Cupra things

[tonijov]

Cupra waits for some new shoes and bonnet gets a face peel

[tonijov]

Updates:

I had the rims powder coated before fitting new tyres as the original clear was flaking off.
The urge to pick white was strong, however a pain to keep clean so I decided to go with a light silver with metallic specks.
Really happy with the result as it's somewhere between stock and white!

During the wait I detailed the car, got rid of the ancient CD stacker system, installed light sensing auto on/off headlight system, fit the Remus exhaust and swapped my Neuspeed 28mm rear sway bar over.

Badges removed, polished, re-attached:


Clean!


New tyres, big size difference!


Adjusted speedo needle higher up to account for the bigger rolling diameter.


Exhaust new vs old. The stock tubing looks a bit more restrictive as it bends over the rear axle.


Headlight sensor, turns parking/tail lights on at dusk and then headlights as it gets darker (or entering undercover parking).


The once-was CD stacker interface, gone.


A neat place for my tyre pressure gauge.


Sway bar and exhaust fitted.



The new ride height. Corner balance/alignment redone.


Drive me!

[sports racer]

Love all the new shiny bits.

Is the rear mount for the sway bar welded on?

[tonijov]

Nope just held on with a bolt, no drilling either there just happened to be a hole there.
You can see the bolt head sticking up just under the shock. Bolt went in without having the remove the shock too.

[Cupra]

She is looking great Toni, love the subtle mods you've done.

[tonijov]

Waxed the car and snapped some pics before it gets dirty again.
Rims in the pics are not washed so looking a bit dark.

[Cupra]

Looks good Toni, although I'm not a fan of the pipes.

Phil

[Water Boy]

Sooooooooooooooooo clean!

[tonijov]

Car is dirty now

Pipes too showy you think Phil?

I've got the same exhaust on the black cupra so I've grown to like its squareness. Its sound is tuned specific to the ABF engine too.
After installing it I was confused why it wasn't as loud as the black cupra.
I was kinda pleased yet disappointed at the same time. Because the black car sounds mental. Something didn't add up...

Turns out the black car had its cams swapped! No idea what they are.


Too clean for 99,000kms

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MORE UPDATES:

-Fixed an annoying ticking noise I could only hear inside the cabin. Turned out to be the ignition coil which was still the original coil dated 1998. No idea how it survived this long and it still works!

-Next big fix was the issue with my battery going flat when left parked for several days. The camera system I installed has a parking mode which would eat up all the battery.

Solution: Install 2nd battery to run all electrics inside car and keep main battery fresh for starting.


Deep cycle AGM battery, designed for deep discharges and can be mounted sideways. Still waiting on terminal covers to arrive.

It's basically hooked up using an isolator which lets the alternator charge up both batteries, then seperates them when ignition is turned off to prevent draining the start up battery.
It was quite a bit of effort to put it all together (custom tray/bracket) but I'm happy I was able to install a 2nd battery without compromising any space.

[dylan8]

this thing looks clean as!

[Cupra]

It's not that they're showy Toni, I just liked the stealth look of the standard muffler. The second battery install looks great, I did have an issue a few years back with an intermittent bad earth from corrosion with the earth near the battery tray.

As I said when you picked it up, she gave me very little trouble over the years.

[tonijov]

I did notice the battery earth cable was replaced Phil. The original cable was still left there though so I sanded clean its contact points, removed the replacement cable and reused the original no problems at all.

Comparison shot of cams, trying to figure out what they are...

Stock ABF cams


??? These seem to give alot more kick in the lower RPM

[tonijov]

So my new tyres picked this up driving along, went in sideways though so disaster averted thank god!



Did a few more tweaks to the car.
Washed and re-oiled the air filter, replaced the fuel filter, redid the corner balance (yet again) and a new wheel alignment setting.
Real happy with this new setup the car feels like it's ready to pounce now.

Castor +2.7° (thank you adjustable top mounts)
Camber -2.1°
Toe-out 2mm

The car has put on a bit more weight from the 2nd battery install, heavier muffler and chunky rear sway bar. But its good weight! More to the left side and rear.

The scales confirmed this,



Considering this balance was done with around 25litres less fuel, front to rear weight ratio still improved from 65.5:34.5 to 64.9:35.1
Estimating that to be around 20kg worth of rear weight, it would have looked something more like 63.8:36.2

A small step closer to that ideal 60:40 weight distribution...

[tonijov]

Little things...

[Water Boy]

Hows this coming along?