I thought it might be the time to put my car in here as well. As I'm not that much into new user's postings a few words about me so you still get an idea about me. I'm born in 1990 work as car mechanic and I live in the middle of Switzerland on a hill at 1000m above sea level so there are plenty of twisty roads right in front of the house.
As for the car it's a Phase 2 and has seen the roads the first time in 2004. When I bought it in March 2010 it was in complete OEM condition. After enjoying the car for a while soon it was clear I had to change something. That's how the story begins. It's probably a never ending one. I have done a lot to the car already but the future plans are becoming more and more still. I'm aware that many of you won't like what I do but to be honest OEM just isn't for me! What I'm after is increased performance, it should be fun to drive it even if it's not the quickest car in the world. Also I try to maintain standard looks as far as possible (at least outside) as I don't have the patience for bodyworks anyway!
I want to use this first post as kind of a summary over my project and therefore update it from time to time. If I or someone else is looking for infos I think it's more useful to have it all in the first post instead of scattered all over the thread. It doesn't mean though there is no room for discussions and updates further down in the thread.
Now after everything important is said have fun reading and looking at the pictures and feel free to leave a comment.
2010: First Season or: How it all started
First of all I was overwhelmed by the car and had to get used to it because back then I was afraid of 3k+ RPM! One day I felt brave and drove spontaneously to Scotland to visit a friend. Well the car has proven very practical as it was my home for a whole week. So I never ever want to hear someone complain about comfort or luggage space because you don't need more space than for a fish and a baby really!
The OEM vee next to my daily driver. It's a Clio 1.8 16v or as you would call it a valver.
After the Scotland trip with loads of those nasty speed bumps I realized the untertray wasn't fixed correctly so I added some screws to regain the OEM underfloor clearance. Also I fixed some other little things (don't remember it all), removed stickers and stuff and deactivated the light washer until everything was nice and tidy as I like it. The first real thing I usually do to a car is lowering it. That's what I did with a KW v3. As its quite a common mod I won't go into details any further. I lowered it as much as possible but I have to say it caused me a lot of trouble and soon I lifted it up again a little bit. Also I added some spacers: 16mm front and 5mm rear. That's how the final setup (till 2012) looked like.
At the same time there was a group by for Quaife diffs in the German forum. I knew I would want one sooner or later so I bought one. Now don't ask me how handling changed because I literally was afraid of the car so I never drove it nearly hard enough to feel the difference before and after. The Quaife ATB diff and the left and the standard part on the right.
When I had the gearbox removed I realized there would be an easy modification to make the box shift shorter. All I did is shorten the external levers. This would actually be an easy solution to correct the gear lever position for the ph1 drivers who hit the radio/dash when shifting.
Some other basics were black tinted windows as there is not much to see apart form the boring grey engine cover anyway and removed rear-view mirror because I never use it. After this enjoyable summer the vee found shelter in the showroom so it won't have to freeze and rust to death in the snow and salt
2011: Second Season
While working in the engine bay I found a lot of heat shields making work almost impossible. Also they become very hot and as the heat back there is immense I was looking for a solution. Obviously Ceramic is the thing you need. It took quite a while to get the pipes out because so many screws were just almost impossible to reach!
After looking into proper Zirconium oxide coating (which is veeery expensive) I decided to go for some cheap exhaust wrap found in the bay. Although I don't really have an idea of what it is made of one thing is sure: It works. First thing I did was binning all the shields and brackets which I honestly don't regret at all. I have to admit this looks far better than before. Only disadvantage: You better wear gloved because it's very itchy.
Putting the pipes back in place was very easy as there was a lot more space to work. After everything was done the first drive wasn't very enjoyable: Cabin filled with smoke and a smell as if the whole engine was ablaze. After a few hours of driving the smoke was gone and usually you can't smell it either. However what stayed is the fact that after running on track you can touch the headers without burning your hands. Doesn't mean unfortunately there is a cold breeze coming out of the engine bay when you open it up
Also the exhaust was too quiet for me because in my opinion a car like this has to be heard when approaching or leaving. When looking around I found the Quicksilver sports being the most reasonable priced option. Unfortunately I didn't know about the cabin noise which really is unbearable especially when driving for hours to some race track. Actually this one doesn't get my recommendation and I simply wouldn't buy it again. The best thing about it are the good looking tailpipes.
Some other additions were the Clio v6 plate because it looks better when the real plate isn't on the car most of the time. I also put my avatar on the rear window. I just love this picture so it goes wherever I am. But that's all from 2011 because from July to November I was doing military service and had not much time for the vee.
2012: Finally some Trackdays
During winter time I was thinking about doing some small things in the interior. One thing I never liked was the radio. The CD changer is a great thing... for storing the discs as it couldn't read my rewritable discs. I'm not a huge fan of CDs and I planed to remove the charger as part of a seat conversion anyway so I needed a new head unit. The USB unit I used in my daily driver was a great thing but I didn't like the flash drive standing out and I didn't want any unnecessary cables behind the radio so I went for a Pioneer unit with a SD card behind the removable key panel. After changing the (partly damaged) speakers earlier on didn't change much, this finally improved sound quality a lot!
The next thing I planed to change was the annoying pale orange dash illumination. I guess it should keep the eyes from getting tired at night, unfortunately it did the opposite to me and I was looking for something not necessarily brighter but clearer. What I went for was a white conversion kit. As the LEDs are SMD it takes some basic soldering skills but having said that it's not very difficult. Just couldn't wait to put it together and had to test it first to see the difference!!
Back together, up and running.
As many of you already pointed out the vee should feel more like a go-kart. After having the suspension sorted, the seats were the next part that needed improvement. They are not bad but they just don't fit into the concept and for me being quite tall they are just too high. I would have hit the roof if I had hair. I ordered a pair of GRP full bucket seats and 4 point harnesses all by Sparco including the needed rails, consoles and all the other stuff. What was thought to be a one evening job turned out to be the first (of many more to come) complicated project where nothing works as planed!
But first things first: I had to made some fixing points for the harnesses. I wanted them all fixed to the chassis itself and using an extension to the c-pillars wasn't an option. From what I have seen so far I knew exactly how I wanted to realise it but had to check it's legality first. There was nothing against it so I stripped the car and there we go. Lap belts fixing points:
Sorry for my bad welding, I hope no metal worker sees this... I even put a carpet on fire. Fortunately it's only the one under the passenger seat. But after all those fixing points are officially approved. Also the harnesses are approved to be the only and sufficient restraint elements therefore I can bin the whole air bag system. Here the shoulder belts fixing points:
The harder part were the seats. After putting all the supplied pieces together I couldn't even fit the seats under the roof and instantly it was clear I had to go for some custom parts. Which is where it becomes really tricky: Not only was the front part of the seats wider than the rear but also the bottom was wide and the seats became narrower upwards, creating many kinds of angles. This made it quite difficult to make something that will fit. I decided that the standard rails in combination with a custom console would allow the lowest setting. As I was running out of time I needed to have something made up quickly. That's where my (temporary) console v1 comes into play, made up of some parts I already had.
The owner of a local car shop invited a workmate and me to join him to the Nürburgring in July but as none of us had any track experience we decided to go to some track day first in June. We found some nice guys organizing very reasonable priced track days on the rather small track of Anneau du Rhin. Like the name suggests it's in France but very close to the German border and not further than half an hour from the Swiss border either. Apart from the good price and the close distance there are virtually no limitations on the track and you can drive a full seven hours if nothing unexpected happens. Unfortunately it was raining all day long...
...heavily!
And then it has come: The long planed and awaited Nürburgring trip in July! A very nice track I have to admit but very dangerous if you try to go fast without knowing the track!
After this track activity I needed a full set of new tires which gave me the opportunity to change to some wider rims which would allow for some more popular tire sizes with semi slick option in mind. There are not many options on after market rims that fit the car and actually I really liked the original design. Rim extension is the solution here. I had to leave the rims for over a moth at this rim shop and didn't have spare wheels so I had to go an a bit unusual way. Looks rather like the work of a criminal. Some people even walked into the office asking what car is out there standing on bricks
.
Meanwhile I could take care of the tires. I was still a bit afraid of the wet especially on semi slicks so I chose some semi semi-slicks which were the Yokohama Advan Neova in the sizes 225/40R18 front and 245/40R18 rear. Remarkable was that the rear tires despite the same dimensions were not the same size at all. The Dunlops I had used till then were about 245mm over all leaving less than 230mm for the actual tread. The Yokohamas on the other hand had already more than 245mm only tread width making the whole tire a lot wider.
Then I could finally pick up the rims. The fronts gained a full inch while the rears gained half on an inch. The resulting demensions are... I've written it down somewhere, dont remember the offset. As they had to be sandblasted anyway prior to the extension I decided to go for a glossy powder coating to finish the job to make it look just like before. The extension welded in:
Fitting the wider wheels was another tricky job. First the rear wheels didn't fit at all because of the suspension strut. Thicker spacers solved this but I had to cut the fenders to make it fit. The good thing is the tires are almost square so the clearance stays the same when the car is lowered/lifted. The front wheels were especially bigger in diameter so I had to lift the car quite a bit. Additionally I removed some millimetres from the wheel house. Amazing how much there has been taken out already compared to the standard clio! A new set of 16mm spacers, this time for the rear:
When working long hours making the suspension fit I also removed the rear wiper. Had disconnected it long before already because of the rear window sticker. Actually I was looking for a Ragnotti wiper cover as they haven no wiper as standard. Unfortunately they are not available any more so I had to do something on my own. Would like to have a more perfect solution though...
Also I fitted a little fire extinguisher. It was in the car for a while already but I wasn't happy with the way it heated up when lying on the carpet right above the cats/back box. Hopefully it will prove useful if it should be required one day...
In September the next and last track day this year was due. Again in Anneau du Rhin but this time with much better weather. Although it was damp and rather cool in the morning it heated up during the day. It was probably even too hot for the tires and the engine as well because I managed to overheat it the first time with everything working just fine :race:. Also I had my first and harmless spin on track.
Another purpose of this day was to test the new wheel setup for clearance. A nice look at the wheel/spacer/ride hight setup I finally used:
At the end of the day I guess the was more rubber on the track than was left on the cars that have been on it. also I had a hard time removing it all from the front bumper/bonnet/windscreen. In my particular case it looked like this:
After all the season came to an end, with it the warm weather. Time has come to clean the car inside out and upside down and hide it in the showroom.
2013: In Progress
Far too many plans for a far too small budget!
It will be more like:
After all this sub forum has a special purpose... James could you help me out again, please?
I hope you enjoyed reading it.
NOTE: This thread is almost complete now. Some more infos and pictures will follow the next days/weeks!
As for the car it's a Phase 2 and has seen the roads the first time in 2004. When I bought it in March 2010 it was in complete OEM condition. After enjoying the car for a while soon it was clear I had to change something. That's how the story begins. It's probably a never ending one. I have done a lot to the car already but the future plans are becoming more and more still. I'm aware that many of you won't like what I do but to be honest OEM just isn't for me! What I'm after is increased performance, it should be fun to drive it even if it's not the quickest car in the world. Also I try to maintain standard looks as far as possible (at least outside) as I don't have the patience for bodyworks anyway!
I want to use this first post as kind of a summary over my project and therefore update it from time to time. If I or someone else is looking for infos I think it's more useful to have it all in the first post instead of scattered all over the thread. It doesn't mean though there is no room for discussions and updates further down in the thread.
Now after everything important is said have fun reading and looking at the pictures and feel free to leave a comment.
2010: First Season or: How it all started
First of all I was overwhelmed by the car and had to get used to it because back then I was afraid of 3k+ RPM! One day I felt brave and drove spontaneously to Scotland to visit a friend. Well the car has proven very practical as it was my home for a whole week. So I never ever want to hear someone complain about comfort or luggage space because you don't need more space than for a fish and a baby really!
The OEM vee next to my daily driver. It's a Clio 1.8 16v or as you would call it a valver.
After the Scotland trip with loads of those nasty speed bumps I realized the untertray wasn't fixed correctly so I added some screws to regain the OEM underfloor clearance. Also I fixed some other little things (don't remember it all), removed stickers and stuff and deactivated the light washer until everything was nice and tidy as I like it. The first real thing I usually do to a car is lowering it. That's what I did with a KW v3. As its quite a common mod I won't go into details any further. I lowered it as much as possible but I have to say it caused me a lot of trouble and soon I lifted it up again a little bit. Also I added some spacers: 16mm front and 5mm rear. That's how the final setup (till 2012) looked like.
At the same time there was a group by for Quaife diffs in the German forum. I knew I would want one sooner or later so I bought one. Now don't ask me how handling changed because I literally was afraid of the car so I never drove it nearly hard enough to feel the difference before and after. The Quaife ATB diff and the left and the standard part on the right.
When I had the gearbox removed I realized there would be an easy modification to make the box shift shorter. All I did is shorten the external levers. This would actually be an easy solution to correct the gear lever position for the ph1 drivers who hit the radio/dash when shifting.
Some other basics were black tinted windows as there is not much to see apart form the boring grey engine cover anyway and removed rear-view mirror because I never use it. After this enjoyable summer the vee found shelter in the showroom so it won't have to freeze and rust to death in the snow and salt
2011: Second Season
While working in the engine bay I found a lot of heat shields making work almost impossible. Also they become very hot and as the heat back there is immense I was looking for a solution. Obviously Ceramic is the thing you need. It took quite a while to get the pipes out because so many screws were just almost impossible to reach!
After looking into proper Zirconium oxide coating (which is veeery expensive) I decided to go for some cheap exhaust wrap found in the bay. Although I don't really have an idea of what it is made of one thing is sure: It works. First thing I did was binning all the shields and brackets which I honestly don't regret at all. I have to admit this looks far better than before. Only disadvantage: You better wear gloved because it's very itchy.
Putting the pipes back in place was very easy as there was a lot more space to work. After everything was done the first drive wasn't very enjoyable: Cabin filled with smoke and a smell as if the whole engine was ablaze. After a few hours of driving the smoke was gone and usually you can't smell it either. However what stayed is the fact that after running on track you can touch the headers without burning your hands. Doesn't mean unfortunately there is a cold breeze coming out of the engine bay when you open it up
Also the exhaust was too quiet for me because in my opinion a car like this has to be heard when approaching or leaving. When looking around I found the Quicksilver sports being the most reasonable priced option. Unfortunately I didn't know about the cabin noise which really is unbearable especially when driving for hours to some race track. Actually this one doesn't get my recommendation and I simply wouldn't buy it again. The best thing about it are the good looking tailpipes.
Some other additions were the Clio v6 plate because it looks better when the real plate isn't on the car most of the time. I also put my avatar on the rear window. I just love this picture so it goes wherever I am. But that's all from 2011 because from July to November I was doing military service and had not much time for the vee.
2012: Finally some Trackdays
During winter time I was thinking about doing some small things in the interior. One thing I never liked was the radio. The CD changer is a great thing... for storing the discs as it couldn't read my rewritable discs. I'm not a huge fan of CDs and I planed to remove the charger as part of a seat conversion anyway so I needed a new head unit. The USB unit I used in my daily driver was a great thing but I didn't like the flash drive standing out and I didn't want any unnecessary cables behind the radio so I went for a Pioneer unit with a SD card behind the removable key panel. After changing the (partly damaged) speakers earlier on didn't change much, this finally improved sound quality a lot!
The next thing I planed to change was the annoying pale orange dash illumination. I guess it should keep the eyes from getting tired at night, unfortunately it did the opposite to me and I was looking for something not necessarily brighter but clearer. What I went for was a white conversion kit. As the LEDs are SMD it takes some basic soldering skills but having said that it's not very difficult. Just couldn't wait to put it together and had to test it first to see the difference!!
Back together, up and running.
As many of you already pointed out the vee should feel more like a go-kart. After having the suspension sorted, the seats were the next part that needed improvement. They are not bad but they just don't fit into the concept and for me being quite tall they are just too high. I would have hit the roof if I had hair. I ordered a pair of GRP full bucket seats and 4 point harnesses all by Sparco including the needed rails, consoles and all the other stuff. What was thought to be a one evening job turned out to be the first (of many more to come) complicated project where nothing works as planed!
But first things first: I had to made some fixing points for the harnesses. I wanted them all fixed to the chassis itself and using an extension to the c-pillars wasn't an option. From what I have seen so far I knew exactly how I wanted to realise it but had to check it's legality first. There was nothing against it so I stripped the car and there we go. Lap belts fixing points:
Sorry for my bad welding, I hope no metal worker sees this... I even put a carpet on fire. Fortunately it's only the one under the passenger seat. But after all those fixing points are officially approved. Also the harnesses are approved to be the only and sufficient restraint elements therefore I can bin the whole air bag system. Here the shoulder belts fixing points:
The harder part were the seats. After putting all the supplied pieces together I couldn't even fit the seats under the roof and instantly it was clear I had to go for some custom parts. Which is where it becomes really tricky: Not only was the front part of the seats wider than the rear but also the bottom was wide and the seats became narrower upwards, creating many kinds of angles. This made it quite difficult to make something that will fit. I decided that the standard rails in combination with a custom console would allow the lowest setting. As I was running out of time I needed to have something made up quickly. That's where my (temporary) console v1 comes into play, made up of some parts I already had.
The owner of a local car shop invited a workmate and me to join him to the Nürburgring in July but as none of us had any track experience we decided to go to some track day first in June. We found some nice guys organizing very reasonable priced track days on the rather small track of Anneau du Rhin. Like the name suggests it's in France but very close to the German border and not further than half an hour from the Swiss border either. Apart from the good price and the close distance there are virtually no limitations on the track and you can drive a full seven hours if nothing unexpected happens. Unfortunately it was raining all day long...
...heavily!
And then it has come: The long planed and awaited Nürburgring trip in July! A very nice track I have to admit but very dangerous if you try to go fast without knowing the track!
After this track activity I needed a full set of new tires which gave me the opportunity to change to some wider rims which would allow for some more popular tire sizes with semi slick option in mind. There are not many options on after market rims that fit the car and actually I really liked the original design. Rim extension is the solution here. I had to leave the rims for over a moth at this rim shop and didn't have spare wheels so I had to go an a bit unusual way. Looks rather like the work of a criminal. Some people even walked into the office asking what car is out there standing on bricks
.
Meanwhile I could take care of the tires. I was still a bit afraid of the wet especially on semi slicks so I chose some semi semi-slicks which were the Yokohama Advan Neova in the sizes 225/40R18 front and 245/40R18 rear. Remarkable was that the rear tires despite the same dimensions were not the same size at all. The Dunlops I had used till then were about 245mm over all leaving less than 230mm for the actual tread. The Yokohamas on the other hand had already more than 245mm only tread width making the whole tire a lot wider.
Then I could finally pick up the rims. The fronts gained a full inch while the rears gained half on an inch. The resulting demensions are... I've written it down somewhere, dont remember the offset. As they had to be sandblasted anyway prior to the extension I decided to go for a glossy powder coating to finish the job to make it look just like before. The extension welded in:
Fitting the wider wheels was another tricky job. First the rear wheels didn't fit at all because of the suspension strut. Thicker spacers solved this but I had to cut the fenders to make it fit. The good thing is the tires are almost square so the clearance stays the same when the car is lowered/lifted. The front wheels were especially bigger in diameter so I had to lift the car quite a bit. Additionally I removed some millimetres from the wheel house. Amazing how much there has been taken out already compared to the standard clio! A new set of 16mm spacers, this time for the rear:
When working long hours making the suspension fit I also removed the rear wiper. Had disconnected it long before already because of the rear window sticker. Actually I was looking for a Ragnotti wiper cover as they haven no wiper as standard. Unfortunately they are not available any more so I had to do something on my own. Would like to have a more perfect solution though...
Also I fitted a little fire extinguisher. It was in the car for a while already but I wasn't happy with the way it heated up when lying on the carpet right above the cats/back box. Hopefully it will prove useful if it should be required one day...
In September the next and last track day this year was due. Again in Anneau du Rhin but this time with much better weather. Although it was damp and rather cool in the morning it heated up during the day. It was probably even too hot for the tires and the engine as well because I managed to overheat it the first time with everything working just fine :race:. Also I had my first and harmless spin on track.
Another purpose of this day was to test the new wheel setup for clearance. A nice look at the wheel/spacer/ride hight setup I finally used:
At the end of the day I guess the was more rubber on the track than was left on the cars that have been on it. also I had a hard time removing it all from the front bumper/bonnet/windscreen. In my particular case it looked like this:
After all the season came to an end, with it the warm weather. Time has come to clean the car inside out and upside down and hide it in the showroom
.
2013: In Progress
Far too many plans for a far too small budget!
It will be more like:
james":2w5nld5x said:
After all this sub forum has a special purpose... James could you help me out again, please?
Thanks.james":2w5nld5x said:Although I don't personally agree with all this tinkering, I thought it is a good idea to keep all these strange folk together out of harms way.
I hope you enjoyed reading it.
NOTE: This thread is almost complete now. Some more infos and pictures will follow the next days/weeks!
