Project Black Mamba - 2009 Leon Cupra

[Poko]

Ok, here we go,
After several years of driving some larger and less sporty cars (my last one is an Audi A6) I have decided that the wife should drive those and I will get myself a new toy.

After some considerations and test driving several cars like the STI , GTI and the S3 the decision has been taken to go for a new Seat Leon Cupra.

For those of you in the US market who don't know the brand or the car , it is basically a hybrid between the GTI and Audi S3/ED30. That means that it’s a k04 car with S3 internals and aluminum suspension but with a FWD only. OEM numbers are 237 bhp and 221 Lb/Ft

but I wanted my new toy to be special, and found a listening ear at the local SEAT distributer. That's why the car was taken with 10 miles on the clock directly to SEAT body shop for a new coat of paint.

once it got there the shop manager and Israeli VAG service manager immediately called me to a meeting , to meet the crazy guy who is going to do a paint job to a brand new car.

2 hours later and after signing a form declaring that I am the insane guy who needs to be committed and it's none of their fault the work began.

a week and a half later and after the arrival of a shipment from Germany of OEM Lamborghini Nero nemesis Matte black color , this is the result :

 

[Poko]

Ok, now I have got the car.

First drive and the car really don't feel like it has 240bhp. Yes, I am fast, but it is all so linear that it really doesn't feel that way. It is really time to tuning the car.

It all began very modestly, and you can see that in some posts I made some month ago. I really learned what was possible and considered my options and tuning company to go with.

Than, unfortunately, I began talking with Keith from APR and with the local distributer. Those talks were followed by some more talks with Seat motorsport division, KW suspension motorsports division and a few other guys you will learn about in the near future.

After all those talks , I had several more talks , this time with my bank manager , who also advised me to get some pills for my disease and forget about the project , but somehow he was convinced and the madness began.

This is really going to be one of the largest projects you have seen recently and it will be also very interesting since I am going to do it in stages.

The stages concept was conceived in order to really let me appreciate every step of the tuning process and decide for myself if it really improves or degrades.

The ultimate goal is to get a Race car for the road which means I will have loads of power , yes, but I will also care about how it is delivered . Handling and suspension tuning are also major parts of this project and you will soon see some unique stuff.

Ok, the car has already 300 miles on the clock, it is really time to begin.

 

[Poko]

So without further a due, here is stage 1
For stage 1 I just wanted to see how much can a software really do on those engines.
So a 10 minutes stop at the local APR dealer and Version 2.2 of APR stage 1 software for the S3/ED30 k04 cars is installed.
I then drove the car around 100 miles of to finish the learning phase and off we go to the dyno.

The Dyno I choose to use for this project is one owned by the local Sparco distributer who also prepares all of the rally teams.

The dyno is a Dynapack which measures HP At the wheel and is considered extremely pessimistic. All of the EVO and STI guys are spending their time in the local forums bitching on this dyno and the low numbers it yields.

So, the car goes on the dyno and here are the numbers :

Since torque is calculated in KG/M in Israel, in conversion to LB/FT it comes to 224 LB/FT.
So around 210 WHP and 224 LB/FT at the flywheel is exactly what the manufacturer prescribed , and estimated drive train loss here is around 12% which also sounds about right.

Ok, now moving on to the APR stage1 Dyno :

We did 6 dyno pulls on this since the numbers are unbelievable.
300.1 WHP and 304 LB/FT of torque
That comes to over 90 WHP and 80 Lb/FT of gain on just software.
completely stock car with just 500 miles on the clock.

Truly unbelievable numbers, and that's on a Dynapack , not some MAHA or a DynoJet.

 

[DaveysFR]

Love the matte paint good figures from Stage 1 there, keep up the good work. I will be following your project with interest.

 

[Rob FR TDi]

Holy Jebus, Where do you live, I would most certianly like to dry hump it

How much was the full body spray if you don't mind me asking?

 

[stezo2k]

wow, that looks amazing

what a great job there

how much did that cost? i'm guessing it wasnt cheap considering its the same paint used on lambos

 

[Poko]

cost (in israel) was around 2500 pounds for work and around 800 pounds metrials.

 

[daboy3000]

Nice car but really don't like the paint, maybe the photos don't do it justice but to me it looks like a banger!

 

[Willie]

This has the makings for an awesome car.
I know of one with 360BHP+ that's getting track prepped just now and know it's going to be a beast.

Keep up the good work

BTW LOVIN the paint job

 

[Mully]

I absolutly bone matte black cars and new cupra's so this to me is something special! Definatly keepin tabs on this progress

 

[ath55]

I love the car mate. Will be keeping a keen eye on future upgrades.
Keep up the good work

 

[Invisible]

Colour is great.

Anyone who wants to do a complete re-spray on a brand new motor has to be a little bit mad!!

Having said that, at least it is unique and that in my opinion is a good thing.

I have a red K1 and it has crossed my mind to have a respray in a unique colour, not sure I'd be crazy enough to go for a lambo matt black but nethertheless looks awesome.

Not sure what you have planned next but can I suggest you get front and rear Anti-roll bars (ARB)s and a WALK (Whiteline Anti-lift Kit). They are mods I am planning on mine soon and advised that that will help the handling and wheel hop greatly.

Will watch future updates with interest, keep up the work

 

[Willie]

Colour is great.

Anyone who wants to do a complete re-spray on a brand new motor has to be a little bit mad!!

Having said that, at least it is unique and that in my opinion is a good thing.

I have a red K1 and it has crossed my mind to have a respray in a unique colour, not sure I'd be crazy enough to go for a lambo matt black but nethertheless looks awesome.

Not sure what you have planned next but can I suggest you get front and rear Anti-roll bars (ARB)s and a WALK (Whiteline Anti-lift Kit). They are mods I am planning on mine soon and advised that that will help the handling and wheel hop greatly.

Will watch future updates with interest, keep up the work

Neither of the above mods will help wheel hop, wheel hop is caused by the engine moving under load. You need to uprated your engine mounts to help with this.
I think fitting uprated ARB's to the MK2 LC is a waste. A good stiff suspension/coilover set up and WALK kit with good tyres and the car should handle very well.

 

[Invisible]

Neither of the above mods will help wheel hop, wheel hop is caused by the engine moving under load. You need to uprated your engine mounts to help with this.
I think fitting uprated ARB's to the MK2 LC is a waste. A good stiff suspension/coilover set up and WALK kit with good tyres and the car should handle very well.

Fair comment, engine mounts aswell. I plan to do mine in stages just so I can record the improvements, if any along the way

 

[Poko]

Not sure what you have planned next but can I suggest you get front and rear Anti-roll bars (ARB)s and a WALK (Whiteline Anti-lift Kit). They are mods I am planning on mine soon and advised that that will help the handling and wheel hop greatly.

you will see updates next week.

the plan is much larger than that.

a complete suspension setup was already installed including ARB's and not it is being taken off the car for refinment . more on that next week.

 

[Poko]

. You need to uprated your engine mounts to help with this.
I think fitting uprated ARB's to the MK2 LC is a waste. A good stiff suspension/coilover set up and WALK kit with good tyres and the car should handle very well.

Engine mounts are important , especially the rear mount.
however i disagree with you on the ARB's.

i do everything very methodically , and next week i will get some more info on the suspensions. but the ARB's do make a huge difference .

 

[Willie]

Engine mounts are important , especially the rear mount.
however i disagree with you on the ARB's.

i do everything very methodically , and next week i will get some more info on the suspensions. but the ARB's do make a huge difference .

I know that ARB's make a huge difference as I did the methodical and periodic suspension mods on my MK1 LCR and proved this to myself.
But having been in a well driven MK2 LC there is very little body roll even with OEM suspension.
I wouldn't fit uprated ARB's to a MK2 LC before driving it hard with uprated suspension to see how it feels without it.

Each to their own

 

[barney501]

absolutley love the colour of this! sex weeeeee

 

[dazjb69]

If I had that paint job the kids would have chalked all over it by now!!

 

[Poko]

I know that ARB's make a huge difference as I did the methodical and periodic suspension mods on my MK1 LCR and proved this to myself.
But having been in a well driven MK2 LC there is very little body roll even with OEM suspension.
I wouldn't fit uprated ARB's to a MK2 LC before driving it hard with uprated suspension to see how it feels without it.

Each to their own

i think a little different

the MK2 OEM suspension is really not that good.

it starts out very stiff with very little body roll but as you push it actually "collapses" and you get very high degree of body roll and very low traction.

you could sort that out with just suspension but than you would have to run both compression and rebound extremly stiff and that has its downsides as well.

ARB's allow you to run a little softer suspension while keeping body roll checked.

in any case , getting a good suspension setup is a long and delicate process if you really aim to 100% of the car capabilites and adaptation to your driving roads and styles.

i will post next week a little more on what i'm doing.