Mk1 Octavia VRS Combi 1U5 'FakeTaxi Build'

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

New to Briskoda, not new to car forums. Thought I'd start my build tread to catalog the work I have done so far. Will update as more work is done.

 

 

Bought her from Doncaster in June of 2018. She was listed for £1800 and I managed to haggle my way down to £1600. She had 130k on the clock, 2 owners from new with one of them owning it for at least 10 years and had a full Skoda dealership service history. 

 

She needed a full service and it was very obvious the suspension was shot but that was to be expected as the car was completely stock and unmolested. The auxiliary belt was also chirping so after a few days I went to euro car parts and bought everything I needed for the service, auxiliary belt and tensioner change. I didn't skimp on anything and bought the best I could including NGK iridium plugs, castrol edge 5w30 (I know 10w40 is recommended).

 

Once the service was done and I was happy with the car I started to work out what I was going to do with the suspension and form a plan on what I wanted the car to be. As she's my daily driver I'm rather limited in scope of work and time frames I have in which to get work done. Considering this, I think I've accomplished a fair amount of work. 

 

So my next plan was to replace everything underneath the car and get it up to as new condition and do as many upgrades as possible along the way. It took a few months to assemble to parts and once done I managed to time it with a week off work in which I could get the work done.

 

I started by buying a used front subframe from an 8L Audi S3 and rear beam axle from a Mk1 Octavia VRS hatchback and sending them away to be sand blasted and powder coated in satin black.

 

 

 

 

Next up was to buy new Lemforda parts including wishbones, drop links, bottom ball joints, top mounts, ARB bushes, subframe rear Powerflex bushes, rear stub axles, rear wheel bearings, beam axle Powerflex bushes, rear brake lines to the capliers and other parts I'm forgetting about. 

 

Basically replace EVERYTHING!

 

 

Condition before starting the work.

 

 

 

Hammerited the rear stub axles to prevent rust.

 

 

Cleaned out all wheel arches and applied Waxoil for rust prevention.

 

 

 

 

Took all brake components apart and thoroughly cleaned them using Iron Out cleaner.

 

 

Washing line came in very handy for drying haha.

 

 

Old subframe came out. I decided to keep the same front ARB and upgrade it later (bad idea in hindsight).

 

 

Treated myself to KW Inox Varient 1 Coilovers.



 

Few pictures of them going in the car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was all done in the week off I had and for the most part was trouble free apart from one gigantic pain in the a**. In the process of removing the rear beam axle you have to detach the hard brake lines that run from the front of the car. Now, as they were 130k old and completely rusted solid they snapped. This meant I had to replace them. This involved dropping the fuel tank which when it's half full of fuel is a complete nightmare of a job and one I hope I never have to do again. The hard lines were 4m long and there are 2 of them. This is the box they came in.

 

 

This counter is chest high haha.

 

 

Then once they were fitted the brakes needed a full bleed. This usually simple job caused even more problems as after 2 hours of trying it was worked out the master cylinder was goosed and was to be the next victim of my replacement spree.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 3 July, 2019 by CRAIGYMCKOOL

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

Not the best picture but this is how she sat after the work was finished.

 

 

Next job was to get her sitting on some decent wheels. So I found some 18x8j MK1 Audi TT BBS split RSii alloys on facebook marketplace. Only problem was they were in Bournemouth which is a 4.5hr drive from where I live. So after a very long road trip with a mate for company. I was the proud owner of these babies!

 

 

Split them down.

 

 

Made sure not to lose the surprisingly expensive titanium bolts that hold them together.

 

 

I found out one of the barrels was bent so I sent them away to be sand blasted, vapour blasted and get the bent one straighted by the same company. Got them back looking like this.

 

 

 

Definitely needed some TLC. My plan was to polish the lips and powder coat the barrels and faces. So I got to work sanding and sanding and sanding and sanding.

 

 

 

 

And sanding and sanding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally polishing them.

 

 

 

Once I was happy with the finish I taped them all up and sent them for powder coating.

 

 

And got them back like this.

 

 

The only problem I found doing it this way was that the adhesive in tape had set rock solid when they put them in the oven to cure. This meant to remove the old tape I had to use a sharp wood chisel which damaged the nicely polished surface. So again, I got to sanding and polishing them back to the finish I had got them to before painting. I then retaped all the holes (M8x1mm pitch if anyone is interested).

 

 

Time for mounting the faces. 

 

 

 

 

 

I then ordered some Uniroyal Rainsport 3 tyres from Camskills.com (great website, excellent service and very very good prices) and got them fitted by a friend. Here's how they looked on the car.

 

 

 

 

Next up was sorting out the centre caps. I purposely left these till last as the ones that came with the wheels had long past their usefulness and was missing a few parts. Here's how they looked.

 

 

So I bought some brand new once from TPS. These were NOT cheap!

 

 

I'd chosen to get the wheel powdercoated the same colour as they originally came on the MK1 Audi TT so the replacement centre caps which come pre painted would match. Next up was getting rid of those daft Audi logos. I got some Skoda stickers designed and printed that I could stick over the Audi badge.

 

 

 

 

Here is the image I used to make the sticker if anyone is interested.

 

 

And here is how they turned out when fitted to the car.

 

 

 

Next up was a broken wing mirror which I replaced. Only cost £40 posted complete with original duel magnification mirror in the OE blue tint.

 

 

 

Almost since day one of owning the car the passenger front window stopped working and the central locking was completely erratic and opened some doors but not others. So I got to work fixing that. The main culprit was the drivers side front locking mechanism so I bought a cheapo ebay special unit which only cost £22 delivered. I thought, if it doesn't fix it then I've not lost much and I can save up for a proper OEM part but to my surprise it worked a treat. Then it was onto the passenger side window mech which I bought from GSF for £45 and swapped over the motor. 

 

 

This worked perfectly. So while I was in the doors I thought I'd replace the inner door skins as mine were very tatty.

 

 

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the new skins but I bought some 5mm closed cell foam and cut my own out. Worked very well and managed to stop all the annoying rattles that old VAG doors seem to like developing in their old age. While I was in the doors I thought I'd treat myself to some new door speakers. I settled on a set of Focal woofers and tweeters with crossovers.

 

 

 

 

The tweeter clipped in for the most part but I used some hot glue to make sure they didn't go anywhere.

 

 

Mounted the crossover on the inside of the door skin. Not the best idea but I had no other option as there was no space between the door card but nothing plays fowl and the window works as required. 

 

 

The only issue I ran into was fitting the woofers as the larger magnet hit the metal of the door where the window reg mounts. You can just about see in the above picture where I've used an angle grinder to cut away some of the metal.

 

Next up was replacing that front ARB I left in when replacing the subframe etc etc. I found a 23mm R32 ARB in Wrexham and set off on a mini road trip to pick it up. I then dropped it off at the power coaters for blasting and painting. I got it back like this.

 

 

I also bought some Powerflex 23mm ARB bushes to finish off the upgrade. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade over the original 19mm unit but a complete pain in the a** of a job to do if you're trying to swap them over on a Sunday afternoon and you need the car back on the road Monday morning for work haha! 

 

So that's it so far. Stay tuned for more soon!

Edited 3 July, 2019 by CRAIGYMCKOOL

[JLawson90]

nice work so far!

[Bannon87]

That's a lot of work so far. Very good read and nice upgrades

[shyVRS245]

Enjoyed reading about all your fine efforts so far. Keep those lovely wheels away from those pesky kerbs. Keep up the good work can see your are a perfectionist (OCD tendencies).

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

Thanks everyone. Apologies for the typos, typed it up quickly last night and can't go back and edit the posts. More coming in a few weeks. Got more Powerflex to go on the car and some cast TT wishbones.

[hussair5]

57 minutes ago, CRAIGYMCKOOL said:

Thanks everyone. Apologies for the typos, typed it up quickly last night and can't go back and edit the posts. More coming in a few weeks. Got more Powerflex to go on the car and some cast TT wishbones.

 

love it mate.  you are not  far from Manchester either , be good to do a meet

 

any links to the tweeters please ?

 

 

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

2 hours ago, hussair5 said:

any links to the tweeters please ?

 

 

Here you go pal.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F371006436023

 

Not been a big car meet guy before. Probably should try and get into it

[dubDEAN]

COOL CAR AND GOOD UPGRADES

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

Little upgrade done after work today. My rear boot lid gas struts were shot and barely held the lid up. When you closed the lid it would just come crashing down and I'd hope it didn't smash the window as it did.

 

Here are the old ones.

 

 

 

So it was time to update. I used to own a Mk4 Golf R32 and it had brushed aluminium gas struts from the factory and I always thought they looked the dogs. So with a bit of ebay research I found these beauties.

 

 

Here is the link to the struts on ebay https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F282762078976 they also have there own website which is https://www.strutsdepot.com if anyone is thinking of upgrading. 

 

So with a bit of messing around in the pitch black here is the finished product.

 

 

 

 

They lift the lid almost as soon as you click the boot open and are extremely powerful at 700nm of force in each strut (450nm is the standard rating of the OEM struts). You can reduce the pressure in them if required through a small grub screw at the base of the strut but I've found this isn't something that needs doing.

 

More coming this weekend, stay tuned.

Edited 3 July, 2019 by CRAIGYMCKOOL

[hussair5]

On ‎26‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 18:48, CRAIGYMCKOOL said:

 

Here you go pal.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F371006436023

 

Not been a big car meet guy before. Probably should try and get into it

Thanks a lot

 

 

I am only after tweeters . Do you think the tweeters on the link below are the same as what you have fitted?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Focal-Integration-TWU15-1-5-15w-Rms-Dome-Car-Van-Taxi-Tweeters-Pair/352293021171?epid=4015698685&hash=item52064ce5f3&enc=AQADAAAC8FjVrDbVsZ8oH%2F8PNHtt9VX4%2Fw7FZcmMuqsX8uaFEduVjCudLdHI%2FuzkwASDekLf2zwCSwgrnFrA7NVbILIrmMWU2sasBVYAw%2BfZd7qatSkELvTDMMWpSmWvPDCb%2FxHXIbC6lnH8yXA8XDwdp9NVMjj4lihY2XA%2BzUr7nYT7UAJoCtkn8E6%2B5yEyEzGbWdynd%2BWaNCaRI2AJgJ6FZziMAHYTuaIksxfwlaeVDWUsGSjYwDoDHdxyCpzu59BGdwzkaKXhqo2lVHPfGEgOMw1VyyxKcZOxAG5IcYH%2Fv7mYgJsFLDjy4BTCYEt10Fwcg0VVw7y2WJ3a8x%2FTblml2konwjeJzIDXWoX1MDsnhNkEJvkESrUVuGOo%2B7qIa5pNLCVFC4kJZuaj2HZsYWKQ3g19iu4BHuhOWDIuLdcMoZkMwlHj8nrYi4FtxR8leJaB5%2Fv4kzH6AejtReUq2ik6L230odhLCA2pDlOIaBWY%2B6k8mJskx4J2oLQlEAHxK6Q4TXvUjgCk1zGnjkYxJGjuQ76I6F5SDW4xzq6e07pPRuXdKWu1jlf0ffRAcAQfOdXlX30Jn73BXhKFHqRWQ9el12P1WVP1wmDiJ2MaMNP7GE%2BzMzUT1utY%2BlquJoYusf0f3rh8C2%2BWvh2kd7XJ6dunqAKxPi18JNvskvUWjkaI8o8fXSqea%2FzAUiV9ozDOeiT%2BGwyLWNDuia0cjcbvGzpBW2YWJLzjh5ieFzYjRxHCwb10Y3HCwIoBPSffIK6QUToFZpS5w6AyKoxlJD70Z963H1Uvm%2F3pdrNQWrz75VBaILOMSkvz6yjXAshD7A%2F6pSjjAi3mD3h1o6%2Bz6ZoMbie2HGk1sScnq79mZqAYO9m4D8PXEXjwez36WXn6duijJynFDjff%2F2xRBGBptnaQ%2FztskOvAPnkeFA33EnAWjMfhfEtDK8TBILAdqtYi81s1CIY%2F8s1XieQfj2E23pYAUHXJ%2FvaYOEROq0l2okzGVCWfaMQzSz7z&checksum=3522930211717e38b66b278a403fb2fbb76c1450deef

 

thanks

 

 

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

7 hours ago, hussair5 said:

am only after tweeters . Do you think the tweeters on the link below are the same as what you have fitted?

The tweeters in the kit are these https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F130895812131 you'd have to find a UK seller as the only ones on eBay are from the US.

[hussair5]

48 minutes ago, CRAIGYMCKOOL said:

The tweeters in the kit are these https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F130895812131 you'd have to find a UK seller as the only ones on eBay are from the US.

Thanks mate. The link I have posted above for the tweeters . Would they fit in where the oem tweeters are?

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

On 20/03/2019 at 19:36, hussair5 said:

Thanks mate. The link I have posted above for the tweeters . Would they fit in where the oem tweeters are?

Sorry, I have no idea. I didn't know mine would fit before I bought them. Had to do some light work with a Dremel to make them fit. 

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

Ater having an armrest in my R32, I knew that I couldn't live without one in my VRS. I'd been on the lookout for a decent secondhand one since I bought the car about 9 months ago. I finally found one last week on eBay for £25 posted complete with all nuts and bolts required to do the mod. How could I say no? Here's the armrest.

 

 

It only has a black fabric top to it but thats OK as I'm planning on some reupholstery in the next few weeks/month. It's a very simple mod and only took 30mins. Here are the steps.

 

First up is removing the rear cup holder and cubby hole.

 

 

Next was unscrewing the 2 x T25 screws holding the centre console to the floor and pulling the centre console up and over the handbrake. Not forgetting to unplug the cigarette lighter.

 

 

These are the nuts and bolts that make it all possible.

 

 

The clips go onto the existing holes in the floor like this.

 

 

The bracket fits on like this.

 

 

Screw it down.

 

 

Centre console back on.

 

 

Then screw the armrest onto the post you just installed. Not sure why one half of the plastic surround isn't fitting properly. They are coated in VW's famous soft touch plastic so I will be pulling them off and removing the coating so will get to the bottom of the fit and finish then.

 

 

Here's the finished article.

 

 

 

Edited 3 July, 2019 by CRAIGYMCKOOL

[marfrohun]

What an awesome build. You went all out on that, incredible job! Never thought those TT wheels would look so good on a Skoda. Keep us updated, it's really making me want a Mk1 

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

9 hours ago, marfrohun said:

What an awesome build. You went all out on that, incredible job! Never thought those TT wheels would look so good on a Skoda. Keep us updated, it's really making me want a Mk1 

Plenty more in the pipeline. More this weekend too if the weather holds.

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

Another little mod after work. Got some stamped metal reg plates.

 

 

First, I needed to remove the old ones and see what was underneath. I knew the rear boot was rusting but wasn't sure how badly.

 

 

Not looking good. So with the help of some label remover, engine degreaser and some Farecla G3 Pro Scratch Remover Paste I got it looking like this.

 

 

Still not great. So I painted the exposed rust with Waxoil in the hope it prevents further rusting. The real solution is find a new boot and get it respayed so if anyone knows of someone breaking a Combi please let me know. Time to get the plates on with some double sided foam tape.

 

 

 

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

So my first plan was to get my rear wheel alignment sorted. Ever since I replaced the rear beam axle the toe has been out by half a degree or so. So after a little research I found these adjustable rear shims.

 

 

Very intuitive to use and seemed simple enough. All I had to do was follow the simple guide and install them behind the stub axles or so I thought. Turns out the rear wheel speed sensor gets in the way of them so I needed to cut them to give the sensor space. This just resulted in them cracking into a million pieces and being unusable. So I gave it up as a bad job. I'll get some more and try again another time. I did however discover my passenger rear capliers had seized up and now doesn't bite the rotor. So all was not lost. 

 

On to the next job for the day. I've always liked the convenience indicators in modern cars (press the indicator down once and the indicator flashes 3 times for changing lanes). So I found a mk4 Golf OEM kit for retrofitting it to our cars.

 

 

The instructions are really naff so I found a really good guide from the Humble Mechanic on YouTube which talks you through it step by step. Link is here.

 

 

 

The guide is for a Mk4 Golf but is identical apart from the interior removal part. Here is a few pics of the install.

 

 

 

A VAG de-pinning tool would of made this next part much easier but nothing a little ingenuity and perseverance couldn't sort out.

 

 

 

Wrapped the relay and connectors in foam to stop any potential dash rattles.

 

 

 

 

Then hidden everything back in the dash.

 

 

Job done. Took her for a test drive and the system works rather well 

Edited 3 July, 2019 by CRAIGYMCKOOL

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

After a long drive to Telford after work, I am now the proud owner of some Leon Curpa R Brembo capliers. Couldn't of asked any more of the seller. Really great bloke and even threw in 2 rear 256mm capliers for £10. Next step is the send them all away to BiggRed Ltd for full refurb and painting in Skoda green 

 

Here are the before pics. I'll update once I get them back.

 

 

 

 

Edited 30 April, 2019 by CRAIGYMCKOOL

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

Finally got the capliers back from BiggRed and what an amazing job those guy do. Here's a few pictures of them. Should be fitting them to the car on Monday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 16 April, 2019 by CRAIGYMCKOOL
Left my address in one of the pictures. Now removed.

[mdk1]

Sounds like good progress is being made, but I can't see any pic's.

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

19 hours ago, mdk1 said:

Sounds like good progress is being made, but I can't see any pic's.

How strange. So you can't see any images in the entire post?

 

[mdk1]

3 hours ago, CRAIGYMCKOOL said:

How strange. So you can't see any images in the entire post?

 

•  

Must have been a glitch, now been able to view all pics, fantastic work.

[mac11irl]

A banana combi vrs is a rare thing. 

And this is definitely going to become one of the best examples still in use as a daily

brilliant work sir, those calipers look fantastic!