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Wobba's Clio RS 220 Trophy

Wobba

Member
I finally own another turbo Clio. I started back in 1994 with a R5 Raider, then a 182 turbo a few years ago, and now....a modern experience. I did not like the Mk4's at all when I first saw them, seemed way to big and sat too high...and 197hp still? Seemed a bit anaemic to me considering the power of other manufacturer cars. However, fast forward many years and I now find myself getting older. The plan initially was to have a Mk4 as a daily and keep it basically standard and use my Williams or ph1 172 for the mad days out/track days. So I had a gander and found a car I wanted right there and then, so rather than be sensible and wait I got a remarkably good finance deal on a Trophy. A white one! The only other white car I owned was a GT-R R33, and I literally imported it and sold it fairly soon after for a ridiculous profit.

So, I've not been great at taking pics, which is unusual as usually I do tons of pics, but having moved home recently I've found it a bit tricky to keep the car clean for decent photoshoots, but here it is just before I collected it:

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This was back in October...and I've not cleaned it since :(

The car pulls very well, is in excellent condition. It seems to have been very well kept apart from the tyres, it had three standard PS4's and an odd Uniroyal rain tyre, which has a slight slow puncture and the other tyre just totally died on the rear...this was covered by the dealer, but it was not a tyre of choice...the 205/40/18 is not that common so I had limited choice and needed the car on the road. I'll sort the tyres out in a few weeks. Any recommendations?

My first mod was blacked out badges. After that I popped a KTR air filter in. The old filter was in mint condition, it was good to note it has had a good life. The engine bay was spotless! I did notice a slight clunk on hard left pulling away manoeuvres and the wipers were misbehaving too after a week...a fairly common issue. I got a new motor and set of wiper arms.

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So, that solved the issue and it gave me a chance to start learning where everything is in the engine bay, it's quite different to NA Clio's!

Fast forward a couple of weeks, I decided I wanted the car lower...the standard suspension is fine but it is quite harsh. I had to wait a couple of weeks for Ktec to get them in but I finally got some Cooksport springs. These are pretty easy to fit, but compared to earlier models, you have to take the wipers and skuttle off (again) to get the the top mount nuts off and get the front struts out. More ball-ache, but not hard. The front springs don't need compressing to take off safely on the Trophy. Getting the new springs on is easier if you use spring compressors though. The rears are easy, just the same as all the other RS's. The Williams does not have rear springs, just dampers and torsion bars...yes I know it is not technically an RS model...

More random pics:

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The little 172 found a new home with its new owner a few months ago. For me it's just not possible right now to have two cars at home without pissing off a lot of new neighbours at my new place. I really loved this car. I remember when it launched EVO put it straight up against the Williams and gave it a hard time against the peoples favourite giant-slayer. The Ph1 is an epic car, don't believe what they said in the media back in those days. It is a 'better' car than the Williams, but what it and its children lacked was the ability to get away with being so light, raw, bulging arches and that F7R engine setup, which had amazing grunt from low down and lovely oldschool sound. The F4R had to start getting up the revs to shine. I think the Williams has more road prescence than all but the V6. It must have been quite a sight to watchers to see me race my Williams 1 against my friend in his V6 255 when going home from FCS one year. He was gutted the Willy was faster ( I was cheating with ITB's, 12.5:1 high compression, gripper diff, TTV flywheel etc hehe)...fond memories.

Anyway, back to the Mk4!

I got the springs fitted, replaced a stabiliser bar on the front right, went for a drive and the clunk noise had gone! Yay! And the Cooksports lower the car about 3cm at the front but it runs smoother too! Amazing! Very impressed. For proper track work I'd probably have to go coilovers but these are totally fine for daily and fast road :)

The vids I had seen of the EDC shifts had been something that turned me on to the Mk4. Those blaps on gear changes are addictive. The OEM exhaust is ok, but...let's face it...nahhhhhhhh. So, I decided to get a very good value exhaust from France, GT Performance straight pipe from cat back. Kitty likes it :)

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Kitty seal of approval that is :)

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On it went:

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It was a bit of a pain to align, but I managed it...still needs a minor adjust though.

First start from cold in normal mode:

First start

So...when it warms up and you are not being a dick, it is not too bad...yes, it crackles when coming off the throttle. When you are on it though in sport/race and doing hard upshifts...it is a beast!!! I love it!

So, these arrived today from KAM Racing along with a parcel shelf clip, which I noticed was missing.

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20mm front spacers and 10mm rear shims. I forgot about the longer wheel bolts so I ordered those today and they should appear tomorrow, and I will fit the fronts...maybe the rears too. From experience I know widening the front track will increase the effort to turn so it will feel like understeer, but...looks are everything eh?

Updates and better pics to follow soon.
 
So, bit of a late start on the car today but I eventually got myself motivated enough to pop the hubcentric spacers on!

Before fitting:

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Got the wheels off, the black caps are a bit of a pain without the pulling tool. Bolts had arrived earlier. I got them from Wheel Parts Direct as it was a lot cheaper and had next day delivery :)

HERE are the bolts for 20mm spacers.

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Big old difference. Being black I don't need the caps any longer, which were nice but a ballache to keep taking off.

So, gave the facings a good old rub down before fitting the spacers and on they popped. Nice snug fit!

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Wheel back on, all torqued up :)

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Other side:

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I went for a drive to get the kitties some food and treats and gave the RS a shakedown test at the same time. If anything, it feels more stable and less skittish. There is a tiny bit more effort to turn left or right but all good tbh, I am happy! The tyres do clearly fill the arches a lot more, 225 tyres might be too much...have to have a think on that.

So, got the rear shims to fit next and after that maybe a front splitter, an intercooler upgrade and maybe ab induction kit. I've also got to get the hot and cold boost pipes upgraded to metal variants before going for a remap.

Watch this space :)
 
A few years ago I was very anti EDC. we have a DSG in the home too and the more I used that, as I've aged, the more it made sense.

Flipping love my Clio now even though I snubbed the MK4 on release. Ticks soooooo may box's for me.
 
Keep up the good work. My 220 is the only car I sold that I regret selling.

I think the biggest problem when they first came out was the negative press they received. So many people then jumped on the bandwagon and all had an opinion without actually ever driving one.
 
A few years ago I was very anti EDC. we have a DSG in the home too and the more I used that, as I've aged, the more it made sense.

Flipping love my Clio now even though I snubbed the MK4 on release. Ticks soooooo may box's for me.
Yea same here. I used to drive about in other performance cars like I was doing the RAC Rally all the time. But now what with tighter and tougher speed restrictions, my own awareness of just how easily accidents happen and quite frankly being exhausted after work and quite happy to drive like an old man with a cap and a pipe, the 220 ticks all the boxes. I always aspire to own a rarer model, so the Trophy it was after I saw a bargain, though I would have happily had a 200 and modded/fixed it if the price was right. What with my Williams 1, 5 GTT Raider, 182 Trophy, Series McRae Impreza (see pic) and I guess the now damn rare Ph1 172...the Trophy has a flashy name and that satisfies my on-street kudos requirements :D

Yes AndyP I agree, it got a really hard time from the Press. It goes to show how much of the news we read is just regurgitated info from another hack reporter. Having done a bit of tabloid writing in the oast myself, I can understand why...deadlines! Chris Harris gave a good review on YouTube though, and then he tested the Cup against an Audi R8. The Clio wasn't far off and with a little more tuning, not allowed in Cup race car leagues, it would have overhauled it ;)


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Me, aged...22 I think...having bought this McRae for 22k cash, and my lovely Grandma (RIP).

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Ok, so on to todays shenanigans...

About a week ago I thought I caught a smelly whiff of hot coolant, but I had my window open to enjoy to lovely crack/pop/burble of my ridiculous new exhaust and assumed it was someone else...few days later I caught the fetid stench once again and on Sunday on the way home from work I felt the car was not totally happy with gearshifts.

So, as I have some free time this week I popped the hood to check the fluids and low and behold...the expansion bottle was empty! Quickly checking for mayonnaise under the oil filler cap I was relieved to see nothing dubious and then remembered a weak point on these cars: the lower coolant hose clamp. So, out came the jack and off came the undertray:

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Yep...totally minging. I applied some mole grips and it broke in two as is expected for the French cheese it's made of.

I have got a load of these type of clamps in my garage spare, as they are the same for the Williams, but alas none to be found where I live and after trying various other jubilee clips I resigned myself to WALKING to the nearest hardware store. After trying to help a man new to the UK who didn't speak a word of English (lots of hand gestures and Google Translate were involved) I figured he was trying to find a relative that lived nearby. Not sure if I helped him or not, but I am pretty sure he understood that if he ever buys a Mk4 Clio, to check the lower coolant hose clamp first.

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I decided to take a break, kitten was totally nonplussed at my antics and being covered in grime and various automotive fluids...he just wanted to knock anything not nailed down off my Welsh Dresser...

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To get the undertray off isn't hard. There's three torx and 5x10mm bolts, but it is set up so you need to replace the front bolts first after slotting it back in...just for info if anyone needs to know.
I found a decent 25mm-50mm jubilee clip, which will do for now as I have to service it anyway and that means new coolant. Half the old clip is still hanging on in there but there seems to be enough collar for the rubber pipe section to cling onto with the jubilee. I topped up the coolant with water for now, half a litre it was, not loads. I'll run the car up to temp with the cap off just in case of air locks at a convenient location away from home as I don't want to piss off the neighbours with my slightly ASBO exhaust.

Shit pic incomming:

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Thought the camera was focussed properly, but alas. Basically, the shiny thing in the top right is a firmly secured jubilee. Remember kids! Don't overtighten these as it is possible to bend or break the inner plastic sleeve!

Thank you, good night and Gob Bless.
 
Mine had that clip done just before I bought it :) they're well known for it now!

Great great car that ticks so many boxes its unreal. Mines on coilovers and the handling is sublime.
 
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