The whale

emipop2005 · 29 March, 2016

//Long post, many photos

Hello everyone,

I'm Emi, age 23, from Romania (Timisoara city) and in this topic I'll present my car and the changes that I've done to her in almost one year. First of all why Superb? Because, for it's value it offers a lot of options that you find on more expensive and luxurious cars. Why whale? Because that's the nickname my friends gave it when they first saw the car. It all started when I was 19 and my parents gave me their car. A Skoda Superb Classic 1.9 TDI 115 hp from 2008 bought brand new. I was very happy at the time. So I've started with the upgrades for it: Xenon headlights, chipped to 150 hp, changed all the classic lights to led, and many others. I've had a very interesting project in progress but after 1 year, I've had a terrible accident. The car was very damaged and could not be repaired. So it was all over. Here's a pic of it

And here's a pic after the crash

So being a car maniac, it was pretty hard for me to live without one. + there were many situations where I needed a car to go somewhere but didn't had one. Even though I was in college, I've started working and after a year, I've bought my first car. The Skoda Superb Elegance 1.9 TDI AWX 131 HP. Even though it's 5 years older than the first one, it's Elegance and has a lot of options and extras. Now being on this topic, I assume you know about most of them so I'm not going to enumerate them. So it all started 9 months ago. A pic with the car when I bought it.

Car had some issues when I've bought it (driver seat was broke, autolevel not working, headlight washers not working, doors were not seen when opened in BC, 2 speakers were not working, interior lights were not working, interior mirror was broke, wheels were in bad shape, had some errors in BC, ashtrays broken) but managed to solve them a short time after. Main reason why I bought this particular one was because it was and is in very good shape from tehnical pov. After a short time the upgrades began.

The mods in the order that were done.

I love all the small details from a car so I started by replacing all the normal light bulbs with led

Changed the color of instruments from green to white

Changed the Skoda badges with new ones (new logo)

Replaced old mirror with new one (from facelift model)

Keys with new logo

Bought a set of BBS VZ029 on 18" with 225/40.18 tyres

Chipped to 165 hp and 285 pound feet of torque

Bought a Kenwood 4025 BT (adaptor for steering wheels and bt microphone will be fitted this week)

Converted interior from Elegance to Edition 100 by wrapping elements in piano black

I've also wrapped the door pillars in black (hope that's the good word in english)

Windows tint. 25% transparent + headlights polish

And the last mods made today. V-Maxx height adjustable coilovers. With this occasion, I've also changed the control arms with new ones (Lemforder). The coilovers are set to -50 mm. Can go 15 mm more low but I will leave it to -50 so I can get used to them. + the roads here are not the best unfortunately..

So, those are the main mods done by me in almost a year since I have the car. With baby steps I hope that I will finish the project.

Next to come:

- Whole car painted - Thinking of going to a darker grey. Pillars and car ceiling in black. Wheels in cream like on Subaru cars.

- Alcantara on the interior of the seats and maybe interior ceiling.

- Air Ride

- Custom exhaust

- Custom speakers and bass.

- Facelift front grill and mirrors

- 200 hp upgrade (bigger turbo + intercooler)

This thursday, I'm planning to install the microphone and adaptor for steering wheel commands for the Kenwood unit. Also cleaning up the interior of the headlights, upgrade xenon from 4300k to 6000k and solve a problem with my control motor for temperature clap. I'm receiving V68 error on VCDS. Hope it needs just cleaning.

Unfortunately, some of the remaining mods are very expensive if I want them done right so those are going to be done in time. I can't estimate when I will finish with all of them but hope in 1-2 years. Maybe much sooner or later. It depends. Maybe in time, I will cut off some of them from the list.. or add new ones.. who knows I'll keep you up to date with the new upgrades.

Edited 29 March, 2016 by emipop2005

emipop2005 · 31 March, 2016

it seems something went wrong with the website i uploaded the photos.. Ruined the post :(

4x4SuperbTSI · 1 April, 2016

Nice work so far! I would prefer to keep the old badges though. :P

A nice cheap mod to throw in would be the gear knob as the current one looks a bit out of place.

Maybe some new lights too if they weren't already on your list!

emipop2005 · 2 April, 2016

@4x4SuperbTSI thanks!

The leather on the gear knob, steering wheel and handbrake will be replaced soon. Thinking of making the stitches green when replacing the leather. The gear knob is the one that came with the car. I don't think I will change it. Just the leather.

Right now, the headlights are sent for reconditioning. The interior will be cleaned up. Exterior has been polished. Didn't find AM headlights for the Superb 1.

Edited 2 April, 2016 by emipop2005

Rokai · 2 April, 2016

How's the ride with the coilovers compared to the stock setup? Big downgrade in comfort?

MilanM · 3 April, 2016

Can you post a link where you bought key fob new logo?

emipop2005 · 3 April, 2016

How's the ride with the coilovers compared to the stock setup? Big downgrade in comfort?

I lost some of the comfort the car had with the stock coilovers but it isn't that bad. I got used to them pretty quick.

Can you post a link where you bought key fob new logo?

I bought them from a romanian shopping website. They are out of stock at this moment..

It's better than TA-TECHNIX coilovers. Ride quality on adjustable suspension depends very much on what are you buying.

emipop2005 · 19 April, 2016

New upgrades.

- Fitted BC from facelift model.

- Wrapped steering wheel and gear knob in new leather (OEM Audi leather) with green stitch

Edited 19 April, 2016 by emipop2005

MilanM · 20 April, 2016

Well, not sure what to think.

Personaly when I bought my Sup, I didnt like green lights on instrument dash, and I wanted to changed to white.

How time fly, I was more and more in love with it, and now I can imagine to have just that part white, while light on climate is still green.

But it look diecent. Would I install that mod on my car? No.I

Im glad there are people who loves their Superbs and mod them, bcs it is really good car.

At the end I would like to ask you something: How easy/hard on 1-10 is to maintain this black piano foil inside car? Is it easy to scratch?

Tnx for pictures, keep it up to inform us with news, we will follow advance.

emipop2005 · 20 April, 2016

Well, not sure what to think.

Personaly when I bought my Sup, I didnt like green lights on instrument dash, and I wanted to changed to white.

How time fly, I was more and more in love with it, and now I can imagine to have just that part white, while light on climate is still green.

But it look diecent. Would I install that mod on my car? No.I

Im glad there are people who loves their Superbs and mod them, bcs it is really good car.

At the end I would like to ask you something: How easy/hard on 1-10 is to maintain this black piano foil inside car? Is it easy to scratch?

Tnx for pictures, keep it up to inform us with news, we will follow advance.

Thanks mate! In the pictures it doesn' look that great, it's better in reality. Regarding the part with the dashboard, the whole idea with red BC and white tachometer and speedometer came from the Superb 1 facelift. As I mentioned in the first post, my first car (the crashed one) was the Superb 1 facelift, and I loved that dashboard. I found it to expensive to replace the whole dash with one from the facelift model, so instead of replacing it, i've just changed the led lights and the bc. Much cheaper

I would say 6 or 7 for the piano black. That's because of centre console where dust can be seen much easier compared with the wood trim. Still don't regret the choice. I love it how it looks. Regarding the scratches, it's not that easy to scratch.. I have the same foil on the exterior of the car on the door pillars and it looks pretty good after 6 months. And I wash my car, 1 time/week usually. So.. it's pretty resistant.

The next step for the Skoda is upgrading it to over 200 hp (220-230 hp is the target). This means CAT off, custom exhaust, front mount intercooler, 2.7 turbo upgrade and a new soft. I will do them in time. First I will start with the custom exhaust. Thinking of buying this one

Edited 20 April, 2016 by emipop2005

MilanM · 20 April, 2016

In my country and we are relativy close, for that kinds of mod, you could buy another Sup

Cant wait to see finished verson, but be real, project cars doesnt have ending

emipop2005 · 20 April, 2016

In my country and we are relativy close, for that kinds of mod, you could buy another Sup

Cant wait to see finished verson, but be real, project cars doesnt have ending

Same here! My dad keeps telling me that with money that I invest in the whale, I could have bought a newer one. But for me, the manufactured year and mileage are just numbers. If the car looks and drives good, that's all that matters. And you're right, this kind of projects never have an ending!!

Edited 20 April, 2016 by emipop2005

emipop2005 · 11 May, 2016

New mods:

-Rear view camera.

-Magnat 300 RMS subwoofer

-Wooden floor in the trunk

Edited 11 May, 2016 by emipop2005

MilanM · 17 May, 2016

WOW

emipop2005 · 24 June, 2016

Since my last post, I have bought US modules. And stage 2 is in progress. Bought custom FMIC, straight pipe and 2.7 turbo. Tomorrow those will be done and I just need to upgrade the ECu map from Stage 1 to Stage 2. The car will develop 210 hp and 550N/m torque.

MilanM · 26 June, 2016

Is it legal to have US modules? It looks nice tough, what they look like, what you get and is it hard to install them?

emipop2005 · 5 July, 2016

Is it legal to have US modules? It looks nice tough, what they look like, what you get and is it hard to install them?

In our legislation the parking lights can be white or yellow from what I've understood. The US are orange.. But that's not a problem here.. I've never heard no one to have problems with the police due to the US modules.

Since my last post, there have been done some upgrades to the engine. Stage 2 is complete. The changes made are: 2.7 Turbo, Turbo back straight pipe, intercooler upgrade, bigger map sensor, software upgrade to Stage 2. The care develops now 221 hp and 471 NM.

emipop2005 · 29 May, 2017

Let's refresh the topic.

Car still runs on 221 bhp and 477 nm torque. No problems encountered. Since my last post, i've changed many wheels. My current setup is BBS LM 19" 8.5j front and 9.5j rear. ET35.