My Mk1 LCR 225 journal

[matt_83]

Hi everyone

So I'm once again a Seat owner after owning my first back in 2008 (Ibiza Cupra Tdi 160) which I kept for all of 18 months. I did a few basic mods to that car - Custom code stage 1 remap, green cotton air filter, upgraded stereo etc.

Owned numerous cars since including a Mercedes C32 AMG, BMW 335i Coupe, Octavia Vrs and started my first ever car project back in 2014 which was a BMW E36 328i Sport coupe which I completed a year later and made a slight - almost minute profit on but it was all very satisfying. All of which were fantastic cars in their own rights, but then came our first house purchase together. Bye bye to fancy, fast cars. Hello practical 5 door that doesn't consume quarter of a tank with a trip to the council tip.

Now that most of the works to the house are done, I thought to myself 'I need something fun that can play around with and make me feel young again.......if that's possible?

So the new Skoda Yeti arrived 5 weeks ago and we're all set for parenthood come August equipped with an appropriate car for the job. This allows me to find something fun to mess around with.
I wanted an LCR from the start so the search started for either a red or black 225 or 210 with low miles, full service history and not too many mods.

I eventually found an LCR in great condition, 75,000 on the clock, FSH including the all important cambelt/water pump change at 58,000 and only having 4 previous owners......I thought i'd have it!

Cue some pics:























As I'm a gentleman in my early/mid 30's, I created a spreadsheet for everything I wanted done to the car. First of all get the car back to good solid basic conditions, then possibly start modifying and see if the bug catches like it did back in the noughties with some previous cars.

So the first list that needs completing is this:

Refurbish alloys in high power silver
Repaint both front and rear calipers
Renew exterior 'R' badges
Replace splitter
Repaint a couple of the jack point covers
Adjust the exhaust (renew hangers etc)
Refurbish steering wheel/gearknob (DONE)
Health check at local VAG specialist
New wheel badges
Glovebox liner to tidy up the whole left from the miss CD changer (DONE)
All 4 wheels to balance
Whining from gearbox on overrun in 3rd gear, shim and oil seal cap ordered
New interior mats
Fix squeaky clutch pedal
Replace windscreen under insurance (couple of nasty chips)
Replace door card seals with Butyl tape (ordered)
Replace blue/Chrome front indicators for silver ones
Full exterior/interior detail

So that's the list to date, unless the VAG specialist comes up with anything else (which I'm sure they will!). The car is booked in with them this Thursday so I'm a bit apprehensive to say the least.
Once I'm happy with the car, I'll eventually start looking at remaps, filters, DV's, TIP's etc. but for now I just want it as clean as possible.

Erm, if anyone recognises the car, shout up as I'm always interested to know any history of any car I buy just purely out of interest.

Any comments, recommendations strongly welcome!

Thanks for now

Matt

 

[blair27]

Lovely car mate! Looks gorgeous in Black! Great list to start off with get its Spick and span then dive in! Love it!

 

[matt_83]

So today I got round to fitting the shim to the end of the gearbox input shaft.



Whipped the cap......maybe a tablespoonful of oil seeped out.



New shim and oil seal from VW.



Fitted and put back together in 30mins!



Took the car for a test drive and it feels like a totally different car after I'd got used to the whining from the box on over run in 3rd gear!! Nice and smooth now so job done...........and all for £10!
Thanks to many people on the forum who have advised this fix in the past!

More updates to come soon hopefully

Ta ta for now.

 

[Readie46]

blacks the fastest colour

 

[matt_83]

This morning I dropped the car off at the VAG specialist for a health check and they found the following which needs doing:

Front & rear discs and pads need replacing
O/S/F trackrod end needs replacing
2 rear flexi hoses for the calipers need replacing
N/S/R brake pipe corroded.

They're gonna get back to me with a price to sort it all out and I've got the car booked in with them for the 25th May to get the track rod end replaced for starters. All in all I'm pretty happy as they're all easy remedies and then the fun can begin like...........new mats!!!

This afternoon I've changed the front indicators from blue chrome to silvatec ones.

Before



After



And both done



Smartens the front end up!

After much thinking, I've decided to look into changing the exhaust too. I'm thinking a cat back Milltek (Not sure whether to go for res or non res yet). So will be pricing that up too in the not too distant future.

More updates to come soon.

 

[Ash-Kennard]

Looking really good dude. Enjoy it

 

[matt_83]

Thanks for the comments so far

 

[matt_83]

Quick update: The current tyres on the car (Uniroyal Rainsport 3's) are running fairly low on tread, plus I've got a nail in a rear tyre and when the tyre was removed from the wheel, the tyre fell to bits!! So spare wheel on for now and I've just ordered 4 Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 2's for £376 on Blackcircles. Heard nothing but good reviews about these so looking forward to seeing how they perform!
New discs and pads all round are now on the agenda for next week. Getting quotes from £411 to £468 so need to start being nice to wifey for the next few weeks!

 

[Daniel M]

Looks like a nice base for a project.

Is that quote for parts only or plus fitting?

 

[matt_83]

I ended up getting a quote for £340 all in, that was using Pagid parts so it's booked in for Monday

 

[matt_83]

Well I had an hour free before tea tonight so thought i'd have a go at changing the foam strip between the passenger front door and the inner liner behind the door card.
Water has been seeping into the footwell when its been raining so it'll need the dehumidifier treatment for the rest of the night.

So I started by removing the door card. Then disconnected everything such as elec windows etc. Removed the liner or carrier as I believe its called by undoing the 10mm hex head bolts and managed to remove the old foam strip. When I removed the strip along the bottom, it just crumbled away which would explain why water had been getting in!



The old foam strip being removed



Feeding the new Butyl strip into place



Leftovers from the old foam strip and the broken clips which is unavoidable I guess. Luckily I'd purchased new ones as seen in the bag.



The whole job took an hour and I'll get the remaining 3 doors done next week at some point. Will wait to see when it rains if it's worked or not. Now I just need to wait for Domino's to deliver my sustenance for the night!

That's it for now folks.

 

[matt_83]

Today I got the drivers door seal done behind the door card. Someone had obviously seen the problem of water coming into the carin the the past and decided to gaffer tape it up!



Also earlier today I had all discs and pads changed so now the car stops as it should and will be a lot safer to drive more importantly!





Wednesday the new tyres are going on so its coming along nicely!!

 

[matt_83]

Well today I said goodbye to the Uniroyal Rainsport 3's and said a big hello to Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2's!



All balanced up and now I just need new track rod ends fitting and wheel alignment doing next week and I can finally go for a spirited drive!!!

 

[Upia]

Looks really nice, I got an lcr pretty much the same as this a couple of months ago.
Quick question, you mentioned about the glovebox lining for missing cd changer, do you know where these are available? I'm taking mine out as I fitted an aux cable so I want to reclaim some glovebox space

Sent from my Elephone P8000 using Tapatalk

 

[matt_83]

Looks really nice, I got an lcr pretty much the same as this a couple of months ago.
Quick question, you mentioned about the glovebox lining for missing cd changer, do you know where these are available? I'm taking mine out as I fitted an aux cable so I want to reclaim some glovebox space

Sent from my Elephone P8000 using Tapatalk

Thanks mate, I got mine from the dealers. Think I paid something like £15. Just make sure you've got the original surround that went around the disc changer......you'll need this to tidy up the new liner and clip on the front.

Ok so recently I removed all 4 calipers for refurbishing. All brake lines clamped off although I'll be draining it off and filling with fresh brake fluid when they come back and I fit them.





Disc guard and carrier prepped with a wire brush and 400 grit paper.



A few coats of black Hammerite and red caliper paint later and here's the nearly finished article. Couple more coats of red needed me thinks.



More updates to come soon

 

[matt_83]

So I managed to give the caliper carriers another coat of red then 2 coats of lacquer and the disc guards another coat of black. All I need now is my refurbished calipers!!



Today I turned my attention to the air vents. I decided I liked the look of the S3 vents that quite a few on here have fitted so I purchased some for £45 and on they went!

Old vs New



And installed







Then quickly fitted my number plate surrounds in readiness for my new private plates!



That's it for now folks!

 

[matt_83]

Old brake lines off



New lines on



Then gave the arches a spruce up with Autosmart G101 & Tardis before dressing with Meg's All Season Dressing.

 

[Atteman]

Couldnt you switch the red clips from the cupra vents over to the s3?

 

[matt_83]

Yep could do but actually prefer the chrome ones.

 

[matt_83]

Had a busy day picking up my refurbished wheels



Went and got my new private plates made and got them fitted pronto.





Fit my new green air filter and while I was at it I smoothed the air box.



Then this morning I decided to polish the charge pipe and give the engine bay a good going over. Cleaned it with Autosmart G101 and then prepped all painted areas with this:



Which achieved this:









Then I sealed the painted parts with FK1000p and dressed all plastics with Swissvax Motor Shine













Just need to sort the manifold out with some Matt black VHT wrinkle paint and I think that should finish it off nicely. Will start replacing the hoses next year.......can't decide what colour to go for though.