MountainBikeMike's Skodaru

[cbay]

fantastic work mate!

[MountainBikeMike]

Great write up, thanks!

Nice! I used to race MTBs (until about 1994 - my race bike had no suspension!) but am more into road riding now. If you can hook me up with a new Scott Solace when they get here, that would be awesome! I'm still loving my 2006 CR1 SL - at the time it was pro level (grand tour winner!) sad that they've down-graded that range now.

Good old days on fire roads
The CR1 didn't downgrade, it just became the road model rather than the race model. A bit more for comfort. In saying that Im riding a CR1 Premium with di2 and its much more comfy on road than a Foil, and less back breaking haha. No hookups sadly as Im at a distro!


Updated original post regarding mud guards.


Some new stuff came in! Along with Remsa pads all round. Got the engine torque arm bushing installed last night. Not as much initial vibration as others have said yet


The stickers came in for the lips I wanted to put one on the front but thought I'd rather cover some of the dimples I couldn't buff out on these edges


Plastidipped the tail lights with Smoke. Did about 4 layers I think. Looks a lot better to me and still so much light comes through, but now that Ive done it I think it does look better using tint or inside translucent paint, as having gloss on the outside makes more reflections and helps it become darker, or harder to see in to... if that makes sense. Also did the number plate cover two shades technically I didn't alter the plate lol

[Greg Roles]

Holy crap someone has some skills! Nice DIY epic - ness!!

[MountainBikeMike]

Holy crap someone has some skills! Nice DIY epic - ness!!

Thanks! Been meaning to call you regarding shifter bushes.

Shifter feels more solid now but I spent an hour and a half, and lots of getting in and out of the car for 100m while making adjustments to the gear notches. Couldn't believe my trouble getting the right setting back. Definitely my fault in not achieving it quicker though.

I ended up raging and doing some drastic setting and it worked! Haha. Now I only have a little hookup on the left side going in to third. Which is weird. Any ideas?

[Greg Roles]

Thought I told you about my you tube channel on the instruction sheet??
Oops just realised some stills were missing, so just edited video on YouTube.
The pattern is always a bit notchy at first till you get used to it, mine if 5 years old and I can still hang it up if I don't change properly. I REALLY noticed it at first, as you have to be much more discerning with the clutch pedal, whereas stock you can be a lot less precise with it. I still remember that learning curve.

[MountainBikeMike]

I did exactly that and I just seemed to keep missing the correct notch. I'd listen carefully to make sure I didn't skip a notch and no good went back and forth too many times. Now its about 98%, just sometimes it catches when I hold it slightly to the left, like going down from 4th to 3rd.

The swaybar went in tonite in just over an hour. How amazing when jobs just work without hiccups! I ended up using the stock end link bolts rather than the ones supplied. I really couldnt see any point in the new ones. Does anyone have clarification on that part? Its a whiteline adjustable 24mm



I was having a look at Red Devils thread and had a look today about adding some plastic panels to flatten out the bottom and fill in the empty under car sections. I guess it would be to aid speed on track and fuel consumption on long drives. Probly wont notice it but the placebo effect is good enough for me :p

[MountainBikeMike]

Out go the old rotors and a bit a rust


Remsa pads. $209 shipped from GSL. Not bad. Looking forward to less brake dust finally!! Zomg


DBA T2's. Was a bit stingy on these and couldn't see the benefit that much going for the 4000's, they just last a bit longer for $50 more a corner..


I wish they were bigger.. nether the less. I AM IN LOVE! Need to clean those wheels again



Today I also bit the bullet and plasti-dipped my upper grill. I've always loved the chrome look and only liked the black on some cars... I'm still not sure whether I like it, but time will tell. At least it goes well with the eyelids. Matti is a big fan on his Race blue octy!

[dArK5HaD0w]

that looks nice

[MountainBikeMike]

Time for an update

A couple weeks ago I received a short shift kit for the Octy, and today I installed it.
I bought it from gexperformance_au on eBay brand new for $46. >HERE< is the item:



This is what the item listing says:
- Roller Bearings For Long Lasting Hard Driving.
- Designed for Motorsport use.
- This Will Reduce Throw up to 40% and Give you a Faster Shift Throw Through The Gears.


Battery and battery terminal removed and in we go!


After so much struggle re-setting the gear location when I did the 42DD bushings, I made sure to take photos of the notches for reference later


So here is the new shifter on the right, next to the stock one pulled out of the car. FYI stock one was roughly 850grams and new one was roughly 550grams. I thought that having the extra weight in the lever would aid the motion and make it feel chunky, but it actually hardly changed anything that I can tell You can see the slot for fine adjusting the length. Towards the left makes it shorter, towards right is closest to stock, but not longer than stock.


Installed the bushing rod at the shortest point


I got very concerned when the edge of the plastic slider almost comes out of the lever sleeve, and even falls down a couple degrees, but it only sits there in-between gears. Hard to explain, but the plastic sleeve is only moving up and down when fully engaged.



So here is the forward/back movement, roughly 7-8cm measured. Unfortunately I didn't measure the stock distance so if someone could do this I'd like to know

So I would say this upgrade is a major success. I took it for a short drive and it feels great. It needs getting used to, but it made the 42DD bushings feel even better than before. It feels super short, but not ridiculous at the same time. This mod doesn't change the side to side length, but I like it the way it is.

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Also got these low beams for $41 shipped on ebay. I've had the bluevision in the past and they were quite bright and got a lot of compliments but I found these extremes to be about the same... Only slightly brighter. Ah well

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Next I got around to what I've wanted to do for a while: Tinting the fogs!


Just some $3 vinyl wrap from ebay


Love it! Looks mean

Thats all for now

[PsychoPuppie]

Looking good. I prefer the black grill but not a fan of the eyelids....just personal preference
What difference over stock globes are the phillips

[MountainBikeMike]

Looking good. I prefer the black grill but not a fan of the eyelids....just personal preference
What difference over stock globes are the phillips

I've thought about color matching the eyelids, but dunno. The globes are actually illegally bright or white? I believe so. I thought that the bluevision ones that I got on my crewman are about 4400K and these extremevision are meant to be 5000k. But to be honest they just look how a headlight should look. Nothing special


Just a quick shot of the 'Machines' out at Barjarg a couple weeks ago for the opening of the new Elevation gravity enduro trail there. Brought the downhill bike to as its been half a year since I've been on the thing. Was a great day, although the dirt road in was filled with pot holes. DIRTY VAG!



Got the new (catted) down-pipe made up today finally by Trevor @ Muffler Man Prahran! Portaz also got his done with me. The welding was a little rougher than I expected and the sub-frame mount is slightly crooked, but it does the job well.

Throughout the rev range it just sounds deeper and tougher, even though the resonator wasn't deleted... Getting rid of it is questionable, and I might do it for a bit of extra bwaahhhh... At WOT there's slightly more power above 3000, proving the restriction in the crappy stock pipe, which unfortunately he hacked out the turbo mounts from so there's no point of switching and selling the new pipe when I sell the car oh well.

I also got BLUEFIN STAGE 2 installed!!!!!!! Yeww! Thanks again to John @ Tigersoft Performance. Great customer service. The car is a bit faster yet again, but I didn't feel the advertised gains were anything like they say they are for stage 2, coming up from stage 1... I think I need to get rid of the stock intake already to really get the most from it. But that can wait till after Day of the Volkswagen.

One more thing: Found another Skodaru on facebook :p

I reallllllly neeeeed those grills from SuperSkoda.... but $$$$

Over N out

[MountainBikeMike]

Time for an update. Lots of driving and a few events have been had.

Chilled Sunday with some dubbers in St Kilda:










I love Mattys badge lol

Monday self-time. Drove Reefton Spur, had a burger at Eildon dam at the house-boat club, drove the 61km Elidon-Jamison Rd which ate the **** out of my tires, went the full way around through Mansfield and back to Eildon, rode the downhill and 4x there, and finished with a cool dip in the lake. Actually got a decent run through Black Spur on the way back and had pizza and slushie in Healsville. Way to burn a tank of fuel lol












Loving the storage space and TIE DOWN points!


Pushed up in 17 mins flat, what a workout. Havn't ridden here in years. The track wasn't too shagged. Threw a few whips.


Mmm death


Eildon-Jamison Rd is great but much tighter than Reefton Spur. It eats tires for breakfast though. I started scrubbing my front guards again!

Saw this sweet pre-fl RS 'Skodaru' on facey, gold wheels on race blue, super-skoda grilles, black roof racks, moar low, and blacked out tail lights. I like!



Went to a bush doof... dirty vag!

First time at the VWW Weekly West-Side meet in November








Got this rad snap of Jon

[MountainBikeMike]

VWW Monthly Cruise November! Skodaru lead the way!


At Knox






Make Lountain




On the way home

Went to HWY #15 for the first time at DFO Moorabbin. Couldn't believe the size of this thing. So many doochebags in Commonwhores though





Everyone left after a few hours so I got bored and went to the darkest spot ever at the airport, with only a single flash.... Did lots of running! No light this side of the car whatsoever









Photoshoot at Southland after seeing Gravity with two mates (Rex and Megane RS) and my old man in his Veloster Turbo lol












Bit of a car meet at mates house lol

[MountainBikeMike]

DAY OF THE VOLKSWAGEN! First time entering in a car show. Fun!

@ Dub Addiction BBQ Friday night






We cruised to the Bolte Bridge and IKEA Springvale for some wicked shots after Dub Addiction. Late night!















Pre-meet pre-mountain lap! With Matty


Maccas pre-meet


Cruise to the race course






Spent ages detailing in the days before and before inspection




Dem feels when someone checks your ride!


At inspection!

[MountainBikeMike]

So much posting about outings, time for some new MODS!

Finally got around to mounting the tow-strap. Cos, you know... racecar







I bought it on eBay for $19 shipped and its CAMS approved, but I had it lying here for weeks because I couldn't be bothered working out where to mount it or drill the chassis. Nek minnit, I acidentally pull on this part of the grill and find out it simply pulls out!! Low and behold, the factory tow point behind! LOL. So I made up a little bolt on assembly. However it wont be strong enough, so I'll re-do it at before track work with a bigger bolt to actually thread in properly as intended. Theres even a little slot for it to poke through!

Wallah! Such racecar. Many pro. So track. Wow



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As advised in a thread on here, $22 reverse LEDS from ALI Express..




Left one is the LED, and thats in the day


Both new

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So I decided I wasn't completely happy with the sound of my sub. Its a little boomy as I ended up building it too big for the slimline driver. I had three options: Either I make an internal fibreglass wall to reduce the inside size, OR, shove a couple blocks of wood or polystyrene in there lol, OR, put a full size non-slimline sub in there :p Option three sounds best but I didn't want to blow up the box either!!

So I ended up doing what I've wanted to try for a while: Make a sub out of the spare wheel

This is what I had to work with:


I taped up the entire thing...


Taped the inside really well...


Hit it with lots of oil...


Started the first layer of fibreglass


Couple layers done


Made the top sub support ring out of MDF, used a router on the inside edge for a nice finish. Two layers deep, with the second 16mm layer routed to 8mm to lower it even further. Lots of screws to make it secure and airtight




Now the fun part... Trying to get the bastard out! Holy crap is this material strong. COULD NOT get it out! Tearing pulling hammering the top and bottom, pulling the tape etc. Nothing worked. Could not dent it! Ended up having to saw it out with the intention of glassing it back together outside the wheel