DieselMonte

Found some pics of the rear drums on my phone. Hard to see but the screw is pretty chewed.

They're a little too chewed up to use an impact screwdriver on iirc. Hardly know where I could get those drill bits?

Good afternoon everyone, I want to remove the rear drums on my mk1 to try and get the handbrake to work. Problem is the screws that hold the drums on are seized solid. They won't budge with a screwdriver and all the drillbits i've tried to use to drill it out just seem to skip and don't drill it at all. Is there anything I can do to get them free? Thanks.

Yeah thats the one, I did mine cause I was that far in and it wasnt much more to get the two bushes from PSB.

Break in miles No Its been hovering near it for months now i've just not been out driving it enough to get it over. Chassis still feels stiffer than the montes before it got the brace and i'm not sure how.

More tidying up on the EvryMod front: It has a switch now, was turning it on and off doing pulls and its amazing how much of a difference it makes even on an sdi. Must make an insane difference on a tdi. Even still driving this and then getting into my mk2 makes that feel much faster in comparison.

If you're having an independent do it maybe splurge for the front bush too, while they're that far in I'm sure they won't mind. If I ever get to the point of renewing bushes on mine i'd go for those PSbushings ones. If they did top mounts and dogbone bushes I'd have gotten mine from them too.

Polyurethane bushes are almost always much easier to fit compared to normal rubber ones so if you're doing it yourself thats worth keeping in mind too. Edit:Too slow on the reply.

This might be of help, That thread doesnt include psbushings which I have in my mk2 and find them a good job. Heres the link for the bushes you're after. https://psbushings.co.uk/product/2-x-skoda-fabia-mk1-front-wishbone-rear-psb-poly-polyurethane-bush-1999-to-2007/ Fwiw I think those console bushes were uprated in later years to be an "X" type one that lasts a lot longer than the regular fabia ones, might be worth a look.

I've used literal wax before and never had an issue on any car, doesnt last that long for obvious reasons so in that sense its usually more hassle than its worth.

I find the edge of mine lifts if i'm going over 80 ""kph"", doesnt make a noise though. I find a bit of wax on the glass helps water come off easier.

I put a new set of Heyner blades on mine, replacing the same ones I put on last year. I find them decent enough and I did get a full year out of them.

I'll have a think of what I might need and get back to you. Getting a northern one or a uk one isn't as big of a problem for me, what I would do is register it in the north, strip it and scrap it and put all into my car. Genuinely would work out much much cheaper reshelling a vrs from the north than buying one of the very very few southern vRS', or importing one. Never seem to find any running fabias of any sort around here anyhow. EvryMod was done this evening, while I'm still fine tuning it theres definately a noticeable power bump from it. Pulls much better now and especially I've noticed it making more power at the top end. Don't worry this is only temporary, I plan on putting the potentiometer into one of the blanks to make it a little neater. I'll add a switch to the ""circuit"" too to turn it completely on or off at will. Pic of my horrid wiring, When I was stripping one of the wires it broke so I had to put a connection on it to join it back up. With this mod you join the potentiometer to the wires to pinout 2 and 3, there are proper connectors you can get to do this properly but I didn't have any handy so... I'll tape these up and "weatherproof" them a bit better next day. First video I took a while back of this car idling away normally. Then, with the EvryMod installed but set to the higher end of the potentiometer. And then with it set way down, running very rich. Took it out for a bit of "fine tuning" and testing. Was an absolute riot, car pulled very well, cornered well with the coilovers, seats did a great job holding me in and all.

Just really want to do the headliner to cover the mouldstains. Figure in this case black dye is the easiest way to do it. Ideally I'd get a rotten vRS out of The north or the UK and swap bits over. A fine idea but then you run into trouble with shipping one over or flying over and driving back with it. For now atleast a can of dye will do and if not, I'll just do without a headliner as I have done for the last few years, no harm done.

Seats are done and in. Started off by spraying them with a bit of vinegar to kill any mould that might be on them, let that do its job. Then I used some car plan stuff to clean the seats off. After that I set them infront of the heater to dry a little. Then I set about the insides, I wasn't going to touch them initially, but figured I may as well. For these I used a spray can of turtlewax stuff and in fairness it did a great job, did the door card fabric, boot carpet, floormat even the headliner with it. Needless to say thats used up basically the whole can. Had these out of the car, drivers floormats been put in the mk2 for winter. While these were drying I set about trying to clean up the headliner. Lot of mould. That damp looking spot is really just a hole where a mouse had made a nest between the headliner and the roof. And of all the spots, this nest was right above the drivers side. After a lot of effort, while it did clean it up a lot, its still got some mouldspots. I think I may have a go with some fabric dye and dye it black, might be worth a try. By this time the seats had dried a little bit but what I did was start the car and let it heat up, install the seats and all back in the car, and let the heater go full blast for about an hour. This worked and the seats felt dry as after. As much as I liked the passat seats, I think these fit better. Well happy with them so far. Still have to find, demould and reinstall the rear belts but its getting there. For its part the car ran sweet as, didn't have any trouble with it getting hot, infact the opposite. I let the temp gauge get to the middle before putting on the heater, I come back an hour later and the temp gauge is reading just barely on the quarter mark which I believe is the mark for operating temperature in this car. Be it a temp sensor or a thermostat there is something not right there but the car ran well regardless. Might take a break from the seats and do the evrymod next, not sure.

Progress made on the seats, decided to swap the seat bases as the passengers was significantly better than the drivers, like new even. Hard to show how much more bolstering there is on these seats but for comparison heres the original base off the mk1 next to the sport seats. Had to remove the passat seats prematurely as I needed to take the belt buckles off them, these seats did not come with them. Quick pic of the rear seats stacked into the back of the Matrix, to keep them dry. I'm really liking the bolstering on these seats and they aren't even in a car yet. Still have to give them a clean and then they can go in whichever car I decide. Come to think of It I could swear my mk1 originally had a lapbelt in the middle seat, but these have a 3 point middle belt. Fingers crossed this won't become an issue.

It already did smoke like hell! Its what it failed its NCT on all those years ago, hence why I got it. Used to smoke like **** in the fields but not since.

Yeah I figured something was missing from the cd changer . Doesn't make much odds to me I don't have much of a cd collection aside from what i found in the cars, an ed sheeran cd in the mk2 and a noel gallagher cd in the mk1. I'll keep the cd changer aside I think. Can't imagine it would be easy to retrofit into my car. Mine is a comfort, but doesnt even have ABS, originally had a lapbelt in the middle seat too, no A/C, no real frills except for the underseat storage which I've put into the mk2. Often wonder how it was never scrapped, An sdi is the same tax as a tdi or even a vrs here, 673 euro iirc. Insurance is about the same and fuel economy wouldn't make a big enough difference. Further still it was kept fairly well before I got it, had bilstein shocks, decent brakes etc. Considering its high miles, been wrecked and cobbled back together I can't see it ever being sold on. At the same time it would sicken me to see it scrapped after all I've been through with it. In regards to the evrymod, there was a thread recently in the mk1 forum with someone who has done it on their sdi and came back with positive results, I had heard about it before but hearing it makes a difference on these cars makes me want to see for myself.

Found these up on marketplace and had to have them. Set of fabia sport seats, I have the rears too but didnt take a picture of them. No rips, need a bit of a clean otherwise fine. In case you couldn't see these seats must have come from a fabia with an oem underseat cd changer. Not much use to me but still quite cool. These will most likely see their way into the mk1, unless I take a notion of putting them into the mk2. In that case the mk1 will get the mk2 seats and vice versa. Also got a potentiometer to do the evrymod on this thing, may as well. Hoping over winter I can gather up some odds and ends and make good progress on this.

I wouldn't go that far, prefer the 17s on it myself. Been driving on them for a while now and when the weather had been cold they were definately better at holding the road. Now the weathers dried up but its giving this week warm and very wet, I think they'll do fine. Certainly a different feeling with these on compared to the 17s, I can feel a lot more the tyres squirming around when entering a turn. Accelerating and braking takes a bit more caution, but nothing too bad and it seems to be less of a problem the more miles I put on them. Amazing how soft the tread blocks are on these tyres, probably explains a lot of the squirming.

Agreed, amazing what a bit of polish can do to even the most battered of cars out there.

So I put them on this evening: They're a touch larger than the 17s, I think they look good with a chunky tyre on. Seems to be plenty of clearance in the wheel wells anyway so won't rub, hopefully. The 312s are a tight fit but not touching.

Yep 195/50 R16 tyres. I didn't know 205/45 was a hard size to come by but I don't doubt it. I think I got these rims with 195/45 tyres on them, guessing thats because thats the easiest size to get that would fit? Looked fine on the mk1 but when I put then on the mk2 a while ago they looked very rubber bandy. I cannot see these lasting for 3 winters, I'll be happy if I get this winter out of them . It got down to 2°c last saturday here, in the daytime its about 10°c but I do most of driving most in the morning and evenings so its due time to get them on I think.

Nights are getting to 2°c here and daytime is rarely breaking 10°c. I have a set of winters ready to go, daft question but should I be putting them on now or am I being too premature? Car sees a fair bit of driving day or night, and our local council only ever seems to salt the roads once or twice in April when its not needed. Maybe i'm answering my own question...

I reckon they'll be too big, I've got a set of 16" spyders in a 195/50 size for winters and they seem to be the absolute biggest you can fit under a fabia without rubbage. For reference your tyre size is on the left and my tyre size is on the right.