Another Octavia VRS Mk1

[Skoda_Saint]

 

I managed to pick this up from CuthbertBear on Saturday, it was great to meet you James and your car is a credit to your ownership. I completed almost 300 miles that day running around and it ran spotlessly, effortless and so unbelievably quiet compared to my Fabia. 

My current plan is to use it as a daily and improve upon what has already been accomplished already. No seriously significant performance mods are planned just to make the car as driver capable as possible within a small budget.

Should be a lot of fun and will try to update things as I go along.

 

So as she stands now:

 

1. ·         engine (168K miles all driven by me, previous owner, bar the delivery!), Bailey dump-valve to protect turbo, high-pass permanent air-filter, Stage 1 custom remap from Jabbasport giving 232.9 bhp and 321.2Nm torque (see graphs attached)

    

2. ·         gearbox (standard 5-speed),

    

3. ·         clutch (vr6 single-plate replacement),

    

4. ·         suspension (poly-bushed front),

    

5. ·         shock absorbers – replaced recently all round

    

6. ·         brakes: standard fit with heavy-duty pads

    

7. ·         exhaust: milltek S/S front to back

    

8. ·         Battery: Yuasa heavy-duty replacement is <1 year old
9. ·         Current MOT expires 17-Jan-2018

10. Cruise Control, Electric Tilt/Slide Sunroof and Parking Sensors are Factory Fit Originals

 

 

MOT Cert.tiff

 

 

Edited 10 August, 2018 by Skoda_Saint

[CuthbertBear]

Hey - you could have used a later photo with the interior cleaned out as delivered to you! I'm quite embarrassed. ;-) It did sound really good as you pulled away up the hill - the little hiss from the dump valve is something I'll never forget. Glad you're enjoying it.

Edited 15 August, 2017 by CuthbertBear
misspelling!

[Skoda_Saint]

1 hour ago, CuthbertBear said:

Hey - you could have used a later photo with the interior cleaned out as delivered to you! I'm quite embarrassed. ;-) It did sound really good as you pulled away up the hill - the little hiss from the dump valve is something I'll never forget. Glad you're enjoying it.

Wait till you see the next lot of photos and other little tweaks that I'm planning.  

[CuthbertBear]

So, SkodaSaint, how are you getting on? Will you be at Cosford over the weekend? I'm planning to be there for the first time, just to see what's going on. 

[Skoda_Saint]

Hi Cuthbert, hope you're doing good? A few parts have been bought... I'll be de-locking the drivers door soon and fitting the lower S3 brace too. The upper brace will be painted at same time as the door lock cover so all proceeding to plan on that.

 

This weekend I'm away so I'm not at the national meet unfortunately, but next time you see it the car will slightly changed. I'm considering taking off the side trims, most likely next weekend now, and fitting some of the other parts I've built up. 

 

I need to get the bose sub connected up after that and see what can be done for reasonable cost to the sound system. 

 

I'm also looking at the suspension as I think the front springs may be the standard Octavia ones and not VRS type as it seems to rub on speed bumps, when coming down. But once I get it up on the ramps I'll know a little bit more, a friend checked and it's all fitted together ok but the front appears to be a little higher than the rear. 

 

Still keeping an eye out for door cards and maybe a golf leather electric heated seats possibly.... we shall see. 

[Skoda_Saint]

Oh and not forgetting the weekend plan of stripping the interior out, fitting the black carpet and giving the seats a good wash in the interim. If the golf leathers don't turn up soon anyway. 

[CuthbertBear]

Interesting point on the front springs - you might be right on that. They were replaced recently when the suspension was re-bushed. The other possibility is that they haven't settled as much as the rears that are 25 years old! It's always 'rubbed' on speed bumps from new - the front end is very low and has embarrassed me on many an occasion. Hope you're still enjoying it as much.

[Skoda_Saint]

Oh yes still drives very smoothly and quiet! The springs should've settled within about a week or so of driving, but see what happens when I try to fit the FARB and lower brace. 

[CuthbertBear]

Did I give you the instructions for the Pioneer head unit? Or have you found it online? There's provision for a 'sub' already as you've probably found out. Oh - and it plays DVDs: I never quite found out how to stop it playing them whilst going forward . . .

[Skoda_Saint]

Nope but yes I've found it online so no worries their. Didn't know it played DVDs, I said I'd found the manual not read it . 

 

She ran rough this morning keep fluctuating on the rev counter and almost stalled with throttle unresponsive. So that'll give me something to look at this weekend, possibly a leak from one of the boost hoses, MAF or CTS is possible (given a short read up on potential issues). But I want to have a tidy up of unnecessary pipes under the bonnet so all good practice. 

[petrolbloke]

Looks tidy for a 15 year old/166k mile car! Not far behind me on the mileage - I'm on 173k now.

 

Looking at the pic I'd say the front is sitting too high. Sachs front springs are about £50 each from CP4L or ECP. Tracking will need adjusting after replacing springs (but you probably already know that).

 

I notice the tailgate is missing the plastic trim on the inside - I think I have a spare that you can have for free if you like?

[Skoda_Saint]

Cheers Tom, doubt I'll catch you as I still only use it a few times a week at present as I've been so busy with work vehicles but that'll most likely change at some point.

 

Well it's either that or pay the extra for the slightly lowered springs H&R most likely and try them out with the standard dampers. Not ideal as they favour uprated dampers however as this is going to be me trying not to spend a fortune on a car, again, I want to try do it as economical as possible. 

 

That would be good I do have one but think it could be missing some of the plastic inserts that make it fit easily. I need to play with it a bit to see if I can get it to fit and if not I'll let you know. 

[Skoda_Saint]

Small update as a few things have been purchased or reutilised for this project as I had a few bits spare.

 

Purchased H&R springs to bring the front back down and even it out all around with fresh springs, still on standard shocks which should suffice for now.

LCR top mounts and bearings fitted at same time as was rear bump stops.

R32 FARB to be fitted and Neuspeed 28mm RARB, wind deflectors and rear beam mounts to go on.

 

Replaced:

Timing belt

Tensioner Roller

Tensioner assembly

Idler roller (comes on the tensioner assembly)

Water pump with metal impeller

Accessory drive belt

Thermostat

Thermostat Housing

Motor mount bolts (7)

Camshaft seal

Crankshaft seal

 

SAI appears to be leaking so it's a good job I've got a SAI blank to fit as well.

 

New photos to follow soon.

[Dark_Hero]

Looks like a tidy car there Steve

[Skoda_Saint]

47 minutes ago, Dark_Hero said:

Looks like a tidy car there Steve

Cheers mate she is, credit to the first owner. Really been looked after.

[CuthbertBear]

Glad you're still having fun, Steve. I do miss that car. But things have to move on. I'm just pleased it's getting the attention it deserves because there was nothing fundamentally wrong that hadn't been looked at over 15 years. Post some more pictures when you can. Did you remove the trims? I'd be interested to see what that looks like: I always considered the trims broke up the slightly slab-sided look of the car and rebalanced the proportions of the glass to bodywork. If you're planning an exotic paint job that wouldn't be so relevant!

[Skoda_Saint]

2 hours ago, CuthbertBear said:

Glad you're still having fun, Steve. I do miss that car. But things have to move on. I'm just pleased it's getting the attention it deserves because there was nothing fundamentally wrong that hadn't been looked at over 15 years. Post some more pictures when you can. Did you remove the trims? I'd be interested to see what that looks like: I always considered the trims broke up the slightly slab-sided look of the car and rebalanced the proportions of the glass to bodywork. If you're planning an exotic paint job that wouldn't be so relevant!

TBH I've not got around to the trims as I've been undecided on them. I do like the idea of door protection from those that do decide to open up car doors errantly from time to time. I'll give it a clean at the weekend and post lots of pictures for you to see.

[Skoda_Saint]

One or two photos, not particularly clean yet... but coming along.

 

 

[Skoda_Saint]

Small winter update on this car. Looks like the front shocks need replacing so I'll be doing front and rears at some point to ensure that the entire system is then refreshed and it's one less thing to do later on. Currently sitting around as I'm over in Denmark at present but once I get a bit more settled, and the Danish authorities allow it, I'll be getting them sorted and driving her across.

 

Have to look at the central locking on P/S as they work when they want to... so a door card off jobbie then. I may try and do the puddle lights at the same time, front and back, as it'll be off and easier to do in theory.

 

And still have to run all the deletes, SAI, N249 and N119, from memory, so just getting some bits and pieces gathered to do those. 

 

Oh and may look at bigger TIP and a new diverter valve, probably GFB, at some point as well. Then once completed a trip to R-Tech to refresh the mapping of it, cure any other issues not found possibly and then a fun trip back. That's the plan anyway, how it goes is another matter entirely. 

[CuthbertBear]

Wow! Good to hear from you with this update. Sounds like you've got some fun plans for the New Year too. The car's looking good and, by the sounds of things, will be going 'good-er' soon. Happy Christmas!

[Skoda_Saint]

Cheers James same to you! Hope you enjoying your new car?

[Skoda_Saint]

Figured it was about time to update this. New MOT back in Feb, B4 shocks fitted with HR 20mm springs looking good and Neuspeed RARB all on. 

 

And now black carpet fitted to get rid of the old white, not so, carpet. 

[Skoda_Saint]

Another little update rear console bushes fitted, thanks Danny, which were a slight improvement on the old ones. 

 

And a photo to show Danny's and my Octavia. 

[Skoda_Saint]

A few more photos from Saturday, Octavia fwiends LOL. 

 

Edited 10 July, 2018 by Skoda_Saint

[Skoda_Saint]

Small update, sort of LOL. So I wanted my deletes done and as I don't have the experience, knowledge or all the tools to do so I decided to use Bowders (Mark) from the forums. Definitely a worthwhile trip to do so if you're like me and we found, fixed some, problems with the car that I didn't know about. 

Some photos, LOL, to follow....