Mo's Mk3 Ibiza Cupra OE+ Forged & K04'd Build - 284.0bhp & 324.5ft lbs @ 1.5bar

My Mk3 Ibiza Cupra I bought less than a year ago. It was a local Bristol car originally purchased from Bristol SEAT, with only 48K thousand miles, all history. It's had a blueflame cat-back, Jetex filter, front mount intercooler, turbo intake pipe, forge relocation kit, forge 008p and a custom code Stage 1. I was looking for a very clean base to build so wasted no time, drove it for a week, parked it and got to work.

Current Specification

Engine

AYP 1.8 20V Turbo rebuilt at 48K miles
THS Forged Conrods
BP Wideband conversion using pro made harness by Benjamin Parsons (Easily switch between wide and narrowband ECU's)
LCR BAM K04-023 stock turbocharger
LCR BAM 225 ECU
LCR BAM 225 3” MAF
LCR Wideband 02 sensor
Stock BAM K04 TIP
Stock 3 Bar FPR
Stock 1.8T Coilpacks
NGK Laser Platinum spark plugs
LCR 3 inch MAF
Relentless Pro4 exhaust manifold
QPeng 2.5” K04 downpipe
Blueflame 2.5” cat-back exhaust with oval tip
Ramair open cone filter
Toyosports Type B 600x300x76mm FMIC
Toyosports 2.5” cooler pipework customised to perfection
Custom radiator brackets to move rad back for a flush cooler & bumper fit.
Custom oil return line
LCR Charge pipe with custom brackets to retain OE look
LCR Various hoses and pipes for OE look
Forge 008 Recirculating Valve
AC Delete, Non-AC Aux belt fitted
N249 Delete
N112 Delete
SAI Delete
Carbon Canister Delete
Evap Delete
EGR Delete
Creation Motorsports blanking plate
Venting straight to atmosphere


Transmission

Stock 5 speed box
ECS G60 Flywheel from Awesome GTI
ECS VR6 Clutch from Awesome GTI

Chassis

Weitec Coilovers
Seat Sport Strut Brace
Stock brakes
Stock brake pads
Stock discs

Interior

Full stock interior
Ibiza Cupra R twin gauge pod
Boost gauge
Oil pressure gauge

Exterior

Rear wiper delete











Pictures courtesy of the previous owner who I believe may still be on the forum. It's already got a SCN sticker so that saves me a few pennies.

Arty picture of her

Testing out a new snow foam lance I purchased, wheels have been replaced to stock







The old girl scrubs up well

wezza12 said:

Very nice mate

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wezza12 said:

What you doin with the borbets mate?

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Thanks mate, they are sold i'm going for a OE+ look, I may change the wheels in the future for something lightweight or ones found on the ICR

Around 3 months after I bought her, I decided it's time to get stuck in





Front end off, ancillaries removed and so it begins...

WeeC said:

Looks good! Nice to see another still going strong

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Thanks mate, she certainly is. I was on the market for a mk1 S3 but when this popped up I couldn't resist.

Let the operation begin

Some of the tools required for surgery

Piston and rods removed



AC binned while i'm there



Oil pick up removed and cleaned





Very clean, no foreign elements or the dreaded chippings from the orange dipstick plastic

Took the head to two independent specialists for skimming and both said the same thing, the head does not need skimming at all, it's one of the better ones they seen in a fair while.



So i cleaned it up and done some measurements with a feeler gauge turned out perfect



Inspect and cleaned each piston



Don't think i've ever seen the original black painted markings on a 1.8 5VT piston before, testimony to how well maintained this car is and true to it's mileage



Things are looking good

Time to reassemble

Sticky stuff this Permatex



The fiddly part



and done

Crank inspection, everything silky smooth



Snug fit with using the plastiguage method



Pistons and rods back in, torqued to blueprint spec

I find myself spending a lot of time at my local VW/Audi dealers



Having an in depth look at the cylinder head as you curiously do



Only visible casting mark I could find, not bad

Finally have some use for these scattered items



Genuine KKK K04-024, 386cc injectors, maf, literally everything you'd want for a K04 conversion. All removed from a late low mileage mk1 SEAT Leon Cupra R BAM 225 which I test drove before hand.



The Turbo and the rest of the items are in very good health

The infamous Relentless Pro 4 arrived, looks very good for the price. Have heard mixed reviews but i'm willing to give it a go as you can't deny the gains you can unlock with this. I won't be using that terrible gasket though.



Sits good



I was told about the nightmare stories when attempting to fit this. It's a tad fiddly for sure but nothing a right set of tools can't do



Ok so this was a bit of a pita but got there in the end

Going for a authentic look so went the extra lengths to fit the Cupra R charge pipe bracket, this required some precise modification.



Very tight fit but i persisted.



Lovely new gaskets courtesy of SEAT dealers



Looking good, oh downpipe courtesy of QPENG, nice chaps went down to pick this up from them personally.

Head back on, new head bolts in torqued down to spec (tedious)





Awfully tight back there now



Time to do the timing belt



Timing belt done