Lofty

You need a full on 1.8t conversion, make a real difference to the car. Just a thought?

The Fabia has been out and about, attended the Oddly titled "Wheels on Wednesday" car meet on Sunday (go figure) in Worcestershire last weekend. It's the furthest it's been driven in many years so i'm still nervous when driving it, listening for every noise and sniffing for every smell. Car drove fine of course and was parked up in amongst the Hot (???) hatch section. Got a fair bit of interest but to many it's just a clean Fabia with yellow wheels. The many small details take a while to see and appreciate. I have a few jobs to do on her now though. The steering tie rods need changing as there is slight play in them, so I have new genuine TPS supplied parts to go on, and then I'm going to give the entire car a thorough spanner check to make sure everything is tight. This is more for my own peace of mind as anything else. Once I have done the tie rods, I'll take it for a front wheel alignment as well, even though I think it's pretty close as it is, it'll need doing to be sure. Then it's just a case of more miles on it. Done 75 so far, so that's 7.5% run in now.

You been talking to my other half Ryan? About me? I love the ongoing progress on this, it's evolving at a great pace and is a credit to you.

I should have bought this when you had it for sale Trev, was soooooo tempted to have it alongside the yellow peril.

Thank you for all the kind words. Ross (tech1e) asked me to post the pics on the Facebook group "Fabia Owners Club" and the response was great from all the people on there. First big show is "Rollhard", I didn't think the Fabia would be interesting enough for them to have on display, especially considering the level of other modified cars but here we are... Looks like it'll be on display on Sunday 6th August at Bicester Heritage. Can't wait.

Cheers Gaz. First thing my mate said when I sent him the pic was "Tailpipe is wonky" Cruel Ba**ard. 😝

It passed, clean sheet as well. The MOT guy I use I've know for years and he said that he didn't think I was going "that far" with the car! He gathered his guys round to look underneath it with various expletives of approval. More pics of it on the MOT ramp.. Got the car back home - 23 miles now covered since rebuild, put it back in the garage and put the cover back on it. I have now taxed the car for the next 6 months, so I can start using it and putting some gentle running in miles on it. I might even get it to a couple of local shows so you might see the car doing car things for a change! Matt

Well today was the day.... Just noticed the Tailpipe is not level. B****cks. *job for later me thinks

I've booked the Fabia in for it's MOT a week today (28th June). This will be the first MOT since it expired in September 2016, so the break in the MOT history will be substantial to say the least. I'll get some better full underneath shots when it's up on the ramp. Once it's MOT'd, I shall tax it for 6 months then start using it to get the miles on. (for those of you worried about me driving it in the post above it was on Trade Plates to get it home.)

It's amazing the difference a mint rear screen makes. They stand out so much when the glue starts showing through. I love these updates Trev, it's further proof the car has ended up in the right hands and not being ragged to death or broken for spares.

They say a picture paints a thousand words so ............. Still jobs to do but it's the first drive in nearly 7 years so was quite nervous/emotional! Matt

It does sound like the glass isn't seated all the way down in the clamps equally. Agree with Lee though, it's a pig of a job.

Thinking about the stereo situation, as it's got the Maxi-Dot cluster it would suggest it was ordered from new with the Sat-Nav option, so could you not fit one of those head units? I know they're so outdated nowadays but it'd look funky.

Jeez i though this had been dropped years ago. I remember my dad excitedly putting it into the family Ford Sierra 1.6 Pinto back in 1985 but I don't think it made a jot of difference. Pinto clearances are a world apart from modern stuff so I'd be avoiding it.

Looks like a good day all round folks. Gutted that I missed it as I was on holiday. 100% be at the next one (wherever that may be) in the Yellow Knacker.

The perfect man for this car. Good to see you putting your own stamp on it Trevor. I’ll be following this closely as your cars are always nicely done 👌👍🏻

I’m not I’m afraid Ryan were off on holiday on Monday so we’re gonna miss it. Next year 100% I’ll be there though

I has updates (of sorts...) Car is away being base mapped currently, it's about 80% finished, with another few hours of dyno time needed to finalise this critical task. It's being set up to run at approx 1.5 bar of boost pressure and it's making 230bhp, this is enough to allow the engine to bed in correctly and not be too overstretched from the off. Once the running in is complete and it's had it's 1000 mile service it can go back for a higher boost set up. Still no pics but hey, progress is progress.

Pete is correct, the flexi hose generally suffers if the EGR is removed / refitted by exuberant hands (should we say). I blanked mine at manifold end and underneath the EGR while i was in there removing the EGR cooler as well. Do you need to remove the EGR cooler? Not really, it wont hurt anything by staying where it is. Sometimes you're better off leaving sleeping dogs lie! Entirely your choice though and if the vacuum pipe blocking does the EGR delete /bypass trick then i'd stick with that route to save yourself some skinned knuckles.

One thing to be mindful of, the OE Skoda vacuum hoses will all be pre-shaped to a degree and will all follow their intended path reasonably well. Replace these with floppy generic silicone vacuum hose and you lose that accuracy in the hose. Also the vacuum hoses last pretty well on these cars, i've has vRS with 200k on still on the original vacuum hoses and they were not brittle or crumbling so unless you really have to, i'd leave alone. The golf tee mod Pete suggested will do the same thing as an EGR delete so run it for a few days and see how you get on. As yours is a 2007, it will have had the BLT engine from new meaning you'll have a shortish EGR, with the Anti Shudder Valve next to it. I'd use blanking plates (readily available) to block off the EGR pipe from exhaust manifold to EGR and on the EGR itself (two blanking plates needed) and leave the vacuum hose plugged. Don't bother with an EGR delete pipe as they look crap and makes it obvious someone's been messing there. You will need to have the EML mapped out as it will (or should) illuminate soon. Not a major job.

I fitted a set of "Goodride" tyres once to my old Black vRS, and they howled like a pig on the motorway. Sounded like all the wheel bearings had failed at the same time. Used them up over the course of 20k and replaced them with Michelin, noise gone.

This can be fixed by rolling the car over onto it's roof to bleed the front brakes.

Turbo failures are usually detectable a while before they go. Like you say the siren noise is the big giveaway. 100K is nothing on a well maintained standard engine, many last a lot longer than that if driven sensibly, from the Turbo's perspective. Failing fuel sensor will be picked up on vcds as well

Wow, a whole six months since the last update. I still have it, and I'll be sharing some decent updates in the next week or so. The Fabia is hopefully going off to have a running in map by the tuner some point next week, after that it can be brought home, MOT booked and then wheel alignment. Then I can start the running in process..... knowing me that'll take another 6 years. The plan is to use it to attend some local shows/meets over the summer, and then it'll come off the road again over Autumn/Winter. Pictures soon. Promise.

He's not been on here since Dec 2020 so I don't think he's an active member anymore. Hope he's all good as he was a sound fella