New Clio 182 owner

[RBFR]

Hi everyone. I'm Peter and I'm the proud new owner of a 182. It's a little weapon!

It's going to be raced in Improved Production so I'm all ears for cost effective ways of making these things faster. The whole idea is bang for the buck racing in a fun category. 

The car itself is a bit tired but it's already great to drive. Early plans are cage, gearbox rebuild, a straight through exhaust, powerflex black bushes, Ds3000 pads and some coil overs. Any recommendations between Konis or Bilsteins for racing? Need to be able to be serviced/revalved, preferably in Aus. 

Any fancy shiny parts won't be on this car. If it doesn't make it faster, I'm not interested. 

My other cars are Gp S Alfetta GTV, NC MX5 and V8 Hillman Imp sports sedan. 

My Insta ID is RaceBreakFixRepeat, so that's where build pics will be. Going to do YouTube build videos too. Fun!! 

[slick]

2 hours ago, RBFR said:

Hi everyone. I'm Peter and I'm the proud new owner of a 182. It's a little weapon!

It's going to be raced in Improved Production so I'm all ears for cost effective ways of making these things faster. The whole idea is bang for the buck racing in a fun category. 

The car itself is a bit tired but it's already great to drive. Early plans are cage, gearbox rebuild, a straight through exhaust, powerflex black bushes, Ds3000 pads and some coil overs. Any recommendations between Konis or Bilsteins for racing? Need to be able to be serviced/revalved, preferably in Aus. 

Any fancy shiny parts won't be on this car. If it doesn't make it faster, I'm not interested. 

My other cars are Gp S Alfetta GTV, NC MX5 and V8 Hillman Imp sports sedan. 

My Insta ID is RaceBreakFixRepeat, so that's where build pics will be. Going to do YouTube build videos too. Fun!! 

For brakes - I suggest you contact Competition Friction in Canberra - they are Ferodo importers and DBA agents (also AP racing). You are probably aware that you need to match pads to rotors. I would also suggest a rear anti roll bar, if you have not thought of that. Makes a considerable difference to the handling and getting the rear tyres to work (in my experience in sprints with my 182).

And welcome!!

[RBFR]

3 minutes ago, slick said:

I would also suggest a rear anti roll bar, if you have not thought of that. Makes a considerable difference to the handling and getting the rear tyres to work

Any diameter you'd recommend? 

[slick]

24 minutes ago, RBFR said:

Any diameter you'd recommend? 

The Whiteline one that I (and several other 172/182 owners on this forum use) comes only in 18mm. It is a blade type and has 2 settings - hard and soft if you will. 

I have my rear anti roll bar set on soft, with front camber pins and 2 degrees negative camber.

[RBFR]

Great thanks. So simple! I race an Alfetta and there's literally nothing off the shelf. I find it hilarious looking at the Clio. It's so simple. I love it. 

Edited 12, March 2019 by RBFR

[slick]

4 minutes ago, RBFR said:

Great thanks. So simple! I race an Alfetta and there's literally nothing off the shelf. I find it hilarious looking at the Clio. It's so simple. I love it. 

Where in Melb are you??

 

Let me know if you want any other info/help

 

[RBFR]

Ivanhoe. 

What shocks are considered best? 

Also I'm chasing a set of Cup wheels if anyone has any. Can be rough, will be repainted. Will consider other 16x7 or 16x8 wheels. 

Edited 12, March 2019 by RBFR

[vaughan]

If you mean 182 Cup wheels, there are exactly the same as normal 182 wheels only a different colour.

 

[slick]

1 hour ago, RBFR said:

Ivanhoe. 

What shocks are considered best? 

Also I'm chasing a set of Cup wheels if anyone has any. Can be rough, will be repainted. Will consider other 16x7 or 16x8 wheels. 

We always used Koni yellows with the XU1s - Bilsteins are very good too.

 

I would think either brand with good Eibach springs.

[RBFR]

Yeah Konis in my Alfa. Never used Bilstein. 

[slick]

28 minutes ago, RBFR said:

Yeah Konis in my Alfa. Never used Bilstein. 

Go with what you know then would be my suggestion. We found the Konis great - no probs and reliable.

[RBFR]

No adjustable spring seats on Konis though

[Mase]

There’s a LOT of talk around here re roll centres if racing. Correction kit seems important if varying roll centres.


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[pepelepeu]

Great choice,  have fun with it! 

[Moosey]

Hey Peter. Nice to meet you on Saturday at PI. And great to see that you found your way onto ozRS. Enjoy the full buffet of wisdom that exists here & looking forward to hearing progress on the build.

[RBFR]

14 hours ago, Mase said:

There’s a LOT of talk around here re roll centres if racing. Correction kit seems important if varying roll centres.

Roll centres are a constant point of conversation especially for strut cars. Problem is few people have science behind them so there's a lot of guesswork. Not to say resetting roll centres can't be important, just it takes physics not seat of the pants to get it right. If I go down this path I'll get someone with the right software to help out. Cheers for the input though. 

[RBFR]

13 hours ago, Moosey said:

Hey Peter. Nice to meet you on Saturday at PI. And great to see that you found your way onto ozRS. Enjoy the full buffet of wisdom that exists here & looking forward to hearing progress on the build.

Thanks! Nice to meet you too. 

[slick]

12 hours ago, RBFR said:

Roll centres are a constant point of conversation especially for strut cars. Problem is few people have science behind them so there's a lot of guesswork. Not to say resetting roll centres can't be important, just it takes physics not seat of the pants to get it right. If I go down this path I'll get someone with the right software to help out. Cheers for the input though. 

Just a thought - the limited edition (not for Oz) 182 trophy had a modified suspension with Sachs shockers and was lowered about 15mm over standard. It would be interesting to find out what RenaultSport did about adjusting roll centres - if anything. I know the Trophy had uprated hubs.

You could try contacting Renault, although I doubt they would know anything about the Trophy, or you could try contacting the guys at Renotech in Sydney - who know lots about everything!!

There is a roll centre correction kit available on the web from UK, I think. Involves changing hubs to Scenic ones and other additions in the kit.

Edited 14, March 2019 by slick

[vaughan]

The Trophy has fancy Sachs front struts, everything else is standard Cup similar to what we got in Aus -- which has larger front bearings than standard with 60 mm strut mounting centres. The Sachs struts are NLA from Renault. :(

[Gambit]

36 minutes ago, vaughan said:

The Trophy has fancy Sachs front struts, everything else is standard Cup similar to what we got in Aus -- which has larger front bearings than standard with 60 mm strut mounting centres. The Sachs struts are NLA from Renault.

All this is true and correct 👍

[Mase]

Tapatalk seems to have booted me off the forum .. oh well hope this works. 

There’s some good build threads here. Check out Ace and Clio43 and a few others. Lots of time, intelligence, effort, experience and money put into their cars. 

 

[Bingle]

14 hours ago, RBFR said:

Roll centres are a constant point of conversation especially for strut cars. Problem is few people have science behind them so there's a lot of guesswork. Not to say resetting roll centres can't be important, just it takes physics not seat of the pants to get it right. If I go down this path I'll get someone with the right software to help out. Cheers for the input though. 

You really don’t need to get so technical about it. You don’t want to alter your roll centers? If you lower your car, you’ve got no choice. The front roll center will be lowered by more than the center of gravity, maybe a lot more.

As long as your roll center remains above ground level and isn’t higher than standard, you won’t go too far wrong. You can guarantee this by ensuring that the angle of your control arms is somewhere between stock and horizontal (not sloping up to the hubs). 

Keeping to this rule of thumb (either by not lowering too much or by fitting a roll center correction kit) might not give the optimal result but it’s better than ignoring roll center altogether when lowering your car.

Edit:

Just noticed you're an experienced racer so apologies if I'm teaching granny how to suck eggs 🙂

Edited 14, March 2019 by Bingle

[RBFR]

14 hours ago, Bingle said:

I noticed you're an experienced racer so apologies if I'm teaching granny how to suck eggs 

Ha! No it's OK. A lot of people have never even heard of roll centres. I know struts are easy to fix re roll centres, but like all suspension work you can't always predict the results and sometimes changes lead to counter-intuitive outcomes. 

I have a Hillman Imp with mid mount V8. I'm rebuilding the chassis in that and have the chance to reset the rear roll centres there. Now THAT is a job I don't want to mess up. 600kg, 300hp, 2m wheelbase. 

[RBFR]

15 hours ago, Mase said:

here’s some good build threads here. Check out Ace and Clio43 and a few others. Lots of time, intelligence, effort, experience and money put into their cars. 

 

Thanks will look. 

[Bingle]

On 15/03/2019 at 2:19 PM, RBFR said:

I have a Hillman Imp with mid mount V8. I'm rebuilding the chassis in that and have the chance to reset the rear roll centres there. Now THAT is a job I don't want to mess up. 600kg, 300hp, 2m wheelbase. 

Wow, that’s gota be s handful no matter how well it’s set up! Way-cool nonetheless.

[RBFR]

Yeah. Never driven it. Too lethal. Doing full rebuild so it doesn't kill me. Clio build a walk in the park by comparison!