MK1 vRS - Stage 2 R-Tech Tuned

[dubDEAN]

recently removed my catch can as after 1000 miles i had barely anything at all ( i mean a dribble)

[skinnyman]

6 hours ago, dubDEAN said:

recently removed my catch can as after 1000 miles i had barely anything at all ( i mean a dribble)

 

Hmm. Not sure what that means.  Is my car producing too much liquid or is yours the opposite?  

[Evil]

Excellent thread (and stunning car).. thanks for sharing the progress 

 

I need to do all the deletes on mine soon just the parts list is confusing.. I've had the SAI deleted via remap so shouldn't need any resistors (I think)..

First up is going to be the PCV delete I think..

 

Re: catch can - I done a PCV delete on a PD130 Mk4 Golf and in 2 years there was about 5ml of oil in it.

[Evil]

Sorry if this is a daft question.... what's this filter for?

 

[Paul thornton]

Breather for the SAI pump.

[dubDEAN]

21 hours ago, skinnyman said:

 

Hmm. Not sure what that means.  Is my car producing too much liquid or is yours the opposite?  

maybe i'm just really lucky  i did my deletes too and all mapped out and smoke tested (not as hard as i thought) thanks to Bowders and his guides

Edited 20 August, 2021 by dubDEAN

[skinnyman]

Some days the DIY doesn't go very well.  Some days it all goes better than planned.  Today was a good day in terms of maintenance for a small outlay.

 

My passenger door lock had been making some strange noises of late.  As some of you might be aware the car needs a new clutch and for various reasons beyond my control, it's been sat for over a month now.  I always say that cars don't like being idle and if they feel neglected they'll cause problems.  This week when checking that the car was okay the passenger door failed to open on the key fob.  Bugger.  I then tried to open it from the inside with no success and had visions of having to butcher the door card to get to the internals.  

 

I remembered a guide that had a hi-tech solution so tried that first before cutting things up. 

 

I hit the door on the handle and luckily it opened. 

 

I left the car unlocked for the rest of the week and ordered an ebay special lock mechanism.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/ipp/151173095196?transactionId=2206303453005

 

I decided to fit the lock this morning and it didn't take too long.  It was fairly straightforward and when connected it worked a treat.  I have no idea how long it will last but there's a year's no quibble guarantee and at least the door works.

 

Here's a couple of photos with the necessary bits swapped over ready to fit into the door.

 

 

Because I then felt like mechanic of the year I decided to look into something that has been annoying me for some time.  The OSR door hasn't worked off the fob since getting the car.  I changed the lock mechanism last year and it didn't work.  I figured that there must be a break in the wiring somewhere and found this.

 

 

So, out came the soldering iron and a repair section of wiring.  It was heat shrinked (is that a word - shrinked?) wrapped up in the correct tape and reconnected.  I did a little happy dance on the drive when the door fired into life and celebrated with a coffee and biscuit.  

 

I now have four doors that open off the fob and a warm feeling inside knowing that it was all solved for £25.00.

 

This will no doubt be cancelled out when I eventually get the car booked in for the clutch replacement and I'm left with a ££££ bill but for now I'm happy.

Edited 4 October, 2021 by skinnyman

[skinnyman]

Right.  The clutch kit is in and I'm back on the road.

In the end the kit cost £547 https://www.awesomegti.com/shop-by-brand/ecs-tuning/ecs-stage-1-clutch-kit-228mm-5-speed/

plus delivery and then fitting was £325.  My wallet is a lot lighter but at least I'm back in the car for my daily commute.  I'll need to bed the clutch in for a few miles before I give it WOT so that'll test my self control over the next few weeks.

Initial impressions are that it feels smooth and there's no noticeable vibration at the moment.  I reckon that the unknown hybrid kit that came out must have had a lighter flywheel as it seems that the car is ever so slightly less keen to pick up at low revs.  This may not be the case as I've only done about 50 miles but I'll report back on that after a few weeks.

Apparently, the old clutch had pretty much torn itself apart and the middle simply fell out so it's a good job I stopped using the car when I noticed it slipping.

There aren't any photos I'm afraid but I thought a quick update was in order.

[skinnyman]

Well, I've gone & spent some more money on the car.

I've just put in a set of Recaros from a Mk4 Golf. They're from a three door but they fit fine & I'm not bothered about the catches on the side of the seats.

They were the best set I could find at the time & for 20 year old seats they are in good condition.  There's minimal wear to the bolsters and I'm looking forward to not having to worry about the white inserts any more.

I got them because the Skoda seats don't give me the support I need on longer journeys.  Hopefully these will be better for my back & I'll not have to hobble across car parks any more after a longer drive.

There's a small issue of a missing plastic part from the sliding mechanism but I've temporarily sorted it for now.

I'll see how I get on with them & will probably sell the originals in the near future.

 

 

Next is the door cards as they look terrible at the moment. I'm undecided about what to do so any suggestions are welcome.

Edited 24 October, 2021 by skinnyman

[Evil]

They look nice.... 😎

I really like the original interior but have to admit was thinking about options earlier. It'd have to be something pretty special though.  

[matt_theforce]

I prefer the 3door seats as they make it easier for cleaning under them 👍

[skinnyman]

1 hour ago, Evil said:

They look nice.... 😎

I really like the original interior but have to admit was thinking about options earlier. It'd have to be something pretty special though.  

I needed more lumbar support and these looked pretty good for the money. I've replaced the seats in my previous Octavias as I've never got on with the originals. In my other Mk1 it was Mk4 GTI seats, in my Mk2 it was Leon Cupra seats and I preferred them in both cases.

On this occasion I'd considered S3 Recaros, leather Golf Recaros and Cupra R 225 seats but in the end decided on these. I also chose not to go with leather as I prefer cloth.  These are heated so I'll have to figure out how to wire them in at some point.

 

1 hour ago, DarkPeakCycles said:

I prefer the 3door seats as they make it easier for cleaning under them 👍

 

I hadn't considered that but I guess that's an unexpected bonus. 😁

Edited 24 October, 2021 by skinnyman

[skinnyman]

As some of you may have read in another thread, the seats weren't quite right.

The driver's seat had a small plastic part missing that allowed the seat to rock back by about 5mm.  It wasn't apparent until I fitted the seats and seeing as it was a 560 mile round trip to get them I wasn't going to bother the seller about it.  Initially I thought it was missing two pieces, in the end it was just one, the other was hidden behind a lot of grease and muck in the mechanism.

After a bit of help from Mr Evil I tracked down the part number and called our local VW garage.  The chap there is really good at helping me source parts for the Octavia and he managed to get hold of the clip within a day.

 

 

I decided to fit the part as I was getting annoyed by the movement in the seat .  First thing was to cut off the bolt that prevents the mechanism from sliding off the front of the guide rails.

 

 

 

I then slid the mechanism off the rails whilst holding the lever out to allow you to slide the seat back and forth.  The clip was installed with a dab of copper grease and then the mechanism went back on quite easily.

 

Luckily I'd ordered the right part and it went on perfectly.  I then had to replace the bolt I'd had to cut off and used my tin of 'things that might come in handy one day' to find a suitable replacement.  I'll cut it down to length when/if I get round to wiring up the heated seats.

 

 

The seat works perfectly, doesn't rock about and I can get on with enjoying the comfort of a nice set or Recaros.  So far they seem a lot nicer than the stock seats and even the kids have said that the rears are way more comfy so all's well.

 

Also, I'm impressed that it only took £1.92 to fix what was a really annoying fault.

Edited 26 October, 2021 by skinnyman

[Evil]

Excellent!!!!!!! 

[skinnyman]

It was catch can time today.

 

The car has covered about 1000 miles since the last time I emptied the can and as you can see, it was ready for doing.  I'm surprised by how much stuff is in there but it's better to remove it than having all that going back into the system.  

 

 

[skinnyman]

I've also just done three little jobs before the heavens opened up again.

First was to replace the expansion bottle.  The old one was unsightly but also it had a few areas that looked like they were going brittle.  I ordered a Meyle pattern part which arrived today.

It was £15 from Ebay and seems to be just as good as the original in terms of plastics & build quality.

 

It's a five minute job to swap them over really so for a few pounds and a bit of fresh G12, it was worth it.

 

 

It's a lot smarter and I'm easily pleased....

 

As you can see I also replaced the power steering fluid reservoir cap.  Again, small changes but it keeps me happy.

 

Next was to replace the offside indicator lens as it was going green.

 

 

This was a copy by the looks of it so I replaced it with an Ebay special.  I did the other side a year ago and it's been fine so I'm hoping this will be the same.

 

 

Just as I finished, it started to belt it down so I had to call it a day.

 

None of these jobs were essential but it keeps on top of things and makes the car a little bit smarter in the process.

Edited 6 November, 2021 by skinnyman

[skinnyman]

I said I wouldn't spend any more money on the car but it seems I can't help myself.

 

Occasionally the windows steam up at this time of year, usually when I've picked the kids up and they've been running around at one of their clubs.  It can make it difficult to see when reversing onto the drive in the dark, especially seeing as the rear windows have such a heavy tint.  

 

I decided to get some wind deflectors to allow some air in whilst keeping the rain out to help with the issue.  I went for the Team Heko variant as I've had them before on other cars and they were a good fit.  The rears went in just fine but the fronts were a bit of a pain to wrestle into place.  I managed to not snap them (as I have in the past) and they fitted quite well.  Fingers crossed they'll help with the steaming up issue and are a worthwhile investment.

 

Edited 13 November, 2021 by skinnyman

[AnnoyingPentium]

Looks class with them wind deflectors on them. They can really smarten a motor up. Team Heko's, I presume?

[skinnyman]

15 hours ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

Team Heko's, I presume?

 

Yep. 

I agree with you that they look quite smart once fitted, although I initially bought them to combat the steaming up issue. 

Improving the look of the car is a bonus! 😄

[AnnoyingPentium]

1 minute ago, skinnyman said:

 

Yep. 

I agree with you that they look quite smart once fitted, although I initially bought them to combat the steaming up issue. 

Improving the look of the car is a bonus! 😄

 

I bought them for being able to have the windows down a bit in the peeing rain, which is pretty common here.

[dubDEAN]

love this car 😍

[skinnyman]

22 hours ago, dubDEAN said:

love this car 😍

Thank you.

It's a work in progress and will never be perfect but it scrubs up quite well.

I'm determined to enjoy it before cars like this are killed off through legislation etc.

I get a lot of pleasure from driving the car, from making small changes and from not confirming to join the SUV masses that fill most driveways on our street.

[AnnoyingPentium]

1 minute ago, skinnyman said:

I'm determined to enjoy it before cars like this are killed off through legislation etc.

I get a lot of pleasure from driving the car, from making small changes and from not conforming to join the SUV masses that fill most driveways on our street.

 

We're not too different as I feel much the same. Our neighbours have a Land Rover, a Hyundai crossover, there's someone with Nissan Quashqais (two of 'em). Hell, even my Mum has a Dacia Duster. The Fabia feels like a dwarf in comparison.

 

Lovely looking pic of the Octy btw. 

[Dean]

The reason my black one is back n the road is so I can use it around London. ULEZ stopped my diesel and I refuse to change the car because it’s cheap to run. So, when I need to visit London and the outskirts now, I take black VRS for some fun. I think we will be going up another Euro for 2030 now which will screw up our 1.8Ts… 😒

[AnnoyingPentium]

13 minutes ago, DeanVRS20VT said:

I think we will be going up another Euro for 2030 now which will screw up our 1.8Ts… 😒

 

That's for future Ryan to worry about in my case.