skinnyman

The 225 is fine, I ran that size on the original spiders for years with no issues. I'm currently on 225 40 18 and again, no issues.

The original is 205 50 17". Quite a lot of people moved to 225 45 17" as there is more choice, the tyres are cheaper & it only affects the speedometer by about 0.4%.

Welcome to the forum. The car looks to be in good condition and is on a similar mileage to ours. I use mine each day and a bit like you, I enjoy fettling as I get to know the car and find things that need sorting. I'm two years in with this particular car and I'm still picking away at the list of things that need replacing or changing. There's all sorts you can do to the car to build on the original spec. Some would say to leave it standard, others like me prefer to work through the car and tweak here and there as you see fit. Before you modify anything though, when was the timing belt last done? I've recently had the timing belt, tensioners, water pump, thermostat and oil pickup pipe replaced which should help keep the car going for a couple more years. If it's all been done on yours that's great, if not I'd look into how much it will cost. Keep us updated on what you're doing as it's always interesting to see what people are up to with their Mk1 Octavia.

The original specs are 5x100 ET38 7Jx17 from memory. Anything near to this will be fine but it depends on what you want the offset to be & if you want the wheels to fill the arches more. There's an old thread here with a few different options on that people were running.

What size wheel are you looking to get?

Ah, memories. I had a petrol Mk2 and loved it to bits. Yours looks to be in good condition and given a bit of TLC the blue can really pop on a nice day. I've put a photo below as ours was lowered on Eibach Sportline springs; it made a big difference to the handling as did the Whiteline RARB.

Same here. I normally get rid of badges but have left them on this car for some reason. I need a front badge as mine is a bit scruffy but there's other things to sort first.

It said that when I ordered mine but in reality it was a couple of weeks. Hopefully yours will be a similar time.

It took me a while to do the mods as my back can only take an hour or so before it gives out on me. I find being under the car is a lot better than leaning over into the engine bay as I tend to get stuck! I found using the guides on here, choosing the right day for the weather and loading up on ibuprofen allowed me to get things done. Don't do what I did and try to delete the SAI in February in the sleet and rain. Not a good move on my part.

Not sure if you're interested but I recently bought the front grille badge for my car. It took a bit of tracking down as some sellers wanted £25! In the end it was about £14 but is a genuine badge, not a cheapo reproduction. Here's the link : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192197008784

I can see why you're selling but it is a shame. I sold my first Mk1 back when our children were small and I needed to get three child seats in the rear. It was the sensible thing to do but I regretted it instantly, hence getting another MK1 a few years later. I reckon you'll miss it but in the end if it's an expense you don't need then someone else will be able to enjoy the car.

So, just a quick update. I've been running with the latest modification for the past month now and am happy to say it's been issue free. The car definitely runs a lot smoother since the breather simplification. It's also more responsive at the lower end of the rev range and picks up much easier, needing less throttle when running around town. It's booked in for the timing belt sorting and the pickup pipe changing next month as certain things I leave to the experts. I've attached a photo taken in Scarborough on the morning of the 21st - sunrise was at 4:26am!

You're braver than me! I'll be interested to know how you get on as it's something I've yet to tackle as I'd hate to mess it up.

I'm not sure if this has been posted already but I've just seen this on the BBC : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-57261144 I've always been impressed by what a Mk1 can carry & the driver of this car obviously agrees!

Just to follow up on this after a couple of days driving round after the simplification mod. The car is noticeably smoother on idle. I had suspicions that the pipes were past their best and since the replacements the car seems happier. I haven't noticed any drop in performance, there are currently no error codes and the idle speed sits between 830/840rpm when warm. I'll give it a few more weeks and report back if there are any detrimental effects on the car & how it runs.

I've been meaning to sort it for a few months but work & family stuff kept getting in the way. I'm not sure it's brave or daft. The car was working fine so by messing around I could easily cause an issue that'll cost time & money to sort. I'll see how it goes this week on the daily commute & report back in a bit so people know if it's worth doing or not.

Next is a cambelt, water pump and thermostat change along with the oil pickup pipe. This will be done by my trusted garage and at the same time I’ll have the sills straightened and the car undersealed. Once all this is done I’m thinking of putting it on a rolling road to see how many horses have been lost since it was mapped way back in 2013. I’m assuming that it will have lost some but the better flowing exhaust I had made should give a few back. After all that, I went to the pub for a couple of pints of Black Sheep with the Mrs.

Another update. I finally got round to doing the breather system simplification. I followed Bowders’ guide after reading it many times, studying the engine itself and buying in all the relevant bits. It went reasonably well but there were a few hiccups along the way. The first was that the 90 degree pipe snapped off at the base, leaving me very little to get hold of to remove it. I guess after 18 years it had become brittle so it was a good job I had thought ahead and bought a replacement. I think I got all the pieces and was amazed by how much gunk there was in the pipe. Things should flow a bit better now just for replacing the pipe for a new one. The rest of the removal was fine and I simply butchered things to get them out if they were catching on anything. The next issue I had was removing the hard lines that ran down the coolant sensor side of the engine. These didn’t need to come out but seeing as they are redundant it seemed to make sense to remove them. I had already unbolted them when I did the SAI delete and replaced the coolant sensor housing a few months back. However, they are an awkward shape and wouldn’t come out. In the end I cut them up using a junior hacksaw and eventually they were freed by pulling them towards the bulkhead. The two outlets on the inlet manifold were blanked off using some flexible tubing I took off the hardlines. I inserted a bolt in each one, sealed it with a bit of black silicone sealant to make sure they were airtight and then clamped them in place. Having looked at the photos I can see one of the clamps is wonky so I'll go back & sort that tomorrow. As you can see further down, a lot of tubing & pipework came out. Some of it was split so I’m glad it’s done. That’s probably the last modification/simplification I’ll do to the engine as everything else has been done. The N247, N112, SAI, breather system & catch can are all sorted. Amazingly, the engine still works and there aren’t any fault codes at the moment.

I know what you mean. We bought our house as a fixer upper in 2008 & we're still going. Not because it's a big house or anything, it's just that I've spent the bathroom fund twice, the kitchen fund three times and my life savings twice - all on cars. I have a very understanding wife, a manky bathroom and a knackered kitchen. On the flip side though, I've had some cracking cars and a lot of happy memories.

Wisdom? You must be thinking of someone else! I suppose I can offer my opinion and experience of doing the job myself. It may give you the confidence to have a go yourself or it'll put you off I guess. I'll answer your questions first. 1. Are there any downsides for daily use? None that I have noticed. I did this back in February and have had no issues since. The car is definitely happier on cold mornings and other than the emissions probably being a bit higher in the first instance, there haven't been any downsides. If anything, there's a couple of benefits as far as I can see. Firstly, the car is smoother on cold start up and secondly, there's more room in the engine bay now making access to certain things easier. 2. Is it really as easy as folk say? It wasn't difficult, but there were elements that required a certain level of competence. The removal of the pump itself was a bit awkward so I dismantled it in situ to get it out. The top bracket bolt was a pain to remove but I managed eventually. It made a bit of a mess on the drive as I lost coolant removing the temp sensor housing (I replaced mine with a new one). It took me about 4 hours in total but you have to factor in that it was bloody cold, I have a dodgy back and I kept being rained on. 3. Can it be coded out (during a remap) prior to removing all the hardware, preventing an EML forever? I used a resistor to overcome this issue. I took the connectors out of the pump, soldered them onto a resistor, wrapped this up in tape and plugged it back in. Three months later it all seems okay and there haven't been any error codes. My car also has the N249 and N112 bypass done which again doesn't seem to have affected anything. I'm going to have a go at the PCV system next as I've already installed a catch can and want to do this last mod to finish everything off. I'm waiting till I have a free weekend to do this as well as make sure I won't get rained on again. I've attached a photo of all the SAI bits on the drive after they came off the car. Hope this helps but if you have any other questions, just ask.

Welcome to the forum. It's good to see someone about to embark on a rolling restoration of another Mk1. I always wanted a MK1 vRS after seeing one like yours go past me one day, way back in 2002. I've never seen a yellow one when I've been looking to buy in the past but have always had a soft spot for the colour. There's loads of threads about pretty much anything you want to do to the car and the search facility works well. I also find that Google often brings me here anyway so both methods of searching usually turn up a few results. I don't have any pearls of wisdom for you as what I want from my Mk1 is probably very different from the next person. I bought a brand new black Mk1 vRS way back in 2006. That car stayed pretty much standard for the six years I had it apart from an RS Tuning stage 1 map and a RARB. My current red Mk1 is far from standard and is a very different daily to the black one. I don't do Facebook so rely on this forum for all my advice & research. I've been on here since 2006 and it's by far the best owners forum I've experienced with very supportive people.

In the end I bought one from Skoda. There weren't any in the country so it took about a week to get here. It wasn't cheap at £60 but at least it's sorted and has smartened the car up a bit. I'll put some pics up when I get a chance but to be honest, it's pretty obvious what it looks like.

I'll be interested to see what you come up with. Mine's stage 2 and I have no idea what clutch is in it. I've looked through the history file but there's nothing to say it's anything other than a standard setup. I've got a graph from R Tech to say it made 235bhp and 301lbft of torque on their rolling road. If it is a standard clutch then it's doing really well as it handles the torque without any issues. As you have said, it's the inner wheel spinning up that needs sorting so I have been thinking about an LSD.

Unfortunately there's a crack in on one of the corners so I'll need a replacement. I'll keep looking & if all else fails it might be a trio to the dealers.

As the title suggests, I'm looking for a good condition rear bumper moulding for the Mk1 Octavia. The OEM part number is 1U6 807 423 (taken from the original on the car). Mine has been Plastidipped in the past and despite my best efforts I can't get it off neatly so the strip looks decent. I have tried to find a replacement online but nowhere seems to stock them any more. I've placed a wanted advert in the classifieds on here but if anyone knows of where to get one second hand or a new one other than the main dealer, I'd appreciate a heads up. I did take a punt last week on an Ebay special for the front for £21 and that fitted really well. I just need to find the equivalent for the rear or source a decent used version. Thanks, Andrew.