StevesTruck

As above, the factory coating on a MK2 octavia is very good - I'd say you're more at risk of making a moisture trap if you seal over the existing protection. I'd personally get it in the air, drop the trays off, and do localised repairs to any damages bits of the rust proofing with something along the lines of POR-15, or whatever the fashionable one is at the minute, basically thick enamel paint. If you don't mind an off-brand, the metal paint in Lidl is very good.

We've got a couple of sdis in the the family. Dad has a MK1 fabia and I have a MK2 caddy. They can move alright when they want to, just have to use a bit of driver ability to stay on the power. The best thing you can do for them is get the cambelt changed and timed up well if it's not had one recently. They can stretch older or cheaper belts, which results in a lot of power loss. It's never going to be fast, so just enjoy it for what it is. I probably have more fun driving my 68?hp caddy than my vrs that's got about 100hp more.

185k, the car's got 99 problems, but the engine most certainly ain't one.

And again, that's just the way these are, the throttle response is pretty slow on them. A bigger cold air intake between the grill and the airbox (Ibiza cupra was a popular mod back in the day, not cheap now though), or just taking the pipe off altogether can improve it. You probably won't get it to rev-match nicely. I normally rev-match in my SDI caddy, mainly because I've got **** knees, but the fabia doesn't like it.

I think 950rpm is the standard idle speed on these. Both my fabia and the Ibiza before it seemed to sit there. I'm guessing vag made it that way so it sounds smoother.

Not really, no, as long as all the holes are intact. It'll have scuffs and scrapes, but who's going to see it? It's worth getting some stainless steel screws and dipping them in grease before you refit them.

I can't see it being much different. Mine was repaired using a lead pair off a scrap Audi TT. Worst case, the support grommets won't be in the right on place, but a bit of rubber hose and a couple of cable ties will fix that.

Yeah, looks like the rod's knckered at both ends. Febi Bilstein ones aren't particularly expensive on ebay.

When I've finished with them.... not many get sold. I think Heinz bought most of them.

Next on the list of things that are broken..... The heater's either hot, or cold, nothing in between. Nothing showing on VCDS (can't believe it's not got seized heater flaps on it's list of woes). If it were my mk1 fabia, I'd be cleaning out the little vent on the climate control panel that measures the cabin temperature - where is it on a mk2 octy?

I think one clutch does the odd numbers, one does the evens, so it could well be one of the clutches

Employ an assistant to shrink wrap the car once you're in it. When you reach your destination, alight via sunroof.

I'd say no, it looks like someone's swapped the locker out for a normal wheel bolt. It doesn't look to match the rest though, so I might be tempted to drop that one that doesn't match out and make sure it's the right sort.

There's a lot of reasons the VRS doesn't do well on bad roads and mud. Dad has a standard SDI, and it's far better than my VRS on bad terrain. The VRS bumpers are lower, the wide, lower profile, tyres don't dig and grip like his 185's, but just scrabble on the surface instead.

Depends on what you're padding. I haven't got a citigo, but my 7 foot long coaching / use and abuse boat lives on the 4 foot long roof of my MK2 caddy. It's just laid upside down on a cheap pair of bars with four pound shop straps, 2 in a barrel wrap for and aft and two in a barrel wrap making a cross, it can do thousands of miles up there and not move an inch

SDI won't unless you've got really lucky and found one with a Bosch pump, then it might.

Just to agree with everything @KeithCheethamput - if a 6 sided socket isn't working, I do all the above, then carefully apply the molegrips.

The main problem on the 1.6's is injectors dying, mainly on cars that have only ever pottered around, then go on a long journey.

The main reasons I changed are Fuel injection and ABS. The 700 is just the more modern version. And I broke it already... suspect it's plug caps, so not the end of the world, but it had a ride on a recovery truck.

Getting the NT650 ready to go on ebay. Bought an NT700.

I have an autoleads DFP-20-02 fascia adapter. It does the job, but the fit isn't great, I probably wouldn't buy another one. Theres a fair bit of space behind the radio, so the extra depth shouldn't cause an issue.

Best bet is to read the fault codes, otherwise it's just guessing games really. You can get basic code readers for under 30 quid. They won't do the flashy stuff, but they'll tell you why the lights on.

She's back in the car she likes and it's working like it should do. Don't worry about how you got there.

I had this with a cheap camera. Luckily the kenwood head unit it was plugged into had an option to flip the image.

They suit well! I think the disc you need is off an older Audi S3, fairly sure that's what I used when I upgraded to 312's on the caddy. I'm not 100% on that though because it's a few years ago and I can't remember what I had for breakfast most days