Mk1 Octavia VRS Combi 1U5 'FakeTaxi Build'

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

11 hours ago, mac11irl said:

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!

Thanks pal! Got a lot of stuff planned for Monday. New capliers,braided lines, disks, pads, full service, timing belt, water pump etc etc so stay tuned.

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

Spent yesterday detailing. Here's the finished product.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mac11irl]

Tidy

 

[skinnyman]

Amazing work and love what you're doing. Keep this thread updated as it's a great read.

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

So after test fitting the front capliers on Monday it was found the wheels wouldn't clear them. I ordered some 5mm H&R hub centric spaces for the front and took the opportunity to get some 15mm spacers for the rear. I took the car down to a friends garage so he could lend a hand and also use one of their ramps. 

 

I went for EBC disks and greenstuff pads and HEL braided lines. 

 

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any pictures of the process of installing them but I took plenty of them installed. So here you go. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 3 July, 2019 by CRAIGYMCKOOL

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

Update coming soon.

[dubDEAN]

Waiting 😎👍🏻

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

So over the last few months I've been busy as usual. 

 

First up was to get my polished lips back up to scratch. The winter had taken it's toll and they were no longer shiny and polished. Plus after installing the Brembros they looked really faded against the nice fresh capliers. So off they came and with the help of a rotary buffing wheel and some Autosol metal polish they came up looking like new. 

 

Before

 

After

 

 

 

 

Next up was a handling upgrade. I bought some Cupra R cast wishbones and sent them for sandblasting and powder coating. I also bought the correct bottom ball joints to fit the wishbones and topped it all off with some Powerflex bushes. I had ordered purple series but was sent black series instead. I'm not one to complain so I threw them in anyway.

 

 

Look at how the old wishbones had already started to rust and lose paint. They were only replaced a year ago and are genuine Lemforda. 

 

 

 

 

 

I also used this chance to throw in my Powerflex top mounts which had been sat waiting to go on the car for easily 6 months.

 

 

I have also purchased a set Cupra R front hubs to compliment the cast wishbones. These have been sent for blasting and powder coating. These will be fitted in the next month or so once I've bought new bearings etc etc.

 

 

The next thing on my list was to start to sound deaden the car. I'm not sure if this is just a MK4 platform thing or something to do with it being an estate but road and wind noise drives me insane. It probably has a lot to do with the suspension set up I have but that still doesn't mean I'm willing to put up with it.

 

I purchased a few rolls of butyl rubber sound deadening and set to work stripping the cars interior out. Link to the sound deadening here https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F292828474522

 

 

 

Now time to start laying the sound proofing. I have done this before on a friends project car so I'm no stranger to the process but with only myself installing it. It became a huge undertaking especially if you're as OCD as I am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is how far 2 rolls got me which is about 7msq. Now with the boot completely covered I could start to refit the boots interior trim. Part of this process was to also install a rear strut brace as I could feel and hear the cars chassis flexing when parking on curbs or driving over uneven surfaces. I enlisted the help of my dad who's a welding fabricator to measure up and build one for me. 

 

 

 

Time to install.

 

 

Decided to go with nutserts to fasten the brace to the car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to fasten the frame in. Just for nerd points I opted for M8 304 stainless steel bolts to hold it in. I'm not a fan of the shiny brass nickel plated type you buy from your usual DIY shop. 

 

 

 

 

Now with everything bolted up I could move on to finishing the sound proofing in the front of the car.

 

 

Once that was finished (4 days worth of work) it was time for the interior to go back in. I took this opportunity to buy a black carpet from a 5dr MK4 Golf. I don't know what possessed VW/Skoda to put light grey carpets in the VRS. Mine was so nasty looking and was mostly brown from all the trodden in dirt. I also pressure washed the new carpet and it came out looking incredible!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure the pictures do it any justice but black carpets are 100% the way the car should have left the factory. It's makes the interior feel more like a cockpit. 

 

As for the sound deadening, what a difference it's made. Motorway cruising is no longer an endless drone of tyre noise. The other thing the deadening does is reduce vibrations in cabin. So when the car hits a cats eye on the motorway or a small imperfection in the road it now doesn't feel like the car is crashing into it and instead feels like a dull thud. It's easier experienced than explained. 

Edited 3 July, 2019 by CRAIGYMCKOOL

[mac11irl]

Black carpet replacement has been a very popular "mod" over the years.

 

The banana is lookin fantastic

 

[hussair5]

On ‎25‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 22:04, CRAIGYMCKOOL said:

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 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 was very obvious the suspension was shot but was that was to be expected as the car was completely stock and unmolested. The auxiliary belt was also chirping. 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 where 130k old and completely rusted solid they snapped. This meant I have to replace them. This involves dropping the fuel take which when it is half full of fuel is a complete nightmare of a job which 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 the next victim of my replacement spree.

 

 

 

 

 

 audi subframe and Octavia mk1 vrs exactly the same or different?

 

 

[CRAIGYMCKOOL]

On 02/07/2019 at 10:53, hussair5 said:

audi subframe and Octavia mk1 vrs exactly the same or different?

The Audi S3 8L shares the same subframe with the VRS along with the R32 and LCR. I'm not sure on other Mk4 cars though. www.oemepc.com will allow you to check part numbers against other cars.

[Max M4X WW]

Loved reading through this, good to see another Mk1 Estate.

 

I just posted a topic on ours, but it is more a kind of 'keep it alive' thread rather than a project (at the moment anyway).

[krissyneillie1]

never on here much but that was a good read, the detail you have put in is brilliant, always fancied one of these but something more modern won in the end 

[Jarno]

Nice wheels!

[NZ100]

Great post. Man, you must really enjoy doing all this stuff, or, carn't you help yourself. 😆

[dubDEAN]

love the sound proofing , glad its not just me 

[Max M4X WW]

Just stumbled on this, I think for the first time. The car looks great and If I could get ours even halfway to where yours is I would be pleased!

 

I am frantically browsing to see how much the KW V1 suspension is, but realistically we will probably stay stock - still I'm struggling to even find that at the moment (of a decent brand).

[Scott_Turbo]

Them calipers look lovely. What sort of price would biggred charge to refurb them to that specification?

 

Thanks

[nutters_uclan]

From one banana vRS owner to another, I salute you! 

 

This was a terrific read and inspiring.

 

Thanks for sharing all your work.

[EnterName]

Love this thread! What a great job you've done on this car. It looks fantastic and everything is done properly, combining form and function. Outstanding!

[Evil]

Superb (sic) work... gotta love a banana coloured car.. any updates? 

[Dean]

Someone else owns it now, a guy called Jamie, just trying to find it... (edit: Found ) (Edit 2 - He's already sold it to someone else now) -  Craig started to break it, and sold a fair bit of it. I took his Miltek Sportcat downpipe.

Edited 2 August, 2021 by DeanVRS20VT