Ben's yellow mk1 VRS

[Ben99Felicia]

I used the autoglym magma yesterday

The car was absolutely covered it big iron particles like someone has been grinding metal next to it so I ended up using the entire bottle just to get the bonnet done, this is probably due to me not using it effectively and wasting it but I did follow the instructions on the bottle. I started off giving the entire car a spray with it, that was probably a third of a bottle. I left that for 5 minutes then jet washed it off, it did remove loads a stuff but not all of it. I decided to concentrate on the bonnet which was the worst panel. After a lot of hard work and picking at it with my nails (I really didn't want to do that) I've managed to get it looking clean at last

It's hard to get the camera to focus but trust me it's clean and ready to polish.

I finished by washing the car and spray waxing it as I didn't have time to do anymore. It don't look too bad though does it?

I've just popped a new air filter in today too.

 

I'm going to get a big bottle of autosmart red 7 to get the rest of the iron off the car it works out to be half the price of magma and the way I went through it I need loads more to finish the car

[skinnyman]

I do like a yellow Mk1 vRS.  When properly clean they look amazing and yours definitely falls into that category.

[Ben99Felicia]

3 hours ago, skinnyman said:

I do like a yellow Mk1 vRS.  When properly clean they look amazing and yours definitely falls into that category.

Thanks 👍

[Ben99Felicia]

I had some parts arrive, new coils from awesome GTi and vacuum hose for the brake servo from eBay.

 

The brake servo vacuum hose is 1/2 inch so slightly too big so I wrapped electrical tape around the fittings

a couple of layers had the pipe fitting nice and tight. I put a cable tie onto the bracket for the old pipe the stop it rubbing on anything. This isn't the ideal fix and I'll probably change it when I do all the deletes but for now its not leaking from a split hose so it's good enough.

 

 

got some new standard plugs to go with the new coils. I had to make a new spark plug insertion tool because I've lost the old one I had, a length of hose pipe is what you need.

got the new coils in cover back on.

 

I've been on a drive hoping there might be some improvement but the car still gets to 3000rpm and seems to reduce the boost. If anyone can shed some light on what the cause may be I'd appreciate it.

 

I've noticed that when I come off the throttle suddenly it makes a whoosh sound like a dump valve, not sure if a standard car should do that. Maybe it shouldn't and there's a problem with the recirculating value. Maybe I have an issue with the boost control valve...

Edited 4 May, 2022 by Ben99Felicia

[Ben99Felicia]

An update about the boost issue, I've done data logging with visual me7 logger and I have found that the car is over boosting between where the boost starts coming in and 3000rpm then it falls back and follows the requested boost. More diagnosis is needed but that can wait.

 

I've got some other things sorted, picked up a decent driver's seat from a breaker and cleaned it up

the car looks loads better just changing the seat.

Picked up a door seal too

I could really do with getting the paint here sorted.

 

I've been thinking for a while that there was a lot of slop at the engine so I've rebuilt the dog bone with poly Bush's, it's loads better now.

That's it for now, the boost issue is next, I'm thinking it might be a boost/vacuum leak so I'm tempted to do all the deletes. I'm thinking of getting/making a boost leak tester as well though so maybe I'll do that first and see what's going on

[Ben99Felicia]

So I've been quiet for a while but I have been doing some work on the car so here's a catch up.

 

After changing the one bush on the dog bone the engine didn't move as much but I still wasn't happy with it. I've now changed all the mounts and used all the powerflex bushes and it's much better than it was. I bought a genuine engine mount, a febi gearbox mount and all the new bolts

 

The hardest part is getting the purple bush in and out of the dog bone. I used an old gen 2 mini wheel hub as an anvil to knock out the old one and some threaded bar with big washers to push the new one in.

 

I did all of that a couple of weekends ago. This weekend I've been busy with the old laptop, I had an engine warning light come on last week 

 

I don't have vcds yet but this ancient code reader pointed me in the right direction. It hadn't occurred to me that it was quieter than normal on a cold start but the pump had stopped working. So I put my big boy pants on and flashed the ECU for the first time with a map that I'd deleted the sai from. All seems to be well so far...

 

Something else I discovered which is obvious but I wasn't sure about until now is that my car came with some kind of stage 1 map on it. Up until now I'd done a few data logs, I just presumed I'd got something wrong as the boost was showing more than standard and the afr didn't seem right, it turns out I was logging it correctly though. I confirmed it looking at a standard map I downloaded to the one on the car and you can see the difference in load request and lambda request.

 

As this post has reach the 50mb of pictures I'll make a new post showing what I've learnt about mapping later but as it stands Ive put my car onto a standard map with sai delete, I want to learn how to remap it myself and the best place to start is with a stock map. I've also got a blanking plate to remove the sai hardware but I haven't touched that yet

Edited 24 July, 2022 by Ben99Felicia

[skinnyman]

I'm impressed with the engine mount swap.  What sort of cost was it for the parts and how long did it take to do?

[Ben99Felicia]

Well I paid £50 for the engine mount, £62 for the gearbox mount, £105 for all the poly bushes including the one I changed last time on the dog bone and £52 for all the bolts so £269 all together. Expense when you add it all up but cheaper than buying the aftermarket mounts like the 034 from awesome which works out to about £450.

 

It took me slightly longer than it should because I forgot to mention I stripped the thread on the engine mount bracket and had to go get another from the breakers

It took forever to get this part out and the replacement back in, anyone that has done a cambelt will know what I'm talking about. I've learnt a lesson about taking more care with bolts lining up properly. It's easily 3 hours work if nothing goes wrong.   I need to take a look at the other bushes and the drop links now because there's a clonk when I go from left to right to left like going around an island for example, I did already change the antiroll bar bushes for rubber ones but I'll probably change them again for powerflex.

 

Oh and I fitted a new fuel filter too

Edited 24 July, 2022 by Ben99Felicia

[Ben99Felicia]

It has been a while since my last update, I've done a few jobs since.

 

The front anti roll bar bushes had gone bad again so I've changed them for powerflex ones

 

I did a pretty big job a couple of weeks ago, I noticed one of the injector seal or its cup was leaking and also found a split in one of the breather hoses so Ive replaced them all with new gaskets for the inlet manifold and throttle body.   I've simplified the hoses a bit and got rid of the sai because it stopped working a while back. I also replaced the fuel hoses as they had some cracks all over them. I've left the n249 valve on for now. I didn't take many photos whilst doing it mainly because I forgot and got carried away with working it all out.

 

The best thing I've had done is new tyres and wheel refurb. Like an idiot I forgot the before photos and the new centre caps haven't arrived yet but you get the idea.

I went for 225/45/17 Goodyear eagle f1 asymmetric 6, got them from Halfords as they where the cheapest at £72 each. I had the wheels power coated the standard colour. I'll get some better pictures for the next time to, they aren't even clean in this picture but never mind they still look a lot better than when they had curb rash on every wheel.

 

I'm still chasing a problem which I'm hoping a new front lambda sensor will sort out because I've had this fault code a couple of times recently, with the car hesitating and bucking at low speed.   

[Ben99Felicia]

It has been a while hasn't it...hello again.

 

Where I left off with an o2 sensor fault, I bought a new Bosch sensor and that was sorted.

 

I've done a few bits and pieces over the last few months

New rocker cover gasket with cam chain tensioner gasket

Bit of a pain to change the tensioner gasket to be honest

 

New knock sensors because I thought the knock I saw from my logs was just bad sensors, it wasn't bad sensors.

 

new uprated fuel pump, didn't really need it but it's done now so...

 

Today I went to badger5 and the got got a stage 1 remap

 

I had been doing some mapping on it myself but other than successfully deleting the sai myself I wasn't happy with the amount of knock and overboost I was getting even on the standard map.

 

I chose badger5 because I'd heard good things and they didn't disappoint, Bill remapped the car and it runs spot on now making a healthy 211bhp and 259ftlb.

 

He advised me to upgrade the intercooler next as it will help with the air intake temps.

 

I'll be looking at intercoolers, suspension and brakes next. I'll also try harder to keep this blog up to date 😂

 

Edited 5 April, 2023 by Ben99Felicia

[skinnyman]

15 hours ago, Ben99Felicia said:

 

new uprated fuel pump, didn't really need it but it's done now so...

 

I chose badger5 because I'd heard good things and they didn't disappoint, Bill remapped the car and it runs spot on now making a healthy 211bhp and 259ftlb.

 

 

Which fuel pump did you go for?  I currently don't have an issue but it's a job I've been meaning to do as a preventative measure.

 

Also, those figures look good for a Stage 1 map.  Having seen claims of 220/230 bhp from a Stage 1, it's refreshing to see a realistic set of numbers.  I bet the car drives very differently now.

Edited 6 April, 2023 by skinnyman

[Ben99Felicia]

I bought the APS 265lph from jjc race and rally on ebay. I paid £63.14 at the time which is a bargain, the price has gone up to £88.15 now. Demon Tweeks sell it for £84.50, for some reason the website say its not compactible with my car though, there are 2 versions one for 2wd and 4wd cars.

 

My car is standard apart from a cat back exhaust so it was only ever going to make around 210bhp, he told me a front mount intercooler, sports cat and some bigger injectors (injector duty cycle was getting pretty high) should get me to around 240bhp.

 

I've been looking at the airtec front mount designed to fit the mk4 golf, I wonder if anyone has one fitted to an octavia https://www.airtecmotorsport.com/product/airtec-front-mount-intercooler-for-vw-golf-1-8t/

[dubDEAN]

On 06/04/2023 at 11:54, Ben99Felicia said:

I bought the APS 265lph from jjc race and rally on ebay. I paid £63.14 at the time which is a bargain, the price has gone up to £88.15 now. Demon Tweeks sell it for £84.50, for some reason the website say its not compactible with my car though, there are 2 versions one for 2wd and 4wd cars.

 

My car is standard apart from a cat back exhaust so it was only ever going to make around 210bhp, he told me a front mount intercooler, sports cat and some bigger injectors (injector duty cycle was getting pretty high) should get me to around 240bhp.

 

I've been looking at the airtec front mount designed to fit the mk4 golf, I wonder if anyone has one fitted to an octavia https://www.airtecmotorsport.com/product/airtec-front-mount-intercooler-for-vw-golf-1-8t/

i have the airtec kit and other than getting some mounts welded to the top of the cooler and making some small brackets it was a pleasure to fit and keeps the bay tidy rather than pipes over the engine, i have also had the forge front mount which is easy to fit with no mods really needed if you can find a good mk1 vrs second hand kit 

Edited 12 April, 2023 by dubDEAN

[Ben99Felicia]

1 hour ago, dubDEAN said:

i have the airtec kit and other than getting some mounts welded to the top of the cooler and making some small brackets it was a pleasure to fit and keeps the bay tidy rather than pipes over the engine, i have also had the forge front mount which is easy to fit with no mods really needed if you can find a good mk1 vrs second hand kit 

That's good to know because I've ordered one already.

 

The other one I was tempted by is similar to the forge dual pass from Gravity performance, it looks good for the money at £250.

 

The airtec is probably overkill for stage 1 but it shouldn't ever need upgrading. The way it fits so neatly had me sold more than anything.

 

I'm looking at suspension upgrades now if anyone has any recommendations.

 

I've been looking at koni and bilstein, I don't think I want coilovers but might be persuaded.

Edited 12 April, 2023 by Ben99Felicia

[skinnyman]

On 12/04/2023 at 10:12, Ben99Felicia said:

I'm looking at suspension upgrades now if anyone has any recommendations.

 

I've been looking at koni and bilstein, I don't think I want coilovers but might be persuaded.

 

If it's any use, mine's on Bilsteins with -20mm lowering springs.  I'ts used as a daily and I find the setup to be spot on. I've had cars with coilovers before and for me, they're just a bit too hardcore for daily use.  

Also, if it was any lower I'd have issues with the rear wheels rubbing as it's taken me ages to find a balance between wheel width, spacers and ride height.  If you're sticking with the original wheels and spacing then it probably wouldn't be too much of an issue but I did my usual thing of faffing around to get the stance I was happy with.

[Ben99Felicia]

That sounds ideal, which bilsteins are they and what make of spring? The bilsteins are looking expensive but I guess you get what you pay for. Koni look a bit cheaper but I want to be happy with what I buy and I'm not sure if the koni str.t kit will be any good as it's quite cheap compared to bilstein kit

 

I'd be happy with something sporty but not hard or crashy, I've got a mini cooper s r56 with the factory option sports suspension and it's ok but I'd prefer a bit more give. It came with runs flats and was terrible over any sort of damaged tarmac but I can go over stuff without cringing to much now I've got rid of the run flats.

[dubDEAN]

i had koni srt with h and r springs and powerflex top mounts which was nice , now on kw v1 coilovers (not much difference in price)

[Ben99Felicia]

22 minutes ago, dubDEAN said:

i had koni srt with h and r springs and powerflex top mounts which was nice , now on kw v1 coilovers (not much difference in price)

I can find the koni str.t for about £500 and the KW v1 seem to be about £1000. In between there's the koni sport for about £800 and bilstein b8 for about £900.

 

I guess if I buy spring and damper kits I would need too mount bushes and bearings for about £100, I think the KW come complete but not sure.

 

I don't know what to do, I'm not sure how to decide 

[Ben99Felicia]

Airtec intercooler install

 

The intercooler is installed and the results are really good. I'll start by showing the before and after data logs because aside from the kit looking smart it really is all about the performance after all.

 

This is the air intake temperature with the original side mount intercooler. Starting at 18°C it steadily rises to 49°C by the end of the pull, an increase of 31°C.

 

This is the log from today with the new front mount. I'm suprised that the intake temp actual went down from 17.2°C by 1.5°C to15.8°C from the start of the pull and didn't show any rise until after 5000rpm where it reach a maximum of 18.8°C a total rise of only 1.6°C

 

The result in these lower temperatures are also evident in the timing logs. This graph shows the timing pull on each cylinder during the high intake temperatures, the ECU is pulling 3° from the base timing because it is detecting knock, this is reducing the power that the engine makes.

 

With the new intercooler the ECU isn't detecting any knock 🙂

 

 

Here are some pictures I took during fitting the kit. I had to trim the crash bar for the intercooler brackets and the plastic cowling at the bottom

The pipe work on the cold side was very easy to fit

I has to trim the corner of the air vent on each side of the bumper to clear the intercooler bracket

I shaved part of the turbo intake pipe to clear the new turbo outlet pipe

 

[Ben99Felicia]

I had to trim the new turbo outlet pipe by 40mm each end, duct tape happens to be the correct width

I cut down the original dump valve hose and managed to get it back on the dump valve and new intercooler pipe by swearing at it and using boiling water to heat it up

On the hot side I had to flip both of the horns by taking them off their brackets and remounting them upside down

 

Finally I had it all put together, this section took the longest to work out, its very tight in there now and I'll reroot some of it at a later date to make it easier to work on

 

Pretty sucessfull weekend, of course of knocked all of my knuckles off but thats a small price to pay

[dubDEAN]

On 15/04/2023 at 10:26, Ben99Felicia said:

I can find the koni str.t for about £500 and the KW v1 seem to be about £1000. In between there's the koni sport for about £800 and bilstein b8 for about £900.

 

I guess if I buy spring and damper kits I would need too mount bushes and bearings for about £100, I think the KW come complete but not sure.

 

I don't know what to do, I'm not sure how to decide 

have a word with Awesome as they do both and get promotions on KW from time to time

[dubDEAN]

On 16/04/2023 at 20:33, Ben99Felicia said:

I had to trim the new turbo outlet pipe by 40mm each end, duct tape happens to be the correct width

I cut down the original dump valve hose and managed to get it back on the dump valve and new intercooler pipe by swearing at it and using boiling water to heat it up

On the hot side I had to flip both of the horns by taking them off their brackets and remounting them upside down

 

Finally I had it all put together, this section took the longest to work out, its very tight in there now and I'll reroot some of it at a later date to make it easier to work on

Pretty sucessfull weekend, of course of knocked all of my knuckles off but thats a small price to pay

i have the same kit and its awesome (especially how the pipe work runs over gearbox  rather than the engine and i too went black on black) , very impressed with it , i have some spare mods if needed left over from my recent turbo swap too and an abundance of spares should anything be require  😛 

[ogpuprison]

Awesome work. I have the same model, black one-I'm in the Midlands so I may well see you about before long!!

No way can I afford the work you've been doing, nor do I have the skills ...although I've done a bit. Great thread as it gives loads of hints and ways of getting around problems

[Ben99Felicia]

14 minutes ago, ogpuprison said:

Awesome work. I have the same model, black one-I'm in the Midlands so I may well see you about before long!!

No way can I afford the work you've been doing, nor do I have the skills ...although I've done a bit. Great thread as it gives loads of hints and ways of getting around problems

Cheers mate, I'm glad it might be some use to you. There's always something to fix on these so you'll be practicing those skills before long. I need to sort a few new and reoccurring problems now but it's finding the time

[Ben99Felicia]

Car season is here again yay

 

Got some bilstein b6 shocks fitted today

 

The old shocks don't feel like they were doing much, I've not quite finished fitting the new ones yet so I have test driven it but I bet it's a big difference 

Edited 16 March by Ben99Felicia