Hi all, sorry for the huge post but there's 4 years of overdue unrecorded history in one post, so here goes the Long overdue build thread.....
This is my second Cupra R, the first one had been tampered with and kept destroying turbos (3 in 3 months) so was given back to the dealer after much warm discussion between me and them and at least 6 attempts at repair.
My second and current Cupra R was bought in May 2012 and has been a very, very slow project.
The car was bought entirely standard (boo) but I wanted a fresh slate to start with.
Since then the car has picked up the following mods:-
KW Coils and Dampers
Boost and Oil Pressure Pod
3” Cobrasports Turboback
Toyosports (Wellycooler) 600*300 FMIC
550cc Injectors
Full Custom Silicon Boost and Vacuum Pipe Routing
PCV/Breather System Delete in Place of Catch Can
N249 Delete
Projector Headlights, Headlight Washer System and HID Conversion
Gunmetal Grey Sprayed Alloys (before brembo decals re-added)
Walbro 225 inline fuel pump
R-Tech Custom Stage2+ Map
Forge 008 DV.
New water pump
Jetex Filter
(I'll try and remember the rest of what's happened in the last 4 years and how I’ve got to this point but I think the Big Turbo build is probably a good point to jump too and I’ll add the earlier stuff later)
Having always wanting a real sleeper car but never having:-
•The B*llocks to do it
•A reliable enough car to dare (read the missus said it would just break if I tinkered with it - see first bullet)
•The Money to do it (read the missus wouldn't let me - see first bullet)
Back in 2012 I emailed a local company ((Autotechnika) –Hope I can mention their name? who over the years have continued to be a real gem of a garage always being reasonably priced, very helpful and good quality work)) to enquire about a Garrett build. The basic costs of parts were affordable(ish) but all the supporting parts, labour and unknown extras I expected over a hybrid set-up led me to think I’d never grow a pair and go for it over the hybrid
But after the problems a pal had with his Astra after going hybrid (Vauxhall…reliability ) and after much peer pressure when I got a bonus in March I decided (after a few tinnies) to go all out and buy an ATP turbo kit that (Quote) “Fits all 1.8T cars”.
I also enquired on the Facebook group about LHD/RHD issues and was reassured that fitting wouldn't be an issue. (Thanks t0s**rs (lesson learned, don’t trust people on the internet ) I also shelled out for a few engine goodies from IE.
So I planned to have…
GTX2867R
Cast T25 manifold (hoping for a bit of reliability and not worrying about cracking)
3” Turboback, I already had a Cobra System fitted so only required a new downpipe.
DM Forge Rods (AKS Tuning)
New big end bearings
Supertech inlet and outlet valves
New Piston rings
Valve stem seals
IE valve springs and retainers
Liquid Gauge (to keep an eye on everything).
ARP bolts
Manual belt tensioner.
And I’m sure loads more I've forgotten…
It pretty much goes downhill from here….
The build was planned to be done in a week at Autotechnika in Hull back in February 2015.
However… a few parts from IE weren't in stock and it was mid March before I had all the bits ready to go and could get a clear slot in Autotechnika.
So I borrowed my Nana's Clio (cheers Nana ) and waved goodbye to the Cupra for a week.
Multiple Depressing Phone calls from Autotechnika….
•“you've ordered the wrong Piston rings, they’re designed for another brand of standard bore piston”. Bllcks! £100 down the pan. – second set of rings ordered.
•No Torque values available for ARP bolts for rods. Alex from AKS on holiday for a fortnight and cant source the value anywhere.
•The turbo wont fit behind the block with the ATP rear mount manifold. Top-mount Tijpower Manifold ordered £400 down the pan
oThe Aircon pipes wont fit there either with a 3” DP down the back.
•Top-mount manifold means the turbo DP now fouls
oThe Brake master cylinder
oAircon pipes
oReally close to fuel lines and brake lines
oTurbo actuator fouls outlet or Turbo outlet now fouls rocker cover
oTurbo oil and water lines now wont reach (£200 down the pan)
oEtc. etc..
Build now 4+ weeks into the 1 week forecast.. Nana's Clio loan extended (cheers Nana )
After multiple attempts to get a local company to modify the supplied downpipe none were willing to have a come to the car or confirm definitely they would be able do the work, they all wanted it towing “to assess” which isn't cheap at all it turns out.
Eventually I was put in contact with a guy who came and had a look at the car and said he’d be able to do it but it’d need to come over the top of the block…not ideal but by this point I just wanted it finishing. Cue a 6-8 week wait for him to have spare time to do it. Followed by a phone call saying he was no longer going to be able to do the work (insert expletives).
At this point I felt it unfair to keep borrowing my Nana's car so needed to start looking for alternatives – not knowing how much longer the build was going to take.
One of my pals had an old (Clio again) car basically rotting under a tree (no MOT etc. and full of mould inside ) in the forecourt of his flat which was mine for £100 if we could get going. A saga in it’s self as Renault electronics which in my experience are cr*p anyway definitely don’t like being damp for 2+ years. Nothing worked. Entire dash stripped and multi metered to see where the problems were. Every relay/fuse was rusted to hell and none of the relays (bar 1) were actually still working. Once that was sorted and the battery had a good charge in it it sprung to life. £300 ish to get it up to scratch and through MOT.
After much sprucing up:-
Had to now cancel R-Tech custom mapping as the car was never going to be ready by July.
After much searching I found an (unnamed) local ish company, (I wont mention their name as the experience wasn't the best, I don’t want the hassle or slander legal case…they’re also now liquidated) I explained the situation and they said they could definitely sort it out but may need to ceramic coat the downpipe etc. to protect the components on the left side of the block “if it needs to fit we’ll make it fit”…(more expense) but fair enough, I’d have paid anything for it to be sorted by this point.
Multiple Depressing Phone calls from (local company)….
No progress
No progress
No progress
(6 or so weeks later) We’re not happy about running the pipe down the left side of the block, you need a new manifold (FFS!)
Multiple Depressing visits to (local company)….
Eventually it was agreed a new manifold wasn’t needed but the turbo would need to be rotated 180 degrees to allow the downpipe to run near the old turbo position, raised slightly and angled forward off the manifold to gain clearance.
Many a phone call and 3 weeks pass still with no progress. Due to not having flanges/material etc. I eventually started actually buying the parts for them and delivering them by hand to remove any reasons for the job not being progressed.
Last week FINALLY! The (most expensive ever) adaptor and Downpipe was completed (Minus EGT bung) and the car was recovered. Red Arrow Recovery can be highly recommended BTW.
The position today….
Car is back at Autotechnika for assembly and (hopefully) no more hiccups on rebuild.
I've ordered a truck load of silicon pipework and joiners to try and make up a custom TIP which will need to run down the left of the bay and coolant/washer/power steering reservoirs need to be relocated somewhere.
This is my second Cupra R, the first one had been tampered with and kept destroying turbos (3 in 3 months) so was given back to the dealer after much warm discussion between me and them and at least 6 attempts at repair.
My second and current Cupra R was bought in May 2012 and has been a very, very slow project.
The car was bought entirely standard (boo) but I wanted a fresh slate to start with.
Since then the car has picked up the following mods:-
KW Coils and Dampers
Boost and Oil Pressure Pod
3” Cobrasports Turboback
Toyosports (Wellycooler) 600*300 FMIC
550cc Injectors
Full Custom Silicon Boost and Vacuum Pipe Routing
PCV/Breather System Delete in Place of Catch Can
N249 Delete
Projector Headlights, Headlight Washer System and HID Conversion
Gunmetal Grey Sprayed Alloys (before brembo decals re-added)
Walbro 225 inline fuel pump
R-Tech Custom Stage2+ Map
Forge 008 DV.
New water pump
Jetex Filter
(I'll try and remember the rest of what's happened in the last 4 years and how I’ve got to this point but I think the Big Turbo build is probably a good point to jump too and I’ll add the earlier stuff later)
Having always wanting a real sleeper car but never having:-
•The B*llocks to do it
•A reliable enough car to dare (read the missus said it would just break if I tinkered with it - see first bullet)
•The Money to do it (read the missus wouldn't let me - see first bullet)
Back in 2012 I emailed a local company ((Autotechnika) –Hope I can mention their name? who over the years have continued to be a real gem of a garage always being reasonably priced, very helpful and good quality work)) to enquire about a Garrett build. The basic costs of parts were affordable(ish) but all the supporting parts, labour and unknown extras I expected over a hybrid set-up led me to think I’d never grow a pair and go for it over the hybrid
But after the problems a pal had with his Astra after going hybrid (Vauxhall…reliability ) and after much peer pressure when I got a bonus in March I decided (after a few tinnies) to go all out and buy an ATP turbo kit that (Quote) “Fits all 1.8T cars”.
I also enquired on the Facebook group about LHD/RHD issues and was reassured that fitting wouldn't be an issue. (Thanks t0s**rs (lesson learned, don’t trust people on the internet ) I also shelled out for a few engine goodies from IE.
So I planned to have…
GTX2867R
Cast T25 manifold (hoping for a bit of reliability and not worrying about cracking)
3” Turboback, I already had a Cobra System fitted so only required a new downpipe.
DM Forge Rods (AKS Tuning)
New big end bearings
Supertech inlet and outlet valves
New Piston rings
Valve stem seals
IE valve springs and retainers
Liquid Gauge (to keep an eye on everything).
ARP bolts
Manual belt tensioner.
And I’m sure loads more I've forgotten…
It pretty much goes downhill from here….
The build was planned to be done in a week at Autotechnika in Hull back in February 2015.
However… a few parts from IE weren't in stock and it was mid March before I had all the bits ready to go and could get a clear slot in Autotechnika.
So I borrowed my Nana's Clio (cheers Nana ) and waved goodbye to the Cupra for a week.
Multiple Depressing Phone calls from Autotechnika….
•“you've ordered the wrong Piston rings, they’re designed for another brand of standard bore piston”. Bllcks! £100 down the pan. – second set of rings ordered.
•No Torque values available for ARP bolts for rods. Alex from AKS on holiday for a fortnight and cant source the value anywhere.
•The turbo wont fit behind the block with the ATP rear mount manifold. Top-mount Tijpower Manifold ordered £400 down the pan
oThe Aircon pipes wont fit there either with a 3” DP down the back.
•Top-mount manifold means the turbo DP now fouls
oThe Brake master cylinder
oAircon pipes
oReally close to fuel lines and brake lines
oTurbo actuator fouls outlet or Turbo outlet now fouls rocker cover
oTurbo oil and water lines now wont reach (£200 down the pan)
oEtc. etc..
Build now 4+ weeks into the 1 week forecast.. Nana's Clio loan extended (cheers Nana )
After multiple attempts to get a local company to modify the supplied downpipe none were willing to have a come to the car or confirm definitely they would be able do the work, they all wanted it towing “to assess” which isn't cheap at all it turns out.
Eventually I was put in contact with a guy who came and had a look at the car and said he’d be able to do it but it’d need to come over the top of the block…not ideal but by this point I just wanted it finishing. Cue a 6-8 week wait for him to have spare time to do it. Followed by a phone call saying he was no longer going to be able to do the work (insert expletives).
At this point I felt it unfair to keep borrowing my Nana's car so needed to start looking for alternatives – not knowing how much longer the build was going to take.
One of my pals had an old (Clio again) car basically rotting under a tree (no MOT etc. and full of mould inside ) in the forecourt of his flat which was mine for £100 if we could get going. A saga in it’s self as Renault electronics which in my experience are cr*p anyway definitely don’t like being damp for 2+ years. Nothing worked. Entire dash stripped and multi metered to see where the problems were. Every relay/fuse was rusted to hell and none of the relays (bar 1) were actually still working. Once that was sorted and the battery had a good charge in it it sprung to life. £300 ish to get it up to scratch and through MOT.
After much sprucing up:-
Had to now cancel R-Tech custom mapping as the car was never going to be ready by July.
After much searching I found an (unnamed) local ish company, (I wont mention their name as the experience wasn't the best, I don’t want the hassle or slander legal case…they’re also now liquidated) I explained the situation and they said they could definitely sort it out but may need to ceramic coat the downpipe etc. to protect the components on the left side of the block “if it needs to fit we’ll make it fit”…(more expense) but fair enough, I’d have paid anything for it to be sorted by this point.
Multiple Depressing Phone calls from (local company)….
No progress
No progress
No progress
(6 or so weeks later) We’re not happy about running the pipe down the left side of the block, you need a new manifold (FFS!)
Multiple Depressing visits to (local company)….
Eventually it was agreed a new manifold wasn’t needed but the turbo would need to be rotated 180 degrees to allow the downpipe to run near the old turbo position, raised slightly and angled forward off the manifold to gain clearance.
Many a phone call and 3 weeks pass still with no progress. Due to not having flanges/material etc. I eventually started actually buying the parts for them and delivering them by hand to remove any reasons for the job not being progressed.
Last week FINALLY! The (most expensive ever) adaptor and Downpipe was completed (Minus EGT bung) and the car was recovered. Red Arrow Recovery can be highly recommended BTW.
The position today….
Car is back at Autotechnika for assembly and (hopefully) no more hiccups on rebuild.
I've ordered a truck load of silicon pipework and joiners to try and make up a custom TIP which will need to run down the left of the bay and coolant/washer/power steering reservoirs need to be relocated somewhere.
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