niceyellow vrs

I got the different gearbox purely as at the time I needed a replacement, people were asking rediculous money for Octavia EHA boxes, £350 - £400 seemed to be the going rate. After a bit of research, I found the EVS box available for a much more reasonable £150 and as the ratios were only slightly different, I thought that was a decent option. Ratios between the two boxes EHA EVS 1st 3.300 3.300 2nd 1.944 1.944 3rd 1.308 1.308 4th 1.034 1.029 5th 0.838 0.837 Final Drive 3.647 3.684 So, as you can see, the difference is relatively small and in practice it results in about 200 rpm less but that's enough to see consistant mid 40's for mpg on steady motorway runs. When I was reseaching boxes, I found a really handy table to help me compare the different gear sets. https://workshop-manuals.com/audi/a3_mk1/power_transmission/5-speed_manual_gearbox_02j/technical_data/gearbox_identification/code_letters_allocation_transmission_ratios_capacities/

If anything needs airbrushing/censoring it's probably the Roadside Hotel section of Briskoda.net as it's become nothing but a platform for the same few people to argue and generally try to be nasty to each whilst trying to justify their behaviour with links to nonsense they've found on the internet. I imagine this thread will just go the same way as all the other politically motivated threads that have blighted the forum in recent months and decend into general unpleasantness towards one another.

Suppose being as quite a bit has been done to the car since I started this thread, it's probably worth an update with a list of all mods and it's current spec. Engine: Jabbasport Remap running 225bhp and 260ftlb Various colour coding Oil catch tank Sai, N249, N112 delete Baffled Sump Induction/Exhaust: Induction kit with filter relocated to inner wing Oversize TIP Newsouth power gasket on intake Generic Front Mounted Intercooler with custom made hard pipes 3 inch downpipe into decat. Centre box deleted Powerflow cat back Handling: Audi TT front end setup - cast hubs and wishbones, and 2.5 turns quick rack Audi TT upper front strut brace S3 lower brace Bilstein B4 dampers with standard springs Whiteline adjustable rear anti roll bar Polybushed dog bone Brakes: Standard Transmission: Mk4 Golf Gti EVS gearbox (slightly longer final drive so better fuel economy without noticable comprimise in acceleration) G60/VR6 solid flywheel and clutch setup Exterior: Colour coded rear spoiler, front grille and mirrors Standard wheels powder coating Gun metal grey Hella Comet 500 spot lights Air horns Interior: Full Audi S3 Heated and electric leather Recaro seats Retrimmed door cards MK4 Golf black carpet Front arm rest Retrofitted cruise control Parrot hands free kit 6x9 speakers on rear shelf. Latest dyno sheet from JKM's dyno in February

Well, my heated seat loom finally turned up earlier this week. Initially it was delivered to the wrong house but luckily the lady who had it was kind enough to drop it round. So front seats back out, all the wires fed under the carpet and dashboard and connected up. Everything tidied up and a little VRS sticker for a finishing touch on my switch panel. So all done and working. Just need to wait for winter to reap the benefits

My Dad has a bit of a fleet of classic cars. 1980 Talbot Sunbeam Lotus which my Grandad bought when it was 6 months old. 1989 Sierra Sapphire Cosworth 2wd and completely standard. Another of Grandad's cars, he purchased it in the early 90's when he wanted something more user friendly than the Sunbeam. 1971 Ferrari Dino 246GT. My great uncle bought this one in around '76, '77. Apparently, it was a toss up betweeen him buying this or a Capri, I think he chose right. It's all original and unrestored. Next up, not strictly a classic, probably more a future classic, Renault Sport Clio V6. With the Dino being so valuable now, my Dad wanted something that gave the same noise and thrill but at a fraction of the worry of anything happening to it. This one spent a fair while in a collection so had just 8500 miles on the clock when Dad bought it. The final car in his collection is his Westfield 11 kit car, a replica of the 1950's Lotus 11 race car, it runs on MG Midget engine and running gear. 106bhp in 500kg it goes well enough. Out of all of them though, I keep pestering him to relinquish the Sunbeam Lotus, gives me the tingle when driving that one 🤣

@skinnyman I bought this can https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222675993452 Exactly the same as the creations one but without a logo on it. Still works out a bit cheaper when you buy the hoses separately. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272384995395

To use the Octavia switch I need an Octavia loom and they're hard to come by and expensive when you do. It's a lot cheaper to use the Kufatec loom for the MK4 Golf. I've also used the spare slot already to mount my Parrot hands free kit and don't want to have to move that. I've always found the cubby hole useless as stuff tends to fly out so it can have a better purpose this way.

Still waiting for my seat heating loom but I'm able to do a bit of prep work for when it does arrive. I've got the mounting ready for the switches. I've modified the under radio cubby hole by chopping a bit out the back to allow access for the wiring plugs and cut a panel which slots neatly inside it with the switches mounted through. I've ordered some silver carbon fibre type wrap so when that arrives, I can apply it to the panel and it should hopefully blend in reasonably well with the trim which surrounds the rest of the console.

The prices seem to have come down a bit from what they used to be. So far, the black fronts cost me £200 (little bit more than I should've paid due to finding them not as described) The black rears I got for £50 and the full cream set I very luckily got for just £60 and I've already sold the cream rears on for £25. The loom for the heating is £43 and I got the pair of switches for £12 so if my maths is right, the full set owes me £340. I'm hoping to get at least £150 for my old seats so it won't actually turn out to be a too expensive upgrade.

Been a busy couple of days on the car this week. I've always liked the seats that came with car when I bought it, as they were the standard VRS seats but without the problem of always looking grubby due to the previous owner having them professionally retrimmed with a nice leatherette infill. They looked good but recently I've been felling like a change to something a bit more fancy and something with better bolstering to hold me in would be nice. I wanted something that would be a straight bolt in option as I didn't want to entertain fabricating new mountings or anything silly like that, so after a bit of research, I set my heart on Audi S3 8L black leather electric Recaros. I thought if I was going down that route, I may as well get heated ones for the ultimate luxury. Searching ebay and Facebook Marketplace was showing up that decent heated sets are hard to come. I eventually found a pair of heated fronts miles away in Darlington but they looked decent and I wasn't over busy so made the trip up and got them, (after picking up a set of rears I found more locally earlier in the day.) Got them home and had a proper look at them the next day to find that the base plates were missing so I couldn't mount them in the car. Upon further investigation, they turned out to be non heated versions, which really annoyed me as they were advertised as heated and I'd had a full discussion with the seller about wanting heated seats. The seller is still adamant that they are heated despite the photos I sent him of them opened up clearly showing no heating elements and no wiring for the heating 🤔 Fortunately, I managed to find an absolutely dirt cheap full set of the same seats, but in the less desireable cream colour. The leather wasn't in great condition but the mechanicals were all good and they were complete with the bases and they were definitely heated so I hatched a plan to reskin them with the black leather from the first set I bought. I was also able to sell the cream coloured rear sets on, to make the fix even cheaper, as they were in decent condition. A guy bought them to make a little sofa type thing for his man cave. With the cream and black seats side by side, you can tell straight away the wiring differences between heated and non heated. Removing the leather from the seats is essentially easy enough, just fiddly and I wanted to be very careful not to break any clips or rip the leather. Once the leather was off both seats, it was really clear to see that one is heated and one definitely isn't. But the seller has the switches in the car, so they must be heated 🤨 Anyway, putting the black leather onto the heated seat was a case of working in reverse to the dismantling, taking my time to make sure everthing was clipped and pushed back in where it should be. My hands are now destroyed, cut to ribbons from little sharp clip jobbies, but after 8 hours of work to take 4 seats apart and rebuild 2, I now finally had a pair of electrically operated, definitely heated, black leather S3 Recaros ready to fit in the car. Really pleased with how they turned out, all the leather went back nice and tight where it should be. Before they could go in the car, I needed to install some wiring for them to work. The electric operation is simple, literally just needs a live and an earth so I made up a little loom with a parallel fused wire from the switched live on the relay board under the dash. Each seat then has it's own earth running to convinient bolts on the floor with all wiring tucked under the carpet out of sight. I would show you pictures, but I purely forgot to take any as I was too deep in the zone. So, with power in place, time to bolt the seats in. Pulled a muscle I didn't realise I had when maneuvering them into position because they are a bit on the heavy side, about 37kg each I've heard. Once bolted and plugged in, it really made the effort worthwhile, they look awesome, they work and they are so comfortable. Rears were really easy, literally just slot them in. Just waiting on a lap belt to arrive for the middle as they don't have middle over the shoulder belt like the Octavia seats. Annoyingly, one of the first sets of S3 seats I was looking at had the rare middle belt and tripple head rest option, but the front seats weren't great and the rears were missing their head rests. Finding 3 of the correct head rests on their own would be nigh on impossible and having mis-matched stuff would really bug me. So all that remains is to wire up the heating. I've ordered a Kufatec MK4 loom which should arrive in the next couple of days hopefully. I'm going to use switches from a Golf which I'm going to mount in a panel that I shall fix into the cubby hole under the radio. In order to use Octavia heated seat switches I'd need to get a specific Octavia loom and they're very hard to come by and expensive when you do whereas the aftermarket loom and Golf switches option will give a much easier and cheaper totally plug and play solution.

Before you go to the expense and hassle of changing wheel bearings, check your handbrake lever and handbrake switch. If it's ratting around of the switch is a bit dodgy, the forces generated while corning could be enough to activate the switch, which is also another possible cause for the warning light coming on.

Born in 84 so the 90's was my time and during that decade I very much enjoyed Round The Twist, particularly Linda Twist who was played by Tamsin West in series 1. She also sang that awesome theme tune. The years have been good to her and just for the record, I still definitely would.

Looks like you could do to sort a couple of things under there mate. Not ideal having the fuel regulator working off a t from the recirc valve, that could very much interfere with fuel pressure, particularly if the valve ever leaks. Best the reg has it's own pipe. Also, that kink in the pipe going to your catch can is not favourable. These engines get unhappy with restrictions in the pcv system. When I had my yellow Octavia, I used too narrow diametre pipework for a catch can and it caused to to go through oil very quickly and blow massive clouds of smoke on overrun. Get an appropriately angled joiner on there.

Took me a couple of hours all in. Used a handy guide on here for guidance

Did another little job that's made a nice difference. The front slam panel wasn't looking it's best, dull paint and a fair bit of surface bubbling, so it was time for a freshen up. Stripped it down, paint/surface rust bubbles given a tickle with a flap disc on the grinder before masking up and spraying with a fresh coat of satin black. Came up rather well I reckon.

So whilst all this Corona stuff has been going on, I've been at home with not much to do so on the odd occassion I've found some motivation, I've carried on doing stuff to the car. First was to sort out the MOT advisories, pair of track rod ends and a wheel bearing, nothing to taxing. Whilst I was on maintenance, it was due a service aswell so once I finally got my delivery from Eurocarparts, it was all back to tip top running order again. As above, I started adding red bits under the bonnet. This has continued with battery cover, oil catch can pipework and for an added touch, I painted the top of the coil packs. It now looks like this: You may also notice that an Audi TT strut brace has appeared. It's been sitting in the garage ever since I found it on a scrap yard trip and paid very little for it. I needed to adjust the intercooler pipework slightly as it was sitting too high and would clash with the brace. I was able to trim about and inch and a half off the silicone joiner at the turbo outlet and that gave me the clearance required. I also had a lower brace sat in th garage so I gave that a clean up and respray before popping a couple of rivnuts into the subframe and bolting it on. Whether it makes any difference or not, not really bothered, it's just one less thing to trip over in the garage if its on the car. Aswell as making stuff red, I've also been sorting out some of the contrasting black bits too. The front grille surround and rear spoiler were looking a bit dull so gave them a rub down and fresh coat of matt black plasticote. Whilst I had the black paint out, I decided to respray the mirrors black as one was a bit scratched up anyway. I also noticed the wiper arms weren't looking too great with a fair bit of paint bubbling. I found a tidier set in one of my spares boxes so gave them a fresh coat of satin black and one of the Fabias I stripped recently had a nearly new set of flat blades so I've utilised them. With all the external black bits refreshed, the paintwork was looking a bit dull so it got a full on was, clay, t-cut, polish and wax to bring a bit of shine back. Bonnet really wants a respray as the proper polish up really shows up the 156000 miles of stone chips but that sort of thing can wait for now. It still came up pretty reasonable. I do like the black mirrors 🙂 Since those pictures above, I've also replaced the front and rear Skoda badges and the 16 year originals were looking a bit tired. I've also started to do a bit of prep work for future developments. I've got a spare rear beam from one of the breakers I've had recently. I've stripped it all down with the view to having it sand blasted and then powdercoated red. I'm steadily collecting replacement parts, new bearings, back plates, abs sensors. Stub axles are good so I've cleaned and painted them. I've also got another front subframe ready for coating too and whilst that lot goes off I'll get my rear anti roll bar redone aswell. Contemplating getting the front strut brace done red at the same time but I'm gonna give the slam panel a fresh coat of satin black so I think it'll match up better if it stays black. Today's little project was a few engine bay deletes. Being as there isn't a cat on the car anymore, it's pointless having the secondary air intake system on there to help with cat heating on cold starts so that all came out. Whilst that was happening, I did away with the N112 valve, as that controls the combi valve for the now removed SAI and the N249 valve and pipework so the DV now works off direct vacuum from the inlet manifold rather than ECU control. Quite a few bits of useless stuff now out the way. That's about it for now. Next up will be respray the slam panel and then get on with the underneath stuff once the powdercoating is done. Oh, it needs a new windscreen too as there's a crack creeping up from the bottom but as it's not going off the drive at the moment it's not a mega pressing issue.

Secondary air intake doing its thing as normal. Don't worry about it, nothing's wrong.

I've broken plenty of Fabia VRS' for spares purely because they often come up for cheap money and then sell easily in parts. They're popular with children who like to spend money on bits for these ultimate racing machines. I've never spent more than £400 on one and that usually sees me about a £1000 of profit by breaking it.

No problem, I accept full responsibility 🤣

Not brilliant angles, but all I've got on the computer at the mo.

Mine sort of happened by accident. The paint on the spoiler had faded. I tried to polish it back to life but it was too far gone so I had a rummage in the garage and found a tin of matt black paint. Figured I had nothing to lose so sprayed it up, put it back on and rather liked it

Nice looking car, red ones are the best 😀 I'd recommend a black spoiler to compliment the red and black theme.

Been making stuff red because bling bling.

There were various incidents at my school but there's one thing that still makes me chuckle now. There was the weird, quiet girl, which I'm sure most schools had and ours also had a habit of fainting at opportune moments. In one design and technology lesson, said weird girl spent approximately 45 minutes moving a piece of wood around in a box trying to decide which way it fitted best. Eventually it all got too much for her and she emitted a really unusual "ooooooo" sound before toppling forward, heavily face planting the workbench on the way to being spark out on the deck. Freakily, the blood that came out of her nose was bright orange. My best mate was stood next her during the incident and the only comment he could make was "I could've caught her, but I thought it was funnier to let her fall". To be fair, I still think he was right 🤣🤣🤣

Guess what I'll be doing this week 😀 Got a whine from the gear box too. Good job I've got a couple of days off work I suppose.