As those who went to the combe action day will know i've been playing with my car for the last 12 months or so trying to get the old fella up to some kind of show standard! I thought it was time to take things a little more seriously as far as performance was concerned.the plan was to have the engine rebuilt,upgrade to 6sp,fit a turbo kit and tidy up the underneath....clean it,underseal,powdercoat all the suspension parts and such......in truth i thought the car would take 6-8 months tops. how little did i know..as a year on its still not quite there yet!! theres a picture of the car below to help you see where the work has gone! i hope you enjoy the thread,especially if you are thinking of doing anything similar.....

Edited 19 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

the full build spec of the engine and box are as follows....engine bored to 1.9L,scat rods,JE pistons,fully lightened and balanced bottom end,full arp bolts,ported/polished/gas flowed small port head,port matched manifolds,supertech inlet valves,inconel exhaust valves,uprated springs and titanium retainers,new gaskets,cambelt etc, agn smooth cam cover,pro alloy motorsport spec baffled sump,polished air con pump,alternator,inlet,034 billet fuel rail,saikoi michi occ with black braided lines,vt engine mounts,rebuilt LCR 6 speed box,awesome gti 400lb/ft clutch kit,20lb billet smf,quaife atb diff,all new s/s bolts where possible,gaskets and seals!

Edited 20 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

the turbo kit spec includes a jabba ceramic coated manifold,an IHI VF22 hybrid with td05 (360-370bhp capable apparantley) wheels also ceramic coated,custom jtech downpipe,bosch 450cc injectors,badger 5 custom ally/silicone TIP,rtech CAI with heatshield,bosch motorsport fuel pump.

Edited 20 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

Good luck with the build - sounds a good spec

Jabbasport do take their sweet time

Crikey no stone unturned in the build, fair play fella.

Good luck with the build - sounds a good spec

Jabbasport do take their sweet time

i have had jtech automotive in reading do the engine,box and turbo fitting! jabba would have taken ages.i know a few on seatcupra who are still waiting for them to start on there cars!!

the first part of the build for me was to get the deconstruction under the car started! i stripped all the front end off the car first,got all that powdercoated in gunmetal grey with gloss over the top! then put new powerflex polybushes in! as the car came apart it became clear that a few extra parts would be needed,mainly things like wheel bearings as they **** themselves when removed,abs sensors,track rod ends,brake pipes,clips for the brake pipes and the like! below is a pic of the front suspension before...

Edited 20 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

once removed the front arch looked like this,a big stinky mess!

Edited 20 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

This is going to be an epic build thread Mark. I remember the pics you showed me at Combe and your attention to detail is immense. Hats off to you mate.

This is going to be an epic build thread Mark. I remember the pics you showed me at Combe and your attention to detail is immense. Hats off to you mate.

thanks mate,i'm learning about doing this build thread as i go along because i'm not very good with computers tbh.

after the arch is cleaned,which takes about 8 hrs (if you do it all the way up behind the wings),it should look like this!

Edited 20 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

then its ready for some underseal! i used the waxoyl underseal from halfrauds,it was £15 for 2.5L and its enough to do the underside of the whole car.once applied it looks much better,if a bit shiny.it does go a bit dull after a few miles though.

Edited 20 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

nice build

manual tensioner ????

not sure tbh clive,i'll check the reciepts and let you know.it did have a new tensioner but i dont know if it was a manual jobby! whats the difference?

after the underseal was done it was time to put the front suspension back together.the hardest part was the steering rack and front subframe mounting.not a job for one man on his back under the car,especially if you have newly powdercoated parts going back on!!! anyway,this is what it looked like after...

Edited 20 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

and the subframe...

Edited 20 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

manual tensioner will give you security if reving hard past 7600 as you have a built head with valves springs etc you can safely rev to 8500

but with a normal hydraulic tension it has to much stress forced onto it due to high loading of the double springs so can fail causing belt failure

witha manual tension you get rid of this issue 100%

all depends how your going to rev it buddy

nice build well done

manual tensioner will give you security if reving hard past 7600 as you have a built head with valves springs etc you can safely rev to 8500

but with a normal hydraulic tension it has to much stress forced onto it due to high loading of the double springs so can fail causing belt failure

witha manual tension you get rid of this issue 100%

all depends how your going to rev it buddy

nice build well done

some how i dont think the ihi will still be producing power at 7500rpm tbh,i think it will tail off before then,say 6500-6700 at the latest off the top of my head! the picture below is the only one i have that i can upload due to the file size,that may show the area of the tensioner.there is a coolant pipe in the way though!!

Edited 20 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

as the suspension was at the powdercoaters i decided to strip the front end. dont be intimidated by this,its really straight forward.just dont lose any bolts,clips or radiator mounts!! i renewed them anyway,but kept the old ones in labelled coin bags from the bank,just to be sure....the picture below makes it look worse than it is,trust me!

Edited 20 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

i took the front panel to the powdercoaters to be coated in gloss black. while that was away i got to work cleaning and polishing the bay! this took me a full week.the bay was split into 3 sections,left chassis leg,right chassis leg and bulkhead. every part came off and got cleaned thoroughly with mucoff and a soft dust pan brush.once clean,it was polished or painted good as new....the only rust i found was in front of the battery where the paint on a weld had split.that was sorted and then it was good to go back together. spot the deliberate mistake?

Edited 19 November, 201213 yr by vrsmark

looks standard but as said it wont matter as your not going mad

coverd bases for future as you didnt need to do head as much for ihi power but when you (wont be long ) want more power you can ;-)

lovely build engine bay looks ace

Nice!

thanks for the nice comments guys,its been a long wait and i'm still waiting funny enough! the photos i took on my phone dont do it justice though tbh.its at badger 5 at the minute getting the custom TIP made up,then sorting some niggles (i love ocd!) in the bay,then mapping,it should be ready for the graffiti tunnel meet mid november!

why cant i upload anymore photos? my upload limit has loads left,enough for 90 odd more pictures!when i use the "full editor" to upload pictures it just says uploads not allowed....Grrrrr!

Edited 21 October, 201213 yr by vrsmark

Use photobucket for pics. Then copy and past from photobucket to here simples.