Tdi 1.9 Skoda Octavia! Gunning for the Panzerwagon-10th place challenge 08/13/15

[320touring]

4TH Tank in on this today-

Had to bash 5l of veg and 6l of derv in until I could get to the veg supply.

786.7 miles covered and 56L of fuel used (50L wvo, 6L derv)

cannae complain at 63.86mpg!

[320touring]

Also, now in 13th place...

[320touring]

Minor update on this today- Got to the bottom of the rattling noise from the boot area, even when empty- a good few shells and other assorted stuff in the spare wheel well. Cheeky shotgun shell too?


Stripped down the other rear drum and got the Wheel Cylinder swapped over- Glad to have some peace of mind, and would have been rude not to as new ones were £8 each

[320touring]

back down to 15th place with the last tank- 22 runs at the 1/4 me will do that to your mpg!

Miles: 673.2
Gallons: 14.06us/11.71imp

mpg 47.89us/ 57.5mpg imp

[320touring]

Hammered this down to a Classic Car show near Chester a couple of weekends back-

performed without fault, and papped a happy 63.08mpg for the 766 miles covered

To this end, I'd decided that I should actually see what she is needing to see her MOT in Dec.

All the brakes have been done, so my focus was more on the suspension and exhaust.

All 4 tyres could do with replacing soon-can get them for circa £35 a corner (Uniroyal rain experts) in super comfy 195/65/15.

Onto the suspension then..

Front arm rear bushes




Balljoints




the front bushes seemed fine too- no real deflection when a jemmy was applied- so it looks like both front arms are in servicable condition.

The CV boots were spot on, as werr the track rod ends. That said, the front tyres are feathering on the inside edge so tracking could do with being done - likely pick it up when doing the tyres



The ARB droplinks looked ok, but are so damn cheap they may get done regardless



It seems the big issue with the suspension is that after 190k miles the dampers are pretty much done..

this was the best looking of the 4.


Replacements come in at circa £150 for 4 Bilstein B4-not too bad. Big buggeration will be trying to get the 13 year old bolts to shift from topmonts and the lower mount points.

They seem to be a common failure point- but replacements can be collected from the dealer.

[320touring]

Next up was the exhaust -

Been blowing really badly since I got the car- turns out it was due to the fact that the front section of pipe was in no way, shape or form attached to the rest!

it had been previously bodged with jubilee clips and a roll of metal.

Nae stuff in stock to fix it today, so faffed it back together as well as it could be.



A replacement appears to be about £50 - again, swearing at bolts is the likely issue

[syncro_user]

That catalysor thing on the right there is well worth removing if not needed for mot. I drilled then hammered the internals out for a 0.1-0.2LHK gain. Unfortunately I didn't measure back pressure before and after so can't really quantify the results.

[320touring]

As part of the general going over I did the usual fluid level checks.

Coolant/brake fluid all spot on, jowever the Oil level was ABOVE maximum..

This is a sign that the WVO is getting past the piston rings- and collecting in the sump.

The car is still running well, no obvious running issues and no MPG drop

Obviously this is not ideal! I took the most sensible path possible, based on the fact that it is a supercheap beater -

I dropped some oil out the sump and topped it up to max with fresh oil.



Over the last 4000miles it appeared to be approx 500ml- will keep an eye on it.

[320touring]

here are some pics from my most recent outing to York Raceway..
Both cars were driven by mates of mine, and I attended in the Octavia (As per!)

Volvo 740 2.3 turbo Auto- fastest time 17.05


Peugeot 106 1.1 5speed- fastest time 19.37



fuguttycars.wordpress.com/2015/09/23/racing-to-return-to-the-fold/

[320touring]

Last tank in.. 953 miles on 77.24L

Not bad for drag racing and lots of Motorway work at National speed limits

5.03 L/100 km
46.73 mpg (US)
56.11 mpg (Imp)