Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral Gary's Clio Mk1 Ph3

This is my Renault Clio Mk1 Ph3 1.2 (BIARRITZ). Stock spec is 60bhp @ the fly. You may laugh at my little motor, but I’m only keeping it a year before I upgrade to the Clio Mk1 RSi (1.8 8v). Besides it’s a cracking little car, it has just entered 36k so technically the engine is only just broken in, which is amazing for a 10yr old car.

I won’t be spending too much money on performance mods as you can’t really get any power gains from the 1.2 lump. So I’ll just be modding for aesthetic purposes.

All lights are standard (as I rucken despise those awful Lexus lights).

It has 195/50/15s, a 2.5” scorpion cat back, the interior in mint.
Engine wise I have replaced all the vacuum hoses with coloured hoses, and fitted a large IK (which needs to be relocated next to the battery and a cold air feed fitted)

What needs to be done is :-

Dropping 35/40mm
Change of bumbers, bonnet and headlamps to the ph2.
De-badging and smoothed,
Take off the 3rd brake light
Remove rear window wiper.

I’ll updated the thread with my progress.

Gaz

Sweet man, iva had a few Mk1 Clio's myself.

When ye upgrade, swerve the RSi as its only 8v, its like 110bhp IG11 whereas the 16v is 137 and only IG12. The performance of the 16v is far closer to that of its big brother, the legendary Williams, and will do 0-60 in under 8 seconds.

Looks like a tidy little motor, and the engine bay is very clean

Nice to see sensible mods and waiting for the 1.8 before going for bigger power mods

Cheers guys

Ai, as this is my fist yr driving @ 23 , I will be getting my 1 yr NCB in sept. There is a massive jump between the Rsi and the Valver insurance wise. I might consider it tho depending on the money. It's difficult to find a decent valver though as they get ragged all over ther place.

And I will have a Williams one day

try the scrappie for a inlet hose off a 1.4fiesta mk6 that will move the filter to the front of the engine to do away with it being above the exhaust.

Going to see this tonight

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160147365415&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=006

Looks good, did you buy it already??

No, some lad bought it, then pulled out. So he said wn't relist it untill I've seen it later.

As you're the Clio man, what should I be wary of on the Ph 1's?

Well to be honest, the mains problems they suffer from, other then the lower end models starting to look rather tatty nowadays, is rust in the arches (dont really rust anywhere else), high milages can be prone to HGF although it depends how you drive them as well, drive a high miler nice and it will be nice in return, and the on the auto versions the boxes tend to go after 60,000 - 75,000 miles or so.

Other then this, its general wear and tear, the usuals when buying a car, try and get one with service history, especially histroy within the last few years so you can gauge things like cam belt changes etc, because maintenance and repairs can be slightly expensive mainly because parts seem dearer, although its not so bad nowadays.

In general, the engines are pretty much bullet proof, I had a Clio with 89,000 on the clock when I got it, but it had almost certainly been clocked at sometime in its life, I rekon it was probably a good 20,000 miles more, but it ran like a dream, I just kept it well serviced, loved it to bits, until a woman crashed into me at a junction.

Out of the 3 I have had, the engines were all sound tbh, on my auto the box went and I couldnt be bothered paying £600+ to get it sorted, my first manual someone crashed into it, the engine was still fine lol, and on my second manual I gave it HGF - it had done 115,000 miles and I in-advertently had a race when the engine was still cold and noticed it chugging like a steam train as I slowed down lol.

An RSi is likely to have been ragged in its life, so if its really high mileage be a bit warey, check everything that you can possibly check.

Thanks for the advise. I'll let you know later on weather it be a deal or not. Fingers x'ed its all ok

Right, went to see it last night. Lovely little car, but I never bought it for the following reson. "Something to do with the clutch" thats all I can say. I know the clutches on clios are alittle stiff at the best of times but this was bad, very bad. It was like the spring in the clutch was made of bricks. It took every ounce of effort to depress it, then it returned ever so slowly - can anyone tell me what is up with it? He has had the cables replace and it's made no difference.

Cheers


Gaz

It just needs a new clutch.

The springs must be heavily worn, causing more drag on the main shaft, and not letting the pedal return.

I've decided to leave the buy for a while until 'the one' comes up. Might go for a Golf GTi 16v Mk2 instead, we'll have to see

So, in the meantime I've relocated my IK and put in a Cold Air Feed. Just an update.

good job mate