Robbie C's Ibiza Cupra

Cheers Tom/Josh. Must admit it put a smile on my face just to get out in the garage and get the covers off - I barely remember what it even feels like to drive tbh.

Got the battery off this morning for Dale to charge, registering just 3V after 6 months idle... looks like the cold really got to it.

Also had this little bad boy arrive today:

I opted for Ebay in the end through Eclipse Racing - Turbo Dynamics and AET both wanted ~£330, whereas Eclipse had it listed for £270 delivered

After getting my battery sorted I dropped Pedro back over to Badger5 on the weekend, ready for some TLC. Here she is, finally back out on the road and alongside Vera:





After all the trouble I've had with my water methanol kit I've asked Bill to swap it out for a new AEM kit which offers a bit more redundancy if there's a fault in the system or I run low on methanol. I'm getting the output fed into my Turbosmart e-Boost EBC so that it literally switches it off in the event of a WMI failure, dropping me down to actuator pressure. A bit of a heavy handed approach, but better safe than sorry.

I'm also interested in the potential to run this FAILSAFE kit too: http://www.aemelectronics.com/water-methanol-failsafe-device-4mm-metric-1224, though don't know of anyone running one at the moment.

Ideally I'd like to have something that could dynamically retard timing and clip boost if an error was detected, but I doubt the ME7 is intelligent enough to accommodate this.

Several weeks on and I've now got Pedro back from Bill, having had the new AEM WMI kit fitted in-line with my EBoost EBC and a cut-off solenoid in case of low-level or WMI failure for safety.

The remap was then finally adjusted for my higher compression 1.9 rebuild to see what results could be seen on my existing K03 hybrid, which was a mixed bag of results.

With the 1.9 and ported smallport the volumetric efficiency has been raised by such an extent that the little K03 is ultimately acting as a choke point in the system, unable to sustain the flow what the engine is forcing in. This has led to an earlier onset of boost and relative torque, but with an earlier drop-off in power too.

With a little tweaking and the addition of WMI the end result was 273 BHP, 310 lb/ft

Here's the before/after plots which paint a clear picture:





As before, I requested that the map was made more aggressive than linear out of personal preference and the car certainly feels more lively than before as it throws in as much boost as it can handle, but ultimately drops off the power curve quicker too.

For the first time in my ownership, I've really started to re-evaluate where I want to take the car from here. On the way home I had a play with a V12 DB9 and although it was great fun to surprise something like that, I couldn't help but feel I was still sat in a SEAT while he cruised off in his Aston...

Things have definitely changed for me since I got my BMW where I'm now used to more refinement and status and this has undoubtedly had a knock-on effect with this car, leaving me questionning what to do with it.

I'd like to have something I can use on track on a regular basis and it's clear that in its current state of tune the Cupra can't offer enough reliability for that unless I spend more money getting it setup properly with a different turbo, buckets/cage and more linear map and I'm just not sure I want to spend the money on what's now an 11 year old SEAT.

The car owes me over 20k now which I'mnever going to see again and I'm not sure I can ever justify spending more money on something my heart isn't 100% in - but I'm not sure where that leaves me from here.

Options at this stage include:

1. Rebuild K03 to 2283 hybrid, 550CC injectors, new linear remap, ported manifold and bucket seats to get it more track orientated, with a comfortable ~320 BHP

2. Spend £££ on "finishing" the project with a BT Garrett 2868 HTA that will see high 300/low 400 power

3. Sell/break the car to get what money back I can and buy something as a track toy, possibly a supercharged VX220

Ultimately I feel as if I've outgrown this car, but then if I'm intending to use it as more of a dedicated track toy then should this necessarily cause an issue?

Tough call

ibizacupra said:

If you want a track car, turn this into a track car,.... proper one... not gay half and half daily like it is currently..

Click to expand...

lol, cheers Bill, can always rely on your honest advice

I decided to go and have a look at a VX220 today just to see what they're like but don't really think it's for me. While it was a tidy example I looked at, it's clear that this is for all intents and purposes a kit car, with kit car build quality.

The fibreglass clams are so fragile and the cabin just didn't feel a solid place to be sat, though a fantastic driving position and fun experience to go out in one. I can see something like this needing constant maintenance with little things breaking here and there, especially when abused on track and I'm not sure I'd have the patience for it.

Having given this a lot more thought today I think I really just need to re-evaluate what I want to get out of the Cupra rather than necessarily get rid of it after so much time and money has gone into it and it promises a lot more potential with the correct turbo bolted on. From here I'll concentrate my efforts on making it more of a dedicated track toy that can be fully exploited in the right environment. Watch this space