Thai's grey mk1 Cupra R
- Thread starter Thai-wronghorse
- Start date
Just got back from spending the past couple of hours doing a little bit more engine bay cleaning, it's never going to be concours level but wanted to shift some of the built up crud whilst the bay was empty.
I also swapped over the brake master cylinder as prior to the car coming off the road I occasionally saw a brake pressure sensor fault on the dash which needed addressing.
Again, whilst the engine was out this was made much easier and I'm glad I hadn't tried with it in there as I can imagine it would have been an absolute ballache.
Both engine mounts were poached from the donor car as they've only done a few thousand miles.
Brand new genuine VW stretch bolts are been used throughout.
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I also swapped over the brake master cylinder as prior to the car coming off the road I occasionally saw a brake pressure sensor fault on the dash which needed addressing.
Again, whilst the engine was out this was made much easier and I'm glad I hadn't tried with it in there as I can imagine it would have been an absolute ballache.
Both engine mounts were poached from the donor car as they've only done a few thousand miles.
Brand new genuine VW stretch bolts are been used throughout.
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Just read your thread from start to finish, s lot has happened in a year! It started so promising with the chassis mods and I'd be interested to hear what you think of the ARBs and suspension changes as I'm considering similar. Rotten luck on the engine but sounds like it's all for the better once its plumbed in.
With any of the cars your breaking I dont suppose you have a drivers headlight clip that holds the rear cap in place you would like to part with?
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With any of the cars your breaking I dont suppose you have a drivers headlight clip that holds the rear cap in place you would like to part with?
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Yeah you're not wrong there, it's coming up to 12 months of ownership now and a lot more than I ever anticipated has gone on with this car in that short period.
As always family life and work has put a damper on things and I massively struggling to get any time at the barn recently and with an impending 1st December deadline looming over my head the reality of it is that I very much doubt this will be up and running again this side of Christmas which is a massive ballache and disappointment.
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As always family life and work has put a damper on things and I massively struggling to get any time at the barn recently and with an impending 1st December deadline looming over my head the reality of it is that I very much doubt this will be up and running again this side of Christmas which is a massive ballache and disappointment.
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Several hours were spent scrubbing, degreasing and painting the gearbox.
Although the donor one worked perfectly I opted to use my original one as it had slightly lower mileage and a smidgen less crap encrusted into it.
Unfortunately no before pics, just post clean and paint.
New Sachs clutch slave cylinder ready for install and also stuck a coat of paint on a spare auxiliary unit bracket.
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Although the donor one worked perfectly I opted to use my original one as it had slightly lower mileage and a smidgen less crap encrusted into it.
Unfortunately no before pics, just post clean and paint.
New Sachs clutch slave cylinder ready for install and also stuck a coat of paint on a spare auxiliary unit bracket.
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They certainly weigh enough, I hate moving these ******* things about.
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Over the past couple of days I've been in panic mode so kinda got a bit more done...
The sump pan was removed for several reasons...it was dented, I wanted to make sure the pick up pipe was clean and to visually inspect the conrods and end cap bolts.
Spare sump all clean and ready for fitment.
IE forged rods and ARP 2000 end cap bolts all present and correct.
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The sump pan was removed for several reasons...it was dented, I wanted to make sure the pick up pipe was clean and to visually inspect the conrods and end cap bolts.
Spare sump all clean and ready for fitment.
IE forged rods and ARP 2000 end cap bolts all present and correct.
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Numerous visits to my local TPS buddy and countless online purchases seem to be mounting up.
This is barely scratching the surface of what I've got here and doesn't show all the bottles of fluids I've got to replace everything on the car. Haha
I stupidly lost one of the turbo exhaust studs and pulled the place apart trying to find it to no avail so had to order a new set (bloody expensive) set.
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This is barely scratching the surface of what I've got here and doesn't show all the bottles of fluids I've got to replace everything on the car. Haha
I stupidly lost one of the turbo exhaust studs and pulled the place apart trying to find it to no avail so had to order a new set (bloody expensive) set.
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I noticed the donor engine had the turbo support bracket missing which I could only assume had been ditched due to the change of manifold.
I offered my old one up and it just need a slight tweak in angle and I sliver chopped out to clear the much larger Mamba oil return pipe.
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I offered my old one up and it just need a slight tweak in angle and I sliver chopped out to clear the much larger Mamba oil return pipe.
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Engine finally in position today, more cleaning and painting behind the scenes.
Rocker cover gasket replaced, dog **** cam chain tensioner tool cracked after several attempts and tweaks with a file to make it fit properly.
AC pump, alternator and PAS removed and cleaned.
Spare AUX bracket fitted, oil filter housing removed and I've painted a spare which is drying as I type.
New injector cups installed into freshly painted inlet manifold which was then bolted onto the engine only to be taken back off 10 mins later as the brake cleaner I used to clean the new cups had eaten into my new paintwork FFS!
I guess I'll be painting that again in the week and can only assume it hasn't cured properly due to not having any heat cycles yet, time to dig out the heat gun!
Here's how it currently sits anyway.
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Rocker cover gasket replaced, dog **** cam chain tensioner tool cracked after several attempts and tweaks with a file to make it fit properly.
AC pump, alternator and PAS removed and cleaned.
Spare AUX bracket fitted, oil filter housing removed and I've painted a spare which is drying as I type.
New injector cups installed into freshly painted inlet manifold which was then bolted onto the engine only to be taken back off 10 mins later as the brake cleaner I used to clean the new cups had eaten into my new paintwork FFS!
I guess I'll be painting that again in the week and can only assume it hasn't cured properly due to not having any heat cycles yet, time to dig out the heat gun!
Here's how it currently sits anyway.
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Looking good man, hope to see it at one of the meets next year.Engine finally in position today, more cleaning and painting behind the scenes.
Rocker cover gasket replaced, dog **** cam chain tensioner tool cracked after several attempts and tweaks with a file to make it fit properly.
AC pump, alternator and PAS removed and cleaned.
Spare AUX bracket fitted, oil filter housing removed and I've painted a spare which is drying as I type.
New injector cups installed into freshly painted inlet manifold which was then bolted onto the engine only to be taken back off 10 mins later as the brake cleaner I used to clean the new cups had eaten into my new paintwork FFS!
I guess I'll be painting that again in the week and can only assume it hasn't cured properly due to not having any heat cycles yet, time to dig out the heat gun!
Here's how it currently sits anyway.
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Don't worry once it's all back together I very much doubt it'll ever be done again ha
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Not much to report in regards of putting the car back together seeing as it's currently under a cover in the farmyard and will be until January but the past couple of days I've been tidying up the modified slam panel, rad pack and Airtec intercooler.
The donor vehicle slam panel had 2 broken headlight bolts and 2 broken crash bar studs.
All of which I've now drilled out, headlight mounts were re-tapped for fresh M6 hardware and I've welded in some M8 studs for the crash bar.
Just need to give it all a fresh coat of satin black paint.
The AC condenser was looking very sorry for itself so that's been scrubbed up and painted along with Airtec intercooler which was also tired and again needed a snapped bolt removing.
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The donor vehicle slam panel had 2 broken headlight bolts and 2 broken crash bar studs.
All of which I've now drilled out, headlight mounts were re-tapped for fresh M6 hardware and I've welded in some M8 studs for the crash bar.
Just need to give it all a fresh coat of satin black paint.
The AC condenser was looking very sorry for itself so that's been scrubbed up and painted along with Airtec intercooler which was also tired and again needed a snapped bolt removing.
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Slam panel got painted today, far from perfect but much better than it was and most of it's hidden away anyhow.
I'll probably wet sand the top section at some point.
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I'll probably wet sand the top section at some point.
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So almost 3 months have passed since any real work has been done on the car!
There's been the odd little tinker with bits and pieces at the workshop but nothing substantial to speak of.
Unfortunately due to the barn not been available during December the car sat outside on a very wet and muddy farm for around 6 weeks in total.
I eventually got it pushed back inside mid January but simply not had the time to commence work until this past Sunday.
Well, I can't honestly believe the toll this stopgap has taken on all the hard work I'd already put into tidying the engine bay up.
Although the car had a cover over it the engine bay was still very exposed underneath it allowing huge amounts of moisture to penetrate all the fresh paintwork I'd done on the gearbox, inlet manifold and rocker cover etc.
I'm guessing the fact that none of the hi-temp paint has had any heat cycling yet it left it all very porous which has now left white chalky marks over everything.
The gearbox in particular looks pretty crap and rough which I'm absolutely gutted about and I have no intention of pulling it back out at this stage.
I haven't taken any pictures of the issues as yet as I was so pissed off but the past few days I been re-cleaning a lot whilst wiring and plumbing it back in.
The rocker cover can stay put although far from perfect but the inlet manifold is coming back off and I've organised a part polished alternative to be done imminently as I simply hate the current one now.
I reckon a polished one will look more uniform with the new polished charge pipe anyway.
This is where I'm up to this evening, not so bad from a distance and luckily I plan to run all the engine covers and trims to hide away as many sins as possible.
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There's been the odd little tinker with bits and pieces at the workshop but nothing substantial to speak of.
Unfortunately due to the barn not been available during December the car sat outside on a very wet and muddy farm for around 6 weeks in total.
I eventually got it pushed back inside mid January but simply not had the time to commence work until this past Sunday.
Well, I can't honestly believe the toll this stopgap has taken on all the hard work I'd already put into tidying the engine bay up.
Although the car had a cover over it the engine bay was still very exposed underneath it allowing huge amounts of moisture to penetrate all the fresh paintwork I'd done on the gearbox, inlet manifold and rocker cover etc.
I'm guessing the fact that none of the hi-temp paint has had any heat cycling yet it left it all very porous which has now left white chalky marks over everything.
The gearbox in particular looks pretty crap and rough which I'm absolutely gutted about and I have no intention of pulling it back out at this stage.
I haven't taken any pictures of the issues as yet as I was so pissed off but the past few days I been re-cleaning a lot whilst wiring and plumbing it back in.
The rocker cover can stay put although far from perfect but the inlet manifold is coming back off and I've organised a part polished alternative to be done imminently as I simply hate the current one now.
I reckon a polished one will look more uniform with the new polished charge pipe anyway.
This is where I'm up to this evening, not so bad from a distance and luckily I plan to run all the engine covers and trims to hide away as many sins as possible.
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