Arctic Project (Take 2)

[TubaMagna8]

Bit of VBOA prep…. Spot cleaned the inside, the colour of the water was almost black….





Went over with the polisher and treat her to some Turtle wax ceramic with grapheme wax as it gave good results when I applied it to the Octavia a few months back….



And a long time in the making, new headlights fitted….



Early night for a long drive down south….

 

[DavebGsi]

looked great at vboa, top work

 

[Andy_Mk3]

Great work on the wiring loom, quite a big task to take on that is and it looks good. Headlights are superb too, I think I may have to follow this new trend

Good work on the headlining too, after having watched mine being done by a professional, I can see it's definitely not an easy job and glad I didn't do it myself lol.

You've come a long way with this and learnt a lot on the way, it's looking good!

 

[TubaMagna8]

So start of May is time to get her out and running, it’s taken a bit of a back burner since buying a house, and we need the driveway extending to make way for the Astra. So she lives at my parents for now, I have a few things lined up, bit of an oil seep from the drive shaft seals so will get those/try do those, and a bit of a weep from the engine side, could possibly be the sump.

However I went to start her the other weekend and she was dead, I had left the smart charger on over the winter but was now showing an error, anyway the battery was showing 0.4volts. So I was like that’s ******!!

I have recently changed my battery on the daily, which is a 096 battery for the VAG diesels, the modern electronics showed errors on startup and nonstop start for a few months, I’ve fitted that and it’s secure but a bit tight, but it can do for now. Turned over quite quickly.



Need to source at decent cat as the present one is all over the place on the emissions and I’d like to have a new suspension at some point, just some B4s and springs just to freshen up the ride a little, the engine bay wiring on the battery side could do with some upgrades/ tidying.

But I plan to use her a bit, enjoy it and do a few little changes.

 

[Kev_mk3]

Bilstein B4's from Auto Doc cheap as chips (can also get eibach springs off them)
Fronts -

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/bilstein/634007

 

[TubaMagna8]

Went out with a local group yesterday, did over 150 miles to the Lake District and back, up the kirkstone pass, running like a dream. Definitely needs that suspension and steering refresh, still handled better than some of the minis
Still could do with some more grunt like turbo grunt

DAB radio is **** so thinking of putting a VW style shark Ariel on the roof and maybe eliminate the factory Ariel, would mean I could clean the windscreen up of that Ariel.

Photo from the top of Hartside Pass

 

[Kev_mk3]

Went out with a local group yesterday, did over 150 miles to the Lake District and back, up the kirkstone pass, running like a dream. Definitely needs that suspension and steering refresh, still handled better than some of the minis
Still could do with some more grunt like turbo grunt

DAB radio is **** so thinking of putting a VW style shark Ariel on the roof and maybe eliminate the factory Ariel, would mean I could clean the windscreen up of that Ariel.

Photo from the top of Hartside Pass
View attachment 27946

In this day and age cant you use your phone for dab?

 

[DavebGsi]

Yea that's a good point tbf

 

[TubaMagna8]

Not much to update, With having the single din touchscreen screen when using apple car play on long journeys it slows down as its also the amp and the fan runs mega fast.
I've had an alpine 600 watt amp for a while to fit, and decided to follow Andy_Mk3 and put it under the front seat.




Removed the seat then removed all the trim.




Took a while to get the mega Gauge cable through, which is probably overkill but it was a cheap kit. just put a 40amp fuse on it rather than the 80amp that was provided with the kit.



******* hate these style of crimp connectors, had a few issues with them but had to get some spares as they just wouldn't hold. Brayed them with a hammer seemed to help.





Rather than fiddle with the ISO adapter I just ran new cables to the rear speakers and then I have used the iso side for the front speakers. I used a Deutsch connector for those, how much ive moved on from using chocolate blocks



Looks nice and snug in there.




Just some bog standard "Time" home audio cable to provide the cables to the iso loom. Ran some RCA cables from the head unit down the centre console and under the seat for the signal.


Then it was all go for VBOA at the weekend.







Aircon was on most of the journey there and back, probably could have got another 50 miles but it was motorway services so didn't want to chance an expensive stop.


I do have some bits to do over the coming months. Drive shaft seals, gearbox oil, and the rear brake load balancer to replace.

Waiting for a new drive at home so the car can be stored here rather than at my mum and dads which isn't ideal for little tinkering jobs. At least I now have a shed for more tinkering, and there might be space for bigger mechanical parts in the near future

 

[Kev_mk3]

Great stuff! Like the new shed also

 

[TubaMagna8]

Got the new driveway back in November, Car has ran out of MOT had a few things to do to get it through, Going to get it recovered over here, then I can get on with a few jobs with it. Just ran out of time, also was in a mad dash to get stuff done on the house as Catherine and I Have had our first child together, just under a week old. So mega over the moon with her arrival.

I re-plumbed the house myself with some help from my dad, Went the full hog with a Blow torch and Copper pipe and zoned the house up.

Amongst that I'm also trying to build a digital organ from used pipe parts, that will sit in my study which I've had to rip the exterior wall plasterboard off of and damp proof membrane the room.

I did however with the help of Marc, Get some LED Lights for the back of the astra, they arrived before Christmas.

will try them on the car before deciding if they need tinting.


Still got my daily Octavia, Just recently had a Heated steering wheel fitted to it, and need to do some service items to it and some new brake parts in the coming Months, Had a go at changing the Haldex fluid also which went better than expected.

Hopefully some more slow updates when she comes over to the new house, and the later nights etc.

 

[Joycey]

Congratulations!

 

[Kev_mk3]

Great news on the child congratulations.

As for the lights if you do use tint film to tint them not paint

 

[TubaMagna8]

Bit of an update, Been slow progress,



Plan to get it Mot'd in time for VBOA, but had all sorts of challenges to face, and house maintenance has obvs took priority, oh and the Octavia has needed some much needed repairs in the past few months.... I am looking forward to getting it back on the road. One of the main issues I have had is the emissions at the mot and the cat has to be mega hot for it to get through, I remembered the cat I bought was only £48 and was a non type approved, so I went for a more expensive type approved that seems to be a bit weightier and hopefully will keep the emissions down for the mot.

I finally got hold of some new ramps that I could use, I hated the metal ones I used to borrow from my dad, so got some amazon basics ones in the end, the Clarke ones I ordered from amazon they managed to break in transit and they never appeared



New one vs the old one, certainly seems to be of better quality.




When moving the car about I have noticed a slight blowing on the exhaust and soon found the cause,

this is in the section between the middle silencer and the back box.



I was in two minds on what to do with this, Whilst I liked the idea of a race tube to the back box, but also conscious of costs and not cheaping on parts but using quality branded items, I managed to get a replacement for £35 plus vat from a local car parts place. Maybe in the future ill look at another style but also I didn't want to have too loud of a car.

Whilst I was under the car I used the opportunity to get some degreaser on the oil pan as there has been a leak from somewhere, I thought if I clean it up I can then see if/where the leak comes from, and repair accordingly instead of throwing the parts canon at it, which burnt me earlier this year on the octavia....




Next to do, is the rear load valve as that has seized, and may have to learn how to use a pipe flaring tool for that.
Adjust the headlights down, as the passenger side kicks up a bit too high, however there is little movement in it, so they may have to come out for a bit, or even tempted to go down the morrette route as I can use the factory height adjusters with them.

Tyres are starting to crack also, so they will need attention in the next few months.