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Hi Jrjg, yes done 40k on the GTB1756 and still running good and strong, bummer about your cam belt, do you still have the Fabia or have you moved on? I spy Octavia Mk3 under your username.

Anyone that has been following the Fabia forum for a while will realise 50% of the time Sepulchrave gives helpful info, 50% of the time he is a troll, best to try and ignore him when he is trolling but it does get a bit tiresome. I only comment on threads if I have personal experience, as I have owned a VRS for 12 years and have modified it over the years my comment in this thread is based on personal experience, at one point it was running a remap and I then fitted an Airtec FMIC and noticed the all round improvement, don't call that being a mug or a cupcake.

Blah blah blah usual sepulchrave knows better than anyone else, give it a rest cupcake.

Before going bigger turbo when I just had a remap I fitted an Airtec FMIC and it made a noticeable difference, I was surprised as I was not expecting any difference, some of this is probably due to the horrible leaky original connections. If you watch this video from Darkside he says a FMIC on a remapped VRS will add 10bhp every time. I can recommend the Airtec FMIC, the intake temps sit between 5-10 degrees above ambient temp however I drive which I think is very good, you do though have to cut the crash bar, trim the bumper and cut off one of the bumper mounts for it to fit.

The video wino provided will show you what needs to be done, its a good video, it shows what he calls the 'advance method' which means you don't have to take the tandem pump off. You of course need to re-time the engine so you will need the locking pins etc to do it properly, also a puller to get the cam sprocket off. Check the rocker shaft to make sure the oil gallery plugs are still in place, if they are missing you lose oil pressure to the top of the engine which cause wear on the camshaft/followers. If you feel confident give it a go, I would plan on 6-8 hours to get it done if you have never replaced one before.

Treat yourself to a Dragy and you can find out what you and your car can actually do. One problem with the Fabia VRS is you cannot do 60mph in 2nd gear and so the extra gearchange to 3rd affects the 0-60 times.

I have the B4 and eibach springs and would say in 90% of driving the ride quality is better than standard, I would highly recommend this setup if you want a comfortable ride

What is the best 1/4 mile time/speed you have achieved?

I have had the exact same issue, broke the puller and mushroomed the thread on the CV joint. I ended up taking the hub off with driveshaft attached then took it around to different garages until I found one with a press that could do it, think I gave the bloke £20 for doing it. I filed/ground the end of the CV thread to clean it up and to allow the nut to go back on. Ironically when I had to do the other side one a couple of years later I was expecting a similar fight but it came apart extremely easily

I have the paragon paints one linked above and it is very good and holds up well on the calipers

They may outlast the car if you feel your car will only be around for 4 or 5 more years, if you want them to last longer than that then go for powerflex.

I would agree with the suggestion of using Meyle HD droplinks, when I brought some they had a 4 year guarantee, one started knocking after 3.5 years and I claimed it under warranty and got a free replacement with no quibbling. I have changed front anti-roll bar 'D' bushes on a 2005 and 2006 VRS and they were both 20mm diameter bars but worth checking to make sure, I would recommend powerflex as they last forever compared to standard ones.

You need to check and adjust the torsion value to do a complete job, all the ones I have done needed some fine tuning to get the torsion value correct.

One of the best modifications you can do to the Fabia VRS, I've had a whiteline RARB on mine for 11 years and its never ground out. I've tried soft/medium/hard settings and think the hardest setting is the best. Your specific questions: Reliability of product - 100% over 11 years pf road use. Noise - no different in noise levels. Handling - reduces body roll, reduces understeer, the reduction in understeer is the biggest plus point in my opinion of the RARB. Is ground clearance due to drop links , bar an issue? Kerbs, potholes, speed bumps? - No.

The fabia is pretty much the same as wino's polo pictures apart from the fabia has an undertray with no open slot in it so you will need to remove the undertray. The wires usually break very close to the connector so its easier to cut the plug off and just bridge across with solid wires.

I agree LED bulbs are not legal and could fail an MOT. I disagree that all LED bulbs will give an awful beam pattern or will cause you to crash or have an accident as you cannot see where you are going. Talking from experience I have tested the following: Philips X-tremeUltinon gen2 LED H7 Philips Ultinon Essential LED H3 I purchased 2 x new fabia headlights (reflector type) and the above led bulbs, I also purchased a light measuring meter. I set the headlights up in my garage and measured the light output and scatter using the original halogen bulbs, a set of Hid bulbs (special HIDS for reflector headlights) and the LED bulbs, the outcome of this was the Philips LEDs were no worse for light scatter than the original halogen bulbs, the HIDs were slightly worse, the light output was of course much better from the LEDs and the HIDS than the halogen. Having driven the car with new headlights and the HIDS fitted and the LEDs fitted the light output is far superior to halogen and white rather than yellow, I have tested out using another car if the HIDs and LED cause glare or blinding when in front and coming from the other direction, they did not (obviously headlight alignment was checked and correct). I used the HIDS for a couple of years and the LEDs for one year without any complaints from other drivers (no flashing etc), I have followed work colleges and family and no one has ever commented about being blinded by the headlights. For the MOT I changed out the HIDs for halogen as it was obvious they were HIDs due to the ballast boxes, the LEDs are all contained within the headlight unit and passed the last MOT with no comment from the tester (I did not know him or anyone at the garage I went to) . So my personal conclusion is if you are prepared to take responsibility for using them and can afford to buy quality LED bulbs i.e. Philips (not £20 ebay specials) then yes LED bulbs are far superior to halogen and don't cause any hazard to other drivers or yourself.

Anyone know if the bends on the piper 2.5" system maintain 2.5" or if they are smaller diameter i.e. the bends are made on a pipe bender and so the diameter of the pipe on the bends is less than the actual pipe 2.5" diameter? Hopefully someone may have noticed when fitting a piper system. Thanks

Get it checked with VCDS to see if there are any faults, I know from experience not all faults will cause a dash warning light, if your still not sure after that then get a power run on a rolling road and see if it is performing as it should.

I would recommend getting a genuine CV Boot kit if you just change the boot as the aftermarket ones don't last long (speaking from experience).

Rear ARB is the best mod for the Fabia VRS Mk1 in my opinion, it helps to get rid of the horrible understeer.

Posh alternative to a piece of cardboard: Winter Cover

Drop the subframe a few inches or alternatively drain the gearbox oil and remove the driveshaft cups, once the box is ready to come out separate it from the engine dowels and rotate it counter clockwise, this lifts the back of the gearbox up were the driveshafts connect which gives clearance to allow enough room to pull the gearbox away from the engine so the input shaft disengages from the clutch, if you don't rotate it the back of the gearbox will just hit the subframe and you won't get it to disengage from the engine. I've always use a block of wood on a jack to hold the engine up and an engine hoist to take the weight of the engine as they are pretty heavy. The above is for the 6 speed box in the VRS, I've had the gearbox off 7 or 8 times now and think removing the driveshaft cup and rotating the box is the best way.

Diesel does not expand much and so brimming the tank does not cause any issues. I have removed the vent valve in the filler neck which makes it much quicker to brim the tank to the max, never had any issues doing this over the last few years.

Power cable goes through the rear washer pipe grommet in the bulkhead (behind the glove box), the cables then run behind the trim along the bottom of the n/s doors, there is an earthing point just behind the n/s/r seat belt inertia reel mounting, its all easy enough to do just takes time to make it neat and tidy.

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