Skoda Octavia vRS TDI 240bhp

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Upgrading the 5" mib1 to the latest Facelift 8" and Amundsen MIB2 from MY2017

So i did a quick trial fit so see what would work and with Component Protection active there is nothing working, no sound output, the Satnav does work though. The new FL screen doesn't work with the Bolero MIB1 you just get a blank screen but you do get sound.

here's the back of the FL Amundsen (blue connector) the Bolero is the white connector. You have to shave down the Bolero connector for the FL screen otherwise they don't fit. This works fine when connected to the MIB2 head unit.



white connector doesn't fit without shaving down.







MIB2 Amundsen head unit in and FL screen working together albeit with Component Protection.





i have to drill and fit the sharkfin to the roof and ill spray the whole roof skoda black magic.
 

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I broke out the chop saw and welder to fabricate some hanger brackets for the Eberspacher active sound, it's just a couple of pieces of 3mm 1 x 2 and welded to cuts from the old exhaust. It'll will be held on to the main section of the exhaust before the back boxes with heavy duty band clamps and a new hanger welded to the chassis. The unit weighs 7 KGs so will need more support

eberspachersound.jpg


mock up using the old exhaust

eberspachersound1.jpg
 

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ASU fitted and wired, tricky enough as the can high/low are small pins and brittle.

fixed to the new exhaust with three stainless clamps
20181006_153014.jpg


can low/high rewiring to plumb in the ASU loom

20181007_162434.jpg


Bluetooth control unit and ASU control unit. Its busy there and not a lot of room for the loom.

20181007_162442.jpg
 

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excuse the crappy old phone camera as i had to use the app on my good phone. Its windy and dark but you get the idea of the sound. the first few minutes are using the test bed which isn't a good representation of the sound, the second half you can hear the throttle control and six different sound profiles. Every profile can be changed and tweaked across several freqs.

 

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follow the factory stereo upgrade to MY18 8" screen and Nav system (waiting on the headunit coming back from poland) ive decided to upgrade the speakers and add a sub....

(hopefully this will be of some help for anyone with a MK3 who wants a 'better than factory and canton' setup)

So i'm prepping for an aftermarket sub and upgrade to the factory speakers while im waiting on the MIB2 flat screen upgrade to come back. The factory canton upgrade is just to weak for my taste at 200 rms for a sub, as i like it loud and hard
party0023.gif

To keep the OEM head unit and run an after market amp setup you need a few things. As the head unit will have bass roll off at above 75% volume to protect the canton sub if you have one, it wont work well with an after market sub as you just wont get decent bass at high volume. You will need the Audiocontrol LC7i (@£200) if you want to run a 5 channel setup, if you are happy with the factory speakers? then an LC2i will do the trick. It can amplify the bass on the fly to counteract the roll off using accubase. It has a few other clever features like GTO which uses signal sensing to turn the amps on rather than the ignition meaning you can have the sub even with the car turned off and you don't need a feed from the ignition just a single constant 12v.

here's a diagram...

LC7i_typicalinstall.jpg



Im waiting on a few bits coming from woofersetc.com including the Sundown Audio SA-10 D4 REV3 10" 750W RMS Dual 4-Ohm SA Series Subwoofer, rears = Sundown Audio NeoPro-6.5 V3 6.5" 360W RMS 4-Ohm Carbon Fiber Midrange Speaker (Pair), front components = Sundown Audio SA-6.5 CS V.2 - 6.5" 100W RMS Component Speakers System, and running these on two Alpine PDX subs the 1.100 for the sub and the 4.150 for mids and highs.

s-l1600.jpg


First thing is to route the main power line through the bulk head. (what a PITA this turned into)

Usually i would run 0/1 AWG but its very stiff and over kill for a smaller 10" sub so 4 AWG will be more than adequate. This is a pretty powerful sub for a 10" as it can handle 750w rms and peak at 2700W.

This was a hateful job as there is literally no space behind the fuse box. I took the fuse-box and glove box out which was a waste of an hour as there is still no access to the grommet from the footwell, everything is done by feel. There is one large grommet that passes through the firewall behind the battery so first thing is to take the battery out. Unscrew the holding plate at the front (13mm) after removing the terminals (10mm) put them out of the way so they cant spring back and make contact. Pull the battery towards you and lift up and out.

this is the grommet, its a few inches across and the wiring is wrapped tight with PU tape. You don't want to put another hole in it as there's no way to seal it properly again. You need to gentle cut the PU tape with a Stanley blade until you find the edge of the grommet and use a blunt driver to work it open enough to get an opening. This took me several tries pushing the wiring into the cabin but i had to give up as its way too tight and there's not much space. After an hour or so of head scratching and hand cramps i had to try something else as the fish tape was not strong enough to push through into the foot well either.

cutputape.jpg.3693ba39c513b5e8531c03ed9e0c8a66.jpg


Heres the grommet behind the battery on the right hand side, i wouldn't take it off as you would never have enough room to put it back on.



the only thing you need to remove inside is this piece of foam underneath the glove box.

underglovebox.jpg.5a7d646fd50d2a04784761e80c29379d.jpg


I used an old piece of brake pipe as it was flexible enough to bend but stiff enough to push through the grommet i used a blunt screw driver to lift the rubber boot enough to push the pipe into the foot well. Its a really tight squeeze behind the glove box and it took several tries to get the pipe with one finger and pull it down and through. I greased it to help but even this was difficult. I taped the 4 AWG to the brake pipe with PVC tape and pulled it back though so there would be no break in the original seal through the firewall.


firewall.jpg.bdfca29154ed1b96f3a28b17a7143cdb.jpg


Battery back in with the cable routed a down and along the side of the battery. I taped it up and cable tied it ready for connecting to a 100 amp fuse and then to the fuse box or battery. The main battery terminal isn't easy to connect to so i'll probably take it from the main power line into the fuse box as it has a nice handy 10mm bolt and hide the fuse under the lid as there seems to be enough space.

batterybackin.jpg.f55ed2bcdc28a5cd082a8b2fc973953a.jpg

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powerblock.jpg.f43dcaba013e952fb3cba8b9c228b4d4.jpg



there's more to follow as i get the amps wired for the speakers and decide where to fix them. I will be using the premade 10" boxes you can get on eBay as they are the just the right size and you couldn't make them for £80. 15L is the minimum sealed size for this sub anyway. I have some 12" type Rs which are amazing subs but not enough volume for a sealed box without sticking way out into the boot space.

more to follow as the gear arrives, stay tuned.
 

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If you swap out your head unit for an upgrade and you remove the component protection on the new MIB unit you want to install (skoda anyway) you lose most of the functionality (including maps) and it has to be reprogrammed. Just needs VCDS to output the setting for the infotainment module and the full VCDS file sent out with the unit.

There's only a handful of people can do it, most of them are in CZ or PL for skoda units. He can enable all the other extras like video in motion, skoda connect, apple car play, android auto etc, most importantly the 0-60 sprint timers and off road modules. 200 euro posted...
 
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I'm doing this step by step so ill add even the small stuff that most people miss like wiring and the harness i'm using. There is little to no info on Octavia MK3 how to upgrades on the net and those that are just skim over the important stuff.

I've got the CT10SK03 which has a full 52 pin populated. It's way to much as i will show the harness in the car has much much less. You can leave them but it makes the harness much bulkier and the lack of space behind the MIB head unit might be a problem. You can always keep the removed pins and put them back if you are adding reversing cameras etc at a later date. Im using an LC7i to sit between the factory head unit and the aftermarket amps. I was going to use an LC2i which fits in the space behind the screen on the dash but the 7i is too big and you want to have easy access to the controls for setting bass boost etc. The CT10SK03 has two iso connectors tailed off from the MOST connectors that go into the back of the MIB headunit. One is F+R speaker outputs and the other is constant 12v and you also have a blue ignition on for the amp automatic turn on. We wont use this as the LC7i has GTO. GTO senses speaker input from the headunit and sends the same signal to the aftermarket amp so no need to run a wire front to back for turn on.

CT10SK03 harness for MK3 MOST connectors. this sits between the headunit and the car harness.

20181023_171811.jpg.a3141ddcd53abcfbe3f39a118a2baa25.jpg


you can see there are a lot less wires in play on the factory side, the colours are also different but its not a big issue.



You need to run the speaker outputs from the take offs on this harness to the LC7i which will be in the rear of the car for this installation. The neatest way to do this is to use Stinger Speed wire (18 gauge 9 conductor Audio cable SWG9920). its a really tidy way to run the output at the 9 cores (8 speaker and 1 ignition source) are bundled in a 4AWG sized single wire.

20181023_173504.jpg.bae6ae36e1b910eede745794a057e992.jpg




20181023_173513.jpg.371fbe7dfbc16ba60bd9d7d77727d26e.jpg




20181023_173544.jpg.2878e7fec4e81101b65ca83738928f16.jpg
 

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We need to wire this into the ISO plug and attach it to the harness with this...

20181023_180224.jpg


conveniently its colour coded so even a dummy like me can manage it. Ive soldered the ISO harness and the Speed wire together and shrink wrapped for the safest connection.

20181023_172049.jpg.04578caa16b90bca2794ea19dd0a2696.jpg


20181023_173800.jpg.63836985d9b32188d826cf288058f515.jpg


before soldering the ends make sure you add the shrink wrap on first...

20181023_195333.jpg.5a55e085acc341bb11207511a351ea22.jpg


20181023_202321.jpg.7dd65fe9c686a5cc416baf6e0c329dc0.jpg




Ive finished off with tesa tape to give that factory look. And... always test for continuity with a multi meter, if you dont know how to do this you would be better getting a pro to do the install.

20181023_204049.jpg


the blue wire i've left in place just cable tied up, even though its not needed. We will also use a 12v source from the rear of the car rather than the other female take off on the CT10SK03 harness as its less wire to the back as well.

20181023_204705.jpg


With the connection above the output is going to the aftermarket only, you can unplug and plug the other brown ISO back into the CT10SK03 to reconnect the factory speakers. This will allow me do do all the wiring and amp and sub install first in prep for the speakers and still have sound.

Wiring will follow these lines, the SKODA vag MIB unit doesn't have a subwoofer output, the LC7i will sum the inputs from F+R speaker inputs and output a full frequency pre-amp signal to the sub woofer line out on the LC7i.

LC7i_typicalinstall.jpg
 
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That's delightful. So do you run new speaker wiring from the amp to individual speakers?
 

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That's delightful. So do you run new speaker wiring from the amp to individual speakers?

Yes, the Alpine PDXs have really handy pole'd connectors, i'll run the fronts to the crossovers then split the signal for the tweeters and the rears are a set of 6.5" mid ranges. The crossovers have a -3dB < 0dB > +3dB selector for the tweeters.


fronts...
group.jpg
4_376.jpg


rears....
neopro65-v3-8_pair_01_1.jpg
 

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Sub box arrived! very well wrapped and great quality. Well sealed inside and a perfect fit for the side space. I can't believe they can make and post this for £80! its got all the cut outs for the 12V power and lighting as well. Its a shade too dark but i have the correct colour carpet and will most likely recover the front. The Sub is on its way from the USA and I've ordered some cintra blown PVC board to mount the Amps/crossovers/power distribution and signal processor to. I'll mount the amps etc. to RHS wheel arch as there are a few mounting points. The updated Radio is on its way from Poland and i should get wiring and testing next week hopefully.

subbox1.jpg.76244d8c37075cbb124761bc957fc9d0.jpg


subbox3.jpg.0c4ea71d668f9f553944145acb605bd9.jpg


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I also had the shark-fin for the GPS done in (yes you've guessed it) carbon fibre. Just test mounting.... still to drill the hole and run the cable forward to the head unit.

sharkfin1.jpg.5db68e5b82455f70e154d9cc9f77b3e6.jpg


sharkfin2.jpg.1b821d8c06cdb46a33ff4182e07f25c4.jpg
 
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This is a noisy wee vrs lol.

Didnt sound like a Derv this morn when you had a bit of wheel spin !!
 

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After much head scratching i managed to get AA mirror working on the Amundsen head unit using a rooted S8+, what a bugger that was... bricked the phone 11 times! you normally have to wait 7 days when it fails (thanks samsung) but you can trick it by changing the clock. Anyway full functionality of Android Oreo 8.0.0 via Android Auto on the HU. Its the same method for any headunit with android auto

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what phone have you got? if its samsung i can probably help, im a bit of an expert at it now :laughing:. just rooted the samsung S5 in 30 secs. You can use the S5 as a client and connect the S8 wirelessly to the head unit. Wireless android auto! That will be my next trick. :cool:

Ive stripped out all the furniture from the back seat to the boot and when this damn weather eases up ill be sound proofing.
 

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I was looking at those sub boxes after seeing yours but unfortunately they're all tiny and dont have even close to the volume needed for the sub I'm planning on using. good for a ten or eight though
 
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