SOLD - Renault 5 gt turbo rear wheel drive with Clio 172 engine

The conversion

I originally started the conversion in February 2005 and it was March 2006 when I first had it on the road and MOT'd. At that time it had the original renault 5 GT Turbo engine in (slightly uprated) but in early 2008 the turbo went and at the same time I embarked on renovating my house so didn't have time to fix it. However by February 2009 I had picked up a Clio phase 2 172 engine and aftermarket Emerald ECU and had decided this was the way to go if I wanted trouble free performance motoring as the theory is you have less components to worry about. Mid 2009 the car was ready and after a few teething problems mostly down to needing a full tune the car was ready for my first sprint!

I have quite a few photos and details of the first build phase on my website www.gomodit.co.uk, . I re-designed the rear compartment in the second phase to be more like the original Renault 5 Turbo 1/2's of the 80's. This also meant there is now a proper sealed fire barrier between me and the engine which was essentially to get it past the scrutineers at a sprint day. This has been created with a steel frame providing additional structure, a steel panel between driver and engine.Plus an aluminium top cover to keep the weight down.

The engine sits in the original renault 5 subframe, and is bolted to a heavy duty crossmember which in turn is fixed to the original rear subframe mounting points. The rear of the subframe is bolted to fabricated mounts which are welded to the rear chassis rails. The rear engine mount whilst standard has been lowered to clear the clio exhaust manifold. The clio top mount has been used to prevent sideways movement and an additional front tie bar has been fabricated to stop engine movement under hard acceleration.

The car is road legal and is taxed and MOT'd . I Insure, as being rear wheel drive and based the policy on a Clio 172 with all the mods declared it costs me £360 TPF&T based on a 34yr old with full no claims.

The rear end of this car whilst using mostly standard parts, although it does have modified rear suspension to lock the rear wheels.


The bad bits
The headgasket has gone, I bought a new bottom end had the bearings replaced and put it back together costing me £650 in total then after my first run the gasket went. I've tried to keep enthusiastic but my circumstances have changed and can't justify putting anymore money into this project. The body work is in great condition but has a few marks here and there and a couple of dents that may come out via dentmaster or someone simular there is nothing glaringly obvious.

The engine is currently out as I was going to fix, but can be put back in and heard running as there are no problems just a lot of white smoke!



Spec is as follows:

* Clio 172 Phase 2 Engine (approx 66k miles when bought) with Phase 1 throttle body (cable type)
* Emerald ECU see www.emeraldm3d.com this will give flexiblity if you want to turbo/supercharge or just modifiy the engine further in the future.
* Four paddle clutch
* 2x Bucket seats 1x Fibreglass magnum in black this is extremely lightweight and has the same stiffness as my friends Sparco 1x Cobra Monaco S steel frame both seats are in exceptional condition
* recently tuned by Dave Walker of Emerald (seen in the practical performance car magazine) it gave 183bhp (see printout in pictures)
* Full safety devices roll cage with door bars and additional cross bar for harnesses
* 6 point TRS harnesses
* Lotus Elise Stainless exhaust
* Removable engine cover in aluminium
* Professionally Fabricated aluminium fuel tank
* Aluminium oil seperator
* Coilovers one pair are CUP shocks that have oversized shafts for strength and one pair are standard shocks both a coilover conversion see my article http://gomodit.blogspot.com/2007/12/...-december.html
* Also included are 4 sets of 2.5coilover springs for the rear and 3 set for the front
* Up-rated discs and pads, I’m not sure which but they stop the car.
* Hydraulic handbrake and brake bias for manually adjusting how much braking the rear gets
* Hydraulic clutch for a lighter pedal and does away with an extra cable
* Fire extinguisher never used

Do get me wrong I love the car but as you can see I've had it a long time and spends most of it in the garage so it's time to sell it to someone who might get more fun out of it.

Cheers
Andy

Windscreen removal and surround repair on the Renault 5 GT Turbo - July 2010

With the car off road it's time to do some repairs

The first job being sorting out the rust around the windscreen. Over time the laminate had lifted in one of the corners of the screen and a slight crack had appeared. Then more recently a large crack appeared from top to bottom so I could no longer ignore it.
The first job was to remove the windscreen, I could have called a specialist but I would have incurred two call out charges as I need it removing and refitting at a later date once the rust had been sorted. Fortunately I have a friend who had the tools but found out the method of removal was a lot simpler than I first thought. The main kit basically involves a piece of abrasive wire and two handles that the wire sits in(shown in the top left of the picture --> ). After removing all the plastic trim, you slot the wire around and under the windscreen then start sawing, being carful not to burn the dash or chaff any of the paint work. You can make your way around all the screen but may need to finsh off with a long bladed stanley knife. I thought I'd save you the trouble and point you to all the stuff you need pictured on the right, this kit also seems to come with the rubber removal tools which is quite handy.

After the screen was removed, I got the wire brush out this is when I realised the rust was a little worse than first expected!

well I say rust it turned out they were actually holes






But after the initial shock I decided to do a bit of grinding, wire brushing and hammer forming and rust treatment all last night ! I've also made up some little plates that hopefully I'll get round to welding this week..

Curborough report 9th May - May 2010

9th May - Things don't go to plan and the Clio 172 engine needs attention

Well.. my first event event didn't go too well.. I had two decent practice runs a 41.92 and a 40.74 not as good as my last visit of 38.56 and then on my first timed run about half way round disaster struck, the engine started clanging.. I'm guessing its the bottom end bearings or something. I pootled across the finish line and exited the track and went for an early bath.. The bonus being I got a time so I was first in class being the only competitor in sports libre class

I think the cause was a tired engine as it's never been checked since I bought it second hand. However, once it's fixed I'll be fitting a proper rev counter and setting the rev limited as I don't fancy a repeat of this.

On the up side of things it gives me the opportunity to replace the cam belt and whilst I'm at it the gearbox too.

With a bit of luck I should have it sorted for my return trip to Curbourgh on June 19th

Return to Curborough for the 9th of May Sprint - May 2010

8th May - Preparation for the first sprint of the year
After not getting around to changing the gearbox I'm just going to have to change up gentley if that's possible on a sprint, so expect plenty of grinding as I launch from the line. Sunday will be my first sprint of the year, I have removed the standard Renault 5 GT Turbo seats in favour of a single Sparco Pro 2000 bucket seat. Apart from this I've added another split pin to my exhaust to stop the mount from moving.
I've just got to go and get my race numbers "42" from roadrunner motorsport my local stockist and I'll be ready. With a bit of luck I should have some pictures or even in car footage up here next week depending on how my home made mount works.
I've managed to get hold of the screw that fits into the bottom of cameras, it's called a whitworth thread and I plan to weld this to a piece of metal which I will then attach via jubilee clips to my seat belt bar. This should provide a nice mount for my trusty Cannon Powershot A520 hopefully giving me some high def in-car footage on the cheap!
I've also been reading up on tyre pressures, and has prompted me to buy to items a digital tyre pressure gauge and a temperature monitoring device. I've read that if you take three temperatures across the tyre from left to right you can work out if it's over or under inflated and also whether you have to much or little camber.
For example if the middle temperature is considerably higher than the left and right the tyre is over inflated.
Anyway I've put together a sort of data log for tyre pressures and setup information. This will record all my race information neatly on a form so I can compare for next time.
If the form is any use to you feel free to click on the thumbnail then click download, it will then appear in your browser for you to print from.

Not for sale... - March 2010

I did think about selling but have had a change of heart and have decided to plough on..

So here are this years plans:
Rear suspension re-design
This is to lighten and improve on the existing wishbones, but still provide adjustment.
Sub frame re-design
This will get rid of the front sub-frame and make a purpose made subframe which should be both lighter and provide better mounting points
Gearbox re-condition
Pretty essential really I'm not going to win anything if I can't get second gear!
Tyres
Something softer and more suited to sprinting
Exhaust and rear bumper
Neaten up the back end, this is purely cosmetic so will probably be at the bottom of my list but it would be nice to bring it back to the standard look, I'll then have another look at the tailgate.

Oh and here's a long overdue clip from my visit to Curborough :)



A Summary
Well being as I wrote a huge advert to sell the Renault, I might as well display it here as it gives a good summary of the project to date.. So here it is:

The conversion
I originally started the conversion in February 2005 and it was March 2006 when I first had it on the road and MOT'd. At that time it had the original renault 5 GT Turbo engine in (slightly uprated) but in early 2008 the turbo went and at the same time I embarked on renovating my house so didn't have time to fix it. However by February 2009 I had picked up a Clio phase 2 172 engine and aftermarket Emerald ECU and had decided this was the way to go if I wanted trouble free performance motoring as the theory is you have less components to worry about. Mid 2009 the car was ready and after a few teething problems mostly down to needing a full tune the car was ready for my first sprint!

I have quite a few photos and details of the first build phase on my website www.gomodit.co.uk, but not so many for the second phase this is something I plan to do. I re-designed the rear compartment in the second phase to be more like the original Renault 5 Turbo 1/2's of the 80's. This also meant there is now a proper sealed fire barrier between me and the engine which was essentially to get it past the scrutineers at a sprint day. This has been created with a steel frame providing additional structure, a steel panel between driver and engine.Plus an aluminium top cover to keep the weight down.

The engine sits in the original renault 5 subframe, and is bolted to a heavy duty crossmember which in turn is fixed to the original rear subframe mounting points. The rear of the subframe is bolted to fabricated mounts which are welded to the rear chassis rails. The rear engine mount whilst standard has been lowered to clear the clio exhaust manifold. The clio top mount has been used to prevent sideways movement and an additional front tie bar has been fabricated to stop engine movement under hard acceleration.

The car is road legal and is taxed and MOT'd til August 2010. I Insure, as being rear wheel drive and based the policy on a Clio 172 with all the mods declared it costs me £360 TPF&T based on a 34yr old with full no claims.

The rear end of this car whilst using mostly standard parts, although it does have modified rear suspension arms to reduce bump steer, this was taken from a modification they use on a pontiac fiero.

The bad bits
It no longer has the bucket seat in one of the photos as that was borrowed for my sprint day
If going from first to second at speed the gearbox will crunch - I'll be honest I think this may be the synchromesh but haven't investigated in detail
There is a bit of rust around the front screen and the odd mark here and there but on the whole excellent condition!

Now onto the good bits
The engine is in the back! and with the Clio 172 engine in this absolutely flies and at my last sprint event posted a quite reasonable time for a first day out. The best thing is that the engine as standard gives around 170bhp so in this state of tune you can run it all day without worry.

Spec is as follows:

• Clio 172 Phase 2 Engine (approx 66k miles when bought) with Phase 1 throttle body (cable type)
• Emerald ECU see www.emeraldm3d.com this will give flexiblity if you want to turbo/supercharge or just modifiy the engine further in the future.
• Four paddle clutch
• recently tuned by Dave Walker of Emerald (seen in the practical performance car magazine) it gave 183bhp (see printout in pictures)
• Full safety devices roll cage with door bars and additional cross bar for harnesses
• 6 point TRS harnesses
• Lotus Elise Stainless exhaust
• Removable engine cover in aluminium
• Professionally Fabricated aluminium fuel tank
• Coilovers these are standard shocks with a coilover conversion see my article http://gomodit.blogspot.com/2007/12/...-december.html
• Spare koni adjustables (ph1 for the front) and a pair of cup shocks (ph2 for the rear) that will go with the car but will need converting to coilovers first – this shouldn't cost as you could use the kit from the shock absorbers already on the car.
• Up-rated discs and pads, I’m not sure which but they stop the car.
• Hydraulic handbrake and brake bias for manually adjusting how much braking the rear gets
• Hydraulic clutch for a lighter pedal and does away with an extra cable
• Fire extinguisher never used

Renault 5 GT Turbo conversion - October 2009

My first Sprint at Curburough
Well there's been many changes since Febuary and if I get chance I'll try and post them. However here's a few pictures from my first Hill climb / Sprint event at Curburough.

I'll try and get some video's of the car in action, it handled extremely well after setting up the tyre pressures.
I did have a problem with my gearbox as selecting 2nd gear this was a problem which did hamper my standing starts, this is where you can make up vital seconds but didn't spoil the day.
I also plan (when I get time) to replace the standard shock absorbers for upgrated ones I have recently bought. These are a set of koni's for the front and a pair of renault 5 "cup" shock absorbers for the rear. I managed to pick both up for a reasonable price a while back which providing I reuse my coilover kits will be quite a bargin for a set of adjustable coilovers!

Renault 5 GT Turbo conversion - February 2009

22nd February - The Clio sport 172 engine is in the Renault 5
With the aid of an old wheel barrow and some will power I managed to lump the engine onto the gearbox and jack it up ready for fixing. So the engine is in although still many jobs to do.
The top two jobs are:
1)Fabricate an engine stabiliser mount as this isn't a Clio there's nothing to bolt it up to so this will need to be made
2)Modify the exhaust manifold, not sure how I'm going to do this. First stop will be to find some 45mm tubing and work out where I want the exhaust to end up.
Here's some pictures