Hi all as I cannot leave my cars in standard form I thought I would start a build thread so I can document all that I have done to my lovely Octy.

 

Bought in December 2014 a 1 previous owner (Being the Police and Crime Commissioner of Kent Constabulary) Skoda Octavia PD 140 Ambiente in metallic dark blue with lots of holes in it thanks to the boys in blue and their ANPR systems and strobes etc. 

 

 

Got the car for an absolute steal of a price with a full MOT. 

 

Within days I was buying parts and tinkering. First thing i needed to sort was the holey Dashboard and lack of a stereo, so initially due to budget etc i managed to pick up a Dash in good nick for £30 and a stream mp3 with code for similar money and as the gent i bought the stream from was also selling the surround he threw it in no extra cost, 

 

One busy sunday afternoon later.....

 

 

 

Then a number of weeks later i was lucky enough to come across a VRS complete interior with jumbo box for £150, so i jumped in the car and went to collect it when i arrived the gent who owned the breakers yard said he wasnt sure where the jumbo box was so i negotiated the inclusion of the steering wheel and airbag as compensation, then a few days later i received the jumbo box from him at no extra cost as he found it. I was over the moon with the service.

 

(Sadly i didnt take a pic of interior but will add more pics as i go)

 

I also picked up a set of Zeniths 17" with decent tyres for just shy of £200 so i DIY refurbed them in Rover gunmetal from halfords and fitted them.

 

Had a local company tint the rear windows (not overly happy with them as have minor bubbles in places and dust specs so will be redone over time.

 

 

Always loved the look of the VRS so my intention all along was to replicate the styling with my own touches so i purchased the front and rear bumpers and fitted them also (theyre in black)

 

All these bits were done within 3 months of owning the car and in that time the only issue that arose with it was the intake flap motor failing due to carbon build up. Luckily for me i get a few big mechanical jobs that i do from home in my spare time, and one of them happened to be a engine swap on a audi a3. As it was cheaper to get a donor car than an engine and turbo i got a octy estate donor for 850 and used the BKC 1.9tdi engine from that in the a3. i was then left with a working Intake motor so i offered it upto to my car. Initially the fit looked good but as i was bolting it up i noticed the overall shape of it was a little different to my original and this caused it to foul on the egr pipe. Not a major issue out came the grinder and i shaved a corner down until it fit snug, Voila Intake motor fault fixed, egr all cleaned while it was off also.

 

I have also replaced all interior upper plastics with VRS black versions including the headliner and interior lights and added a nice sunglasses holder. 

 

Kept a couple of toys from the donor vehicle too: Cruise control stalk and Factory towbar wiring. These will be fitted in due course.

 

Also picked up a Bolero with broken CD slot for a few quid so fitted that as i only listen to radio and music on sd card so cd is no use to me anyway.

 

Also added Maxidot cluster too with thanks to Eddie-NL from this forum.

 

And added London Colour HID's and coded in correctly with help from MikeHolroyd, another very knowledgeable and helpful member.

 

This is all ive done to date but i have so much more planned for this year......

 

Full respray to be done when i decide on a bodyshop 

 

colour selected is this:

 

This will have a small flake in also to give it a nice shine in the sun.

 

As said earlier i cannot leave my cars alone, my previous car was a b6 audi a4 that i ploughed almost 7k in modifications to get it the way i wanted 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope to share all my up and coming mods with lots of photos, will add some upto date photos of my car in its current state including interior soon..

 

Thanks for reading guys 

Edited 8 July, 201510 yr by Dan Welburn

(Being the Police and Crime Commissioner of Kent Constabulary)

 

Oh God, not an Ann Barnes motor. Hope you checked it thoroughly for crash damage

 

Good stuff so far -  looking forward to this.

Yes mate thoroughly checked barring the holes from their equipment the car was in impeccable condition and runs perfectly definitely well maintained.

 

I'll get a few more photos of as it is when it stops raining. 

 

Dan

Here the "as it stands" pics i promised better late than never haha, i have a really bad memory

 

 

Ignore the stuck on headlight washer covers, I had a very minor front bump in april got drove into at low speed, theyve just come good and inspected the car so im getting a brand new vrs front bumper and headlight mountings, and at the same time the car is going in for its full respray :-)

 

Will add photos of it once I get it back from bodyshop 

 

Dan

Car is now totally transformed went from the car you see above to this in a matter of a couple of weeks, (the last couple of weeks, i just been a bit too busy to update)

 

 

 

 

 

Next steps are to get wheels refurbed, im thinking gloss black will suit the car, maybe getting calipers done, getting a android based headunit fitted with nav, and i plan to modify the headlights and maybe incorporate a unique DRL, (this is still an image in my head atm so bare with me), also in two minds to put facelift tail lights on, also planning on h&r springs and whiteline ARB to improve handling along with ttrs console bushes, then i need to crack on with all the maintenance work, timing belt etc

 

All thoughts opinions welcome positive or negative

Edited 1 March, 201610 yr by Dan Welburn

amazing transformation love the green

Exactly the same mods I made to my '07 Vrs: I can vouch for the H&R springs/ whiteline arb and console bushes: they transformed the car: still comfortable and high enough to be practical for daily driver.

I also bought the Maxton Design front splitter, and am very happy with it, although it means having to be a bit careful on driveway entry/exit angles.

FYI: I also went gloss black for the factory rims on my (yellow) car...

No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy

Edited 3 March, 201610 yr by MickeyB

Out of interest, what sort of figure was the respray and how far did it go, glass out, or mask off, and were the door jams, under the bonnet etc included?

I'm mulling over a respray on a mk1 vrs hatch sufficient to look good but not strip the body back to a bare shell. Like it anyhow!

Out of interest, what sort of figure was the respray and how far did it go, glass out, or mask off, and were the door jams, under the bonnet etc included?

I'm mulling over a respray on a mk1 vrs hatch sufficient to look good but not strip the body back to a bare shell. Like it anyhow!

 

I'd be interested to know this too if you don't mind saying.

Car is now totally transformed went from the car you see above to this in a matter of a couple of weeks, (the last couple of weeks, i just been a bit too busy to update)

 

 

 

 

What a transformation!! It's a funny looking yellow (1st post ) suits it  lot though looks like a completely different car.  Looking forward to the updates on this.

Edited 4 March, 201610 yr by Naths vRS

Great transformation on the car! Love the colour, is it pretty much the same Rallye Green Metallic as found on the MK2 FL and MK3 VRS?

Yeah the yellow was just a bit too out there so i stuck with a safe but stand out skoda colour which i think was the best choice in the end