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Kangoo 172 cup

Brigsy

Media Mogul. Instagram legend.
Have you ever been in the situation when you fancy a motor that is up for sale but no real use for it ??

Part 1 - The Buzz

A few weeks ago i noticed @Chris Smith had his recently bought kangoo 172 up for sale - check the thread out For Sale - Renault 172 cup Kangoo

I looked at it and it caught my eye - initially wanted the recaro's for my clio dci but Chris wanted to sell as a whole, after brief chat about it kind of forgot about it after that. On holiday a few weeks back and noticed it was still up for sale - talking to @Sheryl_O about it and she said get it if you want it - only live once etc. This is not the first time i have impulse bought a car on holiday - bought my gtt whilst in Ibiza many years ago a few beers in by text message no viewings !

Stuck an offer in of what i could afford and Chris said he would think about it as higher bids had went in. Forgot about it again and a couple of weeks later I get the message saying its mine if i want it ! So the Renault addict in me says buy buy buy. Talking to Chris he gives me an honest description that is a runner - he has not used it much at all 40 miles is the furthest it has been in one go - bodywork is ok few dings and knocks due to old van - sounds fine to me so arrange a day to collect. Part of me wanted to collect it and take it to FCS & track it but the other part of me says its untested so dont want to end up on the back of a recovery truck home so take the megane instead..
 
Part 2 - The Adventure

So arrange to collect 22nd July as i had FCS on the cards etc. Van is located in Ashford which is 300+ miles away from home so look into various travel options to get down to it.

1 - Trusty Clio Dci - would do it on a tank of derv - 2 people needed and boring drive home on own
2 - Train - Expensive
3 - Short flight - Even more expensive

After just resigning to the fact the dci is the best option - seen the megabus to London. Looked at the prices and £14 per person from Middlesbrough to central London. The only snag is its either 1am or 8am set off time - 1am arrives at london for 8am & the other afternoon. I really wanted to be home as early as possible incase of issues/poss recovery if the worst happens. Train to Ashford is cheap as chips from London - the bus/train combo is sold to me. We book up the early doors bus 1am & train at 10am to Ashford. I thought the bus would be fairly empty - can get stretched out and snooze on the bus etc.

So the Friday comes - we go to graft and pop down the track at Teesside - back and get ready to go - essentials packed - sat nav - aa card - munchies etc. Taxi to the bus station 12:45am - get there and a few people are waiting at the stop. Bus rolls up at 1am prompt and looks empty as lights are dimmed - gets on the bus and its more than half full ! no two seats free together so we squeeze on the back seat. I try to get my head down but were cooking at what feels like 30degrees as driver is being tight with the aircon & at this point im thinking should have taken the dci. Next thing its 5am and not a wink of sleep bus is full. People get off at Leicester and manage to grab a couple of hours kip.

Roll up early in London after a couple of hours shut eye & feeling fairly fresh. Sun is shining & food is on the mind and seeing the local costalot style places in the vicinity i start thinking about a greasy spoon. The place in particular is the Regency cafe that has been in a few films - Layer Cake etc. This place has caught my eye a few times recently so i get google maps up on my phone, expecting it to be miles away - only down the road 15 mins walk. Epic place really friendly and decent full english & cup of splosh for £5.50 bargain !20170722_082004.webp
So make tracks down to Victoria rail station after breakfast. Get there early and see the usual hustle & bustle of the capital city - at this point im thinking get me out of here. Train arrives prompt at 10am and were en route to Ashford. We arrive 11am and Chris kindly collects us from the train station.
 
Part 3 - The Collection

We arrive at the van after a short journey. I give it the once over - fire it up and runs ok, fluid levels are ok etc. Short test drive is positive - needs a good clean up & minor jobs doing but got potential, drives well no clunks and bangs - cant open it up as street driving but nothing untoward. We shake hands and exchange the paperwork etc and head off to the local garage to fill up with fuel. Brim the tank with 95 octane sainsburys finest as steady driving - only takes £32 to brim. Fuel gauge only says 3/4 when full ignore that at least its working - check tyre pressures all ok - good to go..

Set off - conscious that it has not been used much in the last few months so anything can happen - however sun is shining we have the tunes on - find a cd in the door compartment 'Eat sleep rave - repeat' that is the flavour of the day as the aerial for radio is snapped off lol. Shez posts the standard new car pic on facebook, van seems to be running great no issues:D over 40 miles done were cooking on gas..20228344_10159074800130072_5710307086669139304_n.webp

Onto the m25 temp gauge sat bang on half - hoping rad fan works ok as guaranteed to hit traffic. 5 mils of crawling in traffic up to the dartford crossing and temp gauge stays bang on half, flicking through the onboard trip computer says 40mpg which is sound. Notice at this point cars are hanging back from me not sure why but nothing appears to be falling off so keep going (more of this later). Get through the crossing & it starts pissing down, no problem i know the wipers work OK as cleaned the windscreen a while back..
 
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Part 4 - Rolling Repairs

Its pissing down on the m25. Its fecking raining cats and dogs and the wipers need upping a notch onto intermediate. The wipers are doing the job bit jerky on the passenger side i note. In the next sweep the fucking blade falls off the passenger wiper and into the scuttle. Its almost torrential rain and i stop the wipers to save battle scarring the new wind screen. Ill pull over onto the hard shoulder - no hard shoulder ! i just keep driving steady 50-60 in left and lane squinting a bit - i can do without wipers until next services !? we get off m25 and next services is 15 miles - think it was Stratford services ?? very familiar circumstances - i pulled in here with a knackered gearbox back in 2013 after Sangliers in my extra van.

Pull into the services and dump the van on the end near this dodgy looking 307 with smashed rear window with a small 4x4 parked next to it & lads with toe rope. I open the bonnet and fish the wiper out which seems to have survived the scuttle/engine bay trip OK.

Fecking wiper !? Shez is pissing herself laughing at this point and im thinking hopefully nothing else is going to fall off:DIMG-20170723-WA0000.webp

At this point im thinking zip tie/duct tape/shoelace to bodge it - weather has dried up but its very grey so got to bodge it. Ask the lads with the 307 if they have a zip tie spare. The lads are sound and produce a couple of zip ties - they also say well the 307's fucked and the batterys flat so wipers arent going to do much - were taking it down the weigh in yard now anyway so take the clip off this. I whip first clip off & it partially breaks 'ffs' im thinking. Struggling to get wiper number 2 off as need battery on to move wipers up screen. Bloke comes over and says you haven't got the technique son and tears the full arm off :D car rolling away whilst removing wiper. IMG-20170723-WA0001.webp
I thank the lads for the parts as they need to dash - the 307 needs to be weighed in then a fiesta after that - driver comments he had a clio williams back in the day and loved it ! clip on wiper is fixed were up and running again, still blown away by the fact we have just stumbled upon a scrap car in the services ! Should have put the lotto on with this luck. Quick cup of splosh to drink & back on route.20170722_144458.webp
Its raining heavy and wipers are working grand no other issues. @andybond messages us enroute saying pop round for a cuppa so we do (cant turn down a cuppa!) - he convinces me it needs a turbo - we talk about high power supercharger kits for his c63;) we comment fuel gauge is quite far down and ponder over fuel light gamble ! Set off again 8ish pm i get onto the a1 then a19 then pull up at Exelby services, fuel gauge is right down and its dark approx 9pm and not really feeling running out of fuel at this point. I stick a tenner of vpower in as i fancy giving it a flog now were 30 miles away from home.

At this point i thought lets check the lights as its dark - i assume they are working OK. Dipped front lights are ok - go to the back rear lights are on but look bright - no high level brake light on though. Ask Shez to press brake pedal - ask her to press it again no fecking difference - im tired at this point i think there are no brake lights - well in theory they aren't as not working. Truck driver shouts over from a distance your brake lights aren't working - im thinking 'no shit sherlock' at this point - get talking and he suggests using the rear fog when slowing down - i check this - not working :D who cares anyway were 30 miles from home now 270 miles deep into the journey and not messing about.

So on the way out of the garage i give it a squirt - it ain't no turbo but it goes alright - 7200 rpm 1st & 2nd gear not bad moves ok ! typical n/a screaming rev the nuts off it:D straight home, show up a modern audi that did not like a 11 year old van pulling away from it - maybe the first on the kill list !? 40 ish hours later and were back in one piece. Turn van off on drive open gates and it wont start just cranking away no fuel or spark, turn key off stop cranking - try again and it fires up. Im thinking 'FFS' what is going on here its been running great all day - is it out of fuel or whatever fuck it fix it tomorrow back it on drive turn it off and lock - bed.
 
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Part 5 - Snagging

Roll out of bed 9am Sunday feeling fresh ish after a half decent nights sleep. Van is on the mind

Snagging list starts - Brake lights need fixing. Find out they are actually stuck on instead of off, this will probably explain why everybody was hanging back on m25 as brake lights were permanently on when ign on. Hand up under dash and switch needs clipping back into pedal box easy fix. Fix high level brake light corroded fitting.

Next job was to remove bulkhead behind seats as it was limiting the travel on the seats so driving position not optimal for me and it looked shit with blue carpet.

Out it comes ! 20170723_124458.webp 20170723_132344.webp 20170723_155202.webpNames behind the carpet, got in touch with previous owner and he told me a few tales about it haha he has been very helpful in answering a few questions as he built it. I had done some digging prior to buying and had seen it had been round the local track Teesside and silverstone a couple of years back. On 2 wheels of course :D which i think is epic as i plan on driving it the same way
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To be continued !!
 
Excellent write up Brigsy, sorry about the teething issues, can't say it ever got noticed by me.... But as you know I didn't use it much.

I am sure you will have an excellent time with the can, I look forward to seeing the updates.

My first ever deal with you, it was a pleasure :)
 
Excellent write up Brigsy, sorry about the teething issues, can't say it ever got noticed by me.... But as you know I didn't use it much.

I am sure you will have an excellent time with the can, I look forward to seeing the updates.

My first ever deal with you, it was a pleasure :)

Very happy with the van mate (y) exactly how you described it - i knew it was going to be a rolling project does not need a lot doing at all to get it 100% :)

Megabus of doom :eek:

Didn't fancy pie, mash & liquor lunch as well in the big smoke then? :)

Cool project, and another Shopboy motor in the N.E (y) Bringing it to Blyton/Ring trip?

Megabus was rough never again! Prob use the megane for Blyton/Ring trip but will see. Going to start insurance back end of August and go from there. Gives me a few weeks to fix the few issues :D
 
Part 6 - The good - the bad & the ugly

After binning the bulkhead the next thing was a big clean up and health check. Started digging out the interior & investigated the wiring hanging out in the passenger footwell. Shez noticed this on the journey home - Rats nest of wiring behind centre console :D conversion has the full 172 dash loom fitted so a few spare plugs floating about - not located fusebox yet but UCH is stashed in the kangoo fusebox location under passenger side of dash and obd port is up there somewhere20170723_121732.webp
Snipped a bit back & left a few bits - zip tied into a bundle and hidden behind centre console:D

Cleaned the years of muck and grime off the dash/doorcards - comes up ok - Recaro needs stitching repairing - should be cheap at my local trimmers. Notice the yellow box section - these are going to get a coat of satin black for now to tidy up - Might buy some proper mounts eventually. The brackets that are bolted to the seats are for Recaro fixed buckets - so seats are fixed on the base but absolutely solid so no issues at moment. Seatbelt buckles are very heath robinson can be seen on the pic with bulkhead removed - going to fit some standalone stalks like gtt. Time clock is not wired up as tied in with kangoo clocks - seen a kangoo with clio style clock in so will look at that option.

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Quick wash on the outside - i started decontaminating the paintwork then the rain come. Hop up required to touch up a few marks on roof :D
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A simple wash brings up the bodywork ok - needs a good day on it wit a DA and should look pretty decent. Chris is hooking me up with one of his spare DA polishers so should be able to get it pretty nice. Wheels cleaned up decent - powdercoated gloss black - few marks but nothing too bad..20170723_134241.webp 20170723_153314.webp 20170723_153326.webp 20170723_154746.webp

Look at the next pics carefully. I noticed straight away that the track on the front of the van looks pretty wide & lower than stock van. After chatting with the previous owner he said the front is running full clio 172 cup suspension which iirc is wider track control arms - track rod ends & shafts compared to stock 172. This seems to have worked pretty nice- Looks to have added a bit of negative camber up front & castor - from looking at a guess -2deg negative camber - it certainly turns in good enough 20170723_153937.webp 20170723_153952.webp
 
Part 7 - The Heart & The List..

So onto the heart of the van - 172 cup engine, Its declared on the log book as 2.0 petrol so falls into the fairly expensive tax band but still rocking the Dci 70 badges on the doors for the discreet.

Previous mot's said the van has covered 175k & 172 clocks say 78k. The mileage on the clocks has been confirmed to be off the donor car so the engine has not done moon miles. The engine runs well enough, Looks to be fairly standard & complete o.e airbox etc. The only real issues are - dephaser pulley is noisy as feck when hot - will need belts doing etc - cam cover is leaking oil a little bit so will be resealed whilst belt is renewed due to it holding the cams in place.

Noticed that the cam cover/top engine mount has a bolt missing and one end of the cover around bolt hole is cracked so that will need changing when belts are done. Exhaust looks like a bitsa underneath - hard to see but looks like it has a cat into stainless centre section - small middle box - into mild steel back box (diesel?!). Its a bit shit to be fair rattles and blows - exits on the drivers side so going to need a few mods or custom.

Had an issue with non start outside the house the other night and seemed to misfire when moved round the block yesterday. I do wonder if its fuel pump or tdc related. Ideally need to dig the obd port out and scan it however no warning light on and they all work so..

Nothing to see here just a mucky Renaultsport 2.0..
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A local lad was breaking a flamer 172 and ready to scrap the remains today. I asked for the fuel pump 7 how much - as i have known the lad for a few years he said come round and help yourself to whatever is left as its getting weighed in. Grabbed fuel pump & sender as a spare - spare 172 clocks - few daft bits of wiring - 2nd hand gearbox rubber mount as hear the occasional knock etc so a few useful spares:)

The list..to recap & going forward

The good

172 engine & ph1 172 gearbox - drives well no knocks etc no smoke & all levels fine
172 Cup suspension up front - Kangoo torsion bar beam rear - Clio 172 pas
Recaro Trendlines
Cup turinis with michelin ps3's
172 discs & calipers up front with original drums at rear - no abs unsure if clio cup setup or kangoo - work grand very sharp - can see some copper brakelines on rear so has had a bit of work done
Bodywork half decent should come up nice - sills/floor looks clean rot free - new windscreen

The repairs

Cambelt and dephaser required asap - no idea if belt has been changed - Aux belt looks newish (gen renault) - dephaser sounds like a diesel when hot.
Replace water pump & aux kit - flush coolant & refill with type d
Oil & filter change - will use ren oil & genuine filter
Check out non start/misfire - see if pump related or whatever - never missed a beat when more fuel in the tank poss not picking up fuel properly when low ?
Fuel gauge not too accurate - when brimmed shows 3/4 of a tank - previous owner said it can go down to the light goes on then you have 20 miles - i have another sender poss mod it to read correct
Recaro's need stitching repairing on drivers seat - not expensive need to get it booked in - alcantara to clean as a bit flat
Respray/tidy up mounts on Recaro's
Fit new stalks for seatbelts get rid of the shit current setup
Move drivers seat back an inch or so not much legroom
Sort out wiring - interior lights intermittent - sort out rats nest - possibly wire in original hazard light switch as clio one fitted to centre console
Look at central locking - indicators only flash when unlocking - no flash when locking - prob due to incomplete wiring or poss due to clio to van wiring
New aerial as snapped off
New arch liner for drivers side front - old one in bits on a174:D
Respray centre console as looks crap or even renew and wire in kangoo central locking switch
Replace ashtray as missing
Remove clio bodged in dash dimmer & headlamp adjusters - dont work anyway - fit kangoo blank in place
Sort out time clock - fit clio one to kangoo dash
Fix rear fog light - no tell tale on dash - wiring required i guess
Replace dash speakers - no speakers fitted now as bulkhead ones are too big & none fitted
Replace gearbox mount - 2nd hand in stock...check other mounts as a bit rocky with toe down
Possibly new front bumper if i can get a nice one cheap as a bit tatty/battle scarred - not that arsed at the mo bigger fish to fry

All cheap/easy stuff apart from belts - may need to bring a subbie in to do the belts - my torque wrench isnt as accurate as i want it to be for the job

The mods

Lower torsion bar 30mm or so - this weekend:D
Long term 197 cams/map ? Boost !? We will see

Had a few people wanting to buy already. A good mate of mine who is a sparky and vauxhall mad wants it today - but not going anywhere until i have had plenty of fun in it;)
 
Well thats that decided for me :D talking to my technician mate whos had a few 172/182 around the corner & he said the non start will be crank sensor & slight miss when cold is standard on a stock map. So nothing to really worry about :D
 
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