Bought my first Skoda a few months ago from a dealer with 69k mile on the clock. It's a 2004 totally standard vRS in exceptional condition, which I will be slowly turning into "Project Ringmuncher"!

The idea is to sort the steering, suspension, brakes and minor tweaks to the engine and have a decent AV entertainment system in to keep the wife and kids entertained on long journeys!

I'm attending a trip to the 'Ring this september so I'd like to have all the performance mods done by then. Here's the car when I bought it:

And as she stands today:

And a couple of me with L11UKP (Luke) at a recent meet I organised at Bolton Abbey with another club:

Mods (as subtle as some are) so far:

silver indicator bulbs front and rear

led sidelights and uprated front bulbs

debadged tailgate

de-stripped sides

coded front grille

stubby ariel

front and rear badges replaced with "V" logos - to be swapped for black and silver Skoda badges

Clarion bluetooth HU, infinity comps and JBL amp

Coming up:

JOM Redline coilovers - purchased

Whiteline 22mm adjustable rear ARB - purchased

Leon Cupra R front splitter - purchased

badges replaced

Golf Mk4 aero wipers

wheels powder coated anthracite and new rubber

bumper rubbing strips colour coded

calipers painted black

standard discs with either Mintex 1155 pads or EBC Yellowstuff and 5.1 fluid

r32 front ARB

I'll then make a start on the AV system

Opinions and comments welcome

Craig

nice n clean n tidy mate looks well

Very nice mate!

nice clean example there

seeing as your going for a ring trip you should consider the Ferrodo DS2500 pads instead

poly or TT bushes on the wishbones when you are fitting the R32 ARB.

poly bush Dogbone mount or the DIY mod that robclubbey has (waiting for a spare dogbone from Clive so I can have a go too )

Quickshift kit

FMIC or at the very least a Pikey wheel arch mod

Modify the stock airbox to improve flow - maybe fit the r32 snorkel (its bigger )

HTH Karl

'Ringmuncher'...........that could have so many more connotations

Edited 26 May, 201016 yr by Brimma

Look fantastic. Very clean

Cheers for your comments guys. When it comes to cleaning/detailing I do get rather anal and use pretty good machinery/products

nice clean example there

seeing as your going for a ring trip you should consider the Ferrodo DS2500 pads instead

poly or TT bushes on the wishbones when you are fitting the R32 ARB.

poly bush Dogbone mount or the DIY mod that robclubbey has (waiting for a spare dogbone from Clive so I can have a go too )

Quickshift kit

FMIC or at the very least a Pikey wheel arch mod

Modify the stock airbox to improve flow - maybe fit the r32 snorkel (its bigger )

HTH Karl

Seems like very good advice! I forgot to mention I would be running new bushes up front, whether TT items or standard

What is the dogbone mod?

I've tried to search for a quickshift kit after having a B&M on my old track saxo but can't find one anywhere. Any ideas where I should be looking?

I'd leave the Cupra R splitter off if you're heading to the ring. If you have never been before, it's bumpy and if it makes it as far as the Karusell I'm pretty sure that will eat it for you!

I would also recommend parts that are easily obtainable out there, especially brake pads.

Aside from that, it's a great example!

If you need specific ring information, northloop.co.uk is a friendly place.

forge do a short shifter http://www.forgemotorsport.co.uk/content.asp?inc=product&cat=260301&product=FMVAG5QS

I would just stick the 22mm rear ARB on and leave the standard front one on, not fit the thicker R32 one. Or if you are fitting an R32 front one then go thicker at the back (25 or 28mm). That way you balance the understeer and oversteer, putting a thicker ARB on the front introduces more understeer again. Had a scary understeer moment out there in 2008 on the corner by Steilstrecke I wouldn't like to repeat again! :(

Edited 19 May, 201016 yr by chicken_eyebrow

Nice looking car and the shine on the paintwork is amazing

Bill.

I'd leave the Cupra R splitter off if you're heading to the ring. If you have never been before, it's bumpy and if it makes it as far as the Karusell I'm pretty sure that will eat it for you!

I would also recommend parts that are easily obtainable out there, especially brake pads.

Aside from that, it's a great example!

If you need specific ring information, northloop.co.uk is a friendly place.

Cheer for the advice

I'm not planning on giong low with the suspension, but if the splitter does prove to be a problem, I'll remove it!

forge do a short shifter http://www.forgemotorsport.co.uk/content.asp?inc=product&cat=260301&product=FMVAG5QS

Excellent mate, looks like I have something else on my shopping list! Cheers!

I would just stick the 22mm rear ARB on and leave the standard front one on, not fit the thicker R32 one. Or if you are fitting an R32 front one then go thicker at the back (25 or 28mm). That way you balance the understeer and oversteer, putting a thicker ARB on the front introduces more understeer again. Had a scary understeer moment out there in 2008 on the corner by Steilstrecke I wouldn't like to repeat again! :(

I did think about that which is the reason I went for the adjustable version of the 22mm rather than a bigger one. We'll see yet. I'll see how it handles with all the suspension in place

Nice looking car and the shine on the paintwork is amazing

Bill.

Thanks Bill. always said if you're going to clean a car, anything less than a full day just won't cut it!

Well I fitted the rear arb this evening on the hardest setting and Oh, Em, Gee! What a massive diference it's made to the handling!!!!! Completely dialled out virtually all understeer, to the extent it feels like a RWD car driving through corners!

It also corners a lot more level and the steering response and feel seem to have improved massively as well:

Amazing piece of kit and totally simple to fit - even I managed it first time in just 1/2 hour!

I've also started to sticker up the car with the ever faithful saxperience stickers, of which I'm staff and Nurburgring stickers in the rear quarters of the rear doors. Just need to get me some Briskoda stickers on ther now:

Edited 19 May, 201016 yr by craig180

Looking good matey.

Cheers Luke, just need to make sure it's ready to roll come September!

Opinions on wheel colour?

The plan was to paint the calipers black and have anthracite, but I'm so, so tempted to have a spare set with sticky rubber on for the track powder coated red:

Anthracite:

One for the Skoda traditionalists:

Track wheels?:

what ARB did you go for mate?

Ended up with the whiteline adjustable 22mm one and going to stick with the standard front until the coilovers are fitted to see how it copes. If I need to uprate the front then I'll get a thicker rear

I have no personal experience of the Ring, but personally, I would've bought Weitecs or KWs rather than JOM for a "sports" setup. Also, I don't think an LCR splitter adds anything on a black car, but that's just my preference. The rest looks spot on and the car appears to be mint. Congrats.

What have you got planned on the AV front?

Coilovers and a rear ARB really make a world of difference. The first year I went I was in mine with stock suspension and brakes, it coped pretty well but then I wasn't pushing it at all. The next year I went in a mates one with a whiteline rear ARB, and took a set of Weitecs with us and got them fitted in a garage in Nurburg village, it was much better handling wise, you didn't get any dangerous understeer and it felt so much more planted. Only thing was they didn't replace the top mounts when they fitted the coilies and we went over the kerb at Adenaur-Forst and that totally ****ed the old top mounts :(

I have no personal experience of the Ring, but personally, I would've bought Weitecs or KWs rather than JOM for a "sports" setup. Also, I don't think an LCR splitter adds anything on a black car, but that's just my preference. The rest looks spot on and the car appears to be mint. Congrats.

What have you got planned on the AV front?

Cheers. Had considered the Weitecs tbh but the lure of saving a few pennies on what seemed like reasonable coilovers (well reviewed) won me over. The coilies I have are the Redline, not budget Blueline ones so they should be a decent step up from standard suspension.

With just the ARB on it feels like a totally different car so I'm hoping the coilovers will give an equal improvement over standard.

Not sure on the AV set up yet but I'd like a decent HU with screen and 2 rear screens. Seems to be plenty of room in the boot for a stack of amps to drive some decent components.

I really need to visit a decent audio store as I'm a few years out of date!

Chicken - I'm going to be doing all the bushes as well as top mounts and drop links when the sus goes on so hopefully I won't have a problem (fingers crossed!)

Fair play, it's your car and I'm sure you will see a significant improvement over stock. Great to hear the ARB has made such a difference on it's own.

Btw, on the wheels, call me weird, but I actually like the red. Although, given the nature of the project I'd probably go black myself if anything.

As for the AV, keep us informed. The Octy is a great car for audio, I'm not a fan of screens myself, but I'm picky (can you tell?! )

Few little updates since my last post:

Aero wipers (until I can afford some Mk5 golf wiper arms and aero wipers)

HID stylee headlight bulbs to match my LED sidelights

Gave it a wee clean and polish ready for my weekend at Rockinghham

and eventually fitted my JOM Redline coilover kit.

Pics:

I also fitted new drop links and top mounts. It seems the bushes are all sound so they will stay as they are for now.

Combined with the Whiteline rear ARB the coilovers make the car feel completely different.

I haven't finalised the stance yet as the rear need to come up by about 10mm but I'm pretty happy with it for now.

We'll see how it feels on track this weekend.

Comments welcome

Craig

looks good mate

Looks good - got some decent tyres for the track?

Westallc was selling his VW aero wiper arms and blades if your interested in some