Intake manifold Runner Flapper Delete + valves cleaning

So what is intake manifold Runner Flapper Delete (RFD™) kit means?

The runner flaps are individual plates, much like a throttle body flap. They are located within the intake manifold runners. Unfortunately even when fully opened, the flaps still represent an airflow restriction. For additional technical information please follow this link.

This is how RFD kit looks like:

RFD: intake manifold  runner flaps stubs.

Taking an advantage of already dismounted intake manifold (the access to intake valves was open) - intake valves were cleaned.

The carbon deposit accumulation on intake valves is a well known problem of all direct injection engines. So if you have one and your car millage is 80,000 km or more - it worth to clean them. It's quite dirty procedure, but you have no choice. Otherwise, these deposits will lead to reduced engine performance, bad fuel economy and other troubles. :-(

BG Gasoline Direct Injection Cleaner.

Before cleaning.

After cleaning.

After valves cleaning you may see that the valve's bodies are started to shine.

Intake manifold (before RFD install).

With RFD kit in place.

The throttle body is also cleaned.

Throttle body before cleaning: no serious dirt is detected.

Important note:
You can't simply install RFD kit and go.
In addition to hardware installation it requires proper ECU software recalibrations that's supported by APR and some others tuning companies. Currently, I'm running APR Stage II+FP+RFD V3.4 software and it's performs flawlessly.

Odometer: 72,600 km.

Performance clutch

At the same time, while changing the gearbox's differential I decided to replace the stock clutch reinforced one that holds more torque amount.

I chose the South Bend Stage 2 Endurance clutch kit with the single mass (8.6 kg) steel flywheel.
Manufacturer guarantees that it will hold up to 610 NM of torque, that is actually ~15% more than I need. Good to have some durability reserve. :-)

The new clutch kit

 Gearbox was extracted and the access to the clutch opened.

The stock clutch in place

Stock clutch + flywheel removed & inspected

The stock clutch used by SEAT in Leon Cupra MK2 is exactly the same clutch as used in Audi S3 8P or Golf R VI. The new one that I ordered from ECS tuning was for Golf R (SEAT isn't officially distributed in the USA, therefore doesn't appears in theirs cars listing), but thanks to VW and its compatibility: I may order many of spare parts for my car from there. :-)

You may see that this is only some reasonable amount of wear on it. So my conclusion that the stock clutch is good enough if you not going into aggressive accelerations from 0 km/h.

Meanwhile, when original flywheel was removed, some little problem was detected: the small oil leakage under the crankshaft gasket:

Crankshaft gasket "sweat"

This is the well known problem of 2.0 TFSI EA113 (also for 2.0 TSI EA 888 gen 2) and many others engines. So if you replacing a clutch, it worth to check this gasket too and replace it if needed.
You really don't want to remove again gearbox and clutch afterwards - only for gasket replacement. :-)

First of all, it's very important to perform clutch "bedding in" as it required for normal clutch operation. I did it according to the manufacturer instructions during the first 1200 km.

So how this clutch feels when it on car?
Well, I love how it works. :-) The pedal feel is near the stock: it's only a little bit harder for press, but not much. The clutch engagement is quite smooth.

Regarding transmissions noises:
I heard many complaints from people that starting to hear transmission noises (this is almost always an issue when using a single mass flywheel), but surprisingly for me, there was almost no noises at all, even if air conditioner is in action and them almost not-audible. They are not spoiling the overall car's comfort, thanks to well-designed clutch disc and relatively heavy flywheel.

But after all, if you specially listen for them, you will hear them. :-) Transmission noises are exists in very small amount on idle or when accelerating. This fact should be taken into account when upgrading you stock dual-mass flywheel to the single mass flywheel.

The main reason for making a such upgrade - is to avoid the dual-mass flywheel internal elements weariness (springs, gears, e.t.c.), which usually leads to different noises and then to its replacement after ~90,000 kilometers (the distance is varies for different vehicles).  Single mass flywheel has very simple build with no internal elements at all, so it simple doesn't has this problem by design.

Odometer: 67,300 km.

Wavetrack LSD

It's not a secret that powerful FWD cars are always struggling to effectively put their power onto the road. And this is almost impossible with open differential, that always puts the power where "easy to put it", i.e. onto the wheel, that in the slippery surface or in the air. It will never put the power onto the wheel that under greater load than other in the same axle.

The LSD (Limited-slip differential) will do exactly the opposite: it will put the power, where its needed, i.e. onto the wheel that has better traction in specific moment. This is exactly what we need on the slippery road or at high speed cornering.

Wavetrack LSD has been chosen for this purpose.

Complete LSD conversion kit

Some pictures from install:

 02Q 6-x speed gearbox prepared

Open differential (at the bottom) vs Wavetrack LSD

Now the cornering became the different story: under acceleration the car is simply sticks the desired trajectory while cornering. Indeed, this allows to achieve very impressive cornering speeds and made the car's behavior more safer and predictable on the slippery road.

It's maintenance free and will perform a lifetime of service without any touch. Also, it offers improved no-load performance when compared to other helical gear differentials on the market.
You may read more details here at the product web page.

Of course, transmission oil has been replaced again. The same oil has been used as in previous replace (Valvoline SYN POWER 75W-90) as it is compatible with LSD differential. But this time it has been filled without any oil additives, that lowers friction within the gearbox. This is according to directions from LSD manufacturer (Wavetrack).


Odometer: 67,300 km.

Crankshaft dumper upgrade

This damper reduces crankshaft torsional vibration, which is the end-to-end twisting/rebound motion, that is naturally generated during each power stroke.

A harmonic balancer inside this damper contributes to greater valve train and timing efficiency, and reduces wear of critical engine components such as main bearings, oil pump and the crankshaft itself.

Fluidampr crankshaft damper

For more information you may visit an official site.

Odometer: 63,200 km.

Turbo outlet pipe upgrade

The reason to install the aftermarket TOP (Turbo Outlet Pipe) is to remove the factory pipe with the muffler that designed to reduce the engine bay acoustics.

The aftermarket muffler delete tube screws into place, forming a full, uninterrupted path for airflow.

Aftermarked muffler VS Stock

SPULEN 2.0T FSI Turbo Outlet Pipe Kit

The throttle pipe was already changed before.

Odometer: 63,200 km.

Adjustable sway bar endlinks

In order to make further proper suspension adjustments for the desired car's road behavior I replaced the sway bars endlinks with the adjustable ones.

They allows to reveal all the stiffer sway bars potential and not lead to the undesired sway bar pre-load condition that may occur when attempting to adjust sway bar hardness with the stock endlinks.

I chose the Spulen front end-links and Whiteline for the rear.

Spulen front end-links

Whiteline rear end-links

Of course, the setup must be adjusted properly, according to the sway bar position at the normal vehicle load conditions.

For more information on the sway bar and endlinks - see the following links:
1. Swaybar/Endlink FAQ2. Setting Adjustable End Links For Ride Height

Odometer: 61,500 km.

VWR air-intake filter conversion

In general, Volkswagen Racing air-intake is a little bit expensive but good solution for the high power output VW 2.0 TFSI engine.

But in my opinion it has some drawbacks. The biggest of them - is the foam rubber air filter itself that is made by ITG. Its cleaning process is very inconvenient comparing with other types of filters that made from cotton gauze (for example from K&N manufacturer).
Also, the cleaning kit for the foam air filter from ITG is more expensive than those that are cotton.
Actually, you may clean the foam filter with gasoline (allowed by manufacturer), but it stinks pretty much.☺

Moreover, if you"ll need to replace the filter with the new one - you will need to buy not only the air filter itself, but also the base of the air filter box. That is because the filter is glued directly to the base of the filter box, when manufactured and it is no way to buy it separately. Of course, this is increases (doubles) replacement cost.

So I decided to get rid from this foam filter and convert VWR air-intake system to use the cotton gauze air-filter.

How it was done?
First of all, I took the air filter box dimensions and started to search for the suitable universal air filter from well-known manufacturers.
Also, I wanted the filter with the maximum possible working surface area. Many cotton air filters has the muffled front side. I don't wanted to use them.

Finally I ordered the cotton gauze air filter from BMC.

BMC FBTW76-140P twin air filter

After the filter was received, the question that arose was: how exactly to perform the conversion?

First thing is to remove the foam ITG filter. This is how it looks after removal:

Foam ITG filter inside the VWR box

The filter was simply glued to its aluminum base.
After advice from the professional welder who helped me a lot with the conversion process, the decision was to build the 3" aluminum adapter pipe, that will connect the new cotton gauze filter to the air filter base.

That is how the adapter looks, welded to the filter base:

3" adapter for VWR air-intake

Then, everything else is pretty simple:
1. Mounting the filter on the adapter, cutting out about 2 cm. of the filters mount length, ensuring that the filter has at least 0.5 cm. free space from the box front.
2. Closing the air-filter box exactly as it was before.
3. Mounting the air-filter box back on car.

Finito. ☺
No visual changes from the outside, but my VWR air-intake now uses the universal cotton gauze filter, that may be easily cleaned using the cleaning kit from any cotton air-filters manufacturer (such as K&N or BMC).


Odometer: 57,000 km.

Stainless Steel Clutch Line

The stock clutch line was changed with the braided one from the USP Motorsports.

USP Stainless Steel Clutch Line

Odometer: 54,500 km.

Throttle pipe upgrade

This aftermarket throttle pipe helps to maximize the air flow from the inter-cooler to the throttle body.

SPULEN 2.0T FSI Throttle Pipe

Odometer: 54,500 km.

Powerflex rear suspension bushings

This is the second (and the final) part about the Powerflex bushings install. The previous part may be found here.

This time it's about the rear bushings installation.
I chose the Powerflex road series bushings (and not the Black Series), because my car is used as my daily driving and for the family purposes and not "for the race track only".

All bushings has been ordered according to this Powerflex online catalog.

Ready for install

Some photos, that was taken during the install:

Rear Tie Bar to Chassis Front Bush

Rear Upper Link Inner Bush

OK. Finished with this. What can I say?
The car now is more stiffer on the road. Corners handling is also improved, thus driving pleasure is raised to the next level.
If you a car enthusiast, like to drive and feel the car response, I would highly recommend this change for you.

So at this moment, the bushings change is completely done for the whole car's suspension. Hope that I'll forget about the suspension bushing for the long-long time. ☺

Odometer: 54,000 km

Spulen Dog Bone Engine Mount Kit

The next thing - is an attempt to minimize the "wheel hop" effect.
Spul Engineering Dog Bone Engine Mount Kit (Extreme) was ordered from the USP Motorsports.

This kit consist from:
- Billet lower engine mount
- Dog Bone Mount Insert
- New Hardware (Bolts, Nuts and washers).

So what role it performs?
It provides a more rigid connection between the transmission mount and the subframe.
The effect: drive-train movement is reduced and the driver will experience smoother shifts and less engine movement.

What comes inside the box

Installed on car

So my impression is as follows: it really does the job - the car is accelerates in more linear manner and the wheels is less slipping. You should take into account increased amounts of vibrations that you'll feel inside the vehicle. Not everyone will like it for daily driving. But for the track use, this definitely will be a great choice!

Odometer: 49,050 km.

Powerflex Front Wishbone Bushings

In order to improve the car handling, front wishbone bushes from Powerflex has been installed:

Front Wishbone Rear Bushing Anti-Lift & Caster Adjustable. #PFF85-502G

One of the bushings

 Front Wishbone Inner Bushing (Front). #PFF85-501

Bushings installed on car

Thanks to the Powerflex USA site team for the great service!
These bushings is definitely improves the car handling: the steering is become more precise and they are allows to achieve the higher cornering speed.

This video shows how Anti-Lift & Caster Adjustable bushes work.

Odometer: 47,700 km.

Oil catch tank system

The PCV valve in 2.0 TFSI engine is known as a "faulty point". It passed through the many revisions, but none of them is sufficiently reliable - especially for tuned engines.

The oil catch tank system cancels this valve and improve overall reliability of the engine. Its removes aerated oil so that it can be drained and recycled.
There is a many such systems in the market. I chose the product from Forge Motorsport.

 The quote from the products web-page:
"It will capture all of the aerated oil, fuel, and water vapour contained in the blow-by gasses that would otherwise enter the intake tract and potentially contribute to deposits on the intake valves, thereby keeping the intake system clean and the engine performing optimally long-term."

The installation process is very easy as "plug and play".
Forge oil catch tank system comes with detailed fitment instructions and has a decent quality of all components.

Oil catch tank system

There is two types of this product: for vehicles with(European standard) and without(North America) charcoal filter. You need to choose one that suitable for your vehicle.

For additional information about this product you may visit the Forge Motorsport website.

Odometer: 47,320.

GFB DV+ diverter valve upgrade

I've conducted a long research about the common problems of a 2.0 TFSI stock diverter valve and finally decided to upgrade it with the Australian GFB DV+ diverter valve kit.

GFB DV+ kit

This kit enhances the stock valve by adding both the performance and reliability. It has a many positive feedback’s around the world.

This video is describes its working principle.


Odometer: 47,200 km.

APR Stage II+FP

The downpipe was fitted and ECU flashed with the new Stage II+FP program.

APR downpipe

APR catalytic converter

The purpose of the specialized downpipe is to remove the stock exhaust system flow restriction, wich in turn is allowing to gain more boost from turbocharger and to produce more power and torque on the whole rev range, especially on its high section.
Catalytic convertor ensures that the level of emissions is conforms to Euro standards.

Odometer: 46,800 km

VW Shifter Bushing Set

In order to improve gear shifting experience even further I installed VW Shifter Bushing Set, that suitable for VWR quick shifter. The shifter itself was already installed before.

42 Draft Designs "VW Shifter Bushing Set"

In a performance situation, the factory rubber bushings flex causing a delay in the gears engagement. This bushing set from 42 Draft Designs eliminate this delay and provide a precision shift free of slop or hesitation.

Bushing is settled on the side end-link: just before installing it

Shifter with end links installed

Installation process is pretty simple and straightforward. You may see the it in the following DIY video:

My feeling, that this upgrade is worth its money. Gear shifts became more sharp and clear now.

Odometer: 44,000 km.

Suspension upgrade

The time of suspension tuning is come.

I decided to improve a bit my Cupra's road behaviour. The goal was to get less body rolls, more precise response to steering wheel and as result - get a quicker cornering speed.

Eibach B12 Sportline kit and APR anti-sway bars became my choice.

The set is ready for install

Front suspension installed

 Each anti-sway bar has 3 rigidity settings that can be adjusted according to the driver requirements. I wanted to reduce a car's under-steering a little, so as an initial setup I putted a front bar to its soft setting and rear to the middle rigidity.
After testing this setup on the track I decided to leave these settings. They are perfect for the daily driver.

Rear suspension installed

Before

After

The car response to steering wheel is much more precisely now, especially in high speed cornering - it's just going to the desired direction and perform this almost without any delays. Its allowing a slight sliding inside the corners and it easily controlled with accelerator and steering wheel -  the car is continuing to advance into the right direction. Car responses to the direction change is quite fast.
Driving comfort almost not affected, comparing to the stock suspension: it's slightly shaky on bumpy road, but not so much. Also, I think that the overall car look is better now.
Now it is much more fun to drive it on winding roads. Also surprisingly, the car is very calm now in the straight line on high speed.

In conclusion:
This kit is a solid addition to the car's road grip ability. I'm more than happy with this upgrade.

Odometer: 42,500 km.

VWR Quickshift Gearchange

This is the simple modification, that will bring you another level of changing the gears. It may shorten the travel of the gear-lever by around 25% for quicker and more accurate changes.

VWR Short Shifter. The box.

The short shifter fits on top of the gearbox, replacing the stock gear selection mechanism.
It looks very similar to the stock shifter. The difference is, that now you may adjust the gear-level travel from 0% to 25% shorter than the stock shifter. This is "shift-travel" alignment is achieved by adjusting the position of bolt #3 in the picture below.

Package content

You may shorten it travel up to 25% or leave it as is in the stock. The point is, that even if you leave it "as is" before it'll give you more accurate gear change, probably because it comes with the metal sideshift plate #2 in the contrast with the stock sideshift, which comes with the shitty-plastic plate (Hey! SEAT, WTF?) as you may see in the picture below:

Stock gearbox shifter

I like this small, but very nice upgrade. Changing the gear has become more clear and fun then before.
More info about this quick-shifter: Volkswagen Racing website.

 Odometer: 33,100 km

Audi TTS engine cover

After the Volkswagen Racing cold air intake has been fitted, the original engine cover became unsuitable, since it has integrated factory intake system and therefore interfere with the new air intake.

Cupra R factory engine cover

I don't like to view the exposed engine each time without a special need. Furthermore, without an engine cover it's a chance to get coils and other small electric parts wet when raining.
So I decided to fill this gap and bought engine cover from Audi TTS. This car utilize the same engine, that my Cupra R, but it has another air intake system straight from the factory, that comes separately from the engine cover.
And last but not least: it's suitable to use with the Volkswagen Racing air intake by it's dimensions.

Audi TTS under hood

And the result is:

Cupra R with Audi TTS engine cover fitted

Now, the car's under hood has a nice and clean look.

Odometer: 19,500 km.