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1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 8:18 am
by cranna21
Hi folks,

I've previously had a topic in this area of the forum, but never really went anywhere with it, not that I'm promising to be a model poster on this thread BUT! I thought I'd post some kinda timeline of my ownership of my 480!

SO, I bought the car late November 2013 at the age of 18, totally standard, used the car daily for just over a year racking up 15000 miles! loved every second of it, surprisingly good on fuel but realised I wanted to try to keep the miles off it a little bit and bought another car to use daily!

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In early 2014 I got my first “real job” and so the modifying bug hit… a set of scabby Ronal Turbo’s and eventually some Spax lowering springs fitted the bill nicely! But I realised I wanted a little more.

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In 2015 the car was off the road sitting, I was trying to save up funds to do things right and the car received a dodgy paint job and a few other things that ended up being rectified further down the line, but learning curve, you get what you pay for!

Early 2016 the 480 returned! A new set of “proper” Ronal Aero 16’s and a power flow exhaust went onto the car, much needed improvements as well as a set of Bilstein shocks and some other small items.

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The winter of 2016 and early 2017 saw the major renovation take place, Decided it was time to just “do it” so the car was stripped back to a shell, all glass out, all underside components off, every perishable item, bush, bearing and fuel/brake hose was replaced, every bush was upgraded to poly and all underside components were blasted and powdercoated! To top it off a set of GAZ Gold coilovers were installed. After getting the rear arches replaced and the whole car painted I got it delivered back to the shed and in 10 days had it totally reassembled and MOT’d ready for a show I wanted to attend!

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The winter of 2017 and early 2018 saw the next phase, I wanted more power. I had a turbo engine sitting in my parts hoard along with some rare forged pistons but wasn’t totally sold on the idea. So hatched a plan based on hopes and prayers that a 2.0 16v engine from a Clio Williams would fit, after buying an engine already stripped requiring a rebuild I then caught wind of a deal I couldn’t pass up on and purchased a complete rebuilt engine fitted with a ported and polished head, uprated cams and possibly higher compression pistons that was previously fitted to a mk1 Clio. Along with this I bought a set of Jenvey 45mm throttle bodies and all the necessary hardware and sensors, ECU and so on to ‘make it go really fast’ haha. I coupled the engine with a JC5 089 Clio 172 phase 1 gearbox and after some head scratching with wiring and so on and mapping we had 208 bhp and 230 nm at the flywheel! She screams, redline is at 7200rpm just however the higher you rev the harder it pulls and its something else for a little old Volvo with pop ups 😊 Also fitted was a complete Recaro interior!

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10 Points for anyone who recognises a certain Scottish 480 enthusiast in this picture! 😉

That’s about it for the moment, since Autumn 2018 she’s been in storage, there have been a few issues arise and teething problems needing addressed since the engine conversion as to be expected so this year I’ve been trying to clear my feet a bit with other projects and do some saving to fund improvements and so on!

Will try update this! But no promises as I’m terrible at that haha!

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:19 am
by MisterH
WOW! I am not a fan of modded cars, but what you have done is nothing short of amazing! Do
You have any plans going forward? It would make a fantastic Q-Car if it looked original on the outside, could create some nice surprises with that!

Also, those rear lights look immaculate, have you done anything to them?

I should that 480 should have the power it always needed, imagine if things had been a little different...

Maybe paint it in Clio Williams colours, with the gold alloys...

Really well done, that is truly unique

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:30 am
by cranna21
MisterH wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:19 am
WOW! I am not a fan of modded cars, but what you have done is nothing short of amazing! Do
You have any plans going forward? It would make a fantastic Q-Car if it looked original on the outside, could create some nice surprises with that!

Also, those rear lights look immaculate, have you done anything to them?

I should that 480 should have the power it always needed, imagine if things had been a little different...

Maybe paint it in Clio Williams colours, with the gold alloys...

Really well done, that is truly unique
Hi MisterH,

thanks! for the most part, the exterior will stay how it is long term! I do plan on maybe applying some castrol livery similar to found on Volvo 242 GT's just for a laugh for a year, but that won't be forever!

over winter she just needs some odds and ends tidied up, a new starter motor and some heat management in the engine bay, some better tyres won't go amiss also as well as some interior refinements and a new clutch, this one isn't quite up to the task! haha

as for the rear lights, i did have them lacquered at the time of the respray, however, the laquer was not thick enough so has flaked now, so a wee sand and re-laquer is in order :)

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 11:25 am
by MisterH
cranna21 wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:30 am


as for the rear lights, i did have them lacquered at the time of the respray, however, the laquer was not thick enough so has flaked now, so a wee sand and re-laquer is in order :)
Ok, but in the first picture of the car in factory spec, they looked like new, did you do anything to preserve them?

You may have seen my post a while back regarding what to do to protect the lights, and wax is what I currently use, although I keep an eye out for potentially more effective treatments

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 12:08 pm
by cranna21
That was how they came when I purchased the car!

I believe it was just a well polished and waxed example :)

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 2:55 pm
by jifflemon
Has the ABS been removed? I'm presuming you've a friendly MOT tester?

Bloody love it though - All that space above the gearbox makes me think you need a clio maxi style airbox to take advantage of the low pressure air in the windscreen scuttle

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Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 3:00 pm
by cranna21
Non-ABS 1991 car sir ;)

now with that you could be on to something.... i had thought of just using a cold air feed from the front end, i guess i would just require an airbox round the trumpets and maybe some altercations to ensure plenty cold air came into the skuttle...

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:08 pm
by mathrock
Love the build!

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 8:30 pm
by jifflemon
cranna21 wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 3:00 pm
Non-ABS 1991 car sir ;)

now with that you could be on to something.... i had thought of just using a cold air feed from the front end, i guess i would just require an airbox round the trumpets and maybe some altercations to ensure plenty cold air came into the skuttle...
The area at the base of the windscreen is “dead air” - low pressure, easy to be sucked. Fair better than a front feed which is forced dependant on vehicle speed, obstructions blah blah blah....

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 9:01 pm
by cranna21
Yeah right enough! Definite food for thought haha

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 11:29 am
by Alan 480
mathrock wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:08 pm
Love the build!
and I can confirm the attention detail is pretty impressive having seen it in the metal . . .. .

which is why i always park well away from this one :wink:

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 1:16 pm
by cranna21
Alan 480 wrote:
Wed Aug 14, 2019 11:29 am
mathrock wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:08 pm
Love the build!
and I can confirm the attention detail is pretty impressive having seen it in the metal . . .. .

which is why i always park well away from this one :wink:
haha! thank you sir, however your new toy has me pretty jealous!

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 1:19 pm
by cranna21
A wee update on the 'Williams' 480!

Dug it out the garage at home the other week so that over winter I can set too with some repairs/improvements and tweaks to amend some teething issues that arose after the engine conversion!

It's sat in the garage for over 12 months so safe to say I'm looking forward to getting back into the guts of it for some improvements!

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- Fraser

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 1:53 pm
by jifflemon
Somebody pass the popcorn! :D

Going to be interesting watching this.

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 1:59 pm
by cranna21
unfortunately most of the mechanical improvements will be reliability based not power based! BUT hoping to spend some time on making the engine bay itself a nicer tidier place to look at with moving some cabling and plumbing about!

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2019 11:12 am
by cranna21
Not much of an update!

but heads off - now away to get a strip, clean skim and re-assembly with new seals before back on with an MLS headgasket!

Next job once my new drill bits get here, drill the head off of 90% of the torx sump bolts because some absolute chocolate decided they'd put the sump on with what seems like a 6ft bar because the bolts that are still left to do are all rounded after me trying and failing to remove them!

no room to get an extractor on, no room to weld nuts on, so I guess cobalt drill bits it is :kill:

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Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:18 am
by cranna21
New oil pump arrived today! the new pump comes with an uprated governer spring to increase the oil pressure, at the moment as I have fitted a Mocal 13 row oil cooler rad out the front of the coolant rad the increased oil capacity had an adverse effect on oil pressure, the OEM gauge on idle reads just above the 'minimum good area' so this should pump pressure up nicely to facilitate the oil cooler!

next on the shopping list is all of the components required to do away with power-assisted brakes in favour of a twin-piston biased system for better adjustability. Coupled with this over winter I intend to convert the car to using Clio RS 172 sport front hubs fitted with 480 wheel flanges, this will allow me to do some correction to the steering geometry that came about with me lowering the car too much and as a happy side note will let me fit MUCH larger brakes! WIN WIN!

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:18 am
by jifflemon
Just a thought on the Oil Cooler - Get a stat for it.

You can get them built into the take off (much neater) or a separate one that plumbs into the lines.

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:46 am
by cranna21
99% sure I have one built into my take off plate! from memory anyway, would need to take it off and check

Re: 1991 480 ES "Williams" 2.0 16v conversion!

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 12:41 pm
by Alan 480
cranna21 wrote:
Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:18 am
have fitted a Mocal 13 row oil cooler rad out the front of the coolant rad the increased oil capacity had an adverse effect on oil pressure, the OEM gauge on idle reads just above the 'minimum good area' so this should pump pressure up nicely to facilitate the oil cooler!
easy option is to ditch the pressure sensor / gauge option ????

or just wire it to the same wire as the 'voltage output' gauge? :wink:

the Nora one just sits at 100% all the time as sensor aint there!! (and no real intention of fitting it as it was always a source of worry on any previous cars)