Niceyellow vrs' nice red VRS

[skinnyman]

38 minutes ago, niceyellow vrs said:

Now when people walk past my house they can tut and utter harsh words about the smug **** that lives there.

 

I can relate to that.  Our Ignis has a private plate which was on the car when we bought it.  People must think we have ideas above our station as putting a plate valued at £700 on a 16 year old Suzuki must seem a tad ott.

It's good to see you still have the Octavia and that you're sporting a set of big lamps on the front.  Do they make much difference?

[niceyellow vrs]

6 minutes ago, skinnyman said:

It's good to see you still have the Octavia and that you're sporting a set of big lamps on the front.  Do they make much difference?

 

They make a huge difference. I've had spot lights on most of my cars over the years but with how pants he standard lights are on the Octavia, they were a necessity. Literally didn't feel safe driving the car at night without them.

[AnnoyingPentium]

1 hour ago, niceyellow vrs said:

Now when people walk past my house they can tut and utter harsh words about the smug **** that lives there.

 

Be as smug as you like, you've got an Octy vRS and they don't.

[niceyellow vrs]

Took the Octavia to Snetterton for a track day. Had a great time and considering it's only the second time I've taken it on a track, I was really quite pleased with how it performed. I've recently removed the lowering springs, as I wasn't really liking the ride they gave out on the road, and put the standard springs back on. I've still got the Koni shocks on it and that combinations provides a much more comfortable and stable ride. Out on track it was so balanced and predictable and it never once tried to step out of line. Along with sticky track rubber, it was pretty great to drive.

 

I had a slight issue early on as it was getting a bit warm and when the engine temperature crept up to the next line past 90 on the gauge, it would limit the boost until the temp dropped down again. Easy fix was to take the spot lights and front grille off to help get a bit more air flowing through the rad.

 

 

It helped substantially and made the situation a bit easier to manage. As long as I kept smooth and tidy, it wasn't really too much of a problem for the rest of the day.

 

Early on, despite being quite experienced at Snetterton, I've always been in a much lower powered car before so I had to re-learn the circuit taking into account that I was arriving at corners about 30mph quicker than I've been used to. Soon got the hang of it though and by the afternoon I was lapping consistently quick and tidily.

 

Early Video:

 

 

 

Later video:

 

 

Thouroughly enjoyed the day and apart from the small temperature issue early on, the car didn't need anything than fuel all day. I also have it on very good authority that it spits flames when giving it the beans

 I did manage to crack the brake discs by the end of the day though, good job there's some spares in the garage.

 

 

It's due an MOT next month but before that happens it's also due a service including cam belt and water pump. It obviously needs some brake discs and it'll probably benefit from a brake fluid change too. Tempted to put a fresh raditor on it too as the original is now 18 years old and is starting to show up a bit of inefficiency.

 

So, plenty on the list to be getting on with.

[KenONeill]

12 hours ago, niceyellow vrs said:

Later video

You got a Sub and a Like out of this. No comments because YouTube won't let me leave comments though 😞 . One question; Why is there no "Skoda lane" marking on the Revitt Straight?

[andy68]

https://www.direnza.co.uk/audi-a3-tt-8n-225-vw-golf-mk4-seat-leon-skoda-octavia-16-18-19-tdi--aluminium-radiator

 

This will help with cooling, it's what I had on mine.

[niceyellow vrs]

Looks like I need to park it up for a bit. Gearbox has started to make really displeasing noises, typically right after I'd filled it with over £100 worth of liquid gold. Considering it's just a pure toy for me, as I have a company supplied van for work and my Volvo for most other car related duties, it just doesn't make sense for me at the moment to keep it on the road. A substantial impending vet's bill for both my cats, upcoming wedding, general living expenses and I'd quite like to be able to put the heating on for a couple of days this winter means fixing the Skoda isn't even coming close to the list of priorities at the moment. I've sucked the fuel back out and put it in the Volvo and the Skoda will be going on SORN, probably until sometime next year I reckon.

 

As much as I love the car, gotta think with my head at the mo so replacing the gearbox and running a 2nd car can definitely wait. Let's call it enforced hibernation.

 

Edited 25 June, 2022 by niceyellow vrs

[skinnyman]

That's a shame.  Hopefully you'll get it back on the road before too long and start to enjoy it again.  I know from my own cars they don't like to be sat for extended periods of time as they somehow develop additional issues whilst not even moving!

[niceyellow vrs]

Well, a suitable replacement gearbox came up for sale fairly locally a little while ago, so I actually got the car back on the road at the end of November last year.

 

 

 



 

 

 

Whilst it was all apart, on went a new rad and I did the cam belt and water pump. All went back together and was running fine. Haven't really used it much since as I've been too busy with work and my side hustle of breaking mk1 Audi TTs for spares.

 

 

 

It's also still had a really horrible knocking/banging from the front suspension that I've never gotten to the bottom of. I decided this weekend that I'd take off the Audi TT cast lower arms and hubs and swap in some standard items as the hubs are the only thing that hasn't been changed in pursuit of the annoying noise. No idea why, as everything was tight with no unwanted movement, but this has finally solved the problem.

 

Juat as well, because it was quite honestly spoiling the car to the point of if this last ditch attempt didn't work, i was giving very serious consideration to stripping it and moving on to something else.

 

 

 

Done 150 miles in it since the swap and no more bad noises so it can stay on the standard stuff.

 

 

 

Just got to wait til spring now so the better weather can allow a bit of a spruce up as it's looking a bit neglected. Might even get a few interior upgrades for it that I've thought about for a while.