Lofty's Sprint Yellow Fabia vRS Mk1 - "Project Daffodil"

[Lofty]

Had a busy weekend, not on the car though lol! Have managed a few jobs this evening though.

Got the newly painted oil filter housing fitted with a new gasket

 

 

I'm currently sorting out the oil cooler set up so that'll be fitted later.

Had to order a new plastic moulding that goes behind the cambelt as the old one broke on removal.

 

 

 

I dug out the new cambelt kit

 

 

 

Fitted the water pump, put the belt on the bottom pulley and the plastic backing plate

 

 

Fitted the stud and nut conversion to replace the OE pd150 head bolts I'd run previously

 

 

 

The engine was wound over to get the pistons to TDC and measured the piston protrusion and got a max reading of 1.2mm which necessitates the fitment of the three hole 2.0 PD 8v head gasket which I'll get from TPS tomorrow.

Hopefully I'll get the head ready for fitting some time this week

Edited 29 March, 2021 by Lofty

[Lofty]

Not content with the engine work going on I'm gathering the rest of the hardware round me for the underneath restoration.

Daniel aka Danham off here kindly donated me a spare rear axle beam which he had off the previous owner of his reacquainted Fabia vRS.

 

 

 

Intact apart from the rear brakes the plan is to strip it down to the bare beam, flap wheel all the manufacturing welding snots off it, get it shot blasted then powder coated in gloss black to match the front subframe.

End caps off to reveal the hub nuts.

 

 

 

Gave me a chance to use the new Bergen multi point sockets

 

 

Hub bearings off to get to the stub axle

 

 

Stub axle removed and the disc backing plates with them.

 

 

 

 

Removed the rear spring seats that are often rotted completely out.

 

 

Brake pipe clips were unscrewed and then it was fetched into the garage to get the existing power flex bushes out. Easier said than done as they were stuck fast with the corrosion on the inside of the beam..

Some not very pleasant burning/melting of them finally got the buggers out..

 

 

I'll be attacking it soon with the flap wheel in the grinder then it'll be heading over to the powdercoaters with a load of other bits.

Edited 29 March, 2021 by Lofty

[pip_vrs]

Does the powder coater not blast them anyway?

I've recently dropped a few bit off, he uses different sand/water etc blasters depending on the material and how corroded they are.

[Lofty]

He will blast them but the rear beams are always peppered with welding splatter from when they were first built, the blasting wouldn't get rid of that so I'll flap wheel it all over to get rid of those before it goes in, I want it back flawless if at all possible

[Dark_Hero]

It will almost be a shame to use the car in the road after all the work going on underneath

[pip_vrs]

It will almost be a shame to use the car in the road after all the work going on underneath

 

This is my thought after every update :D

[skodalad]

Brilliant progress as usual, I like the silver against the crinkle black!

 

Looking forward to the next update

[Lofty]

 

Three hole head gasket is now here

 

 

so of course the heads been fitted. The stud and nut kit is nice to use, simple torquing up process as well

 

 

[Dark_Hero]

I like the look and idea of the stud and nut conversion, but are they worth the cost?

[Lofty]

Yeah they supposedly offer a stronger clamping force than just headbolts alone so will hopefully handle the boost better

[Lofty]

 

Cheeky close up of the inlet port. Just for Coskev 

[coskev]

Dimpled headed 'C U Next Tuesday'

[Dark_Hero]

6 hours ago, Lofty said:

Yeah they supposedly offer a stronger clamping force than just headbolts alone so will hopefully handle the boost better

I remembered after I posted that you'll be running quite high boost once its done

[Lofty]

Hopefully about 2.7 bar... fingers crossed that'll be enough 

[chris-H]

On 1/26/2017 at 05:56, Lofty said:

 

Cheeky close up of the inlet port. Just for Coskev 

 

" Engineering "

 

 

that is all

[Lofty]

Another few hours tonight doing small time consuming fiddly jobs. 

 

Fitted the new genuine thermostat, gasket and bolts.

 

 

New injector loom

 

 

Fitted the cam and crank sensors, fitted the new water pipe across the front of the block and got the tandem pump fittings ready also

 

 

 

The oil cooler and oil pressure switch/turbo oil feed pipe are next up for fitting, then I can turn my attention to the back of the block and dry fit the tubular manifold, turbo etc so I can sort out an aeroquip oil drain return pipe

 

 

[skodalad]

14 hours ago, Lofty said:

Another few hours tonight doing small time consuming fiddly jobs. 

 

Fitted the new genuine thermostat, gasket and bolts.

 

 

New injector loom

 

 

Fitted the cam and crank sensors, fitted the new water pipe across the front of the block and got the tandem pump fittings ready also

 

 

 

The oil cooler and oil pressure switch/turbo oil feed pipe are next up for fitting, then I can turn my attention to the back of the block and dry fit the tubular manifold, turbo etc so I can sort out an aeroquip oil drain return pipe

 

 

 

I come to this thread for OCD satisfaction

 

So good.

[pip_vrs]

Whats the deal with the gold bolts? Have you coated/painted them or bought like it? I may have missed you mention it. Looks good against the black. 

[Lofty]

Phil, mixture of Zinc plated and painted. 

 

When i I restored the 306 GTI6 I used all Zinc plates ones, but they don't last too long in the exposed areas, hence the painted finish on some just to finish it off better and give them more protection than untreated ones. 

 

Plus us I like it lol

[Lofty]

Five minutes outside tonight saw me clean up the water pipe fitting where the coolant temp sensor lives.

 

 

this was how it looked. Now it seems like false economy to me not to replace the sensors and seals as I go as the rest of it is brand new, so I picked up from TPS today.. new CTS, seal for CTS, new plastic circlip and the o ring for the water housing.

 

 

And all fitted up.

 

 

more tomorrow hopefully 

[alex_e3]

Errr... what's going on? You've blatantly tried to deceive us here. Last picture has the tubular on...

 

Sort it out lad - where's the update for that?! Slacking!!

[Lofty]

Lol. Tubular and turbo are just hanging on the studs at the moment for measuring purposes.. proper update on those once they've been fettled 

[duck]

What clutch are you going to be using? I guess you will be quiet easily over 400lbs torque.

 

p.s. enjoying the build 

[stevobeavo]

Probably Techni-clutch, only the best for lofty.

[Lofty]

1 hour ago, duck said:

What clutch are you going to be using? I guess you will be quiet easily over 400lbs torque.

 

p.s. enjoying the build 

Not got round to clutch thoughts yet, it'll probably be a SMF solution, and general consensus is that the quietest one, i.e. The heaviest one is the Valeo, what friction plate and pressure plate I mate with that.. who knows.

 

I have had the gearbox back from the rebuild, had to have the inner case machined from the inside so he could fit a bearing into the case to support the end of the main shaft and stop any future issues, a number of new bearings and all new seals. The Peloquin limited slip diff was in perfect condition which was a relief