Luke's 3.5 vRS

[vrs'burks]

So here goes. . .never done a build thread for any of my cars, and although nothing spectacular. I thought I should do one for my Octy.

 

Although I've had the car over 2 years now so most of this initially will be a retrospective build thread.

 

Got the car on 2nd July 2021 from Simpsons skoda Colne.

 

23k on the clock, meteor grey dsg 245

 

Absolutely loved the colour and held out to get one this colour after debating with myself if I wanted an older pre-gpf model, I decided it shouldn't matter as the main reason for getting this was the arrival of my son looming . . . I needed a dad car, but couldn't have a boring slow one 😁.

 

The joy didn't last long, on the drive home from Colne, 70ish miles for me the car threw up an EML on woodhead pass, called the dealer and they advised to get it pulled over somewhere safe and call skoda assist 🙄

 

Nothing was done at the roadside and I had to return the car to my local skoda dealer the day after.

 

Car had and intake flap fault which turned out to be due to a vacuum line had come off, possibly in the pre sale servicing.

 

Fastforward a few days and I had the car back again. . And could finally make it mine.

[vrs'burks]

Sooooo. . 

 

As with most people one of the first things I wanted to do was get it CLEAN.

 

I've nothing against dealer prep,but it doesn't come close to what I consider clean.

 

First up. . .Engine bay

the engine bay was completely untouched by the dealer, I was told after some damage had been done in the past by cleaning the bays they now don't do them at all (someone clearly got clumsy with the jetwash)

All the nooks and crannies were filled with sand, so either the previous owner lived by the coast or was a builder 😅

 

Anyway - onto the paint

 

 

[vrs'burks]

I tackled the engine bay and exterior in a single day, which just so happened to be the hottest day of the year at the time.

 

Car was fully safe washed, fallout remover applied,tar and glue remover applied followed by clay bar.

 

Out came the masking tape, and polishing could begin.

 

 

 

 

 

From what I remember it was a good 8hrs+ on the exterior that day.

 

With polishing done, it was time to get the wax down, shuffling the car around the drive to find shade and not bake the wax on 😬

 

Finished result was pretty good for "primer" grey.

[vrs'burks]

Interior -

 

The following weekend the interior had to get the same attention as the exterior.

 

Car was fully vac'd out, every plastic surface thoroughly cleaned to get any old residues off and leather cleaned.

 

The steering wheel was quite grubby

 

 

All the fabric and carpets were given a good clean then sealed with carbon collective fabric sealant.

 

Dash finished off with a nice matte dressing (coz who likes a shiny dash) and finally the glass was all given a good deep clean.

 

If you haven't already guessed it, yes I'm quite keen on Detailing 🙃

[vrs'burks]

"Dad mods"

 

Next up was some rather mundane but nice additions in the form of new interior mats with grey piping.

 

And a full set of Oem mud flaps (listed as will not fit vRS- but they fit fine)

 

 

[vrs'burks]

So we're into August by now and rear diffuser just didn't scream vRS at all, infact the standard design is just crap. . So on went a Rieger tuning part in gloss black, second hand from a member on here.

 

Before

 

After

 

Around the same time I also gathered the parts to do the bonnet lifters from the thread on here.

 

These should have been a factory item on these cars in my opinion.

 

[vrs'burks]

From August- December the car remained pretty much the same other than the addition of a Chameleon windscreen tint in a nice subtle blue/purple.

 

 

Not too in your face like some of the Chameleon tints I've seen, it's actually really hard to get a photo of its that subtle.

[vrs'burks]

January came along and I had Christmas gift money burning a hole in my pocket so I placed a few orders.

 

St spacers. 15mm around.

 

Ecs tuning uprated front top mounts.

 

Febi-bilstein bearings.

 

And H&R lowering springs.

 

all lined up for "the car im not modifying"

[Dean]

Love this, and love the subtle mods!

[vrs'burks]

Jan 2022.

 

So with all the parts gathered up it was time to get them on the car.

 

 

With the 245 having the wider rear track from factory once the spacers were on and I got the wheels bolted back up I had a moment where I thought "this was a bad idea" because I was convinced it was going to scrub when loaded up, and been my "dad" car was still supposed to be practical. . . Anyway it was FLUSH but never caused any issues, even with 150kg of sand in the boot. 😁

 

then off for alignment on a local firms clampless alignment rig, very cool bit of kit.

 

 

And the end result. . 😍. . Again how I think they should look from the factory.

 

[vrs'burks]

April 2022.

 

Another few months went by with the car looking better, until I inevitably start looking at more parts.

 

Genuine vw golf gti clubsport rear anti roll bar was sourced brand new from darkside developments and fitted to the car along with new rear drop links.

 

 

Since ownership the car had just been on the tyres it came on, Michelin primacy 3 I believe. . Which were starting to get past their best.

Around this time Michelin pilot sport 5 had just come out, so popped to my local tyre place to get a price. . And they already had them in stock. . .AND was included on a Michelin summer offer (buy 4 and get £50 back from michelin) so it worked out at not much more than £100 a corner. Brilliant tyres.

 

Coming out of the backside of winter the car had to be brought back upto summer standards and given a thorough clean (ocd clean by most people's standards)

 

[vrs'burks]

July 2022.

 

A rather cheap and nice little upgrade was fitted in the form of a matching foot rest.

 

much better than the standard rubber wedge stuck in the corner.

 

during this time i also picked up all the parts for a pikey r600 intake mod (intake vent delete,panel filter and turbo intake pipe)

Once fitted up I didn't like the way the racingline silicone pipe fitted to the standard plastic turbo elbow.

 

So an uprated vagsport turbo elbow was purchased, the racingline intake pipe now fit much better. But sat really high in the engine bay which I didn't like. . .I never got any pics of it fitted and it's days were numbered.

 

[vrs'burks]

Sept 2022.

 

So as above I didn't like how the racingline turbo intake pipe fitted, so the search for a different intake setup was on, the obvious choice on the tsi is the racingline r600, but this uses the same intake pipe as the one I didn't like 🫣

 

Mst options were looked at and priced better than the r600 but still not cheap by any means.

 

I was almost going to go for a ramair jet stream, when someone I follow on Instagram had just swapped there's for an Integrated engineering intake.

 

Never heard of them, so on the net to do some research, American company who didn't seem to have much retail in the UK.

 

But I tracked a uk supplier down, and less than 10 miles from home and with the intake I was after on discount - winner.

 

 

not as pretty as the racingline r600? But i liked the raw style of way its engineered.

 

Unlike the r600 it also came with the coolant under hose included! And 2 top elbows to suit aftermarket or oem turbo elbows, a optional carbon lid can also be added to this - maybe one day.

 

September also came with some frivolous ebay bidding, and I ended up winning these.

 

 

Rota pro r in 19x8.5 et45 satin bronze.

 

After looking into the prices for 19inch tyres and debating with myself if I want to possibly make the car ride worse (carting round a 10month baby by now) and knowing these would be closer to the arches than my current set up. . They were sold onto my neighbour for his sons Seat Leon cupra. 😎

 

 

 

 

Edited 26 September, 2023 by vrs'burks

[vrs'burks]

Dec 2022.

 

Something that was always going to be happening with this car was. . .Mapping of course.

 

So during the black Friday sales I bit the bullet and booked it in at Awesome Gti for a Racingline oem+ ecu and tcu map.

 

I decided on going Oem+ long before booking it as these seemed to be the only company having GPF specific maps marketed, and knowing the head software guy is Ben from Shark performance.

 

 

So Racinglines official figures for the gpf cars was 296bhp.

 

With the intake and few other bits I'd done to the car I was praying it would break the 300bhp barrier.

 

 

Car rolled 244bhp and 279 ft-lbs in "standard" form - so just bolting on an intake clearly makes no gains.

 

After mapping, 310bhp and 354 ft-lbs, along with the gearbox mapping. . .well yeah it's pretty bloody quick. . Makes my previous mapped Mazda3 Mps feel not as quick as I thought it was.

 

Awesome were great, I was late for my slot due to horrendous traffic and the car was still strapped to the rollers having the finishing touches done 30mins after they officially closed 👍

 

Literally 2 days after mapping it was time for a 300mile jolly upto Dundee for Christmas, sitting at speed limits where possible and with the car loaded up with 2 adults, a baby and all the gear for 4 days away plus Christmas presents the car returned 47mpg average over the journey.

 

Who needs a diesel. 😬

 

 

[vrs'burks]

Dec 2022 through to April 2023 the car remained mostly the same, just kept clean and maintained.

 

After having the mapping done obviously the car wants to try and break traction more than it did from factory.

 

 

So I ordered the Racingline performance twin dog bone inserts to see if it would help (breaking traction wasn't that bad that I had to order this,I'm just a sucker for nice looking car parts - although once fitted it's never to be seen by anyone really) 

 

definitely makes a difference, but can be a bit annoying in stop start traffic with it being dsg when the clutch fights the brakes . . It transferes more vibrations into the cabin than standard.

 

Edited 27 September, 2023 by vrs'burks

[vrs'burks]

April 2023 turned into an expencive month. . 

 

 

Protrack ONE wheels. 😍

18 x 8j et45 in gloss silver.

Paired with 

Michelin pilot sport 5 (Again)

 

These save just over 3kg per corner vs the oem Geminis 🙌

 

Got them coated with Carbon collective platinum wheels (Amazing wheel sealant- used it on 4/5 sets now)

 

I went with silver wheels, because they have become one of the least used wheel colours in recent times, I don't like black wheels (they just make your tyres look grey unless you constantly dress them) and i wanted to go with a touring car kinda vibe with the car. . . .Anyway.

 

 

On the car. . 🤌

Initially I was scared staying 18s and going multi-spoke would make them look too small for the car, but they didn't Imo.

 

 

Edited 27 September, 2023 by vrs'burks

[vrs'burks]

June 2023.

 

Following on from changing the wheels and wanting a touring car type of "vibe". . I got the idea in my head about doing the headlights yellow. . 

 

So ordered some film but though I'd try it on the fogs first. . 

 

 

..

 

 

ive done vinyl before but never done any wet application,which this called for. . Anyway with the fogs done i decided against doing the full headlights - it's quite a faf and I don't think I'd get the full lights to be neat enough for my liking.

[vrs'burks]

Aug/Sept 2023.

 

Driving home one evening I go to give the car a full dose of right foot in 2nd and it made some horrible juddering and a lot of turbo recirc noise aswell as throwing up the EPC light, so I limped the car home and looked on here.

 

From what I found I though it could be a sticky turbo actuator, but got it into the garage the next day, doing this also threw on EML.

 

Turned out to be a coil pack had gone down, coincidentally Racingline performance released there "uprated" units the next day.

 

 

So I got some ordered along with a full set of NGK plugs as the plugs hadn't been done while in my possession.

 

I went on a bit of a spending spree at the same time and ordered some Leyo motorsport paddle extentions.

 

 

very expencive for what they are, but i couldnt bring myself to have some 3m sticky pad extentions on the car, and these look the part aswell as being really well engineered.

[Dooge]

That is looking great! Many good mods and stuff that makes a difference. Dogbone mount is definitely on my mod list and loving those paddle extensions. I've been looking at HG Motorsport ones but not sure if they are too big.

 

Any issues with the Febi/Bilstein topmount bearings? I've got an annoying clicking lock to lock since fitting them, but they were part of alot of other bits fitted at the same time.

[vrs'burks]

On 29/10/2023 at 21:30, Dooge said:

That is looking great! Many good mods and stuff that makes a difference. Dogbone mount is definitely on my mod list and loving those paddle extensions. I've been looking at HG Motorsport ones but not sure if they are too big.

 

Any issues with the Febi/Bilstein topmount bearings? I've got an annoying clicking lock to lock since fitting them, but they were part of alot of other bits fitted at the same time.

I've got the exact same thing lock to lock. . . And it only appeared after they went in. . Its annoying but only does it during slow maneuvering so haven't done anything about it yet 🫣

[CookieMonster87]

@vrs'burks great project thread. Some nice subtle mods.

 

I also have the Leyo paddle shifters, completely agree with your comments, pricey but top quality and feel.

 

How did you find the Reiger diffuser to fit? Any issues long term? I’m looking at a diffuser myself. The Maxton have a tendency to warp around the exhaust although I’m not sure if this was just an issue with the diesel. They are similarly priced however the Reiger looks a little more OEM.

 

What did you end up doing with the R600 intake hose in the end? 😉

[vrs'burks]

On 14/11/2023 at 10:14, CookieMonster87 said:

@vrs'burks great project thread. Some nice subtle mods.

 

I also have the Leyo paddle shifters, completely agree with your comments, pricey but top quality and feel.

 

How did you find the Reiger diffuser to fit? Any issues long term? I’m looking at a diffuser myself. The Maxton have a tendency to warp around the exhaust although I’m not sure if this was just an issue with the diesel. They are similarly priced however the Reiger looks a little more OEM.

 

What did you end up doing with the R600 intake hose in the end? 😉

Diffuser was easy to fit, hardest part was getting the oem one off, yeah its nice and subtle but also doesn't look stock either.

 

The intake hose is now on my mates leon cupra attached to an Apr intake, buttered him up on the sale by offering to fit it haha 😁

[vrs'burks]

Never posted any pics of the coilpacks once fitted -

 

there was a difference on how the car runs lower down in the rev range cruising around, feels a little more eager and like it possibly had a bit of a flatspot before. . .this might just be down to the new plugs 🤔

 

Also gave the bay a pre winter tidy up 😎

 

 

 

[vrs'burks]

One thing I've mulled over for well over a year finally happened last month. . 

 

 

exhaust was changed to a fully non-resonated gpf back custom built system.

 

 

i did loads and loads of research before having this done, and the general consensus to get any kind of noise from the newer gpf equipped cars was remove everything. . . 

 

Well I regret it like crazy, outside the car sounds nice, deep but not too loud. . Inside is horrendous, at idle it is genuinely louder inside than it is outside. It's got a very deep drone at "normal" driving rpm's -1800-2200ish.

 

It's even been back and had a box put in just before the rear axle, which has toned it down between 2500-4000rpm, but below 2500 is still horrendously droney, it's really making me dislike driving the car for general driving - if you drive it with a heavy foot it sounds wicked,over runs burbles n all that, but it has ruined day to day life in it.

 

Myself and a friend and going to fit some helmholtz resonators towards the back and see if it helps, if not ill probably have to have the rear section rebuilt with a twin box setup again.

 

This one had been an expencive mistake. 👎

 

[vrs'burks]

So I had the dsg box serviced at the end of Nov, just before the car hit 40k. . . I know the intervals got upped to 80k. . But for the cost I see it as 100% worth it in preventative maintenance. 

 

Whilst this was done it was picked up on that the front offside shock was leaking slightly. . 

 

This meant only one thing.

 

of course they had to be treated to some ceramic coating before going on.

 

Also swapped back to oem top mounts - the ecs tuning ones I'd fitted previously made clicking noises when manoeuvring or going lock to lock and had since day 1. . Now all as quiet as a mouse again.