Cordoba Tuning

"Cordoba Tuning"

 The Cordoba was the Seat version of the Polo. A good and well equipped small car and popular with younger drivers.

The best engine for a Cordoba tuning project has to be the awesome 2.0 16v Turbo which produced 147 bhp. The 1.8, 20 valve engine also manages similar power figures so either would give a pretty nippy ride on such a small chassis. Of the Diesel engines the 110bhp offers the most tuning potential.

With so much choice where do you start? Which mods work the best on the Cordoba and what should be your aims and priorities?

We look at Cordoba tuning and report on the best modifications. Seat Cordoba are popular cars and with a few performance modifications you can increase your driving pleasure.

The Cordoba is popular for tuning projects

Many Cordoba owners uprate the handling of their cars as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car. We suggest that you fit uprated suspension and lower the car by 30-35mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with sports suspension.

This will help to ensure you retain some economy low down. Fast road cams offer one of the biggest performance gains as far as a bolt on part goes. You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling. Improve your cars response to the throttle with a Fuel pressure boost valve. Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine. When increasing your fuelling you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.

Seat Cordoba Intake and Exhaust.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Maximum power gains come from a full induction kit. On small engines you will actually lose low down power so we suggest you use a panel air filter instead. Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can find - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches.

When you start tuning your Cordoba you will find that the standard clutch starts to complain so get an uprated clutch. Remaps offer significant power gains on all turbo charged cars. On NASP engines the benefits are doubtful, but will help unleash the potential if you have done a lot of mods. Despite the large cost involved adding forced induction to a NASP engine will give large power gains. It is easier to bolt on a supercharger than it is to get a turbo working. Turbos give boost in exponential proportion to increasing engine speed and this can make mapping difficult. The nice steady boost to rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them easier to map. Adding forced induction will usually require a lower compression ratio or water injection.

Seat Cordoba Wheel modifications.

Alloy wheels will help the brakes cool down and are usually lighter than the steel ones. The downside to large alloy wheels on your Cordoba is that you alter your effective final drive ratio and this will have a detrimental effect on performance. Aim to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the same as supplied from the factory. In all cases we do not recommend going above 18 inches.

It would be worth going through our Cordoba tuning articles to get a full grasp of the pros and cons of each type of modification. Please join us in the forum to discuss the Cordoba tuning options in more detail with our Cordoba owning members.