My LCR Since '05 with Static+ Front Air Lift - Project Gone to a New Home.

Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
Like many, I have been an active ‘viewer’ of SCN for a number of years now but have never posted a Reader’s Ride thread; the reason for this I am still unsure. But putting this aside, I have enjoyed reading and learning from other people’s Reader’s Ride threads so I hope whoever does read this (hopefully someone…) will enjoy my thread.

I’m now 27 years of age and live in Ely, Cambridgeshire. I’ve owned my Seat Leon Cupra R since 2005. It’s a 2003 registration and is the 210 bhp version. As you will see from the pictures, it’s ovni yellow. Now, when I was looking for a new car, many manufactures came into mind but there was just something about the LCR that stood out (build quality, solid appearance, engine performance, spec list and value for money). I originally wanted a red LCR. I test drove one at Willoughby Seat in Nottingham and was certain that that car was the one. I think at the time it was priced near the £12,000 mark. However, walking through the dealership’s courtyard, I noticed a dirty ovni LCR parked up in the corner and happened to casually ask, “how much is that one? ” The dealer had informed me that it was roughly £1,000 cheaper, owing to it being an ex-demo car that had a few more miles on it (26,000) in comparison to the red LCR. I bought the ovni LCR. When people ask “why did you get a yellow car?” I reply with “because it was cheaper”. I actually really like the colour of my car, especially when it’s clean and sunny outside. The car has one previous owner from new.

Since 2005 it had been my daily driver up until last year when I bought a ’97 VW Polo 1.4cl off eBay for £501.01p. The penny is important lol! The reason I bought the polo was because I was racking up the miles over bumpy country roads on the daily commute to work. I kind of felt sorry for the LCR, so it became a weekend car.

The car came in the original 210 spec-list. It also came with the rear bucket shaped seats, which I like. Looking through my photo albums, these are a couple of the earliest pictures I have of the car.

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Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
The car remained standard for a good couple of years. I was generally happy with the looks and performance of the car and as a daily driver, it was great! The aim throughout the ownership of this car has really been to keep it OEM and well maintained, but this does not mean changes have not happened along the way.

From memory, I think the brakes were the first real changes to take place; nothing major but through ware-and-tare I was required to replace them. I at that point in my life was perhaps rather naïve and used my local Seat dealership for all maintenance matters. You can believe that they wanted a large amount of money for direct replacements. So, after looking around, I purchased Brembo 40-groved discs for the front and rear (same diameters) and EBC Red Stuff ceramic-based pads.

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The pads I found, as some of you may know from experience, were quite noisy with the grooved discs and actually I didn’t think this combination suited each other all that well. The pads, in my opinion, were not great on cold starts-stops. I currently use the same discs, as they have not worn, with Ferodo DS2500 pads all round. This combination is much quieter and performance is always consistent.
 
Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
I then decided to get an induction kit, having used a Pipercross panel filter for a while, which had been a nice addition. In ’07, BMC CDA’s were quite well regarded. I have previously owned cars with open-cone induction kits and thought a direct-cold feed induction kit might be something different. I liked it. Still do actually. Here’s a pic from ‘back in the day’.

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I also got a Forge 007p recalculation valve at the same time.

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Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
Next, in 2008 I think, I made a subwoofer enclosure (non-ported) out of 18mm MDF and covered it in acoustic cloth. I made the box because I had a couple of old subs and an amp knocking around in the shed and thought that it would be a nice subtle addition. When thinking of a design, I wanted to keep it as understated as possible and relatively simple as I’m not that competent with woodwork.

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Both the 10-inch sub and amp are manufactured by Rockford Fosgate. I think they must be close to ten years old but still work without fault. Roughly, the shape is rectangular with a tapered back to sit flush with the rear seats. I can provide exact measurements if anyone would like them. I was really happy with the outcome of the box. Actually, amazed that it didn’t turn into a complete disaster!

I also, as you can see from the above pictures, have a VW Golf Mk 4 rear upper strut brace. It was originally stainless but I sprayed it matt black and lacquered it, along with the outer casing of the amp, to keep with the ‘theme’. The brace, in my opinion, helps to stiffen up the rear. The boot remains the same today.
 
Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
A few things then happened in quick succession.

Firstly, a 225-edition steering wheel and the teardrop wing mirrors that are electric folding, heated and have black covers.

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The engine bay then received some attention, having gradually purchased a few bits and bobs.

I sanded down the engine cover to a smooth finish then primed, sprayed matt black and finally lacquered it. I was really happy with the results. Here’s a picture before it was fitted.

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The same process was used for the battery cover. I wrapped the inner fuse casing of the battery cover in sticky-backed carbon fibre sheeting and lacquered for protection. Here’s a picture.

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The charge pipe was polished by myself. Again, it was something that I’d never done before but using the sanding and three-staged mopping process, it came out better than expected. The holding brackets were sprayed in matt black and lacquered. A picture before fitment - It’s not the best picture but you hopefully get the idea.

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And fitted.

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I trimmed the windscreen washer cap and primed it, painted it in matt black and lacquered it. An Audi R8 water coolant cap and an oil cap had been purchased. An Audi S3 front upper strut brace had also been purchased. It had come in black but unfortunately it had a couple of dings and chips so I primed, sprayed matt black and lacquered it to fit with the finish of the bay. The struts were finished off with a set of Forge chrome strut caps.

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I decided to change from a Forge 007p to a Forge Split-R, which is currently set at 50/50. I also purchased a Forge cold-side relocation kit. This picture was taken whilst the front bumper was removed. You will notice that I have the Forge TIP and Forge hot-side silicone hose replacements fitted by this point too. To finish off the bay, I replaced all the ‘nuts and bolts’ for stainless steel ones.

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Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
Next came a FMIC and twin cold air feed set up.

The FMIC had been purchased second hand from RobDon. I had to make the bracket and purchase the pipe work separately. For anyone who is considering doing this, these are the items that you may need:

4 x 90 degree silicone hoses (64mm/2.25")
2 x 45 degree silicone hoses (64mm/2.25")
7 x 64mm/2.25" s/s couplers which have a beaded edge
Hose Clamps- I used 60-80 mm forged steel clamps
1 x Forge MAP Sensor pipe (optional)

The first picture is with everything removed, the bracket made and offered up to the car.

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And attached.

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I then had to remove the back section of the crash bar, in order for the FMIC to fit. I used, for the first time, an angle grinder. I have never been more frightened in my life!! Once cut, it was painted to ensure that it would not rust in the future,

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A picture with the crash bar and pipe work fitted.

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Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
The twin cold air feed was next whilst the bumper was off. For this, I used 2 metres of neoprene ducting, which I think is 100mm in diameter. I used some home guttering pieces from Wickes DIY store to create the dividing ‘Y’ piece and end pieces, a 45 degree piece of s/s pipe and a Forge 45 degree silicone hose. Hopefully the pictures will make more sense.

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Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
So, here’s the current spec list

Interior:
225-edition steering wheel.
Replacement LCR gear knob in ’09.
Custom mounted Road angel Sat Nav.
10-inch Rockford Fosgate Sub woofer, home made non-ported box and Rockford Fosgate amp. Fused amp cabling with on/off switch located in glove box.
Connects2 iPod interface for the OEM stereo along with a Dension ice>Link Plus

Exterior:
225-edition teardrop wing mirrors with black covers.
R badges replaced on the sides of the vehicle in May ‘10. Deleted on the rear.
Cobra Bonnet Bra.
Bosch Aero wipers (front).
Skoda Fabia rear wiper arm and Bosch blade.
Honda S2000 aerial.
New genuine Seat front splitter fitted in May ’10.
6000K HIDs, LED side lights and number plate lights.

Chassis:
Brembo 40-grooved brake discs. Diameters: front - 323mm. Rear – 256mm.
Ferodo DS2500 brake pads front and rear
Full Brembo refub in Aug 11
Avon 225/40 tyres on all four alloys. The spare 18’ LCR alloy has the original Pirelli P Zero Rosso tyre that has never been used.
New Seat centre alloy badges this year.
H&R 15 mm hubcentric spacers with extended wheel bolts on the rear.
H&R 5 mm hubcentric spacers with extended wheel bolts on the front.
KW V1 Coilovers
Audi S3 front upper strut brace re-sprayed matt black
VW Golf Mk 4 rear upper strut brace again sprayed matt black.
Nuespeed 26mm RARB

Engine Bay:
Forge TIP.
Forge cold-side dump valve relocation kit.
Forge hot-side silicone hose.
Forge silicone hosing for FMIC set-up.
Forge Split-R valve, currently set at 50/50.
Forge MAP Sensor pipe.
Forge chrome strut caps.
Forge short shift kit.
Audi R8 (VW converted) oil cap.
Audi R8 (VW converted) water coolant pipe.
BMC CDA outer casing with a Green Cotton dual cone filter, attached to a twin air-feed set up. Fog lights deleted.
Universal FMIC. I think the dimensions are 550x225x64MM core with 64mm inlet/outlets.
Matt black painted battery cover with carbon wrapped fuse box.
Smoothed and matt black painted engine cover.
Smoothed and matt black painted inlet manifold cover.
Ford RS billet washer bottle cap.
Polished charge pipe brackets.
Polished charge pipe.
Polished inlet manifold with NewSouth Power gasket.
Painted throttle body with WhanAB billet throttle body cover.
WhanAB dip stick SS handle
034 Motorsport black powder coated rocker cover.
034 Motorsport oil catch can with 19mm hosing and 12an fittings
Seat rubber bonnet seal (I can’t remember the correct name).

Items awaiting fitment:
Powerflex complete wish bone bush kit.
Powerflex dog bone bush kit fitted to a donor dog bone mount.
OE top mount bushes and bearings.
Mahle track rod arms.

Servicing:

The car had been serviced by Seat up until 60,000 miles. Oil changes occur every 5,000 miles now that the engine is getting older and is not used all that much. I believe that the oil used is a fully synthetic Valvoline oil that the garage I use raves about. I also use Activ-8 for the engine and gear box, which is used mainly in motorsport engines and can reduce friction by 90% (www.ACTIV8.co.uk)

The car has had a new cam belt and auxiliary, new rollers and tensioners (one of the tensioner bearings had started to wear and sounded like a steam train), new oil pick up pipe and oil pressure switch as the old one at it’s last service was only reading 2 bar on the wet gauge; it should normally read 4 bar I believe. It’s recently had new Ferodo front and rear pads and 2 new tyres. I use Piccolino Engineering in Norfolk. Alf has 35 years VAG experience and he’s a trustworthy guy who loves his cars, which counts for a lot in my eyes.
 
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Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
Here are few pictures as it stands

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Couple of pictures of it in different places over the years

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So, this is my start of my thread. The car has been with me for a few years now and I honestly can’t see myself getting rid of it although there are those moments, you know….

I haven’t had the car remapped but on reflection, with all the additions, I might look to in the future. I would like to do a few more things yet, which includes repainting the callipers and hubs, fit the coilover suspension (gulp!), have the alloys refurbished in either it’s current colour or in semi gloss black, fit the oil catch can, and maybe get a Milltek exhaust when the car gets remapped… possibly…..

I really enjoy keeping the car clean and have a large array of car cleaning products. I use the usual products really. I use Megs Gold Class shampoo. I have a snow lance with pressure washer, which is used with Snow Foam from CleanYourCar.co.uk. I use a Megs Clay Bar Kit. Dodo Juice Lime prime. Megs Scratch-X. My main waxes are Dodo Juice Banana Amour Carnauba Hard wax, Autoglym HD wax and Megs Liquid wax (with a DA). I tend to use Dodo Juice’s Redmist and Autoglym’s Aqua wax as a top up. For plastics and tyres I use WD40 and Meguiars Hot shine. The usual cleaning equipment is used.

Well, that’s enough for now. I really hope you’ve enjoyed the thread so far. I’ll keep it as up to date as I can from now on. Please ask any questions. All comments, good or bad, are welcome.

Thanks for reading.
 

jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
What a superb car. Like all the mods you done, especially in the engine bay.

You also have a good taste in cleaning products and the car looks immaculate. Have you had any fade issues with the paint? I am guessing not seeing as you have waxed / sealed it?
 
Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
love the car!! you've done a great job!! :clap:

Thanks RDS.

Lovely car and fantastic start to a build thread!

Thanks George 3G
.
Fantastic car,looks really nice!

Thanks turbo009.


After all this time, I still really like the car. Driveability is great and the looks of a Leon still looks better than most vehicles on the road today.

Thanks for taking the time to read the thread. It took a while to write it and I was actually quite nervous when posting it, so your kind words are greatly appreciated.

I would like to take some more pictures as I haven't taken enough over the years. All being well with the weather at the weekend, some more up to date pictures will be taken of the engine bay as the ones currently on are without a polished inlet manifold. I have to say, I struggled more with the inlet manifold than I did with the charge pipe. I tried to get the groove on the front face to be as flat as possible; you can't see the join now but the shine isn't as mirror-like as on the charge pipe. I may buy some new mops as my current ones have been used quite a bit. The inlet manifold will definitely need some more attention.

I would also like to redo the callipers before the cold weather really sets in. At present, the callipers aren't too bad at all and the Lacquer isn't fading or peeling but it's just been one of those jobs that I've put off all summer. Ideally at this point, I would like to 'dress up' the hubs and refurbish the wheels. I'll just have to see how I get on with time over the next month or so. If not, they will definately be done next spring.

:)
 

DOLBY

Active Member
Jun 24, 2006
2,934
98
North of London
www.facebook.com
i really like these threads where the owner trys to keep the car as fresh 'from the factory' look as possible without going too OTT.

I, like you have had the car a while (nearly 5 years) and i can honestly say i have no interest in getting rid for the conceviable future. It still gets the looks from people who havent a clue what it is....

Good list of mods buddy and good write up
 
Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
What a superb car. Like all the mods you done, especially in the engine bay.

You also have a good taste in cleaning products and the car looks immaculate. Have you had any fade issues with the paint? I am guessing not seeing as you have waxed / sealed it?

Hi Maz,

Thanks for the kind comments. As mentioned previously, I've owned the car for a few years now and generally, the paintwork is good. Like most, there's the odd chip on the bonnet but otherwise it's ok. Swirl marks are generally few and far between. The colour ovni is a very difficult colour to maintain, as you know. Back in 2005, I wasn't all that wise to the variety of cleaning products available and so the basics, although always clean, were only used. As I became more aware of the problems of ovni, I started to become more religious with the use of waxs with UV properties. The issue of fade is disappointingly present but only on the fuel filler cap. The cap seems to be ever so slightly darker in shade in comparison to the rear quater panel. When the car is clean and it's dry outside, it's not noticeable to the untrained eye. When the car loses its shine and it's damp in the morning, it's more noticeable.

I went to the Autosport show in January 2009 at the NEC and got talking to the reps on the Autoglym stand. I'd been using Aquawax for a period of time at that point. They told me about this newfangled type of wax that they were releasing- HD wax. I really like the ease of application and removal. I also bought some Dodo wax at the beginning of the year which seems to work well on yellow cars but given the choice, I would choose HD wax. How about you? Do you have any personal favourites? The M3 that you recently did looked great!

Have you managed to use your new Dodo Juice DA polisher yet? As said yesterday, I hope you manage to solve your paintwork issues.

Thanks Maz,

James.
 
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Oct 21, 2006
1,226
1
Norfolk
i really like these threads where the owner trys to keep the car as fresh 'from the factory' look as possible without going too OTT.

I, like you have had the car a while (nearly 5 years) and i can honestly say i have no interest in getting rid for the conceviable future. It still gets the looks from people who havent a clue what it is....

Good list of mods buddy and good write up

Thanks Bret. I've followed your thread for a long time now. I've always liked how clean the silver paint of your car looks.

For me, I like the OEM+ look and it was important to keep it looking as clean and as original as possible, from a distance. The engine bay has had quite a bit of attention over this past few months. Over time, I've tried and often failed miserably on a few projects. I tried to make an attachment for an air scoop that had originally been pattern-produced by a member of SCN (i think it might have been feel, but don't quote me on that). Initial measurements lead me to believe that the gap between the the battery cover and location of scoop would take an 80mm piece of ducting.... it turned out great.... it just didn't fit. I also tried to fill the holes of the original engine cover... holes filled, primed and painted. Only problem was that i used a little too much filler on top of the fiberglass and it contracted under the heat and left little dimples. I want to try again but i'm sure the amount of time, effort and cost taken to get to that point - it may as well have been cheaper and easier to buy a Forge one like yours.

I enjoy pottering (when it goes right) and have a few other bits and pieces planned.

Thanks Bret.

James.
 
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jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
Hi Maz,

Thanks for the kind comments. As mentioned previously, I've owned the car for a few years now and generally, the paintwork is good. Like most, there's the odd chip on the bonnet but otherwise it's ok. Swirl marks are generally few and far between. The colour ovni is a very difficult colour to maintain, as you know. Back in 2005, I wasn't all that wise to the variety of cleaning products available and so the basics, although always clean, were only used. As I became more aware of the problems of ovni, I started to become more religious with the use of waxs with UV properties. The issue of fade is disappointingly present but only on the fuel filler cap. The cap seems to be ever so slightly darker in shade in comparison to the rear quatre panel. When the car is clean and it's dry outside, it's not noticeable to the untrained eye. When the car loses its shine and it's damp in the morning, it's more noticeable.

I went to the Autosport show in January 2009 at the NEC and got talking to the reps on the Autoglym stand. I'd been using Aquawax for a period of time at that point. They told me about this newfangled type of wax that they were releasing- HD wax. I really like the ease of application and removal. I also bought some Dodo wax at the beginning of the year which seems to work well on yellow cars but given the choice, I would choose HD wax. How about you? Do you have any personal favourites? The M3 that you recently did looked great!

Have you managed to use your new Dodo Juice DA polisher yet? As said yesterday, I hope you manage to solve your paintwork issues.

Thanks Maz,

James.
The Dodo Juice is a rotary polisher. I haven't even opened it yet as I haven't had time. It will probably get used when I detail the cars with Rob @ Gleammachine.

Well you done a splendid job, so whatever your doing keep doing it.

Cheers,
Maz

EDIT: get a remap, dont think you know what your missing. Also get rid of the BMC, they are very restrictive. :)
 
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