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

[Lofty]

Ha ha full ghetto dash set up!

 

Cable ties FTW

[R1chard]

Excellent build thread, makes me want a MK1 again!

[vr5vic]

what kind of things should i be looking out for buying a rs on 100k with gtb kit on?

[faboka vrs]

Some images from the fun today.

Edited 28 November, 2015 by faboka vrs

[devonutopia]

Good old Oulton park.  Love that track

[alex_e3]

Well.... certainly had a baptism of fire at my first track day today!

 

On the way to the track my ABS light came on. So no ABS for the entirety of the day. Then later on in the morning the oil cooler pipe decided to rupture out of the side. Lost 1 1/2 hours whilst I temporarily fixed it by bypassing the cooler with a link pipe.

 

Then a couple of nice spins to boot   

 

Overall, a fantastic day though

 

 

Oh, and for the standard injector nozzle 'haters' out there... my EGT didn't rise above 700 degrees all day! Oil temp was also low without the cooler. As I never went over 108 degrees - although the weather will have had something to do with this I suspect.

Edited 28 November, 2015 by alex_e3

[alex_e3]

Haven't updated this properly in a while.

 

So... after getting everything back together and back on the road. First up was to get it timed up properly. Took a few times to get it right, but eventually got there...

 

 

I also fitted my newly re-trimmed steering wheel. Love it! No pictures up close of it just yet, as I still need to remove the centre badge to replace with my Pasty one.

 

 

After a couple more days of running about I had a big problem... puddles of oil suddenly appeared under the car :(   Got it up in the air to find that the turbo oil return pipe was leaking. Upon taking it off I found that it had split just under the hose clamp...

 

 

So a temporary fix was put in place with what I had. Since then I bought a plastic t-piece and used 2 separate pieces of hose. This has taken the kink out of the hose and made it the best it's ever been - very happy with it now! I'll get a picture up when I get underneath again.

 

 

So next up I wanted to get the wiring for the extra gauges fed through to the centre gauge. So after studying as many pictures of underneath the dash as I could, I braved it out and drilled through the dash with a small hole saw...

 

 

Unfortunately I could never get the damn thing through. So this happened the next day...

 

 

I then found out that there's a big void in the dash, so I never would've been able to feed it through with the dash still in place. So plan is to this weekend get the pod shaped properly to fit the dash top. Everything is then getting send off for flocking. I managed to get a good Black Friday deal on flocking - £55 for the dash, and a bit extra for the other bits and bobs

 

 

In the meantime I had my track day at Oulton to prepare for. I wanted my gauges in temporarily so I could keep an eye on things. So I used the mountings that were supplied with the gauges and stuck them to the dash in view...

 

 

 

A couple of days later I popped the airbag back in and fitted some roll cage padding to the passenger side. Then spent an age cable tying everything in place properly. Good view of the new steering wheel too ...

 

 

 

So, had an interesting day on track as said above. My oil cooler hose literally ruptured at the wall so lost a bit of oil and had to do an emergency fix to link a spare piece of hose from the thermostatic plate to bypass the cooler. Fixed it and was on my way at last after losing 1 1/2 hours. Massive fun in the wet including a pretty big spin at ~80mph at Island Bend just before Shell hairpin. Kev (coskev) was the next car behind me ready to point and laugh

 

I had also recently developed a small fuel leak. I had previously tightened all the clamps up on the hoses after they'd heated up and became soft. Unfortunately it seems that this hose isn't suitable despite the seller being adamant they were. So rather than screw about I went to Demon Tweeks and bought some proper reinforced braided hose, along with some rubber end caps, new stainless steel hose clamps and some red anodised hose clips for the lines around the fuel filter. This is all £99 buys you apparently    :'( ...

 

 

 

Next I spent ages faffing about trying to cut the new line whilst avoiding the fraying. In the end I tightly wrapped insulation tape around it and hacksawed it carefully. The ends were then covered with a rubber end cap before being fitted. Here's an example of the new lines...

 

 

Fitted...

 

 

 

I still have the main fuel lines to and from the fuel filter to make up. Shame to lose the colour, but I'd rather them be 100% and good quality that will last!

 

 

Will update with more pics once I've done the other lines and dash work. I'll get a picture up of the perished oil hose before I replace it too!

Edited 4 November, 2017 by alex_e3

[alex_e3]

I was a bit bored after work this evening. So decided to pop down to the unit and finish off making up my new hoses. I'm pleased with the end result...

 

 

 

Edited 4 November, 2017 by alex_e3

[Dark_Hero]

Looks great

[pip_vrs]

They look so much better

[Skoda_Saint]

Great work again Alex, I'll bring mine up to you at some point and let you play clean and colour with it too!

[alex_e3]

Cheers guys!

 

 

 

Great work again Alex, I'll bring mine up to you at some point and let you play clean and colour with it too!

 

Ha ha god no, my own car was nearly the death of me! It even nearly made me go blind in one eye!!

[alex_e3]

Bored again this evening. So went down to my unit, whipped the air filter and pipe off and started cutting my hoses and hard pipe up so that I could fit my S2000 filter...

 

 

 

 

I just need to paint it black now, so put the old one back on for now. Also going to trim the top 90 degree boost pipework and re-spray the other hard pipe at the same time. As it was sitting a bit close to the coolant tank and has a couple of small marks on.

Edited 4 November, 2017 by alex_e3

[devonutopia]

I think I might order some nice dark braided hoses from you Alex, now you have the template

 

I'd probably want black joining pieces though, not red.

 

Actually, scratch that!  :(  Forgot I have the diesel cooler.  Might have to see about getting some made up myself.

Edited 3 December, 2015 by devonutopia

[alex_e3]

They're ok to make up once you realise that you need to wrap them in tape to stop the braid coming undone. Then just a hacksaw and away you go! Not cheap though 

[coskev]

Yeah the gay green pipe is on its way out!!!

1mm cutting disc in a angle grinder for cutting braided hose

[alex_e3]

So yesterday I made a start on the custom fitting of my gauge pod.

 

First up I fettled the edges down to get rid of the overhanging edge, as I didn't think it would look very OE with it just screwed in place. Took me a while to fettle it down smoothly with a grinder and then files. Also had to shape it as good as I could to the curvature of the dash.

 

The next issue is how I was going to attach it to the dash. So in work today I made up some aluminium brackets. I drilled some holes and dimples in them so that the sealant I was going to use got a good grip. I also scribed my Stanley blade in a variety of angles on both the brackets and the underside of the pod itself...

 

 

 

Next up I used some heavy duty flexible PU adhesive sealant (similar to Tiger Seal) to bond the brackets in place. Interfayed them on first, then overcoated them slightly. Also clamped the top 2 brackets to stop them moving...

 

 

 

 

Left them to cure overnight. Tomorrow I will see about fixing the pod to the dash. I have another bracket to screw/bond to the dash first, then screw and bond the bracket nicely into place on the dash. The day after that I'll be smoothing the edges with more sealant and sealing inside the pod along with some further overcoating. Hopefully the pod will be solid on the dash then. Day after that and everything is off to get flocked    My hope is that afterwards the pod will be blended seamlessly into the original dash.

Edited 4 November, 2017 by alex_e3

[alex_e3]

Popped down the unit for a bit tonight. I removed the clamps and checked how the brackets had set. Suffice to say that the sealant is good stuff! It's absolutely solid, but still allows a slight flex, which is exactly what I wanted...

 

 

 

Next up I needed to work on the dash side of things. I opened up the hole on the dash with a larger hole saw so that I wouldn't have any issues getting my fingers in there to get the wiring through from the side. I then mocked up the pod and dash bracket and then marked where it went. I marked up the dash and the bracket with the Stanley knife again to promote good adhesion...

 

 

I then interfayed the new bracket in place and some fillet sealing around the edges. Not the prettiest thing ever, but it's not easy stuff to work with as it's very thick...

 

 

 

Tomorrow I'm aiming to get the pod screwed and sealed in place.

Edited 4 November, 2017 by alex_e3

[alex_e3]

Down the unit again tonight.

 

First up I had a play with the bracket bonded to the dash. Absolutely solid and not going anywhere I'm pleased to say

 

I then popped the pod in place, made sure it was centralised properly, then marked up where the rear bracket's hole needed to be drilled. I drilled the hole carefully, cleaned the area up, then popped a bolt and nut through from the rear and sealed over the top to keep the head in place...

 

 

 

Next up I scored the area on the dash where my brackets would be bonded to. I then applied some sealant to the mating faces. Also some masking tape to the back of the bolt to make sure it was held in place. Carefully lowered the pod into place and did up the retaining nut by hand...

 

 

 

Both front brackets were then overcoated with sealant...

 

 

 

 

Pod sitting in place after final positioning before letting it set...

 

 

 

Used my trusty DAS6 to weigh the pod down until the sealant sets ...

 

 

 

Pleased with the result. Tomorrow I'll be applying a load more sealant inside the pod, along with a thin bead applied neatly around the outside. Then it'll be off to be flocked as soon as it's set

Edited 4 November, 2017 by alex_e3

[Lofty]

So you have weighed it down with your laden sack then Alex?

 

:-)

[alex_e3]

You went there didn't you...

[alex_e3]

So tonight I finished off the pod. I'm pleased to say that after the sealant from yesterday it has set overnight absolutely rock solid. It's very much not coming off the dash! Very pleased

 

First thing this evening I took off the masking tape from the bracket inside and tightened up the securing bolt that little bit more. Then overcoated the tail with sealant, along with some of the inner edges of the pod for further support - not that it needed it!...

 

 

 

Next up I used my finger to finish the edges properly and really mould it into the dashboard. Took a while, but I'm very pleased with the end result...

 

 

 

 

Following a nice guide that another member wrote the other day, I spent a while fiddling with getting the cigarette lighter wiring out of the centre console. Got there in the end!...

 

 

 

So that's it! Tomorrow after work I'll be taking all my dash panels, centre console and A-pillars to be flocked. Really looking forward to seeing the end result

Edited 4 November, 2017 by alex_e3

[faboka vrs]

Looking forward to the final result.

[devonutopia]

Slightly neater than mine, but I am sure both will work well!  

 

Did you say what gauges you were putting in?  Mine is boost / EGT / combined oil/water temp

[coskev]

Slightly neater than mine, but I am sure both will work well!  

 

Did you say what gauges you were putting in?  Mine is boost / EGT / combined oil/water temp

He's gone for a chavometer, a Mcdscarparkometer and boost

Both of the first gauges will be pointing to maximum permanently!!!