Clio 172, phase1, unseen ebay purchase...
Discussion
So this arrived this morning, around 11am, delivered by a top bloke via Shiply, who text me photos of it loaded and updates en route.
Initially a little disappointing as central locking via the fob doesn't work, but does work pressing the dash button inside. Bodywork wise is pretty good, bar 2 small bits of rust, clearly from a cheap previous paint job. Air vent broken, it's loud and needs a CAT. However, it drives brilliantly with everything feeling tight, no knocks, brakes straight a true and feels "fizzy". Hard to explain, but the combination of cable throttle resulting in instant throttle response, together with sharp handling makes it feel, well, fizzy. It pulls strong to the limiter but it is loud and I have a 5 pot Focus ST with deres and sports cat, so I'm used to loud.
List of things to sort:-
Central locking via fob
Stereo with bluetooth, although a mates kindly donated me one
CAT
Battery terminal so I can remove the rag (already ordered a new one for 11 quid)
Belts need doing, booked in at a mates specialist in April
Paint put right
Correct steering wheel, of which I have but needs refurbing
Air vent broken
Photos
Looks mint right, but close up it has this, which are the only marks anywhere
So overall, pretty happy, will be happier once it's had belts, central locking fixed and a working stereo.
Initially a little disappointing as central locking via the fob doesn't work, but does work pressing the dash button inside. Bodywork wise is pretty good, bar 2 small bits of rust, clearly from a cheap previous paint job. Air vent broken, it's loud and needs a CAT. However, it drives brilliantly with everything feeling tight, no knocks, brakes straight a true and feels "fizzy". Hard to explain, but the combination of cable throttle resulting in instant throttle response, together with sharp handling makes it feel, well, fizzy. It pulls strong to the limiter but it is loud and I have a 5 pot Focus ST with deres and sports cat, so I'm used to loud.
List of things to sort:-
Central locking via fob
Stereo with bluetooth, although a mates kindly donated me one
CAT
Battery terminal so I can remove the rag (already ordered a new one for 11 quid)
Belts need doing, booked in at a mates specialist in April
Paint put right
Correct steering wheel, of which I have but needs refurbing
Air vent broken
Photos
Looks mint right, but close up it has this, which are the only marks anywhere
So overall, pretty happy, will be happier once it's had belts, central locking fixed and a working stereo.
Edited by zedx19 on Sunday 1st March 22:19
Boot floor is straight and entirely rust and damage free.
Sills are rusty though, despite me specifically asking their condition. I'm going to get the door cards out when I get chance and see what the inside is like, then coat in waxoyl.
Developed a slight misfire at 1200rpm under load, suspected injector.
Had my first proper flat out blast in it though and it is a riot. I'm torn on whether to keep it though in all honesty as it's needing a bit more than I have time to do myself. I estimate it needs around 800-900 quid spending on it which is as below:-
Belts £450
Sill repair and paint £350
Injector £30
Central locking (sent spare key off for repair though, so should be fixed)
Battery terminal (Already ordered and on its way)
Stereo (One from a mate on it's way)
Phase 1 steering (One in boot just needs refurbing)
Broken air vent (Scouring ebay for one)
This would make it absolutely mint though and I'm very picky about my cars. Just with a high pressure job that takes up a lot of time, my own business I run in an evening, together with 4 kids, leaves me little time to sort it! Dunno whether the nostalgia of it caught me up and I've took on more than I wanted. 50/50 at the moment whether to sink some time into it, or sell it on for what it owes me, which is 1850 quid so far.
Sills are rusty though, despite me specifically asking their condition. I'm going to get the door cards out when I get chance and see what the inside is like, then coat in waxoyl.
Developed a slight misfire at 1200rpm under load, suspected injector.
Had my first proper flat out blast in it though and it is a riot. I'm torn on whether to keep it though in all honesty as it's needing a bit more than I have time to do myself. I estimate it needs around 800-900 quid spending on it which is as below:-
Belts £450
Sill repair and paint £350
Injector £30
Central locking (sent spare key off for repair though, so should be fixed)
Battery terminal (Already ordered and on its way)
Stereo (One from a mate on it's way)
Phase 1 steering (One in boot just needs refurbing)
Broken air vent (Scouring ebay for one)
This would make it absolutely mint though and I'm very picky about my cars. Just with a high pressure job that takes up a lot of time, my own business I run in an evening, together with 4 kids, leaves me little time to sort it! Dunno whether the nostalgia of it caught me up and I've took on more than I wanted. 50/50 at the moment whether to sink some time into it, or sell it on for what it owes me, which is 1850 quid so far.
So I dropped it off at a mates, who has numerous Clios, phase 1 172, 182, mk1 valver turbo. Thought he'd be able to give me a good idea on what the car needs and how it feels. Verdict is, drives very well, goes very well, feels solid but has niggles, all of which I've mentioned above. This has made me feel better about it now, just awaiting his verdict on rust as he's going to take the door cards off. I've someone I know who can weld it up if needs be, someone who can do the belts and the niggles I've already started sorting.
So unless it's absolutely rotten to the core behind the door cards, I plan on spending a bit of cash getting it up to a high standard.
So unless it's absolutely rotten to the core behind the door cards, I plan on spending a bit of cash getting it up to a high standard.
So after leaving it with a mate, the verdict is, "It's a keeper" although it does have it's issues, mostly minor. He's managed to fix the misfire, which was just a loose connection. He's fixed the battery terminal and he's said it runs mint and pulls well. Now for the bad news... rust!
So I've decided to use send it for some welding at somewhere a mate has recommended, who welded up his 5 GTT and Williams.
Mechanically the car is very good, so I think it warrants a bit money on getting it solid, then getting belts done, then sorting the little niggles. I could have have the same rust with any 172/182, they all rot in the same place, so I think I'm making the right decision getting this one fixed up, seen as the rest of the car is decent.
Looked good next to my mates though, his is on 153k now.
So I've decided to use send it for some welding at somewhere a mate has recommended, who welded up his 5 GTT and Williams.
Mechanically the car is very good, so I think it warrants a bit money on getting it solid, then getting belts done, then sorting the little niggles. I could have have the same rust with any 172/182, they all rot in the same place, so I think I'm making the right decision getting this one fixed up, seen as the rest of the car is decent.
Looked good next to my mates though, his is on 153k now.
clio007 said:
Looks like a bodge job done on the paint by the seller to get it sold.
I guess they must have looked alot worse before he resprayed them
Yeah agreed, it was cheap though. Think I'm going to be around 3k all in including purchase price, which will make it solid, belts done and niggles sorted, so basically mint. 3k for a fun little french hot hatch, doesn't sound like a lot to me. They'll get rarer and rarer as more rot away so I'm hopeful that in a few years, it'll be worth the 3k I've invested. I guess they must have looked alot worse before he resprayed them
zedx19 said:
Yeah agreed, it was cheap though. Think I'm going to be around 3k all in including purchase price, which will make it solid, belts done and niggles sorted, so basically mint. 3k for a fun little french hot hatch, doesn't sound like a lot to me. They'll get rarer and rarer as more rot away so I'm hopeful that in a few years, it'll be worth the 3k I've invested.
Hold onto it too and you won’t be kicking yourself when they’re expensive like 205’s.Managed to get the central locking working, in a rather bizarre fashion. Sent the spare key off to Fobfix, who did a cracking job, fixed and sent back within 48 hours. Re-paired the key to car and voila, remote locking now works! However, what I didn't realise was that key wouldn't disarm the immobiliser so the car wouldn't start. Bizarrely though, the other then randomly started working and would unlock/lock the car remotely!?! So the fixed key must have reset the remote locking somehow, which then allowed the other, unfixed key to work!
Central locking ticked off the fix list though.
Central locking ticked off the fix list though.
So thought I'd update this as it's been a while. Just before lockdown, I noticed a strange noise coming from the engine bay, together with horrendous fuel consumption, found the fuel hoses had jumped the clips and snagged on something, splitting one of them. As this is an early phase 1, it has a separate feed and return pipe, which is rare as hens teeth to find. The pandemic was just kicking off so I parked it up undercover and left it there while decided what to do. I had contemplated converting it to a later phase 1 which just has a single fuel pipe, but this would require pump and likely ECU. Mate who owns a Renault specialist though came good, managed to find some second hand pipes so I had it recovered to him last week, where it had:-
Fuel lines replaced
Cambelt kit including waterpump and dephaser
Aux belt kit
CAT put on
Oil and filter
Fresh coolant
Handbrake cables
Standard gear shift
Collected Saturday and mechanically it's spot on now, drives brilliant. Had a poke round while it was on the ramps and 2 jack points on 1 sill are bent and rusty, which is the same side as the worse of the inner arch rust. Other sill is sold, generally good condition, as is the inner arch.
So when I got it back home, I set to work on some other bits.
Original phase 1 172 steering wheel fitted
Interior out, wire brush inner arch, waxyol like mad every inside and along the sill seam outside
Interior back in
Sport badge on
New plates on
Good clean
Here are some progress photos from the weekend. It's now my daily as my ST is still SORN, so I'm using it for the limited pottering I need to do, which occasional trips to the office and sorting office. Pretty happy with it for the time being, bar the cat back exhaust is still a bit naff. Rust on 1 side is a worry, but I'm just going to enjoy it for time being now. There aren't any holes visible from the outside and the sills aren't crumbling, so I suspect it's MOT fine. Afterall, it'll been like this for time and not mentioned as an advisory on any previous MOT.
Fuel lines replaced
Cambelt kit including waterpump and dephaser
Aux belt kit
CAT put on
Oil and filter
Fresh coolant
Handbrake cables
Standard gear shift
Collected Saturday and mechanically it's spot on now, drives brilliant. Had a poke round while it was on the ramps and 2 jack points on 1 sill are bent and rusty, which is the same side as the worse of the inner arch rust. Other sill is sold, generally good condition, as is the inner arch.
So when I got it back home, I set to work on some other bits.
Original phase 1 172 steering wheel fitted
Interior out, wire brush inner arch, waxyol like mad every inside and along the sill seam outside
Interior back in
Sport badge on
New plates on
Good clean
Here are some progress photos from the weekend. It's now my daily as my ST is still SORN, so I'm using it for the limited pottering I need to do, which occasional trips to the office and sorting office. Pretty happy with it for the time being, bar the cat back exhaust is still a bit naff. Rust on 1 side is a worry, but I'm just going to enjoy it for time being now. There aren't any holes visible from the outside and the sills aren't crumbling, so I suspect it's MOT fine. Afterall, it'll been like this for time and not mentioned as an advisory on any previous MOT.
Looks great,
I did my inner and outser sills to with Bilt Hamber products. Their Hydrate 80 will convert the rust and stop it in its tracks then you can coat with Electrox zinc and finally Dynax UB which is a calcium based wax agent.
Think of it as really high end Waxoyl.
Those rear arches go where the plastic bumper traps grit between it and the steel bodywork. The grit abrades the paint and corrosion can occur., They all suffer from this, and from what you've shown yours is in better nick than many phase 2 cars.
I bought my original 182 back last year and have been slowly tinkering with it to make it tidy. I absolutely love having it back and despite it being 15 years old now, there's almost nothing id enjoy driving more every day
I did my inner and outser sills to with Bilt Hamber products. Their Hydrate 80 will convert the rust and stop it in its tracks then you can coat with Electrox zinc and finally Dynax UB which is a calcium based wax agent.
Think of it as really high end Waxoyl.
Those rear arches go where the plastic bumper traps grit between it and the steel bodywork. The grit abrades the paint and corrosion can occur., They all suffer from this, and from what you've shown yours is in better nick than many phase 2 cars.
I bought my original 182 back last year and have been slowly tinkering with it to make it tidy. I absolutely love having it back and despite it being 15 years old now, there's almost nothing id enjoy driving more every day
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