Thai's grey mk1 Cupra R

Thai-wronghorse

Self proclaimed Cupra R addict & butcher!
Dec 3, 2015
2,195
1,037
Kent
Today was a good day as I ticked off my first real interior modification out of a very long list I've built up.

As some of you may have already seen in the past I had a particularly bespoke set of clusters built up for my previous FR TDI.

After many many weeks of chasing up a friend to flash the eeprom on them to run them on a petrol engine they were finally done this weekend including the immobiliser which was coded in and mileage corrected accordingly.

I did in fact have a spare set of Bora petrol clusters that I'd planned on poaching the rev counter foil from but they rather annoyingly turned out to be older generation immo2 ones inside a different casing with the wrong part number on which meant several of the warning lights didn't line up.

Luckily for me though Creation motorsport sell the correct petrol mk4 anniversary foils required.

They landed about an hour ago so I jumped straight in giving me this...
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Thai-wronghorse

Self proclaimed Cupra R addict & butcher!
Dec 3, 2015
2,195
1,037
Kent
They still need a few more little tweaks to get everything operational on the car.
These include running a feed from the ECU to the cluster plug to allow the colour MFA boost gauge to read.
I also need to run a pair of canbus wires from the cluster plug to the CCM which will enable the door opening images on the display.
A nice little touch with these is that you can select the actual car image so I've got a proper mk1 Leon shape on there.

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Jimbobcook

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Nov 24, 2012
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Cluster looks awesome! good work!

I like stuff like this lol you stare at the inside all day but not many people do anything to it as it's all external.
 

Thai-wronghorse

Self proclaimed Cupra R addict & butcher!
Dec 3, 2015
2,195
1,037
Kent
Cluster looks awesome! good work!

I like stuff like this lol you stare at the inside all day but not many people do anything to it as it's all external.
Exactly, although I'm a big fan of the mk1 silhouette I've always felt the interior let it down massively and like you say, you stare at it all day so why not make it nicer?
Hence my accumulation of goodies for the inside already...most of which were taken from my FR.

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Jimbobcook

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Nov 24, 2012
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Exactly, although I'm a big fan of the mk1 silhouette I've always felt the interior let it down massively and like you say, you stare at it all day so why not make it nicer?
Hence my accumulation of goodies for the inside already...most of which were taken from my FR.

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Looking forward to it.

You've done it before so you're a pro now right lol you know we like some nice guides if you get a chance for things that haven't already been covered.
 
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Nathan penney

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Jul 8, 2017
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Here’s my standard Cupra R and unbelievable mpg after a recent trip down to the midlands.
Love those dials, more classy than the white ones. Starting to look quite retro though white dials now.
 
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Thai-wronghorse

Self proclaimed Cupra R addict & butcher!
Dec 3, 2015
2,195
1,037
Kent
I'm not sure how accurate that was as that's touching on TDI MPG there.
Those old clusters are way off the mark at times.
With this said I did manage to peak at around 43mpg briefly on my 500 mile journey home with the car back in December.

I'm loving all the extra data these clusters give though and the fuel is actually counted in singular increments unlike the stock 5 mile increments which is good.

Built in full diagnostics are the nuts, no need for a code reader or even VCDS to check for issues any longer.

I'm going to have a play with the acceleration and torque tests tomorrow to see what figures it can muster up before I start fiddling with the engine.

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Nathan penney

Active member
Jul 8, 2017
686
789
Liverpool
That’s what I thought, my old Cupra tdi used to get similar mpg back when it was new in 2004.
I’ll admit that was a one off, probably helped by the M6 “smart motorways.”
On the odd occasion I use the LCR to go to work it averages about 28mpg!

Who cares when they’re such a blast to drive??

I like not having too much info going on on the dash although the fuel counter sounds good instead of 30 miles to 0 miles in about 2 mins. Lol

Saying that, at least it’s got one. My daily driver diesel MG ZT -T doesn’t even tell me how many miles it’s got left. Just an old fashioned yellow light!
 

Thai-wronghorse

Self proclaimed Cupra R addict & butcher!
Dec 3, 2015
2,195
1,037
Kent
Proper update time as the past two days I essentially lived crouching down in a stripped out mk1 surrounded by miles of wiring!
I honestly dont think there's a part if me that isn't aching right now and seriously glad that the bulk of this work is now done.

So here's a little summery of what's been added...

Silent coat 2mm sound deadening (complete roof, rear bench floor & boot area)
Silent coat 6mm sound isolator (complete roof)
Double din upper & lower centre consoles
Pioneer SPH-DA230DAB headunit
Kinetic DRA 6003 short DAB aerial and wiring
Audi S3 illuminated vents
Audi S3 handbrake lever
FR gearknob / gaitor (temporary until I fit my Seat Sport one)
Roof vanity lights added with mk4 Anni visors including centre one.
W8 Passat interior light with handsfree mic inside
Cables also run for sub, amp, reverse camera and auto dimming rear view mirror.
Additional canbus wiring for clusters to show open door icons.

I ran out of time to complete the sub box and amplifier install but the cables are in the boot ready.
Same scenario for the Xtron reverse camera as well, cables are in but still need to attach the camera between the number plate lights.

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Thai-wronghorse

Self proclaimed Cupra R addict & butcher!
Dec 3, 2015
2,195
1,037
Kent
I'll get some better pics once its clean, better lit and my hands recover from all the tortuous wire twiddling, crimping and soldering!

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