Cupra 4 buildlog

[SkipJack_NL]

Hey guys, I am new here.
I am Skip (not my real name) from the Netherlands, my big passion has always been motorcycles and have had a lot of them, but now I own my first fast car, and I love it.

So I bought a Leon Cupra 4 with the well known 2.8L VR6, it's got 186K kilometers on the clock and is in a generally good condition. The previous owner was a chain smoker and messed up any electronics and or wiring he touched, nothing I can't fix.

I'm an aircraft mechanic and have been working on airplanes for 10 years now, also I have a lot of experience working on motorbikes (old and new), some cars and a whole host of industrial machines. So I know my way around a spanner I just have very little real experience working on cars. My goal is to fix up this car, learn how it works, make it better, and within a year or two, have it make 400WHP by installing a turbo (thats the goal at least, a man can dream)

The previous owner installed lambo doors, I would have bought the car if it hadn't had these doors. At first I thought I was going to replace this system for normal hinges, but I have received overwhelmingly positive reactions to it, and I got used to them, they will stay.

When I bought it, it came with an K&N filter system, Lambo doors, nice new style Cupra wheels but no further mods. The seller did replace the coils, front grill, mirrors and battery, so that's nice

So in the last 10 days I have cleaned the interior twice to get rid of the smoke smell, it's totally gone now. Underneath I will make a full list of what is wrong with this car, and in this thread I will keep track of my learning process and successes and failures.

Defects when bought: (I paid a very low price for this car)
- Rear RH suspension making loud noise when going over a bumb
- Aircon not working
- Climatronic only blowing air hotter than the core of the sun
- Probably the motor fans not working properly (the well known resistor problem)
- Cigarette lighter not working
- LH rear door interior light missing
- Roof trashed due to smoking, needs replacement
- Armrest broken and squeaks like crazy
- Rear windows not going down.
- Rear window wiper washing fluid not working
- Front interior light not working
- Headlight adjuster mechanism missing.
- Battery cover not attached to anything
- Lambo doors need adjusting

Yep...that's quite a list, but it has relatively low mileage, the engine and drive train all seem to be in excellent condition, and the price was fair, so I bought it anyway.

During the last 10 days I fixed the following:
- Cigarette light fixed; wiring was cut...why?
- RH rear interior light fixed; I just hit it a couple of times with my fist, always works!
- RH rear window goes down now, I heard the relay clicking. I loosened up the motor and it started working.
- Climatronic hot air issue kind of resolved; I know what the problem is, explanation will follow.

I took it to a garage to check the underside of the car, all was fine and the banging noise seems to be coming from worn rear track control arm bushings. I am ordering new bushings but it seems to be impossible to find the bushing on the outer (wheel) side.

Anyway, thats it for now, updates will follow soon.

 

[Leon20vt4]

Nice car bro! Cool to see some other types of Cupras on here! Another 4x4 guy! You have the 2.8 and I have the 1.8t and another gent on here has a 1.8t 4x4 as well in the Netherlands like you.

Seat actually made a Cupra 4x4 2.8L with a supercharger from the factory for Switzerland. Called the Cupra 4 Kompressor. Maybe that isn’t a bad way to go to get your 400hp goal with a supercharger mated to your V6! Smaller pulley, basic exhaust and intake upgrades maybe e85 and some custom tune I think you’ll be close to 400


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[Yellow fr]

Nice looking car like the doors


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[Zardoz]

Hi Skipjack! Great looking car, yeah I love the doors

Good luck with all the work. Keep this thread updated with pics.

 

[Yellow fr]

Oh and welcome to the forum


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[Andrewwright]

Very nice.

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[SkipJack_NL]

Thank you guys for the warm welcome!

Updates coming soon!

 

[lightup]

hey skip. welcome. car looks great still ^^

 

[Fred Stickland]

Welcome Skip!
the doors are really awesome, great purchase Congrats!

 

[Fred Stickland]

An how would you like this one?

 

[SkipJack_NL]

An how would you like this one?

Well....I don't know, I think that will be a bit too much on the Leon

Welcome Skip!
the doors are really awesome, great purchase Congrats!

Thank you!

Tomorrow I'm going to do some big maintenance; Oils, Filters, cleaning, bushings, etc.
I drove the car yesterday with two people in the back and there is a loud clonking noise coming from the rear RH wheel when going over bumbs, or slightly after. I think it must be the trailing arm bushing or something with the spring top rubber or something. The banging noise is a lot less loud or even completely absent when driving alone or with somebody in the passenger seat. Put a single person in the back and everything changes, weird, I hope I can find the source.

 

[SkipJack_NL]

I did some work today, not as much as I wanted as it started raining pretty badly and my workshop is a mess atm so I couldn't work inside.

I changed the oil, installed a new oilfilter (old one was nasty!!) and I changed the interior filter, it must have been the original...so nasty!
Also I removed the window gutter, filter housing and wiper mechanism to clean all the leafs out.

I stopt taking pictures after this as it started raining and I just wanted to get it done.
Later on I took the RH rear wheel off to see if I could find something that explains the knocking noise when people ride in the back.
Some rubbers are somewhat worn but not too bad, the shocks and springs all look fine, so I was at a loss.
I did find a somewhat worrying worn rubber dampener on the rear drive shaft going into the rear diff, is this bad? it seems to be cracked all the way around.

Lastly, I installed a new ABS sensor on the RH rear wheel, it was a PITA to get the old sensor out!

Work continues tomorrow!

 

[Brimfull]

Great looking car you have there mate.

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[Leon20vt4]

Hey bud awesome work so far.

As for the drive donut on the driveshaft it’s something you’ll want to replace sooner than later. But it’s not the cause of your problem. If this thing goes you’ll get crazy vibrations from the rear at certain rpms/mph. You’ll think it’s a wheel bearing but really it’s this thing. You have 2 of them one at the front and one at the rear, they absorb the shock of the drivetrain for better comfort and drivetrain longevity.

Technical term is driveshaft Guibo or flexdisc.


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[Leon20vt4]

Fold your rear seats down and try to listen if the clunking is coming from the rear shock top mounts. Get under the car and unbolt the rear shocks at the arm and then wiggle them around to see if a rear top mount is blown.


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[SkipJack_NL]

Fold your rear seats down and try to listen if the clunking is coming from the rear shock top mounts. Get under the car and unbolt the rear shocks at the arm and then wiggle them around to see if a rear top mount is blown.

Thanks! I will try this today, thanks for the tip!

 

[SkipJack_NL]

So I took the RH rear wheel off again today, the shock top mount seems to be OK, it's just that the bolt has play in de mounting hole, I don't think that explains the clunking though. I also found some chafe-marks on the shock, it seems to hit the handbrake bracket sometimes:

Also the Swaybar bushing seems to've been pushed out, I'm thinking this is because of the sideways forces when the lower shock mount hits the handbrake bracket.

I mounted the shock back with an extra washer to create some distance and then went for a drive with a friend of mine sitting in the back. The clunking was still there but seems to be less. My friend says he hears/feels it coming from the center (rear) of the car but I hear it coming from the RH side with the windows open, maybe it's the diff bushings?

Also the shocks and coilovers currently on the car are an EVO100 kit, I found those on Ebay for 270 euros, they certainly are going to be replaced with something decent.

 

[SkipJack_NL]

Hi guys! I haven't posted in a loooong while, life has been pretty crazy...but we're here to see cars, not discuss life, let's get to it!

Due to a lack of time I haven't done nearly as much as I wanted but I did do the following:

- I fixed the air conditioning by changing the pressure switch. The climate control was fixed by changing a little control axle on the bottom of the heater matrix that controls the cold/hot air valve. If anyone is interested in this fix I can give more information, the dealer was gonna charge me 1200+ euros for replacing the matrix... I fixed it for 6 euros.
- Installed cruise control
- Installed OEM double DIN centre dashboard with Cupra 4 gold trimming
- Bought an Android head unit (still needs to be properly installed)
- Installed black Cupra roof (original this car has white)
- Installed black A/B/C trimming
- Replaced the armrest
- Fixed the rear window wiper fluid not working
- Installed all missing headlight level adjustment hardware, but it still doesn't work.
- I changed most of the rubber bushings of all the control arms, this seems to have helped with the banging noise as I never hear it anymore.

And today I finally repacked my mufflers, they were VERY loud and each time I took this car for a ride I had a chance of getting a fine, and they are no joke in this country.
The mufflers are welded, so I had to be a bit creative, and this is the result:

I raised the car to get access to the exhaust

Got the exhaust from underneath the car, a lot easier than I anticipated. The bolts were rusted so I just cut them.

Preparing for surgery

I was a little disappointing to see the muffles still packed, I was hoping it was completely empty so that my work would have maximum effect.

I welded a shoulder to the piece that I had cut out. The welding heavily deformed the sheet metal but that's nothing a hammer cannot fix!

Getting alle the holes aligned with clecos, a skill I learned in the aviation industry

Repacked the muffler

I used watertight blind nails and heat resistant sealant to close the muffler.

The two smaller mufflers were completely empty.

Repacked with stainless steel wool and glassfiber.

The car is certainly a bit quieter but I was a bit disappointed by the difference the repacking made. I guess it's just a loud exhaust...or could it be that the previous owner has removed a pre-dampener? At least this part of my exhaust system if future proof now, as it can be repacked.

Remaining issues:
- Vent ports and shift knob lights need to be hooked up
- Head unit needs to be properly installed
- Rear Right windows not going down.
- Battery cover not attached to anything
- Angel doors need adjusting
- Need black interior lights
- Need black sun visors
- Find out why headlight adjustment doesn't work
- Replace suspension

 

[Connor H]

Such a unique car, thats awesome. Keep up the posts!

 

[SkipJack_NL]

Such a unique car, thats awesome. Keep up the posts!

Thank you!

Today I took the time to hook up the vent lights, gear knob lights and install the head unit.

I had to modify the bezel to make it fit.

I drilled a couple holes and screwed the mounting plates to the OEM DIN housing, this gives me plenty of adjustment room and it is sturdy AF.

And installed; notice the vent lights and gear knob

Also, can anybody tell me how the Comfort Module is mounted underneath the steering wheel? it is just hanging loose on its connectors and I cannot for the life of me figure out where it is supposed to be mounted to.