DieselMonte

I have some universal ones on my car, they work well and are nice to have given our roads. If I were to do it again I would have took more time and done a neater job, but they have held up well regardless. Great thing about here is that 99% of cars run mud guards or mud flaps so spray is not as bad from cars infront. Cars only low in that first picture because It was full up with people and luggage. Haven't joined the agri spec scene just yet.

Nice! Have you noticed any difference driving it?

Would be the same as a 1.9tdi evrymod, exact same so just search for it as such. Again, doubt there'll be gains from it but i'd like to hear how you get on.

I'll be going on another small trip next week, so I took the time today to do 2 things that I've wanted to do since I got the car. First up, fix the seatbelt. I only fixed the passengers side belt as it was much worse than the drivers one. I might do the drivers one at a later time because theres been times where people cant get it on because its so sensitive. Wasnt a hard job in the end, just took it out, removed the cover for the gears (the cover I took a photo of) and sprayed the hell out of all the stuff that was behind the cover with ptfe spray. Works a treat now and I don't have to worry about people not bothering putting it on now. Video of what the belt was like on a good day. Video of the fixed belt. Secondly, since I had the spline bits out and the battery off I finally put in the underseat storage from the mk1, dead easy to do and looks nicer than the original blank that didn't even sit right. Doesnt seem to be the exact same shade as the rest of the seat for whatever reason, but its close enough. Considering it won't be seen and it was free, I'm not bothered.

Yeah I noticed its sitting higher in the back again lol. Definately lots better to drive but thats mostly the difference in the front suspension. Already had rear springs and there doesnt seem to be much difference between the rear springs themselves driving it.

Both of those will fit, same car underneath as a fabia.

Fabias are ALL a 5x100 fitment. Mk1 and mk2 are 100 percent a 5x100 stud pattern. Can't go wrong with getting a wheel off a wrecked fabia to use as a spare.

Any fabia wheel should fit in the spare wheel well. I've had one my 205/40 R17 wheels in there to check before and it fit. I've had one of my mk1 vRS spyders in there as a spare too, no problems. I use the small spare wheel kit my mk1 came with in conjunction with the 16 inch Spyder when i'm on a roadtrip. Ideally you would hope to find an Identical alloy as a spare, but it doesnt really matter for a spare so long as its near enough the same size. Why not take one of your wheels off and try them in the spare wheel well and see if it fits? I'll bet it will.

You can get one to fit surely, you'd just have to get or make a shift boot to replace the one you'll be missing.

Not threaded. Its got a little clip on it that keeps it tight to the gearstick itself. Its also attached to the leather boot. Funny I think the one in my cars too high.

Not a lot of difference between the before (Top) and after (Bottom). However, its definately a lot nicer to drive. Its cornering much flatter and feels a lot more responsive to drive. I took it on some dirt too, and it definately seemed to handle itself better there also. As I said in the last post I'll have to get shorter droplinks. Otherwise i'm considering these coilovers a win.

Rear suspension is done and the car is back on the ground. I ended up swapping out the coil springs for the ones I bought. Both seem to be the same height, i'm guessing any differences in them will come from the way the coils are positioned. You can see in one of the photos how worn the old bumpstops were, nasty. Easy enough job overall though. Only trouble is that the arb is fouling on the driveshaft at full lock. I believe Mondeo drop links are what most people go for in this case?

Mine came with it so I don't know exactly where it was got. I'm guessing you could get them in Halfords, or online on eBay, Amazon etc.

You can just get a small cubby to go in one of the dins, with the single din radio on top. Mines done like that.

Both front coilovers are in. Surprisingly easy to do. Only trouble came from a bolt on the top mount stripping the plastic around it. Had to grind off the head of the bolt and it made quite the mess of the paint. Other than that it was smooth sailing. Having an impact gun makes it miles quicker. Still need to do the rears, its a very easy job though so next day i'm out it'll be back on its wheels in no time at all.

Nice to have confirmation. Gave them a good clean anyway but since i'll probably just use the carriers it seems there wasn't much point. So I probably wont even need to bleed the brakes at all then?

1 degree difference in alignment? There are shims you can use to adjust the rear wheels alignment.

Guessing either rust or it got bent because someone jacked from the middle of it.

Same car underneath so it should fit. I learned from here that our cars have the older rear suspension from the mk1 fabia, while the ibizas and the polos of the same age as our cars had a newer, slightly wider setup. Apparantly both fit straight up. Are you changing to discs?

Good to know. Means I can use away at the current discs and pads and keep the Mintex ones spare for again. Thanks.

Got some used coilovers to go on this. FK performance coilovers and while dirty they do seem to be in decent shape! I think the rear coils are from a different brand as they should be shorter with a collar to adjust ride height. Either way all is in decent shape. Bought these along with a lovely set of 312mm brakes that will soon find a home on my mk2. I'll compare the rear springs I got with these and the lowering springs Vanhireboys graciously gave me. Honestly, I'm happy with the current rear springs As I think they help cancel out the high arse it got from being stripped so I'll probably keep them on. Might be tempted to throw one pair of the rear springs onto the Monte carlo for the hell of it. After all, its only a 10 minute job on these cars!

Saw a few things come up for sale that I had to have. Got these 312mm brakes for this car, and a set of coilovers for the mk1. Got the 312MM Carriers, calipers, set of new Mintex pads and the part worn brembo pads and discs that are in the picture. From what I can gather the 288mm and 312mm caliper are the same? But either way I have the whole 312 setup there. Not putting these on straight away, but I will put them on soon. Love the coat of green that was put on them, whoever painted them did a much better job than I did of my own brakes! I realise that the 312mm brakes are a touch overkill, but when I saw that the person I was buying the coilovers from also had these, I figured I should get them. Bleeding brakes is a job I don't love doing, so I want to see if I could use my 288 calipers. These discs have plenty of life in them, if anyone could chime in and tell me if the rust on them will come off after a few good stops I would appreciate it. Otherwise I think i'll spring for some new discs to go with the pads. Of course that means I'm left with the 288MM brakes spare, they have lots of life left in them so I could keep them for my mk1 in the event I can get the hubs from a vrs to put on to it. If anyone is interested in them let me know, I could probably post them from Northern Ireland to the UK thus avoiding any customs hassle. Otherwise, with 312s soon to be going on the front I think its time I start looking for a disc rear axle to complement the fronts. Already looks a bit daft with 288s and drums in my opinion. Having a decent handbrake would be a very nice plus too...

Another +1 for using car polish. If you had the time to wetsand and then buff them i'd go for it. Toothpaste works but doesnt last long at all.

Let me guess, the brit/o/ thread?

Another pretty pointless post, but maybe it will help someone. Bought some H8 Michiba 3000k 35W bulbs to replace my literally weeks old normal white foglight bulbs. Since it takes 2 seconds to change them. I already have tints but wanted a stronger yellow so got these too. I thought the tints made the fogs pretty yellow but the difference is insane! Have yet to try them out at night, when I do I'll throw up a photo.