Black LCR 1M stage 2. nurburgring!

[irf]

Thought I may as well put this up now that I've made some progress on the car.

Used to have an accord type r for myself which I adored and a fiesta for the mrs. The accord wasn't used much and once I broke it at castle combe I thought it'd be a good idea to get just the one car for us both to share.

The cupra r fitted the bill and I saw this on pistonheads. Previous owner used to be a member here as well and was completely standard which didn't affect me either way tbh.

The accord was sold to a mate and I went to view this in the fiesta. On the way back from buying this the fiesta was scrapped!

Outside the scrappies

Started picking up some parts, stuff like oil filter, pick up pipe and sealant (£19!) before I knew of sere motors but wasn't gonna fit them till I got a baffled sump.

Anyway, during the summer I thought it'd be good to give the car a quick detail.

A 50/50 shot.

And how the car looked afterwards. Far from complete, didn't do the roof or the bumpers and dint even use the refining polish afterwards. Back was broken anyway but it'll be done in the coming summer.

Always thought the suspension was pretty stiff but hadn't given it a hard drive as such but on one particular day I tried to take a corner at a pretty decent speed and realised the stiff and crashy at low speed meant soft and wallowy at high speed! Corner was aborted as soon as I turned in and ordered this.

Kw inox variant 1. Choice was between these and some bc coilovers. The bc have adjustable everything. Had adjustable everything on the accord and knew in my case at least that once it's set, it's very rare to adjust so thought I'd give the kw a try as I know they have a good reputation.

Got a mate to fit them, he's in Nottingham, I'm in London but I'm lazy!

Leaving my mates took a quick photo. Looks pretty standard ride height wise which is what I wanted as have enough trouble with speed breakers as it is.

Tyres were on the low side so needed to replace them. Been using semi slicks for a while now and had a really agonising choice. Do I go for the nankang ns2r (not to be confused with the ns2) or michelin pilot super sports? The nankangs have been getting good reviews from people that have used them on track and sites like pistonheads seem to love the supersports. In the end I thought, especially with the mrs driving I'd have to compromise my track ability and went with the supersports. We'll see how I get on with them on track.

Was planning ahead and knew Id need a gauge for when things get a bit more serious. Decided on the liquidgauge. Very easy to fit, nice bit of kit IMO.

Car needed an mot which I thought it'd fly through. Wrong. Failed on drop links(easily and quickly sorted) and catback had a hanger missing. So did what only came naturally. Instead of getting it welded, ordered a new milltek resonated catback.

Passed the mot.

Then, again in preparation even though it wouldn't make the car faster, fitted a forge fmic I bought off someone here.

Taking the bumper off was something I worried about but not too bad in the end.

And fitted

Also fitted my badger5 v3

Then went to a mate in Leicestershire to fit some parts I got namely

Pipewerx downpipe and sportcat.

And baffled sump

Fitted.

At the same as this was fitted, oil was changed with the new oil filter and pickup pipe as well. Gearbox oil was also changed for some amsoil stuff. Also fitted an 034Motorsport "street" density dogbone mount.

And that's where we're at right now.

Need to fix a leaky radiator which will be done before the end of the year along with the slow speed fan fix and then in the new year sometime get it mapped.

 

[L16YDW]

Hi there, I thought I recognised the username from accordr.

Ex ATR owner myself, 2 in fact. You the chap who had the 16" teg wheels??

How are you finding the Leon in comparison?

 

[irf]

Hi, never had 16" teg wheels but did have the standard ones painted white.

My old one.

As a pure drivers car, the leon isn't bad at all but it really can't compare to the ATR. Throttle response and handling on that car was just on a different planet and while it didn't have a lot of torque, if I was away from the car for a while I'd get tingles down the back of my neck approaching the redline. It was and is an absolutely fantastic car IMHO.

 

[irf]

The car had been leaking coolant since I bought it but it wasn't obvious where it was leaking from. When I went to my friend to fit the downpipe he could see that it was the radiator itself that was leaking. So made another 'date' with him and got a few more things for him to fit.

Got the radiator, radiator switch (wrong bloody one supplied) and coolant temp sensor. Also, printed out the slow speed fan guide and ordered the bits listed on the thread.

Got all that sorted today, both fans come on now so thank you to whoever wrote that guide!

Also, last time when I had the forge baffled sump fitted, there were a few issues. Where the oil pressure sensor bolts into the threads hadn't been made far enough in so the threads had to be lengthened because oil started pissing out as soon as it was put in!

But that wasn't all, I noticed droplets of oil on the road where I park so I asked my mate to check it out today. On closer inspection the flange of the oil return pipe couldn't sit square on the sump so oil was pissing out of there as well! Once my mate machined down some of the flange of the oil return pipe it then went on square and hopefully now it should be okay.

Oh and just for a laugh, the sump drain bolt doesn't sit exactly square either but it's doing okay for now.

Not impressed with the forge baffled sump at all, just lucky I have a friend who's a fully qualified mechanic and knows what he's doing. Just posting this as a heads up for anyone else who's thinking of getting one, you may have issues, you may get lucky.

On a lighter note, the car is ready to get a stage 2 map now so hoping I can get that done before the end of January.

 

[dose17]

Good job

 

[irf]

quick update. last MOT the tester said something about the n/s dipped beam being not brilliant so i thought i'd change the bulbs. got some phillips nightbreakers as heard good things about them and dont want HIDs as i've heard their beam pattern can be dodgy.

before

n/s seemed to be facing down so gave it a quick twirl on the adjustment and seemed much better. why the MOT guy couldnt do it i dont know, took about 20 seconds.

wether they're actually any better i couldn't say. standard were pretty crap though so will see next time i go out when it's dark.


Also, got my jetex from badger and heatshield. the heatshield was in a nice protective film but its a bit bling for me so i'll probably spray it in summer.

before

first fit the heatshield. i quite like how its fitted as it actually fits properly! held down by two bolts which i've put an arrow on

and this one which is slightly hidden

and then the jetex fitted

got my date set with badger5 for the middle of february for my stage 2 map, hopefully nothing goes wrong there. just have a couple of error codes that need looking into.

 

[irf]

had a big box arrive from sere motors and a little time to do some little things so...



before

after

and also fitted this

before

and after

need to get the car ready for the nurburgring in may and castle combe in june so got a few more things to do before then!

already got the rear discs and pads from sere motors, also the whole dipstick as theres a little leak there and i've heard theyre quite fragile. Also thought i'd get the auxillary belt and tensioner as it sometimes makes a little noise.

thinking of getting one more rear caliper as its a bit sticky in these cold mornings and then a remap is already booked with badger for 16 feb. that should do it. maybe.

 

[LCR]

Car looks great mate, love to see someone who has an interest in machine polishing too! Where did you get your fitted liquid gauge from?

 

[Daniel M]

Some nice updates there. Looks great after the detail, what machine was it polished with?

 

[irf]

Cheers fellas, it's just a silverline rotary I picked up afew years ago.

The liquidgauge I got from http://racediagnostics.com/cms/index.php?page=liquidcube

What I done though was buy another vent from eBay so I could hack that up and fit the gauge in that.

 

[Daniel M]

I have a rotary but don't like the way it moves over the bodywork. Much prefer the Porter Cable, though I need to practice with the rotary as it will make things much easier and quicker.

 

[irf]

so yesterday i had my car booked in with badger5 for a custom map. Finally met bill who is a gent and he got to work on my car. Done a smoke test first which revealed two leaks, one which was very easy to sort, another which i'll have to sort some time.

while mapping there was an issue with my N75 but swapped for another one which resolved that particular issue.

being a 210 AMK and with all the mods on it it made 230bhp before the map which also tied in with what my liquidgauge revealed. after the map it was 272bhp which again ties in with what my liquidgauge is showing (271).

i was given the option of more boost and more torque but a lesser top end but thats not really my thing, i like a car that revs. It made 260 lb/ft of torque at a high 5000rpm but its made the car so nice to drive, linear, no spikes and quick.

With all my cars i measure the 60-100 to give an idea how quick they are, the car before the map done 8.9- 9 seconds with video to prove (going on speedo speed). after the map its now 6.7 seconds, again with video to prove.

dyno plot if anyones interested.

 

[irf]

Not a big update, took the 034 motorsport dogbone mount out and stuck in my standard mount with poly bushes in.

Also, I'll be going on track soon and I believe that can wreck sport cats, dunno if true but didn't wanna take the risk so bought a decat pipe off pipewerx and fitted that.

Haven't driven it properly yet so will see what it's like.

A few weeks ago took a few pics with a friend.

Fwiw once it's got traction the saab is quicker, think he's got about 320 bhp from a 19t turbo and mapped himself.

Got the nurburgring in May and still have quite a bit to do!

One rear caliper, both rear discs and pads already bought from sere motors to be fitted (not by me) and change the brake fluid.

Aux belt and tensioner bought from sere, still to be fitted (not by me)

Lemforder track rod ends and ball joints bought and need to be fitted (not by me)

Uprated oil cooler/heat exchanger to be bought along with oil change (err, not by me)

Maybe get another intercooler. Bought one second hand from someone here who assured me it's been pressure tested. Took it to get mapped at badgers and smoke test showed it leaking. Lesson learnt.

 

[irf]

had some time so thought i'd give it a go.

one rear caliper, both rear discs and pads all bought from sere motors so obviously all genuine.

before

shiny new caliper

after

got a pleasant surprise as well. on my dyno run, it showed me having 272 bhp. on the drive home on the liquidgauge it showed 271.

with the sport cat out and decat in i got 276bhp. wont make much difference but still, nice.

still plenty to do before being 'Ring ready.

 

[arb79]

Hi mate what issues did you have with your rear brakes? Having problems with mine but not sure what side.
High pitched noises now and then and juddering under normal braking.

 

[irf]

Hi, previously one side was sticking, you could tell by when the car would come to a halt it'd do it slightly sharper then it should. The caliper I changed today I done because when cold, if I reversed there'd be a very slight creaky squeaky sound from the rear. That and the fact that I've had brake issues on previous cars when on track I wanted to make sure all was good.

I'd say if you're getting a juddering, if you can feel it through the steering it'll be your fronts, if not then it'll be your rears.

When you do take your discs off you can see the condition of your calipers by how easily the piston slides back.

 

[arb79]

Was gonna ask how you knew which side/calliper it was but I haven't taken discs off yet. Can't feel it thru the steering wheel. Did you change both callipers and did you get them from Dave at Sere? Think he still has a promo on at mo.

 

[irf]

Yep, have changed both calipers at the rear now, calipers, discs and pads were all bought from dave. Very reasonable prices for genuine stuff. A lot of 'uprated' stuff, especially brakes is shoite.

Front discs I got from badger5.

 

[arb79]

Cool yeah I get a lot of stuff from Dave. Good original kit for fair prices. Random question but do you not get metal splash guards on fronts like you do on rears?

 

[irf]

Not sure what you mean, do you mean the metal bracket thingys you get with the rear pads?

If so, I can't actually answer that cos I got ferodo ds2500s for the front. Will be getting them for the rear soon as well or maybe something a bit more hardcore for front and back depending on how the car fares at the Ring.