Ladies and gents... you have seen my threads on this section full of complaining and whining and I'm always unsure what to do with my Fabia Classic. That's half the post, the other half is my going on about how something broke and how the car is doomed etc.

Well... over the week I have been getting pretty busy getting parts and replacing this that and the other, I now have:

-Replaced front coil spring (was broken since Dec)

-New thermostat

-Oil and oil filter change

-Washer jets fixed and bottle repaired (even the rear jet works now!)

-Leak at the rad fan temp sensor fixed (no more coolant loss!)

-Gears now select properly (I can go into first with no problems! unbelievable!) after 'doing that thing' with gear box cables

-New air filter

The car was given a hoover out and inside cleaned and now smells of perfection. I also jet washed it and took the hub caps off. I am now driving the following:

Sorry it's a bit big but I am very happy with it.

Like I said I took off the hub caps (they are worn and scratched to hell) and when the weather is better (hopefully next week) I am planning to spray all 4 wheels... not sand blast them as I am tight on cash after fixing the car but sanded, primed, gloss black spray or just black and a coat of varnish or two. Still deciding how to do that to make the shiniest most blackest wheels possible.

So to do:

-Get a passenger windshield wiper (or no pass MOT :S)

-Get a can of 'back to black' to restore the black plastic trims on the car back to a lush black

-Get wheels done

-Polish the car!

I might even go crazy and finally fix the speaker in the drivers door... it sometimes goes off and comes back on when I go over a bump or turn the wheel (probably loose contact) and I might... just might... get two parcel shelf speakers in there, anyone got some lying around?

So yeah, the car isn't your usual VRS that I see on here but a very much standard no thrills Classic MPi that finally works like it's supposed to. Probably the longest post I've done, in a good mood with a shiny car like that

Cheers

Edited 19 August, 201114 yr by Vinjy

Makes you fall in love again

Car passed MOT without any problems and I gave it a good polish! In the process of painting the steel rims black (only done one wheel so far to check the paint).

I want to install parcel shelf speakers so I get some sound in the back, the car has no wires going to the back so I was wondering if there is anyone who has done this sort of thing and what steps they took. I may also get a new head unit because CDs are ******* me off, I want an SD card reader!

I thought all fabia's had a 8 speaker system, a speaker in each door and a tweater in each A pillar and a tweater in each rear door, for a base spec model it's actually quite a good sound system, especially compared to the junk they put in modern ford fiesta's(for example) which i was hugely dissappointed in.

but please it's a fabia, don't put speakers on the parcel shelf. especially 6x9's!

First thing i would do to your motor is bide my time on ebay and save for a set of 14" or 15" skoda alloys with decent tyres and put them on, cos the skinny black steelies don't quite work, sorry :-(

i normally find my local scrappy will sell me a set of alloys with tyres for around £80. it will look nicer and probably be a wider profile than those skinny looking 175/65/14(at a guess) that you have on at the moment. My 1.4 mpi has 185/55/15's which for a standard chassis and suspension provides enough grip

Edited 31 August, 201114 yr by Sonner

Looking very clean

I only have 4 speakers (hence why I want rear ones!) 2 tweeters and 2 main in driver and passenger doors. The only place I can really put them on is the parcel shelf. Not putting 6x9's in, I got couple smaller speakers instead.

As for the wheels, I'm trying to keep the cost down and the shiny black steels go well with the red car. I personally prefer it that way. I appreciate any and all advice ofc so thanks for being honest man!

Just helped wire up two speakers on a corsa so I think I got enough confidence to do my own ones. Will keep you updated

hmmm, i have looked at the headunit details and weather you have the eight speakers or four the headunit is the same,

so if you haven't already bought the speakers then why not just look for two used red fabia doors for the rear that come with the speakers built in, i reckon you can get them for about £40 a side and it keeps the OE look too,

I know it goes against keeping costs down but it will be a really nice OE upgrade for the car.

Well perhaps when you tryes need changing it might be a good time to swap to a set of used skoda alloys from a scrappy for whatever the going rate is round your arear(normally £60-£120 with tyres) and hopefully you can find a set with fresh tyres all round.

whats your goals with the car ultimately??? just a runaroud or a bit of a ongoing project

do you want to modify it or keep it completely standard, you can modify Fabia's quite cheaply now, even get coilovers for under £200 which whilst they don't ride as well as the £400+ sets they do achieve a nice low look that would set you shiny black wheels off nicely.