Building a Trophy

[Guest]

Fact is you cant get them anymore. Well not new. And i want one. So i have decided to build one. Thats right im going to take a mk2 shell, buy a 182 engine and build my own Trophy.

I thought this was a good a place as any to document my progress in this project.

I intend to get hold of a damaged 182 / 172 shell, buy and engine and rebuild it and then mate the two together.Before the engine goes in the car will be sprayed capsicum red. I shall then add seats, suspension and wheels. The project will be finished when i am happy the car is as close to the ultimate drivers car that it can be in every detail. I shall then add the decals.

The advantage of this is that i can build the engine to the exact blueprint spec and measure all suspension tolerences before the parts go on. This should ensure i have the best possible example i can from a power and handling perspective.

Pictures and updates to follow.

 

[FunkyMunky]

ebay has a complete engine and bits and pieces from a 'broken' 182

 

[wigstar1]

Stromba?

 

[Thriller]

^^^LOL

Suspension is going to be quite expensive!!!

 

[Cue]

Stromba's a good shout but if it isn't..... good luck fella. If you can build it for less than Renault and justify the months of labour then go for it.

Dampers alone will cost you best part of £800-900. Wheels n' tyres another 500-600. So that's over a 10th of the total car cost on 3 parts. Plus the respray will set you back a couple of hundred. Honestly, you may as well buy a 2nd hand one. Plus the resale value will be higher as it's actually part of a limited Production run and not one that someone's cobbled together from parts of crashed cars.

Like the idea but in reality it'll cost you more time and money for an end result that'll be worth less and it'll never be a real Trophy.

 

[pacey]

Are you going to lave it stripped out then ? It would be great to get the weight down even more to improve power to weight ratio .
Good luck and keep us posted .

 

[Steve]

Hi Rob,

I'm afraid it'll never be close to the ultimate driver's car because you won't have the little numbered plaque on the driver's seat.

If you want to play with the big boys again you're going to have to be more discrete, talking about measuring suspension geometry and 'blueprinting', it gives away your 'in excess of 140 IQ' straight away.

If someone was going to build a replica Trophy, they would be better off starting with a 182 cup, but what is the point? You'll spend an awful lot of money making it slightly better and it will not sell as a Trophy because it won't be on the registration document. Besides, you could have it any colour you wanted - like Stromba pink. Everyone else sees it as blue but you see it as pink. Just the way you like it.

How's your new steering column? :wink:

 

[Johnnytheboy]

I bought my one from a garage and it seems perfectly adequate....

 

[hoolio]

Obvious. Why didn't he just use his "scary" avatar from the sport forum? Also we had a quick tot up and guessed he wouldn't get much change from £20k. What's the point?

 

[Dsturbed]

the point is..........................stupidity

 

[Steve]

Has anyone ever built a replica Williams? Would only need a rusty old valver and some gold paint from Halfords for the wheels. I heard that guy wot did that evo shoot, number 2 or summink did that.

 

[aodonovan]

Surely it's about the driving experience? Personally I dont like the Clio looks wise - its horrible. And given the choice I wouldn't buy a red car. S'just not me. But I LOVE my trophy more than you can possibly umagine. If you really want the experience, I guess you get an RS 182 and buy 1) trophy dampers and springs 2) Turini alloys with Michelin Exalto Pilot... (whatever they're called) tyres (these two are non negotiable) and 3) V6 spoiler and (if you really want to) 4) recaros....? But if you REALLY want a numbered trophy, buy one second hand.... They're out there.

 

[Dsturbed]

I'm new to this forum but if this is the 'infamous' Stromba then why is everyone biting?


BTW - Whats the story on this Stromba fella, i read that he has been banned from the forum (why?) and that he is bitter that Renault have produced a car that seems to better the Williams. someone please tell me the story!!

If this is a windup post, from whoever, why dont they get a girl/boyfriend or better still ...........a life? (or a real Trophy!)

 

[Nik]

LOL @ this thread.

I think you've all been turned very cynical by reading all those old posts for the competition.

 

[Ash87]

Fair play mate but it will never be or feel the same as the real deal, good luck with the reliability and stress if you are doin it.

:lol:

 

[Johnnytheboy]

When I first joined I read all these references to King Stromba, so I Googled the name.

In amongst all the seemingly endless posts on almost every car forum ever, most of which on closer examination he seemed to be banned from, I found an entry on a somewhat seedy personal ads website (the Google entry to which sadly has since vanished) with a photo of some skinny blonde guy from East Anglia with his shirt off calling himself King stromba, and claiming cars as a hobby.

Presumably the same person?

 

[Guest]

Bloody hell, i go to France for the day and my thread kicks off.

Got some parts from france while i was there. Actually needed them for my dads laguna, but tried to get trophy decals there and they didnt understand, oh well.

I think ive sourced a 'cheap' shell. Its got damage to the front os, but im going to jig it and straighten it down the shop.

Best part about it. I got it free from a mates mate, if you know what i mean. And also best thing, its already capsicum red. Shh dont tell any one where i got it from. :wink:

 

[oliie]

The project will be finished when i am happy the car is as close to the ultimate drivers car that it can be in every detail.

You'll never finish. The Trophy is not the ultimate driver's car.

O.

 

[Guest]

Well this project is coming to a close. Its been hard work to create the ultimate drivers car, but i hope i have done you all proud. Its been a hard slog and to be fair i think ive done ok.

To recap, my aim was to build my own 'trophy'. Something that is known to be the best fun you can have in fwd anywhere in the world. Something fast, raw, so entertaining that you just cant put it down for a minute.

I must admit i had a few problems with the colour, getting an exact match was hard, but i think youll agree its close enough. I also had trouble with the build quality. For some reason mine turned out better than the cars built by Reanult. Then their is the engine. I hand finished that, so i guess i loose acuracy point there too as mine wont melt if you thrash it. Oh and i copuldnt find a chocolate renault gearbox, so i put in a properly strengthened and engineered unit with an lsd. Anyway, you cant tell about the box unless you drive it, so i dont count it as a modification. Anyway enough of the unneccessarily long atmospheric build up.....



So here it is......













The ultimate fwd drivers car......









Enjoy.......











Gotta love Evo hey boys? So to recap. Trophy is no longer the best fwd car, and no longer the evo recommended hot hatch. How will you cope? Dial 0918 44 44 s-t-e-v-e-g-u-n-n-i-s for a chat about the trophy and for reassurance its still the king.


Oh and before you ban me i have the ability to connect to anyone of 1000 public proxy servers, so in the words of the great man......ill be back :wink:

 

[hoolio]

you pompous arse.