Due to work and delays in getting new parts this has taken a few more weeks than I would have ideally liked but you can't have everything I guess!

I had no aux-in option in my Octy II so I made one for £3!

Just pops into blue connector on the quadlock at the back of the newly fitted Columbus, I also fitted VRs Maxidot clocks (Thanks to Shark_90 for SKC retrieval), MFSW with updated steering ECU and CAN Gateway (revision S) to allow all the buttons to function with Columbus, and I also added the Auto light/light assist headlight switch and wired it into the relay board under the dash.

Next up was DAB radio, something I have missed a lot from the A8 I used to have. I only use it for TalkSport and 5live but I listen to the footy a lot whilst driving so its very handy for me.

I had an old Pure Highway in the shed so decided to throw that in, I put a combined AM/FM/DAB aerial (£35 from Ebay) on the roof in place of the original as those internal stick on DAB aerials never give good reception in my experience.

I sunk the Highway unit under the ashtray as it's never used, ran a feed to the back of the glovebox, a 12v+ to the new aerial after dropping the headlining and plugged in the new aerial and Aux-in cable. Ding dong, 100% solid and crystal clear reception on all stations. Cleared about a 100 fault codes with VAG-COM and coded up the new gateway to finish.

Also hard wired in the speed camera detector then darkness stopped play!

Just need to tidy up the mount of the DAB unit in the ashtray and get the Columbus updated to 2664. All be sorted by the weekend I hope!

Short on ideas of what else to do now! I might add auto-dimming door mirrors but I will wait until winter to see how much glare is evident in the current non-dimming ones. I'd also like a 3-spoke MFSW but that'll have to wait until I get the cambelt/water pump done next month.

Great upgrades. Do you have DSG or are you just having flappy paddles anyway? Or have you found something we don't know about with the 3 spoke wheel?

How did you power the DAB? Straight from fuse box?

Do you have DSG or are you just having flappy paddles anyway?

No I dont have DSG, I aren't getting a wheel with paddles - I think that might look odd. I shall look at adapting an R32/Golf GTi wheel when I have more funds.

Thats unless Skoda get their act together and relase a non-paddle 3-spoke wheel.

How did you power the DAB? Straight from fuse box?

Yes I got some repair wires from a VW dealer and plugged into the back of the fusebox then added a 10A fuse directly into the slot inthe fusebox so it all looks neat and tidy. Same for the camera detector.

No I dont have DSG, I aren't getting a wheel with paddles - I think that might look odd. I shall look at adapting an R32/Golf GTi wheel when I have more funds.

Thats unless Skoda get their act together and relase a non-paddle 3-spoke wheel.

Know what you mean. It's the one thing that Skoda have ticked me off with. Be interested in seeing how you get on with the GTi Wheel.

Heya. Nice work! just curious as to the autolight switch mod. Does the car already have a light sensor in the windscreen? Hows do the lights activate in the 'tunnel' setting?

Thats some nice work there.looking good

Heya. Nice work! just curious as to the autolight switch mod. Does the car already have a light sensor in the windscreen? Hows do the lights activate in the 'tunnel' setting?

Yes for it to work properly you need the auto-dimming rear view mirror, this includes the light sensor.

To get the highway to work did you replace the whole aerial cable and amp???

Whats the radio reception like on the dab music channels and how many stations can you receive

Edited 9 September, 200916 yr by skippy41

To get the highway to work did you replace the whole aerial cable and amp???

I'd be interested to know this too. I have a highway with 'not very good' windscreen aerial. How difficult was it to install the aerial? Rooflining out jobbie?

EDIT : Have you tested out of an urban area i.e. the good ol' country.

Drove 200 miles today along the M6 corridor and it held a good signal for the most part, flickered on/off for about 5 minutes in the Stafford area but my old A8 also used to drop its DAB signal in this area so I guess its just a DAB weak spot.

It picks up all the BBC stations, 6Music, 5Live etc along with Planet Rock, TalkSport amongst others. I guess about 20-odd stations where I live but that'll differ around the country of course as some DAB stations are only regional.

Yes I had to lower the headlining to fit the aerial and run the digital cable down to the headunit, no amp was replaced as my Octy had no sort of aerial amp from the factory (Mine came with a Stream non MP3, now has retro'd Columbus) Took about 2 hours, its easy, only clips and screws.

The recpetion must be 10 times better than I used to get with the stick-on windscreen aerial that came with it, that used to drop the signal constantly when driving out of town.

Nice list of retro-fits there !

I'd be interested in what you do to tidy up the DAB unit in the ashtray.

I plan to route my ipod cables into the ashtray, as its just wasted space at the moment.

Did you cut away the bottom of the asktray unit, what have you got planned ?

Yes I just cut a hole using a dremmel, That'll do for now. When I have some more time I will trim it so it sits square underneath the ashtray door, maybe add some fibreglass if I have a lot of spare time!

How would you wire up the highway using the stream none MP3 just the same way???

Depends wether your Stream has the Aux-in option or not. If it hasnt you would have to rely on the in-built FM transmitter in the Highway unit, I couldnt vouch for the quality of the sound/reception using this method. I tried it quickly and it seemed to work ok. I think the Aux option is better though, thats why I went for that.