skinnyman

Me too. The kids called it Big Red & it was part of the family. The Mrs cried when the car burbled away & I needed a few pints to recover when the realisation that I'd sold it sunk in. Having said that, I've been on here since 2006, will continue to drive a Skoda & post on the forums. I'm not ruling out another MK1 at some point but for now I'll have to watch from the sidelines & chip in when relevant. 👍

Well, the car has gone to a nice chap called Elliott. He's already got plans for the car & has promised me he'll look after it. Hopefully it'll still be on here in some way & maybe this thread will live on for a while yet. I'll still be around, probably in the Mk3 section if things go according to plan. 👍

The lad who bought it said he might keep the project thread going so hopefully. As for your other thread, I'll have a read of that later. 👍

SOLD. 😔

All cleaned, given a coat of Gyeon Wet Coat, detailing spray, some Meguiars Tyre Gel & a bit of Squid Ink on a couple of black plastic bits. It's now raining. 🙄

As some of you will be aware, I have decide to sell my car. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/522636-mk1-vrs-octavia-stage-2-tuned/ It's not without reservations and I know I'll regret it if the car sells. I gave it a clean this morning and looking at it in the sun did make me think twice.... I don't think I'll find one quite the same again and when I add up everything that's gone into the car, it's definitely an eye opener. Having said that, it's worth every penny and I know whoever takes the car on will be able to improve it further. There's always something to do and that's why I enjoy having a Mk1, as it's a chance to tinker & improve on what's already there. It's not perfect and I doubt it ever will be but I do hope that it'll continue to pound the roads of the UK, surprising people who assume it's just an old Skoda.

What was wrong with the 3.5? I'm considering one of those so I'd appreciate knowing about any potential issues.👍

I know I'll regret it. I already am! As for the rear bumper, it comes with a free car! 😁

I know! 😄 We've had it since 2013 and I can see us keeping it another ten years as it's a cracking little car - loads of fun. As for the Octavia, I'm hoping it will go to a good home as it is a great car & will be missed when it goes.

Here's what it looks like on the 17" wheels.

I’ve decided the time has come to sell my Mk1 Octavia vRS. It’s been known on the forum for quite a while and a lot of the car’s history can be found here : https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/219974-mk1-vrs-stage-2-r-tech-tuned/ I'm selling because I need to simplify my life. I have four vehicles in total and in reality I don’t need all of them. I’m also selling our van as it’s not really needed any more and then I’ll hopefully be able to buy a Mk3 4x4 vRS diesel. The Octavia is R-Tech Stage 2 tuned and is a great car. It’s running over 230bhp & over 300lb ft of torque and has been since 2013. It was already a good car when I bought it back in 2019 & since then I’ve been fettling it to make things even better. It’s currently on 126k but this will increase as I use it most days. There are two keys and a folder choc full of receipts of things that have been done over the years. The R-Tech printout is also in there to back up the power figures. It's had a lot of money spent on it since I bought it as I was planning on keeping it for a long time. It’s had a new steering rack, uprated clutch, custom exhaust, all the deletes done (with no warning lights), a Recaro interior, DAB CD player & various other things to make it totally reliable and easy to live with. The cruise control is a nice touch too, as are the rear parking sensors. I run it on Millers Nanodrive NT+ oil which seems to suit the car well and I only ever use V-Power fuel. The wheels are currently 18” OZ Ultraleggera with Michelin PS5 tyres but there’s also a set of 17” TD Pro Race 2 with Rainsport 3 tyres on. The OZ wheels are currently fetching over £1k for a decent set with tyres. It’ll probably come on the Team Dynamics wheels unless a deal can be had for the OZ wheels, or both sets if required. I had the bonnet, tailgate, spoiler and rear bumper resprayed last year which cost over £1000. The roof is wrapped black to match the mirror caps. I'm trying to be as honest as I can about the car as I want any prospective owner to be aware of what they are buying. It’s not pristine but when cleaned up it’s a nice looking car. It is used daily now the salt is off the roads and we use it as our family transport unless the dog comes with us, then we use the van. Having said that I planned on giving it a good clean inside when the weather improved to make the carpet as clean as possible. I’m still waiting for a few dry days to be able to do that….. It's not smoked in & I don’t let the kids eat in the car either. I’m located in Scarborough if you want to view the car & thought I’d advertise it on here first before I brave the madness of Facebook & all the pain that will bring. I’m looking for £2500 with the car on the Team Dynamics wheels and am happy to answer any questions you may have. I’ll log in after work most days so if you message me, I promise to get back to you. Alternatively you can message me on [email protected] and I'll pick that email up at the end of each day. Thanks, Andrew.

Hello. I'm after a bit of advice from the folks here in the Mk3 section. I've been thinking of getting a Mk3 4x4 vRS as my daily car. I currently have a Stage 2 Mk1 vRS and a diesel van as my daily transport but need to slim down the fleet as I also have two other cars. I've always liked the look of the diesel 4x4 vRS in estate form but know very little about them. Apart from being relatively rare and only having the DSG gearbox, does anyone on here have advice on what to look out for, what they're like to live with and if I should consider something else? I've looked at the Superb 280 estates but they seem to be out of my price range. Just to add a bit of context I have three children and a 40kg dog to transport. The eldest child has her own car now and we rarely have all six of us in one vehicle, but it is something that might happen three or four times a year. I bought the van when the kids were a few years younger as we used to go on holiday with all our stuff & the dog but again, that probably won't be an issue now. I have up to £17k to spend if I sell the van so any pearls of wisdom would be appreciated. Cheers, Andrew.

I reckon so.

In the end I had the other dust guard removed as well as replace the rear discs and pads with Brembo items. My trusted garage did the work whilst the car was in for a full service. I also had the rocker cover gasket replaced as it had always been a bit weepy since buying the car. When I get time I'll clean the engine bay up now that it isn't being misted in oil every journey.

If it's any use, mine's on Bilsteins with -20mm lowering springs. I'ts used as a daily and I find the setup to be spot on. I've had cars with coilovers before and for me, they're just a bit too hardcore for daily use. Also, if it was any lower I'd have issues with the rear wheels rubbing as it's taken me ages to find a balance between wheel width, spacers and ride height. If you're sticking with the original wheels and spacing then it probably wouldn't be too much of an issue but I did my usual thing of faffing around to get the stance I was happy with.

Welcome to the site. I can't claim to be a specialist, there are better qualified people on here for that! Having said that, I've had the same issue on both rear doors. Each time it was the wiring between the door and car that passes through the rubber tube. I repaired the snapped wire and they have worked fine since. This might not cure yours but have a look as it's a relatively simple fix. The same thing happens on our other car between the car and tailgate. After a while one of the wires snaps and needs repairing. My bodged attempt is here on page 13 I can't really help with the clutch, it's not something I tend to mess around with. I usually leave that up to my friendly garage to sort. As for the rough idling, it could be one of many things. Are there any air leaks in the system? I had a similar issue and there was a split breather pipe. Having said that, it could be coil packs as that has happened to me on a previous Octavia. Also, what mods do you have on the car? To get to 260bhp there must be a few. I'm assuming it has a different turbo, injectors and fuel pump to reach those figures as well as an uprated clutch as the standard components rarely manage to get to those numbers. Depending on what modifications you have it could be one of those that's causing the rough running. Hope you get sorted.

Which fuel pump did you go for? I currently don't have an issue but it's a job I've been meaning to do as a preventative measure. Also, those figures look good for a Stage 1 map. Having seen claims of 220/230 bhp from a Stage 1, it's refreshing to see a realistic set of numbers. I bet the car drives very differently now.

I'd had a slight rattle from the OSR for a while. It was easily diagnosed as the dust guard but it wasn't really bothering me or causing any issues in daily driving. I washed the car last weekend and when cleaning the inside of the wheels, the guard shifted slightly so I thought I'd have a closer look. The wheel came off and so did the dust guard. It simply slid out of place and as you can see, it's totally rusted through. I've ordered a non-genuine replacement which should come this week. The next thing is, do I replace the guard myself or pass this onto someone else? This is what's left after taking the guard off.... I'd appreciate any advice as I am happy to tackle things myself but if this looks like it could be tricky, I'm also very happy to pay someone else to sort it out. On another note, it was catch can time and after 600 miles, this is how much was collected.

I did in the end. The whole thing was £22 from eBay. I might regret it if/when the mechanism fails in a few months but I couldn't be bothered to faff and needed to swap it over quickly due to lack of available time. If it's still working in six months, I'll be a happy man. 😁 The cable on mine was quite badly rusted so it was probably a good idea to replace the whole lot. As for replacing them regularly, I'm keeping the piece of wood I used to prop the window up in the boot, just in case it happens when I'm out and about. I've also got everything I need in the boot to remove a door card as I don't want to get caught out again.

All sorted. The new mechanism arrived yesterday & was really easy to fit. So I'm back on the road & wondering what the next issue will be. It's always fun trying to guess what surprises the car has in store......

Sounds similar to one that went on my Mk 1 Golf. That was another example of plastic changing from a solid to a powder and leaving me freezing cold 150 miles from home. 😁 I've got a 320 mile trip to do this week so the good old wooden prop will have to do for now. I'm hoping the ebay special will do the job, so fingers crossed....

I'll be interested to see how this project develops as the S3 engine & 6 speed box should make for a very quick car. Also, seeing the MK1 Golf brings back happy memories of instant throttle response and lift off oversteer back in the day. 😁

Why is it that things happen when the weather is cold & wet? Driving to work yesterday, I heard a cracking noise from the rear of the car just behind me and the window dropped into the door. This was at 7:30, just as the rain started to fall. When I got to work I made a cardboard window and left the car in the works car park, hoping that the wind/rain didn't cause too much of a mess by the time I finished at the end of the day. This morning I stripped the door to see what had happened and it was the familiar story of the plastic clip giving up the ghost after 20 years. Why this was deemed as a good design I'll never know. The mechanism is fine, it was just the clip that had failed. I've ordered an ebay special knowing full well it'll be either spot on or I'll be replacing the whole thing again in a year or so. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400938901477?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=iiafCCAaTEO&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=WYTLoLf3SLW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=EMAIL As you can see, the clip is in two pieces but the rest of the mechanism seems fine. Whilst deciding how to temporarily prop the window in place I also noticed that there was something blocking the drain hole in the bottom of the door & there was quite a lot of gunk sitting in the drain gully. That's all cleared out now and things should drain properly from now on. It's now a case of waiting for the part to arrive & find a chance to fit it next weekend.

😂 Made me smile as I wondered how they'd look in relation to the rear seats.... I was going to say that I looked into the leather option but in the end decided on Mk4 cloth Recaros. They are nice & huggy plus they aren't cold in winter or too hot in summer. They also have heating elements, I just haven't got round to wiring them in yet.

It did start straight away, which was a relief. Thank you. It's been with us such a long time now that it's part of the family. We've spent more on it than the original purchase price but it's worth every penny. I still have plans for maintenance & improvements but it was a great package straight out of the box. Until I drove one I didn't really get them. Afterwards, I was a convert and that's saying something as I'd just come from an S1 106 Rallye.