Clio Big Steve’s Clio Williams 2 (World Cup Williams) 🌍

[Big Steve - Raider]

The gut is a match for me, but for the hair you’ve got a tough choice between @Adey and @sparkie

 

[DaveL485]

I fuckin love this forum.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

I can confirm that the bracket guy at Renault was definitely working overtime when they designed this car!!! Christ on a bike and I thought the 5GTT was over complicated in some areas…!

Work continued to pull the engine bay apart today as I wanted to get the Aux belt tensioning bracket off to see if all of the tensioning teeth were there, as the belt was really loose on my car.

The tensioning bracket is linked to the power steering pump bracket, so I drained the PAS fluid, and found it a little too brown for my liking, so I’ll make sure I drain the whole system and replace with some clean fluid:

Interestingly, the PAS pump was the OE Fit, and still felt great when I gave it a spin:

After another thousand bolts I got the Aux belt tensioning bracket off & found that the teeth were in perfect condition, but the pulley looks like it’s been a boat anchor ️!

Chuffed that I don’t have to replace that!

Next stop was to remove the inlet manifold, so it’ll make it easier to replace a few broken bolts:

Noticed that ALL of the injector plugs are broken, in some way or another. (If anyone knows where to get new Grey AMP connector housings please let me know):

Another hundred bolts later and got it off:

Not going to take much more effort to remove the engine entirely.. and I think I’m probably going to go that way so I can sort out the subframe which looks rotten!

 

[DaveL485]

Injector plugs are just Junior Timer connectors, search for Junior TImer Grey or something like that and I bet you'll find some.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

• Williams Rear Arches

I've ordered a pair of (apparently) correct williams/valver form rear arches from this chap in France

Arches arrived from France and look great:

Had a little play with them this evening and discovered something VERY Interesting!!

Held up the first arch to the drivers side rear arch and thought to myself, ”Wow, these are , they don’t match the form of the arch”:

Before I got upset, I compared the passenger side and the arch fitted EXACTLY:

Hmmm, that’s interesting… so what’s going on????

I then remembered I bought a standard Clio 1 rear arch repair panel and wondered how they compared… JUST LOOK AT THIS FOR A CLEAR EXPLANATION

The drivers side rear arch is by far the worst, and is bubbling up under the paint. So I can now say with some authority:

• The Driver side rear arch has been repaired already with a standard Clio MK1 Rear Arch repair panel, and is bubbling up because quite probably full of filler.
• The passenger side is mostly original.

Buoyed on by this, I’ve just ordered myself a pair of inner rear arches from the chap in France which I think will help no-end when it comes to the repairs…. But as you can see, at a cost!

 

[Aldo]

Thats mad! So does the Williams have a unique shape to it? The difference between itself and all other mk1 clios? Or would the Williams be the same as the 16v?

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Thats mad! So does the Williams have a unique shape to it? The difference between itself and all other mk1 clios? Or would the Williams be the same as the 16v?

Yes, I was under the impression that the difference between a Valver/Williams and the regular Clio was the fact the rear arches were flared… but now this shows that the actual shape of the arch was different between the “hot” models, and more the boggo basic ones..!

Good old Renault, always there to make something more difficult than it needs to be!!

 

[Aldo]

The profile of the Williams arch is much nicer. Follows the tyre line better.

 

[Mark_L]

If you Look at the position you have it on the arch to rear bumper it looks like it needs to go back to meet the bumper. Also the gap at the front would be far too big. My guess is the arch is just made a little longer on that side?

Which would then align with the front. Are both arches supplied exactly the same?

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Good spot! Will have another try.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

If you Look at the position you have it on the arch to rear bumper it looks like it needs to go back to meet the bumper. Also the gap at the front would be far too big. My guess is the arch is just made a little longer on that side?

Which would then align with the front. Are both arches supplied exactly the same?

Good spot! Will have another try.

Had another check @Mark_L and to backs up my theory that the arches are indeed different..! Have a look at this, I lined up the form on the rear section of the arch that would come from the bumper, and…

still looks different to me.

 

[Mark_L]

Had another check @Mark_L and to backs up my theory that the arches are indeed different..! Have a look at this, I lined up the form on the rear section of the arch that would come from the bumper, and…
View attachment 210986
still looks different to me.

Measure the lengths of the sills front to back see what you get and arch gap to wheel.

That’s where I’d start.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Measure the lengths of the sills front to back see what you get and arch gap to wheel.

That’s where I’d start.

Ok, did this, and there does seem to be a difference…

O/S is where the bubbling seems to be coming with a vengeance and that measures ~52mm

N/S is where I believe the arch has not yet been touched, and that measures ~60mm

So definitely something funky going on.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Checked to see if the strut bar I’d bought was the right one..? BINGO!!

Exhaust manifold off next:

Came off without too much drama, and found I had a broken bolt and perhaps the reason the downpipe was blowing, you can see the sealing ring was damaged:

Drilled out the broken bolt, and removed the damaged seal.

With the exhaust manifold removed, nothing looked too untoward with the remaining bits, just covered in rust and detritus:

Engine bay loom and ECU then removed:

Starting to look fairly clear in there now.

 

[Mark_L]

Ok, did this, and there does seem to be a difference…
View attachment 210998
O/S is where the bubbling seems to be coming with a vengeance and that measures ~52mm

N/S is where I believe the arch has not yet been touched, and that measures ~60mm

So definitely something funky going on.

Looks like it.

Try measuring the from the front of the sill/wing to the back of the arch and compare side to side.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Breakdown continues, so I can get the engine out for a full going over.

O/S Wheel and driveshaft out tonight:

And it appears there IS a bigger brake kit fitted to this car as advertised!! Never seen one like this before with little anodised aluminium brackets..!!

It appears the standard Clio Williams calipers are present. I know people swap to the 172 wide track, for the Clio 172 Calipers… but how different is the 1*2 caliper carriers vs the Williams..?

Anyone know??

 

[Brigsy]

The brackets on the calipers look to be the same as the old ktec gtt big brake kit. Probably uses 21txe 280mm discs from memory. 172 calipers arent a direct fit to williams hubs iirc.

 

[DaveL485]

21txe 280mm discs from memory

txi, 285mm and they're absolute unobtanium now, no stock anywhere.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

txi, 285mm and they're absolute unobtanium now, no stock anywhere.

Sh1111111111t I’m fast finding that out…

 

[Brigsy]

Id bin that brake kit and run oem sized discs with good pads. The larger discs just add unsprung weight, performance increase is negligible