jars' 2005 Fabia vRS

[Dark_Hero]

Mine takes a moment to react. Nothing to worry about though

My suspension is quite high but I caught my splitter the other day. Folded in half :( not too damaged though luckily.

[Titanium_Man]

Yeah sure have I have scrapped it twice so far; once on the new entry into my private parking area which was initially too steep, and once driving along and went down a big drop in the road :( Thankfully no damage.

I've not had any problems with removing g the key since the first and only time. Does it keep happening, Zeb? Maybe worth consider taking something to smooth it out a bit like a dremel sanding bit?

[Zuhayb]

Yep, mines keeps happening I have to apply pressure to make it flip. Think I will drop Action man an email and see if he can sort it out. Not very good at DIY, as I tend to break things lol. 

[Titanium_Man]

Now really updates from me for a while as life has gone crazy busy.... 

 

Anyway, had a few deliveries, taken a few snaps and got the green light on a tasty upgrade (by the garage, not the missus :P ) 

 

The weather this winter in Bristol was mild to say the least. I've been sat on my winter wheels for two years now and not used them in anger, not once! I was unable to drive last winter and the temperature this winter only dropped below 7 on a couple of occasions. So I decided in February that they needed to go back into storage.... eventually putting them away last week  

 

 

A couple of recent deliveries...

 

It's been a while since I've soldered anything.... I left school in '97 and don't recall doing any since.... so I've been building up to install my "coming home lights" made by the amazing Korban Great piece of kit which comes as standard on my missus' knackered Fiesta Zetec S 

 

My spare and still chromed grill with OEM badge 

 

So, the good and exciting news..... after Danham's new GTB turbo arrived at Dirty Torque this week, I can finally confirm that I am the proud owner of his old (although actually still pretty new) billet wheel'd hybrid and it's going on next week as I'm driving up this Saturday  

 

Although Dan had this turbo RR'd showing around 245 with his map from DT, as my OEM clutch was brand two weeks after buying my car, I will not be mapping to that level just yet as I see no point destroying a 20k old clutch just for fun. So the plan is to map it with that in mind, replenish some funds in the meantime and upgrade it once the OEM once is done. Meanwhile I'll be having a long, hard think about fitting an LSD at the same time  :think:

 

One thing I did give some thought too is my exhaust. When I had her up in the air at my mates garage, I noticed there was a build-up of soot on the down pipe. Although this was initially hard to spot, we had to give it a proper look as my car still sounds a lot different to my mates vRS and eventually found it, so that will be coming out and being replaced with something that will be able to cope with the power later on. I'm hoping it's the exhaust causing this change in sound and not something else like a cracked manifold :wonder: 

 

What has become very obvious though is the leak from the N/S driveshaft/seal which is leaking, as you can see on the left of the under-tray

 

This will be looked at once the turbo is fitted, along with some other little niggles. 

 

I've also ordered a new jet washer thanks to Sparkly pointing out a cracking deal the other day, so need to get on and purchase a snow foam lance and finish modding my garage so I can get her looking gleaming again  

[Dark_Hero]

Awesome update love it

[DanHam]

Great update

Your new exhaust will change the tone of it, sounds decent when giving it the beans

[Titanium_Man]

Cheers guys

Yeah I hope the new exhaust will get rid of this deep, throaty noise I seem to have, if not it'll sound awesome as you say, Dan

[redcupraboy]

New turbo sounds great, bet you can't wait.

[Titanium_Man]

Nah I can't wait.... Gonna be a loooooong week :(

[DanHam]

Nah I can't wait.... Gonna be a loooooong week :(

I know the feeling haha

[Titanium_Man]

So whilst Im currently between jobs I've spent the morning with a Mr Grr666 looking at motorbikes and I'm not gonna lie, it is tempting to stop what I'm doing and jump onto two wheels again..... but not just yet :P

Whilst I was out I got a nice little picture from LLoyd55.. my catch can had arrived So on my way home I popped in, had a chat, perved at his lovely motor and shiney new wheels and picked this up....

I've spent a bit of time looking at other installs of these and think it's gonna take a wee while for me to find the time to install it properly if I am honest :( What isn't possibly going to take as long as expected is my new turbo Had a text from DT this morning and there's an outside chance I can drive home tomorrow evening :sun: so watch this space.......

[Titanium_Man]

I thought my alarm was a cruel joke and had forgot to turn it off for work when it went off at 6am this morning in my quest for more powar! Although DT said they would let me know if he would be able to turn my car around in a day and that if the head bolts had arrived in time, but as I understand it, he was hard at work til late on Dan's car and at it again this morning. No worries, I forgot to pay him last night

But none of that bothers me, this is gonna be a nice day out in the British countryside and I get to road trip the crap out of my car on the way home..... google maps says 2:45 depending on traffic and the exact route, but I won't be in a rush with the missus and her Civic following behind.

Right then women, get out the shower as you're making us late........

[grr666]

Nice one mate, tell me all about it when you get back. 

Hope he manages to get it done for you, 

[Titanium_Man]

"You have arrived at your destination" looking out of my car, I was at the entrance to a field, so no I hadn't :P Quickly turned around, headed back down the track my **** nav took me down and stopped outside a white house just off the A53. I grabbed my phone and started to message Dean from Dirty Torque, but quickly had the owner of the white house asking me if I was ok. Quick chat and I was back in my car, back out onto the A53, 10 meters and I was there

My new blower....

Anyway, after leaving my car and keys with the guys, me and the missus jumped into her car and headed off to Telford shopping for the day After walking out with just the two bags, Marks and Sparks & BHS I decided I needed to settle the balance of feeling really really old, but it was only 1pm :(

Jumped on the web and found a cracking country pub called the Horseshoe, which is only 15 minute drive down the road from the guys. At 15:40 I got a message from Dean asking me to pop back so they could put the finishing touches on my map. So duly jumped in the good lady's car and arrived to see this...

Danham's custom de-cat exhaust Initially there was a few fitting issues with it rattling really badly on idle but Dean and Karl both got they thinking caps on and found evident of it hitting the rear beam, so just a few more adjustments and it was all sorted. So back out to do some data logging for Karl to tweak the map.

Whilst I was out, Karl was put to use

It was hard to form an initial impression during those runs as Dean was driving, I had the laptop, and it always feels different when you are not in control. So back to the workshop, Karl quickly checking over the figures, a couple of tweaks and she was done

Came back from my first test drive and look who's car I saw...

So I have to say a massive thank you to Dean & Karl at Dirty Torque who have bent over backwards to fit me in and to bust their balls to get everything done in a day, despite Dan's car being removed from the lift to get to work on mine. Another massive thanks to Dan for putting his car on hold so mine could get done in a day and not have to do the 4 hr+ roundtrip... I can't thank you guys enough for that. Big up!

Anyone who is considering an upgrade or two, speak to these guys as they are real enthusiasts, good honest people who obviously know their stuff. I spent a few hours after my car was done just chatting and telling stories with them, even my missus and the crazy lady from over the road got involved! You must use these people if you can! Nothing against the other places out there. I'm sure they are good, awesome etc but there's something to be said for a decent personal service, although Dean can't make coffee for ****!

Anyway, I'm loving my new car I was a little worried about it sounding a little abusive, but in all honesty, it isn't that bad, although I have found myself thinking about spooling up the turbo to wake some people at a bus stop The drive is smooth as silk and so much more drivable, although the smallest touch of the throttle and I'm off, so need to learn how to drive my car economically again, defiantly need cruise asap.....

[Titanium_Man]

So no real change since my trip to Shrewsbury, apart from going out this morning to fill her up ready for my daily 5/6 mile commute to work each day and popped the hose connected to EGR delete. 

 

Note to self.... check in the engine bay to make sure it's not a top hose come off before jacking her up, removing the wheel and arch liner after assuming it was the bottom one :rolf: 

 

 

One thing I want to point out to those who want to run Spiders with coilovers and considering tyre sizes... 

 

 

 

.... as you can see from the first picture I am not running particularly low, with the second picture showing where my tyres are catching the arch liner on full lock. This does my head in and was previously sorted when I had the suspension aligned last year (by sorted, I mean the arch liner had a hole put in it ) but when I installed my Airtec 'cooler, I replaced the liner as I didn't like the look of it. 

 

Anyway, this is all down to my tyre choice I reckon. I'm currently running 215/40's as that is the only size I could get the tyres I wanted in, so with 205/40's I think this may stop, or alternatively, put some spacers on there. I'm leaning towards the latter as I really rate my current rubber and was thinking 10/15mm spacers would be nice. 

 

I've been living with the new power for a week now and have noticed a few things; It doesn't take much right foot to get me into dangerous territory The downside to all this is that I need better brakes. The 312 & 256 set-up just does't scrub enough speed off quickly, or at least I don't feel it's quick enough. This sucks because I already had decent callipers up front previously 

 

I also now find myself pottering along in 3rd or 4th which keeps me very very close to 30 as this seems to be a nice and economic speed and protects my OEM DMF, whereas before I found myself chasing 5th gear for economy so more like 35 on a flat (if the engine started to labour I always changed up a gear ) So this is a positive  

 

As many have written before me, using the increased power uses soooo much fuel! I do mostly potter around, now more so than ever my missus has just commented, but a tenner doesn't last long if driven enthusiastically   So I've messaged Techie1 to get cruise fitted as most of the 7-9k miles a year my car does is on the motorway and just a little dab with the right is enough to send my flying and guzzle the fuel, so need to put measures in place! 

[joelk2010]

Cruise control was one of the better things I have had fitted since running more power

 

Better mpg on the longer runs that is for sure !!

[Titanium_Man]

Didn't think I would be alone in that

[Dark_Hero]

My hose kept popping off my egr delete too. It happened every time I went out! So got a custom pipe made up in the end

[Titanium_Man]

My hose kept popping off my egr delete too. It happened every time I went out! So got a custom pipe made up in the end

Just back from seeing Garry, a 15/20 minute blat on the ring road from North to East Bristol and held up fine, so hope I don't have to go down that route, but we'll see. Will keep a screw driver handy

[DanHam]

I noticed an economy drop when I had that turbo fitted mate, just to eager to ride the torque :P

Cruise control is on my to-do list aswell!

[Dark_Hero]

Just back from seeing Garry, a 15/20 minute blat on the ring road from North to East Bristol and held up fine, so hope I don't have to go down that route, but we'll see. Will keep a screw driver handy

You could also just get a silicone hose and trim the plastic pipe a bit

[Titanium_Man]

You could also just get a silicone hose and trim the plastic pipe a bit

TBH once Combe be over and done with will be putting my car in my garage for a few weeks as I'm sending Joel my OEM top boost pipe for development of a replacement

[Dark_Hero]

Cool

[Titanium_Man]

I thought I would share my little gaffe with you all... but the question is, have you done this......

 

 

Yes, when I leant over my open bonnet, my car keys dropped out of my coat side pocket into the little gap between my 'cooler and bumper   My arm is too big to fit in that hole, so I got out a few instruments to try and pry them out. I was hard pushed for time as I was due in a meeting after school, so left my missus to it, only for her to drop one of my tools in there. 

 

Fast forward to today and I've found time to take the bumper off and fish it out

 

 

See you at Combe

[Dark_Hero]

Pull out the fog surround and reach through that way