Restoring my Renault Clio 172 Cup track car.

[Danez]

What you got?

I actually got the spit on loan from somebody who is at the unit I am in. He bought it for his own project, but not used it yet. It is a total game changes. Heck, I can work on the underside of the car so easily. I cannot state how easier and comfortable it makes things.. I would argue you will do a better job too given that it is far more leisurely and with better lighting etc.

I hate telling people their business... but.... you absolutely should get one of these if you can swing it. If you want to sell it after you will have no problem doing so as there is huge demand for them. I would never attempt a restore without one now..

1.9 205 gti, needs a new boot floor and inner wings!

good point with the being able to sell it on afterwards! I'll attach a picture, but my space for doing it will only be a single garage. do you reckon I'll have the room for such a set up?

 

[Danez]

 

[conor1n]

This is fantastic.. I love the GTI.

I actually looked at 205 and 306 but they were more money than the Clio.

 

[conor1n]

I'm not sure about fitment. You'd have to measure up. But I know if I had that space I'd make it work somehow.

 

[Myles1970]

Do you reckon I'll have the room for such a set up?

First off, I love the 205 GTI. Secondly, a rotisserie is invaluable for a restoration. As regards space, it depends on the extent of your restoration. If you're completely stripping the car, you'll need space for three cars. Sorry, but it's true.... Once you add a compressor, bench, welder, blast cabinet, the space left for doors, wings, bumpers, engine, suspension, seats, dash, door cards etc. is limited .. also, you may need to work on both sides of the car, spraying also requires space (even just for priming). I hope (trust) I haven't put you off the idea, but I'm working in a 10' x 20' garage restoring a Corolla, and space is at a premium.

Good luck, I look forward to seeing the resto

 

[Danez]

First off, I love the 205 GTI. Secondly, a rotisserie is invaluable for a restoration. As regards space, it depends on the extent of your restoration. If you're completely stripping the car, you'll need space for three cars. Sorry, but it's true.... Once you add a compressor, bench, welder, blast cabinet, the space left for doors, wings, bumpers, engine, suspension, seats, dash, door cards etc. is limited .. also, you may need to work on both sides of the car, spraying also requires space (even just for priming). I hope (trust) I haven't put you off the idea, but I'm working in a 10' x 20' garage restoring a Corolla, and space is at a premium.

Good luck, I look forward to seeing the resto

cheers for the heads up....I recently put up a shed to make room in the garage but i've already filled it so I think shed no.2 will be needed soon

I'll see how I get on, it wont be a full on balls out resto I just want to sort the rust out and get it into decent condition so i can go back to ragging it and take it to santa pod etc

but biggest job will be welding the entire front end and boot floor, so I look forward to following this thread for inspiration!

I'll start a new thread once i start anyway

for now, more welding practice

 

[Cosantoir]

Hey I donno if you have one of these yet but have you picked up a power file yet? I have to say it's been a dream to help with awkward spaces and dressing welds

 

[conor1n]

Hey I donno if you have one of these yet but have you picked up a power file yet? I have to say it's been a dream to help with awkward spaces and dressing welds

I don't own one.. but I have used one a couple of times in the space i'm at. I used it to tidy up some threaded bar I cut to bolt the engine on stand.

They are very cool and I will definitely pick one up at some point. I reallllly hate borrowing stuff from others, especially power tools, because sods law states they will break in that 5 minute period of you using it.

 

[conor1n]

Update

Just received this in the post, based on recommendation from a fellow Clio builder. They stated it was all the needed to do the wiring in their Clio. It seems at least decent for the price of £32.99 and should do the same job as that expensive Engineer branded kit I was looking at.

I'm dubious enough about how this works for those 4 way indent terminal pins, but we shall see. Either the other guy was just misusing one of the dies to achieve a "crimp" or he was building some custom loom and didn't use those 4 way indent pins. As shown.

 

[Myles1970]

I don't think that's the correct tool for crimping those terminals....

I think you need something like THIS

 

[Myles1970]

...or maybe this:

but I think the tool from RS crimps with 4 indents

 

[conor1n]

I don't think that's the correct tool for crimping those terminals....

I think you need something like THIS

I agree. But I bought it anyway as it will do the other crimps and was cheap enough.

Still need to get a 4 way indent crimper..

I might buy this: https://www.lasertools.co.uk/Product/7533/4-Way-Indent-Crimping-Tool

 

[conor1n]

..Right lads and lassies, i'm still here and this project is still moving.

For a variety of reasons I think there was a good 6 week period there where I did very little on the car. It wasn't all wasted though. I have spent a number of days playing around with my welder and getting a feel for that..

Before proceeding, let me stress this fact. If you are removing a windscreen, as an amateur with amateur tools like I did, you will absolutely break the glass. The theory is simple, you just slice the bonding and lift it out, right!? In practice it's not simple.. it's a brute force kind of job with those tools. Perhaps if you had some piano wire you may not break the glass. I would only remove the windscreen if it is already broken. If you want to remove to get a better paint finish, you have some serious considerations (cost/time) to make.

Anyway.

I resumed this weekend (Sunday). I had planned on getting into welding the part of the shell I gutted due to rust but changed tack last minute.

In the morning I ended up picking up the windscreen removal tool (cutting blade) that a friend loaned me. I got into this big time and ended up taking out the windscreen, which took a good 4 or 5 hours to finish completely I would say. After that it was too late to rush into some welding as I wanted to give myself plenty of time. So I decided to just tidy up a bit of rust and decided doing it in a piecemeal fashion wash ok. As long as I am progressing on the car, it's all good.

I once heard a funny expression... "bar steward"... and that is exactly what the job of removing a windscreen is. I used the following tools.

First I used the blades on the left to cut the adhesive on the two vertical sides and horizontally along the top. Wasn't too.. bad but still took maybe 1 or 2 hours or pulling and gouging. I was quick to realise the bottom section was going to be extreme given the insane amount of bonding there. I don't have any photos as I was just too into it.

It was at this point I realised that a slightly broken windscreen was the same as a completely mangled unit, only would take less time to get to end result.

Basically once the three other sides were freed up, I just pulled them all forward and used the bottom section as a kind of hinge.. snapping the windscreen and pulling it off. Obviously using decent gloves.

Enter the gasket scraper and hammer. Once the main sheet was off.. I had the bead of bonding at the bottom with a bit of glass still attached. I just hammered the scraper under a bit and then was able to pull it all off in one strip.

A removed windscreen.

...Oh and here we go. The windscreen originally broke when I was trying to remove the rear view mirror. I pulled on it, and cracked the glass. I discovered yesterday that had I RTFM'd (if there was a manual) I would just slide the mirror up and out it would come. I would have saved about 4-5 hours and €200 in the process. Oh well.

Glass out..

Once the glass was out. I used a combination of the gasket scraper and sometimes hammer to clear off the bulk of the adhesive. When it was down to small amounts I used the wire wheel on the die grinder to finish it off. Then lashed on a nice helping of Zinc 182 to keep it clean while I continue on other bits.

All cleaned up..

Primed..

 

[conor1n]

It was it this point I was supposed to start welding but decided against it as I didn't want to rush.

Instead I picked the O/S front wheel wheel well and cleaned up a bit of rust with wire wheel. I then sprayed it with Zinc 182 primer to keep clean. I will paint some seam sealer on a little later. I have kind of decided not to go with epoxy primer/mastic for this build as I don't think it's warranted. Not attempting concours and it's "only a track car". I mean in reality it will be getting sent for most of it's remaining life and is won't be immaculate for long, I would say.

Some before shots..

..After.. (cleaned up..)

.. And after (primed)

It feels good to tackle areas of rust like this. It means that I can pick a new area to do a couple of evenings a week after work and make some solid progress in a short period of time.

Any tips on this are very welcome. I am aware my process if kind of simple. I have some etch primer, wondering should I be using that instead?

To be honest though, the Zinc 182 that is going on at this stage is just to prevent flash rust as I had some there. I'll likely rub all these surfaces again and coat with fresh primer before going to paint.

 

[conor1n]

So guys.. interested to hear peoples thoughts on this.

I was sitting looking at spaghetti junction (wiring loom) this evening, in a clammy dormer room/office/den. It was not comfortable, and dawned on me.

A) I have no where nice to work on building a new loom that I can leave as is while in progress.
B) It's going to be a lot of work.
Oh 3 things..
C) IT'S GOING TO BE A LOT OF WORK...

Summer has dragged on, life got in the way and I did nothing on the car for about 6 weeks.

I have decided to avoid building a new loom, but to just keep what I have and tidy it up a bit. I'm thinking.

1. Keep the looms as is, but just strip them and re-dress/skin/cover them.
2. Repair any obviously broken wires/connectors etc. There are one or two in the engine loom.
3. Do some minor surgery so I still get to relocate the fuses/relays in the centre console.
4. More minor surgery to move the battery into the rear of the car, behind the passenger seat. This may not end up happening.

My thinking is that the car will be going back together fairly bare and it should be easy enough to perform wiring jobs in the future, if needed.

This will free up some time/anxiety to get the rest of it going.

What do you think?

 

[Bullet2012]

No, stick with the original plan.
maybe set up a board to peg out the loom that folds so you can transport it between home and the workshop.
once you have a loom that you have built any issues will be easier to diagnose and repair

 

[Cosantoir]

No, stick with the original plan.
maybe set up a board to peg out the loom that folds so you can transport it between home and the workshop.
once you have a loom that you have built any issues will be easier to diagnose and repair

While it's not the way I would have gone because I'd be more tempted to leave the loom stock because all those wires give me anxiety I so agree with Bullet that it's the best approach if you're changing the loom

 

[conor1n]

No, stick with the original plan.
maybe set up a board to peg out the loom that folds so you can transport it between home and the workshop.
once you have a loom that you have built any issues will be easier to diagnose and repair

Hmm.. maybe. I need to weigh up a few things?

While it's not the way I would have gone because I'd be more tempted to leave the loom stock because all those wires give me anxiety I so agree with Bullet that it's the best approach if you're changing the loom

So you are saying that if I am going to mod the loom at all, then it's better to just build a totally new one?

 

[Cosantoir]

So you are saying that if I am going to mod the loom at all, then it's better to just build a totally new one?

More so agreeing with setting up a board to peg out the loom in such a way that it can be folded and transported between home and the workshop. There is merit to knowing your loom is right and there's less to have to wrap your head around down the line if something does go wrong

 

[Myles1970]

...... just to add, that there's a world of a difference between stripping back an old loom and building a new one .... I know which one I'd rather be doing