[big jim]

Back to the Skoda, starting to find the little niggles on it now, interior door lights not working when you open the door or unlock it, they don’t illuminate on the switch either so will have to work that one out

the headlights appear to be stuck in the low down position as if the leveller inside is in position ‘3’, moving it makes no difference, really hard to see at night on unlit roads, I’ve got a feeling that the rear levelling sensor may be broken bearing in mind the car is a car S front rear end damage, hopefully it’s that as it’s a fairly easy fix, a similar thing happened on my blue R53 where the sensor has a broken arm

PDCs not working, rhey beep when you out in in reverse to tell you they are on but don’t actually do anything when approaching an object, again possibly down to the bumper damage, something to look at while I check the sensor

I may get it to my mechanic to put in his diagnostics machine to see exactly what the issues are, or have a trundle to carsorbikes house for him to have a look!

other than that the TDI tuning chip off the mini has been sent off for reprogramming to the Skoda so I should get that back by the end of the week, I’ve got a double din facia on the way to fit the stereo out of the R53 into it and I’ll also get the vibe bass box and amp in too at some point, I’ve got a load of decent vibe speakers spare in the garage that I may swap if they are the same size but I’ve not looked into that yet

not had a chance to do any more dechroming but again something I’ll do when I get the chance

 

[CarsOrBikes]

I can plug into it if required, I am travelling south later and will come back after the weekend, undecided when yet

 

[big jim]

I’m away to the caravan later for a couple of days then same again the middle of next week, there’s no rush, probaly come over end of the month

 

[pipsyp]

Fair play Jim, Im quite fond of a Skoda TBF as have had a few.......2011 Fabia vRS estate (actually very fast but didnt stop or corner for shite....mine didnt use alot of oil tho....on account of how I "ran" it in!), 2013 Mk2 Octavia 170 CR DSG vRS Blackline estate (of them all the one I should have just kept) and a 2014 Mk3 Octavia 2.0 150 CR Elegance estate manual (superb car, not as well made as the Mk2 with a shit stereo, barely slower than a Mk7 Golf GTD, but was so light it felt like it was going to take off at speed).

I didnt have any of them for all that long really, the Mk3 almost the full 3 years of its lease but none of them gave me any bother. I liked them as they were rather the thinking mans VW back then and were available on 0% deals.....now they are just far too expensive and Id rather have an Audi

I think the Mk2 Superbs one hell of a car tho, once you have its issuettes sorted out it'll be a keeper I bet!

 

[big jim]

I’ve got a bit of time tomorrow to have a look at some of the bits in the Skoda, I’ve got to ramp it up to get to one of the engine sensors to fit the TDI tuning box so I’ll ramp the back up aftereards and see if i can find out if the rear light leveller is knackered, if it’s a decent day I might have a look at continuing the dechroming too

might get the towbar off the R56 and double din and amps out of the R53 ready to go in the Skoda, I’ve ordered a connects2 VW double din fitting kit from Halfords which I recon will fit the Skoda as the spec for the facia plate crosses over between various VW and Skoda models, it’s just a case of whether the steering wheel controls will work but again they seem to cross reference each other, surprisingly the one from Halfords is actually £20 cheaper than any on eBay!

 

[big jim]

Had a day on the Skoda

first up reversing sensors, one has broken wires, another isn’t even connected as the wires don’t reach it because if the way they are routed around the Towbar by the looks of it!

headlight levelling sensor, couldn’t find it, will have to investigate further

TDI tuning box, fitted and running, nice and easy job, hardest but is getting the sensor plugs off, certainly given it a lot more poke now, be interesting to see how it goes fuel wise on the motorway next week

double din stereo from The R53 fitted, only issue I had was I managed to flatten the battery as I had the doors open and ignition on, also the airbag light came on when I removed the facia surround that has the airbag on/off light on it, hopefully just a simple reset, charged back up and seems ok now, weirdly with the battery low the stereo stayed on without the key in the ignition, it hadn’t done that when I initially fitted it or doesn’t do it now it’s back up to charge!

quite an easy job used a VW fitting kit rather than a Skoda one, same items in the pack but cheaper! steering wheel controls working of a fashion, volume ok, source select ok but next track button not working but I had the same on the mini iirc


also fitted the mini amp from the R53 under the passenger seat, not ideal but the only place, with the seat in a normal position it’s out of view with the wires running below the tunnel and out from under the carpet below the seat


Got a reversing camera to fit at some point as well as the bass amp and slimline box which will require a power lead from the front so I’ll take up the sill guards and do that all at once when I get a chance

didn’t get any dechroming done as its quite windy and I don’t want the vinyl to get blown about!

 

[big jim]

Tidied up the Skoda this afternoon, finished the dechroming on the passenger side as well as wrapping the front grille, not fantastic job on he grille but looks a bit fresher now, had a go at the roof bars but they are a bit hard to get any wrap on without wrinkles, I have seen a set of black bars on eBay which I might have a look at getting



Was going to start fitting the bass speaker amp but can’t find anywhere to run the power lead through the bulkhead from the battery without dismantling the front of the car!

Mini wise, pretty much all the mods I took off are gone now, dropping the JCW wheels off with someone later on my way to work, the k&n filter and boost button are about to be posted so the only thing left to sell now will be the Towbar when I get it off, hopefully the car will be in its way early September too

if anyone wants the cheap coilivers I bought to put under it (FK’s) then they can be had for £75

 

[big jim]

Good run up the motorway in the Skoda to cumbria, 160 mile journey and averaged 71mpg

The only issue I discovered just as I set off is the Towbar electrics don’t work, bought a few bits and bobs of electrical gubbins with me so I might get the chance to have a look at it while I’m here and possibly get the bass speaker amp fitted if I get a chance (forgot to bring the bass box with me though!)

 

[big jim]

Got the Skoda towbar electrics sorted, theres a relay in the boot on the towbar electrics that upon inspection didn’t have a live feed to it, couldn’t find one either so I took the relay out and just wired the electrics straight into the rear light loom using the existing connections that were in place to the relay

got everything working apart from the fog light, I don’t have a multimeter with me to find the feed but I’ll do it when I get home from the caravan, I may find that I have to refit the relay unit if it throws up any lighting faults as I think it may be to do with the canbus but I’m hoping it will be ok as the similar wiring set up in the mini worked fine

there is a spurious aftermarket push button in the front of the car that I investigated and discovered it’s not actually attached to anything, it has a twin core wire cut off behind the panel, I’ve got a feeling it may well have been a switch that was fitted to activate the relay when a trailer is attached for some reason!

might have a go running the wiring for the bass amp to the boot tomorrow if I get a chance, I had a look at the Vibe rapid fit wiring kit and the power lead in that is basically a piggyback fuse holder that plugs into an available fuse in the fuse box, as it happens I have a load of the spare piggyback fuse holders in my supplies that are identical so I’m going to make it up myself using the power cable that came with the amp wiring that I’d hoped to run from the battery, the rapid fit kit is designed and rated for use with the Vibe bass amp so it should work fine, I’ll also have to run a remote power and RCA lead down the car, I’ll also run the reversing camera video lead down while I’m about it, if I don’t get it done tomorrow I’ll certainly make it a priority as reversing without sensors or a camera is a right pain at the moment!

 

[Maccmike]

Jim, Ive ordered a 1500w electric bike conversion kit!

 

[big jim]

Jim, Ive ordered a 1500w electric bike conversion kit!

anything to get up wildboarclough easily!

 

[Maccmike]

Ive had 36mph so far 🤣

 

[big jim]

Ive had 36mph so far 🤣

up wildboarclough!!

 

[Maccmike]

up wildboarclough!!

On flat ground 🤣

 

[Mike8080]

On flat ground 🤣

Have you got a link to the kit please?

 

[Maccmike]

Have you got a link to the kit please?

I bought from Modds Ebikes as they have great reviews and arent too far away from me.
Theres different kits for different needs so have a look on their website and see what suits you.

 

[Maccmike]

https://www.moddsebikes.co.uk/

 

[Mike8080]

I bought from Modds Ebikes as they have great reviews and arent too far away from me.
Theres different kits for different needs so have a look on their website and see what suits you.

Thanks, I’ll take a look

 

[big jim]

The guy who wants the car is umming and ahhing a bit about leaving the teins on so I’ve decided to take them off anyway (as well as the Tow-bar), jacked it up earlier ready to start removing them over the weekend

 

[big jim]

Towbar and teins off





Cheapo coilivers fitted, yet to take it out for a drive around the block but I dread to think what it’s going to be like!




Looks the part though