HasAki's Mk.1 Octavia vRS

[HasAki]

A bit later than I'd planned but thought I'd start a thread about my Octavia vRS.

I never thought I'd end up buying a VAG (hehe!) product, but here we are! This is my 2005 Skoda Octvia vRS. I bought this in October 2012 from Scotland. The car had done just over 79k miles when I got it and has a stack of bills and receipts to back up its service history and modifications. I bought this to tow my Escort track car to track days but have had a recent change of circumstances so not sure whether I will be keeping the track car after all.

The car gets driven on the weekends only and I've done a few trips to Manchester and back and I have to say it's really comfortable and eats up the miles.

Modifications are as follows:

* APR Stage 2 remap

* Cruise Control retro-fitted

* ABD Cold Air Intake with cone filter

* Blueflame full stainless steel exhaust system with Blueflame 100-cell CAT

* ABD Racing Turbo Big Bore Inlet pipe

* Forge Motorsport 007 Dump Valve

* Forge Motorsport Quickshift

* Full Powerflex polybush kit including Dogbone engine mount

* Standard 17" alloys powdercoated black

The front tyres are Cooper's which are frankly rubbish and can't handle the power. Will be looking to get some Unicroyal RainSport 2's soon.

A few pics of the car before I picked it up:

Stealthy:

Dirty engine bay:

The car will need a few things soon so will update as and when they are done.

Plans for the future are to pretty much keep it as it is but get it set up on a rolling road as sometimes there's a weird hesitation on lift-off. I'd like to get coilovers but not sure how practical they are given I may be towing the track car.

[HasAki]

So, after spending more than four and a half hours on the train to Edinburgh to pick up the car, I decided to break up the return leg of the journey (I must be getting old!). The plan was to drive to Manchester on the same day, where I would spend the night at my Dad's house and then continue onto London the next day. You know how it is; you've just bought a new car, you're excited, and then something goes wrong! An hour into the return journey I hit a bit of traffic and the car started misfiring. As soon as the road opened up the misfire stopped. I thought the car just hadn't been used in a while so needed a good blast on the motorway. About half an hour after hitting the M74 the misfire started again. I pulled over at the first Services and had a quick look under the bonnet but couldn't see anything obvious. Had a 30 minute break and hit the motorway again and the misfire had stopped. About 30 minutes later it started again and this time felt much worse than previously. I drove the car, carefully, at around 60mph all the way to Manchester at which point it stopped misfiring again!

That evening I did a quick search on Briskoda and noted one of the most common cause of a misfires to be the ignition coil packs.

The next morning I lifted off the engine cover and saw this:

Three different coil types

Split wiring loom sleeve

There was no point in even trying to troubleshoot the faulty coil pack as there were three different types fitted, so a quick trip down to Awesome GTi and I picked up a brand new modified set of coil packs for less than £84.

Before fitting the coil packs I stripped back all the tape on the wiring, that someone had made a feeble attempt to botch (!!), and carefully applied electrical insulating tape as far back as I could. Jobs a good'un! Also noted the rocker cover gasket had a slight leak so cleaned this and will keep monitoring it.

The worst thing I noticed was upon opening the oil cap. The plastic engine cover on the Octavia slants down meaning any dirt and grit gets forced down towards the cap. I opened the cap just to have a peak inside the top of the engine and noted that it was loose even though it was in the fully closed position. Looking inside there was grit and dirt inside the top of the oil cap! I removed the rubber seal and thoroughly cleaned this, the cap itself and the oil filler neck. I couldn't see if any of the dirt or grit had entered the engine but it's a given that it must have at some point due to the build up of gunge on the inside of the cap. Before refitting, I reversed the oil cap seal and it now stays on nice and tight. I flushed out the engine oil and added 300 ml of Bi-Tron to clean and protect from any further damage.

With the new coils fitted, wiring repaired, rocker cover cleaned and oil cap seal sorted

Unbelievebly, the car had been to a very well known VW specialists in Rosyth (did that give it away?!) only 5 weeks before I bought it, to have a full service and lots of other bits done to the tune of over £1600! You'd think that if someone charged that amount of money they would at least clean up after themselves and report any issues to the owner. If I lived close to the garage I'd have taken the car back and given them more than an earful!

Sorry for the rant but seeing grit and dirt inside the oil cap got me really wound up!

[Volvomeg]

Looks a tidy thing and they tow quiet well really and don't return bad fuel economy even with some weight on back,

Get a westfeila detachable towbar for it, bit more expensive but carn't even tell it has one when ball is removed,

On the coilover front don't get cheap coilovers if your towing with it as my joms are a little soft on rear and tend to sag with trailer on

[HasAki]

Changed the gearbox oil last month using Gulf Competition 75w-90 gearbox oil and added 236ml of Bi-Tron. What a difference that made! The gear change is no longer notchy when cold and is much smoother during normal operation. I was a bit worried that not using the original specification gearbox oil might make it worse but it's miles better than it was.

I found this guide really helpful when changing the oil: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/235394-gearbox-oil/. I bought a funnel from B&Q and some hose pipe for around £3 from Argos which made it really easy to fill the gearbox.

About a week or so after I adjusted the gear linkage on the car following this guide:

The gear selection was further improved after doing this although I still find it notchy compared to some of the previous cars I've owned. Nice to know you can easily do little mods like this though.

Edited 10 February, 2013 by HasAki

[Liverpool-Lad]

For increased power cars I would move to perhaps 225/45/17 as you have more rubber on the fronts. I would recommend a top end tyre such as the Eagle F1 Asy 2, the Uniroyals are ok but not amazing by todays standards. Makes me chuckle when people spend all that cash on power and put Wanlis on something equally as bad.

Those coilpacks (old ones) are likely to be ripe for a free Skoda recall if they are genuine ones. Did you bin em?

I have had the reds fitted until I figured out the recall, so put the old ones back in and went to Skoda. Now I have 4 brand new spares.

Edited 10 February, 2013 by Liverpool-Lad

[HasAki]

Looks a tidy thing and they tow quiet well really and don't return bad fuel economy even with some weight on back,

Get a westfeila detachable towbar for it, bit more expensive but carn't even tell it has one when ball is removed,

On the coilover front don't get cheap coilovers if your towing with it as my joms are a little soft on rear and tend to sag with trailer on

Thanks for the info! I've been looking into detatchable towbars but didn't have a clue where to start so thanks for the recommendation.

Do your Joms have damper adjustment on them too? Just been looking online at the JOM NJT Extreme's and they're cheap. Are they the ones you have and would you recommend them?

[HasAki]

For increased power cars I would move to perhaps 225/45/17 as you have more rubber on the fronts. I would recommend a top end tyre such as the Eagle F1 Asy 2, the Uniroyals are ok but not amazing by todays standards. Makes me chuckle when people spend all that cash on power and put Wanlis on something equally as bad.

Those coilpacks (old ones) are likely to be ripe for a free Skoda recall if they are genuine ones. Did you bin em?

I have had the reds fitted until I figured out the recall, so put the old ones back in and went to Skoda. Now I have 4 brand new spares.

Thanks for the info. I am considering moving to the larger size tyres. Will look into the Eagle F1's as you suggested but depends on my budget when it comes to replacing them as I'll most likely do all four at the same time.

I still have the old coilpacks. Is it just a case of putting them back on and popping down to Skoda for them to diagnose and replace?

[HasAki]

Fitted a Kenwood double din stereo (http://www.kenwood-e...vers/DDX4021BT/) and replaced the front door speakers with JBL components (http://uk.jbl.com/jb...l-uk/cs-6c.html).

Absolute pain to get the stereo cage to fit as the surround is too small so spent ages chopping away at it with a dremel and stanley knife. Smoothed it all off with sand paper and was then able to fit the cage and install the stereo. Chopped the 'H' brace away, cable tied all the wiring behind and earthed the parking brake switch so the DVD player works all the time. Here's the end result:

The stereo sits nice and flush with the trim surround, so I'm happy with the end result.

Fitted the door speakers and they sounded worse than the originals! Quick search on here revealed I may need to cut away the foam door insulation from behind the speaker before they sound decent so will do that when the weather is dry again.

[Liverpool-Lad]

Ring them and ask if the car is part of the recall firstly. What are the codes on the ones you took off?

You can occasionally find the right shade of green in hammerite form too for your calipers as noticed the back one is unpainted.

[Jonneh]

Looks good fella, quick question though, are you running no front mount intercooler and a stage 2 map?

[RobClubley]

Some sound deadening in the doors is well worth it, made a huge difference to the bass on mine.

http://www.pimpmyskoda.co.uk/SoundDeadening.htm

[HasAki]

Ring them and ask if the car is part of the recall firstly. What are the codes on the ones you took off?

You can occasionally find the right shade of green in hammerite form too for your calipers as noticed the back one is unpainted.

I'll dig them out and take a look at the part numbers and give Skoda a call too.

I have been looking for some green caliper paint! Is there a name for the Hammerite that is the closest match?

[HasAki]

Looks good fella, quick question though, are you running no front mount intercooler and a stage 2 map?

Errrm yes, I think so. Is that not good?

[HasAki]

Some sound deadening in the doors is well worth it, made a huge difference to the bass on mine.

http://www.pimpmysko...ndDeadening.htm

Thanks Rob. What was the name of the stuff you used and where can I get some?

[RobClubley]

I'll dig them out and take a look at the part numbers and give Skoda a call too.

I have been looking for some green caliper paint! Is there a name for the Hammerite that is the closest match?

Smooth Green is the one you want.

Errrm yes, I think so. Is that not good?

I did that for ages. FMIC did make a difference though once I fitted it.

[RobClubley]

Thanks Rob. What was the name of the stuff you used and where can I get some?

The stuff I used was a cheaper copy of Dynamat. I'm in New Zealand so the place I got mine won't be much use to you

There's loads who sell Dynamat though, that's the best.

[HasAki]

Smooth Green is the one you want.

I did that for ages. FMIC did make a difference though once I fitted it.

The stuff I used was a cheaper copy of Dynamat. I'm in New Zealand so the place I got mine won't be much use to you

There's loads who sell Dynamat though, that's the best.

Excellent! Thanks for all your advice. I understand fitting a FMIC greatly reduces the intake temperatures but that they're also quite expensive. If I ever get one I'll get the car rolling roaded straight after but funds are limited right now.

[RobClubley]

Yeah good ones are expensive

Forge etc.

Mine is a cheap Chinese one. It actually performs pretty well but it was a nightmare getting it to fit.

FMIC fitting saga:

http://www.pimpmyskoda.co.uk/V2Images/ModsEngine/FMIC.htm

[HasAki]

Rob, that is some serious dedication! lol. Don't suppose you have a link to the kit you bought of eBay?

[RobClubley]

This is the same seller, looks like teh same kit.

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item35a45f468f

It has no MAP sensor connection though so would need to be modified.

[HasAki]

Thanks for all the info and the link, Rob. That's really helpful!

Edited 11 February, 2013 by HasAki

[HasAki]

Forgot to add this earlier but I also replaced the front passenger window regulator. Found this post very helpful: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/159031-octavia-window-regulator-cables/#entry1965290

Was really easy even for newbie like me!

Also hacked away the door foam behind the speakers and it sounds so much better. No damp footwells or anything else of the sort (yet) and we've had a lot of rain recently. I duck taped all around the door foam to ensure it's as water tight as possible. Thread on the stereo and speaker fitment: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/261940-double-din-stereo-query/

No further plans for now except to fit a removeable tow bar so it's ready to tow the track car to track days.

[Steven89]

looking good so far have a look in my pictures for some pictures of my front doors being sound deadened IMO dynamat is pants !

[HasAki]

Thanks mate. Just had a look at your pics. What did you use if not Dynamat?

[Steven89]

its called vibramatt its imported from holland by a friend of mine, Im not sure where else you would get it from