Robbie C's Ibiza Cupra

[Ibiza125]

Thanks for the comments, I need to update this one night this week with the latest pics and progress as the car is pretty much done now and ready for mapping

It has been a lot of hard work and stress at times but beginning to feel it will all be worth it once it's back out on the road again



I had these lying around in my garage but I know you can pick them up cheap on ebay if needed - they come in handy

I've spent the past couple of days trying to find the best insurance deal as my renewal is up this month and managed to end up paying less than I did last year with the car running Revo Stg1 Good times!

It will be worth it once finished buddy! Always is!

Get those pictures up bud!

 

[Robbie C]

OK it's been a fair while since I've posted any updates so here's a few snaps of what's been happening over the past few weeks, bringing the car very near to completion now

Day 19-21

Following on from my last update we continued to make up my intercooler pipework by neatening up what we'd already mocked up on the hot side before piecing it all together and making up the throttle body side, also making use of Forge's MAP sensor pipe so as to keep everything in 2.5" aluminium wherever possible.

After much trimming, adjusting and lining up we ended up with the following nice free flowing setup, with minimal harsh bends (none greater than 90 degrees).

The pipes on the left make up the throttle body side and the ones on the right make up the hot side:

In the end I decided to replace the 90 degree silicone bend here for a new aluminium hard pipe just to make everything as rigid as possible and ensure nothing was going to kink or collapse under boost:

On the throttle body side:

As you may notice, I also had the throttle body sprayed matt black to help blend it in a bit better and match the rest of my engine bay

 

[Robbie C]

This pipework was finally then all secured into place using some t-bolt clamps, similar to Mikalors which should hold everything in place nicely (fingers crossed).

This completed the FMIC setup

Next up I decided to smarten up the engine bay a little and bought a Forge coolant hose set in black as a bit of an impulse buy

Some of the old vs new:

While these were being fitted I also decided to get rid of that damper weight on the front sub frame which is only slowing me down

It's a fair weight to remove considering it does sweet FA:

The bracket on the sub frame it was removed from:

 

[Robbie C]

Once these were in place I then also decided it would be a good time to move the battery to the boot to aid weight distribution and free up more space for the air filter so out it came and so then the cleaning began in order to remove all the wax oil and stuck on crap from the past 8 years

This was a low point in the project! Never am I going to remove the sound deadening from under the carpets as this small area in the engine bay was bad enough. So much sticky crap that just takes ages to remove properly.

 

[Robbie C]

With these bits cleaned up I was then also able to install my HID kit sourced from Dianeshop on Ebay, fixing the ballasts neatly underneath the headlights on the chassis legs:

As I was now ready to secure the front bumper back into place we spent some time relocating both the horns inside the offside wing, near their original locations to ensure I could keep these in place alongside the new pipework.

Here's one in position, the other was finally held in place on one of the threads of a t-bolt clamp on the intercooler pipework, visible in this same picture:

With these bits sorted I also finished off the brakes by putting my Ferodo pads in the calipers before the bumper was secured back in place

Next, a full pressure bleed with some 5.1 fluid before bleeding them manually with Motul RBF 600 all round:

After a quick poke around the t'interweb I also ended up "accidently" buying this too at an absolute steal of a price:

More pics to follow of that later

 

[Robbie C]

So, with the car finally beginning to look like a proper car once again we finished off the engine bay by fitting some new silicone hoses to re-route my Saikou Michi catch tank, make up the rest of my custom TIP and plumb in my N75 using some Revotec hose take-offs.

This picture's a little dark but you can justabout make out where we've attached the N75 onto the side of the catch tank as a new mounting point:

With my intercooler pipework now running down the inside of the driver's wing I replaced the OE 6.6L washer bottle for this diddy 1.2L one, and managed to tuck it away nicely out of sight down in the front bumper

Here you can see we've blanked off the rear washer where I'm no longer running a rear wiper:

Hidden away in the wing:

Efforts were next focussed on relocating the battery to the boot, choosing an Odyssey Extreme Racing 25 after we found my original battery was goosed.

Following the guides available here and here I used the standard cable running from the starter motor to feed into a distributor block, connected to the fuse box and battery using some 4 gauge power cable.

The fuse box is now sat right at the front of the engine bay where the standard battery once was, concealing my breather outlet for the catch tank that now exits near the arch - both hidden away by the freshly respositioned air filter:

 

[Robbie C]

The power cable was fed to the cabin through the bulk head via the rubber grommit that feeds the wiring loom through to the back of the glovebox, then down the passenger sill under the carpet, behind the rear passenger trim and through to the boot running inside the rear quarter so the cable ran round past the rear strut top and then back out at the bottom of the boot carpet by the boot catch.

This route required 6 metres to do it comfortably but it's very neat and out-of-sight and it doesn't involve routing anything through/under the back seats. I'm also using a 100A in-line fuse in case the power cable ever rubs and shorts out on the body:

This setup also allowed me to run a nice 102mm cold air feed up from the vent in the front bumper that used to feed into the SMIC and onto my air filter, ensuring it's getting as much air as possible in this new position:

While I was re-jigging everything around and tarting a few things up I also decided to replace the OE fuel lines with some Mocal braided hose and aluminium adaptors:

These proved much more awkward than we first anticipated as the pipes just didn't want to push over the ends, and after a bit of head scratching we eventually realised that I had been supplied with 6mm hose instead of 8mm..... a quick trip back to Merlin though and everything was sorted

 

[Robbie C]

At this stage the engine bay was near enough complete and after refilling with coolant and oil it was time to say a prayer and start it up for the first time in nearly 5 months...


<cue edge-of-your-seat suspense music>


....the result...after replacing my duff battery with the Odyssey it turned over and fired up straight away as if it had been running 5 minutes ago The feeling of excitement mixed with relief was immense!

Letting the car come up to temperature and idle for a while we checked over the essentials and found just a very minor coolant leak from one of the lines that returns to the block, with a 23p replacement washer and £2 banjo bolt now on order to irradicate any future issues

Satisfied that everything is now up and running more or less as it should be we then went about fitting my VEI gauges to hook up my oil pressure, temp, and AFR sensors - all housed neatly in a Cupra R holder:

One of the last things now left to do before it was ready to cart off to Mr Brockbank for mapping and WMI was to fit this carbon bonnet I had teased you with earlier.

This needed some holes cutting into the underside in order to house the washer jets, which we attacked with the aid of a dremel:

After moving the bonnet catch up as far as we could in order to allow it to shut properly I now had a whole car again

 

[Robbie C]

And so, the car as it currently stands with everything now bolted in place:

ECS Tuning carbon fibre dipstick cover:

Once the replacement coolant washer and bolt arrives (hopefully) tomorrow we can get these fitted and the car back off of the axle stands ready for a road test before taking it over to Bill on the 27th

I'll get some better pics when I get the chance to take some in daylight which helps show it all off a little better

As always, thoughts/comments welcome!

 

[DaleGT]

wow coming on really well mate pipes and bonnet look sweet

 

[cupramillo]

True inspiration Robbie, love what you have done to the car! Transformation is amazing! Going to be a right animal once Bill works his magic and maps her up.

Top job

 

[David_smith_909]

well done mate, bet you cant wait until mapping is finished !
like people have said, true insperation, much more satisfying when youdo the work yourself .

just a quickie, is it me or does anyone else think this? now with your bonnet on, i think your bump strips will look much better colour coded

anyways....

 

[Robbie C]

Thanks all Yeah I'm itching to get back in it, so close now I have it all back in one piece and running again.

Credit where credit's due, it's my mate who works as a BMW techie who's done all the hands-on mechanical work but it's certainly more satisfying having it done this way and getting everything made up exactly as I want it. It's also the comments and feedback I get on here which really make it worth it.

I had originally intended to get the bump strips colour coded when it goes in for a full respray next year but with the anthracite wheels and carbon bonnet I think it now goes with the theme and breaks it up nicely. I was also contemplating having the bonnet sprayed but faded out at the edges so you could still see some of the weave close up but now it's fitted I think I like it as it is. One for me to think about anyway

 

[PhilW]

This and Alex's Ibizas are my favourite on here. Just the quality of work done on both are to a super high standard. Congrats.

 

[turbo009]

pipe work looks awesome and so do your red dials. Can imagine how awesome they look at night driving along. Keep up good work,and agree this is one of my best cupra's on here

 

[Ibiza125]

Wow! I LOVE this car! Amazing quality work all round! Especially in the engine bay!

 

[krisbutler02]

like that alot ,

 

[Robbie C]

Cheers for all the positive comments, really makes it all that much more worth it

Hopefully from the pictures you can see why it's taken longer than most to get this work done as I wanted to make sure everything was done to the highest possible standard and I'd like to think it's paid off.

Day 22

Another short but nonetheless significant update tonight.

We've now (fingers crossed) sorted the minor coolant leak on the return line into the block, as well as a small leak with my washer bottle. The car was then given a final once-over before taking it back off the axle stands to move it out of the garage and take it for a short and very gentle road test

Initial signs are very promising with no evident issues whatsoever. I just seem to have lost a side light in the 5 months it's been sat still, go figure Felt really good to be back on the road again, just can't wait to get it mapped now. Even off boost I can already notice the turbo is much much louder than before so spool-up should be immense.

Just to wrap it up for tonight here's a few more shots...

My attempt to capture a still and moody atmosphere with the car out on the drive:

In need of a good wash:

Finally, SPACE where the car once was

My leftover mess of spare parts and random bits and pieces I now need to sort through:

 

[Robbie C]

A couple of weeks ago I also went and picked up a brand spanking new set of SEAT Sport OZ Super Turismos, still boxed which will be used as dedicated track wheels

Back in the garage, tucked up for another night:

On Saturday it's booked in for a fresh MOT so all being well it'll sail through that and be ready for mapping the following weekend

 

[Indy]

Super thread!!!

Read through the whole thread.. Nice build work on your car and like the Hispec brakes. The OZ alloys will look very nice on your motor.

Bill mapped my car and did a fantastic job. Should be getting him to do put the final touches to my WMI in 2 weeks time.