That looks so class... Some attention to detail .  Well done 

 

If you seen my car Lofty you would cry... ! I feel so unclean looking at those pictures 

 

Glad it’s still an ongoing project, looking lovely.

Bit more done....

 

I had the chance to buy a while ago a full set of Seat Surgeons leather trimmed door cards of a vRS the same age as mine. I'm in the minority that i only wanted the door cards, the impractical standard Fabia vRS cloth seats are part of the cars appeal to me, but the factory door cards are dull as ditchwater. Speaking of water as well, any car that has suffered from leaky rear door carrier seals will have watermarked cloth doorcards which are impossible to remove... so....

 

Here they are, deep cleaned and fitted. I have ordered today from TPS the drivers electric window switch surround and door pull surround as i think they are marked so new ones of those will be fitted soon.

 

 

While the front door card was off i had chance to fit the door mirror that i had built up with the carbon dipped base.

 

 

 

The carbon dipping that has been done so nicely by Bold Hydrographics will be the last carbon dipped items on the car as i'm sad to report that the man behind Bold, James Bowld died suddenly late last year, so i'm spurred on to get the car finished to show off his craftsmanship in his memory. A good friend he had become, so very much RIP James.

 

Matt

 

I've spent the whole evening repairing the broken photobucket links through the whole thread, so ALL of the pics are now visible to all.... 

Work is progressing, fear not weary reader. 

 

I have had to enlist the help of a professional for the next bit of wizardry for the car, this will be unveiled when they have done the work for me, but in the meantime i have been making and adapting some things inside the car which will kind of give away what is happening.

 

A sneak peek just to keep interest bubbling at fever pitch...

 

Hey my fellow Skoda people.

 

No news from the trimmer, he said he was flat out and of course i said "no rush" so i'll be back of the queue, ho hum.

 

In the meantime i have yet another distraction arriving in the next day or so which will no doubt delay the completion of the Yellow Fabia.....

 

 

A little old British lady (51 yrs old - GILF??) is coming to live in the garage with the bright and bold teenager from the Czech Republic, lets lope there is harmony?

 

Matt

If there were Briskoda awards for procrastination and lengths of projects I'd like to think I'd be in with a shout?

 

Anyhow (insert normal excuses here.....) I'm still doing bits and bobs with the car. My not so secret plan with the interior was based around a custom trimmed Cobra Suzuka GT racing seat for the drivers seat only, but trimmed in the OE Fabia vRS material. To cut a long story short I've been dicked about by the trimmer something rotten so that plan has been shelved for now.

 

However, this does mean that i could do some work on the original drivers seat. Now bear in mind the car is 15 yrs old, had 4 owners and has done 108k miles, the standard drivers seat had held up pretty well. There were no holes, burns or tears, and coupled with the fact that the original owner specified factory fit heated seats and side airbags, meant they are worth looking after.

 

I could feel the metal rod from inside the bolster foam under the material so it would have only been a matter of time before it would have worn through the cloth and ruined the base material, and i felt this when i bought the car 7 years ago. For once i thought ahead and in 2015 I purchased a new seat foam base from TPS, and it's been stored in the loft ever since ( and been through two house moves!)

 

The seat foam bases are now no longer available so I dropped lucky at the time in getting one.

 

Using the excellent guides on here i stripped the base material from the foam, cut the hog rings off and gently eased the heated pad off as well. Quite surprising how bad the foam was when uncovered...

 

 

 

The new foam was then offered up

 

 

I gently glued the heated pad back in place at the front and back edge and then set about the tricky task of securing the fabric back over the now very firm foam with the hog rings and hog ring pliers. There is certainly a knack to doing it but once I had worked that out it went ok.

 

I secured the seat fabric back round the edges of the seat frame and built the seat back up using new plastics on the bases, again sourced recently from TPS.

 

The finished construction of the seat base is now complete and the original fabric is now stretched tightly over the firm foam base, exactly how the seats were new.

 

Please be aware that the seat itself is now due a deep wet valet, where all of the dirty marks will be removed, this is just to show you how the base looks with new foam :-)

 

 

I'm currently repainting the seat runners so when they are refitted and the seat has been deep cleaned I'll present the finished article.

 

 

Edited 23 June, 20214 yr by Lofty

Wonderful work.

I've now been over the seat twice with the following.

 

Light spray of 1:10 dilution Bilt Hamber Surfex

 

Good scrub with a strong mix of Autosmart Bio Brisk

 

Then extracted with hot water in the Bissell Spot Clean Pro.

 

Currently on my patented Drying Max 2000 Drying table on the patio..

 

 

It "should" be ok to go back in the car now, just waiting for a new seat belt buckle/stalk to come from TPS as the old one was scratched up badly.

 

Seat runners are all painted up now and waiting to be fitted back on the seat. 

 

Plan is to get the driver seat back in, then the fully valeted rear seats and then finally we can get back onto the engine bay. I have the old engine loom removed and the new Genuine one ready to go back in, I'll do that, then change the cam sensor for a new one and go for another fire up.

 

TPS have been in touch, the remaining piece of seat plastic side trim has now come into stock having been on back order for weeks and weeks - I can't imagine there is much call for people buying obscure bits of plastic trim for 15 yr old Fabias nowadays, so i'm collecting that over the weekend.

 

I've decided to give the seat another going over with the upholstery cleaner and getting it as mint as possible, then it will be going back in the car next week - carefully as I don't want to scratch up the new plastics in the car and on the seat.

 

In other news I have done a "thing"....

 

 

In the correct Skoda Mint Green as well. Initial reaction on the Whatsapp group chat was a little less than complimentary, but it's not actually destined for the car. Just a hose reel for the garage wall.

 

Pity really as it certainly is a stand out colour.

 

More soon

11 minutes ago, Lofty said:

TPS have been in touch, the remaining piece of seat plastic side trim has now come into stock having been on back order for weeks and weeks - I can't imagine there is much call for people buying obscure bits of plastic trim for 15 yr old Fabias nowadays, so i'm collecting that over the weekend.

 

I've decided to give the seat another going over with the upholstery cleaner and getting it as mint as possible, then it will be going back in the car next week - carefully as I don't want to scratch up the new plastics in the car and on the seat.

 

In other news I have done a "thing"....

 

 

In the correct Skoda Mint Green as well. Initial reaction on the Whatsapp group chat was a little less than complimentary, but it's not actually destined for the car. Just a hose reel for the garage wall.

 

Pity really as it certainly is a stand out colour.

 

More soon

Almost fantasy green 😂

Small update (make the most of it fellas!)

 

Rear seats back in after 12m of being in dry dust free storage, check out the magnificence that IS the middle head restraint...

 

 

Drivers seat all in on the repainted subframe..

 

 

Oh and we got the engine running.... for a bit, till the lift pump in the tank decided it quite liked retirement and handed me it's notice. Dang it!

 

New lift pump is on it's way and i'll try and get some video of it actually running.

 

 

 

Edited 13 July, 20214 yr by Lofty

Love that this has been updated! I've loved looking through this project and watching it all come together since I joined the forums! 

About time we had an update.

 

A couple of posts ago i said we had finally had the engine running, until the lift pump in the tank decided to hand it's notice in and down tools.

 

Well, you'll be pleased to learn (if not pleased some other fun feeling), that i have fitted a new lift pump, cycled the ignition a few times to bleed the air out of the fuel lines and all is gravy again. As in she runs. Again.

 

I celebrated this momentous task by taking things off the engine - as you do......

 

The boost pipes i'd lovingly repainted (probably about 4 years ago) in crackle black were no longer doing it for me, i needed some blingly colour in the bay, so I did yet another "thing"..

 

 

My new local powder coating emporium - Project Powder Coating, Brierley Hill - have done me proud again, stripped and blasted, powder coated in Mint Green (RAL 6029) then coated in Gloss Lacquer Powder, they are mirror smooth, and tough too!

 

The RAL 6029 is the exact match for the Skoda Mint green in the original Badge, and the brake caliper colour, so it ties in well with the SEAT Sport Strut brace in the bay, and the Skoda badge on the engine cover..

 

Et Voila ....

 

 

Next jobs are to get the boost pipes connected back up, wheel arch liner in, and then fit the headlights up.

 

It might even be off the axle stands soon and moving about under its own power - last time it did that was September 2016. Time flies when you're having fun as they say

Me again....

 

Just to prove I've not been totally bone idle this summer, I have completed an engine bay restoration on my 1969 Mini as well. Although the car was restored "professionally" in 2015, the engine had been simply removed and replaced in the repainted shell, so I have gone over it and replaced the following..

 

Radiator

Waterpump

Thermostat

Coolant hoses

Heater Hoses

Fuel Hoses

Full Service

Painted the block and rocker cover in BMC Mid bronze green

New chassis plates

 

And she now looks like this..

 

 

Very please with the little thing! Polar opposite of the Fabia, but that's not a bad thing some times?

 

Matt

Liking the look of those pipes Matt. That's the kind of thing I would consider doing if I wasn't such a stickler for stock original! 

Well, she's proving to be a challenge for sure this one!

 

I'm still hunting down a running problem which only manifests itself when the car is hot and up to normal operating temperature.

 

So, she starts perfectly fine from cold, revs cleanly, no misfires or anything daft. Idles fine. Once it's been running for say 20 mins it'll cut out as though it's run out of fuel. Then refuses to restart. It tries to start but it's literally as though the tank is empty.

 

So far we have replaced the following with new items.

 

Lift pump in tank

Tandem Pump

Crank Sensor

Cam Sensor

Fuel Temp Sensor

Coolant Temp Sensor

Engine loom

The injector loom was new, along with the DSSR injectors when the engine was put together. New injector Bosch seal kits fitted as well. 

 

Cam timing is spot on, torsion value flicks between 0.0 and -0.5

 

I'm now in the realms of changing the "109" relay under the dash as it would appear this could also be an issue? Struggling for motivation at the moment with it to be honest for obvious reasons.

 

I've run VCDS and there are NO faults showing anywhere, nothing, nada, zip, zilch. Annoying as hell.

 

Anyone have any ideas before i reach for the matches and a gallon of unleaded.......... 

 

Matt

12 minutes ago, Lofty said:

changing the "109" relay under the dash as it would appear this could also be an issue?

Not a bad plan. Position 15, bottom right on the relay plate.

9 minutes ago, Wino said:

Not a bad plan. Position 15, bottom right on the relay plate.

Yeah i've got the relay from TPS, starting to remove the lower dash this evening to get it swapped over.

 

Wish me luck Wino - i may need to pick yours and Ross's brains some more as we go on!

 

Great to see you’ve still be working on it. Shame about the running issues, but  I’m sure you’ll get it sorted 

Awesome project mate. I have been reading this topic from beginning to the present in these last two hours. It's just... amazing. The hundreds or thousands of hours you have put in this car!!!

Just a question that could help me. Where did you get the "genuine Skoda accessory boot bags, and a new genuine Skoda boot liner"? Because they look awesome and I could definitely use them so I can free some boot space. Half of it is taken by my tools, but I reckon I'll have enough for some wrenches or screwdrivers in those bags. And the boot liner! Clean.

On 05/10/2021 at 17:45, xyzal said:

Awesome project mate. I have been reading this topic from beginning to the present in these last two hours. It's just... amazing. The hundreds or thousands of hours you have put in this car!!!

Just a question that could help me. Where did you get the "genuine Skoda accessory boot bags, and a new genuine Skoda boot liner"? Because they look awesome and I could definitely use them so I can free some boot space. Half of it is taken by my tools, but I reckon I'll have enough for some wrenches or screwdrivers in those bags. And the boot liner! Clean.

 

The boot liner i bought years ago from TPS, not hugely expensive from memory. Now no longer available I'm afraid. Same story with the boot storage bags, got them off a friend who had a vRS Fabia from new then broke it for spares, they'd been in his boot for 13 years and never been used, so thought they'd fit in just fine on mine, and continue not to be used...

Haven’t been on here for a few years. Was great to see your thread again.👍 I have a Vrs itch again….

1 minute ago, Thomson said:

I have a Vrs itch again….

 

Me, whispering from the side: do it, buy it... 

Wow, such an amazing build with great attention to detail. Kudos to you on your build, cars and garage too...