Octy Mk2 VRS - devil fuelled

OK thought id better get this started seeing as the bora has now gone to car heaven

only one pic of the car the now as not had the time or the weather to get the car properly cleaned up

1 2009 VRS TDI CR. decided to go with the newer CR engine rather than the older PD engines as there seem to be more issues with the DPF on the PD engines as they produce too much smoke and were never designed to run alongside the DPF. there was also the good old injector issues as with the 1.9 PD engine - for those who dont know the 2nd pump in the PD engines is the injector itself.


some work needs done so as its still under warranty then its going into skoda next friday to get looked at. central locking within the car doesnt work and the rear wiper is more temperamental than a woman. it works when its dry but when wet then its a no go, apparently this is a common issue and the best advise is to rip it off and plug the hole up.

OK plans for the car
not that many in reality as this car will be staying nearly standard.

1) remember the w8 interior light in the bora. well the red backlit switches wouldnt go well with the skoda green so one Superb light has been ordered after some difficulty with the parts dept - couldnt give them a reg so they weren't willing to order it up incase it didnt fit. Just need to get some more matt black spray paint then fit
should light up the interior a bit more as its pitch black when driving

2) seat cupra splitter - still not 100% sold on this, does look good

3) set of R32 brakes sitting waiting to be painted from Blue to red, also need to order up the longer brake lines and splash shields. this isnt a massive brembo swap like on the bora simply increasing the piston from 57mm to 59mm and disc size from 312mm to 345mm.

4) Head unit swapped from the standard to the sat nav one if i can find a decently priced one.

5) Pressed plates to get rid of the dealer ones

6) ohh of course a remap

 

[pgarner]

OK just a small update

short shifter has still yet to be fitted
but now has a few other goodies to get fitted along with it.

mudflaps for front and rear of the car, after having to argue with the guy on parts twice while ordering them up.
1st because they dont fit the vrs - 1 screw hole doesnt line up on the rears apparently but its an easy fix
and then again when i went back to the pick them up saying that i dont need the rears as they are already on the car.
reason for these. im getting sick of washing the car driving a few miles and having dirt sprayed all up the sides !!!

Use the cubby storage under the passengers seat quite a bit for some small things but there wasnt anything under the drivers one. so ordered up the one from a LHD - guy took this part number and no arguments with ordering it.

and finally

1 curpa r splitter purely for aesthetics.

Lend a mate money to cover their security deposit on a new flat so awaiting them getting the money back from their old one then be getting in contact with shark performance probably towards the end of may.

next mods after that im looking at couple of smaller options added to the maxidot display - need a VCDS cable for that.
then adding OEM bluetooth connectivity to the car.
finally a Columbus headunit. then thats it

 

[Loz]

A nice update PG, I've had similar problems with parts departments in the past some guys cant see beyond their computer screen!

What's a Columbus head unit (sounds like a Blaupunkt), Is it a higher spec OEM model?

 

[pgarner]

aye and he was told when ordering the rear flaps to ignore the they dont fit the Vrs. the storage box had to be ordered from germany and it shows on the screen as LHD models but no issues with ordering.

yeah its the top spec OEM head unit made by siemens VDO in the earlier ones then by continental vdo when they took over some of siemens work. Blaupunkt is stamped on some of them as well.

 

[davalav]

Car looks fab after that well needed wash! Brakes suit it well, and I'm sure the splitter will look smart. Great updates PG!

 

[jarrus]

Looks nice, mate, not a VAG fan myself but I do have a respect for the Octys though, understated and purposeful.

 

[pgarner]

well mudflaps are on and now the car doesnt look like its just ran through a field 5 mins after washing it. - had to drill a pilot hole through the rear flaps to match them up with the fixing points on the bumper but so much for they dont fit

splitter on but needs adjusted slightly - no pics of that as yet will get them when im happy with it.

storage box hasnt been fitted yet as its a seat out job, could do it without taking the seat out but trying to do the do all the screws blind just going to be a hassle

fiscon basic plus bluetooth installed. went for the fiscon unit as the OEM setup would only have cost only slightly less. but the problem comes from the android phone settings. since the update its disabled the rSAP proacall which means the OEM setup would have less functionality.
so with the fiscon installed i also got an extra addon

EFMA add on. according to fiscon it only works with those with the red displays - Audi and Seat - however it seems to work well with the only issue coming from oil temp reader doesnt work and as a result it reads -59 degrees. water temp, rpm, speed, boost and battery voltage all work.

also managed to pick up a gendan / ross tech VCDS cable so been looking through couple of fault codes cleared, 2nd rear foglight enabled. front fogs enabled at 50% as daylight running lights - was set to 92% as standard - come on when the handbrake is released.

thats all for now

 

[T9 man]

front fogs enabled at 50% as daylight running lights - was set to 92% as standard - come on when the handbrake is released.

thats all for now

That's interesting PG, I would have considered something like this if I knew it could be done. How does the front fog lights (DRL's) receive the signal from the handbrake to activate? Do you have it triggered through a relay to switch an ignition supply on to the DRL's? What is used to drop the initial voltage percentage from 92% to 50%? Do you have an override bypass relay to reuse the DRL's back to their original function of a fog light when required? :blink:

 

[pgarner]

Its all done through the canbus, and convenience controller so cant give anymore info than that. still need to work out how it all works. i can also have enabled it as North American DRLs ie dipped beam come on when the handbrake is released or scandanavian dipped, tail and numberplate lights on.

In the current mode when they are used as fogs, ie lights actually on and fog switch pulled out, then they go back to full power.
only thing with doing them this way is they reduce the lamp life

 

[Jakeymd]

I love the torque app. Only wish it worked on the Astra

 

[pgarner]

its not bad for costing next to nothing, but im now able to log alot more sensors alot faster granted the vcds cable did cost about 40times more

 

[Loz]

That is a very cool piece of kit indeed, proper job.

 

[Prince]

That is a very cool piece of kit indeed, proper job.

x2. Impressive!

 

[pgarner]

OK still not mapped as the issue with exhaust temp is still there, garage has tested the probe and it ranges right through with no issues, its looking like its the "throttle body" the oil seal has broken down allowing oil and gunk into the electrical connector. since this has been pointed out its been gradually worse, waiting on the warranty company getting their finger out, took the connector off last week and blew it out with compressed air, connected it back up and so far so good.

however in the mean time this little beauts bean fitted

all packaged up

test fitted and coded to the car, couldnt leave it in at this point as the stream is alot wider the trim wouldnt have fitted. so on the phone to skoda and their usual 2-3 days for delivery.

refitted it this morning and picked the trim up this afternoon

happy with it, still need to play about with the sd card and transfer music across to it. only has around 10gb or so for the music but more than enough seeing it can take 32gb SD card as well

 

[davalav]

If it has it's music stored on SD card, I'll buy a fast SD card. Some of the most compatably would be type 6 through to 10 ( higher the number, faster the card). That should be fast enough... Looks fantastic though mate! Did it set you back much, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[pgarner]

£430 by the time i bought the gps receiver and surround. came with latest firmware and maps
cant remember what class my cards are not used them in a few years as the camera is CF but to be honest the 10gb will be more than enough. i had plenty of storage on the carputer in the old car but it was always the same albums that ended being played anyway

 

[davalav]

Jeeeez... That's costly! I'm sure it was worth every penny though!

 

[obi_waynne]

Looks nice, I bet it sounds ok too, the Skoda standard speakers are pretty good.

What's next on your mod list? What MPG are you getting from it?

 

[T9 man]

Blimey, that's a bit Starship Enterprise PG :blink:

 

[pgarner]

sounds slightly better on radio than the stream did but its only using 1 of the ports on the back, turns out ill need to get a splitter to get full radio reception. the a2dp bluetooth sounds alot better through this than the old one alot less interference so handy for playing music off the phone
havent tried out cds or sd card yet as had none in the car will have to make some up.

MPG low to mid 40s driving normally - its hilly around here, high 40s taking it easy and low 50s on motorway.

T9 it gets better as the next direction road names and how close all show up on the MFD as well so you dont even need to look at the nav unit while driving.
had i went for the OEM bluetooth i could also have have voice control

 

[Prince]

That's pretty freakin' awesome!

 

[T9 man]

T9 it gets better as the next direction road names and how close all show up on the MFD as well so you dont even need to look at the nav unit while driving.
had i went for the OEM bluetooth i could also have have voice control

Well I must congratulate you PG, you have single handedly changed all of my thinking about Skoda! Voice control capability :amazed: I am impressed :bigsmile:

 

[Loz]

Jeeeez... That's costly! I'm sure it was worth every penny though!

On the face of it it might seem that way but when you start price up a decent double din head unit with sat nav & maps you can easily spend double that, for example the Blaupunkt New York is roughly £600-£700 & that's before you've bought the GPS aerial, facia surround etc.
The fact it integrates & matches up with the rest of the car makes it a Superb buy (tenuous Skoda pun there).

Loving the upgrade PG, I've been using SD cards for a few years now & I think their a perfect solution, although I'd stick with say a 4Gb card as I found with too much music I just end up flicking tracks & never settle on anything for long!

 

[pgarner]

yeah its only 2 and 4gb cards ive got lying around but checked the HD after loading an SD card up 13.2 Gb was free for music so more than enough. That and over the last 8 months ive had the car ive only had 2 cds in it gotten used to having a radio again after not having one in the bora for so long. Just wished i had the steering wheel controls for complete lazyness

also just put the part number into ETKA current price for the unit itself is £2722
so not that bad

 

[pgarner]

OK so the winter preparations started on the car the other day. doing it in sections due to the little one taking up more of my time.
car was giving a strong snow foam bath
while giving the above 10 minutes i prepared the rest
3 bucket method - with a mix of APC and shampoo, a rinse and the third with shampoo and a little solution of smart wheels.
2 washmitts - 1 lambskin and 1 microfibre
varnishing brushes
wheels brush

Car then giving another foam from strong mix of APC to remove most of the wax wheels sprayed with a 10:1 mix of smartwheels.
while giving APC chance to strip the wax the wheels were agitated with the wheel brush, ended up breaking it on the 1st wheel, a varnishing brush and the microfibre wheel mitt.
pressure washed the whole car again.
car then washed using the lambswool and shampoo.
tardis applied to the lower panels wiped off after a few minutes then washed and rinsed quickly again.
clayed using bilthamber regular clay and demon shine at a 10:1 mix as a lube.

only certain areas were machine polished due to time constraints

rear drivers door was machined back due to several people obviously hitting their doors off mine. took a couple of hits of 3M fast cut to remove all the scratches but looks so much better now. before being refined down with meguires #205 on a finishing pad.
spoiler and rear bumper got the same hit. finding out that something has happened to my rear bumper along the bottom, something appears to have hit it taking the paint off and roughing up the plastic underneath
fuel cap also got the same as above - will come apparent later
light swirling was evident on the bonnet and front wings so these were hit with the 205 on a polishing pad. with the rear quarter around the fuel cap hit quickly
polished areas were wiped down with IPA to remove all the polishing oils.
the rest of the car will be done over the next few weeks when time and weather allow.

due to the sun being so helpful in Scotland i could only see the spoiler clearly to ensure that there was no more swirling and only 1 scratch that i couldnt get out.
the spoiler and fuel cap were treated to some wolfs chemicals hard body
the rest of the car received a coat of mirror wet finish with the polished areas getting a coating of finishkare fk1000p over the top of the mwf to give durability.

both the 1000p and hard body were giving 15 mins curing time with the mwf basically being applied to the whole car and removed when hazed over

no pictures as yet as the slrs battery was dead and the phones camera isnt the greatest at trying to pick up details. will try and get some when other parts of the car are changed over from the fk to the hard body

the rear quarter should allow me to see if there is a difference in looks between the quarter itself and the fuel cap

 

[T9 man]

^^ Good heavens PG, by the time I got through all of that lot I would need the winter to recover :amazed:

 

[pgarner]

only took around 4.5 hours total so far but thats just over half the car done

 

[davalav]

Christ.... Bet its blindingly clean now then?

 

[pgarner]

nah no really, not much better than before. only difference is the areas that have been polished look good in the sun or under sodium lamps in the forecourts as very few scratches left. car needs cleaned as just ran a mate hame up a farm road so its a bit manky now.

built myself a toy to try and help with the lack of sun when checking the paintwork. 3m make a light called a sungun. downside is they are around £300. so using an old cordless drill, some wire and a GU10 50w bulb i built myself one. need to wait for a dry day to dry it out

 

[pgarner]

managed to get a little more done today

ideally you want to keep most sealants dry for 24h before applying a second coat or getting wet.
finished polishing rear passengers door and quarter. washed and wipedown with IPA before getting a coat of hard body. left for 20 mins and buffed off. went to get the camera came back out and had started to rain

yes i know the wheel arches need cleaned but was only quickly cleaning the car as knew id be running out of light quickly.
looking at the areas that were done last time mainly the other side around the fuel cap. when rinsing the car off after washing the fuel cap sheeted the water near enough straight away. the quarter panel however took a few seconds to clear

 

[johnstondturbo]

I love the torque app. Only wish it worked on the Astra

Torque app? Can somebody inform me if there is an app like this?

 

[pgarner]

link to the free version

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...51bGwsMSwxLDEsIm9yZy5wcm93bC50b3JxdWVmcmVlIl0.

 

[pgarner]

right seeing ive not updated this in a little while ill add some.

not much to add however other than the wife had a little run in with a digger one day with it.

nice big dent in the wing so thats been pulled smoothed and repainted. i was good and waited a month before washing it to be left with this

moisture had been trapped between the primer and colourcoat. so its back in the paint shop today to get done again. the guys usually really good and is severely annoyed himeself that its happened. hoping to get it back ether tomorrow night or wednesday.

ive also started finding condensation on the front and rear windows if its been sitting a little while. lifted the wet boot carpet to find around 2 ltrs of screenwash sitting in the well. quick feel around and found it to be coming from behind the cd changer so its looking like my rear washer pipes split - this might also be the reason for the random error codes that are popping up that have no explanation as the join in the pipe is right above a large multiplug that contains CANBUS wiring

at the mot i got told that tyres were down to 3mm and one of the back ones were worn at the inside. so some new tyres fitted and a 4 wheel alignment carried out. i was shocked at how little adjustment was needed on the rear, youd be lucky if the bolt was moved through an 1/8 of a turn and it had thrown it miles out. it was just light taps of the hand to get it to sit.
also looks like my track rod end is at the end of its life he was having alot of difficulty to move one - to the point where he was hanging off a pair of molegrips to get it to move so that will need done sometime soon.

Anyone with a VW, Audi, Seat or Skoda i now have the October 2012 version of ELSAwin - this makes the likes of a haynes manual look like its wirtten by a kwikfit apprentice. so if anyone wants a copy let me know, prices would be to cover blank dvds and postage. be warned through if its the full version your after its around 60gb installed. Any individual jobs needed let me know and ill see if i can find it and PDF/Email.

right back to the car. while waiting i was having alook around the alloys section of the garage and found some nice sets of wheels BBS CHs, Merc E Class, AMG ones from unknown and a set of S4 wheels all should fit.
really liked the diesgn, but not the price, of the s4 ones so a quick little photoshopping using images found on the net so its a matt anthracite rather than metallic car and thinking not sure about silver or black gloss - couldnt get the wheels to a black gloss without making then just look like black blobs.
the centres would have to be setup for the skoda centres rather than the audi ones but shouldnt be too big a job

thoughts on them please, cant seem to find any octys with them on in pics but a few posts on briskoda saying theyve got them and they fit no problem with 225 tyres rather than the 235 that are fitted to alot of them.
using wheel/tyre calculators with a 225 tyre they would sit 0.6mm in so no issues with suspension, poke out 12mm more, diameter is the same so no issues with that and the brakes ive got are the same as the S4 anyway abet with different carriers so clearance isnt a problem there

 

[pgarner]

not fantastic but at least you can still make out the alloy

 

[MasterAuron]

Nah, awful wheels makes the car look really dated.

 

[T9 man]

The black wheels don't work for me PG, I would stick with the silver finish

 

[pgarner]

yeah i spent a wee while looking at similar black wheels on grey and did go off it. think i will just stick with the silvers

 

[davalav]

I'm sorry PG, but I agree with MA on this. Your VRS is a good looking car but the S4 wheels make it look old and 90's ish..

I personally think in gloss black, the standard vRS wheels look good.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/b19fur/Picture001.jpg

 

[pgarner]

OK time for a small update.

Paintwork was an issue right down at the filler level. Guy wasnt happy it looked bad on him. full fix and even threw in a new front number plate for the inconvenience as the original one was cracked.

the wheels idea has been dropped the now. was speaking to a mate of a mate who says they sandblast and powdercoat for £45 a wheel for the 18s. half the price another local place wanted to paint them.
now thinking alone the lines of some 17s from ether lower octavia or A4 in the future while they do their work.
other option was the facelifted vrs neptunes but not sure about the black on grey now.

Engine wise i had a week off so decided to try and get to the bottom of the errors flagging up. done some real time logging over a 15 mile journey. the 1st EGT probe, which i thought was in the turbo by the manual, was showing around 150-200 degrees hotter than the pre DPF/post turbo one and spiking to 930 and holding for a few seconds. on the way back to confirm it was the sensor i took a stanley to the sensor plug and swapped it to post turbo. logs showed that this was now spiking up and down.

So next morning on the phone to TPS and a new sensor ordered up.
what a joy that was to change. according to the workshop manual it can be reached from the top with an extension bar and crows foot socket HA not a chance.
Managed to get it from the underside, thank god for my wee womans arms, without having to remove the driveshaft.

so next jobs are -
front brakes - have a set of DS2500s sitting here waiting to fit
airbox intake - maybe managed to break this while trying to get to the sensor from the top.
looking at getting it remapped the beginning of May all going well as another week off then

 

[pgarner]

Well thats her booked into shark performance for the 24th. Wifes going away for the day with the weeyin so im going a wee trip as well

ds2500s have also been fitted and id forgotten how much better than OEM these are. Downside is hazards flashed a few times while getting used to them

 

[HugoBoss]

Car's looking great matey, like the silver wheels too. Had a rear washer hose problem too, stuffed around the Hicas was leaking right on the Hicas ecu box, luckily after some hair dryer TLC it all came good.