Chino's Ibiza FR 20VT - 7.5 years on...

[knight85]

yeah, so when i lower the car i will have to get 4 wheel allignment anyway so might be worth get both upper and lower done at same time.

any idea on prices? guess the cupra bushes are seat parts? Also what sort of labour time are we looking at?

 

[Damoegan]

No need to drop the subframe to do ARB bushes.

 

[Aimez]

yeah, so when i lower the car i will have to get 4 wheel allignment anyway so might be worth get both upper and lower done at same time.

any idea on prices? guess the cupra bushes are seat parts? Also what sort of labour time are we looking at?

I had cupra and powerflex bushes done at the same time as coilovers then wheel alignment cost me £333. I also then found out my front ARB collars were apparently 'broken' had to get that done elsewhere as they had no bits. Turned out they were not broken at all just alot of play but replaced them with Skoda ones, better quality and uprated ones were well over £100 before fitting, Skoda ones cost £70 including fitting. Just a warning in case they find this on yours very common. Took all day to have the work done at a VAG specialist.

 

[knight85]

jeez...expensive day, hoping to get mine spring and shock set fitted at my local vag garage...didnt realise allignment cost that much!

 

[Aimez]

The alignment was actually the most expensive part about £100 (that is the bill for both bushes and coilovers fitted BTW) that was 4 wheel alignment (yes I know there are argument threads that say it is a waste of time 4 wheels can't be done and we are all being ripped off!) I nearly was ripped by the specialist garage as when I took it to my local garage to get the ARB link fitted they said er they are not broken and no you do not need wheel alignment again after this job (specialist told me I would!).
Yeh was alot of money still that's why I had to wait a while to get them fitted couldn't afford to buy them and fit them in the same months. I am not joking the cars ride is so amazing now not bouncy anymore. Mine is only 35mm low as well (could go lower at the time cos of the ARB links issue) plus my insurance won't let me go any lower!

 

[knight85]

oh...i thought allignment was 333 alone! no that is a good price. I can get allignment done for 45 but not sure if that is all 4 wheels. Will look into the bushes when i eventually buy my dampers and springs

 

[Chino_UK]

My friends and I had a go at adding a few more bits ad bobs over the weekend.

Firstly, we got the Power Gasket on which took about 20-30mins. Unfortunately not really been able to drive the car to test this but will get to that shortly...

Secondly, we got the car up in the air, lowered the rear beam and went to work on the Bushes...for a loooooooong time...to no avail. So, as the light was going form the day we started to put the car back together, knowing I could limp it home and arrange to have it booked in for a garage to fit the Bushes for me. Unfortunately, at this point we discovered the rear brake hoses were not going on too easily and the thread was mashed on the drivers side rear...queue me coming home from my mates on a recovery truck, no brakes!

So, car is being put on the truck again tomorrow and is off to a local garage for the works to take place. Hoping the thread can be retapped, also the garage have a special pres for the rear beam bushes, so hpoefully it won't take too long.

Also word of advice to anyone running stage 2 software, I had to put petrol in over the weekend at a Total garage (I usually use VPower 99). The car seriously did not like it, misfiring etc! So had to brim it with Vpower and dump some Redex octane booster to try and calm it down again..not good!!!

 

[Damoegan]

I'm sure the threads will be able to be re tapped, Will.

I only ever put V-Power in mine too

 

[Chino_UK]

Well, they only had time slots available Thursday, but have said if I drop it with them, they will work on it where they have time come up before that.

I was a bit anxious when I was putting it in TBH, I hate using lower octane stuff, but it was the only choice I had and I needed petrol....just gambled I had enough VPower in to keep it running ok...til it started misfiring a bit on the motorway...was sat doing 50 in 5th (my top gear), keeping off boost til I got to a service station! It's now blowing white smoke from the octane booster but appears to be ok apart from that, no warning lights (apart from the brakes).

 

[Chino_UK]

It got taken to the garage to be fixed this morning:

 

[Hartosh1]

I hope all is well Chino mate! I always use V-power in mine but i do have to travel 27 miles to get it

 

[Chino_UK]

When I checked this morning it had Fault Codes 18000 and 16688 (i think that last ones right), both relating to turbo pressure readings, hopefully they will go on their own as the fueling smooths out. Just have to take it gentle til then.

 

[Scott-o]

Did Solly knack the ibiza :O

Hope it gets sorted asap!

 

[Aimez]

Are you saying you have to use V-power and Ultimate and the like with a stage 2 remap?!

 

[Chino_UK]

I think so Aimez, it certainly did not like the old 95RON gumph I had to put in on Saturday! It's always run on VPower up until then, heck, Saturday morning I was having a blast with a Carrera S on the old V-Power, was running like a dream!!!

Scott, wasn't Sollys fault really, think it was just waiting to happen. Be warned, if you want to change the rear bushes you need either a blow torch or a press to get the blighters out!

 

[Aimez]

I have only used that stuff once, filled up after nearly running the tank dry and felt no benefit whatsoever and felt robbed. I think people 'think' it makes the car run better and convince themselves it does to justify spending more! But if the car is remapped why do you need to do this, no actual mechanical parts have been changed? Is this what the company that remapped it for you told you?
Sorry for all the question just I wan to go to stage two asap and didn't realise this.
Is your car not running right just because of this? Seems bit extreme no like you put the wrong fuel in and you need the system drained is it?

 

[Chino_UK]

I think Stage 2 is optimised to work with a higher octane. That's where it gets a lot of the power from. When a car leaves the factory it comes with a generic map that is tolerant to the lowest quality fuel you are likely to encounter. By remapping, the fuel/air mix is tweaked to do away with some of these tolerances to gain benefits like power or better mpg from better quality fuels. So it makes sense a car may not like poor quality fuel after a remap(and lets face it, Total is prolly as cr@p as you will encounter in this country). My old Corsa used t be the same, after a remap it had to run on premium.
This has always been my understanding of remapping, correct me if I am wrong. I have always felt a difference in the Ibiza, on standard mapping as well, between Premium and normal fuels.

 

[Aimez]

Well mine is not mapped yet and I felt no difference other than lighter bank account!
But I hear what you are saying after the remap then yes you must be right, I will have to remember this and start using it before it gets mapped then. Thanks!

 

[Chino_UK]

As I say, the above isn't gospel, was just always the way I was lead to believe it worked. There are more cleaners etc in the more expensive fuels etc as well.

 

[Scott-o]

Aimez with the diesels its better to use the better stuff, or standard stuff with some fuel additive. Keeps the injectors free and clean and ensures a cleaner combustion. With diesels the ports and inlet manifold can become stuffed full of carbon. Seen it on tons of heads we get in at work. Dont think i have ever put normal fuel in mine ever! Bottle of additive i use is 12.99 and lasts me about 2000 miles, so its not allot extra tbh

Any word on if the car is sorted yet chino?