Braking Joy and Filter Heaven!?

[CLUSTER]

At last I have spent some money (other than ICE) and have now become the proud owner of brakes that work! I even got these under warranty as the old ones were 'binding' and were bloody awful - dealer went half way and paid for half the cost of new discs and pads all round. Not bedded in yet but these are so much better than what I had before that it is a different car.

Excellent!

Second, a popped up to Star Peformance on their Seat open day on the 24th and got a new filter fitted (K+N) and I (think!) I have actually noticed a slight difference in the responsiveness of the throttle - is this to be expected? No real noticeable difference in noise levels or anything like that but it does seem a little 'crisper'.

Quality!

Now onto the serious stuff! Still have some dosh to splash and require some additional input from you 'seasoned pros'. Got some costings on what I am classing as my stage one (a) up grades and (b) grades and just wanted to see what your thoughts were on my plans

Spoke to one of the guys at Star (not Jim) and he thought the following would be possible for my 2000 SLX (150 bhp) Octavia:

a)remap:£449 + VAT should get 190bhp but not sitchable due to drive by wire
a)exhaust:£312 incl fitting (Jetex)
b)springs: Eibach £140 inc VAT
b)suspension£325 inc VAT

Does this sound about right in terms of what to get done and in what order?
Forgot to ask about tuning type but I think it is APR (though they do have a Jabba link? Is it true that my 'drive by wire' limits my bhp to 190 and not the 200+bhp for newer cars? Is my car 'drive by wire'? I have a few days off in early November so wanted to get your thoughts on the above.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[KentStu]

Originally Posted by CLUSTER

... Any help greatly appreciated.

Think Nick (ncarring) is the man to ask on this as I think the SLX is what he has as well.

[SkodiRS]

I believe you DON'T have drive-by-wire that's why your are limited to around 190-200bhp.

Exhaust- cat back I presume...good price at £312 inc fitting.

Springds/Suspension - bit confused on this.....I guess you are having the Eibach springs but is this with dampers?

Don't forget to ask Jim about a Briskoda discount.

Yep Nick has a 1.8T SLX as well.

[Nigel26]

i'd have the exhaust done before the remap... dont think it will make massive differences to the overall output but its just the way i plan on doing mine... when the time comes obviously

[CLUSTER]

Thanks all so far! Just talked to Jim at Star Performance and he is suggesting that maybe best just going for the remap (which is a custome job due to the type of car I have - i.e. old) and this sounds to be good value at £525 all in. He also mentioned that I could do a reasonably cheap turbo upgrade (about £550 all in) to the KO3S which would put the car at over 230bhp - I would also need to remap as well on top of this so this would use up all of my budget. I think he was saying that it would be best to go for the remap as a first stage.

What a decision to make, but the cost difference is making think play safe!

[bengie]

i'd say wait and do the turbo and remap together otherwise you are chucking the 500 quid away.

seems more sense to me anywho

[Adoks]

Originally Posted by CLUSTER

Thanks all so far! Just talked to Jim at Star Performance and he is suggesting that maybe best just going for the remap (which is a custome job due to the type of car I have - i.e. old) and this sounds to be good value at £525 all in. He also mentioned that I could do a reasonably cheap turbo upgrade (about £550 all in) to the KO3S which would put the car at over 230bhp - I would also need to remap as well on top of this so this would use up all of my budget. I think he was saying that it would be best to go for the remap as a first stage.

What a decision to make, but the cost difference is making think play safe!

My 1999 SLX was chipped by Jim, I reckon the chip is enough for the standard brakes & springs and probably the gearbox/ clutch, let me know if you need any other information.

Adoks

[GaryM]

I totally agree with Bengie, get the K03s and a Samco TIP or one off a later DBW engine then get it remapped.
It will be much better and cheaper in the long run and as you say you'll be running 220-230ish bhp.

[CLUSTER]

Originally Posted by Adoks

My 1999 SLX was chipped by Jim, I reckon the chip is enough for the standard brakes & springs and probably the gearbox/ clutch, let me know if you need any other information.

Adoks

Thanks for the advice. Thought me and Nick were the only SLX guys around - nice to see someone else on here. Do you live in Scotland too?

Anyway I am still thinking about whether or not I should get some others bits and pieces done - what other stuff have you had done to to your car? I think a remap sounds like a good first step and my brakes are totally new having just been replaced (factory standard although they do look a bit different to the discs I had on it originally). I find the handling a bit sloppy at times and was seriously considering getting some upgrades to the dampers and/or suspension - Star have mentioned a cost of aorund £450 all in for this as a suspension and damper upgrade - have you had anything like this done?

Going in to see Jim next week - probably Wednesday so will talk to him a bit more before then and it would good to get your views on some of the issues I have raised - is it the 150bhp version that you have or the 125bhp? Must admit I love my car - though some of the door rattles are a bit annoying and have got worse since I fitted the new stereo (must have put the door trim back on and left something loose I think).

Anyway, speak to you soon!

[Adoks]

Cluster,

1999 1.8T SLX (AGU, NDBW) 150hp std now 190
Bespoke St/St exhaust (Powerflow)
Live in Scotland (West Calder)
Standard but new brakes
Original suspension & wheels
New DV (710N) & MAF (MAF was replaced under warranty) & green temp. sensor
Standard turbo (K03)
New map by Jim @ Star (210ft/lb torque)
Drives smooth like standard, but much harder especially between 2~3K rpm
If you are going to over 220hp then upgrade the suspension, the brakes maybe OK, but I guess it all depends what you want & how much you want to spend
If budget is £500 get the map
If budget is £2K get the K03S and suspension
Let me know how you get on.

Regards
Adoks

[CLUSTER]

Originally Posted by Adoks

Cluster,

1999 1.8T SLX (AGU, NDBW) 150hp std now 190
Bespoke St/St exhaust (Powerflow)
Live in Scotland (West Calder)
Standard but new brakes
Original suspension & wheels
New DV (710N) & MAF (MAF was replaced under warranty) & green temp. sensor
Standard turbo (K03)
New map by Jim @ Star (210ft/lb torque)
Drives smooth like standard, but much harder especially between 2~3K rpm
If you are going to over 220hp then upgrade the suspension, the brakes maybe OK, but I guess it all depends what you want & how much you want to spend
If budget is £500 get the map
If budget is £2K get the K03S and suspension
Let me know how you get on.

Regards
Adoks

Hi! Got the work done and very happy with results. Got 192 bhp with 145 at the wheels. Torque is now totally brilliant at 205 lbf/ft - the pull is really amazing compared to standard. Really learnt a lot about what remapping does which is great coz I am a newbie to all of this. Not really into 'chasing numbers' just really pleased at the difference based on the money spent.

Also Jim did some plots which show how other tuners can get bigger numbers all through changing the air pressure input to the machine - he did mine as it was on the day (1005 millibars) and the difference if this was put to something like 900 is unreal. I think this does make a huge difference to numbers and kind of answers some people who have slagged off Star a bit - I think he is dead honest and does everything by the book. On the Star threads lots of people have questioned the 'numbers' he has on his RR, sorry but I think his machine is very accurate as it read my standard at what it should be. Anyway I am pleased and I am sure you are too.

Only one real issue he did a throttle adjustment on mine due to some throuttle problems at idle (revs were wavering a little from around 700 to 900) this has settled down now but on a first cold start the revs sit at 1,100 and then die down once warm - not usre if this is good ro bad but i'll get in touch with Jim to see if it needs rectified.

Are your figures similar to mine on the new output and loss to the wheels? This seems to be what everyone is arguing baout elsewhere on the site but again it doesn't really bother me much - I just know my car is flying just the way I want it now. As for the future not sure where to go next with it but really pretty happy as is - may get an exhaust fitted but will wait till next year. Don't really want to go for k03s as this is expensive and I am sure I would need to get a whole host of things done to deal with the extra power. The slippery slope has halted for the moment....but you never know!!

Cheers

[SkodiRS]

Originally Posted by CLUSTER

Only one real issue he did a throttle adjustment on mine due to some throuttle problems at idle (revs were wavering a little from around 700 to 900) this has settled down now but on a first cold start the revs sit at 1,100 and then die down once warm - not usre if this is good ro bad but i'll get in touch with Jim to see if it needs rectified.

After a cold start will idle above 1krm and then settle to around 900rpm after a couple of minutes.....it's normal.

Glad you are enjoying the mods and have had a good experience of Jim's/Star's work.

[Adoks]

Originally Posted by CLUSTER

Hi! Got the work done and very happy with results. Got 192 bhp with 145 at the wheels. Torque is now totally brilliant at 205 lbf/ft - the pull is really amazing compared to standard. Really learnt a lot about what remapping does which is great coz I am a newbie to all of this. Not really into 'chasing numbers' just really pleased at the difference based on the money spent.

Also Jim did some plots which show how other tuners can get bigger numbers all through changing the air pressure input to the machine - he did mine as it was on the day (1005 millibars) and the difference if this was put to something like 900 is unreal. I think this does make a huge difference to numbers and kind of answers some people who have slagged off Star a bit - I think he is dead honest and does everything by the book. On the Star threads lots of people have questioned the 'numbers' he has on his RR, sorry but I think his machine is very accurate as it read my standard at what it should be. Anyway I am pleased and I am sure you are too.

Only one real issue he did a throttle adjustment on mine due to some throuttle problems at idle (revs were wavering a little from around 700 to 900) this has settled down now but on a first cold start the revs sit at 1,100 and then die down once warm - not usre if this is good ro bad but i'll get in touch with Jim to see if it needs rectified.

Are your figures similar to mine on the new output and loss to the wheels? This seems to be what everyone is arguing baout elsewhere on the site but again it doesn't really bother me much - I just know my car is flying just the way I want it now. As for the future not sure where to go next with it but really pretty happy as is - may get an exhaust fitted but will wait till next year. Don't really want to go for k03s as this is expensive and I am sure I would need to get a whole host of things done to deal with the extra power. The slippery slope has halted for the moment....but you never know!!

Cheers

If you are happy with how it is running that is the main thing, dyno figures, especially engine output are questionable so many variables, my figures are very similiar to yours.

Adoks

[Thomas]

Hi I saw Jim about 2 weeks ago. I took my 150bhp (drive by wire) up to him. He fitted a dump valve as my original valve was cracked, K+N filter and remapped it. Got 190bhp, 150bhp at the wheel and 200lb torque. Just to say I too was very happy with the service, honest and acurate readings. Going back soon to get;
1) Full system exhaust 205bhp
2) Upgraded turbo 225-230 bhp