A little bit about my ride and the ongoing Revo stage 3 build and a new engine 
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Leon Cupra ST 290 - Revo stage 3
- Thread starter Perfect_g
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Deleted member 103408
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Following this build with interest.
"Unfortunately it blew the engine due to an error with one of the pistons so will get a new engine in it - instead of wasting a lot of money on nothing I chose to upgrade while at it anyway.."
"Unfortunately it blew the engine due to an error with one of the pistons so will get a new engine in it - instead of wasting a lot of money on nothing I chose to upgrade while at it anyway.."
So a little bit more about it.
I bought her new in the summer 2016, originally going for the Golf R variant but when I tried that I found it to be really boring. That, the fact that the Leon’s design in my opinion is so much meaner and sleeker plus a significant premium due to danish car taxes made the choice easy. Shortly after I got her we drove to Malaga for the family summer holiday - I made a post about that on here back then. So on to the mods.
Returning from Spain I got more and more frustrated with the wheel hop as the temperatures dropped during autumn. At first I fitted a black series powerflex dogbone mount to eliminate the wheel hop. It definitely did what it was supposed to do but the car was unbearable to drive in due to the extensive vibrations and noise that was transferred to the cabin. Ended up with a yellow powerflex dogbone insert instead which was fantastic; it eliminated almost all of the vibrations and noise but kept most of the wheel hop in check. I have been driving with that since.
In January 17 with 16k km on it I got a Revo program in which has been running flawlessly since (until the piston broke, which I do not blame Revo for as the independent garage said that it was an obvious construction fault on that specific piston).
And now with 67k km on it, a new engine, hjs catted downpipe, milltek resonated exhaust, full Revo carbon intake, intercooler and pipes, engine mounts, fuel pumps and turbo with muffler delete will be fitted.
A new diverter valve will be ordered soon but currently I am just trying to get the car ready for the coming week - heading for Italy on Thursday and crossing everything I can in the hope of the turbo arriving Monday so the car will be ready.
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I bought her new in the summer 2016, originally going for the Golf R variant but when I tried that I found it to be really boring. That, the fact that the Leon’s design in my opinion is so much meaner and sleeker plus a significant premium due to danish car taxes made the choice easy. Shortly after I got her we drove to Malaga for the family summer holiday - I made a post about that on here back then. So on to the mods.
Returning from Spain I got more and more frustrated with the wheel hop as the temperatures dropped during autumn. At first I fitted a black series powerflex dogbone mount to eliminate the wheel hop. It definitely did what it was supposed to do but the car was unbearable to drive in due to the extensive vibrations and noise that was transferred to the cabin. Ended up with a yellow powerflex dogbone insert instead which was fantastic; it eliminated almost all of the vibrations and noise but kept most of the wheel hop in check. I have been driving with that since.
In January 17 with 16k km on it I got a Revo program in which has been running flawlessly since (until the piston broke, which I do not blame Revo for as the independent garage said that it was an obvious construction fault on that specific piston).
And now with 67k km on it, a new engine, hjs catted downpipe, milltek resonated exhaust, full Revo carbon intake, intercooler and pipes, engine mounts, fuel pumps and turbo with muffler delete will be fitted.
A new diverter valve will be ordered soon but currently I am just trying to get the car ready for the coming week - heading for Italy on Thursday and crossing everything I can in the hope of the turbo arriving Monday so the car will be ready.
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What happened since last?
Well first of all the turbo did not arrive as hope, so ended up in the wife’s Golf GTE for the Italy trip
Anyway, while in Italy the turbo finally arrived and the garage assembled everything so it was ready on Wednesday.
They had performed the different procedures in connection with the first start of a brand new engine and started it/had it running for a few minutes, but it was still at the lift in the workshop when I got there. I ended up taking it for it’s first test run myself and everything seemed to work perfectly.
So how is it? Well, I have not been above 0.4-0.5 in boost as the engine has to be broken in so the experience so far is only representing a fraction of the full experience, but:
- initially I was a bit nervous about the potential noise and shaking from the uprated engine mounts. At first it was quite heavy, nothing like Powerflex blackline, but present and something that would not have been feasible for the family run. Within the first 50 km most of the vibrations and noise is gone, leaving an increased throttle response and stiffness to the drivetrain with only limited vibrations etc when at a stand still. A perfect compromise and highly recommendable.
- the sound is fantastic. The standard Cupra ST exhaust is way to quite in my opinion, but I need the car for long distance driving and the daily commute, which is mostly spend having calls with clients, so it had to be relatively muted still in everyday driving/highway cruising. I can only recommend the resonated Milltek system in that respect. You can hear it now and it have made the car come alive, but in cruising etc. it is not intrusive at all. I did not expect to be able to hear the turbo, with the full carbon intake mounted, but you can. There is a distinct turbo spool whistle and pressure dump sounds, but not something the wife notice.
- performance wise I really do not know yet, other than it is apparent that the turbo kicks in a few hundred rpm’s higher up the rev range and that there is something significantly different from stock. The spool is much faster and the performance with just a fraction of boost leaves most family cars struggling to keep up.
- I was running stock dsg software with the Revo stage 1 tune. I got the tcu stage 3 software installed yesterday and that is really impressive. It improved shifting characteristics significantly, smoother, faster and more responsive so I regret not getting that installed earlier on..
I will keep you updated on the experience
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Well first of all the turbo did not arrive as hope, so ended up in the wife’s Golf GTE for the Italy trip
Anyway, while in Italy the turbo finally arrived and the garage assembled everything so it was ready on Wednesday. They had performed the different procedures in connection with the first start of a brand new engine and started it/had it running for a few minutes, but it was still at the lift in the workshop when I got there. I ended up taking it for it’s first test run myself and everything seemed to work perfectly.
So how is it? Well, I have not been above 0.4-0.5 in boost as the engine has to be broken in so the experience so far is only representing a fraction of the full experience, but:
- initially I was a bit nervous about the potential noise and shaking from the uprated engine mounts. At first it was quite heavy, nothing like Powerflex blackline, but present and something that would not have been feasible for the family run. Within the first 50 km most of the vibrations and noise is gone, leaving an increased throttle response and stiffness to the drivetrain with only limited vibrations etc when at a stand still. A perfect compromise and highly recommendable.
- the sound is fantastic. The standard Cupra ST exhaust is way to quite in my opinion, but I need the car for long distance driving and the daily commute, which is mostly spend having calls with clients, so it had to be relatively muted still in everyday driving/highway cruising. I can only recommend the resonated Milltek system in that respect. You can hear it now and it have made the car come alive, but in cruising etc. it is not intrusive at all. I did not expect to be able to hear the turbo, with the full carbon intake mounted, but you can. There is a distinct turbo spool whistle and pressure dump sounds, but not something the wife notice.
- performance wise I really do not know yet, other than it is apparent that the turbo kicks in a few hundred rpm’s higher up the rev range and that there is something significantly different from stock. The spool is much faster and the performance with just a fraction of boost leaves most family cars struggling to keep up.
- I was running stock dsg software with the Revo stage 1 tune. I got the tcu stage 3 software installed yesterday and that is really impressive. It improved shifting characteristics significantly, smoother, faster and more responsive so I regret not getting that installed earlier on..
I will keep you updated on the experience
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Deleted member 103408
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So 1.400 km done and started to let it stretch its legs a bit. My only comment is wow. It honestly kind of scared me a bit tonight - never tried that before!
It was raining quite heavily so the esp restricted it quite a bit, but the engine mounts have managed to increase grip as well as eliminate the wheel hop.
It is truly something to behold. Looking forward to try it in the dry..
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It was raining quite heavily so the esp restricted it quite a bit, but the engine mounts have managed to increase grip as well as eliminate the wheel hop.
It is truly something to behold. Looking forward to try it in the dry..
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Deleted member 103408
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Be interesting to see if like me you did not suffer a big drop in fuel consumption (as a daily drive) obviously if you are having a fast day different but i was very pleasantly surprised I still got reasonable fuel economy.
I am looking forward to see that as well. Currently it actually appears that the consumption is lower at highway speeds. I have meetings in a Germany coming up in mid April - will be interesting to see how it behaves and what the average of that trip will be (used to 14-16 l/100 km) depending on traffic and the time spend above 240 km/t on the trip.
Have you noticed a significant drop in oil temperatures compared to stock? It used to be running 105-7 C on the daily commute when stock. On stage 1 it was 3-4 degrees lower, but now it is only about 90 C and when cruiser at the highway at it is showing 97-102 C, again significantly below what I used to see.
Is it an effect of the cooler NGK plugs?
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Yes I did see a reduction in temps but I just assumed it was to do with the upgraded intercooler (but no idea why that would impact temps).
However since then I have fitted a bigger oil pan and that has made a great difference to temps on track days.
However since then I have fitted a bigger oil pan and that has made a great difference to temps on track days.
That might be the or a contributing reason as well. I had not thought about that.
Have you noticed any effects to the warm-up time of the bigger oil pan in daily driving? I am really tempted by the upgrade but would assume the downside would be a prolonged warm-up period?
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Not yet.
The engine was brand new, so agreed with the Revo dealer that did the software, that we will dyno it when broken-in. Which it is now, so it is just a matter of me getting the time to go back to the dealer - and maybe getting the fuel pumps installed first as well (the only hardware I bought that is currently not installed)
But I can honestly say it is ridiculously fast. Besides Revo’s general indication of 450-510 hp I have no idea what power it is putting down, but it was pushing 384 hp and 465 nm with the stage 1 Revo map and it is in no way comparable...
I will upload the graphs as soon as I get it on the dyno.
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As I understand it Revo provides the program and specify safe parameters to the dealers. They can then adjust some parameters slightly if needed.
They have different programs depending on octane, 97, 98, 100 and 102 RON. As with all engines they perform differently. Further, Revo specify hardware that has to installed and other items they recommend. One of the recommended items is the intercooler piping which should add up to 27 hp and 50 nm.
To accommodate all of the above they specify a range for the expected power output. You should get a minimum of 450 with an engine in the low end of the performance curve with none of the recommended hardware items installed on a 97 ron program - 510 on an engine that is in the other end of the performance curve, on a 102 Ron program with the recommended hardware added as well.
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Apparently the OEM piping is restrictive and creates a lot of turbulence.
https://www.onlyrevo.com/product-details/cooling/mqb-chassis-intercooler-pipe-upgrade&engineid=282
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