jars' 2005 Fabia vRS

[iiPaul]

Hmm I recently stopped using mine as a daily as I now have a van and used to get 50 on the dash on a 30mile run, however after only using it on the weekends I took a 30+ mile trip down to Dover and struggled to get 37 :(

[Titanium_Man]

I've only pottered around town so far and need to take mine on a run to clear the cobwebs I reckon.

Is that the same 30 mile run?

[iiPaul]

When I was getting 50mpg there was more stop start driving than the recent trip to Dover

[Titanium_Man]

Hmmmm not sure tbh, about either of our cars cars

[iiPaul]

I think I'll disconnect the battery see what happens if not try a new filter

[Titanium_Man]

I think my next port of call is to do some data logging and see what I find.....

[Titanium_Man]

After my moan about my fuel consumption (again :p ) I've now had time to assess what's going on now that I've replaced the fuel litter and unplugged the battery for a while. Although no figures for a proper full brim to brim calculation, things have seemed to return to normal. Yes, I'm basing this on the poor trip computer, but it's always been consistent and has been showing 40 odd around town, so I'm happy again. 

 

Also managed to get a motorway run in yesterday also, Manchester and back in an afternoon to look at a T5 with my missus' old man. Lovely van for the money, but I'm expecting to hear that the head gasket is gone in the next week or so. (I did warn him, but left it up to him) Anyway, I agreed to run him up there so that I can stretch her legs. Something I've been wanting to do since putting her back on the road as although I did charge the battery using a plug in one, she was sat in my garage for near on 6 months and wanted to blow out some cobwebs. 

 

Trip computer once I had arrived home. And this was after faffing around in Bristol before I set off, so well happy as never seen it this high before, even following a run up to Aberdeen a couple of years ago.

 

I also noticed that the smoke from the exhaust on WOT was much less than before, so I reckon changing those crappy clamps for the mikalor ones has secured things. Guess I had a leak or two some. 

 

Whilst Zee was watching her Hollyoakes, I thought it would be prudent to earn my keep, so popped down to my garage to give our cars a quick jet wash. Nothing major, just a quick clean to smarten them up a bit and used this to take some pictures of how my Fabia now sits after the suspension adjustment.

 

Previously I was pretty much unable to get my hand between the wheel and arch and has been known to catch the arch liner when pressing on round corners.

 

Splitter sitting much better now

 

Rear view

 

Side view

 

Next up is to lower the rear to match as the keen eye amongst us will notice that she does sit higher on the rear :p

 

Thanks for looking.

[Dark_Hero]

Awesome, she's looking great

Looks ready for Santa pod

[Titanium_Man]

Not sure the iphone picture is helping :p

[Titanium_Man]

Now I'm a bit more mobile I'm able to sort a few little things that I originally planned to do whilst the car was off the road.... 

 

After having them sat in my garage for probably two years, I've now got around to fitting the reg plate LED's

 

 

 

 

Whilst I was at it, I took a look at my coming home lights as they we weren't working al that well. I had planned to sort out this mess;

 

.... as I was convinced this was where the problem was. I will be honest, I am a little hesitant to start to pull this all apart as I am no sparky and don't really know how best to cut the wires, remove those god awful connectors and rewire it all back together. I do have a soldiering kit and the correct tool to remove the wires from the back of the light control switch now, but there isn't a lot of room... anyone got any suggestions?!?

 

Anyway, I had a play with the dial to change how sensitive the sensor is and managed to get it working properly, so time to put the A-pillar plastic cover back on after having it off for about eight months :clap:

 

After pulling the trim off to install, the metal clips were left in the pillar and my initial attempts to pull them out failed. So, I posted up a thread last evening to check that the heavy handed approach was the correct one

 

Clips in the A-Pillar;

 

I didn't want to damage the paintwork, so placed a bit of tape on and pulled hard, et voila;

 

Im going to try and push the light sensor in a bit so it sits level... please excuse the dust etc and remember I've not been using her since September

 

And finally got the plastic trim back in place;

 

Next up, clean and give a fresh lick of paint to the front callipers, but as the wheels are too heavy for me at the moment, I will have to enlist some help from either grr or the missus :strong:

[Titanium_Man]

So, after being told I was to have another operation, I declared my Fabia sorn so I could save a bit of dosh (driving the missus' car) and give me a bit of time to do some more to her. 

 

My front brake callipers were looking a little tired, so I decided to give them a lick of paint and freshen them up. I decided to take the easier route of leaving them on the car as I couldn't be arsed with the faff of putting her up on four axel stands so that I could bleed the brakes after I was done :p

 

 

I did however undo the calliper bolts so that I could get in all the nooks and crannies that would be on show, making sure that I supported the calliper so not to stress the brake hose. 

 

 

I gave them a good scrub with some Wynn's brake cleaner and set about painting them.

 

 

I eventually done four coats of paint, leaving 24 hours between them. I also ordered some locating screws as although there is no harm not running them, it's a PITA to get the alloy back on as the disc moves about. 

 

Once finished painting, I gave them three coats of Poorboys Wheel Sealer and put them all back together. 

 

Looking much better...

 

 

whilst I was at it, I decided it was time to finally install my Catch-Can bought from Lloydies group-buy. Decided it was easier to simply attach it to the intake screw, after such deliberation. This was very easy actually, much easier than I had envisaged I've used some Goodyear heater hose following a suggestion off a former member on here. 

 

 

 

Due to the amount of unnecessary crap in my garage (bloody women!!) there wasn't enough room to do both front brakes at the same time, so next up is the passenger side, then onto sorting out the rear suspension height.... 

[Titanium_Man]

I've been back at it again over the weekend and today, working on the passenger side brakes. 

 

I completed two coats of Hammerite Smooth Green, but wasn't happy with the finish as the paint was quite thick. So I woke this morning and decided I was going to pour some in a separate glass dish and add a small amount of white spirit and see how I got on. This did the trick. The finish was much better and I was able to get much thinner coats. I say coats as I had an idea to dry and speed up the drying time, the reason being is that I want my car back on the road on the 1st June.

 

So I enlisted some help

 

 

Yes that's a Tesco Value £2.50 hairdryer This actually worked very well as I was able to leave in place whilst carrying on with other stuff, moving it round to ensure the whole calliper was dry before I put another coat on. All in, I would say it took about an hour to be touch dry with the thinner coats I was able to apply. I managed three coats on top of the three I had previously done over the weekend. 

 

Whilst it was drying between coats, I lowered the rear coilover on the passenger side, but have no idea how it now sits for now until I'm able to put everything back together and put her on even ground. 

 

I also de-badged the boot in preparation for painting as I found rust spots just above the registration plate last week.... a little annoyed that I didn't spot it earlier as she was 10 years old back in March and have no hope (I reckon) of getting it done by Skoda. Thankfully I have a paint-sprayer friend who will be sorting it for me. 

 

Bubbled paint :(

 

 

After removing the badges, I was left with this...

 

 

... residue left after a quick go with some Tar-X....

 

 

... and what I have been left with :(

 

 

... the above was after using everything I had in my arsenal, Tardis, Tar-X, T-Cut, Clay and even a quick attempt using a rotary polisher    What's left is very hard and I can not shift it for the life of me. No point wet sanding at this point. It's not the end of the world as the boot will be painted anyway, but it's going to have to be done a lot sooner now. Once painted I may have a new badge put on  

 

Finally, I also discovered some rust on the sills under both front doors 

 

 

Next up, three coats of Wheel Sealant on the calliper, wheels on and adjust the driver's rear suspension. Oh and a wash :P

[vRS Joe]

Looks identical to my sills before I had em' re-done. Once the sealer starts to break away like yours has they rust pretty fast!

[Titanium_Man]

Looks identical to my sills before I had em' re-done. Once the sealer starts to break away like yours has they rust pretty fast!

Yeah I won't be hanging around getting it done.

Did it cost you much to get done?

[vRS Joe]

I had loads of other paintwork done so hard to say. At a guess £200+ for both sides stripped right back and re-sealed.

[Titanium_Man]

Yeah that's about what my mate has just quoted me.

I wanted to have a new interior by the end of this year, but may have to wait now as holidays and other things are a priority :(

[Titanium_Man]

A quick update....

 

I re-insured and taxed her on the 1st of this month, so after levelling the suspension and giving the brakes a lick of paint, I gave her a good scrub down inside and out and decided to go for a nice country lane drive to Somerset   I'll let the pictures do the talking

 

 

 

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She was given a full service today... I was going to get the brake fluid changed as hasn't been done since I reverted back to the 312's after the Brembo's, so a good two/three years ago now, but my mate poked some kind of reader into the fluid and showed me that is was only 2% water, so no need I also got the aircon serviced, but it made no difference. We weren't sure if it was my car or the machine as I watched my mate/mechanic attempt to do the same to an '08 530d, which also didn't improve, so he's getting the machine looked at and we will have another go. If mine is goosed, I'll take it out as to be honest, I don't use it. 

 

The boot and lower front bumper gets resprayed this weekend, so may give her another clean and get some more pictures  :sun:

[Lofty]

Looking good Jars, sunny pics always lift the mood!

[Titanium_Man]

Cheers dude

The silver is a bugger to photograph in the bright sun when it's really clean :p

[Zuhayb]

Beautiful looking VRS

[Titanium_Man]

Cheers dude.

How's yours nowadays?

[Titanium_Man]

I've now had my front lower bumper painted along with the rear tailgate, which also got rid of the remaining evidence of the rear Fabia badge, along with those three pesky press dents just above it. I have a mate who is a Local Repair Specialist, so got him to pop round mine and he got busy

 

First up was to remove the rear registration number plate and clean off all the old silicone and sticker leftovers....

 

 

 

Pesky dents filled in;

 

... and whilst that was drying, he made a start removing the rust spots just above the boot recess;

 

... back to sorting out the filler.. 

 

... and prepped 

 

 

He then moved onto the front lower spoiler...

 

 

... and then covered her up ready for painting..

 

 

Primed, then realised that I also needed my drivers door handle doing :P

 

 

 

[Titanium_Man]

... then it all started ... 

 

 

 

 

Once it was all done, I put on my Briskoda rear reg. plate holder and pressed plates

 

 

 

 

 

I'm now waiting for replacement badges  :clap:

[Titanium_Man]

So, typically a day before I went to Glastonbury for the week I noticed a hissing and a drop in fuel consumption, which was obviously a boost leak somewhere but decided to leave it until I got back. We did Glasto in style by borrowing Zee's dad's beast of a Hymer,

After a week on site I had forgotten about the leak, but it got really bad on the way home from work on the first day back. so much so that I lost the roar from the turbo when on WOT. So I nursed her to and from work until the Friday 3rd July when I set about trying to find where it was. I started by taking off the bumper to check those attached to the 'cooler, but it was none of them, but decided in my infinite wisdom I would take all the pipes off and redo them all again, from the EGR delete down. I then put her up on axel stands so that I could check the 'cooler pipe attached to the turbo and there was the problem.

I normally do all my work in my garage, but I'm in the middle of prepping our Civic for sale, so had to do it outside. I'm not comfortable with jacking a car up on a gradient, so I called my neighbour and used his bay. It had been a hot day but by the time I got at it, the sun had not been directly on our private parking bays out the back of our house, so I was a little surprised when this happened!

... and this was how I've left his parking bay

Anyway, with that all done I then fitted my new Skoda badges. I originally wanted to replaced like for like and keep the original style, but my two year old OEM wheel badges have gotten very tatty and I reckon the new style will hold up much better.

Fast forward to last Wednesday night... I went to the cinema with Zee and spotted another (lightly) modded silver vRS, so I had to park next to it :p My missus said I was a horrible git for doing that?!?!

Anyway, no less than 30 seconds into firing her up and making my way out of the multi-storey carpark I noticed that my drivers side Xenon was flickering, so I pulled up straight away, popped the bonnet with the engine still running and I could see the wiring and black box for the headlight was caught in the aux belt I quickly turned off the engine and the flickering stopped and still working but this was what damaged was done...

... I guess I must have knocked it all loose when I was messing about with the top boost pipe :(

Also, over the last week the pipe between my catch-can and TIP kept popping off at the TIP, so yesterday I cut a new length of pipe, adding an extra inch or so to allow for engine movement following suggestions that the pipe looked too short, then I wrapped up the above wires and black box with insulation tape and re-routed the wires so they couldn't get caught in the belt again.

Once this was all done, I gave her a quick clean, but whilst at it I noticed some iron fall-out all over the rear, despite doing a full car clay back on the 3rd June.... the hazards of working at Avonmouth Dock :(

Dragons Breath doing it's thing ...

My exhaust came up OK, but there was some pitting(?) which I am not happy about..... the last wash back in June I decided to try some Meguires metal polish after being given some, but it's crap IMHO. It took a hell of a lot more effort to clean that the Autoglym metal polish I normally use.

Once I had finished, I took her for a blat to check that the catch-can pipe wasn't popping off when giving her some stick, came home and for the first time ever, just one of the tailpipes was all sooted up. It's never done that before and have no idea why it has this time????

[Titanium_Man]

WOW, has it been this long since I posted something up :p

 

I think my next port of call is to do some data logging and see what I find.....

 

Haven't gotten around to this yet as I've been scouting out the best local place for free which is (1) Safe (2) will be free from the old bill   (3) and is flat a long enough. Thankfully my search is over, so now I need to look at what I need to log and change it into understandable data, AKA a line graph 

 

 After a really 5hit 2015 with serious ill health, I am determined to get my car up together, but I have made a slow start as I've been away on holiday each month this year so funds have not been available for major changes. Some major changes are planned for this year. 

 

During routine fluid checks in the engine bay, I came across this mess ....

 

 

Despite being reassured by another forum member that the pipe they bought for their catch-can install, on closer inspection they were wrong.... 

 

 

I had always planned to change the pipes to something sold as such, so took to my watch list on Ebay and £30 and three days later it arrived. However, in my excitement of getting back in my garage and working on my car, I didn't think through what I was about to do and on the weekend of trying to remove and plumb it all back it I quickly realised that I didn't have enough clamps for what I wanted to do. Not deterred, I rummaged through my garage and found an (not perfect, but will do for now) alternative.....

 

 

... and this is how it now looks .....

 

 

Whilst I was at it I decided to fix my splitter as it was sagging again. This time I decided to remove the bumper as the screws I previously used had a head that was too big to fit inside the the support beams in the middle of the splitter, which meant that the screw wasn't full tightened and the lightest touch snapped the screw and was pushing down on the splitter. Unfortunately, I haven't bought any different screws since then so had to come up with another plan I ended up deciding that zip-ties could work, so drilled extra hols in the bumper and bob's your uncle ....

 

 

 

Whilst the bumper was off I found this mess on the boost pipe

 

 

... for now I have just cleaned it up and will check it again in a few weeks when I check the catch-can.