superb Sparkly's Racing Barge 1.8tsi 4x4

[Toxicvrs]

Double post?

[chrisw880]

Double post?

 

Dont think so, pictures taken at different angles

[Toxicvrs]

Dont think so, pictures taken at different angles

My bad!

[Danny 57]

Sparkly,

Your "coated" plastic wheel nut covers. Try one of those abrasive plastic scouring pads and some Jiff/Cif you should find it takes that white effect away. It worked for me.

[JakeBlade]

Congrats Mark. Let the fun begin!

Would be interested in how she handles with stock springs and uprated ARBs, but I guess you'll get it all done at the same time?

[Th3Grinch]

Starting to come round to these slowly..

on another note Mark. Heard back from erisin and apparently you cant hook your phone up to use torque. Well their exact words were 'we arent sure and dont want you to waste your money, although it is still a very good unit at a good price. Which it is admittedly.

See you at Combe.

[Sparkly]

Sparkly,

Your "coated" plastic wheel nut covers. Try one of those abrasive plastic scouring pads and some Jiff/Cif you should find it takes that white effect away. It worked for me.

Can't be arsed and also have two sets of brand new spares

[Sparkly]

Starting to come round to these slowly..

on another note Mark. Heard back from erisin and apparently you cant hook your phone up to use torque. Well their exact words were 'we arent sure and dont want you to waste your money, although it is still a very good unit at a good price. Which it is admittedly.

See you at Combe.

Why would you hook your phone up.

You buy an ELM327 OBD with Bluetooth or maybe the wifi one, download torque direct onto the Head Unit to talk to the ELM327 and run Torque direct on the Head Unit. Erisin have a unit with this advertised

Here's a how to Video

[Th3Grinch]

Sorry I meant use the hu as the phone. God knows. Maybe she was a bit 'unknowledgable'. Had talked myself out of it!

[Toxicvrs]

Project Barge has arrived.

In all respects a little more elastic rather than the punchy firm experience of the Fabia. Poor quality tyres are meaning the refinement isn't 100% but still very good. Nankang NS2 fronts and Event on the rear :(

I find the car's extra soft suspension is lacking a bit of damping (shocker) and wallows around on the motorway following undulations meaning I needed to give constant small steering inputs (definitely setup not alignment related). Some VCDS tinkering and H&R Springs/ARB's should sort.

Engine is sweet, definitely not lacking for a stock setup. Stage 1/2 should definitely have entertainment value.

Took some tinkering with the seat position to get comfy, I oddly think the Fabia vRS (mk2) seats are perhaps comfier.

Finding the gearbox is a little notchy and makes a bit of a plastic noise, think this is trim related, will investigate.

Wheel nut covers are goosed, all manly and white, have replacements here ready.

HU is poo but on a positive will read my 500GB Passport Hard drive for an insanely big music library.

Official rear window blinds are here, these will keep the little lad happy and hopefully asleep on journeys, may also fake the look of rear tints until I can get those done (recommendations for good and cheap tints in Yorkshire appreciated)

Oh and I miss my black headlining, beige is grim.

Photos will follow.

Get it dyed then I'm interested on your findings with the HU

[Jabozuma]

I had a look at that "erisin" HU and the spec reads really splendid. Price is very good too. I will wait and see how you are getting on sparkly and if you are happy I think I will treat my vRS to one as well! I love the idea of having engine data feeds displayed on am 7" colour screen!

As for the suspension geometry SWMBO' beemer was driving like it had a life of its own, constant small steering corrections were always necessary - driving was a chore. Took it to independwd BMW specialist and asked for full geometry setup. They do their "magic" and the juggernaut was driving in a straight line again - what a pleasure to drive. Apparently camber was shot and toe was bad. It transpired, after some gruesome interrogation, mu better half whacked a kerb (no mark on alloys remarkably) at speed and it fooked the whole thing up no end.

Problem is you need to find a mechanic who can operate the system properly as contrary to popular belief even Hunter is not idiot proof . Let me know how did it go for you.

[Sparkly]

Got about. 39mpg on the run into work today.

Mk2 Fabia vRS started around the 40mpg mark too, managed to coax that up to 47mpg with some light tuning, be interesting to see if the Barge can be convinced to similar frugality.

Budget tyres are bugging me already, tyre roar on motorway spoiling the experience with no bonus of grippiness as compensation.

[Jabozuma]

That budget rubber might be bringing your MPGs down as well.

[samuir1974]

Car looks really nice..... hope its just the job for your future ventures! 

[Sparkly]

Cheers Steve.

 

Prezzies are beginning to arrive in the post for the Barge

 

 

 

the Mats saw practicality win out over out and out luxury, but I am really impressed with the quality, these are serious pieces of kit and given the unmade road the car will spend a lot of time on, they should wear really nicely.

 

Above packages were an iPhone holder, loads of new charging leads etc, USB extension for the stereo so I can try and do a more stealth install of my passport in the glovebox.

 

Just small bits and pieces for now before the real fun begins.

 

Also found out this morning that this car has two decent size hidden cupboards in the boot over the rear wheel arches, mint!

[BossFox]

Hmmm struggling to get any word out of Shark on the cost to go fully hardware supported K04 setup.

 

Keep badgering them.

 

I called up and left my number twice as I wanted them to do it due to them already doing the only other K04 Yeti in the UK.  Never got a call back.

In the end I gave up and went to Tuning Werks in Croydon (South London) who used the APR kit and it's been spot on.

 

I think you should just buy my Yeti VRS though...

[Sparkly]

Keep badgering them.

 

I called up and left my number twice as I wanted them to do it due to them already doing the only other K04 Yeti in the UK.  Never got a call back.

In the end I gave up and went to Tuning Werks in Croydon (South London) who used the APR kit and it's been spot on.

 

I think you should just buy my Yeti VRS though...

 

Sorry, should have said, I have my quote, after a PM on here they got back to me pretty quick and I can't fault that they have been very helpful.

 

All in at Stage 3 straight up with a K04 is probably more than I can do in one hit especially as there will be spends on the chassis which will take priority.

 

Suitable Downpipe for later conversion to K04 and Stage 2 is more likely, should be able to aim for 225-230bhp with that.

 

Yeti vRS up for sale?  Thanks for waiting to tell me this until after I just bought a new car.

[BossFox]

Sorry, should have said, I have my quote, after a PM on here they got back to me pretty quick and I can't fault that they have been very helpful.

 

All in at Stage 3 straight up with a K04 is probably more than I can do in one hit especially as there will be spends on the chassis which will take priority.

 

Suitable Downpipe for later conversion to K04 and Stage 2 is more likely, should be able to aim for 225-230bhp with that.

 

Yeti vRS up for sale?  Thanks for waiting to tell me this until after I just bought a new car.

 

Glad you are sorted and look forward to progress.

See you at Combe in a few weeks...

[Sparkly]

Glad you are sorted and look forward to progress.

See you at Combe in a few weeks...

 

Should do. :yes:]

 

Chance to kill off these wretched tyres.

[Sparkly]

First play with VCDS tonight.

Key fob folding mirrors on an SE done.
MPH digital readout (Aus mode) done
Auto boot close from fob - fail, further reading exposes the weaknesses in my plan, looks to be only on Combi's with power boot open, although we did find this and activate it in VCDS.
Reverse dipped passenger side mirror - fail but not given up

Tomorrow we want to check XDS settings and change steering assist to be a little weightier


Also took the car for a shakedown drive on my favourite driving route, a heavily modded Fiesta ST (previous model) I know that takes the same route home as me sometimes ended up my chuff and I thought I would try to stretch the cars legs. The big old barge I think surprised him greatly, the Haldex works fantastic and inspired bags of confidence hammering the go pedal out of corners, I was grinning when I found the big lump felt quite tail happy. The 1.8 tsi doesn't feel like it will give much low in the revs, probably down to car weight too, but is very competent and silky smooth however when the rev's climb the torque remains but the car comes "on song" and shifts well. Steering is a bit light but the car actually feels more eager to turn in than I could have hoped.  This wasn't a race, and I had no appetite to make it one, just a spirited drive, besides the Fiesta weighs about half a Superb and had a lot more poke, the simple fact it was fun to push the Ol' Barge hard is encouraging.

Soft suspension sees ridonculous amounts of lean in corners but does make pressing along on choppy surfaces a more pleasant experience and for all the feel it has of the high seas road holding is good.  As only my second Skoda, it seems premature to talk about patterns but I certainly think the Superb shares some of the same weaknesses my Fabia did in that the suspension combines to both make the car less responsive yet also unable to properly soak up bad road surfaces without overly frequent jarring, not a great combo, I think a B12 kit or some Koni FSD's and springs would work an utter treat on this car. 

Overall though, B-Road Blast = Pleasant surprise.

[Slotty]

Told you...

[Sparkly]

I'm beginning to wonder if this car has been mapped previously.

The engine feels like it has much more poke than 160bhp. A little stodgy up to about 2,200-2,400 RPM which is odd as I thought full torque came in earlier, but then really quite surprising pickup after that. Not sure if this is just rose tinted glasses as currently in the honeymoon period with the car

This may require a dyno :yes:

Very much enjoying 4x4 traction and a manual gearbox.

[Sparkly]

Many mini-ebay parcels arriving.

Hoping these will work as downlighters in the interior but if not I have many others on their way.

Bungees to keep things from flying around the boot. Not the prettiest solution and will get some nets and a rubber mat before long.

[Sparkly]

Just spoken to Alex at AKS tuning pricing up a RARB and lowering springs.

[Th3Grinch]

Looking forward to seeing 'the barge' flying round combe. Still need a rarb myself yet.