My Mk3 Imperial Blue K03S Ibiza Cupra :)

[Liamx]

Welcome reader .

Prior to buying this car I drove a stripped 106 GTi running in the region of 140bhp. As fun as it was I decided it was time to move onto something with forced induction, better build quality and something which was alot more civilised to drive day to day. (Picture's of said car below).





After owning her for a couple of months I figured it was probably time to start a build thread .

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Lets get the current spec out of the way first before I explain what I intend to attempt with this thread.

Any parts that have changed during my ownership are highlighted in bold .

Engine

- k03s Turbo
- Forge Front Mounted Intercooler
- Forge 007p
- Forge Turbo Intake Pipe
- Forge Diverter Valve Cold Side Relocation
- OE Airbox with OE Filter Replaced with Jetex Cone Filter & Forge Silicon Hoses
- Blueflame turbo back exhaust with 200 cell cat
- Jabbasport stage 2 custom map
- Single mass flywheel conversion
- N Valve Bypassses

Handling & Braking

- H&R Cup Shocks & Springs
- Seat Sport Strut Brace
- Audi TT Front Calipers & Discs
- Fresh Wishbone Ball Joints
- Golf R32 Wishbone Bushes
- Neuspeed 28mm Rear Anti Roll Bar

Exterior

- Audi RS4 wheels with 205/40/17 Yokohoma Parada’s
- Leon Cupra splitter Claimed by a speedbump! - Brand new one fitted March 2011
- Colour coded bump strips

Interior

- Nomad door pillar with Boost & Oil Temp Gauge's
- Ibiza Cupra R Gauge holder (Currently empty and likely to stay so)

Misc

- Toad Alarm (Thatcham Cat 1 Approved)

Facts and Figures

- Dyno printout showing peak figures of;
263.6 flywheel horsepower
284.9 lb’s torque



Granted the power figures are more likely to be 240-250 with this spec.

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Unfortunately I haven't taken any good pictures of the car yet, ill put some up when I get chance to take some !

Now then, what I intend to do with this build thread is pass on my experience from the tasks I complete, aswell as links I found useful when carrying out these tasks, to hopefully provide a useful aid to anyone who is looking to do them themselves.

Enjoy! .

 

[Liamx]

After collecting the car, my first drive home down 50 miles of the M1 was lets say - eventful.

15 minutes away from where I set off I was greeted by the hideous noise of the water temp warning light.
Due to following someone else back to my house I had no choice but to continue following them and keep well off boost.

Arriving on my driveway I was greeted with a rather large trail of engine coolant and got straight on the phone to Ben, the previous owner, who suggested it could be a perished or missing seal on the expansion tank. However checking the seal showed it was in perfect working order and investigations continued.

Idling the car on the drive I spotted a split in the lower rad hose, which led to hour after hour of labour to get it fixed;

After a while struggling to remove the clips and hoses due to where they were positioned inbetween intercooler piping and brackets, I finally removed this;



To find this; (Note that its a rather large gash, however it was only slightly split in the very centre.)



Which was then fixed using this; (Which is still holding strong 2 months down the line, and hopefully will do untill the hose is replaced with uprated hoses.)



9 hours later, she was fixed. The hose had been removed, the coolant had been drained, the hose had been fixed and refitted and the coolant had been refilled (40% coolant, 60% water).

9 hours of struggling and fidgeting between hoses and brackets resulted in this on both sides of both arms;

 

[Liamx]

Collected a rather large friend on the A50 a couple of weeks ago!



After returning from my holiday I found that she had developed a rough idle & strange trip computer readings.

I carried out the usual checks, disconnecting the MAF to see if she ran any better than before, with the MAF disconnected her idling was cured (either that or it was pot luck that she ran fine for that 30 seconds or so).

I decided it would be a good idea to run her through VAG COM, the results came back as shown;



Believing this was down to a faulty MAF, I set off to Eurocarparts and exchanged my MAF along with £70 of my hard earned cash, for a new MAF;



However this made no difference to her idling issues, nor her trip computer readings or VAG COM results.

With the MAF sensor out of the equation I tracked the cables back and ensured they were all in good condition which they were and had good connections, which they did.

Alas, I am stumped for ideas and will be taking her down to Stealth Racing in the next few weeks.

 

[Liamx]

As most people will have found, it only takes a slight breeze of wind to scratch the plastic on the OE door handles.

Using Hillmandj's door handle repairing guide (http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=211095)

I removed all of my door handles and began to sand them down;



First using general purpose medium sandpaper to remove the rubber coating, I then used general purpose fine sandpaper to ensure they were smooth in perperation for primer;



The handles are still awaiting primer however I haven't started work on one of the drivers side handle's and hopefully someone can help me with this.

As you can see from the picture below, on this handle you have the transparent mirror adjustment symbols where the red lights shine through, what do you think would be the best way to sand, primer and paint the handle to ensure that these symbols still exist and are still allowing light through?



Whilst the door handles were off, I figured it was a good time to completely removed the door card and fix the sticking locking mechanism on the drivers door.

Using p34ch3y's door card removal guide (http://www.seatcupra.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=460&Itemid=6)

I removed the door card, once it was off I simply sprayed the mechanism and surrounding components with WD40. Im glad to say this fixed the sticking mechanism (Opening the drivers door using the key was getting on my nerves after a couple of days!)

 

[Liamx]

Edited to add pictures of past and previous cars above .

Forgot to mention above that a couple of days after getting her a speedbump kindly took off my splitter! Didnt get any pictures unfortunately but a new one should be on its way shortly .

3 of my handles have been finished now, they're far from perfect but im happy with the results, anytime I go near paint usually I end up with an unexplainable mess. (Pictures to follow when I get the car back!)

The last handle is the troublesome one, I thought I had it covered with my blue tac idea but it hasnt turned out aswell as I had hoped. Might just end up spraying the whole handle instead.

Pre Blue Tac Removal;


*sigh* Which brings me to today... Usual day at work, pop out to the shops for something to eat, car starts fine & runs fine. Come back to the car and she refused to start, regardless of everything I tryed she was completely dead.

Quick call to my breakdown providers and they were on their way. The guy that arrived tryed everything I had already tryed and ran her through both of his diagnostic kits - not a single fault code. Between us we came to the conclusion that since there was no spark on any cylinder that something was restricting the ignition, either the crank sensor or the immobiliser playing up. She's currently sat at the garage awaiting a full diagnostic .



(Admit it, you're jealous of my Paint skills !)

 

[Liamx]

One new crank sensor and she's all fixed !

 

[clairehall]

Lovely car mate, iv just bought a silver one. 2weeks ago.



Great cars

 

[Liamx]

Cheers Need to take some decent pictures of her.

Yeah I had a look at your build thread, making good progress already !

Anyone know what it is that controls the trip computers reading's? Does wheel speed contribute to it?

 

[andy1010]

i like this car on them wheels same colour as mine such a nice colour i need to get pics of mine on here

 

[phil_kod]

106 looks sik

 

[Liamx]

i like this car on them wheels same colour as mine such a nice colour i need to get pics of mine on here

Cheers mate Definately need to take some better pictures of her!

Yeah get some on here!

 

[Liamx]

106 looks sik

Haha cheers It was a gorgeous looking car!

 

[DaleGT]

nice ibiza mate, blue is best

 

[p34ch3y]

nice wheels mate

 

[cus]

so you were after better build quality!??!?! and you got a mk3 ibiza? lol

looks really nice! love the rims, i had some 18's on my audi a4

best colour too

 

[Liamx]

nice ibiza mate, blue is best

Agreed, I was looking for a black one initially but im quite glad now that I went for a Blue one instead !

 

[Liamx]

nice wheels mate

Haha yeah they are nice wheels, they really look like they're OE in my opinion - even more so on yours!

Tempted to get them refurbed and powdercoated white?

 

[Liamx]

so you were after better build quality!??!?! and you got a mk3 ibiza? lol

looks really nice! love the rims, i had some 18's on my audi a4

best colour too

The build quality is far better than a 1997 Peugeot !

Cheers Couple of exterior changes I want to make, but nothing drastic.

 

[DaleGT]

Haha yeah they are nice wheels, they really look like they're OE in my opinion - even more so on yours!

Tempted to get them refurbed and powdercoated white?

mk3 blue picture thread theres one in there with your wheels in white, it looks mint

 

[Liamx]

mk3 blue picture thread theres one in there with your wheels in white, it looks mint

Haha was looking at that aswell earlier today Must admit its pushed me more towards doing them white!