Back in the day I killed a brand new r888 there. might have to rotate them through the dayRIP your front left tyre
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With the nice weather we have been having I decided actually sort the slight blow on the exhaust from the cheepo gaskets id been using. I replaced it with a MLS style one that I was pointed too previously, though I had to extend the bolt holes too fit it.
Whilst there I found that the hanging bracket has fractured, annoying as its hasn't covered many miles and is 6 months old. I have fired an email off to Ktec but tbh I know how it'll go and ill end up removing it to weld it back up.
Whilst there I found that the hanging bracket has fractured, annoying as its hasn't covered many miles and is 6 months old. I have fired an email off to Ktec but tbh I know how it'll go and ill end up removing it to weld it back up.
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
Pity about the Exhaust. Right on the edge of the HAZ heat affected zone. A classic weld issue.
So I've been meaning to tackle this little job for a while now. When you "gain" access to fit a fuel pump on these Mk4's you are left with a bit of a hole. The Renaultsport way is to hack some metal out and cover it with a panel, a panel I didn't have. Mine was covered up with cardboard and gaffa tape, out of sight and mind..... well I had a few hours spare today so decided to tackle it and make a removable panel to cover the hole.
Started off with some high tech CAD to get the shape I needed and transferred this to some 1.5mm aluminium.
I then bent the sheet to match the shape of the cars floor. Marked through and added some rivnuts. Popped a hole through to allow the wiring to reach the pump. Gave the edges of the chassis a little dress up and hit with some primer to add protection. Found some draft excluder and added that to the panel and bish bash bosh i have a removable fuel pump cover that is a load better than what was originally there..
I think there is a panel available from Renultsport still but I had the material and bits around to make this with no outlay. Thanks for reading
Started off with some high tech CAD to get the shape I needed and transferred this to some 1.5mm aluminium.
I then bent the sheet to match the shape of the cars floor. Marked through and added some rivnuts. Popped a hole through to allow the wiring to reach the pump. Gave the edges of the chassis a little dress up and hit with some primer to add protection. Found some draft excluder and added that to the panel and bish bash bosh i have a removable fuel pump cover that is a load better than what was originally there..
I think there is a panel available from Renultsport still but I had the material and bits around to make this with no outlay. Thanks for reading
Had a few little jobs to complete, I did the aux belt (didn't video it 
) the belt actually looked pretty fresh and the tensioner had the same feel as the new one so I went with the easy option of not replacing that part of it. Ill save it for the future.
Whilst there I actually removed the air deflectors for the wheels. Now this actually pops up as a suggestion on the RS monitor for keeping the brakes cooler at the sacrifice of some MPG. I've done this to help aid the brakes on the upcoming track days.
After replacing the brakes a few weeks back, I have noticed the handbrake was a little higher, so I have done a quick video on adjusting that. Luckily Renault have the adjuster inside the car so it was nice and easy to sort out.
) the belt actually looked pretty fresh and the tensioner had the same feel as the new one so I went with the easy option of not replacing that part of it. Ill save it for the future.Whilst there I actually removed the air deflectors for the wheels. Now this actually pops up as a suggestion on the RS monitor for keeping the brakes cooler at the sacrifice of some MPG. I've done this to help aid the brakes on the upcoming track days.
After replacing the brakes a few weeks back, I have noticed the handbrake was a little higher, so I have done a quick video on adjusting that. Luckily Renault have the adjuster inside the car so it was nice and easy to sort out.
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
Removing these promotes airflow to the brakes, but untidies the air going under/along the car? Interesting, below 60 the brakes will benefit and really, any proper aero benefit won't appear untill you are above 90. I think I would have taken them off too.
The rest of the car is super smooth underneath feeding back to the rear diffuser which runs from quite far under the car. These bits deflected the air down to the floor in front of the front wheel. The arch liners also have what looks to be a naca style duct on the rear of them, possibly to help evacuate air removing pressure under the front arches? Quite interesting what been done on these RS's to be honest ill try and get some pics sometime.
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
The spinning wheel and hub acts like a water pump impeller creating high pressure under the arch. Putting a vent in the rear edge of the front wing, reduces the pressure. Car aero is weird compared to aero, aero as you are stuck in the ground effect area. The air cannot be pushed through the ground. I find it more helpful to understand thinking about a stone in a river, if you like mental pictures. Air is like thin water...
I've got a track day coming up in 2 weeks, ideally I want to get all the geo bang on before hand but with shimming needed at the rear I think I may have left it a little too late. Ill see how it is at Mallory and look to get it done before Anglesey in July. I may go a little PMT with the front adjustability by enlarging the mounting holes. Id like fully adjustable top mounts but I don't want to increase the harshness by swapping out to solid, pillow ball top mounts.
One of the main complaints of the Clio seem to be the water temps when driven hard on track, especially with a FMIC fitted. I think that this is an issue caused by a few things, the fmic is now blocking flow to the radiator, and equally the removal of the side mount intercooler allows for air to "spill" around the rad. I've started work on panelling off the rad and intercooler so that air is directed through both with as little spill as possible. I cant see it being a bad thing. A few more hours should see it wrapped up.
One of the main complaints of the Clio seem to be the water temps when driven hard on track, especially with a FMIC fitted. I think that this is an issue caused by a few things, the fmic is now blocking flow to the radiator, and equally the removal of the side mount intercooler allows for air to "spill" around the rad. I've started work on panelling off the rad and intercooler so that air is directed through both with as little spill as possible. I cant see it being a bad thing. A few more hours should see it wrapped up.
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Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
How does the air exit the engine bay?? Usual way on old stuff is down and along the floor. Packing it in will not increase flow if the exit is not there.
exit is at the rear of the undertray, ive only bridged from under the intercooler to the bottom of the rad and the one side so far. Exit of the rad is still as the factory intended. Im more replacing the cowling that was removed when the intercooler was fitted
I've also gotten hold of an exhaust manifold. Tempted to adapt it or to make an adapter plate to essentially mount a meg turbo to it. They have bigger rear housings that will be lagier over a stock turbo but should net more gains than the current hybrids that are available. I think I could get near enough the same power I have, maybe a touch more with a stock meg 250 turbo fitted......
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
If there is any way of opening the exit a little that will help. Putting a small flexible strip along the lower front edge ( a sort of sacrificial splitter) will also help, by reducing the amount of air going under at the front, which helps the differential pressure at the front and rear of the engine compartment , giving more pull at the lower rear where the undertray ends.
Using a water wetter may also increase the actual heat transfer from cylinders to water jacket and then from water jacket to rad. it gives the same effect as fitting a larger area Rad.
Using a water wetter may also increase the actual heat transfer from cylinders to water jacket and then from water jacket to rad. it gives the same effect as fitting a larger area Rad.
Right, wrapped up the ducting. Made a side panel from aluminium and bent it to suit the shape of the bumper in an attempt to "grab" as much air as possible. The opposite side was a little more convoluted with the amount of pipes still there, so after a little head scratching I remembered what I did on the Twingo, and blocked the area off right at the front on the bumper. I achieved this by adding some plastic panels to block air from going to the left of the intercooler. The rad is mounted on the right of the bay (when looking from the front) on these. There was a small gap on the top of the rad above the stock ducting, so for good measure I added another panel, hopefully all of these little additions should improve the efficiency of the setup and radiator. I'm pretty sure its the same rad on all the jukes and Clio's from 1.2's to the diesels and the RS. I have been chatting to a chap in aus who has a time attack Clio mk4, he ended up swapping out for an Impreza ali rad and ditching the AC, something I'm not wanting to do yet...
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
They get 40 degree heat in Oz too. Something we don't have to deal with. Makes life easier.
The Clio absolutely smashed it on track today, for the most part it didn't miss a beat (well a few minors but) Its been a long while since I've done a proper track day, and I was a little dubious as to how I would like it in a full road car and without a manual box, but tbh the gearbox made it for me. Supersmooth delivery of power and the ability to shift through corners without unsettling the car or taking time to actually actuate a shift made it quicker I'm sure. It defo could do with longer paddles in some corners though.
Where to start...The temperature outside was passing 23 degrees at points of the day, id had concerns about intake and running temps previously so added the ducting and panelling. That with the number plate out of the way kept intake temps around 35 to 37 degrees, which is awesome in fairness. The highest I saw the water was 107c, again nowt to worry about. Considering I was flat out a lot today deep into 5th gear at times it all worked very well. I had no dips in power or pull back from temps at all which I was expecting. I also had no issues with the clutch, the car was delivering all the boost it could all of the time The tyres held up great and brakes were awesome too, if i was going to get serious about track time or just a little more into I may look at brembo 4 pots, but the brembo max pads and stock disks worked very well.
I put in plenty of laps through the day, getting quicker and quicker as i built up confidence, pushing plenty of "track" machinery out of the way at times. Managed to rinse a tank and half of fuel before calling it quits. The reason I actually did stop was due to fuel issues. Now this isn't a major and it'd probably only ever happen at Mallory but Gerrards, when starting to dip under half a tank and definitely at a quarter of a tank causes fuel starvation. The quicker you go and the more speed you carry the worse it gets. The car will protect itself when it senses the fuel pressure drop, it'll pull back briefly and then auto shift up a gear or 2 (very annoying when it happens) I don't think its really something I need to address as back in the day i had the same in the itb and sc 172s, and it only ever did it a the same track on the same corner....
The only other thing that happened was a silicone blanking plug burst on the tb adapter. Luckily, the only part I thought may let go was that, so I had a spare bit of pipe with a blanking plug in ready to go.
Loads of the mk1 valver guys were in attendance, in their absolutely rapid cars, proper little Renault take over on track today. MK1's 2's 3s and my 4 in attendance with a meg 3 rs out there too
All in all a great day and I'm very much looking forward to CSF. The only thing I want to do before then is get the back end aligned and equal along with some PMT mods to the shock towers so I can dial in a little camber. Should hopefully help me carry a little more speed through the corners without it starting to squirm early.
Where to start...The temperature outside was passing 23 degrees at points of the day, id had concerns about intake and running temps previously so added the ducting and panelling. That with the number plate out of the way kept intake temps around 35 to 37 degrees, which is awesome in fairness. The highest I saw the water was 107c, again nowt to worry about. Considering I was flat out a lot today deep into 5th gear at times it all worked very well. I had no dips in power or pull back from temps at all which I was expecting. I also had no issues with the clutch, the car was delivering all the boost it could all of the time
The tyres held up great and brakes were awesome too, if i was going to get serious about track time or just a little more into I may look at brembo 4 pots, but the brembo max pads and stock disks worked very well.I put in plenty of laps through the day, getting quicker and quicker as i built up confidence, pushing plenty of "track" machinery out of the way at times. Managed to rinse a tank and half of fuel before calling it quits. The reason I actually did stop was due to fuel issues. Now this isn't a major and it'd probably only ever happen at Mallory but Gerrards, when starting to dip under half a tank and definitely at a quarter of a tank causes fuel starvation. The quicker you go and the more speed you carry the worse it gets. The car will protect itself when it senses the fuel pressure drop, it'll pull back briefly and then auto shift up a gear or 2 (very annoying when it happens) I don't think its really something I need to address as back in the day i had the same in the itb and sc 172s, and it only ever did it a the same track on the same corner....
The only other thing that happened was a silicone blanking plug burst on the tb adapter. Luckily, the only part I thought may let go was that, so I had a spare bit of pipe with a blanking plug in ready to go.
Loads of the mk1 valver guys were in attendance, in their absolutely rapid cars, proper little Renault take over on track today. MK1's 2's 3s and my 4 in attendance with a meg 3 rs out there too
All in all a great day and I'm very much looking forward to CSF. The only thing I want to do before then is get the back end aligned and equal along with some PMT mods to the shock towers so I can dial in a little camber. Should hopefully help me carry a little more speed through the corners without it starting to squirm early.
