Lofty

Nice reflection from the solid Sprint Yellow of my Mk1 Fabia vRS

You mean something like these? On my project thread one of the kind members on here sent me the artwork on an email and my local sign/sticker place made these up for me.

With the rear beam, it all depends how far you want to go. To make it truly mint you'll need to drop it off the car, in itself not a big job but you will need to remove the rear brake lines which could start another load of work! I'd attack it in situ, flap wheel in the grinder, powerfile and lots of sanding will get the scabs off, then treat it with something like Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80, then paint to suit

Fascinating to see this taking shape Ross, I assume the steel bulkheads of the Ibiza and Fabia are identical?

Measure the diameter of the new discs supplied, if they are 232mm they are the standard vRS solid rear disc. The discs that came off - are they 256mm diameter and ventilated? If so you've got the Octavia vRS rear brakes fitted by someone at some point. The caliper carrier looks wide enough for a vented disc tbh.

I love the tenacity of the posters in this thread! Hats off to you. Keep the pics coming

Be interesting to see how you get on with the shorty gun, i'm tempted but like the reach of my existing lance for inside arches etc.

Hmm, the link to photobucket images now has to be added differently. They all seem to be working now though 👍🏻

Not really much in the way of a full update. I have sourced a supposedly good (but used and still 15yr old) engine loom, and have bitten the bullet and ordered a new engine loom from TPS. That way I can rule out any electrical maladies from ECU to engine at least. I have a new camshaft signal sensor to go on, so that means ALL the engine sensors are now brand new, Crank Sensor, Cam Sensor, CTS Sensor, Fuel Temp Sensor and MAF sensor as well. I have yet to collect the loom from TPS as it has had to be sourced from outer Mongolia it seems, so that will be this week at some point. If I still have Crank signal issues it's pointing to the signal reluctor ring on the crank possibly having a bent tooth (could have knocked it refitting the crank maybe) so that might mean sump coming off to check. That will deff have to wait till after xmas. In the meantime I have sourced a bolt in rear strut brace (purely because I like the cosmetic look of it....) and had it powdercoated in RAL 6029 (mint green) This matches the calipers perfectly, so that has been fitted. Excuse the pile of corruption in the boot... Whilst at the mercy of the powdercoaters, I decided to have the front strutbrace done to match as it will provide a splash of colour in the engine bay. Please note the front brace isn't fitted properly, just popped roughly in place to take a pic, as I've got to strip a bit of the engine bay back out it made little sense bolting it down fully. A while ago, prob 2 years tbh, I found a seller on facebook with the rare rear seat with the middle rear headrest option. Middle of nowhere in wet wales I picked it up for not a lot of money (£30 from memory) and stored it in the loft, I knew it was grubby and would need a deep clean so that's what else I've been doing. Before... Grubby but not holed or damaged thankfully. I did toy with the idea of stripping the material off the seat and washing it but the backrest looked possibly the hardest to do so I cleaned it in one piece. Using my trusted Autosmart Bio-Brisk interior shampoo, a splash of Bilt Hamber surfex in with it, I set to scrubbing the seat then extracting using very hot water in the extraction machine. After one pass... In all it has taken four sessions of scrubbing, extracting and drying to get it clean... Nearly 100% dry now so can be fitted into the car this week. Now I was left with the rear seat squab and other back rest of the used manky seat I bought, so I have stripped the upholstery off the seat bases just now in readiness to machine wash. Not a pretty sight... These are currently having a good session in the washing machine at 40c so i'll see what they come out like. I suspect they will need to be washed again to get all the filth off. The water and suds in the machine was brown. And the missus noticed.... Once they are clean and dry i'll put them away somewhere safe for a little side project I have planned..... (watch this space) Next interior job is to get the drivers seat out and then find in my loft, pretty much the last new seat foam base that was available from factory, purchased in 2015. I need to replace the base foam in the driver seat as it's starting to break down on the drivers side edge bolster an I don't want the material going in a hole over the framework. More pics on that when I get to it. Matt

Thank you Wino, you're a star! If it's not a broken wire in the loom I will have more head scratching to do.

Hi Folks, I've been searching around the forums today to try and find the ECU pin out numbers for the G28 crank sensor wiring on my 2006 BLT vRS Following the rebuild, the car starts, but won't tickover unless the throttle is held, when you try and rev it up it cuts out with the EML and glow plug light on. VCDS says G28 fault, so replaced the sensor with a new genuine one from TPS and it's still doing it. I'm suspecting maybe a broken wire in the engine loom somewhere as it's been manipulated a fair bit while the bay was being restored, but I cannot find a pin out guide for the engine loom socket. I have a "supposedly" good used engine loom to collect tomorrow so was hoping to check the continuity of the wires from socket to sensor plug before I swap the looms over. New engine loom is over £500 incl vat. Can someone help with identifying which pins I need to be checking at all? Thanks Matt

Ahh I see, do the Fabia fixtures and fittings, by which I mean lights, locks, dash switches etc have the same style plugs as the Ibiza? Or have the lot had to be changed? I'd kind of hope being the same platform they "should" be?

I'm fascinated by the wiring up of these conversions, one of the things I consider myself weakest on is automotive wiring so hats off to you. Is the engine loom a modified SEAT one, plugged into the Fabia ECU?

That's an intensive engine removal Ross, with the wipers etc and brake lines all being removed!! Eek!

No I've not got an armrest in the yellow one, never drive it to need one!! The kit was for the Black vRS.

That's it Dean, that was the edition 100 interior colour. Same as the edition 100 Mk1 Superb which was sold here and in Europe. The genuine "DAO" front armrest has been unavailable for years, my guy at TPS even contacted folks he knew abroad that could find obsolete stuff and it was a no go. Lots of stuff is now disappearing from the available list, trim and non-service stuff especially

On the subject of the European spec Fabia vRS, certain markets had a folding centre rear armrest in the big section of the rear seat back. I even tried to order all of the component parts from TPS to make my own but alas they're all no longer available. The Xenon front lights were standard in most countries as well. When you get digging into the special editions over there they had some crackers. The Tour de france edition (france only I think) came with the all black "sport" seats - like the UK Sport models, but added yellow seatbelts with black edging. There was also an "edition 100" which was based on the elegance with full nappa leather (light grey) and vrs front and rear bumpers. Plus loads more I've probably forgotten about

That 3rd rear headrest looks a factory job there Dean. Nice one!

Damn.... I forgot about the cup holders. There was also a dealer fit cup holder that replaced the ashtray in front of the gearstick....

You're correct. The xenon lights will plug into the standard loom just fine and will work, the standard leveling motors from the halogen units can be fitted into the xenon units (it may even be the same part tbh) so you will get the in car adjustment of the leveling, but to comply legally to the letter of the MOT laws you'll need to do the above. Otherwise you "might" be in the realms of a "friendly" MOT tester but that's a different conversation. One thing to be mindful of if you want to retrofit the factory xenon set up as it was intended, the bumper is totally different inside, has moulded brackets for the washer nozzles, the rear leveling sensor by the rear beam is notorious for failing due to it being battered by years of road salt etc, and the leveling sensor itself was well over £300 last time I looked. The dash inside the car is different also, the factory xenon cars have no adjustment wheel to alter the height of the headlights so that bit is blank as its not needed. There will also be no plug on the standard car body loom for the level sensor at the back so that would need to be added.

I love the vented bonnet on this. It's only the Mk2 Fabia's that suit the vented bonnets IMO, I think it's because of the association with the S2000 Rally cars. In contrast the Mk1 Fabia's with the £9.99 ebay vents jigsawed into them look vile!!

That's generous of you Colin, i'm sure folks will be gagging to get out to a show like this, it covers a lot of bases for a lot of people.

Looks like an Ace day out. Will the club be having a stand on both days, or are we a while away from knowing that?

I need to come and see this in the flesh - hopefully at some point next year we'll get to a Donington trackday together and I can have a right good nose round it. Glad the misfire was an easy fix, do you carry any spares in the trackday toolbag?

The image these cars have now will pass, the cheap $hitboxes will all disappear and we'll hopefully be left with some lovely examples of rare cars. It's going to take a while but it'll happen. Look at the images Vaxhall Novas, Saxo's, Clios etc have been through, now look at the rarity of nice examples and how much they command in value. The key is to stockpile the rare bits before they disappear and keep hold of them for the future