Alex's red Mk1 Fabia vRS BMN/BLT 16v hybrid - GTBvklr

[iiPaul]

Fair play to you Alex! Keeping my eye on this build! Can't wait for the power changes! I wish I had the time and motivation to get my box out and reseal it but I don't so for now I'll just keep an eye on the level keep it up tho! And keep the progress pics coming!

[alex_e3]

Ok, so today I stripped down the head. Valves were bloody tight to get out due to double valve springs! Bits all nicely collected and organised...

 

 

 

Head will now be going to the machine shop for a very light skim and the valves re-lapped in, as I don't have a DTI to do this and get the new valve protrusion accurate.

 

 

I then stripped down most parts off the block, such as the air con pump, alternator, wiring etc...   Parts are literally everywhere right now. Organised chaos!...

 

 

 

I then turned my attention to the Brembo's that I have. I pushed the pistons out with some compressed air, ditched all the seals and stripped them down. Pad shim bolts were a pain to get out and had to unwind them using my screwdriver as a chisel.

 

 

 

I then fitted new bolts to tighten both pieces of the caliper together and carefully bent a new copper link pipe together and fitted that too. This caliper is now ready to be sent to the powdercoaters to be blasted and then finished in green. I have new stickers here waiting to go on, as well as new bleed nipples, pad shim bolts and seal kit.

 

 

The second caliper was a nightmare though. The caliper to mounting bracket bolts on the first one were ludicrously tight. The second ones were even worse and I've snapped my bloody socked trying to undo it hanging off a big bar! These are the culprits...

 

 

So I'll be taking them to my mate's place who can get some heat on them and hopefully get them out.

 

 

I'll be finishing stripping the rear brakes tomorrow. Plus I suppose I need to start on the task of pressure washing all the underneath of the car, which will be a messy job for sure! Once the underside is all clean I can get waxoil on it and then slowly start putting the new suspension and bearing components on

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3

[silky16v]

you are having that Head pressure tested? those cracks are not good and the injector ports need stress relieved to stop it cracking further

 

 

that was my Polo Head and it was scrap once pressure tested, the cracks had made there way to the injector seats

[alex_e3]

Yesterday's updates...

 

 

I delayed the under-car blasting for another day! I finished stripping down the rest of the brake calipers first. The rears were a lot easier than expected. I suppose it helps to have the correct tool!

 

Popped the piston out with some air pressure (came out like a missile!), and loosened and removed the arms on the end. Next up was the tricky part, i.e. removing the handbrake mechanism. Hence I rigged up a valve spring compressor with a socket over the protruding mechanism, then used the long nose 90 degree pliers that I bought to do the job. It was surprisingly not very fiddly...

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end seal could then be removed. I think this is the section that will require a load of grease upon re-assembly to ensure no sticking of the handbrake.

 

As for the solid bolts in the Brembo caliper, I took the offending article to my mate who put some heat on them and eventually got them loose. The non-thread part of the bolt had seized in the caliper body.

 

 

I then moved on to sections that needed some form of welding. First off I drilled a hole in the turbo where the gases collect to ensure good readings for an EGT probe. I also drilled a hole in a blank EGR plate just in case I want to plumb in an EMP gauge at any point. Plus I can see the difference between EGT readings between the points. I'd bought some female 1/8" NPT threaded bushes to weld into place. Had to grind the one for the turbo down slightly due to the recess...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also drilled a hole in my EGR delete pipe, ground down a fitting that I bought and popped it into the hole ready for welding. This is my take-off for my boost gauge, as my EGR delete didn't have one...

 

 

 

 

I then cut down a 19mm OD pipe and made a circular blanking plate to have welded into the standard hole in the TIP where the original CCV plastic insert goes. This is to give me a 19mm fitting for my catch can pipe. Forgot to take photos of this so will do so when I get it back welded.

 

I took everything down to Kev (coskev) who's kindly taking things to his mate to get welded and the other parts to get powdercoated. All the brakes, RARB and front strut brace are being finished in green.

 

 

Other than that I picked up my correctly pressed hubs...

 

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3

[DanHam]

Looking great mate! Going to be a stunning car once it's all done!

[alex_e3]

Ok, so a lazy couple of days. Partly due to coming off my bike :(   But that's another story...

 

 

So I finally found the motivation to do the task I'd been dreading... the under-car clean!

 

 

So with my trust Tardis and stiff cleaning brush I did the engine bay first...

 

 

 

This was then followed by giving all 4 arches an almighty scrub! I'm pleased with the results. Couple of pictures...

 

 

 

 

Then moved onto the most dreaded of the lot... under the car! Lots of awkward scrubbing with the brush and a carefully angled pressure washer has left it looking far better...

 

 

 

 

So I was absolutely soaked and stinking after doing all of this!

 

 

Next step with this is to let it dry and then get the underneath all sealed up. The body of the car can start to go back together then. Plus brakes can go on and be bled once they're back from the powdercoaters and rebuilt.

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3

[Southy]

Work is coming along nicely Alex, will look good once it is all back together. My car is in need of some TLC like this somepoint soon.

[Lofty]

Washing the underbody is one of the most crappy jobs you can do, I do mine regular and its surprising that even a garage queen like mine how grubby the underneath gets. One day I will strip it all off and re-paint the underneath but that's too far away at the moment.

 

It's coming along at a pace Alex, the re-construction will be all the more pleasant when you are fitting nice clean painted/powdercoated bits to it.

 

:clap:

 

Just a thought, ive been using Bilt Hamber Surfex for underneath and modified a vile generic "Halfords" car wash brush to get on the hard to reach returns behind the sill lips and it fetched more grub off than neat TFR/ Tardis and other recommended degreasers. Really impressed with it and it don't rip my office boy hands to bits either

[coskev]

Looking good baldy

 

As above, Biot Hamber Surfex HD is awesome stuff, water based too if your a environmentalist

[stuart vrs]

Very good thread seems like you enjoy working on your car, patient of a saint. Keep it up.

Edited 3 August, 2015 by stuart vrs

[alex_e3]

Small update for today. Due to an old (but brand new) tin of undercar sealant being absolutely solid, I couldn't get that done today. So I figured whilst the engine is out it would be a good time to open up the hole in the bulkhead behind the glovebox and put all my wires for the new gauges through properly.

 

First off I removed the standard rear washer pipe, as the rear wiper will be coming off again soon... permanently this time.

 

Whilst I am doing this I figured it was a good time to do a wiring install for a small sub, as I miss having a decent stereo especially as the car is a daily and used for commuting. So bought a decent Vibe kit. This little lot had to be organised and fitted through the bulkhead...

 

 

 

After screwing about with drilling multiple holes in the bulkhead, in the end I opted to open it up to one big hole where I could cut a hole in a rubber grommet. Quite a few wires to go through...

 

 

One from inside the car...

 

 

The other wires are a new green vacuum hose for the boost gauge, along with wiring for the senders for the EGT probe, oil temp and oil pressure gauges.

 

Due to each wiring plug having the same connection (albeit with a different colour plug), I labelled each connection and then neatly taped them all together with insulation tape to keep things neat...

 

 

 

Once I've got the engine back in and know the exact amount of wiring required then I will feed the remaining through the bulkhead and neatly tie wrap them up behind the dash. I'll then be putting silicone sealant on the grommet to seal it up completely.

 

I was quite anal with the amp power and remote leads. I completely wrapped them in insulation tape, pulled up all the plastic panels down the car and then cable tied them to the existing loom...

 

 

 

 

I then popped a neat little cross slit in the carpet leading into the boot and popped the wires through...

 

 

Not buying a sub just yet, but it's there ready when I do! Very neat installation if I do say so myself! I will now await the impending abuse off Kev ha ha!!

 

Damn panels down the side of the car were a pain to put back properly - it only goes back together one way it seems.

 

 

Tomorrow's job is going to be drilling a hole in the top of the dash to feed the gauge wires through nicely. I'll be custom fitting a pod I've bought once the car's up and running. Then at the very least get under all 4 arches sealed up properly.

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3

[Dark_Hero]

Are you going to paint the engine itself? Would look quite neat after all this other work

[fabianski47vrs]

Ah man. Wish i had your will power patience and tools.

I got stuck on the part where you gotta remove the pistons and add the new seals on the brembos. Haven't got an air compressor.

No way would I have been able to do all that with them. But still..gotta love them brembos.

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[devonutopia]

Ref that head, mine looked similar and I was having all kinds of (well documented) fuelling issues.

 

I have yet to find out how far the cracks had gone, but they were clearly my problem.  All 8 valves had gone between them and injectors.

 

The spare head I have sent for porting and building up was immaculate underneath.  Wonder how long until I break it....

[alex_e3]

As was said earlier, it's dependant on if the cracks have gone as far as the valve seat and/or up to where the injectors seal.

The guys who have my head know what they're doing.

Southy had cracks on all of his too, and hadn't had any running problems. I've never had any running problems at all since its been modded.

Guys at various machine shops apparently say that they have seen literally hundreds of these heads with the same cracks. Even on low mileage examples.

It's a bit of a rubbish design putting the injector holes this close to the valve seats. Can't say I'd like to be further weakening the area with larger valves either...

I'll likely be going down the 16v head route this time next year anyway ;-)

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[alex_e3]

Are you going to paint the engine itself? Would look quite neat after all this other work

Yes mate. Painting the block with high temp paint :-)

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[devonutopia]

I think my cracks have to have gone deep to be causing what mine was doing.

 

I thought about 16v head too, but now I've bought the DS hardpipe kit it would be a waste of cash having to re-work the intercooler to inlet to come down the front of the engine.  Then dealing with running a head with 2 cams etc.  Just not sure how that would work, as nice as it sounds.

[J306TD]

Looking good Alex. Surprised how clean it is underneath considering how smokey these can be. The work you are putting into it is unreal. Good luck getting it all back together

Sent from my Galaxy S5

[alex_e3]

Yeah it does sound like that's likely what has happened :(

16v head hopefully won't be too difficult. Worst part is having to pay for the parts to rebuild the block with 2 litre pistons.

I'll go straight for forged rods and just keep everything else (including turbo) standard until I know it works fine. Then hopefully head work and 2566 time ;-) :-)

Wiring is easy - just some extension of injector and ASV looms. Boost pipework could be a pain yes, but I plan to change my cooler setup to a custom one which sits closer to the front bumper cut out. Hence I can then run a single pass and the inlet side of the system will be very cheap and easy to plumb :-)

As for running it... I believe the awkward part is getting the ECU to know both parts of the engine's position. Crank sensor is standard, so the change would have to be made to the cam sensor somehow. So as long as you can physically time it up ok and get the ECU to know the position, that should be all you need.

The main advantage of running a BKD head over doing a full conversion is that the wiring is massively simplified. Only real electrical things to worry about up top are the injectors and cam sensor!

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[alex_e3]

Finished stereo wiring down the other side of the car today. Took absolutely ages to get all the trim lined up perfectly again. Result is a really neat installation...

 

 

 

Next up I bought some fresh undercar sealant and got to work on the front arches. Looks much better and should last nicely...

 

 

 

 

I had to stop after the front arches, as the fumes really weren't good! So I'll do the rear two arches tomorrow, as well as start fitting the new steering components to the front, clean the KW's up and re-install.

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3

[Titanium_Man]

Big fan of your work, Alex. Some great work to help keep her on the road longer.

[alex_e3]

Only spent a few hours there today.

 

Managed to get under both the rear arches sealed up. Bit tricky around the filler neck though.

 

 

 

 

Can't say I'm looking forward to doing underneath the car. So I'll be leaving that for a few days methinks!

 

 

I have Dan's boost gauge to fit to his Octy tomorrow, so after that I'll tidy up the front hubs then start re-fitting components at long last!

 

Supposedly 'small' jobs are what's taking ages...

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3

[alex_e3]

Updates will probably be slow for the next week or so. Have a load of work to do for my qualification at work, so car must go on the back burner for now. Hopefully get a bit done.

 

 

So, picked these up today...

 

First off the parts welded nicely...

 

 

 

 

 

Also had my turbo and EGR blanking plate back with a female 1/8" NPT bush welded on.

 

 

Head back from the machine shop after having a de-coke, very light skim and valves re-seated...

 

 

 

Guy at machine shop has given the head the thumbs up, so will be re-assembling it asap

 

 

Brembo's, 256's, RARB and front strut brace back from the powdercoaters too...

 

 

 

Colour is actually a lot darker in person. Will suit the Fabia perfectly  I have all the parts ready to re-assemble the brakes, so another thing I can now get on with when I get time.

 

 

More parts being dropped off with the powdercoaters to be finished in satin black.

 

Big thanks again to Kev (coskev) for dropping off and picking up all the parts. He's not such a bad egg

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3

[Skoda_Saint]

Coming along very well Alex! I now know who to give my car too when I want it stripped down and rebuilt LOL.

[alex_e3]

Coming along very well Alex! I now know who to give my car too when I want it stripped down and rebuilt LOL.

 

 

Ha ha, well technically I haven't rebuilt it yet !!  But thanks