EdHall697 - 2007 Renaultsport Clio 197

Ed Hall

Paid Member
So here it is its a 2007 Renaultsport Clio 197. I bought in July 2016 from a garage in Birmingham for £3,600 which at the time and even now isn't too bad, yes you can get them cheaper, but in no way are these a cheap toy so you have to expect a few niggles and things to put right or to your liking. It had 73k on the clock and it's now just gone over 80k. At the time it was straight piped.

First got it:

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Now:

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July 2016:

So the first thing I wanted to change was the exhaust. Straight piped it was just insane! But I felt it was too loud and so I replaced it with a Milltek Sport Resonated System. It was loud in multi-storey car park but on the road sounded standard, but obviously the bigger exhaust tips look better.

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The steering wheel was re trimmed by RoyalSteeringWheels as the old wheel was peeling really bad. Its perforated leather on sides, Black Alcantara 9040 top/bottom + Yellow center stripe at 12 o'clock, Yellow stitching.

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I managed to get complete new set of interior dash console, vents, and the radio for I think £70 off ebay. The originals were silver and faded and tired looking, so the anthracite grey is a bit of change, but having searched for weeks these rarely come up in such condition.

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October 2016:

I had it serviced and the auxiliary belt changed at a local garage. Some would argue to use a specialist, but they did a good job and rightfully so with their £150ph labour charge. Before it went in for its service I managed to find on ebay an original air box and resonator pipe work. It had a K&N Vortex jobby but it had well and truly seen better days! Whilst it was in for the service they also duly noted the battery clamp was missing, handbrake cables were poor condition, the brake pins needed replacing, and the steering ends needed replacing. But I got the parts in relatively cheaply and a local tyre place which does servicing etc did the work for two hours labour at £45ph.

Fitted an ITG panel filter, which is lot better than the filter the garage put in:

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December 2016:

I bought the Renaultsport Cup Spoiler! I had that fitted and painted (£240 and £195 to paint and fit), literally transforms the rear end, and it actually does actually help the rear end in the twisty's!

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February 2017:

MOT Time. Well it would seem that I bought the car with a dodgy MOT. Now in between the above I managed to find the old owner and found out quite a bit about his ownership. He had the Toyosport Manifold 36272630861_ec0463d611_n.jpg
fitted and a KTR Cat, but he got fed up when it failed two MOT's because of emissions and having just done the ball joints he threw in the towel. So when I took it in for MOT I got the dreaded call to say it had failed on emissions. After a bit of investigative work, it was narrowed down to the KTR Cat.

The garage the previous owner had taken it to had rammed the lambda sensor into the cat and sheered all the metal inside, and completely wrecked it. So a new Milltek Cat was fitted with a new sensor and hey presto it passed its emissions before it had even got hot.

May 2017:

PH Sunday Service - Santa Pod - 15.574 - Not too bad...

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I fancied a bit of noise and brought the Milltek straight pipe, and had the resonated pipe taken out for now. I am still undecided on this, as the resonated system isn't too bad. The difference being its a little louder in the mid range, a few pops and crackles and it really rasps when you want it to, but it is manageable, it can cruise quite quietly when needed.

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Looking great Ed. How much did you get the auxilliary belt done for in total and also how much did you get charged for the handles to be painted?
 
so many good mods..well done..liking this car a lot..what are your future plans?
 
Looking great Ed. How much did you get the auxilliary belt done for in total and also how much did you get charged for the handles to be painted?

The auxillary belt was done with a service and was £486, but I always felt that the local garage I used was overpriced and looking to get more money out of me. But looking at it now, that wasn't too bad a price. But EngineDynamics do some good servicing packages and a timing belt and auxillary belt service is £383 (inc VAT) and they're really nice guys to deal with, plus you know they know their stuff. The door handles were done for £220, but I attempted to do the job myself and made a right mess of it, so they had to supply a new handle and prepare and paint both.
 
so many good mods..well done..liking this car a lot..what are your future plans?

Future plans.
1. Steering Rack was an advisory on last MOT. So I will be getting that done early next year.
2. Service - I thinking of using Engine Dynamics and letting them give it some TLC.
3. Brakes - I am thinking Brembo HC discs with the Ferodo DS2500 pads.

But my plans are hindered as I need to save a deposit for a house. But the above are dooable and I am doing my bit to keep it on the road and original (ish). Would love to get the alloys refurbed and all the scratches seen to, especially along the side sills, looks like some girl with high heels has been getting in and out of it!!
 
The auxillary belt was done with a service and was £486, but I always felt that the local garage I used was overpriced and looking to get more money out of me. But looking at it now, that wasn't too bad a price. But EngineDynamics do some good servicing packages and a timing belt and auxillary belt service is £383 (inc VAT) and they're really nice guys to deal with, plus you know they know their stuff. The door handles were done for £220, but I attempted to do the job myself and made a right mess of it, so they had to supply a new handle and prepare and paint both.

Cheers. Yeah I've taken mine down to Andy for an exhaust and map and he was spot on, possibly a bit far for belts though. Good ballpark to work with though so thanks. Can't wait to see some more of this.

Brembo HC discs are spot on, see if you can find the black ones, saves painting the hubs to prevent rust buildup. I'm using Mintex M1144 pads and for road use, they're more than enough. We'll see about track in a few weeks lol.
 
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Great intro Ed. Lovely project you got going there.
Andy at ED really knows his stuff. And his pricing is on point
 
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Future plans.
1. Steering Rack was an advisory on last MOT. So I will be getting that done early next year.
2. Service - I thinking of using Engine Dynamics and letting them give it some TLC.
3. Brakes - I am thinking Brembo HC discs with the Ferodo DS2500 pads.

But my plans are hindered as I need to save a deposit for a house. But the above are dooable and I am doing my bit to keep it on the road and original (ish). Would love to get the alloys refurbed and all the scratches seen to, especially along the side sills, looks like some girl with high heels has been getting in and out of it!!

Nothing quite like sorting a car so its spot on. Its nice to have modifications put on but its just as nice driving a well sorted car that has no issues. I find I am catching up with problems and sorting common issues such as balljoints and cambelt.

I have the same issue, proposed to the girlfriend in April, within a month we had put a deposit on a location! Most (not all) of my money is going into the wedding, next thing will be a house after that!
 
Missed this thread last month. Car is looking good & I like your plans. Good to see a car come into the hands of a caring owner.
 
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George@RTR has been a legend and sorted me some Brembo High Carbon Discs and Ferodo DS2500 pads. I also ordered some standard Brembo pads for the rears.

Can't wait to get these on, just need to order some braided lines and decent fluid. But my dilemma is whether to fit these now or wait until the steering rack is changed before the MOT in Feb.
 

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Update:

Oct 18' - I had the Renaultsport Splitter fitted and the front bumper had a new spotlight fitted as the glass had shattered, it looked like a stone had flicked up at it. There had been scuff on the bumper by the previous owner, so I got a local mobile bodyshop repairer to spray the bumper and fit the splitter and fit the spotlight. At first I was a bit skeptical but the guy took his time and did a top job (£350 - Not bad at all) .

Nov/Dec 18' - I had to get the window wiper motor and the fuel cap solenoid replaced. I had been having issues with the window wiper motor for a while. Moving the stalk it just wiped at one speed, and then it stopped working in the worst rain I have ever experienced. The fuel cap wouldn't open and this was all around the same time. So I took it to a Renault specialist, the chaps use to work for a renault dealership that had shut down and they had setup on their own.

Feb 19' - Going to summarise quickly as for some reason my images and text keep disappearing. I really wanted to update this thread with some detail, but hey ho. It had its MOT failed on a broken spring. I replaced the springs with H&R Lowering Springs and KTR 19mm Spacers. I am not to happy with the spacers as these have extended bolts and really for safety they should be bolt to hub, so will be replacing these soon. I took the car to the garage and the shock absorbers and drop links needed replacing and so I ordered some cup shock absorbers and some new drop links and had these fitted. The cup shock absorbers are a little bit firmer than the FF shock absorbers, but generally on good tarmac'd roads there is very little difference, its more the poorer road surfaces that its noticable.

Next: Service - I am thinking a full service, all the fluids, belts etc.
Calipers - Not sure red ones?
R3 Airbox - I currently run the normal airbox setup with ITG filter, but I think the clio sounds good with an induction, but everyone says to use the normal airbox as they run better? R3 with a tweaked map?
Alloy wheel refurb - I am think a bright silver.
Recaro's - Maybe? If I see a good set.


**I was going to continue updating this thread, but its too much of a pain in the arse to add images and text keeps going missing**

47257552221_701b19f9ba_o.jpgDSC_0014 by Ed Hall, on Flickr


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