Had a few small mods lined up for a while now, but until recently had larger ones to sort out first. So this week while my wallet was recovering from a recent gearbox rebuild I decided to tackle some.

First one is a mod that I`v shamelessly stolen from grr666, a bit of rear light tinting. I wanted to fit facelift rear lights since I bought my fabia, but had never got round to it. Then I saw Mr grr`s take on tinting them and thought it was just my kinda thing. So subtle it almost looks standard.

So, I whipped out the light units, couple of screws either side

Then I gave them a good scrub to get any crap off them, and cut the lamin-x to a rough size of the white bits of the lights.

Heated them up with mum`s hair dryer and got my bitch to do the trimming.

Thankfully it was easy to hide the odd rough edge with the old style lights because the edge of the raised bit covers it up a little. Heres a comparison before and after, in this picture it doesnt look much different at this stage

However, once they are bolted back on, they look much more noticeable, but not to the extent that it looks ott or out of place. I`m really chuffed with this little mod, cheap, but looks great.

Also on the list was sorting out some decent front speakers. I`m not an audio nut, but just wanted something a little more than the standard setup. So, out busted some components courtesy of caraudiosecurity.com, nothing flash, just some JBL £50 ones. Made some spacers for them out of MDF, stuck them in, kept everything hidden under the door cards. What a difference they make. I was dubious just how much better they would be for £50, but it`s night and day. Much clearer and much more crisp sound. Its by no means a easy job, chopping wood and drilling ****, but well worth while.

Next for the modding treatment was the steering wheel. The standard wheel had done a fair old few miles, so I decided it was due a change, the leather was slightly discoloured and lost its shiny finish. I had looked at R32 wheels which were nice, but a little boring. I found someone on ebay doing them trimmed in your choice of colour and leather, but they were in germany and I could tell it was going to be a ballache. So after another trip to car audio & security I decided on a Momo Team wheel. With the help of my trusty helper we fitted it . .

Bit of re-wiring

And away we were. Well, until we tried to turn it, then realised the dash trim around the wheel needed trimming. So after a bit of shaving, cutting, filing and swearing we managed to get enough clearance for the wheel to turn ok. My plan is to get another bit of trim and do it much more neatly but it`ll do for now.

All we had to do was clear the Airbag fault code and take it for a spin. I went for the 300mm wheel, much much smaller then the old one obviously. Steering feels slightly heavier, and takes a little getting use to, but not in a bad way. Trimmed in leather, thumb bits on the inside and slightly flat bits where your palm sits on the outside of the wheel make it really nice to use.

Anyway, that is my little update, sorry for waffling on a bit, but its not often I post much about my own car up lol. Thanks to grr666 for the inspiration for the lights and Mr woodford for his assistance in doing the various jobs.

Matt

Rear lights look really good. Not too dark so its a nice subtle classy mod. Nice! Might consider that myself

Like the style of the wheel with the thumb bits and the leather altho don't like that there's no airbag and that it's aftermarket looking. Other than tho great job

You can lighten the steering/increase power assistance with VCDS.

Nice steering wheel!

The original on mine is boring the pants off me.

looks nice mate

Mmm, sexy steering wheel..

Rear lights also v tempting, I like very much! I have a very light shade of tint lying about too, may give it a go in v near future...

155k miles..!

Like the lights...

Fan of the lights! they look great mate.

Fan of Momos also, but only on older cars. Airbag removal is a no no for me :no:

I like your plate..

Don't suppose you got any more pics of the steering wheel fitting along the way? Would come in very handy for me as I'll need to remove my Momo and re-fit a standard wheel for my MOT next year, but as I didn't buy the Momo I don't have any fitting instructions for it to be able to reverse them...looks simple enough, but if you have any more pics that would be great!

Great work Matt!!

Good write up too as usual. If you don't mind I'll add some

useful tips which may help somebody with the light tinting.

I'm delighted you nicked my idea mate, I've noticed a few yellow foglamps

popping up here and there as well

Did you also use gunsmoke Matt? That can look really dark from some angles .

Really surprised me actually. As it's quite see through really.

Loving the steering wheel Looks mean. :evil:

For anyone considering fitting the lamin x,

I fitted mine a bit differently to Matt because I wanted them

to be pre cut before fitting, for general ease of application.

and for keeping the cost down as I'd only need a little bit

with some careful measuring

I did mine out of an 8" x 12" sheet with one spare piece big enough

for another "panel".should I ever need to make a repair.

To be fair though I spend half the day with a tape measure in my hand

so I'm used to using it

I also bought a set of the older light clusters because I prefer

the design and the lamin x ing is much easier with those

compared to the newer type :yes:. and my car looks like a 51 reg

so the lights don't look out of place on an "older" Fabia.

I made cardboard templates, trimmed them with a craft knife until they

were a perfect fit in the "dips" and then taped those to the lamin x directly

and then cut cut round them. (through the tape)

Making a set of 4 stickers to all intents and purposes.

Advantages of the template method are ,

Cardboard is free so you can have a few cracks at it until you're happy with fit.

Very little wastage as the film is fairly expensive, the less you have to buy, the better.

You can do all the cutting on the flat, I used a plastic chopping board. and craft knife.

Much easier and safer this way plus I never went near the actual lights with a blade.

Also because you can tape the the card to it, nothing moves and you cut through

the tape as well keeping things accurate, then just peel the tape off afterward. .

Applying the pre cut "stickers" was a doddle as you can pull the backing paper off

as yous smooth it down. allowing some repositioning without it sticking.to things when

you don't want it to.

I wouldn't fancy doing post facelift lights in this way , I'm sure the edges would

eventually come unstuck from washing and whatnot. On the older lights the edges are

"internal" and after over a year with mine on it still looks as good as the day I fitted it,

Quality product!

Im thinking about doing something new with the front lights soon.

Cars looking good mate, really like the rear lights!

Good wee write up grr666

I might add that unlike some other people on here who have used other methods

of tinting, I have never had a pull for them, and the car has gone through 2 MOTs

(at different garages) without so much as a mention.

Probably because the reflectors are still red, and that it looks

so subtle that it looks almost factory. :yes:

Liking the new wheel

I like the new wheel, as for not having an airbag, people did survive accidents before they were fitted to cars..lol

Dont go off in every type of accident anyhow.

Lights look good. Which level Lamin-X did you use?

Like the style of the wheel with the thumb bits and the leather altho don't like that there's no airbag and that it's aftermarket looking. Other than tho great job

Yeah, I fully get what you mean, if it were a mod for the outside i`d run a million miles away, i`m normally 100% OEM+ but in this case I thought i`d take a gamble. Getting use to it now and I think it paid off.

You can lighten the steering/increase power assistance with VCDS.

I had considered that, although I thought I would see how it goes for a few days first.

Don't suppose you got any more pics of the steering wheel fitting along the way? Would come in very handy for me as I'll need to remove my Momo and re-fit a standard wheel for my MOT next year, but as I didn't buy the Momo I don't have any fitting instructions for it to be able to reverse them...looks simple enough, but if you have any more pics that would be great!

I havent got any more pictures, but it`s as easy as it looks. six little bolts, then the big spline bolt. Why remove it tho? Just make up a little loom like in the picture above to get the airbag light out?

Great work Matt!!

Good write up too as usual. If you don't mind I'll add some

useful tips which may help somebody with the light tinting.

I'm delighted you nicked my idea mate, I've noticed a few yellow foglamps

popping up here and there as well

Thanks, and i`m glad you didnt mind me pinching the idea. Just been getting her ready for the U18 open day tomorrow, few guys noticed the tint and are wanting to nick it too.

I like the new wheel, as for not having an airbag, people did survive accidents before they were fitted to cars..lol

Dont go off in every type of accident anyhow.

Cheers Ross, I did think for a while about the lack of airbag, but decided I could just use my superior skill to avoid all accidents.

Lights look good. Which level Lamin-X did you use?

I cant remember, i`ll have to dig the receipt out. When I first applied it I thought it looked no different, but once fitted to the car again, it was noticeable. Quite pleased with it

Cheers for all the C&C

Matt

I havent got any more pictures, but it`s as easy as it looks. six little bolts, then the big spline bolt. Why remove it tho? Just make up a little loom like in the picture above to get the airbag light out?

Because everything I've read so far is indicating that as of next January, any obviously missing/not-functioning airbag is an MOT Reason for Rejection. My setup is perfect, no airbag warning light (3 ohm resistor is in place) and I love the wheel, but I'm thinking ahead to next year when I'll need one for the MOT so I'm going to need to re-fit a standard wheel, at least temporarily.

All the MOT stuff is very vague at the moment. I`m lucky enough to have a very nice MOT tester, but even so, at the moment noting is very firm, and will be open to interpretation unless they publish a bit more about it.

Matt

Well yeah, that much is true. I'm struggling to find anything 100% concrete on either steering wheels or decats (both of which will affect me), although I do seem to have a draft copy of the MOT manual (can't remember which Govt site I downloaded it from though) which says the above. It may not matter, although I've picked up a bargain steering wheel off here just in case. £75 retrimmed and looking new, vs at least £550 from TPS when I asked a few weeks back, I figured it would be silly not to!

Always good to cover your arse. This is why i`v just got a milltek with sports cat lol.

Matt

Oh yeah, picked a sports cat downpipe up for £150 instead of £300 from Milltek too to go with the turbo back system on the car when I bought it

Only obvious bit now is the crash bar, but pattern part for £30 off eBay and that's done (it's only a steel bar and even if it's crap quality it's going to be better than the hacked up crash bar I have now!). Also have no middle rear seatbelt, but just had a look and I shouldn't need one as long as the outer two have 3 point inertia reels which they obviously do. So hopefully I'm prepared for the worst

Jesus is our air bag