My Mk4 Ibiza Cupra 20VT

So, a little of my car history first...

I started out with a Seat Ibiza Mk4 1.4i Sport. I was fortunate enough to be in a position to have a brand new first car and I loved it. I changed all the grilles and mirror covers to FR ones and fitted an LCR splitter too. I also fitted a strut brace under the bonnet.



I managed to fit some rather disgusting rear lights which I quite liked at the time, and then proceded to crash coming off a roundabout doing £1500 worth of damage.



I took this opportunity to fit a Cupra rear bumper..



Not long after I had it fixed, I sold up and bought a Mk4 Cupra 20VT in Emocion Red. This stayed pretty much bog standard, apart from the strut brace which came off my previous car.




I had this for 6 months, but was never really happy with it to be honest. I was young and stupid so bought the first Cupra I saw even though I wanted a black one. The red one wasn't even in the best condition, but as I said, I was young and stupid lol.

So, in December 2007 I bought another bog standard Mk4 Cupra, this time in Black. It was just over a year old with less than 5k on the clock.

First mods didn't take long.. within a week I'd fitted pressed plates, the strut brace that came from both my previous Ibizas, and a set of OEM xenon headlights which I acquired off the bay for a bargain price. Hard to see the difference in the following pic, but they make a massive difference, and I don't think I could own another car without them in the future lol.



Early in 2008 I did my first performance mods which were a P-Torque Stage 1 map, a Forge 007p DV, and a boost gauge to keep a track of things. I soon fitted a Forge TIP and then had my car on the rolling road at Powerstation in Tewkesbury making 211bhp and 217ft/lb.

Skip to about 2mins for the interesting bit...
http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/One_Man_Arsenal/?action=view&current=08112008001.mp4

In the summer of 2008 I got my windows tinted at 50% dark on the fronts and 80% dark on the rear three windows. Doesn't show up so well on this pic, but later pics show the tints better.



So my next mod was a Milltek cat-back exhaust, bought and fitted at JKM. I then went to the WRC in Wales where my car got filthy dirty... as you can see in the pic, the exhaust sat under the bumper a bit too much for my liking.



After I came back from Wales, I bought and fitted the matching Milltek DP and sports cat to free up a few extra horses. This somehow led to problems with strange noises coming from the turbo, so I ended up taking my car off the road for a month while I considered my options.

Whilst mulling over performance options, I bought FK Silverline X coilovers which stayed in the box til I was ready to get the thing sorted out. I decided on a hybrid turbo setup, so I fitted the coilovers and my car went up to JBS Auto Designs for a conversion to hybrid.
Got the car back and within a day, I had oil smoke pouring out the back on idle, so JBS picked my car up again to sort the problem. They couldn't get it to reproduce the fault for a week, even though it did it for me within 5mins of start up. Anyhow, they came to the conclusion that there was oil residue in the turbo housing, followed by another problem when refitting which led to a 2nd hybrid turbo being fitted. So, after much fannying around, I had to go fetch my car at my own expense. I had it back for 2 days and.... POP!!! .... the inlet shroud of the turbo came off.



So again, I saw my car off to JBS like this for a third time...



They bolted the inlet shroud back in and yet again, I had to go fetch my car at my expense. I had a good moan about this, but they had all the cards seen as my car was there and would stay there til I fetched it. On the drive home, my car started to get more and more chatter from the turbo when it dumped the air back to the inlet pipe. Next day I had a look, and the TIP was 90% off the turbo inlet! So I refitted it and proceeded to do the same every couple of weeks for a few months til I got thoroughly peed off with it and removed the entire tip. And this showed the problem...



JBS had cut the end down so much that there was nothing to get a jubilee clip to clamp on, which is why it kept slipping off. Every time I tightened it the pipe was sliding off. I'd had enough by this point so I bought a new TIP from Forge, and a Jetex open cone filter to ease the pain somewhat lol. The new TIP had plenty for a jubilee clip to clamp on...



Since then, my car has been running fine and made 256bhp on the rollers at JKM, and I managed a 13.9 sec 1/4 mile at Santa Pod..

http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/One_Man_Arsenal/?action=view&current=11072009094.mp4

I've done a few mods since all that and fitted a Vibratechnics dog-bone mount, and more recently went to Forge in Gloucester to be the trial car for their new DV relocation kit, and boost hose kit..





I've also made up a bracket to hold my air filter in place with a mate of mine.

That's about it for now, though I still have a few plans for the future when money allows. I'd like to get...

uprated rods
Hi-flow manifold
WMI
Rear ARB

Current spec:

Engine-
Jetex cone filter
LCR MAF
Forge TIP
JBS04 hybrid turbo
Forge boost hoses
Forge MAP IC to Manifold alloy pipe
Forge DV relocation kit
Forge 007p dv (yellow spring)
LCR injectors
Milltek turbo back exhaust
N249, N112, SAI deleted
Custom Code stage 3
NGK BKR7EIX spark plugs
Fuchs titan race pro S 5w40 oil
Vibratechnics dog bone mount
Shell V-Power petrol

Chassis-
FK Silverline X coilovers
Seat Sport strut brace
Tarox G88 front discs
Ferodo DS2500 front pads
LCR rear calipers with Pagid discs and pads
15mm Rear spacers
Falken FK452S/Yokohama Parada Spec-2
Motul RBF600 brake fluid
Whiteline rear ARB

Interior-
I have a boost gauge if that counts.
Looking to get an oil temp gauge asap too.
Window tints.

ICE-
Alpine 9854r head unit
Rockford T600-4 amp
Rockford T162S components
Rockford P3D410 sub

Exterior-
OEM xenon headlights
De-wipered rear
PIAA LED sidelights
Diadem indicator bulbs
Pressed plates in Seat Sport surrounds

Some up to date pics-





So, comments welcome and any questions, just ask!

Thanks fellas

ECS Magnetic sump plug turned up this morning so that'll be going on when I change the oil and filter on Sunday.

Gooner_Mike said:

At last, a RR thread! Looking good as always. When you de-wipered, did you use a Halfrauds bung?

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Thanks

I got my bungs from Maplins in a bag of 10, only a couple of quid I think

cupra.al said:

nice car you have,been waiting to see your thread,best colour aswell.

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Thanks black is definitely the fastest colour

Pete. said:

Nice car, im probably going to go k03s hybrid next year, is 256BHP an average figure for the hybrid?
you thought about getting a lsd?

Did JBS pay for your new TIP you had to get.

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Well, I was quoted 260-280bhp for my setup, but I think those figures are a little optimistic to be honest. I think the torque is a little low, but I'm happy with the way it drives, and the power/torque courve is very smooth.

JBS didn't pay for the TIP, but I was so sick of going back and forth with them that I just went ahead and replaced it myself without bothering to go through them. I had a good rant in a thread in their forum, but that was swiftly deleted. I was expecting that really, but I haven't spoken to them since seen as everything has been running fine.

Hartosh1 said:

Yay at last car looks good Rich seems like you went through alot of hassle with JBS but then again hybrid was relatively new when you were doing it?
Is your map turned down a bit due to not having rods? Good time on the 1/4mile mate think a diff would improve that time

Forge are looking for a donor car to replace that plastic pipe that has the venturi affect on it! Just thought id let you know


Also is this still on standard DMF and clutch?

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Yeah, a fair amount of hassle but it's all behind me now my car is running well I don't think hybrids were that new given it was early 2009, I researched a few of the Mk3 hybrid boys, and also on various VAG forums across the web, so it wasn't as if it was new technology causing the issues.

I don't know if the map is turned down a little, but as I said above, it drives nicely and has a very smooth power/torque curve. I'd be looking to get rods at sometime in the future, and possibly WMI also but that may prove more hassle than it's worth looking at Robbie C's thread. I'd definitely be getting the map tweaked to make the most of those bits, and more than likely at Badger5 as he's fairly close in Gloucester

Here's my RR print from the last time...



I'm heading up to Forge sometime next week for a couple of reasons. Firstly, when I volunteered my car for the DV relocation kit, I asked for red hoses, but they came back from the supplier in blue, so Kris said he'd swap for a red set when they come into stock. I'm also going to try the turbo hose off an LCR 225 to see if it fits while I'm there. I'm not hopeful really as a k04 is that bit bigger than a k03s. Kris has a Cupra TDi which has the same pipe setup where the plastic pipe is. I think he's tried a different setup and mentioned 7bhp gains or something? I don't know any more details than that unfortunately, but I'll try to find out next week.

Still standard clutch and flywheel, but I'll be looking to change to a VR6/lightened G60 fly at some point. I'm a student you see and am relying on student loans lol. Living at home, I get to spend it on the motor

221084clarkey said:

have u got a pic of the rear end of your car ?i want to see what the exhaust looks like and is it the 118mm single oval?

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It's the 118mm special oval as on Milltek's website

221084clarkey said:

i can not make my mind up what looks better a blueblame or a milltek lol. the blueblame looks really big to the milltek. what do u think?

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I prefer the Milltek myself, I think the Blueflame is a bit too big an exit in my opinion.

tills7 said:

looks mint, forge seem to be doing some great work with your car, I'll be expecting to see it on there stand in future shows - exhaust and stage 2 for mine soon

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Dunno about being on Forge's stand lol, they've only done the dv relocation kit and boost hoses on my car. Would be nice if they asked me though (hint hint, if Forge see this )

Service done this week, new pollen filter, oil filter, fuel filter, NGK BKR7EIX spark plugs, Fuchs Titan Race Pro S 5W40 oil, ECS magnetic sump plug all done and my car feels like it's running smoother already

Motul RBF600 brake fluid will be going in when I can afford discs and pads for my LCR rear brake conversion.

If you can find Kriso's old ride thread, he had the twin exhaust, there's pictures in his thread.