Lofty

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 I know they're so outdated nowadays but it'd look funky.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

Exactly the kind of internet videos that reaffirm the current vRS image. The yellow car that was crashed was a lovely, lovely thing but in the wrong hands they're an expensive wrecking ball. Hence i'm hopefully keeping mine long enough for that image to fade away and they'll probably then become rarities out there.

I probably speak for a fair few on here but the image of Mk1 Fabia's especially the vRS's isn't great at the moment. Almost a default cheap chav wagon round here. I'm looking forward to when they've got through this stage and there's only the nice ones left - look at the Citroen Saxo VTR/VTS - everywhere then gone over night. The only ones I see round here are either owned from new (old man spec and mint) or ragged to death covered in soot.

As far as I know, the Torsion value you are seeing is about what a PD is supposed to have so I suspect there are issues elsewhere. Always worth ruling the cam timing out especially if you have not long done a belt change.

I'd be up for a pair as well, just saying. 🙂

To retrofit a set of xenons back to original factory spec is very involved and probably only best attempted if you have a breaker car with them on - side by side - so you can get all the bits you'll need. You'd need the following Headlights (you have these) Factory ballasts Ballast bracket for drivers side (under rad support panel) Front Bumper with washer jets & jet covers 5 litre screenwash tank Pipework for washers from tank Xenon specific dash trim (round the headlight switch) as there is no internal levelling option Wiring loom to leveling sensor (on rear beam) Levelling sensor itself Heat proof shield for leveling sensor Technically speaking for them to appear "factory original" the washers will need to work for MOT purposes, unless you have a friendly tester. To refurbish original xenons will require patience and deep pockets. The last set i had re-metallised (the projector bowls burn off the original silver mirror coating) cost me about £160. You'll have to strip the lamps down completely and rebuild with new D2S bulbs etc. Downside is to original xenons, well frankly they are a bit crap, even when they were new they were not night and day better than the OE halogen units, they just looked funkier and were very "modern" in their day. Certainly they are nothing like modern headlights for output or reach. I'd suggest a retrofit of new projectors and bowls if they are reasonable, although i've never done it, they appear to give good results.