As you may or may not know my Cupra has been running APR software for some time.
A couple of years back having previously ran a fairly modified Stg2 Mk1 Cupra R with REVO code. I decided after a year long hiatus of neutrality with a pretty much stock car to get back into modding the Mk2 Cupra which I've been tinkering with over the past 2 years since.
Due to certain reservations and stories at that time about the tuning foibles of the 2.0TFSI engine and my trepidation about any possible concerns.
I made the decision that I wanted to stay local to my tuner. I've had a great relationship with Awesome over many years of custom and I trust them to look after my car.
In a similar vain REVO have not let me down in the support stakes either, but it was a fair old trek to pop the car down to Daventry should I have got any problems. Though I know they have dealers locally, I didn't feel as comfortable with those companies as I do with Awesome or the folks at REVO direct.
Awesome are only a 20 minute drive away from home, and I feel quite fortunate to have a specialist in my backyard.
This was the primary reason why I went with APR code for the Cupra, not because of any perceived loyalty to one code over another, but simply my loyalty to Awesome as a customer and friend for my own selfish piece of mind.
REVO are also good friends and my support of their products has been un-waivered they have supported this site from the beginning as have Awesome. They are both invaluable supporters of SCN, so I'm very happy now to say I have the best of both worlds.
Short speech over I'll get on with what I want to say.
So today I was over at Awesome to have firstly a new Helix Clutch Kit fitted.
As you'd expect this was a big job, so I arrived at 8.30am so they could crack on with the clutch.
However not satisfied with just a clutch, I sneaked in an extra unplanned job for them.
I suggested while they had the gearbox in bits, it wouldn't be too much bother for them to chuck on some new THS FR3 engine mounts which I sourced from JKM another loyal SCN supporter.
This was made simpler with me bribing Awesome staff with a large tin of chocolates I pre-armed myself with.
I then settled down for the duration, spending much of the day in the waiting room, making good use of my iPad.
Once the hard work was out of the way (thanks Alan) the car was back together all road tested, complete with new clutch and mounts it was time to do the dyno runs.
Out of fairness it was run using the APR code again, no alterations other than the new clutch and mounts. Still adapted to the car as it was last time it was run.
No fuel differences, same V Power I always get from the same Shell station that has a regular delivery on a very busy route. Very similar conditions in the workshop in terms of temperature. Figures came out as we expected comparable to the run we did the other week which in turn was comparable to the results from 12 months prior with a similar level of modification.
Car Stage 2+ mods : APR HPFP, APR Intercooler, APR 3" Downpipe and HiFlow CAT, Milltek CAT back resonated. Forge Twintake.
Todays back to back graph, APR (blue) then REVO (red)
Current SPS setup for the REVO code is Boost 9 Timing 6 Fuel 9 which is more than likely to change after I have consulted with REVO tomorrow at the Awesome open day event. It will then get dyno'd again in a few weeks at the SCN RR Day.
I'll need time to get a better feel for it and do some more logging to understand how its performing overall.
But from the point of view of driving the car tonight, it was mainly gentle as i'm bedding in the clutch. So I took a regular normal drive home, give it a bit of throttle where I could, but generally was fairly sedate just to get a feel for the changes.
The car instantly feels different, and different in a good way. The response to throttle is much more linear, with generally more torque in the usable power bands. Its not aggressive though as I pointed out I've not attempted to really give it too much loud pedal yet. One of the things that bugged me was a lumpy idle on the car, this appears to have gone or is greatly reduced with the new code.
The mid range increase displayed on the graph speaks for itself really.
Looking back I saw a dramatic increase in mid-range punch when I added the APR pump about 18 months ago. Since then not much changed with the APR code other than a slight refinement of the code late last year which nudged the figures up a little.
REVO's code has given the car another dramatic and noticeable kick right across the mid-range...quite impressive.
APR seemingly sell code on the premiss or emphasis of longevity, but not everyone needs to have the child reigns attached. My Cupra for example has clocked up 12500 miles in 3.5 years, hoping the engine and components will make it to 100,000 miles is way off in my mind.
I'm also not an animal with my car, it doesn't get thrashed to death, doesn't get drag-stripped. Its my toy, I enjoy it for the odd A/B-road blast and the occasional track day where i get to really stretch its legs. Serviced twice a year, I tend to log it fairly often and check for any fault codes. I'm no expert but I try to stay pretty hands on with it, in terms of keeping it running tip top.
As I said prior, I stuck with this code out of loyalty to Awesome and like Awesome have been stretching out hope that things would progress with APR development to Europe. But sadly that hasn't happened. Now Awesome have made the commercial decision to work with a company that values European and UK customers I feel I've got the very best of both worlds having great software that caters to my requirements and gives me the ability to choose its setup while still working with a great local tuner I firmly trust.
The new Helix clutch has a firmer feel to it, but is exceptionally smooth with a nice biting point. It's a little snatchy at the moment but thats to be expected. The flywheel chatters a bit at idle, but its really nothing of concern and you can only hear it if you turn both the radio and air con off.
The car does sound different though now when driving, whether thats down to the flywheel changing the sound in the gearbox I'm not sure, but I can only describe it as being more solid sounding if it makes sense. The gear selection could feel slack before and now you have to be very direct with the gearbox. It feels tight and new. This could fade in time as the clutch beds in.
I already had a dog-bone mount i sourced from Issam last year. Though this in itself tightened up the car, it caused a great deal of vibration in the cabin.
Due to this I had been somewhat reluctant to replace the other two main engine and gearbox mounts. My fear being it would create even further vibration inside the car.
I was completely wrong, adding the THS mounts has complimented the dog-bone mount and has reduced vibration in the cabin a lot. Furthermore on the road, the car handles better, its front end feels planted its grips better it doesn't crash over pot holes and generally drives much better than its ever done.
The engine mounts have been a revelation and I would really encourage anyone thinking of going for better mounts to consider the THS FR3 kit or another suitable kit such as the VW motorsport or VF engineering kits. Though the formers poly mounts may generate more vibration and be too harsh, I can't really comment on that. The THS kit has been produced with a higher durometer of rubber suited more to a fast road compliance, so it feels very acceptable...don't get me wrong you'll still feel some vibration into the cabin when pulling away but its nowhere near as bad as it was with just the dog-bone done.
So there you go, I've probably not covered every base, but its the start of new chapter with ZBOYD's Cupra.
A couple of years back having previously ran a fairly modified Stg2 Mk1 Cupra R with REVO code. I decided after a year long hiatus of neutrality with a pretty much stock car to get back into modding the Mk2 Cupra which I've been tinkering with over the past 2 years since.
Due to certain reservations and stories at that time about the tuning foibles of the 2.0TFSI engine and my trepidation about any possible concerns.
I made the decision that I wanted to stay local to my tuner. I've had a great relationship with Awesome over many years of custom and I trust them to look after my car.
In a similar vain REVO have not let me down in the support stakes either, but it was a fair old trek to pop the car down to Daventry should I have got any problems. Though I know they have dealers locally, I didn't feel as comfortable with those companies as I do with Awesome or the folks at REVO direct.
Awesome are only a 20 minute drive away from home, and I feel quite fortunate to have a specialist in my backyard.
This was the primary reason why I went with APR code for the Cupra, not because of any perceived loyalty to one code over another, but simply my loyalty to Awesome as a customer and friend for my own selfish piece of mind.
REVO are also good friends and my support of their products has been un-waivered they have supported this site from the beginning as have Awesome. They are both invaluable supporters of SCN, so I'm very happy now to say I have the best of both worlds.
Short speech over I'll get on with what I want to say.
So today I was over at Awesome to have firstly a new Helix Clutch Kit fitted.
As you'd expect this was a big job, so I arrived at 8.30am so they could crack on with the clutch.
However not satisfied with just a clutch, I sneaked in an extra unplanned job for them.
I suggested while they had the gearbox in bits, it wouldn't be too much bother for them to chuck on some new THS FR3 engine mounts which I sourced from JKM another loyal SCN supporter.
This was made simpler with me bribing Awesome staff with a large tin of chocolates I pre-armed myself with.
I then settled down for the duration, spending much of the day in the waiting room, making good use of my iPad.
Once the hard work was out of the way (thanks Alan
) the car was back together all road tested, complete with new clutch and mounts it was time to do the dyno runs.Out of fairness it was run using the APR code again, no alterations other than the new clutch and mounts. Still adapted to the car as it was last time it was run.
No fuel differences, same V Power I always get from the same Shell station that has a regular delivery on a very busy route. Very similar conditions in the workshop in terms of temperature. Figures came out as we expected comparable to the run we did the other week which in turn was comparable to the results from 12 months prior with a similar level of modification.
Car Stage 2+ mods : APR HPFP, APR Intercooler, APR 3" Downpipe and HiFlow CAT, Milltek CAT back resonated. Forge Twintake.
Todays back to back graph, APR (blue) then REVO (red)
Current SPS setup for the REVO code is Boost 9 Timing 6 Fuel 9 which is more than likely to change after I have consulted with REVO tomorrow at the Awesome open day event. It will then get dyno'd again in a few weeks at the SCN RR Day.
I'll need time to get a better feel for it and do some more logging to understand how its performing overall.
But from the point of view of driving the car tonight, it was mainly gentle as i'm bedding in the clutch. So I took a regular normal drive home, give it a bit of throttle where I could, but generally was fairly sedate just to get a feel for the changes.
The car instantly feels different, and different in a good way. The response to throttle is much more linear, with generally more torque in the usable power bands. Its not aggressive though as I pointed out I've not attempted to really give it too much loud pedal yet. One of the things that bugged me was a lumpy idle on the car, this appears to have gone or is greatly reduced with the new code.
The mid range increase displayed on the graph speaks for itself really.
Looking back I saw a dramatic increase in mid-range punch when I added the APR pump about 18 months ago. Since then not much changed with the APR code other than a slight refinement of the code late last year which nudged the figures up a little.
REVO's code has given the car another dramatic and noticeable kick right across the mid-range...quite impressive.
APR seemingly sell code on the premiss or emphasis of longevity, but not everyone needs to have the child reigns attached. My Cupra for example has clocked up 12500 miles in 3.5 years, hoping the engine and components will make it to 100,000 miles is way off in my mind.
I'm also not an animal with my car, it doesn't get thrashed to death, doesn't get drag-stripped. Its my toy, I enjoy it for the odd A/B-road blast and the occasional track day where i get to really stretch its legs. Serviced twice a year, I tend to log it fairly often and check for any fault codes. I'm no expert but I try to stay pretty hands on with it, in terms of keeping it running tip top.
As I said prior, I stuck with this code out of loyalty to Awesome and like Awesome have been stretching out hope that things would progress with APR development to Europe. But sadly that hasn't happened. Now Awesome have made the commercial decision to work with a company that values European and UK customers I feel I've got the very best of both worlds having great software that caters to my requirements and gives me the ability to choose its setup while still working with a great local tuner I firmly trust.
The new Helix clutch has a firmer feel to it, but is exceptionally smooth with a nice biting point. It's a little snatchy at the moment but thats to be expected. The flywheel chatters a bit at idle, but its really nothing of concern and you can only hear it if you turn both the radio and air con off.
The car does sound different though now when driving, whether thats down to the flywheel changing the sound in the gearbox I'm not sure, but I can only describe it as being more solid sounding if it makes sense. The gear selection could feel slack before and now you have to be very direct with the gearbox. It feels tight and new. This could fade in time as the clutch beds in.
I already had a dog-bone mount i sourced from Issam last year. Though this in itself tightened up the car, it caused a great deal of vibration in the cabin.
Due to this I had been somewhat reluctant to replace the other two main engine and gearbox mounts. My fear being it would create even further vibration inside the car.
I was completely wrong, adding the THS mounts has complimented the dog-bone mount and has reduced vibration in the cabin a lot. Furthermore on the road, the car handles better, its front end feels planted its grips better it doesn't crash over pot holes and generally drives much better than its ever done.
The engine mounts have been a revelation and I would really encourage anyone thinking of going for better mounts to consider the THS FR3 kit or another suitable kit such as the VW motorsport or VF engineering kits. Though the formers poly mounts may generate more vibration and be too harsh, I can't really comment on that. The THS kit has been produced with a higher durometer of rubber suited more to a fast road compliance, so it feels very acceptable...don't get me wrong you'll still feel some vibration into the cabin when pulling away but its nowhere near as bad as it was with just the dog-bone done.
So there you go, I've probably not covered every base, but its the start of new chapter with ZBOYD's Cupra.
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![[:@]](/forums/styles/seatcupra/oldforumsmileys/furious.gif "Furious [:@]")
and I need to get the replacement jacking cover sprayed up for the one that fell off on the M60 12 months back. But I'm aiming to get it tarted up some more over winter. 
But I think the mounts could be fitted alone in 1-2 hours max to be honest.
