this point I realised how much better off I'd have been getting 2 more axle stands. When you bleed, it is done in NSR OSR NSF OSF order, so basically zagging across the car, meaning many jacks and moving axle stands!
The rear was easy enough, 1st one took a while as I'd never done one on the clio, 2nd flew by and both discs have movement. Rear hoses were a bit trickier as they are under the car, so on your back with 2 spanners and trying to stop brake fluid either getting in your face or on the floor, I failed at both (I honestly can't see why they are even there, it's 4 inches of hose in-between 2 metal hoses, on a non-moving part of the car!)
Stupidly on the rear, I had started on NSR then onto OSR, so had to swap the axle stands AGAIN to start the bleeding process. Move back to the fronts. A chat with a mate and either both had seized at the same time, or I wasn't getting the piston back enough. My 4th trip out saw me buying a G Clamp to get some welly behind pushing them back. I reassembled them for the 4th time and had free spinning disks! Turns out I'm not strong enough with a pair of small pliers to push the pistons all the way back in.
I then bled the fronts checked every bolt again, fitted the wheels and I was done. A quick forward/backwards to check the car wasn't going to fall over and it'd stop, and away I went. Obviously it wasn't going to be straight froward, and as I inspected my work, 1 of the fronts was quite warm from my little 30mph drive. So, it all came back off and I pushed the piston in more (somehow), but it seems to have worked. I've bedded them in on some quiet roads and since taken it out twice. No difference around town, but use the pedal with some force on the twisties and it'll give you whiplash!
In other news, I found a local chap who fitted my tyres to the spare wheels for £10/corner. So I'm ready to go trackin' again.
So Yodel did mess up, they arrived last Tuesday, so I had to get it all fitted this weekend. I probably spend 12 hours over 3 days doing the work. From sorting out the stones on my drive (for the load spreading wood) to having to drill out the disc retainer bolts. 3 trips to Halfords/diy shop to buy a grinder amongst other stuff. Unfortunately due to the amount of time and dirt on my hands I didn't do any photos for this bit...
I started off working on the offside front, purely as it was closest to my tools. Everything took a bit of grunt to get cracked, the long handled torque wrench helped. Fairly easy sailing on both the front, but ended up with discs I couldn't spin. Carried on regardless with the braided hoses (queue lots of brake fluid on my pebbled drive) a fairly easy job, on the fronts at least! Redone the caliper mounting, incase I'd screwed up and still nothing, so gave up and headed to the rear of the car.
At this point I realised how much better off I'd have been getting 2 more axle stands. When you bleed, it is done in NSR OSR NSF OSF order, so basically zagging across the car, meaning many jacks and moving axle stands!
The rear was easy enough, 1st one took a while as I'd never done one on the clio, 2nd flew by and both discs have movement. Rear hoses were a bit trickier as they are under the car, so on your back with 2 spanners and trying to stop brake fluid either getting in your face or on the floor, I failed at both (I honestly can't see why they are even there, it's 4 inches of hose in-between 2 metal hoses, on a non-moving part of the car!)
Stupidly on the rear, I had started on NSR then onto OSR, so had to swap the axle stands AGAIN to start the bleeding process. Move back to the fronts. A chat with a mate and either both had seized at the same time, or I wasn't getting the piston back enough. My 4th trip out saw me buying a G Clamp to get some welly behind pushing them back. I reassembled them for the 4th time and had free spinning disks! Turns out I'm not strong enough with a pair of small pliers to push the pistons all the way back in.
I then bled the fronts checked every bolt again, fitted the wheels and I was done. A quick forward/backwards to check the car wasn't going to fall over and it'd stop, and away I went. Obviously it wasn't going to be straight froward, and as I inspected my work, 1 of the fronts was quite warm from my little 30mph drive. So, it all came back off and I pushed the piston in more (somehow), but it seems to have worked. I've bedded them in on some quiet roads and since taken it out twice. No difference around town, but use the pedal with some force on the twisties and it'll give you whiplash!
In other news, I found a local chap who fitted my tyres to the spare wheels for £10/corner. So I'm ready to go trackin' again.
Regarding the Pistons - you only need to push them back for enough to get the calliper over the new pads and disc? Sounds like it was/is seizing? When you press the brake, it obv presses the piston out but then should release
You'll know if there's an issue as the side with the possible problem will get red hot after a run
You'll know if there's an issue as the side with the possible problem will get red hot after a run
Faxo said:
Regarding the Pistons - you only need to push them back for enough to get the calliper over the new pads and disc? Sounds like it was/is seizing? When you press the brake, it obv presses the piston out but then should release
You'll know if there's an issue as the side with the possible problem will get red hot after a run
Obviously the caliper fitted over the disc & pads, but only just, it must have been 1mm extra I got out of them, but enough to mean they weren't binding. When I first done the work, before additional piston pushing, the pedal was super firm, I figured down to bleeding, but now it's softer (but still very present) and I know it was because the brakes were already on. You'll know if there's an issue as the side with the possible problem will get red hot after a run
I done 20 miles of fast driving, as well as scrubbing speed a lot, and whilst they were hot, they weren't burning up.
A month on to the day from the last update...
I used the car as per, and made a note to check the brake temps after every journey, I was satisfied that they were working well.
With the car sorted, it was time to get a bit of track time sorted, I couldn't decide until last week where an evening slow at Bedford came up for £50, it was too good to refuse! If anything a good shakedown for my brakes and to get some miles on the new tyres.
Loaded the car Tuesday evening, left work at lunch on Wed and headed over. Something satisfying with the 4 wheels/tyres fitting across the boot like this!:
I arrived far too early after breaking my neck to leave work and arrive in time. I stood and soaked up the sun for 50 minutes whilst everyone else arrived. Stupdily, I should have swapped the tyres over, as I ended up doing this after the sighting laps and wasting 20mins of track time. Also doing these on my road tyres was annoying.
Once done and swapped, I done 5 slower laps to get the tyres going, results:
An other stint and the car great, responsive brakes and the tyres are night and day! Unfortunately as I was cooling off in the pits, a RX8 met a barrier, and closed the track for 40 minutes. The organiser agreed with the circuit to run a different track to avoid this, but it only left us with 45 mins, they divided us into 3 groups of 15 or so for 15 min slots. And that was that.
Managed to get the tyres a bit warm...
Just leaving.
All in all, for £50 and 1/2 day off work, it was great. I'm happy with the car as is and had some fun at the same time.
The exhaust is still falling out, so I've picked up some poly goodness to be fitted at the weekend!
I used the car as per, and made a note to check the brake temps after every journey, I was satisfied that they were working well.
With the car sorted, it was time to get a bit of track time sorted, I couldn't decide until last week where an evening slow at Bedford came up for £50, it was too good to refuse! If anything a good shakedown for my brakes and to get some miles on the new tyres.
Loaded the car Tuesday evening, left work at lunch on Wed and headed over. Something satisfying with the 4 wheels/tyres fitting across the boot like this!:
I arrived far too early after breaking my neck to leave work and arrive in time. I stood and soaked up the sun for 50 minutes whilst everyone else arrived. Stupdily, I should have swapped the tyres over, as I ended up doing this after the sighting laps and wasting 20mins of track time. Also doing these on my road tyres was annoying.
Once done and swapped, I done 5 slower laps to get the tyres going, results:
An other stint and the car great, responsive brakes and the tyres are night and day! Unfortunately as I was cooling off in the pits, a RX8 met a barrier, and closed the track for 40 minutes. The organiser agreed with the circuit to run a different track to avoid this, but it only left us with 45 mins, they divided us into 3 groups of 15 or so for 15 min slots. And that was that.
Managed to get the tyres a bit warm...
Just leaving.
All in all, for £50 and 1/2 day off work, it was great. I'm happy with the car as is and had some fun at the same time.
The exhaust is still falling out, so I've picked up some poly goodness to be fitted at the weekend!
Edited by illmonkey on Friday 26th May 15:36
Amazing cars these.
I had a black gold 182 as my daily driver which I stupidly sold last year and bought a Megane 225, Still regret that decision as it was the best car I have owned.
It was perfect for a long drive, Would see 35-40mog, But then when i wanted to take it for a spirited drive it just soaked it up.
In regards to the wheels, I see you have bought 16" for track use, Although I never used mine on track I had 16" standard 182 wheels like yours and a set of OZ F1's from a ph1 172, And it handled better on the 15's as well as much cheaper tyres, So may be something to think about, I also believe this is something that a lot of clio owners believe who track their cars.
Also as for thee exhaust mounts, You can buy Powerflex inserts which go inside the standard bracket and should stop them from dropping, I never bought these as they come on the market just as I sold mine.
Mine was on coilovers with a decat Miltek exhaust system... Picture below.
I had a black gold 182 as my daily driver which I stupidly sold last year and bought a Megane 225, Still regret that decision as it was the best car I have owned.
It was perfect for a long drive, Would see 35-40mog, But then when i wanted to take it for a spirited drive it just soaked it up.
In regards to the wheels, I see you have bought 16" for track use, Although I never used mine on track I had 16" standard 182 wheels like yours and a set of OZ F1's from a ph1 172, And it handled better on the 15's as well as much cheaper tyres, So may be something to think about, I also believe this is something that a lot of clio owners believe who track their cars.
Also as for thee exhaust mounts, You can buy Powerflex inserts which go inside the standard bracket and should stop them from dropping, I never bought these as they come on the market just as I sold mine.
Mine was on coilovers with a decat Miltek exhaust system... Picture below.
Thanks Josh. I bought them fairly quickly into ownership, purely as they were so cheap. Once these tyres go, I could look into 15's. I'd love it to have turinis for daily and then these or 15's for track days.
The exhaust is falling out due to the engine mounts (see the next post in a min...!) You can also just get a poly gun and full the square up and drill a hole, bit of a hack but saves a fair bit of money!
The exhaust is falling out due to the engine mounts (see the next post in a min...!) You can also just get a poly gun and full the square up and drill a hole, bit of a hack but saves a fair bit of money!
The exhaust was driving me insane, and after pushing the engine, I could see plently of play, so figured it was down to that. KamRacing is 20 miles away, so I jumped in the car and got the dogbone poly mount kit and engine mount insert. Then went about installing today.
Ramps borrowed off a mate, first thing I done was spin the wheels and they ejected past the front wheels to under the sills, and I've damaged them, only superficial mind. Old dog bone bushes in a bad way! I managed to bend the bugger too.
Simple enough to do though, and fitted
I set about the engine top mount. My drive is pebbles, so I need to use a sheet of wood for jacking or stands, even the ramps. So the car came off the ramps so I could use one of my 2 pieces of wood for the jack, to support the engine whilst I remove the mount. But, the car sits too low. So I had to jack up a side, then put it on a stand, before using the other sheet of wood to assist supporting the engine. I hate pebble drive ways!
All was going well until this happened, the bolt has come away from the engine mount.
Total new mount required. OEM is the same price as a racing one (which doesn't need the mount I've just bought), so I'll order one for next week and try to return/flog the mount insert. For now, the clio sits on a stand with the engine jacked.
Ramps borrowed off a mate, first thing I done was spin the wheels and they ejected past the front wheels to under the sills, and I've damaged them, only superficial mind. Old dog bone bushes in a bad way! I managed to bend the bugger too.
Simple enough to do though, and fitted
I set about the engine top mount. My drive is pebbles, so I need to use a sheet of wood for jacking or stands, even the ramps. So the car came off the ramps so I could use one of my 2 pieces of wood for the jack, to support the engine whilst I remove the mount. But, the car sits too low. So I had to jack up a side, then put it on a stand, before using the other sheet of wood to assist supporting the engine. I hate pebble drive ways!
All was going well until this happened, the bolt has come away from the engine mount.
Total new mount required. OEM is the same price as a racing one (which doesn't need the mount I've just bought), so I'll order one for next week and try to return/flog the mount insert. For now, the clio sits on a stand with the engine jacked. Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff