preRS Clio Renault Clio 16v MK1 - The Underdog

[Adey]

How about some current pictures of the car?

Sometimes you just end up in that place, I try to set myself milestones or goals to get the cars built. Get to that one then set the next one and aim for it. Breaks down the project into smaller manageable chunks

 

[linkus]

Well a lot have happened since last, the blue car has been sold, the black one I the background has been brought forward, you know what, now that I think of it... I actually have done stuff, maybe not that much stuff that I actually want, but I have done stuff, I need to write it all down to actually appreciate it all. I'll try to find some pictures of what has been done to the sucker.

Yeah smaller chunks sound like a good idea.

 

[andybond]

I know it has been a long time since I have updated you guys on the project, like ages... im kinda stuck in a motivational "pit/slop" or what you call it, can you guys help me to find the motivation to get my ass to the garage again and actually wrench on the car, post some inspiration or ask me something about my build, i need to find the spark somehow, what do you guys do when you find yourself in this pit?

Thanks

Cover it up and wait for the motivation to return.

I also watch youtubes on the completed car in question and that motivates me! Do you have any videos of yours?

 

[DaveL485]

Just remember every job you do is one job less. The list has to run out at some point.

I try and plan my work to match available funds, so I don't get stuck waiting for money to arrive or end up spending it on something else as I dont need it for the car at the moment.

 

[linkus]

Okey so long time ish no write, have been in a bit of a dip of motivation for my clio build and things have progressed quite slow the past year or two...three?

So here is the rundown on what has happend since I left you guys.

The blue clio that you guys saw me weld on has been sold, I finised up the paint, did a service on the engine cambelt pulleys waterpump and the works

The colour is not 100% but it got alot better after some clearcoat and a polish


I actually took the engine out to change the belt and stuff, its so...much...easier! Holy damn its tight as a rhinos a** with it in situe.




I also swapped out a seal in the steering rack that was leaking while the engine was out.



Engine back in the car and he saw the sunshine for the first time in years!



Purrs almost as a kitten (a little bit tappy but that usually goes away efter the engine oli gets warm)


Then ofcourse the heater fan resistor went bonkers and lo and behold that had been fixed before haha!


Then it was time for MOT or Besiktning(Inspection) as we call it in Sweden, with a wheel alignement afterwards



Some time after that I had the brilliant idea of flushing the coolant system so what better way to warm it up than just take it for a short drive!
OCF I got pulled over that same day however after explaining what I was doing and why the police officer thought that my licenseplat was about to fall of (that was why they pulled me over) they let me go back to the garage and happy days.


Some days later was tha last time I saw him, I parted ways with him he now lives up further north in Sweden.


Not to worry though I still have some ACE's up my sleeve, in the meantime I have not only been cutting down a REALLY rusty shell for parts and engine and all the good stuff, I basically took everything except the shell. You should have seen the underside... compleatly gone...




And I also bought a Red PH1





This car have some backstory that almost needs it own thread but it was my best friends car who passed away and couldent let the car go so I keep this as a reminder of him(that was why the blue one had to go).




Not 100% without failure however haha, some weeks after I got it the little rascal ate one of the screws for the butterfly valve luckily still good compression with warm engine after the disaster! PHEW



Okey so where does this all lead to, well the red car is going to stay as is, BUT I have another black one that you might have seen I previous images in tha background! This bastad


Well so what is going to happen to this one, well first this is going to be a FUN car, like the one you dont really have to care that much about and just do a little bit what you want to it, end goal trackday's and the blue ITB engine with the speeduino as ECU.

So this is not really in order of operation how I did stuff but bare with me here it goes!
Subframe, crapped out, take that out.



Subframe and other parts from the scrapped black shell straight in the washer at work (holy hell that gigantic dishwasher is nice)



Sandblast and painted the small parts



Pressed in new bearings in the hubs, repaired and seem welded the subframe then sent it away for paint.






In the meantime I worked on reinforcing my wishbones and added some powerflexbushings I had laying around, yeah I know I should have the black ones but hey I had these since before so.







I recieved a new aluminium bushing for the subframe made some new gasket for the heaterbox and painted the engine bay+booster.




Subframe hubs and swaybar back from paint! I even got some extra flake in the paint free of charge





Okey so a common upgrade a while back was as you know the 406 brake calipers that I got, they had to be refurbished! They have not been painted nor assebled as of yet.






Since its a bit much flex in the steering column and im gonna swap for a maunal steering rack for now I needed some plates yes I know I still need to practice on my welds!



And since I had to fix a diffrent steeringknuckle I didnt have the correct boot so what do you do... you raid you buddy's partsbin! This is from a MK1 Golf
The knuckle was a PAIN to get of, but with a bit of heat and some whacking it went out smooth! Thanks Justin for the knuckle

 

[linkus]

Later on I got some HEEEFTY engine mounts because the one that was in the car was crap and these was not much more than was it vibratec(?) cant remember, and this also converts the engine from hanging to standing as they had in the GR.A cars, if these are not going to vibrate the fillings out of your teeth I dont know what!


Since they where designed for having the PAS-pump bracket in place I hade to make some spacers and I managed to find a generator tentioner+bracket from a Volvo was it 440 or 460 to make it fit





In with the engine! on the new mounts! I had to drill one hole for the front left mount in the subframe however, I also added a LARGE thick washer under it so it would impact that much of the regidity.






I also got some more toys a while back, a bucket seat and some LEDA Coilovers that I sent back to LEDA for a rebuild and some new solid top mounts!



Refurbed and back in Sweden! I love how they provided me with before and after comparison dyno charts of the the dampners

Before

After


And Installed!



The last thing I have done is that I started mounting the bucket seat, so I had to come up with some kind of sollution, in hindsight it would just have been better to buy a new seat with side mounts instead of having this older style, but hey my welds are getting better!

 

[andybond]

I am glad you are keeping your friends memory going in this car. That must be a good feeling.

I enjoy reading as well how translations work well - rattling your teeth out for example. Its good

Random fact, I had a Swedish girlfriend may years back and all I recall is hejsan..

 

[linkus]

I am glad you are keeping your friends memory going in this car. That must be a good feeling.

I enjoy reading as well how translations work well - rattling your teeth out for example. Its good

Random fact, I had a Swedish girlfriend may years back and all I recall is hejsan..

Yeah its a nice feeling, however i kinda miss the blue one with small 13" wheels, i thought they looked really cool!

Haha yeah good to hear

That is actually a fun fact, and wow we have a lot of saying that don't make ANY sense when you translate them directly to english...

 

[DaveL485]

Wow you've been though a few changes there. The red one looks in really good condition too, sorry to hear about your friend though.

 

[Adey]

sorry about your mate

work looks great, them engine mounts look awesome

 

[linkus]

Wow you've been though a few changes there. The red one looks in really good condition too, sorry to hear about your friend though.

Yupp that one is in really good nick, however some rust on the left rear arch and under the wiper on the bootlid. Thanks.

sorry about your mate

work looks great, them engine mounts look awesome

Thanks
I hope they will suffice haha

 

[Darren Lomax]

Hi Linkus great thread btw, reading through it I assumed you were a good mechanic not an amatuer having a go.

 

[linkus]

Hi Linkus great thread btw, reading through it I assumed you were a good mechanic not an amatuer having a go.

Hey Darren, thanks alot that awesome to hear! I'm just winging it and asking a lot of questions

 

[linkus]

Some new stuff has happend!

I finally tried to mount the refurbed shocks in the rear, however the previous owner had rammed a coarse threaded bolt through the right rear lower attachment so i tried to fix the threads with a M12 1,25 tap hopefully that will hold, worst case i have to install a helicoil in its place.


I also had to get some new bolts for it since well... coarse thread an such, was not easy to find a new one so had to buy a longer one cut it and made new threads to it, the shorter one i found with no big drama.


However the left rear was not without its hurdles, the dustboot had a hole in it, so i ordered two new boots and a helicoil kit (just in case), do you think the boots actually fit? Nah haha, so when i removed the old boot I found out that they had used a universal cutable steering rack boot, one quick trip to the local partsstore and badabing badaboom!




However the new boot seals so gosch darn well that it almost ballons and contract it self to the shock when compressed/retracts, I am a bit worried of condensations buildup inside the boot that would not be able to "breathe out" shall i just leave it or make a small hole in the boot?

 

[andybond]

Styrvaxeldamask

<random>Does Swedish work the same way as German with the reduction of spaces? </random>

 

[linkus]

<random>Does Swedish work the same way as German with the reduction of spaces? </random>

Yeah we don't really have that spacing between words that way as you do in english so steering rack boot directly translated to swedish is styr växel damask but we smash that together in one word.
"Fun" fact Swedish kids are really bad now days that with the huge influence of english they start to misspell words like this, so they add the spacing

 

[andybond]

Love it!

And please keep the updates coming.

 

[DaveL485]

shall i just leave it

Leave it, you'll get more moisture build up if you let it vent to asmosphere (and by proxy let it draw back in).

 

[linkus]

Finished builder the undercarrige for the second seat so now both is in place! Note the awesome hackjob for seat slider releast lever! Next up is trying to get the seatbelts working an attached.

 

[linkus]

So i took a quick trip to the garage today again, and mounted the seat belts the rear went in without a hitch



However the front since i totally forgot that the buckles are mounted to the seat it self i have no space to mount it on my seat frame, i was thinking getting a square washer with a welded nut to it like them that they have in rally/racing cars and mounting it to the tunnel, like under or over these holes here?


However the original buckles are bolted from the sides and not thru the bottom, do you guys know some kind of L-bracket that might work and is strong enough?