A few people have asked about my old car, and I binned the original readers ride thread, so in a nut shell, here it is;
I bought the car back in 2007. Emocion Red, with OEM mud flaps, boot liner, headlamp protectors and mats. First thoughts were that it had fantastic brakes, cracking seats, plenty space and decent performance.
Standard power and torque - 257bhp and 242ftlb.
Standard 1/4 mile was 14.3 @ 101.2mph
It did this to a MK1 LCR with Turbo back exhaust and uprated intake when it was 100% standard
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCfdtKQLkgE[/youtube]&feature=related"]My Standard MK2 Leon vs MK1 Leon Cupra R with TBE and Intake The car was the very first Leon to have the Milltek Turbo Back exhaust on it - in fact Milltek designed the exhaust on my car
as seen here.
It was then fitted with a Carbonio intake, which I later found was as much good as an underwater hairdryer.
Power and torque at this point was 267bhp and 243ftlb
The car was a bit plain and boring, so I added the Aero skirts and spoiler along with the black 2008 Cupra Grille along with factory Cupra bumpers which was and is still the best look for the MK2 Leon.
I decided to buy some Eibach Pro Kit springs to lower the car a little, but these springs hardly dropped the car and they were too hard and upset the handling.
A quick Revo remap later, and 321bhp and 300ftlb was on tap with settings Boost 6, Timing 6, Fuel 9.
A blast at the local SIDC day at a short figure 8 sprint track saw the car make a quick 68 seconds which was quicker than all cars bar big turbo Subarus/Evos . It beat Lotus Exiges, many Scoobies/Evo's as well as the usual array of hot hatches.
Just after this though, the pro kit springs were changed out for Eibach Sportlines, again on standard shocks. The ride height was loads better and the handling was better than both stock springs and the pro kit springs.
I was worried about meddling with the fuel pump which was the next weakest point, but I ended up with a new OEM pump with KMD internals. Bear in mind this was in the early days of K04 tuning, so it was a reasonably radical step. An S3 intercooler and Dbilas intake was also fitted. The difference to the revability of the car was very noticeable. It no longer felt "breathless" at higher revs.
In the mean time, wheels were powder coated black as the car looked loads better that way.
With Pro Kit Springs
With Sportline Springs
Power and torque at this point was 354bhp and 320ftlb on Revo Stage 2 software using Boost 7, Timing 6 and Fuel 8. 1/4 mile took approx 13.5 seconds @ 110mph
When S2+ was first made available, mine was the first Leon to be a fully fledged "S2+" car. Settings were different, but the car by this point was reasonably quick. Issues at the time included a flat spot at 5,200rpm and everything around the car to cope with the power.
I added some Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 wheels firstly then some Eibach Pro Street Coilovers. A decat was then on the cards too.
As this point, I decided to go the full hog. A trip south saw the following added;
Autotech Front and Rear Anti Roll Bars
Whiteline Anti Lift Kit
Sachs Racing Clutch
Wavetrac Limited Slip Differential in Strengthened Gearbox
RS4 Valve
Evoms Intake
BSH Engine Mounts and Gearbox support
BSH PCV Bypass
When the car got home, the flat spot was reduced, the noise was immense, and the car was pretty special. Stupidly, when I r/r'd the car, it was with the cat on, and it made 364bhp and 340ftlbs. The plot was awesome. Settings were Boost 9, Timing 6 Fuel 6. 340bhp at the wheels was what I would tell anyone what it had if they asked.
We then removed the a/c core and fitted lightweight 2 piece discs and Ferodo DS2500 pads. Sadly, the discs never fitted properly and caused a little bit of drag. Replaced the BSH bypass with BSH catch can kit. Installed a lightweight battery.
Then the car ran several 12 second 1/4 miles with the rear seats out, passenger seat out and the brakes binding a little bit. The cars record was 12.9 @ 115.4mph. Considering the brakes were binding a tad, this time appears even better.
The car handled well, put power down well, sounded good and could out accelarate most things this side of a Porsche 911 Turbo. Proof being a Nissan GTR on the same 1/4 mile doing low 12 second 1/4 miles at just under 120mph (with a cracking launch).
All in, I loved the car. It was let down by the centre part of the dash and several niggles (none related to mods). It had its oil changed every 3000-5000 miles, was warmed up and cooled down properly and got anything it ever needed, and it never let me down.
I stripped the car of all its mods before selling it and I still have them all. Although I still have all the mods from this car, I don't plan to install them on my new car as I have seen first hand the weaknesses of these engines, and I believe that come time, several people on here with highly tuned Cupras will start seeing issues themselves.
To help others, I have rated all the mods I had on the car below.
Milltek Turbo Back Exhaust (6/10)Good, but Milltek quality is not what you would expect but the customer support and warranty is very good in my experience. They don't use the best quality Stainless so it does corrode. I had 3 downpipes on the car, and 2 rear silencers.
Carbonio (0/10)Waste of money. Don't be fooled in to believing these give any extra power or increase in noise.
Revo Stage 1 (7/10)Very good but very expensive, and you cant flash back to standard. Adjustability is handy though.
Audi S3 Intercooler (8/10)Very good - allows better revving and gave a significant reduction in inlet temps. I am not convinced THS, Forge Twintercooler or APR cores would give any significant benefit in the UK unless you did a lot of track work.
Dbilas Intake (7/10)Very good and very under-rated. Quiet confirmed gains, well built but heavy and mounting point in middle not well designed. Easy to clean/replace panel filter. Ignore people who go on about small filter area and small gains.
Eibach Pro Kit Springs (0/10)Too hard and not compliant. Upset handling on stock shocks. Virtually no drop. Bad buy.
Eibach Sportline Springs (8/10)Good ride quality, better handling than OEM + Pro Kit springs, lovely ride height. Good buy.
Eibach Pro Street Coilovers(8/10)Good build quality, nice ride quality, nice handling. Good buy, but I would have preferred fully adjustable coilovers.
Autotech Anti Roll Bars (5/10)Ignore people who rant on about uprated Anti Roll bars being the best handling mod there is for the Mk2 Leon/MK5 Golf - they are talking absolute crap. Unless you really want to push the car on a track, don't bother wasting your cash on these. The Autotech kit is the dogs bollocks too (stiffer, lighter and stronger than all others and 3 way adjustable).
Whiteline Anti Lift Kit (5/10)Not convinced this made a huge difference (see uprated ARB's above).
KMD Fuel Pump (7/10)Did what it was supposed to. Not convinced that OEM seals on an uprated pump are a good idea though. This would apply to Autotech also. APR is the best pump, but it would score no higher due to the fact you need a mortgage to buy one.
RS4 valve (7/10)Certainly seemed to "tame" the 5200rpm flatspot although it was never fully elimiated.
BSH Blank (3/10)Not convinced this is a good idea.
BSH Catch Can kit (6/10)Better idea than the BSH Blank.
EVOMS intake (9/10)Very happy with noise, air flow and performance gain.
Revo Stage 2 (9/10)Good step up from Stage 1. Higher revs. Worth the £50
Decat (9/10)Increase in noise, performance and emissions and it is a cheap to do modification. All good except the car is not fully legal when used on the road with one.
BSH Engine Mounts and gearbox support (10/10)Excellent modification. Reduces engine movement, wheel hop and gives a nice noise inside the car.
Sachs Clutch (6/10)Heavy to use, but effective. Needed with big power eventually although my stock clutch lasted very well and was sold with the car eventually with no slip whatsoever. Expensive though.
OEM Rev D Diverter Valve (8/10)Ignore the overpriced Forge valve. This does the same at a fraction of the price. Good upgrade for the OEM Rev C valve found in earlier 2.0T's which were prone to issues (moreso on the K03s cars). You probably won't need one on a Cupra though, hence why I would not consider it an essential mod.
Aero Skirts, Aero Spolier, Black Grille (10/10)Aesthetically, the best mods for the MK2 Leon, when used in combination with the Cupra/FR bumpers. Not at all a fan of Aero bumpers.
Wavetrac LSD (6/10)Unless you really plan on making a lot of quick progress everywhere (tracks), don't bother. Yes it helps pull you out of bends, but it can be a little dangerous on a wet day too. Expensive for the gains available.
A/C core removal (9/10)Very worthwhile. Air inlet temps very low when cold air lands straight on the intercooler. Proved to be within 5% of an identical set up with a Forge Twintercooler in addition to the S3 intercooler. Would be 10/10 except obviously you have no a/c when the core is gone!
2 piece discs (?/10)Manufacturer to remain unnamed. Good in theory. Shame they never fitted properly and binded all the time they were on. Weight saving of 5kg per wheel.
Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 Wheels (9/10)Look good, saved 3kg per wheel. Felt a difference on the road. Best way to describe is car felt more willing.
Ferodo DS2500 pads (4/10)No better than OEM pads in my opinion. Waste of money - although I never got to use them in ernest on a track.
Revo Stage 2+ (8/10)Not as noticeable a gap from Stage 1 to Stage 2, but designed for all the bolt ons where Stage 2 was not. Only upgraded as the code was designed for the mods, but Stage 2 seemed to do the same with different settings. "Only" £50, but had already spent approaching £700 on Revo software by this point.
I still believe Revo is the best code for K04 cars with its adjustability and outright pace along with nice logs, r/r print offs, good fuelling etc. Worth the money - maybe. Overpriced - definitely, especially with the choice of code available for the 2.0T K04 engine. Having said that, none offer the ability to adjust in the same way as Revo, but then Revo cannot be removed with no trace. Swings and roundabouts. I would buy Revo again though.
Red Bess vs 290bhp Focus ST (0-8seconds)
Red Bess vs race spec 280bhp Corsa with laughing gas
Sounded a lot like this.....
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