hb69s' Leon Cupra Track Car (28/2/15)Brands Hatch

[Hb69]

So a couple of months ago I bought a Leon off a friend, although its badged as a cupra it says sport 180 on the paperwork, anyways its had a few bits done

Air filter and TIP
Cobra exhaust
Coilovers

When I got it was on Octavia vrs wheels which I had to give back to my friend, but it came with the original wheels on rubbish tyres. I have t1-r's on my daily and I know how well they grip I decided to get them for the Leon

It came with some sound system wiring, that got binned

I did a track day at brands hatch a few weeks back, power wise its great, the brakes are fine, the only thing that let it down big time is the anti roll bar rubbing on the driveshaft. So options are to raise it up (coilovers appear to be seized), replace arb for a better one that goes under the driveshafts (more money and a pain of a job to do). Its not rubbed on track days when my friend owned it, mind you he never did brands hatch.

Few pics from brands

Ordered a powerflex dogbone as I had one on my golf and it made it much nicer to drive

One of the daily, as its a bit if a track veteran too

Cheers, comments welcome etc

Love the site btw

 

[Hb69]

I've started making an effort to tighten things up a bit, I've found before that fitting poly bushes does that job nicely.

So firstly the dogbone bush got replaced

Then it was the steering rack bush

And bolted together

I've got the front dogbone bush en route and a few others soon

Thanks for reading!

 

[Hb69]

Last month I had another track day adventure, this time at castle combe in Chippenham. I had the week off work before to get a few bits done, my main agenda was to climate the arb rubbing on the driveshafts, as that was annoying at brands.

Started with arb link bushes, these were clearly worn and gave the arb too much movement

Bought some new ones as I cocked up removal of one of the old bushes

New bushes (superpro)

Pressed in

Bolted on

Lovely, alone they make a difference, probably as the old ones were so worn

Next I went to a track day at a local circuit called Lydden Hill, didn't take the Leon round as I knew I had castle combe at the end of the week. Photo of it next to a few of my mates track cars

While I was there I picked up some new bushes. First to change were the top mounts and bearings

Old vs new

The gap in the top mount and bodywork virtually disappeared so that meant the gap between the arb and driveshaft should have got a bit wider

I also picked up a dogbone front bush (superpro) so got that fitted asap

Added to the improved gearchange the rear bush already gave. No extra vibrations in the cabin so I'm happy with that.

Then it was time for castle combe, my friend came out as a passenger in one session and filmed the experience

http://youtu.be/GMOIdSVmMso

And a random picture I found on the internet, showing a bit of jom lean there

Suppose it goes without saying next I'm looking for suspension, damping adjustable coilovers specifically. Either v-maxx or konis are on the table at the moment, as I'm still on a budget. Then probably a rear arb and some decent brake pads. Ideally I'd like to get another track day in before the end of the year

 

[Hb69]

I've been busy buying parts to sort out the biggest weaknesses I've found on track. Firstly the brakes, at castle combe suffered from the discs warping and fading towards the end of each session. New discs, pads and fluid will hopefully sort it nicely.

The suspension was the other major flaw, I wanted damping adjustment as well as height. I decided to go for spax coilovers. I have spax suspension on my daily and I'm happy with it.

Waiting for a day spare to get them all bolted on. Then off to get it set up somewhere...

 

[Hb69]

Having had a spare few hours last week I started bolting a few of the bits I'd bought to the car. First was some Black Forest Green gearbox mount inserts, got them off Graham81 recently

They have improved the overall experience no end, possibly because my old ones were so worn, the new ones felt a bit more solid too.

Started with the suspension, I knew the rears were quick to do, so swapped them over. The poor old jom's look a bit sorry for themselves. Only a year old!

The comparison in quality and ride is amazing. I've only got the shocks set to soft at the moment but still make a massive difference.

I did start with the fronts, but lack of a hub seperator put a stop to that work. So that tool is on order.

Ordered a new oil filter, as its about due an oil change, tempted to wait till I've got a baffled sump for it, and a new pickup pipe.

Took a photo of it too, first time out in a couple of months

Doesn't look much, but thats how I like it

Cheers

 

[Hb69]

Hub separator tools arrived so I got the front coilovers bolted on. The tools made it so easy to do, definitely worth the few pounds rather than struggling with a chisel, screwdriver etc

Picture of the old jom and new spax unit

Got the new brakes on too

I put the caliper springy thing back in after taking the photo

After that I bled the brakes, several times to get the pedal back to a reasonable height, its still lower than it was before. Not sure if I need to do them again or what?

Did an oil and filter change too, saw tiny bits of dipstick tube in the oil. It broke a few months back and I replaced it. The best thing I can do is take the sump off and inspect the pickup pipe. Kind of works out anyway as I've been toying with the idea of getting a baffled sump from forge. Next track day is likely to be next month if I can get it all sorted by then.

 

[Hb69]

Haven't updated this for a while as I'm not sure there's much interest in what I'm doing, but its pretty cool for me to look back at what I've done so I'll post an update

Didn't get any track days done before the end of the year for various reasons, but I had been accumulating parts ready for when I had the time to work on it.

Sump sealant, various gaskets, pickup pipe etc

Forge baffled sump

Coolant temp sensor, as unsure whether its the thermostat or sensor causing no reading

Sai delete bits

Compbrake short shift

New spark plugs, as its stage 2 mapped apparently these are good plugs for it

NGK iridium affairs, pictured along with new arb bush clamps

New arb bushes and clamps, superpro 23mm

No pictures of them fitted as it was pretty dark, but they were no where near as hard to fit as I thought they would be!

Then I started out with the sump

Old one came out after some undoing and cursing at the two offset bolts at the gearbox end! Still, I got the right tools and it all came off. Fortunate I did really as this was in the sump

And there was more dipstick in the pickup pipe, but that was being replaced too!

New sump on

While I had the sump off I thought it would be a good time to bin the sai, so out it came!

Blanked off and all the pipework removed. Resistor soldered in place, not really much to see so no photos,but also no engine light so far, so fingers crossed I've done it properly...As I had to undo the coolant temp sensor housing for the sai I changed that at the same time. The gauge reads correctly but still doesn't go to 90 so I suspect thermostat fault.

Took it for a quick run to check for leaks, after tightening everything twice it seems OK, really need a longer run to double check things for peice of mind though.

Next job is the quickshift when I have a few minutes spare

 

[Daniel M]

Awesome work mate. Surprised nobody has commented on this thread.

Would love a track car but couldnt afford one at the moment. Do you have any plans for the engine?

 

[Hb69]

Cheers! its already stage 2 as in exhaust, tip, filter and map, so the only other thing I'd want to do engine wise would be a fmic. The toyosports one looks ideal. When it was mapped it was at 226bhp, without an LSD to help I'm not sure I want more power

 

[irf]

Nice work! Surprised you didn't have any problems with the sump cos I had quite a few.

Just watched the Combe video, some proper muppets out there!

 

[Hb69]

Thanks irf! Yeah I was a bit cautious fitting the sump as you said you encountered problems with yours, I've only done a few miles in it so its early days for leaks. The only seal I reused was the level/temp sensor so we shall see how it holds out!

Yeah, because its just public track sessions its often peoples first experience of track driving, so they think there in a race or just don't use their mirrors

 

[Daniel M]

Are you going to strip it out any, if not already done so?

 

[Hb69]

Are you going to strip it out any, if not already done so?

Yeah, can't believe I didn't mention it before

It was largely stripped out by a previous owner, possibly in persuit of a water ingress, possibly for cool points. Either way I was left with half the rear bench and the parcel shelf in the back. Both of which got removed the day I bought it. So the carpet, headliner and virtually everything else are removed. It really isn't very loud cruising, I thought it would be

And while I was out taking that picture I figured I'd try and get a pic of the sai blanking plate in place

Cheers!

 

[Daniel M]

Looks good, any plans for a cage or anything?

If my MK2 was stripped out the road noise would be unbearable haha

 

[JackoFR]

Looks great mate, i'll definitely be keeping an eye out for the new stuff

 

[Hb69]

Looks good, any plans for a cage or anything?

If my MK2 was stripped out the road noise would be unbearable haha

Yeah I'd like to get one, they aren't even that expensive, its definately on the list! Probably need buckets and harnesses too...

Cheers jacko!

 

[Hb69]

Quickshift is fitted and makes so much difference! The whole experience of driving the car is transformed by it

Going to use it daily for a few days to check for leaks from the sump too

 

[Daniel M]

Are they as easy to fit as everyone says the quickshifts?

 

[Hb69]

Yeah, really quick to do. One nut in my case, and a ball joint for the linkage. Used a ball joint splitter to pull them apart, put the new one on in its place, adjust positioning to reduce/increase throw and tighten.done. ones of my favourite mods.

 

[Hb69]

With the issues I mentioned before I decided I should tackle them while I had a day spare.

So I started with trying to get the coolant temperature sorted, in a previous post I changed the coolant temperature sensor for a new one, which didn't change anything, the temperature gauge was sitting at 60 unless it sat idling for a long time. So the thermostat appeared to be at fault. I ordered a new one and got it fitted, nice easy job when you have the right tools

Rubbish picture of the old one in place

Pulled that one out and fitted the new one, refitted the housing and hoses. Ran the system to temperature and checked the gauge was accurate

Lovely, so temperature sorted, warm air through the vents. Nice!

The other job was the slight oil leak coming from the sump, since fitted the forge item it looks like its been coming from the sump plug, so I changed that over for a genuine item, there is a difference in the two, time will tell if it changes anything.

Forge on the left, SEAT on the right

The only other thing to mention is the SAI threw up a fault after 100 or so miles of use, cleared it down and it hasn't come back, if its one of those things then its fine I guess. Maybe the resistor is at fault, i used a 330 ohm item though?!

Not sure what's next, might be selling the daily very soon, so the Leon will have to fulfill that role until another one is found!