Renault Clio Widearch with 157db streetbass sound system

Hi. My name is Russ from Tamworth. I've made this site to show, and tell anybody that might be interested about my modified Mk1 Renault Clio RT.

I bought the car in January 2000 as a standard grey automatic bacarra 1.4 as my first car. I am the 2nd owner since being registered in 1992. The car (as you will see) has been through many changes since then. Most of which I unfortunately dont have pictures of but i'll fill you in anyway. It has been dry stored for the last 4 years needing some work. Once the next batch of mods are made, it will be used as a weekend toy and show car. It has appeared in most UK modified car mags on the past..someone even put it up for sale for me once on Pistonheads without me even knowing...which was nice of them.

THE BEGINNING

The modifications started after having a bit of an incident with a kerb, a fence and 3 trees down some lanes. Once the car was found to not have anything more than cosmetic damage, i decided rather than putting it back to standard i may as well do something a bit different. After plenty of cash was pumped into the project its as it is today. I have done a lot of the modifications myself, not only to keep costs down but also as i find it fun. When the accident occured, all that had been changed was a couple of cheap 12" subs with a cheap amp in a blue vinyl boot build and a blue painted dash and doorcards...lol..seems so long ago now.

Before any work could be carried out I had to get a lot of the parts needed. Some 18" Raceline RL7 wheels were sourced and were custom drilled with a 15mm offset and 4x100 renault fitment. 25mm spacers were also sourced from Prima Racing to bring the wheels out into the arches. This car was actually the first Clio on 18's in the country.

The cars first major transformation was at Wynnes Glassfibre in Norfolk to have the Kustomorphose Corsa F2 wide bodykit and the old AVO adjustable suspension fitted. It was there for 9 months while the work was carried out due to a few 1 off mods which took time to be completed. The bonnet and spoiler took 2 months to complete on there own as they are complete 1 offs. The spoiler can be seen on the Renault 5 in the first Ali G film. A few other parts like the skirts and front splitter were all given there own personal touches. The car came out blue Renault paint code 449 for the first time.

The next trip was to another bodyshop as I hit a flood at 70mph down some lanes (i should avoid lanes) breaking the front bumper, fog lights, splitter and front wings. I was not impressed with a £1k bill as the front end was a slightly different colour to the rear.

After many months of waiting for the release of angel eyes for the Clio. Some were purchased and modified to take blue LED's in the front for a dramatic effect at night. At the same time a set of clear rear lights were sourced from the same place and given the same LED treatment. I also modified the bulb arrangement as I didn't like the standard layout. The bulbs were changed to LED units to keep them completely clear. Another respray to get the car the same colour was the order of the day.

That was about the end of the external mods for now. After a couple more sound systems using Pro Plus Echo subs and other cheap stuff I finally did a proper build with 2x sealed Kicker L7 15's and a couple of RE HC12's ported. Together they shouldn't really work as a system but they kept me happy for quite a while. Although it hit a respectable 149db on the audiocontrol mics. The sound quality was a bit poor but got loud. The system stayed similar for a couple of years. The only changes being an amp change from RE 35.1's to Audiobahn A1800DT's and Rockford Fosgate bd500.1's for the subs. During this time an In-Car PC was fitted with a 15" LG screen. Playstation 2 and a fridge/heater.

THE MIDDLE  

2006 was the start of the rebirth. The interior was rebuilt and trimmed in leather and a new sound system started. (the full current spec can be seen in the "Car and ICE spec" area of this site. There are also pics of the build in the "sound system progress photo's" area). The mirrors have been changed to DTM units and will now be painted body colour. The 15" screen was upgraded to a HD 19" widescreen model with freeview. A Playstation 3 replaces the old PS2. It used to have 3x RE XXX 15" subs in a flat wall with 3x Solid Audio 2500d amps at 1ohm per amp (around 6000watts RMS total) running at 1ohm per amp. This setup managed a 153db on theaudiocontrol mics but is all about streetbass than chasing numbers.

Due to the weight of the new system build, some major suspension problems occurred on many occasions. I tried lots of rear shocks and even no shocks at all with steel bars which didn't go so well. Eventually the car was sent to Rayvern Hydraulics in Peterborough to have the £3k airbag suspension fitted. Most jobs take them a week. The car was there for over 2 weeks as it needed some custom rear shocks and mounting points fabricated as well as near enough a full back end rebuild and strengthened chassis rails. Shortly after the car waa garaged as the 1.4 engine wasn't sounding all too healthy and there was a lot of work to be done. I also had my daughter in that time so life took on a whole different path for a while.

The Next Chapter 

In 2012 the project has started up again and is gathering momentum. The car is going through a massive overhaul. Most things are still working from before which suprised me what with being a Renault. The bodywork is going through some cosmetic changes again and will be sprayed for the 5th time once its been tidied up. The sunroof has been taken out as the MDF roof had bent the roof down a bit when it was installed. The rood will be either ccarbon skimmed or vinyl wrapped when complete.

The sound system has gone through another milestone with an upgrade to 7x 110ah gel cell batteries, 3x Orion HCCA 15.2 subs and 6x Solid Audio 2500d amps. This time the amps are running at 0.5ohm per amp with a strapped pair to each sub. Thats a real world possible 15'000 watts RMS on tap. There will be some more mods coming soon with this to keep voltage up etc.

A recent engine change has also been implemented. The 1.4 lump is long gone. There is now a B18FT Volvo 1.7 Turbo engine from a 480 in and running. It has some minor mods and will have a few more before its complete but its alsmost there. 

Please feel free to leave any comments in the comments area. 

Enjoy

12/05/12

The engine is running finally...woohoo and the fatting of the bodywork is now half there. watch this space for more updates 

This year will be the final year of the project. After 11 years of hard work, it is very nearly complete. Once the engine is finished and respray (same colour) have been done along with a few other items it will be job done and ready for showing again in 2013 after a long gap.

The things i have planned are as follows:

Respray in same colour (Renault paint code 449 and Izuzu Class Brass)

Volvo B18FT engine running 1 bar of boost with BOV fiitted.

Modified bonnet vent to allow the bonnet to fit over the new engine.  

Carbon Roof 

Trimmed/Painted rear enclosure (Front and Back)

Sound system setup and scoping 

All to be completed by April 2013 

Hill Power

Wynnes GlassFibre

Evil ICE car audio

CTL computers

MIJ performance Exhausts

Raceline

Prima Racing

Rayvern Hydraulics

Madewell Products