THE MK1 OCTAVIA VRS GETS ALL NEW SUSPENSION PARTS! Part 2

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:05]Hey guys, welcome back to another video on the Octavia vRS now.

[00:00:09]We've got a lot to be cracking on with, but so yeah, in the last video we actually got the brand new rear axle on and all the kind of bits around it. Um then actually at the time I'd the brake calipers and carrier sent away to get painted cuz I was on holiday in Tenerife.

[00:00:24]>> [snorts] >> But we've got everything back and we can get everything on. We also have basically There's no other way of There's no other way of saying it. We have all brand new parts for the front end.

[00:00:34]Wishbones, subframe, the lot. I'm very excited for this video, guys. I've put so much work into this car. It's cost me quite a bit of money as well, but it's going to be so worth it. I do have plans for tuning this car as well.

[00:00:44]I think for this kind of platform I would like to get maybe like 250 brake out of it, so you know, like we've got lots of plans for this. I really hope you stick around and enjoy this series.

[00:00:52]And I really want to kind of smash 7,000 subscribers. Um kind of growth of the channel recently has gone a bit stale, so I'd really appreciate if you give this video a thumbs up and subscribe if you're like a new If you've watched this video and you've not actually subscribed yet, that'd be a brilliant. Really appreciate that.

[00:01:05]But without further ado, let's get started.

[00:01:12]This is really awkward to have to do this, but I mean kind of need to So as you can see it doesn't This It does come.

[00:01:19]It's quite tight, but it does come.

[00:01:21]Thing is, right, this is actually quite a rusty Also it's quite rusty, but everything is seems to be coming out quite easily, so that's not too bad.

[00:01:27]And in case anyone's wondering for the bottom ball joint on this car, it's a 19 mil spanner. Do not put on the the incorrect size or a size too big or you will round it and you won't get it off.

[00:01:35]It'll be an absolute pain in the backside, so That took a lot longer than expected, if I'm honest.

[00:01:49]Right guys, I want to give you a quick rundown on how to remove this subframe because um I actually completely forgot.

[00:01:54]So anyway, yeah, we disconnected both ball joints here and there. You've got drop links to disconnect, too.

[00:02:01]Um there's about four bolts here and there. I'll show you where they are for the steering rack. So, if you need disconnect the steering rack, then it could just sit above the um subframe and it'll be okay. Then we've got a gearbox mount here which is held on by about four bolt four bolts in total, but we're just only going to We're only going to disconnect it at the gearbox, drop it down, and then I'll see I might actually replace that gearbox mount to be honest.

[00:02:24]Then to remove the subframe itself, there are two bolts connected back up.

[00:02:29]Not sure if you can see very well. It's quite hard to see, but there's like two bolts at the back. And there's two more just above the wish bolts. I'll show you where they are.

[00:02:36]So, with that being said, let's remove the subframe.

[00:02:39]All right, so here are the two bolts for the steering rack. There's two there.

[00:02:42]And there's two more at the other side.

[00:02:43]This is really difficult, guys. I'm not sure >> [snorts] >> Sorry. They're about I think they are a 13 mil um depending on how corroded they are.

[00:02:51]Uh be careful when you're actually taking these bolts out because they're quite long, and they might potentially snap. The subframe bolts, the main ones here are a 20 mm.

[00:03:00]And it's the same for all four bolts.

[00:03:02]They're all 20 mm and they're 13s.

[00:03:04]So, let's get the big bolts out now.

[00:03:50]All right, this is the last bolt out.

[00:03:53]And now we should be ready to drop this old subframe.

[00:04:11]I want this stuff on top.

[00:04:16]For [ __ ] sake.

[00:04:42]Mhm.

[00:04:45]It's actually not that bad condition if I'm honest, but I mean, look at it.

[00:04:49]All right, so the plan of action is obviously we need to strip this down.

[00:04:52]Obviously, don't need the wishbones, but we do need the nuts and bolts. And they're actually in okay condition, which is great.

[00:04:58]So, obviously the top of the subframe is actually fared quite well in terms of corrosion. It's actually not too bad.

[00:05:03]Same as the anti-roll bar. It's actually not too bad as well. Um I have bought I don't know if you can see because of the sun, but I have bought brand new polyurethane bushes for the anti-roll bar. For here as well, obviously. Um this actually looks okay.

[00:05:16]There's not really any excessive play. Now, it's quite sturdy, so I don't think I'll bother replacing this. I'll just clean it up.

[00:05:22]I'll just paint the bracket, etc. So, anyway, obviously we need these bolts. I did try and find brand new bolts for these. I don't think I could find anywhere, which is It's not the end of the world. They were Oh.

[00:05:48]There's the anti-roll bar off now.

[00:06:07]Yikes.

[00:06:28]Right, that's the anti-roll bar. Going to give it a quick bit of paint. I wasn't too fussy. Like, a lot of it you're not going to see anyway, but regardless, I found like Really? Um I found like a bit of paint just It's empty now. I mean, there must have been like a tiny amount left in that. But, I used it on just made the anti-roll bar look a little bit better.

[00:06:48]I mean, I just went over it roughly with some Was it Scotch-Brite and some sandpaper just to get like semi-smooth.

[00:06:53]But, I think regardless, guys, I mean, come on.

[00:06:55]Like, that looks a million times better than it would have than when it was removed from the car.

[00:07:01]As goes for the brackets now. I mean, I've got a lot of spare paint. I'm just using it. Do you know what I mean? Like, but cannot wait. This car is going to look sick when it's done.

[00:07:10]Right, guys. As you can probably tell, I was I was just away to obviously assemble the subframe until we encountered a problem. A problem I don't quite understand at this moment in time.

[00:07:20]So, let me show you what that problem is. And it's quite a big problem if I'm honest. Right. So, here is the anti-roll bar bracket, right?

[00:07:29]Now, if I put it on here, give me a minute. If I put it on there, as you can see, the bolt hole lines up perfectly.

[00:07:36]But, if I take this off here, I put it on here, like, 2 seconds.

[00:07:42]The bolt hole does not line up.

[00:07:45]I mean, you can probably tell yourselves right now that's just not the same. I don't understand why.

[00:07:50]Everything else is the same.

[00:07:53]Everything else is the same. It's just that.

[00:07:55]So, I have absolutely no idea what to do.

[00:08:00]I could potentially modify stuff to get things to work, but then that's just not doing it properly.

[00:08:05]I have absolutely no idea what to do right now.

[00:08:09]But, trust me, I will find out what the hell to do.

[00:08:12]Right guys, so I've got bad bad news.

[00:08:13]So, it's really windy and I'm quite pissed off. So, turns out this is the wrong subframe, which is kind of impossible, but this subframe is scrap. So, the plan is going to use this one here.

[00:08:25]It looks terrible, but I'm going to get it like cleaned up and painted.

[00:08:29]Um it looks a lot worse than it actually does, believe it or not. So, really pissed off about this one, to be honest. I mean, it's like I paid 80 quid for that. I mean, it's literally like it's scrap.

[00:08:41]So, unfortunately, I think the [ __ ] plan is I'm just going to go over it.

[00:08:44]Well, not right this second, but probably tomorrow. Uh go go over it with the uh wire thing on the grinder, and then just just get it cleaned up and just put it back on. I mean, let's be honest, it's not that bad anyway. It's just a It's got a lot of like light surface rust. There's no actual heavy corrosion. That was like what was it? 87 quid for that brand new subframe. So, I mean, fitment issues were to be expected. So, if you are watching this, do not wha- Whatever you do, do not buy a eBay subframe. They are honestly like the amount of fitment issues I encountered with that was ridiculous, and then it ended up there was some things that just wasn't going to work. Like, the main issue I had was the brackets and all that. It's just it was a no-go. And it's I'm not even going to go into it, cuz it's it's just going to stress me out, but yeah, that subframe's toast now, if I'm honest.

[00:09:28]That's what I would have wanted it to anyway. So, yeah, anyway, let's [snorts] um I'm not going to show you, because we already kind of know what the situation is. I'll get the subframe done, and let's just let's just get this car back together again.

[00:09:38]Right guys, that is the subframe now done. It took me a good 8.20 minutes to get all the rust off. I was using the grinder etc, but it's come out actually really good. Uh actually this is the side that faces the ground, so it's going to be a tiny bit more rougher than the other side.

[00:09:51]But, as you can see cuz of the sun, but it's actually come out really really good. So, I'm super happy with that. So, all that's left to do now is get on the car.

[00:10:03]We will not be beaten on this channel.

[00:10:05]We get things done on here.

[00:10:32]Right, I'm not going to lie, that was a massive pain in the ass trying to get this all lined up. It wasn't too bad, but now just try to get these see if these uh the steering rack bolts in just so the steering rack's in place cuz on this specific side and this specific hole, there's like a locator pin on the actual uh steering rack itself.

[00:10:52]Uh now these these actually these bolts are actually going in really nicely because when I uh basically had the subframe off, I chased all the threads etc, so it's all good.

[00:11:02]But yeah, everything's coming together nicely.

[00:11:26]Right, that's the gearbox mount on and I will say right, I think these washers are a bit overkill, but I mean, they do fit.

[00:11:32]I kind of underestimated how big they were, but I mean, uh whatever. It's all in anyway. Also, even though this subframe was an absolute pain in the arse to get on, I will say everything's looking really nice, to be fair. I mean, it is a shame I couldn't use the brand new one, but it just wasn't fit for purpose, so at least this one's good anyway. Anyway, I think the next job is wishbones.

[00:12:07]Luckily, when I was actually rummaging about in the shed, I actually managed to find brand new bolts for here. Not the back ones, but just for these kind of two front ones. As you can see they are they're brand new, so that was a good find.

[00:12:21]Oh, yeah, and this could be a little bit awkward to get to, so my advice is get yourself a swan neck spanner, and then it quite literally just fits on there.

[00:12:33]And it just fits on there perfectly.

[00:12:35]Now, obviously, I will be like torquing everything down, like subframe bolts, wishbones. Um if I if I can't find the torque settings, I'll link it in the description below. But, let's be honest, right? They just need to be effing tight. That's all you need to know. I mean, they are big, beefy bolts for the wishbones and subframe, so you're not going to snap them in a hurry unless you're doing something silly, but um yeah, I I'll think I think one of them is like 120 newton meters. I can't remember which one it was again, but um it's going to be uh it seems to be quite mint when it's done.

[00:13:04]Nice.

[00:13:49]>> [snorts] >> Right, I think we'll both agree that that looks so much better. I mean, just look at everything's brand new. Well, apart from the shock cuz obviously I'm actually putting in coilovers in the future obviously, but I mean, these are absolutely fine for now.

[00:14:09]Um I guess the few things that are few things that are not brand new is things like the drive shaft and all the rest of it, but I think we'll agree that looks amazing. Um a little bit of surface rust on here because obviously these have been sitting in the shed. I think moisture has just gotten into it and all that, but this will also clean off when I start driving it.

[00:14:24]Um Right, I'm almost I'm almost certainly not going to film me doing the driver's side because you've already seen me do this side, but we are going to move on to the rear brakes.

[00:15:05]Right, that is the suspension on the Mark 1 Octavia vRS I would say complete.

[00:15:11]Obviously, I've got a lot of like all kind of things to do such as like like buttoning up things and bits and bobs, securing obviously these brake pipes, parking things down, just giving everything a once over, making sure everything's like, you know, obviously okay before I actually put it down the ground. But then again, we are not finished. We have need to service the engine. We got lots more to be doing, believe it or not, which you will see in the next video. But for now, we're done.

[00:15:35]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Oh, I don't think just because all this is done, we're finished. We have got a lot more work to do. Not quite too sure at the moment in time, but we do have quite a lot. And obviously, as as I said, I need to like bleed the brakes do this boring stuff off camera. So, in the next video, oh, well, we'll we'll have lots more.

[00:16:10]There'll probably be more things I'll find that need done. So, anyway, we've got lots more to do anyway. I'll see you guys in the next video. Please like, comment, and subscribe.

[00:16:17]Thank you for watching.