Leon Cupra R Part 2

[Roule Duke]

As i’m sure some off you are aware i wrote my LCR over xmas when i failed to see a T junction in heavy fog, i was absolutely gutted. It was very close to being my perfect car, I always knew i was going to buy another one though, so after searching continuously for 4 weeks i found one.

Here’s the spec:

- 55,000 miles

- Full service history (last four years its been serviced at AmD)

- REVO stage one remap

- Forge Re-circ 007P Diverter Valve

- Dog Bone Engine Mount

- Uprated Suspension bushes (wishbone)

- EBC Ultimaxx slotted front discs

- Ferodo DS2500 front pads

- HID Xenon headlight with matching LED style sidelights

- Uprated VW front wipers and Fabia rear wiper

- "R" branded aluminium foot rest

- Alpine IDA-X305 iphone/ipod stereo

- Vibe 10" Active Subwoofer mounted in boot


Here’s some pictures from the advert


DSC_6580 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSC_6574 by Roule Duke, on Flickr

DSC_6634 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSC_6612 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSC_6617 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


It needs two front tyres and a 4 wheel alignment, other than that its spot on. Drives lovely, feels tight as a drum and goes like a stabbed rat. :drive1:

There’s a few things i plan on doing over the next few weeks:

- Remove all badges

- Full detail

- Modified airbox

- Replace front tyres

- 4 wheel laser alignment


For now im just going to drive it, at some point in the future i'll replace the suspension as i really miss my coilovers.

Some more pictures will follow once i've given it a detail, thanks for reading.

Edited by Roule Duke on Saturday 14th May 18:15

Edited by Roule Duke on Saturday 5th May 10:45

Edited by Roule Duke on Saturday 5th May 10:46

Edited by Roule Duke on Saturday 5th May 10:47

[Roule Duke]

Well today Betty got some new shoes fitted and a wheel alignment, i went for Falkens FK452's in the end as funds are a little tight.

Apparently the tracking was way out, this i can well believe as it had tendency to wander all over the road, however this was partly due to the condition of the tyres which were VERY low. The shake i had under braking is now gone and the steering feel is much improved.. in short she drives lovely.

I drove straight from the garage to the OH parents to give her a wash. Jesus cleaning a black car is hard work, just drying it down after you've washed it takes some serious effort.

This was the first time i had a chance to look at the condition of the paint in detail, i'm pleased to say i found it to be in great condition.

I also remove the side and rear badges as they were looking very tatty, IMO the rear of the car looks much cleaner without any badges. I may put some news ones on the side... i havent decided yet.

heres a few pictures.


IMG_0399 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


IMG_0397 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


IMG_0396 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


IMG_0400 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


I plan on getting all the little niggle and tidying up sorted before i start modifying it. Tomorrow im going to modify the air box and clean the interior, next on the agenda after that is to refurb the front and rear brakes as they're look untidy, oh yeah and a new front splitter as the current one has got loads of scuffs and marks. I can see this list of little things getting quite long.

Edited by Roule Duke on Sunday 6th February 18:02

Edited by Roule Duke on Saturday 5th May 11:08

[Roule Duke]

Cheers for the kind comments chaps

wackojacko said:

How are you finding the EBC ultimax discs ? It's a toss up between the EBC's and the Brembos for me ......

I've had both and the EBC's are a little better than the Brembo's, really power when paired with the DS2500's, plus they aren't any noisier that the Brembo's which is a big plus as i hate noisy brakes.

Edited by Roule Duke on Sunday 6th February 18:55

[Roule Duke]

Olivera said:

Sorry, but EBC ultimax discs are terrible. I tracked mine and the discs literally warped within 10 minutes, and I did put them through several heat-cycles beforehand. I've also tracked the standard Brembo discs on several occasions and had no such problems. You get what you pay for I'm afraid.

That's not good to hear, i've only had the car a couple of weeks so i can only go by the driving i've been doing. Thanks for the heads ups, i'll make a point of not giving them too much stick as i dont want to warp them!

[Roule Duke]

I thought i would update as it's been a while, she's had her MOT the other day which she passed with flying colours, always a little worrying when you have a MOT for the first time with a car.

As the weather has been so good this year i finally for around to giving her a good wash, she was clayed, polished and waxed. She came up really nice, rather pleased with the results.


DSCF3728 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3702 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3708 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3736 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3733 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3735 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3732 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3731 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3729 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3744 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3743 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3746 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3747 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3748 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3752 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3750 by Roule Duke, on Flickr

The wheels are really letting the side down, they're on the to do list. I'm leaning toward get bright silver powder coat.

It's booked in for a full service at AmD Technik's for the end of the month, I'll be getting a yellow spring fitted to my Forge 007P DV while im there as I discovered the previous owner hadn't fitted the correct spring, as a result I've been losing boost under load. I can hear it leaking when giving it the beans, this is what made me check it in the first place. While i was checking it i gave it a service.

The follow month it will be getting some Weitec coilovers with a wheel refurb the following month. I've got to get my ar$e in gear and get it all sorted in the next few months as the OH is due to drop at the end of August and getting approval for mod's is going to get very difficult.

Edited by Roule Duke on Friday 13th May 22:07

[Roule Duke]

DR10 said:

She is looking good at eight years old. A credit to her former (and current) owners.

Thanks, she's was definitely looked after by the previous onwer, he would drive all the way from stanstead to AmD at lakeside to get it serviced. It's been serviced the last four / five years. That's the sort of thing i want to see in the service history of a car... someone as obsessive as me with car maintenance.

Traveller said:

Get it done now, after the pitter patter of small feet arrive, bye bye mods or even petrol money!

LOL dont worried its all in hand, it's been planned out in minute detail, i've even create a spreadsheet to make sure i fit it all in.

i've got loads of other small things in the list too, i'm in no illusion this is the last of the modifications for sometime. I'm going to make sure it counts!

Edited by Roule Duke on Saturday 14th May 14:54

[Roule Duke]

Mastodon2 said:

From one LCR 225 owner to another, that's a corker of a car. But aren't they all?

What kind of exhaust is on there, is it the standard one? It looks to me like it might be a Blueflame, but you didn't mention it on your mods list. I've got the Milltek on mine, sounds fantastic - I only wish the car didn't have so much sound proofing so I could hear it a bit better at lower revs without having to wind the windows down, but at other times I love the noise insulation.

Funny thing really, I'd never even considered getting a Seat, or even a turbo car, I didn't think it was going to happen, and I was in the market for a decent RS Clio 182. Then I saw an LCR 225, then I got a test drive, and I knew there was no other option!

Thanks, they really are cracking car, they really do it all. This is my second LCR, my first one meet an unfortunate end in some heavy fog. It's a standard exhaust unfortunately, i'd like an exhaust at some point as it's a little quiet. I've modified the airbox which makes a nice induction noise.

They're great cars for the money, it's an all rounder. Chuffed that i don't need to sell it when the little un arrives, its got 4 doors, a big boot, good MPG when driven gently and goes like a stab rat when you poke it.

It's a great family hatch that just happens to have 265BHP.

Are you on seatcupra.net?

Edited by Roule Duke on Saturday 14th May 13:49

[Roule Duke]

Mastodon2 said:

I am on Seatcupra.net but I don't post often, I use the same username as on here.

With regard to modifying the exhaust, both of the big options are great. The Millteks seem to be a bit bassier and fatter sounding, like a burbling woof, whereas the Blueflame is more like a hollow growl.

As for modifying the air intake, what mods are available? My car has a big green cone filter on currently and the plastic airbox cover was not sold with the car. This green filter looks a bit tatty and I'd like to replace it at some point, any idea what kind of brand it might be, and if I have any better options / mods that could be done to improve the induction noise? It already sounds great but when it comes to time to change the filter I'd like to keep it as good or better, and not risk spoiling it with a different air filter.

It sounds like you have the Jetex filter fitted, you can buy a replacement filter from the link below. Quite reasonably priced too, about £70 for the filter and pipe work.

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5...

I was talking about modifying the standard air box, you can smooth out the internals and attach a R32 intake pipe, this is much bigger and allow more cold air feed to the filter.

There are some things we can do to optimize your set up, you can buy a extension pipe to take the filter closer to the wing. Jabbasports also do a heat shield which helps to reduce heat soak from the engine bay. A cold air feed would be worth doing if you havent already.

If you're really feeling flush you could also get a Badger 5 3" turbo inlet pipe to attach to the filter (same seller as the link above), its 3" all the way to the turbo. It been proven to make some very impressive gains, up to 20BHP on mapped cars.

Chunkychucky said:

Lovely looker, when you first mentioned the de-badging I thought "No!!", but to be fair you're right, it has made the car look alot cleaner and smoother (if that's possible?). Looks awesome!

Thanks... I've always like the de-badge look on my cars, make it much easier to polish as well. Plus you can catch people out when they underestimate you.

Edited by Roule Duke on Saturday 14th May 18:13

[Roule Duke]

Nice little update, earlier today the car had a full service and the new Revo stage 1 race map installed at AmD Techniks.

Here are the results:

Normal Revo Stage 1
241BHP
257 lb/ft

Revised linear Race map
272BHP
280lb/ft

Really pleased with the gains, its feel massively quicker... like a completely different car. Bearing in mind the normal Revo map was adapted while the new map isn't, so it will give me a few more ponies over the next week or so.

First impression is it's very smooth, with lots more up bang up top, it's pretty much on pair with the normal revo map up until 3.5K, then after that it leaps up in power and torque. I'll scan the graph and post it up later.

For the first time since owning this car im properly in love with it... it's no longer a step down from my previous LCR.

Next month it's either wheel refurb and new front disk or coilovers, i havent decided yet, the brake wobble is really annoying me so it'll probably be refurb and disks.

Edited by Roule Duke on Saturday 8th October 12:42

[Roule Duke]

Cheers, im very happy with the numbers. They seem to be mastering the mapping on these cars. Stage 2 are seeing 300+BHP and 330lb/ft, not sure if i'll bother with stage 2, i'd rather spend the money on handling mods... that's where i get my kicks.

[Roule Duke]

Olivera said:

Decent figures, roughly the same as mine. No point chasing higher power/torque as there are many other areas that should be improved first.

Totally agree, power is nothing without control.

[Roule Duke]

Little update, just popped down to WheelWorx, colchester to get my car booked in to have the wheels refurbed at the end of the month. While i was down there i had a look at some of the paint finishes, the standard silver looked really nice. Forgot to take a picutre unfortunatley, but it looked spot on. As they dont have any wheels bigger enough to get over the Brembo's i'll wont have a car for 2 days, bit of pain in the ar£e but it will be worth it.

[Roule Duke]

Here's the RR graph from Saturday, you can see why it "feels" so much quicker, from 3.5k onwards the new map really makes its self felt. You can see on run three that heat soak is kicking it as it drops 10bhp.


New Linear Revo stage 1 V Old Revo stage 1 by Roule Duke, on Flickr

[Roule Duke]

Little update... these arrived in the post the other day!


Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr


IMG_0163 by Roule Duke, on Flickr

At the end of the month i'll get some poly bushes for the front wishbone and front/rear top mounts. I hope to get them fitted asap, cant wait - long overdue. I've got the power and brakes sorted, the handling is letting the side down.





























Oh and this arrived last week as well My beautiful daughter Isabelle


IMG_0152 by Roule Duke, on Flickr



This was Isabelle's first drive in the R, she seemed to enjoy it. Although she slept for most of the journey.


IMG_0155 by Roule Duke, on Flickr

This was the first time i tried to fit the pushchair in the boot, luckily it just fits. Thankfully the sub can stay in the boot, i wasnt sure it there would be enough room.

As I've been putting Isabelle in the front seat i turned off the front passenger air bag, this is really easy to do, just a key switch in the glove box, for reassurance it also has a light to tell you it's deactivated.


IMG_0160 by Roule Duke, on Flickre ot

Just a random picture i took the other day


IMG_0157 by Roule Duke, on Flickr

[Roule Duke]

Cheers Steve

[Roule Duke]

Cheers for the comments guys.

RB Will said:

Why do these engines have such a big torque drop off at higher revs? I have a friend with an Ibiza Cupra with a similar graph.

I suspect it's something to do with the type of turbo's used on the VAG engines. The newer VAG turbo lumps have a better spread of torque.




Well i fitted the coilover's a few weekends ago, it was a bh of a job but i finally got them on after many hours of sweating and swearing.

I set the coilover's to about half way front and rear to get as close as i could, with a view to adjust it once it's settled in. As the tracking was way out i booked it in for the next day.




IMG_0188[1] by Roule Duke, on Flickr



After driving it for a week i decided it was sitting a little too low on the rear. I dropped it 10mm on the front and it seemed to do the trick as it feels massively better, the weight is better distributed between the front and rear, as a result it feels more sure-footed.

Got my eye on few things for next month, i'm struggling to decided what to do next as i want to do everything.

It's so much nicer to drive, body roll is non existent, but it's not too firm... it's surprisingly pliant.

Here's some pictures of how she's sitting




IMG_0203 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


IMG_0209 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


IMG_0225 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


IMG_0226 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


IMG_0227 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


IMG_0228 by Roule Duke, on Flickr




After spend close to 2k on it over the last few months its finally at a stage where i'm happy with it, i feel like i've laid the foundation for a great project. I intend on keeping it for a number years, so i really dont mind spend the cash getting everything just right. Im finally excited about the car again.

[Roule Duke]

Little update.... Went along to a Rolling Road Day at AmD in essex, it was organised through Seatcupra.net. I didnt run her as i havent done anything since i last had her on the rollers. Took a few pictures while i was there though

For those of you who watch BTCC you may notice this car (AmD's BTCC car)


DSCF3960 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3958 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3962 by Roule Duke, on Flickr

A few pictures of some fellow seatcupra.net members cars


DSCF3986 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3984 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3982 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3971 by Roule Duke, on Flickr

And a few of mine...


DSCF4004 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3977 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3978 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


DSCF3976 by Roule Duke, on Flickr




Had a bargain present it's self to me and it was difficult to say no. It's a Miltek 3" Down Pipe & Decat, it's brand spanking new and a good chunk cheaper than the cheapest place on the net.


Miltek Down Pipe & de-cat by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Miltek Down Pipe & de-cat by Roule Duke, on Flickr

For now i will be mating this to the standard cat back exhaust, at some point next year i will more than likely get a custom cat back made. It's all booked in to be fitted tuesday night.. cant wait!

[Roule Duke]

Olivera said:

You planning to recalibrate the standard traction control & ESP? I find them a pain in the ass on a modified Cupra R with much less power than yours...

I always switch it off when i "drive" it so it's not a problem. With the colder weather it does kick in too early if i give it the beans in 1st and 2nd with the traction on. I keep meaning to do the N249 bypass, the N249 works as a pre traction control, bypassing it sharpens throttle response apparently. Will give it go when i get the chance.

[Roule Duke]

UPDATE - Miltek Non res cat back & SuperPro front wishbone bushed fitted.

It’s been a very car orientated weekend, Friday afternoon I drop the car off at my friends to fit the Miltek cat back and the front wishbone bushes. I will warn you now there are a few pictures; I got a bit snap happy over the weekend.

Here's Betty all ready to be dropped off on Friday evening.


Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr

I never know what cars I’ll find around my friend as he always seems to have bought a new car or he's working on someone's car. This time it was a couple of drift slag’s, they're both got lots of mods, all drift orientated, they both fully stripped. The red one is running an Ebay turbo at around 450BHP. I’ve seen the silver one in action and it’s certainly fit for purpose.


Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr


IMG_0974 by Roule Duke, on Flickr

Tucked away in his garage is his long term project - Sierra Cosworth. It’s been a project for the last 8 or 9 years, the list of mod‘s and attention to detail is bonkers, expect to see this on the front cover of some ford mag’s, they’ve been following this project closely.


IMG_0987 by Roule Duke, on Flickr


IMG_0986 by Roule Duke, on Flickr

Anyway after a long agonizing wait I picked my car up the following evening, everything had gone relatively smoothly and it was all fitted. The exhaust sounds great, being a Miltek it’s not particularly loud but its a nice noise, being a family man, this is exactly what I needed. I’m really pleased with the noise it makes and I’m looking forward to getting the DP and decat fitted as this should make it a little louder.

Now the bushes have been fitted the steering is sooo much better, I can now enjoy the coilovers for the first time, properly since I fitted them.

It now feels very direct and super accurate, you can carve a perfect line around any corner without having to adjust you line mid corner, the feedback is much improved allow far more confidence in what the car is doing beneath you and how much grip there is. Bearing in mind the tyres are shot and the tracking needs doing, this will only improve once the tyres and tracking are sorted.

I’m very impressed with the ride quality, it’s superb. The SuperPro bushes seem to ride much better than the powerflex bushes I had on there before. I’d say they are the same as my previous LCR, this had the same coilovers, set at the same height with OEM bushes, a fair comparison I’d say. In short – get SuperPro instead of PowerFlex.

The exhaust is sitting a little low so I will need to adjust it this weekend, not quite sure how yet, I need to do some digging into how to pull it up a little bit. I heard someone mention that a jubilee clip is possible fix.

As my car was driving lovely I thought it would be rude to not go for a drive on Sunday morning, I got up extra early and had a B road blast before the little un got out of bed, there wasn't a car on the road. Being on the border of Suffork means there are some fantastic roads on my door step.

It was really cold and crisp - the car felt really strong, the best it's ever felt in fact. I’ve had no fluttering boost issue since fitted the Miltek which is nice. The exhaust has definitely improved the power delivery, it’s got a much cleaner pull now, it’s pulled harder and it’s massively improved at the top end of the power band, definitely a noticeable difference.

Got a few pictures of the car while she was catching her breath after my Sunday morning hoon.


Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr



Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr[/QUOTE]

Suffice to say I’m very happy with the car right now, to top off my great weekend I had another go in my friends EVO 360 MR. I've only just stopped grinning, its bonkers fast, the acceleration and handling it out of this world.

Here are a few pictures


Evo 9 FQ360 MR by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Evo 9 FQ360 MR by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Evo 9 FQ360 MR by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Evo 9 FQ360 MR by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Evo 9 FQ360 MR by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Evo 9 FQ360 MR by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Evo 9 FQ360 MR by Roule Duke, on Flickr

And finally back to my car again, I noticed that my car has been using a little oil recently, nothing major but enough for me to notice as I always check it once a week. It has a small leak on the rocker cover which I knew about. More importantly I noticed when I took my TIP off the other day that there was oil on the inside, it would appear that the PVC is dumping too much oil into the TIP.

So I have two options, I can either replace it for a new one, or I can fit a catch can. Both would cost similar money, need to look into catch cans a little further, but what I have read it would appear to be a worthwhile purchase.

So next month the following will be done:

- MOT
- Rocker cover gasket
- PVC or catch can
- Brake fluid

Thanks for reading

[Roule Duke]

UPDATE

The car went in over the bank holiday weekend to have new tyres fitted, before she went in i adjusted the drivers side suspension as it was about 10mm lower than the opposite side.

I opted for the Toyo T1-R's as i've had them before and i've always thought they were a great tyre, however there was a little misunderstanding somewhere along the line as i ended up with Toyo T1-Sports. It took me a day to notice that they had fitted the wrong tyres, i'd only had a couple of hours sleep so i wasn't my sharpest. When i realised they had fitted the wrong tyre i was properly pi$$ed off, obviously they were closed for the bank holiday weekend so there was little i could do.

After reading some reviews on-line i discovered the T1-Sports are the replacement for the soon to be phased out T1-R's. The tread pattern is very different to the T1-R's, it is no longer a directional pattern. All the tyre manufacturers seem to be moving away from the directional tread pattern.

I've been told that the T1-Sport is a better tyre than the T1-R. Apparently the T1-R are renowned for having a relatively soft side wall which dampens the response of the tyre, braking, cornering, feel etc. The Sports have a much stiffer side wall whist still maintaining a better ride, they're quieter and apparently they last longer as well. The T1-R's are coming to the end of the life now, not many places sell them any more.

The tyres are well and truly scrubbed in now and they feel fantastic, what with the new bushes, coilovers and tracking the car feels so good to drive now. Very happy with the car at the moment.

The exhaust was hanging a little low, so i had a go at adjusting it.



Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr


Leon Cupra R by Roule Duke, on Flickr

I used a jubilee clip to pull it so that it fitted the recess in the bumper better, its a vast improvement but its not perfect. I run out of adjustment on the jubilee clip, i will try a small one which should give me a greater scope of adjustment.

I also booked her in for a oil service on 2nd June, its a little way off but i though there is no harm booking her in early.

Edited by Roule Duke on Tuesday 24th April 22:50

Edited by Roule Duke on Tuesday 24th April 22:53

Edited by Roule Duke on Tuesday 24th April 22:56