Hi to all!

This is Jose from Spain. I’m starting the front end swap to my Mk2 Facelift Octy. I’ve been surfing in the forum looking for info, and although there’s a couple posts about the topic, I’d love to get some help from any of you on a pair of problems.

 

I’ve seen that basically I need to swap headlights, wings, bumper and front grille. But my doubst start with the light set up. My Vrs has Day Running Lights, and reversing to pre facelift means losing them. Thats ok with me, but do you guys know if I have to do any modification with VCDS to disable the daylights? Besides, I’m wondering if the new headlights have the same wiring/plug as the pre-FL ones. Is it going to be a straight plug and play swap or the wiring needs a new config?

 

thanks so much in advance for any help and sorry for my english! 

 

Nobody?😅

i think its because noone would want to do it??

 

Actually, it has been done several times previously. This norwegian guy wrote a very popular thread in this forum. The problem is that he doesn´t follow us anymore, so can't ask him:

 

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/229770-the-norwegian-vrs-low-clearance/

right, but he went feom Pre Face Lift to Face Lift - the logical way, so the car looked newer....

 

im also not entirely sure on the legality of doing it, as you would making your car look like a different model to whats on the documentation? 

The part number for the main body shell is the same so most things should fit but both outer wings would have to be replaced as the headlamp profiles are different.

8 hours ago, mac11irl said:

right, but he went feom Pre Face Lift to Face Lift - the logical way, so the car looked newer....

 

im also not entirely sure on the legality of doing it, as you would making your car look like a different model to whats on the documentation? 

There’s no problem with that, at least in Spain. 

6 hours ago, StickyMicky said:

The part number for the main body shell is the same so most things should fit but both outer wings would have to be replaced as the headlamp profiles are different.

Yep! Bumper, front grille, headlights and wings, that’s all I need. But my concern now is the wiring of the headlights since the facelift has day runnig lights.. Thanks anyway!

I presume most, if not all the replacement metalwork - wing, bonnet, grille and lights  should hang off the same location points, or you can fit the correct bracket.  If you don’t want to retrofit the DRLs , can’t you simply isolate/block off the DRL wire and use VCDS to disable the function to prevent any warnings?
 

I don’t know if the wiring loom connectors are different, however if you need to change them, it should be a cheap job for an auto-electrician or easy for you if you have the confidence to do it yourself. I preferred the look of the MkII Pre-FL over the look of the FL.   

 

Good luck and if you complete this job put some photos of the conversion up on this forum Jose, 

2 hours ago, Redboy said:

I presume most, if not all the replacement metalwork - wing, bonnet, grille and lights  should hang off the same location points, or you can fit the correct bracket.  If you don’t want to retrofit the DRLs , can’t you simply isolate/block off the DRL wire and use VCDS to disable the function to prevent any warnings?
 

I don’t know if the wiring loom connectors are different, however if you need to change them, it should be a cheap job for an auto-electrician or easy for you if you have the confidence to do it yourself. I preferred the look of the MkII Pre-FL over the look of the FL.   

 

Good luck and if you complete this job put some photos of the conversion up on this forum Jose, 

Hi redboy!

 

thanks for your answer. That sounds pretty much what I supposed to be done, disable the Drl’s via Vcds. I’ll go that way. And hope that the headlight conector is the same, if it’s not, I’ll take it to an electritian. Will wait anyway for any pal around here can help me so I can reconnect it myself! Sure I’ll post the work in this post 👍

For future references and help, I'm going to update this post and write down which have been the steps I've had to follow. As said before, these are the different parts between both front end configurations:

 

 - Wings

 - Headlights

 - Headlight brackets

 - headlight wiring loom connectors

 - Front grille

 - Bumper

 - Bumper brackets

 - Headlight washers

 

I got all the parts from scrapeyards and sold the replaced ones, so it wasn't much of a money waste. Luckily, the bonnet is the same in both versions. Replacing all the parts above was pretty simple, there are lots of tutorials and DIY online for each of the parts. So I won't be long with this. The real pain in the ass came when I realized that my car (Facelift version) had OEM bi-xenon headlight, meanwhile the pre-FL headlights use Xenon only for low beam. Therefore, I had to reconfigure the wiring loom and even worse, the BCM hex configuration. The wiring was just testing wich cables corresponded to each function (low beam, high beam, turning lights...) and just replace the connectors. Once I had this done, I needed professional help with the BCM configuration. Thanks to the infinite help that @langers2k gave me, we figured out that I had to modify the BCM hex value on the 14th line from "01" to "11". It sounds easy when reading it, but I sweated my life to get this job done in my city (the Official Dealer wouldn´t accept this work since it was against their security policy... blah blah). The only thing that I have still to fix is the xenon beam auto leveling. Anyway, seems that having the beam manually fixed in a safe position, I wont have problems with the Transportation security Inspection.

 

So, I know that many of you just thought it was a silly call to downgrade the front end from the FL to the Pre-FL version. But it has a reason. I've had two previous VAG tdi engines with the injector/pump system (BKD, BRE), and both ended with fatal lubricating faults. So I was looking for a Commor Rail Tdi and the chosen one was the Octy RS. Happens that I find horrendous the facelift front end, while the pre-facelift is very good  looking. Thought it was going to be easier to work out the swap (read some threads online telling so) but it ended being a bit of a nightmare. Anyway, it's all done and I'm very happy. I've done some extra mods like new 18" alloys instead the OEM 17, new Bilstein/eibach B 12 Prokit installed, pre-FL steering wheel, 2 din JVC stereo unit, shortened gear shifter and replaced the knob.. here is the result:

Great conversion and looks better now.

Skoda ruined mk2's and mk3's with the facelift's, beyond me why they did it.

Lights are wrong, grill wrong and don't even get me started on the mirrors......

 

My pfl looks perfect.

 

On 26/02/2021 at 06:20, Patch27 said:

Great conversion and looks better now.

Skoda ruined mk2's and mk3's with the facelift's, beyond me why they did it.

Lights are wrong, grill wrong and don't even get me started on the mirrors......

 

My pfl looks perfect.

 

That car of yours is a wonderful unit indeed! The blue colour is the only thing I miss for mine..

Thanks for you back up, had some pals almost calling me crazy when I explained my conversion😉