Ben's Leon Cupra R - First trackday done!

[Ben:]

Hey everyone!

I thought it was about time I started a RR. Been looking around the forum a lot for a few months now, getting ideas, help and inspiration for my car.

Which is...

A black '53 Leon Cupra R 225 (BAM engine)



I've owned it about 3 months now and love it!
I've been taking pictures along the way of different things I've done. So the first few posts will be work from the last 3 months or so. Then you'll be up to date!

Had 43k miles
Standard wheels
Forge TIP and 007 DV
And a remap when I bought it, with a read out of 255bhp/242ft-lb

I was hugely disappointed upon first viewing the car as the exterior described as 'excellent', simply wasn't. It had clearly been used purely as 'a run around' and never seen a drop of polish or wax. The wheels were badly curbed, brake lacquer peeling and so on.

But after a lot of thought and negotiating on price, I drove it home

Ever since then I've spent a lot of time cleaning and sorting it all out.

Not a healthy looking tyre


I've put a new set of Toyo Proxy 4's on now.

Peeling lacquer


I decided to refurb the brakes myself after following a great guide on here.










I had it detailed by a friend of a friend which made it look a lot better!

 

[Ben:]

Got the wheels refurbed as couldn't bear the look of the scuffed standard ones haha.
Spend ages trying to think what colour to go for and the company don't really have standard set colours. They said each mix of paint is slightly different to previous ones. So I ended up choosing an Anthracite colour. Was a bit worried they would turn out too dark, too light or too bluey or something, but I'm very happy with them!! They have a great finish and quality to them


I then bought some AP Coilovers and fitted them myself
Standard height



Lowest setting on the rear



Haven't had too much trouble with the splitter scraping, although I try to avoid speed bumps if I can help it!


Noticed the car running differently and not boosting properly. Turned out to be a split hose so replaced it and another one with silicone. Also did the N249 bypass and tided it all up.

Before



After - Much neater and a lot easier to get to the coilpacks!



Hadn't realised people didn't recommend K&N cone filters until after I'd bought and fitted one. Hopefully it won't cause me any issues. Looks good too

Fitted a cold air feed too.



Again after a lot of research on here and Detailing World I decided to invest in a DA machine polisher. Even after I had in detailed there were still a lot of deeper scratches and swirls, so bought some cutting compound and all the other necessary bits and pieces...



Started in the evening and using a bright flood light I couldn't believe how bad it was!!



Front door done, looking a lot better. Still some deeper scratches around the handle which I'll work on by hand.



After a lot of time and hard work I loved the end result! Well worth doing...

 

[Ben:]

Reflection!



Popped out a few days later as the evening light was good, gave me an excuse to get the proper camera out






The wheels looked a little lost so I gave it some stance with 20mm spacers on the rear and 15mm on the front



Much better!



Have had the odd scrub on the back as the wheel is almost flush with the arch. Think I'll raise the back sometime as its slightly lower than the front :\

Gave it a good clean and had the tracking done...

 

[Ben:]

Had an MOT, failed on rear brake pads, rear indicator bulbs and front headlights need aligning.

Certainly needed some new pads!



Hadn't really replaced pads before so this was another learning process. Fairly straight forward thankfully.


Just a quick shot of the interior after a good clean.



So I got a little bored one evening and decided to change the front grille as I had intended on mounting the number plate on the side...



Finished result...



Turned out not liking the side mounted look with standard sized plate. Also not sure about the centre mesh, doesn't fit in with the standard honeycomb but will leave it as it is for now.

Found this picture I took during its first snow foam wash! (before the spacers were on)
Bought Magifoam and a cheapy lance. Really pleased with the snow foam, and the lance applies it pretty well.

 

[RDS]

Looks nice mate, its amazing how much better these look after being lowered. To be able to pull just mesh off on the front you need to get a larger honeycomb and cut the crash bar so its out of sight, or do this

 

[Ben:]

Looks nice mate, its amazing how much better these look after being lowered. To be able to pull just mesh off on the front you need to get a larger honeycomb and cut the crash bar so its out of sight, or do this

Thanks
Yeah I really like the look and feel of the car now. Can't seem to own a car without putting it on coilovers haha

I've read your readers ride and that's a lovely car!!
Saw you'd made that new grille, its amazing! Very tempted by that tbh as it looks a lot better.

Fitted a FMIC today and doesn't look too bad with the mesh but we'll see.

Pics to follow

 

[Ben:]

Large Toyosports FMIC fitted

After lots of research and reading threads on here over and over again I eventually bought a Toyosports large FMIC and custom pipework from eBay.

I mainly followed this great guide:
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=353162
This helped SO much, so thanks a lot!

I used a reducer straight off the cooler so I could use 63mm pipe.
Managed to keep the fogs and didn't have to do loads of cutting to the bumper.

Jacked up and wheels off.
Bumper off.
Side mount intercooler air ducts removed.
Intercoolers, ducts, pipework and crash bar removed.



Cooler mounted and pipework connected up



Both sides connected and finished



Bumper trimmed and fitted



Looking good



Took me about 12 hours to do everything in total.
Spent a lot of time figuring out how best to mount the cooler and trimming the bumper.
I used T Bolt clamps instead of jubilees and they seem well worth the extra pennies!
I can see now that I have mounted it lower than many others have, hopefully not too close to the road...
Other than cutting the cross members and removing the back plate from the crash bar I haven't had to cut anything else on the car.
I also didn't have to cut any of the piping, was just a case of wiggling it about to fit.

Took it down the road for a quick test. Nothing popped off, immediately feels like it pulls a lot harder and for longer, sounds a little different.
Cost me about £260 for everything, which seems well worth it over the Forge kit. Although there is a lot more work required to make this one fit.
Overall, LOVE IT

 

[wild willy]

Lovely car mate, the hard work certainly shows.
One thing though, i noticed in the first pics the tyres are worn on the insides. Mine are the same and are caused by excessive play in the top mounts (can also be tracking) did you replace them when fitting the coil overs. Would hate to see new tyres go the same way.

 

[DOLBY]

Nice car mate.


Sent from my iPhone when I should be working....

 

[Chris-cupra R]

Looks great nice one

 

[h0tr0x]

love that mate, nice one!

 

[J@mes W]

Lovely LCR you have there, looks mean as hell. Got to love black LCR's.

 

[Ben:]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone!

Gave it a good clean today, decided to use the snow foam as it was looking fairly mucky.
Then machine polished the bonnet and bumper. Will never be 100% happy with the bonnet as there are many deep scratches and stone chips from the previous owner. May get it resprayed eventually but just use plenty of glaze to hide them for now.

Small update:
Bought some new centre caps as the others were pealing and 5 nut caps as some were missing.



Think they finish the wheels off nicely

 

[kinder]

Nice work another black one from Norwich was it Tom that machine polished your car

 

[Ben:]

Yes it was
Do you drive a black one?

 

[kinder]

Yer I've got a black one been trying to get him to do mine since I had it just haven't had time or he's busy when I've got the time do need it doing tho

 

[Ben:]

Seen a black one driving around Norwich, do you always flash at another one? Haha or is that someone else?

Ah I'm sure you'll be pleased when you finally get it done, he did a good good of mine.

 

[kinder]

There's a few black ones In Norwich I don't flash must be a diff one there's one at banatynes gym a lot and now joy has got one not seen his yet

 

[Ben:]

Ah right yeah must be another one lol.
Yeah joy is a good mate He copied me! Except for the red/orange wheels haha. Looks pretty smart.

 

[kinder]

Is his black with red wheels then I've not seen it at all may have to catch up with him soon been a while