Progress Thread - My vRS so far

[mike07vrs]

I'll get straight to it, I bought my 2004 Skoda Fabia vRS in black back in October 2010, the car was standard except from the PD160 intake. The car had 56,900 miles on the clock, FSH etc there was the usual stone chips, car park scuffs, missing clips etc and what looks like a blind toddlers attempt to respray the spoiler with it still attached to the car, however taking this into consideration I managed to knock the previous owner down a few £££'s so all in all was extremely happy, even more so driving it home

Some pictures of the car when I got her:

With the car in my possession the spending could begin, 1st buy being ofcourse a Haynes Manual followed by a complete service, i'm lucky enough to have the "facilities" to do pretty much most things vehicle related at home.

For the service I bought;

Castrol Edge Engine Oil

Engine Flush

Oil Filter

Injector cleaner

Green Cotton Filter

Pollen Filter

I also bought at the time;

Front Aero Wiper

Stubby ariel

Panasonic CQ-VD7001N headunit

Some photo's:

The Fabia in the Garage (MGB GT Restoration to the left of the picture)

Old filter above, new one below.

Standard Headunit

Replacement Headunit

With the initial stuff out the way and after doing some research into the Fabia's more common problems, I done the door seal repair, I also took the opportunity to fix the rear washer which was broken, I took it apart and replaced the corroded metal internals with plastic ones from VW. I also fitted a polo rear areo wiper at this time.

The next batch of stuff to get done was having my alloys refurbed and powdercoated, I opted for Anthracite Grey, I also bought and fitted front and rear Fabia mudflaps, wind deflectors and an LCR splitter which IMO transforms the front of the car.

I had then set about replacing the damaged Skoda badges front and rear, the missing roof rail caps, changed indicator bulbs too Phillips Silver Vision and the sidelights to Osram Cool Blue, I also had a sunstrip fitted (birthday present and had 2 new rear tyres fitted, Goodyear Eagle F1's (Cannot recommend them enough, even in the winter conditions they were superb), the front tyres will be replaced with the same next week. The Headunit has also been changed to a JVC one as I wasn't a fan of the Panasonic.

Sunstrip with Colin McRae Tribute Sticker

Engine Bay... so far

On tuesday whilst washing the car I decided i'd had enought of the tacky chrome surround (no offence too anyone who likes it) and set about trying to match the colour of the alloys. I say trying as the alloys were powdercoated and therefore there isn't an exact colour match in paint, I tried a Vauxhall colour, Stahl Grey I think, anyway here it is:

Its not a perfect colour match, the alloys are a bit darker however i'm happy with the results and will give it a while to see if it grows on me, if it doesn't it'll be going black.

Anyway future plans include:

Headlights surrounds either black or matching the grill surround.

All hoses in engine bay samco lime green, vacuum hoses are ordered

Custom OCC (Secret Design till its made then i'll share it)

Ford ST FMIC with custom pipework

Seat Sport Front Strut Brace in lime green

Jabbasport RARB

Weitec Hicon GT coilovers

Replace bushes with powerflex versions

EBC Discs and Greenstuff Pads

Repaint Callipers

VW Cupholder

The Bonnet and a few other panels might need a respray due to the sheer ammount of stone chips etc

Finally a remap however i'm still enjoying the power the car has so its not a major thing on the list (was offered one from Angel Tuning for £188)

I've probably missed out a few things but thats about the gist of it, feel free to comment/add suggestions.

Cheers

[Gareth_1.8T]

All good so far Mike and good plans for her.

Beware of the cost of the custom pipework for the ST fmic - it may work out to be less hassle to buy a Seat Sport and Forge pipework to suit.

Get it lowered asap

[mike07vrs]

All good so far Mike and good plans for her.

Beware of the cost of the custom pipework for the ST fmic - it may work out to be less hassle to buy a Seat Sport and Forge pipework to suit.

Get it lowered asap

I've got a fairly good idea of what pipes I need, mainly going from other people's FMIC set ups, my main reasons for not going for a Seat Sport FMIC are that I dont fancy having to cut/modify the bumper or crash bar and since im not chasing big power figures I reacon the ST FMIC will suffice. I really want it lowered but theres a few other things need bought first that and the insurance cost if I choose to declare it are really steep at the moment

[mike07vrs]

Decided to remove my EGR valve at the weekend for cleaning, also removed a few of the intercooler pipes to give them a clean aswell.

EGR Valve and Intercooler Pipes

EGR Valve - Not as bad as some of the ones i've seen on here though there was a fairly thick later coating the inside of the EGR Valve itself

To remove the EGR Valve I decided to firstly remove the air intake pipe which gave me access to the exhaust manifold and the pipe that connects to the EGR valve, this is attached by 2 11mm bolts which are easily accessible. The EGR valve is connected to the inlet manifold by 3 allen bolts.

Engine Bay with EGR valve and intercooler pipes remvoed and also top of airbox and air intake pipe removed.

Connection for Exhaust-to-EGR valve pipe

For cleaning the EGR valve I used a bottle of carb cleaner, being very generous with it, a toothbrush and a flat headed screwdriver. I used the screwdriver to scrape the worst of the carbon gunk build up and then the toothbrush to get the remainder.

Cost of the carb cleaner was £2.30.

After seeing how much gunk came out the EGR valve i'd strongly suggest cleaning it!

[Scott Howie]

looking good bud....not a fan of the front grill in tht colour. got mine colour coded, much better imo. you got a good few plans for it. im not really for doing much to mine tbh. quite happy as it is. might do a few bits in time but nothing planned for now unless some items turn up tht i cant say no too aha.

[mike07vrs]

looking good bud....not a fan of the front grill in tht colour. got mine colour coded, much better imo. you got a good few plans for it. im not really for doing much to mine tbh. quite happy as it is. might do a few bits in time but nothing planned for now unless some items turn up tht i cant say no too aha.

Cheers Scott, im not entirely sure on the grill yet, will decide if im keeping it after I do the headlight inserts. I thought coilovers were on your "to do" list or you changed your mind about them?

[Ryan90VRS]

not a fan of the grille, colour coded to the car FTW. Although its not a bad idea and still looks better than the chrome!

[Scott Howie]

Cheers Scott, im not entirely sure on the grill yet, will decide if im keeping it after I do the headlight inserts. I thought coilovers were on your "to do" list or you changed your mind about them?

nah man, i spent alot on my old car and didnt make it back when i sold it, so with this one its staying mostly as it is. dont have the money to be throwing at it tbh, i would like to lower it but cant be bothered paying more for insurance and also the cost of doing it....car runs fine thts all i need for now. i do like the car but think i might only keep it till mid 2012 or so....will see how things go tbh.

[mike07vrs]

not a fan of the grille, colour coded to the car FTW. Although its not a bad idea and still looks better than the chrome!

I had planned on colour coding but thought i'd try something different for a change, its a lot better than the chrome anyway

[mike07vrs]

nah man, i spent alot on my old car and didnt make it back when i sold it, so with this one its staying mostly as it is. dont have the money to be throwing at it tbh, i would like to lower it but cant be bothered paying more for insurance and also the cost of doing it....car runs fine thts all i need for now. i do like the car but think i might only keep it till mid 2012 or so....will see how things go tbh.

Ah thats fair enough, shame though after seeing the work you done on the Ibiza, was looking forward to seeing what you'd do with a Fabia

[Scott Howie]

Ah thats fair enough, shame though after seeing the work you done on the Ibiza, was looking forward to seeing what you'd do with a Fabia

if i dont do anything to this one i will probably go nuts with whatever i get next

[Sy.]

Good work. Its nice to actually see people having a go at doing it yourself and not just throwing money at the car and once a problem occurs not having a clue what to do except pick up the phone to the garage

[mike07vrs]

Good work. Its nice to actually see people having a go at doing it yourself and not just throwing money at the car and once a problem occurs not having a clue what to do except pick up the phone to the garage

Thanks mate appreciate it

[mike07vrs]

if i dont do anything to this one i will probably go nuts with whatever i get next

Any ideas what you want next or too soon to ask? lol

[doyler20]

Hows everyone getting their grill colour coded? Like what should it cost to get it done? I couldn't attempt it because I'd make a ral hash!

[mike07vrs]

Hows everyone getting their grill colour coded? Like what should it cost to get it done? I couldn't attempt it because I'd make a ral hash!

Honestly its really easy, just takes patience and a bit of practice. I reacon a bodyshop would take anything between £25-45 (someone correct me if i'm wrong) to respray it, less if you dissassemble it yourself which again is very simple, there is a guide on here if your not sure.

[Scott Howie]

Any ideas what you want next or too soon to ask? lol

too soon to tell, i like will still be Vag i reckon. or maybe BMW depending on money when i go for a change

[MoggyTech]

That EGR is remarkably clean for an 04 plate! Car looks ace BTW

[mike07vrs]

That EGR is remarkably clean for an 04 plate! Car looks ace BTW

Car has done just over 60K miles, thanks mate

[mike07vrs]

Update

Got myself a Seat Sport Front Strut Brace off ebay for £51 including P&P, decided to paint it a nice bright green to match the samco hoses i've got coming, opted for Piaggio Green over the usual Kawasaki Green, anyway photos;

Strut Brace

"

Strut Brace painted, laquered and fitted

"

I decided whilst waiting for the laquer to dry to paint the insert in the engine cover, it just pops off the main cover so need to mask off

Painted engine cover

"

Engine Bay so far

"

I have too add that the bright garage lights dont favour the colour, i'll get some daylight pictures tomorrow.

Next step is too paint the washer cap, coolant cap and dipstick the same colour. I might also do the orange support bits aswell.

Also I need to do something about the Green Cotton Air Filter Sticker, not sure how I could match it without ruining it (HELP!)

Edited 23 February, 2011 by mike07vrs

[mike07vrs]

too soon to tell, i like will still be Vag i reckon. or maybe BMW depending on money when i go for a change

Nice one hope you get what you want

[Tom1964bus]

looks good mate! i might do my engine bay cover now have you got anymore info on the ST intercooler upgrade?

[mike07vrs]

looks good mate! i might do my engine bay cover now have you got anymore info on the ST intercooler upgrade?

The cover is real easy to do, the painted bit pops off from the back, so does the skoda badge.

Nothing yet, I know roughly what I need but wont know for certain till I come too doing it. Biggest problem is the hoses I want take upto 4 weeks to make if there not in stock so if im missing any im in bother. I have found a diagram of the MAP sensor bracket thats needed, i'll upload it if you want

[Ad Lav]

Bit too luminous that green, brake caliper green or Kawasaki green is a good match

[mike07vrs]

Bit too luminous that green, brake caliper green or Kawasaki green is a good match

I'll get some daylight photos, like I said earlier its not that bright, its just the light hitting it