jars' 2005 Fabia vRS

[Titanium_Man]

Following a recent road trip to Hereford, my little furby is pretty close to looking how I want it, so thought I would show you my progress over the last 15 months of ownership.

Having spent a few weeks looking on here into common vRS issues and things to look for when buying one, I already had a pretty good idea what the common mods were being done, what having a decent bank balance can do to the torque figures under the hood, and at the ripe age of 30, decided that this little beauty was going to be my first "customized" car and was not staying standard for long!








I drove from Bristol to Reading on a Sunday afternoon in January 2011, and following a quick inspection, very clean in the engine bay and boot, which is always a good sign in my eyes, no sign of leaky door carrier.....

So little bit of sweet talking, got her with 70k on the clock, 2 brand new tyres when I returned 4 days later, full service history,(done 1k ago and cambelt changed at 50k) 1 doctor owner from new, heated seats (amazing on a cold morning!) and extra airbags. Xenons would have been nice, as would leather, but a luxury that I didn't have time to wait for. 😞

So after 2 weeks I had to drive back to the dealership as the DMF had failed. They initially tried to get me accept all sorts of conditions for them to fix under warranty, but I stuck to me guns and after 2 weeks and a road trip up to Amsterdam in their 500 mile old Volvo R-Design C3, and returning with a healthy 2k on the clock, walked away with new clutch and DMF free of charge.... result!!

So quickly removed the annoying dealer sign on the rear under the vRS badge and stayed like the above for another 3 months when I bought a set of 312's off a fellow brisky member. I took a week off work and got busy......

Subtle tint Lamin-x for headlights and fogs, I removed the chrome grill surround the week before and stripped, sanded, primed, painted and lacquered. I also upgrade the brakes to the 312's I bought the week before, replaced the bonnet badge with a "Pastyboy" replacement, (top work, will be back for more!) along with the wheel caps and front vRS badge on the bonnet.

I did have pictures for the brake change and the grill painting, but lost my original iphone on a snowboarding trip back in January this year.... d'oh! This also means not many pictures of how it was after a very long deep clean including full car clayed and machine polish, she was looking her best.... for then at least!

From this...


To this...


Over the next 2 weeks attempted to colour code my doorhandles myself, but the paint made up by halfrauds didn't get anywhere near a decent match, so swallowed my price and took the door handles and relevant parts to a local paint sprayer. (lost these pictures too!!) They did a pretty decent job and only cost me £60, half the price of other quotes I got, and only about £25 more than I originally paid for the various bits and pieces attempting to do it myself.

So after just 4 weeks of 312 ownership, a fellow Briskoda member posted up a swap request, my standard wheels, 312's and suspension for LCR Brembo's, Porsche Twists and KW-V1 Coilovers.....all I had to do was to drive to Aberdeenshire... road trip!!

How she stood once all had been put on .....


We were originally meant to change over the parts ourself, but quickly realised we were short of a tool or 2, so quickly arranged for someone else to do it for us, meaning I could actually enjoy my trip to Scotland!

The guy who changed the parts bent a locking wheel nuts, so popped into Blackpool on the way home...


Although I liked the way she looked, this was not the original plan.... I wanted subtle changes. Sat on it's a**e with the Twists on it was not on the agenda, or subtle!!

Following a blow out on the M5 back in January this year, I decided I no longer wanted the Brembo's and Twists, so posted up a swap thread on here, but ended up doing a swap with me mate in the end.

So I sourced a refurbished set of 312's with discs and pads off ebay (paid for by him)and we swapped the brakes and the wheels. I made a bit of money and fresh brakes, he got the brake replacement his vRS badly needed as he had the standard brakes, which felt inadequate to say the lest on his remaped car.

As they arrived




I managed to source the holy grail that is Hammerite Smooth Green from a fellow Briskoda member I've had the pleasure to meet a couple of times now. Thanks again Garry, top top man. This is what your generosity helped me achieve....





Now to get them put on.

Just dropped off at the garage....


And when I returned that evening


So this is how she stood just last week after several washes with fairy liquid (no I'm not going mad...to strip the old wax and polish!!) lower half of the car sprayed with tardis to reduce and remove tar, another fairy liquid wash, then clayed the entire car, followed by a final wash. Cheap back to black spray for the black bits and tyres as this was just a quick was and would have looked rubbish had I not done it!





When I picked her up after the brake change, I developed a new noise, so dropped it back to my mate a few days later. When I collected it that night, I left him with fog light surrounds and missing thump part off the rear door handle for a new local body shop who had previously popped in the garage asking my mate to display his leaflet. My mate will get a look at his work and all's good, will agree to dish out his leaflets, and I hopefully will get my parts professionally painted Black Magic and Diamond Silver at a decent price!

So to last week.... fellow brisky member DeadMau5 posted up a swap, his spiders for my standard wheels plus a plus a little cash. No questions asked, I wanted these! So road tripped up on 04/04/12 to *cough* sunny Hereford. I hooked up with Dan, his car was looking good with the Spiders on it, and headed to a local multi story car park as it was p*****g it down!

Didn't take any pictures as had my little lad and a mate with me, so had to change the wheels and dash. (sorry Dan, would had been good to go for a pint otherwise!)

So up to today..... no hosepipe ban here in Brizzol,(that I'm aware of anyway, I did check!) so carried on where I started last week. Gave her another jet wash, fairy liquid wash, 2 coats of AG super resin polish (couldn't machine polish her yet as have didn't have the right pads and didn't realise!) followed by (currently) 1 coat of AG HD Wax and Meguiars Endurance for the brand new rubber following a good hard brush clean.....

missing part of door handle






nice reflection on the boot!




Missing surround hides a dark secret!




And gone (mostly apart from the damaged paintwork)...








So should be getting back the fog light surrounds and thump handle thingy next week, then will contemplate the wheel caps.... do I replace with new OEM caps or "pastyboy" stickers the same as the bonnet badge.... hhhhhmmmm?!?

Then a decent jet wash, nice wash with Zymol shampoo, door shuts, various nooks and crannies followed by another coat of AG HD Wax, Autosmart trim wizzard for the black bits left not painted, and if I have time, will do the engine bay again, take the wheels off for a proper clean and wax as only went over them with the noodle mit and microfibre cloth today.

Once the surrounds are back on, I'll "de-tango" the indicator bulbs with the replacements sat in my bedroom along with some LED's, but can't remember if they were for the reg plate light or interior lights... arrgh! I'll work it out!

Then need to get my hands on a carpet cleaner of sorts to have a go at my seats. They were nice and freshly professionally cleaned when I first got her, but 15 months of parental ownership has taken it's toll! (If there's anyone in the local area willing to lend me something for some beer tokens that would be amazing?!?) Then give the interior going over,) possibly new mats as mine are looking tatty now.

So plans.... well once I've replaced other bulbs in the glove box and boot, a remap is missing and has always been on the cards. The only issue is all the known places are miles away from me, with Revo being the only recognised name in the area.... unless anyone else can suggest someone closer, will probably delay the map for a while, well til later this year I reckon?!? (Why are Revo widely recommended by Audi owners but not Fabia owners, and Shark by Skoda/Fabia owners but not many Audi owners?!?)

Beyond that, well who knows, family, money and holidays aside, I love my car to look at, I like to drive it in it's current form, but hope to love it once the next stage has started!

Thanks for reading, I'll update things as they go, including a picture with the new surrounds on next week!

Jay

Edited 10 November, 2020 by jars

[Janno1]

Ya get the wheels etc from last with yellow fab in stonehaven?

[Titanium_Man]

Ya get the wheels etc from last with yellow fab in stonehaven?

Yes mate I did

[vRS Joe]

Nice looking car bud.

[Titanium_Man]

Nice looking car bud.

Cheers dude. Will be happy when the missing bits are back on!

[DanGum]

Looking good mate!

[mattievrs]

Looking great mate, some really nice touches and love the spiders.

[Titanium_Man]

Cheers guys.

Yeah it's come together finally and the spiders went a long way to completing the look.

The leather you got Matt looked awesome, can't stop the holidays to plough money quickly into making big changes quickly, but winter sports have finished for the season, so we'll see!

Hopefully the paint Black Magic paint for light surrounds finish it off!

Really undecided on where to get her mapped with only Revo local, then really need to change the head unit, so it's never ending!

Does it ever stop.... Nah!!

[DanGum]

Just read the first few lines dude, '' ripe age of 30'', you look so much younger than 30 mate!

[Titanium_Man]

Just read the first few lines dude, '' ripe age of 30'', you look so much younger than 30 mate!

Ha you're not the first to say that!

Yeah I was when I got the vRS.. But. 32 this September!!

[Guest BigJase88]

My old twists v1's and brembo's

[Titanium_Man]

My old twists v1's and brembo's

Yep! Bembo's and Twists on me mates Fab vRs now.

They eventually grew on me, wasn't keen at first but wanted the brakes!

[Guest BigJase88]

Cant believe you reverted back to 312's ????

Even if you werent keen on running adaptors you could have run audi s3 wheels or tt comps / 6 spokes etc

[Titanium_Man]

I'm not gonna lie, I can tell the difference and I will miss them! That said, I hardly "drive" my car and pretty much wasted on me! 312's are adequate to be fair, unless you're tracking it.

Yeah I knew I had other options, but was set on how how it looks now when I first decided to customize.

I know it's nothing you haven't seen before, but hey!

Your old ride popped hose when I saw it. Shame, would have loved to seen it in all it's glory!

[Guest BigJase88]

Yes a few idiots had it that knew jack all!

Seems to have came good now janno has it though

Edited 10 April, 2012 by BigJase88

[Titanium_Man]

So a cheeky little update...

Pick up some presents from the paint sprayer... Black Magic fog light surround and professionally re-painted black grill surround. I had done a terrible job if I am being honest when I done it last year

Originally I was asked if I wanted the already black part of the surrounds painted Black Magic as well as the actual silver surround. I did ponder this and decided to keep them as they were to fit in with the part of the upper and lower grill were also black, but not Black magic paint.

So when i picked these up today, I thought was a great opportunity to give the non-painted black bit (I know, I'm so technical ) a really good detail and put on some trimwizzard in all the nooks and crannies.

What I didn't realise, was under the mm's of sheer oily grime, it was actually paint Black Magic because I had regretted not getting them painted when I first saw them! Once all cleaned, everything was given 2 coats of AG HD wax and put back on the car

Something is missing......

I had also asked the bodyshop to paint the rear thumb handle, but he wanted £25 just for that, so told him to not bother as I remembered I saw one in the for sale section a few days ago. So bought it off Wayned, fellow Briskodian, for a meer £7, which I received the very next day. Cheers Wayne, that was amesome!

However, I had been dealing purely with the sales manager and had been chatting about possible future paint plans, nothing major but have a few big chips of paint that I can't do nothing with so looking at possible respray, but finances depandant!

Despite quoting me £25, he had done it anyway, so now I have 2

The rust really frustrates me, thinking Hammerite?

As I was at it, decided to finally put in the silver indicator bulbs, only to find 1 didn't work, so had to put an orange un back in ... arrgh!

Whilst I was playing man in the garage, stumbled across me spare...

any suggestions for this!!?!?

.....but as you can see, this will have to be a little project... when I have more time!

And that was that for today. Didn't get round to putting in the LED lights, saved them for another day.....

[Janno1]

Cars looking nice dude. Haha yes Jase she's getting discs and pads end of month and in June heading to lemans so will be a good run out

[Titanium_Man]

Cars looking nice dude. Haha yes Jase she's getting discs and pads end of month and in June heading to lemans so will be a good run out

Cheers Janno, Yeah it's getting there. Ordered a few more little bits today as yesterday, nothing expensive or big, just some more "little touches"

How you getting on with your beast?!? Those 312's cope alright with your power?!?

[Janno1]

Yeah mate work fine and their knackered at min. Backs are binding too so surprised I'm stopping to lol. only gets used cppl times a week lol. Might get done grooved discs for front but dunno if it'll make much difference.

[Janno1]

Oh and love it lol. Best car I've had yet and I've had a few. Love the look ya get when ppl don't expect it to do what it does.mainly scoobies etc lol

[Titanium_Man]

Haven't updated anything for a while as been really lazy and not putting on the various bits and pieces I have sat in my house but hey!

Installed some interior leds...

I did try to take a before and after picture at night from the outside, but only had my iphone to hand and didn't really come out well... will update another time....

Also received this .....

... which now looks like this and is ready for install..

De-tango'd the rear to match the front...

Although there were no visible signs of a leaky door, this is what has developed since I have owned her...

And now clean, I really need to fix it before the next winter!!

And finally for now, my new head unit ready for full installation.... just a cheeky little tester whilst I waited for the last parts to arrive!!

more to follow.....when I get the time to put it all on!!

[grr666]

Liking the dead pedal, wherever did you get the idea to do a colour one? :p

I can probably help do your doors as well Jay, and we'll try and get to the bottom

of the whole stereo thing. Better to try and do this on a weekend day if you

want the doors done. In the meantime do you want my curtains?

It's done nothing but rain here for bloody weeks. :(

[Titanium_Man]

Liking the dead pedal, wherever did you get the idea to do a colour one? :p

I can probably help do your doors as well Jay, and we'll try and get to the bottom

of the whole stereo thing. Better to try and do this on a weekend day if you

want the doors done. In the meantime do you want my curtains?

It's done nothing but rain here for bloody weeks. :(

Haha! A top guy I had a chat with at a Castle

Coomb trackday not long ago!! (cheers for that Garry, looks much better)

That would be amazing dude if you could, been annoying me for ages!! Jut let me know when you're about.

How does that curtain help??

[grr666]

Keeps the water coming through the door the correct side of the door seal

Once I fitted a pair in mine (as it was sodden in there) after a flash of inspiration.

Mine dried out completely over a 6 month period using just the curtains.

Once dry then I got my ar$e in gear and sealed the doors again.

But it can be done no probs if it's still wet.

[Titanium_Man]

Great idea, may need to pikey another fab fix from ya!