DieselMonte

Got sick of it not having its rear view mirror. Ended up using the silicone sealant/adhesive to hold up the mirror. Taped it up and have left it sit to cure.

Small update to the mk1. I got around to sealing up the top of the windscreen on it. Always leaked and i've only gotten around to doing it now. Cant really see from the pictures but I got a small tube of black silicone and tried to use the nozzle it came with for a better job. The crappy tube leaked so I ended up removing the nozzle, shoving a load of silicon into the seam and working it in with my finger. Not the neatest job but hopefully it'll stop leaking. Took it out for a run when I was waiting for the exhaust paint to cure, ran great and pulls well once its warmed up. Gear shifts feel better than the Monte even with its powerflex dogbone bush.

Pipes polished up and ready to be put on the car. I've opted to send it off to get the exhaust fitted and remap done at the same time. Hopefully sometime next week. Standard pipe is leaking rightly, can cover the exhaust tip with my hand and it all just rushes out of the downpipe. Even still its not very loud, just louder than stock. Hopefully it'll give the car a nice note thats a bit quieter than a full straight pipe.

Even when it comes to my mk1 I was lucky to get much of the stuff required to put it back together, including a set of vRS spyders for 180 euro. Even with Covid prices on everything deals are about. Cheeky drilled airbox for more noise

That 400 pound would work out to be just a little less than what i'm in for all my suspension mods AND my exhaust. Granted I bought the exhaust used, but especially in the UK it should be easy to atleast get a used 'sports' backbox on FBM for the likes for these cars. Doesnt take much to freshen up a backbox so long as its not rotten, bit of spray, bit of autosol and it should come out good. In the OP he wants to make his HTP sound good and on a budget. £400 is a good chunk of change to be spending on a first car, especially for just an exhaust. I have no doubt that company would do a great job and its probably worth it on the likes of a vRS, but perhaps that money could be better spent elsewhere on a HTP. I bought an Ulter backbox for mine last Sunday as I made a deal for a darkside downpipe and noticed he had the box for sale too (was only asking 25 euro for the box alone). I say that not to sound jammy, but to show that you can get a nice exhaust for cheap if you're a bit patient and can wait for something to come up. A brand new Ulter backbox is near £200 for our cars, and I got a used one for a fraction of that.

Mine occasionally throws up a p0101 in the last few weeks, no limp mode and no difference in economy or performance. Mine has had dieselgate done, I removed the maf transformer not long after I got the car. Unless its something to do with the leaky exhaust thats getting sorted soon I dont know whats causing mine. It goes away after restarting the car and the code is easily cleared. Can come on toddling about town or on a big run like I did Sunday.

Looks like a nicer job than the standard bin. Best of luck with it.

2013 will be newer style wishbones, I learned on this forum that only the very earliest of 2008 models were the old wishbone style. You said something earlier about yours feeling like a 4x4 over speed bumps, what do you mean?

What year is your car? Some very early mk2s have the older wishbone style. Notoriously bad setup that would wear console bushes out very fast. Most mk2s have the newer style bush. I replaced the console bush and front wishbone bush (although generally the front is fine) with psbushings urethane ones, sharpens up handling and urethane ones last the life of the car generally. I also did Audi TT RS ball joints so as to give the front a little more camber (this mod does require drilling into the wishbone, I have not run into any issues doing it, but I still felt it important to note) combined with the Whiteline Rear anti roll bar (bwr19z) its made the car a champ in the corners. Currently I still have standard (sports) shocks and springs on the car, I will eventually replace them, but thats moreso when they wear out. What wheels and tyres are on your car? Do you have any pics? Check out the projects section.

Holy thread revival! can you take a pic of what you are trying to explain? would help a lot.

Can you not get the cover for the hole? I can have a look at my car in the morning to find a part number for the piece.

Some sort of resonator delete or mufflerectomy if its just for sound. As someone who is about to put a 'sporty' backbox on their fabia (tdi mind), maybe dont just straight pipe it for the sake of it. There is a straight piped TSI leon near me and it sounds dreadful, like someone who was lactose intolerant drank a gallon of milk bad. Most fabias need a bumper cut for a 'sporty' backbox cause of the design of the standard box. Sepulchrave is bang on the money about focusing on handling though. A rear anti roll bar is a very popular first mod for these cars due to this, big change in handling for not much money even for a new bar. Some minor changes to the suspension and you have a car that can haul ass through corners.

Always have to respect good PDR work, pure magic. Great job.

Spent the evening freshening up the downpipe and backbox. Downpipe took a little bit of Brasso and came up a treat. Its looking good, nice shine to it now. I left it next to the heater as I worked to wick some of the water out of the heat wrap. The backbox took a little bit of sanding and wire brushing and was ready for paint. I've covered up the tips so they dont get sprayed. Its just some aluminum coat for exhausts, nothing fancy or expensive and it was only lying about, so its not cost me anything but my time. Obviously I didn't 'need' to spray it, but I'm glad I took the time to do it, its coming out fantastic. The tips got a rub of turpentine earlier to get some tar off it. I have Meguairs metal polish and it will do a good job, wonder if I can use some fine sand paper to make them shine. I was undecided earlier but I now fully intend on putting it on the car, even if I have to cut the bumper to do it. I think it will give a nice note to the exhaust, from hearing a few straight piped 1.6tdis near me they are pretty quiet anyway, so mine with a 'sports' backbox should definately give a nice sound (for a diesel) while still not being obnoxiously loud. Not even for myself but for everyone elses sake this seems to be the way to go for me.

Spent the last hour giving them some tlc. Checked the welds on the downpipe, not the prettiest but theyll hold. Wrapped it with some wrap I had. Ended up scuffing up the backbox as I remembered I had some silver exhaust paint. Scuffed up now and will get around to some paint tomorrow most likely.

After a 120 mile round trip, here it is. I found out the downpipe has been leaking when I was doing the dogbone bush. I think you can see 1 of the leaks in one of the pics earlier. I honest to god didnt intend on going this route, but I know if I go to weld or otherwise seal the exhaust back up it'll just keep blowing and blowing again. I wasn't actively looking for a downpipe either, it happened to come up in one of my search alerts for old fabia parts cars. Ended up getting a bit of a deal, 140 euro for the downpipe and backbox. Anyway, heres what I got: Darkside downpipe: Removed from a 1.6 tdi fabia, was cracked along one of the welds on the 'C' section of the pipe, but was fixed. Has been on that fabia a while but still in good shape otherwise. Ulter Backbox: Also on the same car, has a few scrapes on the bottom from the car having coilovers but otherwise fine. Looks like a nice exhaust to be honest. I'm in two minds as to whether or not install it on my car, as it would mean trimming the rear 'diffuser'. I'll either sell on this one cheap, or sell the nearly new backbox I put on the car last October. Dead happy with them, I understand the downpipe has been repaired but I still think I got a good deal. AFAIK darkside ones are stainless so it wont rust (although thats generally less of a problem in the south). Irelands NCT rules means that my car has NCT until December 2022, so I have plenty of time to run with it. I would need to swap it back for an NCT but thats a problem 18months away so not going to worry. Game plan now is to get it remapped in the next few weeks, have the dpf software removed and install the downpipe as soon as I get home. Still, managed to get 56mpg on the trip, 90% was spent on Regional roads tipping along at 50-60mph. Lots of tight turns and steep hills too. Great fun.

Oddly the only car i've had with a bust handbrake has drums (my glorious mk1) The Mk2 handbrake is pretty crap so I doubt discs can make it worse. Not the type to be painting the brakes bright red for looks either, mine are silver calipers and I sprayed the drums black. Maybe I should put this idea under 'pipe dream' and leave it be for now

Ouch! One of our local potholes mullered one of the front tyres on mine last december. Only 65 euro to get it done but it meant I had to get another one to match. Wish it would have bust a rear one instead as they are getting old, They grip good even in snow and have good tread, just old.

Hardly noticeable! Used to be that the steering wheel would be visibly shaking on idle, thats gone now. Gear changes feel better but I think there is still a little slop in one of the mounts. Still has a little kick driving around town but its a lot less than before (might it be tune related? It has had dieselgate after all) I only went for the 65 shore one anyway. Can feel it on start up and on shut down it feels like the asv was removed but otherwise you wouldnt tell it was different unless you had driven it before. The old mount looked pretty fresh though, so I can only guess they are a bit crap from standard. Might be picking up those bits I was talking about tomorrow evening, got a bit of a deal on it and another part the lad's selling. Honestly wasnt intending on going down this route, but it is what it is and If they're as advertised it should work out just peachy.

Looks sketchy, but it wont slip off so it is fine. I have actually fallen down it before in the mk1 fabia, not long after I got it. Even a big l320 range rover has a little bit of tyre hanging over the edge. The pits really made for lorries and such.

Mines had the fix done to it and nothing fix related has gone. Yet. Is soon to be mapped so hopefully I wont have dieselgate looming over my had.

Mk1 vRS was just the old fabia logo with the old vrs logo under it i'm pretty sure. Sorry for the miscommunication I was thinking about my own Monte, it being a tdi.

On the topic of badges, I quite like the mk1 style of badge with the TDI under it. Wonder how it would look on a mk2?

Powerflex Dogbone bushing was delivered today, so I set about installing it. Removal of the old mount was stupid easy. Looked to have been replaced at some point not long before I got it. Looked fresh but still felt very soft and mushy. Cut out the old bush with a hacksaw, only difficulty was the hacksaw getting stuck in the rubber. Needed to sand off the white oxidised crap in the console. Got 90% of it off and the console felt smooth so I was happy to leave it there. Install of the bush itself was a bit fiddly, The photo on the listing I bought it from showed it as a 2 piece design. The bush I got was 1 piece. That said it was not hard to do with a vice, just took a little more planning. I didnt get any instructions with it and accidentally put the bush in wrong (I think). The relief in the bush looks to be for helping with installing it into the car. I had to take it out and install it 180°, relief facing the back of the car. I removed the black part of the mount when reinstalling to make it a little easier. Took a fair amount of effort to get it back in, seems that since the new bush is thicker it has a hard time going in. I did all this over the pit, didnt need to take the wheels off or even lift the car surprisingly. Actually made it easier as I could sit on the step and work away. It was a little sketchy at first as this pit is made for lorries and the like, not small hatchbacks. Had a half a tyre over the edge on either side . I decided to go for Powerflex's PFF85-620R, their softest dogbone bush. Its a 65 shore bush and felt surprisingly squidgy out of the box, I wonder if a stiffer bush would be harder to install as it wouldnt contort as easy to fit through the bush? Having done a bit of driving on it I can say that it has improved the car nicely. Its a lot easier to change gears, much more predictable. I have not noticed any increased vibration at all. The only time it is noticeable is on starting the car and turning it off. Turning it off feels similar to turning off my mk1, as I removed the ASV from it. Its a difference, but not a big one in that department. I suppose it will soften up in the next few days, hopefully not much. It feels good now, feels like what it should have come like from the factory. Feels much more consistent even under some hard gear changes. Definately worth while for the cost and time to do. The great thing about having 2 fabias is that if I want a stiffer bush in this I should be able to put a stiffer bush in the mk1s mount and swap them over, both look identical so I imagine they are the same part. Overall quite happy with this mod, I like the feedback when starting and turning off the engine and its not noticeable at all under normal driving. Its the sort of mod that I love to do, much like the RARB. Next thing up is a remap, all goes well It should be mapped by the end of the month. The place i'm going with claims 145 hp and 310 nm of torque. While I think thats a little optimistic it should make a big difference. I'll hold off on the intercooler for a short while, since the weather has cooled off again its not gotten very hot since. Looking at doing a wellycooler job to it. I have my eye on an alloy intercooler that should do the job.