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very useful comments. Definately a little clarity needed!! It's all becoming clear now!!
I have a couple of cars in my site's at the mo, tho there are also 2 cars up Halifax/Leeds way which are in the 55000-60000 bracket for £3000 ono. These two are from car dealers, but if the service history is there to proove the milage I may be tempted to splash out that little extra for a sl newer engine/parts etc. The others I'm looking at this weekend are more like 70K miles for £2000-2500. I guess just patience is the key here!!
Hopefully will have placed my order some time next week, and I'm informed they already have a chassis cut so delivery before christmas is a distinct possibility... exciting times!!!!
What sort of return can be made on the unwanted Leon/A3/Octavia/Mk4 Golf donor parts?
The reason I ask, is all my friends with 1.8t converted cars, have paid around £700 max for an engine, ecu, loom, and perhaps an extra £100 if the gearbox is thrown in. When I went and collected an engine with a friend a few years ago, we extracted a 2 year old Leon cupra engine, and got with it the complete wiring loom (b-pillars forward), ecu, clocks, climate controls, engine, all the engine ancillaries, brakes, etc, for £700. After selling all the unwanted parts we'd collected, the engine owed my friend about £500 - 2 years old, and about 30k on it.
Has the engine / donor market gone up significantly recently? My K20A2 owes me about £1800, and at the time I sourced it engines were changing hands for around £2.5k. I bought a Cat B whole car for about £2k. Maybe this is the way to go with with VAG 1.8t too?
As an aside, from what I understand it won't be long before the various companies on the VAG scene will be offering kits to allow a TFSI engine to run as a standalone unit. One of those, with the dsg gearbox, would be very neat.
Hi, been a few weeks since I was last on here but exciting developements!! I've finally sourced a very nice 02 reg donor car with just 50K on the clock and in very nice condition indeed. By the time I'd paid the petrol to pick it up from leeds it cost just under £3000, which tho it was more than I wanted to pay, as steve said, it was reassuring to drive the car back and test what I'm about to dismantle before the long haul to resurect it in the marlin shell. The rest of the car was emaculate so a bit of a shame to chop it up, but surprisingly good fun once I started to strip bits out. Hopefully with enough time on Ebay I should be able to recoup some of the initial outlay.
I've also put my deposit down and Marlin expect to be in a position to finish just before christmas which'll be a veyr nice xmas present to myself!!!! I have a slight dilema of whether to buy module 3 at the same time or not. I am in the fortunate position to be able to store it if needed and like the idea of saving the £430 ish for buying it all at once PLUS not having to pay an extra 2.5% of VAT ontop of it all. However I have seen several people have extended there wheel arches to a very pleasing effect as well as allowing wider tires and more grip which very much appeals. Terry has assured me that before long all the bodies produced will have these wider wheel arches (as per their race versions) and so may save me the hassle of working the fibre glass as well as the resultant respray. But the important point is how much more will it all cost?!?! I can already sense my wallet getting lighter!!! (and I fear its got a few more punds to shed yet!!)
Hi, yes, the 225bhp versions proved too illusive, but I'm very impressed with the donor I've got so hope it'll be money well spent. I've started stripping the interior out and thats all very simple. The theory is to warm myself up to pulling out the mechanical bits. UNfortunately they havent produced a Haynes manual for the SEAT leon, I've had it suggested I should look at the Audi A3 manual, but any onther suggestions/hints would be very welcome?
UNfortunately they havent produced a Haynes manual for the SEAT leon, I've had it suggested I should look at the Audi A3 manual, but any onther suggestions/hints would be very welcome
Try and get hold of ElsaWin
Software program (Manual) used by Dealerships its not bad it should help.
Etka is also another package pretty good at giving exploded diagrams, no text explanation though.
If you need a part its ok at giving you the part number to re-order
Hi, long time since I've posted anything, but just been busy (I susp this build is going to take quite a long time with the little spare time I have!!). Things have been progressing, Donor is stripped of parts and I may have found a friend of a friend who wants to buy the unneeded bits as one job lot to do up crashed cars which'd be great to get rid of the shell from the front garden as well as recouping some cash. Picked up the kit before xmas which was great, on the whole VERY pleased with it, BUT really should've spent more time going over the car and asking more questions. Think I've had to recategorise my level of expertise as VERY wet behind the ears (which is a little depressing)!! Just about to start the build but very put off by lack of instructions untill I read the various posts here which are very helpful. Then I stumbled across steve's (aka nutter) website which, without sounding too melodramatic was a revelation and has given me confidence to go get started this afternoon. Many thinks steve!!! Because there arent many leon builds its scary how many very big gaps there are in the build instructions. I suspect I cant hope to compete with steve's website, but will endevour to post any interesting pics on the forum here.
PS, any news on the wiring loom for the seat options yet steve?
Hi Edd
Thanks for the kind comments about my website.
I havnt updated the website for a while, as I have had not much to report. The recent weather has not been kind and spending time doing the build at -9C is not apealling.
I have been spending alot of time designing the wiring loom and working out the required cables need for current loads. I have not as yet ordered cables as I am still waiting for some missing components from Marlin. Once i get these I can then check the power requirements, and order the cables. Then i fit the loom to the car and check it all works, so the loom is in the pipeline.
I wouldnt get too scared about the leon, Im sure with collective knowledge of everyone it should not be a problem, and the end of the day each thing will only fit in one place.
If you are on broadband let me know, and i will collate my photos into a zip file so you can download them directly from me.
If you have any questions, dont hesitate to contact me, will give you a phone number if you want to discuss. Where are you based??
If so Edd, You can start building the car up. Floor, radiator, suspension sterring etc. Done all this on mine in a small single garage and can be done during these cold months. As well as the electrics.
Though I must confess. I did not do the suspension until the summer. Lubing and pressing in bushes etc.
It has been a bit cold here as well. But had the bit between my teeth and been out there in the snow with the car up on stands.
As well as the electrics.