jars' 2005 Fabia vRS

[@Lee]

Phew! Cheers, Lee

You're at Combe aren't you? See you there

[grr666]

I've had directors cut of robocop and a new pack of bluevisions

by my front door for you since Sunday... I could have come over today if 

I'd known you were off. I had to go to the other house and fix the fence

after the winds so I had my tools and everything... :( 

[Titanium_Man]

You're at Combe aren't you? See you there

Yup, I'll be going and hopefully more would have happened to her by then too.

 

I've had directors cut of robocop and a new pack of bluevisions

by my front door for you since Sunday... I could have come over today if 

I'd known you were off. I had to go to the other house and fix the fence

after the winds so I had my tools and everything... :(

 

I had Cory and he was very down in the dumps as his mum was having a major op today and naturally he was really worried about it all so wouldn't have been ideal anyway mate.

[Titanium_Man]

Been at it again this weekend and probably could have got it all finished yesterday, but that would have meant rushing the last bit, and given I have been taking my time up to this point, I wasn't going to change that now. 

 

Anyway, now that she had life in her again, the plan for Saturday was to get her out of the garage and get everything finished ready for Sunday when I had planned to fit the splitter and reattach the bumper. But at this point I was still struggling to get the passenger side of the bumper to mate up properly with the wing, but couldn't work out why. So I left that alone for the time being, drover her out the garage and set about putting the rear doors back together.

 

Rear door cards put back together and fitted, no problems..... moved onto the driver's passenger switch that I broke a few weeks ago, taking it apart to retrieve the lost screw. Paid £3 for a new switch surround and made more of a mess of the original trying to get it off again...

 

 

 

Once this was done, I set about trying to prep the splitter and bumper ready for a simple screw in on Sunday. Whilst I was on the blower to Garry, arranging him to lend a hand in the morning, it suddenly dawned on me what I needed to do. So I quickly got out the angle grinder at removed the last of the internal bits on the driver's side...

 

 

..... once I had removed this and the last remaining bits on the inside on the bumper and it was on But of course, there was a snag! The lower boost pipe was sitting a little low, so I had to improvise

 

 

Although at this point in the install, and the point in time I was chomping at the bit to get it done, I only had an hour until I needed to hit the shower and get ready to go out for a curry and I still had to fit the splitter, put in the remaining arch liner and attach the bumper, I felt an hour was pushing it, so settled with aligning the splitter so that all we had to do in the morning was to screw it in, arch liner and install.... leaving the rest of the day to do stuff in the house to keep my missus happy given she lost me for the last month or so to my car  

 

 

Hopefully, should be an update this evening...... 

[Titanium_Man]

and here is the evening update... she is now officially back on the road

 

After yesterdays quick flirt with my car, I knew today was going to be the day it starts to come together! Eager to get at it, I had already made my way down to my garage to fit the last arch liner prior to my mate grr rocking up. I had already sorted the bumper so it would fit properly.... 

 

 

I also got impatient last night and set up the splitter ready for fitting today.... 

 

 

Anyway, Garry duly arrived mid fitting, so promptly stopped and got at it..... we used stainless screws, lots of 'em

 

 

The time came to mate it all up, put in all the screws and be happy..... but of course, it wasn't straight forward and we were left scratching our heads...

 

 

No matter what we tried, it would not sit properly and I was quickly left with the thought that I was trying too hard and was going to break something, so stopped right there and left it. Time was getting on, grr had other commitments and I needed his skills to help hang a heavy wooden mirror on a plasterboard wall, so in we went and left it to me for later. 

 

After saying laterz to my mate, I had another look at the bumper and soon realised that I was previously trying to fit the bumper with it sitting on the wing bracket, but it needed to be wrapped around it so I pulled the bumper towards the rear of the car whilst pulling out the bracket on the bumper and all clicked into place  :sun:  

 

Bit of a bitter sweet moment finishing everything..... it was all done and working, I can now stop driving my missus' horrible Civic, but I had caused some damage to the bumper on Saturday    When I was first trying to place the splitter in the right place, the tape I used was too strong, and that, mixed with a really crap paint job by "Eeko Fix" in Kingswood, Bristol, I was left with this 

 

 

These last 3 weeks or so have been a good learning curve. I've managed to successfully remove the front of my car, which was hair-raising at times for a newbie, remove and install a new intercooler and get rid of the rubbish headlights. Although I liked the look of Lamin-x on the halogen lights, it did reduce the light output and at times was forced to employ my fogs to try and help. I never got round to putting in the Osram Nightbreaker bulbs which are still sat in my mods bin, which is now looking pretty empty 

 

 

I am happy with how it went given it was my first bash! Yes others will do it a lot quicker, but I didn't want to rush and wanted a decent finished product. The 'cooler sits well behind the lower grill and barely noticeable, which was exactly what I wanted

 

So, what does she look like right now? A right state   She hasn't been cleaned in 6 months as I refuse to let anyone else clean her. But now the weather is clearing up  :think:  I'll get a tap installed in my garage and will give her the treatment. 

 

As for the not so distant future, Coombe is coming up and really want her to be as close to the finished product as I can and things are in motion and I can't wait .......

 

 

[tmwarner]

Awesome updates dude! Well done for doing it all yourself!

You happy with it all? Looks great.

I've got an EGR delete and a splitter in the garage that needs fitting. Might have to find the time to fit them having seen your updates.

[Titanium_Man]

Awesome updates dude! Well done for doing it all yourself!

You happy with it all? Looks great.

I've got an EGR delete and a splitter in the garage that needs fitting. Might have to find the time to fit them having seen your updates.

Cheers Tom

Yeah really happy so far. Not actually taken her out for a proper drive yet, possibly later..... get on it dude, don't follow my poor example of sitting on mods for months and months

[tmwarner]

Good, well you need to get out and take her for a drive then mate! 

 

I'm planning to, will hopefully get the splitter fitted this weekend weather depending. It keeps looking at me asking to be fitted!  

[Dann2707]

Just seen your latest updates. Epic work and great to see another guy with the same cooler

 

Your instagram add prompted me to search for your thread!

[DanGum]

Nice one Jay! looking great!

[Titanium_Man]

Just seen your latest updates. Epic work and great to see another guy with the same cooler

Your instagram add prompted me to search for your thread!

Cheers dude. I think it was your thread I was kind of following actually

[Titanium_Man]

Nice one Jay! looking great!

Cheers Dan.... think I'll be up your way soon

[redcupraboy]

Top work, intercooler looks good too. :-)

[Titanium_Man]

Top work, intercooler looks good too. :-)

 

Cheers dude..... It's finally coming together! Only thing not properly considered yet is a replacement exhaust :wonder: 

 

Am taking her out in a bit since fitting to blow some cobwebs away..... 

[Titanium_Man]

Not much of an update... no parts have gone on :P I did however, drive her in anger for the first time since  

 

First things first... EGR. When I first read about removing this, naturally I also heard people report that once removed, the ASZ really shakes when you turn her off. Well in all honesty, I had consciously try to tell if there was a difference My EML still hasn't come on yet?!?!?

 

My 25 mile journey included local roads, A, B, dual carriageway and of course, a stretch of motorway all so I could do some un-scientific testing All of these routes I make regularly, so have some thinking went in to my drive :P Anyway, after all of that, I returned home with the trip showing 39.7mpg and given there was a lot of hard accelerating I was reasonably surprise TBH. Previously would have been closer to 30 for a similar blat. No need to take her up to motorway speed or get proper calculations as the sump tray is off and know this reduces economy.

 

My first thought cruising down the dual carriageway near me was that was the increase in lag when I did squeeze the throttle. This was to be expected but did surprise me to begin with, but the engine was cold at this point and went nowhere near the redline so I tried to dismiss my initial "urrgh" Once she was up to temp, the lag was much more like what I was used to, although I swear it was a little worse.

 

The biggest difference was how much better she pulls and how far round it continues. Don't get me wrong, I haven't all of a sudden gained 40 torques and 10 more horses, but she feels stronger and hell of a lot cleaner under full chat. Normally under the dark skies and through the headlights of the following car, there was always a huge puff of smoke (deep black in the day) when the turbo kicked in or I hit the loud pedal, but this evening I struggled to see it throughout my hour or so drive. 

 

Was nice to have the road lit up by my new lights, although won't actually make that much difference to me until I hit Devon next as I'm a City lad!

[Dark_Hero]

Excellent write up Jay

[Titanium_Man]

Excellent write up Jay

I dunno, just re-read it and is littered with spelling mistakes.... thankfully most of the spelling police are non-freedom members

[Dark_Hero]

Don't worry I'm not a teacher it was perfectly readable though

I got my led fog lights this morning. Hopefully get them fitted this weekend

[Titanium_Man]

I did take a look at them but decided against it after the 1 review :p I figured I only use them once every 2 years (from here on in!) mad have removed the tint so will make do!

[Dark_Hero]

I read the reviews after I bought them.. I've used my fogs twice in the past year so think I'll be ok. If not I'll have a look at Cree LEDs or dare I say it HIDs

[Titanium_Man]

I do now have to put in my reg plate LED's as the normal ones look silly with the new headlights :p

[Titanium_Man]

A cheeky pic of the new side lights....

[tmwarner]

New sidelights look good mate 

 

I have been meaning to put new sidelights in mine but can't seem to do it    Must be doing something wrong. 

[Titanium_Man]

New sidelights look good mate 

 

I have been meaning to put new sidelights in mine but can't seem to do it    Must be doing something wrong. 

What's the issue dude? I just pulled on the little black holder the wires go into and it popped out?

[Titanium_Man]

Went out this evening to go and see my mate about my poor missus' car (which has been in his garage since December) and my EML finally came on!! 

 

Whilst I was there I had my mate have a look at my work :P then listen to my engine as it still sounded off to me. To me it almost sounds like a crack or a hole somewhere as it kind of reminds me of a car with a blown exhaust, but only on tick-over. Anyway, he couldn't diagnose it there and then so she will be back. He did however offer me the use of his car lift so I can fit my Powerflex dogbone engine mount tomorrow night after work That'll save me doing it under axel stands.