2001 PH1 Clio 172

Full thread here:

Cliosport.net build thread

Those headlight covers AAARRGGGHHH (or something like that)
But all came good and he/she looks spot on.

Don't know what you guys mean, the headlight covers were the main selling point for me?

Officially retro now too guys...





Sooo looks asif I may have some welding to do.

Been meaning to look for a while now as its starting to become a thing with these, rotten sills.
Was going to take the sill trims off, but they're riveted on and I don't have a rivet gun to be able to put them back on.

A well sorted ph1 clio sport is a rare thing these days. Or at least where i am anyway

Looks really good in green with the bronze wheels and i bet its great fun to drive 👍

Once a car has been welded, it is definitely retro 😂

Yeah, E46 M3 maybe pushing it more so haha!
I love them though, If I could afford one Id be in one, they're the perfect daily and track car in one. Maybe one day after the clio, if I don't get a 996.

Wheels are gone, I still have the spare sat in the garage with the original tyre still on mind. I like to collect spare wheels, got the spare allycat sat in my garage from the polo too lol.
Thanks, I'm all about the little touches.

Done a few small bits, too lazy to update it here though.

So last year I did an aircon delete on this, using the alternator and associated bracketry from a PH2 cup model.
This moves the position of the power steering pump to where the Air-con pump is normally. Issue this causes, the hard PAS lines end up being wrong. You have to bend them to make them fit still, and even then they aren't great.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and the fact they weren't right annoyed me. Finally got round to buying a set of cup PAS lines to fix this.
I knew it would be a pain of a job to do for such little gain, but at it I went.

Don't recommend doing it to anyone, unless you're taking the engine out or dropping the subframe already. Doing it with everything in the way was an absolute nightmare, it took me the best part of 12 hours to do it all in the end.

I took no pictures at all, apart from one of the spanner I had to modify to get onto the one line going into the rack, I had absolutely no access and it was in-between 2 other lines I could access to remove either. Spent about 3 hours doing this one fitting



Removed the final piece too which id been putting off as it was another fiddly job. The rad from inside the heater unit.

Getting a massive box out of a opening smaller than it was great, but I got there in the end



Removed the offending item, and sealed the gap



Yet another job I'd been meaning to do since I moved the battery to the boot.
The ecu no longer had a mounting, was just bolted to the gearbox mount.

Quickly knocked up a cardboard template of something to hold the ecu, keep it dry and act as a heat shield for the air filter.




Dinner break at work day after, cut out and bent up



Next day, test fitted, modified, welded together


That weekend, primed and painted





Needs some paint finishing and itll be ready to fit, will get round to it once I've done some of the bigger jobs on the cards.

Yesterday I got all the rear end suspension mods done.



Everyone says you either need to cut, drill or even burn the old rubber bushes out of the rear beam.. I thin my was was definitely easier?



Bit of tube with a flat tacked on and a G clamp, took seconds to remove them.

Next, removing the metal sleeve. This has to be butchered unfortunately as I wasnt willing to remove the beam from the car to press them out.
Angle grinder, air saw, air chisel and obv a hammer were used.



New ones in part way, broke the G clamp getting them this far



Made a tool to get them the rest of the way in.
Smaller offcut of tube, 3mm plate welded onto it, another 3mm plate for the other end and m10 allthread. Worked a treat.



All fitted, come midnight last night lol. Didn't get in until 2am.







Powerflex purple rear beam bushes and upper shock mount bushes
Pure Motorsport 19mm ARB

May do some little bits later after German GP. Got a new aux belt to go on and a new exhaust hanger I need to sort.

Honestly, I changed it for the noise haha. These sound great with a filter setup like this, and it certainly hasn't lost any power.
It had a dyno session at Aldon and came up at 171.1, this was years ago.
Then it was the mule when we were setting up a brand new dyno at my old work.
Used it to make sure all was ok and to teach all the guys how to use the dyno, it ran all day, probably like 20+ runs, consistently at around 174bhp (different exhaust to the previous run)
Couldn't believe the sound difference with this though, almost sounds like it has ITB's.

Only AUX belt so not difficult, especially with the cup setup, manual tension rather than a sprung tensioner. Did this last night and it sorted the squeal Id been getting.

Some bad new though, the cup PAS line I fitted is bloody leaking, noticed it when doing aux belt. Almost out of fluid, its all over the underside of the car.



Right from the spot under the switch, isn't the thread I don't think, the line is actually cracked.
Worst Job I've ever had to do, and now I have to do it all over again, kill me now.
Going to remove and try welding it up at work.
Did some PAS line repairs the other day for the garage over the road, worked, so think this is defo fixable. If not then its almost £300 for a new one from Renault, not gambling on used again.

Started on my exhaust mount too, they're renown on these for being awful, I had a supposedly good one on before that decided to corrode away and literally fall off the car, but the rubbers on the OE ones don't last five minutes before sagging either.
Trying out these new ones from a guy who does a few bits for clios, runs KAM racing, supplies loads of stuff at ood prices to be fair, most my bits I get via him.



Brand new OE Renault mount, cut rubber out ready for new insert.
Looks like its been 3d printed which is pretty cool I thought.
Supposedly not a noisy in the cab as a solid one but still has the strength/doesn't sag.
Meant to be a good option if you don't have solid mounts and still want a better hanger. I mean, I have solid mounts but thought I'd try it anyway.



Absolutely plastered it in hammerite to hopefully stop it rotting away.

Old one that fell apart...



Taking the car to the unit tonight to start strip down for PAS line removal, hoping to have it sorted by this weekend.
Borrowing my mums Up!for the time being lol

I love a good read

Mad isn't it, those mounts are like £75 too. Wants to outlast the car for that price on an exhaust mount lol.

They're Sparco Terra's, Made by OZ tho so I claim they're OZ's
Not a clue what they weigh but they look nice so..