That's half the fun of it though isnt it?I really need to start driving this car and stop pulling it apart
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Thai's grey mk1 Cupra R
- Thread starter Thai-wronghorse
- Start date
After much trying and pretty disastrous week I finally got a day at the barn to do some work which in all fairness I was dreading and forced myself to attack as I friggin hate working at the rear of the engine bay.
Anyway the turbo was pulled back out so I could clock the hot and cold sides in hope of realigning the cold outlet with the charge pipe better.
After much fettling and tweaking I think I've sussed it and realistically speaking I could have a gone a touch less but the placement is dramatically improved.
The new HEL braided oil feed line was fitted and again, so much better than the ridged oem pipe that brought me to tears last time. It's longer and more flexible so allows a load more give in a very tight spot.
As per usual its not all roses though as with rotating the turbo housings its meant that the Mamba braided coolant return line now fouls the actuator rod and renders it impossible to fit FFS!
My two options are to source either a M14 banjo to 6-AN 90° fitting or oem hard coolant line.
I'd prefer the first option but they're proving quick difficult to find as it stands.
Moving along I tried the downpipe spacer plate and I think it's going to put it in a much nicer position BUT and there's always a BUT...the studs aren't going to be long enough and weirdly the hanger onto the subframe is very out of line so may need chopping and rewelding to work.
I'm gutted about the studs as well as they weren't cheap and replacements won't be either.
Currently using 45mm and need at least 55mm.
Fingers crossed I'll back over there on Sunday to find more problems
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Anyway the turbo was pulled back out so I could clock the hot and cold sides in hope of realigning the cold outlet with the charge pipe better.
After much fettling and tweaking I think I've sussed it and realistically speaking I could have a gone a touch less but the placement is dramatically improved.
The new HEL braided oil feed line was fitted and again, so much better than the ridged oem pipe that brought me to tears last time. It's longer and more flexible so allows a load more give in a very tight spot.
As per usual its not all roses though as with rotating the turbo housings its meant that the Mamba braided coolant return line now fouls the actuator rod and renders it impossible to fit FFS!
My two options are to source either a M14 banjo to 6-AN 90° fitting or oem hard coolant line.
I'd prefer the first option but they're proving quick difficult to find as it stands.
Moving along I tried the downpipe spacer plate and I think it's going to put it in a much nicer position BUT and there's always a BUT...the studs aren't going to be long enough and weirdly the hanger onto the subframe is very out of line so may need chopping and rewelding to work.
I'm gutted about the studs as well as they weren't cheap and replacements won't be either.
Currently using 45mm and need at least 55mm.
Fingers crossed I'll back over there on Sunday to find more problems
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For once I can say I've had a productive & somewhat successful week in regards of car shizzle 
Back off with the turbo for more reshuffling and to revert back to the oe hardline coolant feed pipe as sourcing a suitable banjo adapter for my braided stainless line proved to be impossible.
Finally all attached thank God!
A 10mm downpipe flange was added as a spacer to shift the whole thing over and positioning is pretty much bang on now but oddly the subframe hanger bracket doesn't fit so that will need chopping and rewelding but it's a huge step in the right direction and easily resolved.
With the addition of the spacer and extra gasket my turbo studs are literally on their limit and the nuts are only on about 3/4 on their depth so ideally need to source longer ones but as per usual they're not an easy size to find and the ones I've found in the exact size required are frigging expensive.
Although I've now stuck most the engine bay back together so this makes me happy...just need to top up the fluids, prime it and turn it over which is admittedly quite nerve racking as I don't think I could cope with any major set backs now.
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Back off with the turbo for more reshuffling and to revert back to the oe hardline coolant feed pipe as sourcing a suitable banjo adapter for my braided stainless line proved to be impossible.
Finally all attached thank God!
A 10mm downpipe flange was added as a spacer to shift the whole thing over and positioning is pretty much bang on now but oddly the subframe hanger bracket doesn't fit so that will need chopping and rewelding but it's a huge step in the right direction and easily resolved.
With the addition of the spacer and extra gasket my turbo studs are literally on their limit and the nuts are only on about 3/4 on their depth so ideally need to source longer ones but as per usual they're not an easy size to find and the ones I've found in the exact size required are frigging expensive.
Although I've now stuck most the engine bay back together so this makes me happy...just need to top up the fluids, prime it and turn it over which is admittedly quite nerve racking as I don't think I could cope with any major set backs now.
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You know the old saying "You wait ages for a bus to come along then 2 come at once!"
Latest breaker came with Recaro front seats which I'd planned on keeping but that idea lasted 5 days as I've literally just collected a full set of front & rear Recaros which are in great condition tbh, just need a deep clean and the plastic lever surround swapping on the rear bench.
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Latest breaker came with Recaro front seats which I'd planned on keeping but that idea lasted 5 days as I've literally just collected a full set of front & rear Recaros which are in great condition tbh, just need a deep clean and the plastic lever surround swapping on the rear bench.
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Oh and this is making it's way over from the states...
Finding these now is like hunting for hens teeth, let alone a brand new and unused one with fittings & throttle body adapter plate .
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Finding these now is like hunting for hens teeth, let alone a brand new and unused one with fittings & throttle body adapter plate .
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Wow...nothing posted here since May and I'm finally back with nothing but sadness & disappointment 
After a crazy busy few months with work I managed to book yesterday off to do some work on the Leon.
I had a clear mindset of what needed to be completed to get it running and back on the road but was once again met with another barb wired wrapped hurdle!
New longer (super expensive) turbo to downpipe studs were fitted and look lovely and now have plenty of thread either side so I'm happy with those.
Oil and coolant refilled
Oil system & turbo primed by turning the engine over several times with the injectors and coil packs disconnected.
So far so good although I did notice a low oil pressure warning pop up after extended cranking?
Time to plug it all back in and fire it up...
This car has always been on the button with starting but it took longer than usual and I even had to dab the throttle for it to eventually spring to life.
Everything sounded OK and I just put it down to not running in a while.
Ok now to have a check under the car whilst its running for any leaks and low and behold it's absolutely pissing out oil and in the worst possible place ever - the turbo FFS!
Quickly switched it off so I could investigate but this has me completely stumped.
Oil return pipe is tight and looks dry.
From the very limited access and viewing angle the oil feed pipe appears to be dry as well impossible to be 100% on this as it tucked up out sight due to its poxy location.
The oil is quickly pooling around the cold side and quick frankly I have no idea where its coming from and the thought of removing the turbo AGAIN fills me with nausea.
Im kinda hoping it just a bad seal on the oil feed line but that still means most of its got to be pulled out.
The only other thing I can think of is the main seals inside the turbo itself and that would mean a rebuild on the cards and I'd rather sh!t in my hands and clap enthusiastically than go that route backwards.
Oil leak aside, I had another punt at running the car and again it took a lot of turning and a touch of the throttle to fire up.
As if it was lacking fuel, im just wondering whether the turbo and intake swap have made it leaner on start up and will need mapping before it's right?
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After a crazy busy few months with work I managed to book yesterday off to do some work on the Leon.
I had a clear mindset of what needed to be completed to get it running and back on the road but was once again met with another barb wired wrapped hurdle!
New longer (super expensive) turbo to downpipe studs were fitted and look lovely and now have plenty of thread either side so I'm happy with those.
Oil and coolant refilled
Oil system & turbo primed by turning the engine over several times with the injectors and coil packs disconnected.
So far so good although I did notice a low oil pressure warning pop up after extended cranking?
Time to plug it all back in and fire it up...
This car has always been on the button with starting but it took longer than usual and I even had to dab the throttle for it to eventually spring to life.
Everything sounded OK and I just put it down to not running in a while.
Ok now to have a check under the car whilst its running for any leaks and low and behold it's absolutely pissing out oil and in the worst possible place ever - the turbo FFS!
Quickly switched it off so I could investigate but this has me completely stumped.
Oil return pipe is tight and looks dry.
From the very limited access and viewing angle the oil feed pipe appears to be dry as well impossible to be 100% on this as it tucked up out sight due to its poxy location.
The oil is quickly pooling around the cold side and quick frankly I have no idea where its coming from and the thought of removing the turbo AGAIN fills me with nausea.
Im kinda hoping it just a bad seal on the oil feed line but that still means most of its got to be pulled out.
The only other thing I can think of is the main seals inside the turbo itself and that would mean a rebuild on the cards and I'd rather sh!t in my hands and clap enthusiastically than go that route backwards.
Oil leak aside, I had another punt at running the car and again it took a lot of turning and a touch of the throttle to fire up.
As if it was lacking fuel, im just wondering whether the turbo and intake swap have made it leaner on start up and will need mapping before it's right?
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Seriously mate I'm now at the stage of losing the will with it.Hope you get this fixed mate, feel yer pain
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I really thought I could get it on the road this month but I just don't know now.
My barn landlord probably had the best idea..."why don't you break this broken one and drive one of the other working ones you keep buying to pull apart?"
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Where’s the fun in that?Seriously mate I'm now at the stage of losing the will with it.
I really thought I could get it on the road this month but I just don't know now.
My barn landlord probably had the best idea..."why don't you break this broken one and drive one of the other working ones you keep buying to pull apart?"
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Still here lurking and thought I'd stick something on for good measure.
So after waiting bloody months for a slot I've finally got a spare gearbox and my LSD packed up and ready for Martin @ Gas N Gears to work his magic fingers on it.
We've not yet finalised what's going into it but I'm thinking 4th gear support, billet shaft and possibly strengthened shifts forks.
I'll be having the whole lot vapour blasted as well to freshen it up.
I've also acquired another uprated clutch set up to match - Sachs SRE 4 puck paddle, SRE pressure plate & LUK DMF.
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So after waiting bloody months for a slot I've finally got a spare gearbox and my LSD packed up and ready for Martin @ Gas N Gears to work his magic fingers on it.
We've not yet finalised what's going into it but I'm thinking 4th gear support, billet shaft and possibly strengthened shifts forks.
I'll be having the whole lot vapour blasted as well to freshen it up.
I've also acquired another uprated clutch set up to match - Sachs SRE 4 puck paddle, SRE pressure plate & LUK DMF.
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Last edited:
Almost forgot to say!
Oil catastrophe averted...after putting my new boroscope to good use it became clear the issue was the new oil feed line I'd fitted.
Basically the supplied copper crush washers were too thin and too narrow meaning they gave hardly any surface contact onto the turbo housing.
This coupled with the super tight access causing the retaining banjo bolt to loosen off which in turn allowed the luscious golden stuff to projectile vomit all over the place.
Mega annoying but thankfully easily rectified with some chunkier crush washers in place.
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Oil catastrophe averted...after putting my new boroscope to good use it became clear the issue was the new oil feed line I'd fitted.
Basically the supplied copper crush washers were too thin and too narrow meaning they gave hardly any surface contact onto the turbo housing.
This coupled with the super tight access causing the retaining banjo bolt to loosen off which in turn allowed the luscious golden stuff to projectile vomit all over the place.
Mega annoying but thankfully easily rectified with some chunkier crush washers in place.
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Sexy gearbox update time!
Finally after many many months of being on a waiting list to have my spare gearbox rebuilt I have it back in my possession.
The particular gearbox box in question was one I'd put aside from a nice low mileage breaker I had in, BUT I did take a calculated gamble on this as it wasn't one I'd actually driven as the engine had blown up so it was definitely a case of fingers and toes crossed when it was pulled apart.
I don't think Martin at Gas N Gears was overly impressed with this gamble and thankfully it turned out to be pretty sweet on the inside.
He did discover a small crack in the casing around one the outputs which he has milled and rectified.
He also had to make a custom insert for the top bearing due to some case wear and grind the circlip to get it in.
It means there’s now zero end float on the shaft and as it’s so tight shouldn't suffer it again. Apparently it's something they don't do at the factory.
After much discussion we both decided the best route was to stick with the original shift forks albeit now securely bolted instead of the weak factory rivets.
Nice little saving of £190 from purchasing the genuine all steel forks which he reckons he's seeing more and more of the plastic end caps fail on.
My supplied 4th gear support was attached to the modified casing and whilst there it made sense to have a billet input shaft insert pressed and welded in for additional stiffness.
The casing and few other bits were vapour blasted whilst the internals were hot tanked to get everything squeaky clean.
All bearings and tolerances checked throughout, replacements where necessary.
Now for the part that gave me serious anxiety...
As many of you that have read this thread will know I had a second hand Quaife 02M 2WD ATB Helical Limited Slip Diff to be fitted well what what he found after stripping it down was a big surprise.
Martin reckons I'd been blagged over this purchase and it would appear it had been taken from a fire damaged vehicle due to the amount of burnt on oil and crap covering it's internals.
Thank f*ck I didn't undertake the install myself as I had no intention of splitting the LSD so wouldn't have known any difference.
All I can say is he's pulled it out of the bag in rescuing it and it looks bloody great now as you can see from the pictures below.
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Finally after many many months of being on a waiting list to have my spare gearbox rebuilt I have it back in my possession.
The particular gearbox box in question was one I'd put aside from a nice low mileage breaker I had in, BUT I did take a calculated gamble on this as it wasn't one I'd actually driven as the engine had blown up so it was definitely a case of fingers and toes crossed when it was pulled apart.
I don't think Martin at Gas N Gears was overly impressed with this gamble and thankfully it turned out to be pretty sweet on the inside.
He did discover a small crack in the casing around one the outputs which he has milled and rectified.
He also had to make a custom insert for the top bearing due to some case wear and grind the circlip to get it in.
It means there’s now zero end float on the shaft and as it’s so tight shouldn't suffer it again. Apparently it's something they don't do at the factory.
After much discussion we both decided the best route was to stick with the original shift forks albeit now securely bolted instead of the weak factory rivets.
Nice little saving of £190 from purchasing the genuine all steel forks which he reckons he's seeing more and more of the plastic end caps fail on.
My supplied 4th gear support was attached to the modified casing and whilst there it made sense to have a billet input shaft insert pressed and welded in for additional stiffness.
The casing and few other bits were vapour blasted whilst the internals were hot tanked to get everything squeaky clean.
All bearings and tolerances checked throughout, replacements where necessary.
Now for the part that gave me serious anxiety...
As many of you that have read this thread will know I had a second hand Quaife 02M 2WD ATB Helical Limited Slip Diff to be fitted well what what he found after stripping it down was a big surprise.
Martin reckons I'd been blagged over this purchase and it would appear it had been taken from a fire damaged vehicle due to the amount of burnt on oil and crap covering it's internals.
Thank f*ck I didn't undertake the install myself as I had no intention of splitting the LSD so wouldn't have known any difference.
All I can say is he's pulled it out of the bag in rescuing it and it looks bloody great now as you can see from the pictures below.
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Last edited:
And back together 
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Drove 1 mile...broke it! 
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Blown apart boost pipe, the only friggin one I couldn't fix at the roadside without removing the front bumper which was quite infuriating.
Ended up needing recovery and the car taken into storage throughout December.
I've now got it back in my workshop and hope to sort it this weekend.
The battery is completely toast now as well so that'll need poaching from a breaker.
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Ended up needing recovery and the car taken into storage throughout December.
I've now got it back in my workshop and hope to sort it this weekend.
The battery is completely toast now as well so that'll need poaching from a breaker.
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Getting greedy with the greys this week.
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