Thanks haha, none of my cars stay standard. Even though I don’t own the Citigo anymore I’m still planing mods for it! The Merc has had a lot done, since that photo was taken it’s gained 2017 centre caps and badges and a facelift grill... I can’t stop!!

8 hours ago, SashaGrace said:

Hopefully I have everything I need now. I did ask for everything from the donor car. For £90 it can’t be bad. It’ll cost a bit more now to get the damaged clip in side trims but I’ll keep the eyes peeled

 

90£!? That's almost what I paid only for my boot floor.

That's a steal... You guys are so lucky with the prices you get there for breakers...

Yep, got to admit I was thinking it would be more, but £90 it was  Pending rain I will be attempting to make some progress on this today.

16 hours ago, SashaGrace said:

Thanks haha, none of my cars stay standard. Even though I don’t own the Citigo anymore I’m still planing mods for it! The Merc has had a lot done, since that photo was taken it’s gained 2017 centre caps and badges and a facelift grill... I can’t stop!!

Got some up to date pictures of the Merc? Updated grill ect?

Only close ups of the changes 

 

 

 

I will be back soon with variable boot floor news

Well then. Let’s get around to business. I started the morning like this

 

 

After emptying the boot, it was time to see what I was working with

 

 

To begin with, I removed the boot carpet and the spare wheel and tools

 

 

Then came the fun bit. I started by removing the 2 fixing points followed by the 2 Torx screws that hold the bag hooks in and the Torx behind the parcel shelf. Afterward, remove the cable from the backrest release. Once that’s done it’s time to unclip the plastic trim panel that covers the load lip, then get out of the car and unclip the ISOFIX guides from the seat base and pull the seat base up and remove it from the car. After that, remove the panel that covers the rear seat back mounts and remove the rear seat backs, being careful not to pull too hard as the boot backrest release cable is still attached. Then comes the slightly scary bit; you need to move the side airbag to access the seatbelt mount to fully remove the rear panel. Once you’ve undone the 10mm nut, pull the airbag panel up and move it out of the way. Then you have access to the seatbelt mount which is an M10 spline bolt. Undo that, remove the belt mount and feed it through the rear panel. After 90 mins of working all that out, and only 1 broken nail, I had a free rear side panel!

 

 

 

The other side was much simpler as I’d already done the first. Something like 20-30 mins later and I had the other side off

 

 

Once that was done, I decided to slot the side panels in and have a test and here it is!

 

 

 

 

And in the down position 

 

 

All this took some re engineering of the components supplied. It took me some time but I fully understand how it works now. The support bar that keeps the floor in place was supplied bent, so that had to be straightened and then I worked out that the tabs that hold the bar in place and keep the bar fixed so nothing fails were broken on both sides. What I will do tomorrow is use chemical metal to remake the the mounts. I have to as this is classed as a non user serviceable part and to buy new side pieces and a new support bar would be over £250 from TPS.

 

Just to prove it works however...

 

 

Apologies for the poor video quality, but I wanted to prove it was doable! Tomorrow I will get the car back together and vacuumed (and the new floor wet vac’d) and finish sorting that support bar. I do feel I am going to win with this retrofit though. That’s Sasha 1; Skoda 0

Edited 5 January, 20188 yr by SashaGrace

Nice work 

What am I missing here? At what point does anyone decide they need a smaller boot?

Having no load lip is the bit that matters,  I can slide the buggy in then, without dropping it over the lip. If ever I want a bigger boot, I can lower the floor, and when I do I’ll have a floor that’s a decent thickness, not the cheap thin one the car comes with as standard. Also makes life easier with other everyday things and brings the floor height level with the rear seats when folded down. Also means there’s somewhere to store the parcel shelf and my work hi-vis, tools, bits and bobs that I don’t want to have rolling round the boot.

 

Also Skoda said it couldn’t be done, so I had to prove them wrong!

15 minutes ago, the_r_sole said:

What am I missing here? At what point does anyone decide they need a smaller boot?

 

They don’t, they decide to have a better boot.

27 minutes ago, SashaGrace said:

Having no load lip is the bit that matters,  I can slide the buggy in then, without dropping it over the lip. If ever I want a bigger boot, I can lower the floor, and when I do I’ll have a floor that’s a decent thickness, not the cheap thin one the car comes with as standard. Also makes life easier with other everyday things and brings the floor height level with the rear seats when folded down. Also means there’s somewhere to store the parcel shelf and my work hi-vis, tools, bits and bobs that I don’t want to have rolling round the boot.

 

Also Skoda said it couldn’t be done, so I had to prove them wrong!

 

Fair enough then! 

New plates have arrived! Just waiting for the plate holders, then I can finally junk those nasty Lex Autolease plates!

 

 

I’ll be back later with more variable boot floor news and hopefully a car that’s all back together

1 hour ago, SashaGrace said:

I’ll be back later with more variable boot floor news

 

There are quite a few of us with the VBF factory fitted. If you need photographs or something measuring I'm sure we could sort that out.

18 hours ago, Swirly182 said:

Nice work 

 

+1 

 

Gaz

Thanks for the offer, but I am delighted to say it won’t be necessary for I have finished the job!

 

I started the morning by going to TPS to pick up the missing fixings and replacements for the damaged carpets.

 

 

Then, as the good old Haynes manual used to say, refitting is the reverse of the removal. There were no nasty surprises refitting the new trim in place and after remaking the bracket for the support bar it was time to put all the old trim back, put the new carpet trims in, stand back and admire

 

 

 

 

I am very happy with this, it feels much more sturdy and high quality compared to the original floor as well as looking a lot more finished. Total costs:-

 

Floor, side carpets, support bar and runners from breakers. £90

 

4x T45 plastic fixings from TPS. £4.80

 

2x carpet clip in trims from TPS. £38

 

Total £132.80, £17.20 less than it would have been on the options list new

 

Once I had finished that, it was time to get the plate holders out and get the plates on

 

 

 

 

 

Now it just needs a good detail and it’ll be good for a while. I also want to do the bonnet strut mod shortly as I’m already sick of the prop. I would normally service it myself, but as it’s so new it can go to Skoda and they can do it, engine and DSG later in the month. I’m back in work Monday so I won’t have chance to give it a clean in a while. Never mind, it will have to stay dirty!

 

Looking good, is the central rear red reflector just dirty or has water got behind it?

 

One of the first mods for me would have been the upper rear bumper protector, its quite a big step on the MkIII, ours is used by the kids to sit on (putting wellies on etc.) and is a nice support when loading and unloading heavy items from the boot.

 

Unfortunately it is easily marked and scuffed etc. Lots to choose from on Superskoda...

 

http://www.superskoda.com/Skoda/OCTAVIA-III/Rear-bumper-panels/

 

I reckon the gloss black one would go well with the black pack on your car...

 

 

Thanks. Yeah, water has got behind the trim in places so it needs to be removed and cleaned properly when I get chance. Bumper protection is also on the list, probably that Super Skoda one in black  

Great effort on the Variable Boot Floor! Looks exactly as if it was factory fitted 

 

Have you got the bonnet struts already? 

Thanks  I couldn’t have lived with it if it didn’t look right. No I haven’t got the struts yet, need to slow the spending down on it this month haha!

Nice plates, always liked the pressed ones but always worry about giving the police a reason to pull me over!

Have run pressed or gel resin plates for years now, never been pulled and I live in North Wales which has the highest amount of fines for number plate infringements outside of London! The Merc has pressed plates too but some numpty has reversed into it and taken some paint off the front plate, so will either have to repair or replace :( They have the correct font, are BSAU marked and have the makers postcode on them and they are legally spaced and reflective so they are good enough for me

I used to have an old Vw caddy (in bright orange!) But the guys on the forums with those were getting pulled all the time so I decided against the idea! 

Tempted tho, where did they come from?

eBay  https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F252591496771

 

It says 8 sticky pads, but I got 12! Haven’t used any thanks to the plate surrounds which I have never used before and I am a convert! I used a surround on the back of the Merc so I could use a non drilled plate but it is borderless and I had to stick the plate to it, these hold the plates in and they look great IMO.

18 hours ago, the_r_sole said:

I used to have an old Vw caddy (in bright orange!) But the guys on the forums with those were getting pulled all the time so I decided against the idea! 

Tempted tho, where did they come from?

 

 

Never had any issues with my pressed plates in the UK and abroad. Had pressed plates for 8 years on various cars.

My OBDEleven has arrived today so I’m hoping to nip over to my Dad’s later to steal an Android device to start using it. Excited!

 

 

I think the waste bin courtesy of @the_r_sole has also arrived but it came yesterday and I wasn’t in so I’ll leave in a few mins and get it from the post office. Cheers buddy