Kellaway's Fabia VRS

[kellaway86]

I have acquired on the 27/01/2016 a new toy, a 2007 Skoda Fabia VRS in red with 116k on the clock and full Skoda main dealer history.

 

The car has a few issues that need sorting and im aiming for a nice OEM+ Look.

 

I'm very happy to be in a car now with some power as ive been running around in a Pug 206 1.4hdi for the last few years to save money! 

 

I use to be the proud owner of this 306 gti 6

 

 

Unfortunately the running costs got out of hand and she had to go! Im hoping the Fabia can replace some of the excitement!

 

Here are some pictures from the advert on Ebay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are my pics a few days after getting her home!

 

 

 

 

 

So i spent the next couple of days gathering parts for a full service, Plumbers Gold for the doors, new Bosch Aero Retrofit wipers and fresh coolant as its looking like some one has mixed the original g12 with some other anti-freeze and its now turned a lovely shade of brown!

 

 

 

My current garage setup where i shall be carrying out most of the work on the Fabia!

 

 

So got the car in and on axel stands

 

 

Discovered this mess on the engine and undertray!

 

 

 

 

So I Dropped the oil and changed the filter.

 

 

 

Air filter next

 

 

Followed by Fuel

 

 

 

I had to give the engine under tray a good clean, spent nearly a hour cleaning it and the lower half of the engine!

 

 

 

Next onto the wipers, the ones on the car currently were very new, however im a big fan of Bosch Areo wipers so chucked these on.

 

 

 

 

Next it was time to seal up the rear doors, my rear carpets where quite wet.

 

 

Edited 6 February, 2016 by kellaway86

[kellaway86]

You can see here the water on the floor from where i have squeezed the carriers.

 

 

Weapon of choice 

 

 

Now sealed, excuse my not very neat sealant, but hey it wont be visible any way!

 

 

Near Side,

 

 

Next was dealer sticker removal.

 

 

 

Thats it for now, got some led goodies coming in the next few days and some other bits and bobs

[Gaz]

Nice to see you're not scared of sealant! 

 

Gaz

[FromTheDarkness]

Good work, maybe keep your eye on the coolant. Hope it wasn't contaminated with engine oil.

[kellaway86]

Yer, I was concerned at first. no other signs of impending doom at the moment. I'm hoping to flush and change the coolant this week then praying it doesn't return. I've seen in other vehicles when the coolant and oil have mixed from nackard oil coolers and this doesn't look the same.

[kellaway86]

So, bit of an update from the last week or so, not been able to do much to the Fabia due to having to change a clutch on my sisters Pug 207!

 

 

So first a lighting upgrade

 

 

Before

 

 

After

 

 

Interior before

 

 

After changing to led much brighter.

 

 

I had broken the rear door tweater cover when sealing the doors.

 

 

So changed that over, much better.

 

 

I was missing the lack of cup holders so the ash tray had to go!

 

 

 

 

 

Much better!

 

 

 

[kellaway86]

Next up replace the original number plates. The old ones had seen way better days!

 

 

 

So i pulled the front and was greated by this, the most stickiest crap ever

 

 

 

After alot of petrol, scrubbing swearing i had removed the old muck and stuck the new front plate on

 

 

Now onto the back, greeted with not as much mess!

 

 

old v new

 

 

after alot of cleaning again!

 

 

Makes the whole rear end look a lot fresher.

 

 

Changed the rear number plate lights to led also, before.

 

 

after

 

 

 

[kellaway86]

Next up was a bit of plasti dipping. 

 

Chrome Grill for the last time!

 

 

Popped off and ready for spraying!

 

 

and if by magic! 

 

 

Also gave the wheel nut covers a quick dip

 

 

 

Plans for the next few days are rear disc and pad change, brake fluid change and and hopefully if the weather is nice change the coolant!

 

 

 

[Hardcore]

It's coming along nicely and all tasteful mods on it so far

[kellaway86]

Few updates from the week.

 

First up was to change the standard head unit to the one from my old car, the colour doesn't match but it will do for now!

 

 

 

 

 

Testing the connections.

 

All installed, im hopeing to replace in the future with a nice android double din unit.

 

 

[kellaway86]

Next was to tackle the poor braking performance, had quite a lot of pedal travel and no real feel in the brakes.

 

The rears are my first point of call as they are looking very past their best.

 

So car jacked up

 

 

So the problems then began, i stick my 450nm impact wrench on the wheel nuts, hit the trigger and expect the nut to come flying out. Nope, nothing just hammering away with no sign of movement.      All the wheel nuts where frozen solid, after a lot of swearing and shouting jumping up and down on my breaker bar with the jack handle over it they finally they come loose! The problem seams to have been caused by over tightening at some point and the corrosion bond between the steel bolts and alloy wheel.

 

The offenders!

 

 

Finally with the wheel off i'm greeted by this.

 

 

Think they are due a replacement! 

 

First off remove the disc retaining screw, easy with the right tool.

 

 

 

Next remove the 13mm caliper retaining bolts.

 

 

No problems here

 

 

Disc removed with nice hits of the ball pein!

 

 

Front

 

 

Back

 

 

Nice crusty nipple removed next, yet again a few choice words where said!

 

 

Quick clean up 

 

 

Next push the pistons back with the brake bleeder open so not to force yucky fluid back into the system.

 

 

Some weight saving occurred, fell off with the slightest touch. Not planning on replacing them as not a MOT failure, and don't really see the need.

 

 

Bit of a clean up

 

 

 

 

Sliders re-greased with the correct red brake grease.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kellaway86]

New goodies!

 

 

 

 

 

All celaned up and ready to do, you dont have to go mad with the cooper slip, to much and it just attracts dirt.

 

Im going to be ordering some VRS green paint to give them a nice paint in the future.

 

 

 

All back together, looking like a big improvement.

 

 

While the wheel's are off best give the inside's a quick clean.

 

 

 

Finished off with cleaning the wheel bolts up, hopefully will stop them freezing solid again.

 

 

Other side was equally as bad

 

 

 

So stuck the new disc's and pads on, looking much better. 

 

 

Got more of an update to put on later today

 

 

 

 

[Hardcore]

I had similar swearing related problems with the rears on my Ibiza FR. When i removed the bleed nipples they came out with the caliper threads at the same time.

[kellaway86]

I had similar swearing related problems with the rears on my Ibiza FR. When i removed the bleed nipples they came out with the caliper threads at the same time.

 

I was very surprised when i was able to free all 4 nipples with out damage! Very touch and go lol

[kellaway86]

So next up was to do a full brake fluid change.

 

 

Was 4.99 for 1ltrs from ECP or 9.99 for 5ltrs, madness.

The Gunson Bleeder makes this job very easy!

 

 

 

 

So went round and managed to remove all the nipples with out breaking any! Gave them all a clean up with the wire wheel.

 

Bled a total of 2ltrs new fluid though the whole system with out any problems.

 

How ever, when checking over the front brakes.

 

 

Both sides lower slider pins where stuck solid. Managed to free the Offside one and discovered the reason!

 

 

COOPER SLIP!     

 

The rubber insert on the pin was completely swollen and nackard!

 

The drivers side i was unable to remove the pin at all probably due to the swollen rubber insert stopping it coming out the carrier, it would spin but not move forwards or backwards! 

 

After looking at the price of new slider pins (£22)   and the hassel of freeing up the other side I've decided to go down the 312mm brake upgrade route. 

 

The good news is that after changing the rear and the brake fluid i've not got quite a nice pedal feel back, cant wait to get the 312mm on!

 

So watch this space!

[Hardcore]

When i worked as an apprentice mechanic many years ago i remember the qualified ones putting copper slip on the sliders all the time.
It wasn't until later i discovered you need to use the specific stuff you mentioned a few posts above. 312mm conversion is a good choice. Practical and look great and not overly expensive.

[Hyphons]

Liking the level of detail so far

[kellaway86]

So had a day off work today and the Fabia had developed a annoying rattle sound in the rear so i set about to investigate!

First up she goes.

Think i have found the problem!

The spring washers have broken off allowing the exhaust shield to rattle on the exhaust.

So the first job was to consume these.

Then remove the spare wheel as i was going to pop rivet the shield back on.

Consumption of beer becomes clear, perfect repair material.

Left side

Right Side

All fixed, very solid now with 4 x rivets holding it up.

As that was a quick fix i decided since the spare was out would give the holder and the spare wheel a clean up.

Gave the wheel lock a clean up and grease.

Then i went and picked up some goodies for the weekend, here is a sneak peak of things to come

[hutchysrs50]

I just pulled the heat shield off, its loose on my other Fabia i've just bought and will be doing the same with that one!

[kellaway86]

I just pulled the heat shield off, its loose on my other Fabia i've just bought and will be doing the same with that one!

That was my plan at first, however it was In perfect nick apart from the fixing points, so decided to save it. However if it drops down again it's getting the chop!

[kellaway86]

312mm Brake Upgrade - Prep

So i won some Audi TT 2004 ATE 312mm Calipers, Carriers, nearly new disc's and pads off Ebay for an absolute steal! The next day i nipped up to Hartlepool to collect them.

They are in very nice condition, but a clean up and some paint is in order.

First off to free the bleed nipples and banjo bolts.

Then remove the calipers from the sliders

Pistons checked for free movement! Both fine.

Slider before

Slider after

Tool for the job!

All prepped ready for paint!

Couple of shots with the paint still wet.

After a day or so of drying!

Got a few things left to go before i'm going to install them, need to tap out all the holes to remove the paint from the threads and clean up some of the rubber parts and bleed nipples that

got paint on! The paint was a bit of a nightmare to work with in my cold garage!

Then nip to ECP pick up some new pads then hopefully all going well get them installed!

[kellaway86]

So got the 312MM Brakes on today!

Started out with getting her on axle stands

Before shot!

Wheel off.

Yummmy!

Drivers side

Yet again, dont bother if you dont have an Impact Screwdriver!

Loosen brake hose banjo bolt before removing caliper.

Remove 18mm carrier bolts! Boy they where tight.

Working them back and forward with the impact got them out!

Pry carrier and pads off!

Yum

Place old caliper out of the way for now.

Now, this is where things get interesting, I've had the car just over a month. I purchased it off a dealer who put on a full mot on the car on the day of collection. Now I've never liked how

the brakes felt since day one. Doing the rears and changing the fluid improved the feel of the brakes but they still wern't that great.

So you can imagine how happy i was to see the state of these discs and pads!

Now, im no mot tester but i cant see how these could pass!.

But here is the best part.

The friction material was completely separated from the back on the pad and was just loose inside of the caliper! Im very anoyed with the dealer and shall be paying him a visit Monday Morning.

[kellaway86]

Anyway moving on!

More weight saving occurred.

Nice carrier bolts.

Cleaned up.

Ready to go!

Disc and carrier back on

Brembo, the choice of champions apparently!

I decided to reuse the discs that i got as they turned out to be Brembo, how every the pads where cheap nasty Drytec. So opted for new.

Back together with the sliders greased in the proper grease.

Swapped the hose from the old caliper to the new and proceeded to pressure bleed.

Finished,

Im pleased to say im very chuffed with how they look.

So took her out for a test drive and WOW. I nearly put my self though the windscreen. Amazing pedal feel and lots of bite and no squirming around on breaking anymore!

Now I'm looking forward to Monday morning when i go have a "quiet" word with the dealer!

[joeyb]

Looking good. I fitted the same head unit to mine. I also fitted cup holders but went for the Lupo setup. Now to get my 312mm brakes fitted and the new rear brakes I've had for the last few months!

[Hardcore]

Is that pressure bleeder any good then? I tried one that was meant to suck the fluid from the nipple (lol) but it needed the nipple to be so loose, it caused air locks.