Bodge

I've had this for a while but totally forgot about it, as I already jack my car where the document says to. But some recent threads have reminded me to post it up, and answer the age old query of where exactly do I jack my Mk1 Octavia. This is taken from the official Skoda workshop documentation. Someone might want to make this a sticky or something...... Raise vehicle Raise vehicle with a lift platform and a workshop jack. The arms of the lift platform must be positioned under the frame side rail. WARNING -Under no circumstances may the arms of the lift platform or jack be positioned under the sill, the engine, the gearbox, the front or rear axles. -It must only be raised with a workshop jack at the indicated jacking points arrows. -To avoid damage use a suitable rubber or wood insert. Jacking up points at front Both jacking up points at front are located on both front frame side rails at the height of the marking on the sill. WARNING -Never start the engine or engage a gear when the vehicle is raised, while even one driving wheel is still in contact with the ground. -It is important to support the vehicle with suitable supporting blocks if you wish to work under the vehicle. Rear jacking up points Both rear jacking up points are located on both front frame side rails at the height of the marking on the sill.

Haha awesome! They could have fitted a vRS bumper to it! I wonder who made the exhaust...

I got a new one (reconditioned unit) from here: http://www.brakesint.co.uk/

Change the droplinks while you're at it. Changing the bushes is a very quick and simple job. May aswell get new bush clamps and bolts while you're there too.

Some sausage fingered yob snapped one of mine! It still seals and locks, but there's no thumb tab to pull back on so I have to carry a tiny flat blade screwdriver to manually lift the tab up! I suspect you'd have to buy a whole new loom from Skoda too, rather than a new connector body.

Nope, they are just like a shower cap! You pull the top half over the wheel by hand, roll the car forward a bit, then pull the other half over. They then then self-centre after a few metres of driving and off you go. The Autosocks come with some plastic gauntlet gloves so you dont get mucky arms reaching into the wheel arch. A very handy additon, as it gets pretty grubby in the arches over the winter!

Just as an update to this, renewal time has been and gone..... This was classed as a claim (non-fault, and no cost), but did not affect my premium. It was identified on my policy, which I'm fine with. But they have me down as the "driver" which I argued with them, as no-body was driving the car! They can't even say well you had the keys, because my dad has my spare set too! Anyway, I was assured that it did not affect my premium by my broker and insurer, so I'm happy enough. However, my premium did go up by £40 this year! Apparently this is part of premium increases across the board, and is no reflection on me or my car. Fair enough, but this is the first time in 11yrs that my premium has ever gone up for no real reason! Must be all the retards driving into parked Skoda's......

Wow forgot all about this! 14 months back! The error code never came back, and I've never had a single issue, so was an odd one. I know my car obviously has a vehicle speed sensor, but not one listed as a G68. The G68 only seems to be listed for auto cars. Trust me I googled it at the time! I google everything!

I have some of the Autosocks, and they work very well! The snow sticks to the sock, and then you have the ultimate grip of snow to snow. Brilliant invention. Taken from this thread: http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/156179-my-vrs-winter-rally-slag/page__p__1931958__fromsearch__1entry1931958 Handy to have in the boot to get you out of a slippery situation, but obviously not a permanent fix. I'm currentlky trying to buy winter tyres as I've had my steels powdercoated gloss black now.

Yeah I think if I went again, I'd get full insurance for a couple of days. It'll cost a bomb, but it's worth it. Last time I went I just sort of charged in there without a care in the world, and had loads of fun! In hindsight, so much can go wrong so easily. It's not so much me crashing, it's more me crashing into a 911 GT3 as I spin off (and having to buy a new 911 and myself a new Skoda), or some berk in a Boxter cutting me up and smashing me into a wall and driving off leaving me to pay for a new car out of my pocket and all the track repair crap. The track must make so much money from over excited mugs wrecking their cars!

The proper Skoda OE one that Bowders has is much nicer. That one looks really nasty to me. It doesn't even look like it's been fitted straight. Plus it looks really basic and old, and you're kind of stuck with it after cutting a massive hole in the dash! If he replaced the dashboard and set a sensible price, it would make a desirable buy.

Yeah I found that sort of stuff to be as stiff as hell. No way it would work. The silicone stuff is bad enough! I got this: http://www.auto-performance.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=123&products_id=832 I wanted black too, but had to settle for blue. If you find some black let me know cos I'll get some in.

That satnav is pretty horrid! But the huge hole in the dashboard is even worse...

Overtaken by a Suzuki Swift! The shame..... Looks like you lads had a fun one!

There's going to be an electric Octavia: http://www.parkers.co.uk/News/News/Skoda-to-launch-electric-car/

I don't see what the big problem is with fitting the correct size tyre (205/50's). It's not like they are massively more expensive than the 225/45's (usually about £5 more). This topic pops up pretty much every week, and it's getting tyred (ha!). The correct tyre size as documented in all Skoda official workshop manuals and sales documentation, is 205/50R17. I have found the OE tyre brands to vary, but never the size in true OE (factory fitted) form. Earlier cars seem to have been fitted with Conti's and later cars with Dunlop's. You might save a few quid by buying the wrong tyres, but you'll soon lose a lot more when you start driving the car on long trips. You'll also reduce acceleration and top speed by going wider, and the car won't change direction as quickly. Yes you obviously have a larger contact patch, but do you really need it? If you're constantly falling off the road with 205's then I would suggest your tyres are crap, or you need to adapt your manic style to driving a front wheel drive car. Or your suspension is at fault. The only real excuse I can think of is if you have a big turbo and your pumping out enough torque to spin the wheels when at speed! At the end of the day who cares, fit 205's or 225's if you want. It's not like the world will end! I just personally will always stick to the 205's. If you do get some, I would strongly recommend the Avon ZV5's. They are the best tyre I have ever used. Brilliant grip levels, excellent in standing water and they seem to be wearing well. I will be sticking to them in the future. I used to bum the KU31's, but these offer much more grip off the line and in-corner. P.S. What I've said is based on you running the OE 7Jx17 spiders.

I've got the same problem with some 16" steels I've just had powdercoated gloss black, and was after a way of perfecting them. I was thinking a syringe with some thinned down gloss black paint in might work.... I like your idea of just filling up the channel with paint. I'm in no hurry so I can leave them to dry over a month or two if I have to. Just wondering if you had any more ideas or tips on how to get the paint in there really? Merci. P.S. Epic project!

It's supposed to click, don't worry about it. It's the charcoal canister. It stores the fuel tank vapours in activated charcoal, then releases the vapours into the throttle body housing and turbo intake pipe under certain conditions. When it's running you can hear it clicking. Normally at the end of a long hot drive. You won't normally hear it on cold start up. If it was faulty I'd imagine you'd get a fault code. Nothing major anyway. It's just an emissions thing, as you're not allowed to vent anything to atmosphere anymore. You can try replacing it to see if a new part is quieter and let us know if you want! But personally I wouldn't waste the dosh. Do a search for more info.

Hahahaha legend! Go on give it some more! She'll hit 150 on the clocks.... Can't beat the pure adrenaline rush of cold hard speed.

I wanna come! I'm jealous :'( When I used to hang out in Baden lots I did a nice little weekend roadtrip. Basel, Baden, Zurich, Milan. Beers and pizza in Milan, then walked it off and got back on the road in the early hours and headed for the Mont Blanc tunnel, and drove on to stay with a friend in La Clusaz and spent the weekend skiing. Then went back to Zurich via Geneva and Bern. Was an epic journey in a Clio diesel rented from Germany! Nothing handles like a rental..... I miss snow.

Looks epic! I must have driven past that loads of times on the way to Chamonix and Morzine. Off to Morzine this season, so I'll try and convince the lads to take a de-tour!

Suede? The Mk1 Octy vRS doesn't have any suede. You had the seats re-trimmed? I use the turtle wax spray on foam stuff, that has a brush on the can, and it works pretty well. Not sure if it actually cleans the seats or just spreads it out evenly so you can't notice it though! Plenty of threads floating about on seat cleaning products though. Try the detailing/cleaning section of the forum.

Good to see APR have finally woken up and brought the price down in-line with competitors. They basically priced themselves out of the market before, seeing as most of the UK based tuners charge around £300 for a Stage 1 map.

You should be so lucky! The front springs are £80 each from Skoda!! A full set-up of standard springs/dampers will set you back way more that some decent coilovers.

It's not a problem with the setup, because loads of people have done it with no issues, and the 02J gearbox has been fitted with normal flywheels in the past as standard. It sounds to me like it's not bedded in properly. How many miles have you done (not including motorway/carriageway cruising)? Maybe you've been too gentle on it! You need to slip it to bed the friction disc to the flywheel and coverplate, if they don't bed in to eachother then you will not get perfect contact, and it will judder. The idea behind bedding it in gently, is so you don't eat too much of the friction disc away to begin with, making the clutch last a bit longer. Maybe try riding the clutch a bit more to force the bed-in. Or just give her a few more revs when pulling away until it properly beds and the judder clears. I'm fairly certain this will sort you out. If it was contamination from a leaking slave cylinder, crank end seal or gearbox input shaft seal then I'd expect the clutch to slip in any gear. And if the coverplate wasn't bolted down correctly, I doubt the car would even move! Hope that helps Dan.