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

[J306TD]

Which Skoda dealer you go to?

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[alex_e3]

Oswestry mate

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[J306TD]

I was up there from 1400-1530 as car was in their bodyshop

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[alex_e3]

Must've literally missed me by minutes then!

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[J306TD]

What time you there?

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[alex_e3]

Just checked a drawing they printed out for me... I was actually there at about 1.15pm.

[J306TD]

Just checked a drawing they printed out for me... I was actually there at about 1.15pm.

Ahh i was on the bus then into Oswestry

Sent from my Galaxy S5

[alex_e3]

Today's update.

 

First thing I cleaned up and re-greased both shock assemblies. Took a fair while to do this properly! I split the top mounts to clean them properly and grease them back up. Look miles better...

 

 

Re-fitted both to the car...

 

 

 

I now seem to have developed a creaking and twanging type noise when turning between locks. I'm guessing that it's just the bearings making a noise due to them not being under load. I put a jack underneath the hub and put some pressure on it and the noise got massively quieter. Should be fine once the weight of the engine is on it. Top mounts are only a year old and were in very good condition when I inspected them.

 

 

Next up I moved onto the front brakes. I've got my adaptor plates back from the powdercoaters, but first had to clean the coating off where they attach to the hub, as the calipers do not float and I don't want to alter the caliper spacing. Also cleaned the bolts up nicely with a wire drill bit...

 

 

Adaptor plate on...

 

 

Took my discs out, greased the hub lightly and then popped them on. They are pretty damn big compared to standard!...

 

 

Now for the fun bit! I bolted the Brembo's on...

 

 

I cleaned up the pad retainers and plate with a wire attachment and metal polish. Here are the DS2500's ready to go in ...

 

 

I then fitted my custom HEL braided lines. Nice easy banjo fitting on the caliper. Other end was a right pain. The standard hose has a notch in it so that it goes through the hole on the arch liner a specific way so it doesn't spin. The HEL lines did not have this, so I had to file away the excess in the inside of the hole to get it through. A bit of a fiddle with the brake hose and a hot kettle of water poured over the lot to get rid of any fluid, and here is the end result...

 

 

 

 

They look fantastic and have been worth the effort!  They're darker than in the picture though.

 

 

Unfortunately that was all I had chance to do today. As usual, things are taking a long time! So the rear brakes are getting rebuilt tomorrow and getting refitted to the car. I'm also fitting my green powdercoated Whiteline RARB. Hoping to have time to flush the brake fluid with DOT 5.1 also. After that, the chassis is pretty much sorted. Onto the engine rebuild then

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3

[Dark_Hero]

Sweet. Great progress and pictures as always. Can't wait to see it all back together

[Lofty]

I had the same faf when fitting the HEL lines to mine, that bracket in the arch takes some filing to get the new lines to fit up square!!

 

Calipers look funky!

[alex_e3]

Sweet. Great progress and pictures as always. Can't wait to see it all back together

 

Cheers Charlie  I'm actually starting to get a bit sick of it now. Purely because I'm against the clock and what I thought were small jobs keep taking hours 

 

 

 

I had the same faf when fitting the HEL lines to mine, that bracket in the arch takes some filing to get the new lines to fit up square!!

 

Calipers look funky!

 

Yeah mate they were a bloody right pain! Hard steel and awkward to get at didn't help.

[alex_e3]

Today's update.

 

I had a split session today, as I wasn't going to miss the return of F1 and Spa for anyone   So went down in the morning and did some of the more laborious jobs. Spent a fair while stripping parts of the Whiteline RARB that I bought second hand (but low miles). The previous owner of it decided to paint it. However, he painted over all the bloody bushes too. So in the end I had to press the bushes out of the link pipes before I could clean them up...

 

 

All the cleaned items had a coat of Hammerite satin black before I went away to watch the F1!

 

 

Back later, I tackled the rebuild of the rear 256mm brake rebuild. First off I got all my new parts together and took the circlip out of under the piston to free all the components. I cleaned up all the handbrake mechanism and the inside of the caliper itself. Surprising how many parts are involved when stripping these fully...

 

 

I then decided to clean up the handbrake lever and get it painted up so I could fit it later. Picture with the other parts from earlier...

 

 

So onto the rebuild, first job is to grease up the small o-ring and pop it over the end of the handbrake mechanism...

 

 

After that I greased up the rest of the shaft quite heavily, as this is what sticks for a lot of people...

 

 

Popped the handbrake mechanism in and pressed it tight to seal the o-ring properly...

 

 

Next part is the trickiest bit of the whole job and took me a while to sort the first time. After reading a previous guide, I was under the impression that I had to compress the handbrake mechanism to get the circlip back in. However I found out that this does NOT need to be done on the 256mm rears. First step was to get the 90 degree long nose circlip pliers out and get it ready before dropping it in...

 

 

I found the best way to do this was get a very small flat headed screwdriver and press the clrclip down in several places. It is then in place but still not quite secure. So I got in there carefully with another flat headed screwdriver and tapped it into place with a hammer. Just to double check that it was seated in the groove ok I popped the nut on the end and hammered the end lightly to check it didn't pop out. All was well. Can just see the circlip here (it's difficult to get a photo)...

 

 

It was fairly plain sailing after this. I made sure that the top of the handbrake mechanism had plenty of grease on the outside in the recess...

 

 

I tapped the new seal into place. This seal perishing is no doubt the cause of ingress and sticking handbrakes...

 

 

Next up I greased the new fluid seal and put it into place...

 

 

I then greased up the new seal for the piston inners and put the washers back together in the correct order...

 

 

Popped into the brand new piston...

 

 

Circlip back in place. This one was nice and easy ...

 

 

I then greased the dust seal and popped it on the pulled it down to the end of the piston...

 

 

Pushed the dust seal into place and screwed then end of the piston in by hand...

 

 

I then got the brake rewind tool out and used a rag to protect the powdercoat. I slowly twisted the piston back in...

 

 

Nicely in all the way...

 

 

Brand new stainless steel bleed nipple greased up and tightened...

 

 

Original handbrake bracket has been replaced with the anti-moo bracket one to avoid that damn awful noise when reversing...

 

 

By this time the handbrake lever was dry! So popped this on and tightened up. All tested and it snaps back like new - perfect  Finished product...

 

 

 

All that's left to do with this is to fit my new return springs (not that it needs them!).

 

I then did exactly the same to the other caliper. Really pleased with how these have come out

 

 

I haven't had chance to fit the new sliders and rubber boots to the carriers yet. This will be done tomorrow, along with re-assembly of the RARB links. Then hopefully get it all fitted

 

 

Hopefully someone will get some benefit from the pictures here. I know a lot of people are reluctant to take on a complete rear brake overhaul. As long as you have compressed air to blow the piston out and the long nose clrclip pliers then the job isn't that bad. Worst bit is dealing with the awkward circlip.

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3

[faboka vrs]

Yup circlip was a bitch when I strip mine. But then i only had ****ting circlip piers.

[Dark_Hero]

Cheers Charlie  I'm actually starting to get a bit sick of it now. Purely because I'm against the clock and what I thought were small jobs keep taking hours 

If you were more local d offer to help

[Dark_Hero]

What's the anti moo bracket? Think I need one of them

[alex_e3]

Cheers mate. You're right though... bit far Kent ha ha!

 

 

The anti-moo bracket is the replacement for the handbrake cable guide that has the big rubber weight on it. Stops that god awful squealing noise that the 256mm brakes give off when reversing. There's an old thread I've just found here... http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/210558-brake-anti-squeal-kit-part-number-anyone-know-it/

[alex_e3]

Tonight's update.

 

 

Back to work today after 7 weeks off  Went straight down to my unit after work to crack on.

 

First off I fitted the return springs to both calipers. They were actually a pain to work out where they went, so ended up looking at Google images!...

 

 

Started work on the carriers now. I couldn't get the pins in since they were powdercoated, so had left some paint stripper in the holes for a few days to loosen it. I then ran a drill bit through all the holes to clear it. Out came a load of material from the shot blasting...    In the end the pins were nice and free to slide back and forth. So I popped a bit of grease in the hole and fitted the new rubber boots on...

 

 

Then greased the pins up massively so that they stay free for a time to come...

 

 

I cleaned up the pad shims for the carriers. Came up really nicely...

 

 

Carriers now all finished and shiny ...

 

 

So the moment came to fit them! I fitted the caliper itself first, then carefully attached and torqued up the carrier and slotted the pads in with some anti-squeal paste on. I've opted for standard pads on the back, as they're not worked hard and I refuse to pay another £140 for rear DS2500's if they're not needed...

 

 

Caliper then bolted up nicely. A bit of careful faffing with the handbrake cables and all was well again ...

 

 

 

Final job I had time for tonight was pressed the rubber bushes and sleeves back into the RARB links. I then gave them another coat of paint to touch up where some paint had been removed on re-fitting...

 

 

 

Tomorrow I'll get the RARB fitted and I'll be using my vacuum brake bleeder to get the air out and run new fluid all through. I'll then be enlisting the Mrs for the final bleed when I have the new fluid nicely through

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3

[pip_vrs]

Good work yet again. Didn't realise there were so many parts in the real caliper.

It's going to look like a new car when your done. Hoping to follow along these lines now I've got my Fabia

[Paulbrown]

Wow epic thread just read (looked at pics) loads of good work done there!!

[DanGum]

Awesome work there bud those kws look as clean as when they came out the box!

[alex_e3]

Thanks again guys

 

One of the best buys I made for the car Dan

 

I'm not going to want to drive it to start with! On the other hand... I can't bloody wait to be back at 2.5 bar

[alex_e3]

Tonight's update.

 

First job was to get the brakes all sorted. I had a handy little vacuum brake bleeder that hooked up to my compressor to pull the fluid through. So I pulled all the air and a load of fluid through each caliper to ensure fresh stuff was run through. Made the job so quick using this...

 

 

The Mrs arrived and gave me a hand to do each corner manually just to double check there was no air left. As it was, the tool did a perfect job!

 

 

Next up was to fit my Whiteline RARB. I first quickly cleaned up the exhaust clamps which go over the beam and the nuts, bolts and washers. A bit of a faff to fit without damaging the finish, so took my time. End result...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wish I had time to take the beam off and get that powdercoated also. A job for the future methinks!

 

 

Last job I did was get underneath the car and refit the fuel cooler and all the clips that hold the brake and fuel lines under the car.

 

 

Tomorrow I'll be starting to clean the block up and hopefully paint that and the head.

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3

[Lofty]

Pull your finger out man!!!

 

LOL

 

Only kidding, at least you work faster than Gramps.

 

 

[coskev]

Very nice

ARB looks mint, in more way than one!

Pull your finger out man!!!

 

LOL

 

Only kidding, at least you work faster than Gramps.

Fu*k you brummie :p

[alex_e3]

Update.

 

Worked later tonight (by that I mean most people's 'normal' hours! ), so only got a couple of hours on the car tonight.

 

So first off I turned the head upside down and rested it on a block of wood, then blasted it down with a wire drill attachment. Much cleaner now...

 

 

A good clean with brake cleaner and I masked up the mating face and other areas I didn't want to spray...

 

 

High temp aluminium colour paint later...

 

 

 

Masking removed a bit later...

 

 

 

Next up I turned my attention to the block. Spent ages cleaning up all the pistons, bores and the mating face. Looks so much better - ready to be blackened up again!!...

 

 

A good clean with brake cleaner and I masked off the top section and all oil holes...

 

 

 

Should have a lot more time down there tomorrow evening. So first job is gonna be to blast all the block with a wire drill attachment. That's probably going to take a fair while. A good clean up, then mask it up and it'll be ready for paint. If that goes well time wise, then I'll be able to start getting the cylinder head built back up. Failing that, I'll probably paint some of the other components I want tidied up - all time consuming little jobs.

Edited 29 October, 2017 by alex_e3