Lofty's Sprint Yellow Fabia vRS Mk1 - "Project Daffodil"

[Dark_Hero]

Ooh very nice. The mirror bases will look amazing

[Lofty]

Big day tomorrow, got my two best mates coming round to help getting the engine and box back in. Today has been spent trying to find bolts that were removed 2 years ago....

 

Still found time for some titivation. The bracket that bolts to the box that holds either coolant pipes or loom (can’t recall tbh) was crusty so it’s been mechanically stripped then soaked in Bilt Hamber Deox-C for a couple of days, etch primed then coated in VHT Wrinkle Black.

 

Some befores...& afters

 

 

 

 

 

 

Should keep it rust free for a long time now.

 

Lots of pics tomorrow as some major progress takes place!!!

Edited 29 March, 2021 by Lofty

[Lofty]

What a day! Battling force 9 gales, the odd downpour of rain we have had a really productive day on the Daffodil. Hell at one point she even got wet FFS!!!

 

Started off this morning getting the engine onto the hoist and off the engine stand. Fitted the Sachs SMF and “race” clutch with new flywheel bolts, then slipped the gearbox onto the engine, went straight on, no fighting and even no colourful language!!

 

Got the car out of the garage blinking into the sunlight, first time it’s been outside in months. Jacked it up on the Audi TT jacking pads and supported on stands. Wheels off and then got the engine back into the hole.

 

Again the benefits of working with shiny new bits is everything went together with no mess and very little struggling, yes it’s helped enormously having the help of my two best mates and in very little time it was in on its mounts.

 

Trial fitted the 3” downpipe which I thought I’d have trouble with but it went on fine and is the starting point for a custom system, which will be built then shipped off for ceramic coating at Camcoat.

 

Filled the engine with oil and the gearbox with fresh gear oil. Loom all plugged back in, and then it hammered down with rain... got it swiftly off the stands and back into the garage. Bled the clutch which took two attempts but it’s good now and has a lovely pedal.

 

Tomorrow will see all the brand new coolant pipes fitted then it’ll be mocking up time for the big Darkside front mount. 

 

Time for a or a few beers now!

 

more pics tomorrow..but today’s pics below.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 29 March, 2021 by Lofty

[Dark_Hero]

Excellent work

[RobLarby]

Amazing as usual!

[Lofty]

Another busy day fitting things back into the Daffodil, a growing list of parts from TPS is building up, mostly hose clips etc, so I’ll get those sorted next week.

 

Focused today on getting the loom in prime tip top condition so lots of black adhesive fabric loom tape and a thorough clean up of the earthing points.

 

Picked a tip up off a channel I follow on YouTube on how to clean up earth terminals. Brush neat brick acid into them, using an old stiff toothbrush then wash off with brake cleaner, it works wonders!!

 

Before...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After..

 

 

All of the other terminals have come up as clean as well. Dead chuffed!!

 

More soon

 

Edited 29 March, 2021 by Lofty

[Lofty]

Part of the ongoing mods on the Daffodil included looking at what to do with the air conditioning. With the new engine fitted the profi-diesel tubular manifold was rubbing on the air conditioning pipes against the bulkhead. This coupled with the fact that we couldn’t re-route them or bend them, along with either one of the pipes being suspect (of leaking) or the compressor being faulty confirmed that the air con was destined for the corner of the garage. 

 

Upsides are cleaner, neater inner wings, less weight and no air con in the summer, I can live with the latter.

 

Looking around revealed some bodge ways to delete it, or you could buy a delete kit from Darkside, at over £100 plus vat/shipping.

 

I took the Darkside route thinking it would be straightforward. No such thing. The alternator bracket is essentially a cut down Golf PD/ARL one, tensioner is a Golf one and a shorter 6pk960 belt. Thing was it doesn’t fit a Fabia. The alternator was 15mm too far to the right, the tensioner fouled the cam belt cover and it frankly was no good!!! 

 

I know other people just run a smaller belt round the existing tensioner with the ribbed part of the belt on the smooth tensioner, again not ideal, so some proper research started.

 

Commence with the standard Fabia vRS alternator/air con bracket..

 

 

 

Cut it along where I have, then clean up the whole casting with the flappy wheel in the grinder, then the power file, some coats of paint and et viola!!

 

 

 

 

You could of course leave the original brackets bolt holes empty in the block, but that won’t do, so cut the original bolts right down, refit into the block and fit two 16mm nut covers. Much better 

 

 

 

 

Now the tensioner is the OE Fabia vrs one, use an impact gun to remove the 16mm bolt holding the pulley wheel to the tensioner, remove the smooth pulley wheel and you’re left with the bare tensioner. Use the power file to remove approx 3mm from the outer lip, you can see where I’ve done it here..

 

 

 

This will allow sufficient clearance for the new pulley wheel. This is off a Mazda CX-7 2.3 16v petrol. Part numbers here to see.

 

 

 

 

 

Make sure the pulley spins ok without catching the tensioner, refit the 16mm bolt with a dab of loctite and do it up tight with the impact gun.

 

Fit the alternator bracket, tensioner and alternator, using loctite and nut covers to ensure a neat job.

 

The belt you need is a 6Pk975, pennies off eBay, get a decent quality one though. I’m yet to find out if TPS list a 975mm belt to keep it OE.

 

 

 

 

Fit the belt in the normal way, and that’s it. Job done, looks OE and will work properly for years to come. 

 

Cost wise the pulley was less than £20 and the belt £10. Bit of work granted but easy enough with normal tools.

 

 

 

More soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 29 March, 2021 by Lofty

[Dark_Hero]

Wow. Another example of your great attention to detail. Amazing work

[Frj170pd]

Wow... that is a seriously nice car/build... well jell. 

[Lofty]

Tonight was spent finding out the box of all new coolant hoses that I bought from TPS about 12months ago, found them eventually in the loft of the garage!

 

Every coolant hose is being replaced with genuine new, along with all new genuine hose spring clips. I could have used aftermarket jubilee clips but the OE ones, despite being a PITA to fit even with the correct tool, well they just work!!

 

 

 

A costly set of hose clips...

 

New lower rad hose fitted...

 

 

 

 

 

New coolant bottle to water rail hose fitted...

 

 

 

 

New rad top hose...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and all of the other heater hoses down the back of the engine, used ASZ upper hose to coincide with the long removed EGR cooler. No pics of these as a hose is a hose...

 

I decided to further tidy the fuel feed and return lines that run from the fuel filter to and from the fuel rail as I was unhappy about how close they were, fitted 2 billet spacers, much better now..

 

Next job will be to find the Air Box for the car, it’s the one I did my K&N version of Jabbas “cone in a box” set up.

 

More soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 29 March, 2021 by Lofty

[RallyeSport77]

Hi lofty

 

I know we spoke a while ago now, I wondered if I might contact you again if that was ok?

 

Still not fitted the turbo I bought and the forge cooler, Just wanted some inspiration and ideas about getting the fabia to where I want it to be.

 

Any chance you could let me know your number again, and a good time to ring if that's ok?  Could you PM me back?

 

Cheers Dean

[pip_vrs]

Ewww that spring clips. Devils work 

[Lofty]

2 hours ago, pip_vrs said:

Ewww that spring clips. Devils work 

 

They are hideous to work with but they do work!

[pip_vrs]

Yeah they work. But are evil things

 

[TrevorB33]

On 17/10/2018 at 17:06, Lofty said:

 

They are hideous to work with but they do work!

 

On 17/10/2018 at 18:01, pip_vrs said:

Yeah they work. But are evil things

 

 

Looking great as always mate, 

I’ve got the special tool it’s easy

[Lofty]

More goodies arrived across my desk this morning.

 

 

A complete set of Murray Constant Tension Clamps for all the boost hoses. All new black silicon boost hoses are here as well

 

 

[Lofty]

Had an hour or so in the garage tonight, finished fitting all the coolant hoses, then got the new battery tray bolted in.

 

 

 

 

You’ll see the refurbished battery clamp and bolt. 

 

I loosely fitted the air box bottom half, just to make sure I’d got all the fixtures and I’m missing the bush that the m6 bolt goes through into the battery tray, so I’ve got to get one of those.

 

K&N “cone in a box” popped in..

 

 

 

 

 

I’m on the hunt for a mint air box lid, the one I have has scratches on it. The lid only comes as part of the complete air box at TPS and the cost is daft hence looking for a mint one.. if I can’t get one I’ll have to buy new but don’t want to!

 

 

 

 

You can see the scratches on the right hand edge... grrr!

 

I found in the loft of the garage the brand new radiator support panel, look at the dust on it!!!

 

 

 

 

This is the specific part number that relates to factory Xenon Equipment cars, the only difference is two extra holes above the radiator just to the right of the drivers headlight, where the Xenon ballast bracket sits. The bracket I had was a tad worse for wear so I refurbished that as well..

 

 

 

 

 

I need to order a radiator soon to get that fixed into place before I start looking at modifying the Darkside intercooler brackets. The aim is to retain both bumper brackets and fit it so it looks straight, not on the **** like they all do.

 

I then had a look at the Murray clamps, I “thought” i’d dropped a bo11ock when I ordered them as the outside diameter of the silicon hose once over the hardpipe was 71mm, and the size range of the ones I ordered was 60-73mm but in reality they come up bigger than that so they fit fine. 

 

I did a sample fit on the originally supplied red hoses...

 

 

 

 

One final thing was I cleaned all the Thermoswitch that goes into the Rad, again I used brick acid on a toothbrush to make it like new!!!

 

 

 

 

 

That's it for tonight, on a TPS run tomorrow so I’ll get back on it next week.

 

 

 

Edited 29 March, 2021 by Lofty

[Hyphons]

I may well have a vRS airbox.. I'd need to check and dig out but pretty sure I purchased one for experimental purposes and never actually ended up using it, I'll be doing a run to the unit where it should be it the next couple of weeks so I'll try to have a look for you

[Lofty]

5 hours ago, Hyphons said:

I may well have a vRS airbox.. I'd need to check and dig out but pretty sure I purchased one for experimental purposes and never actually ended up using it, I'll be doing a run to the unit where it should be it the next couple of weeks so I'll try to have a look for you

 

That would be great, thank you!

[fabdavrav]

Just read the whole lot over the past two days....

 

feck me!!!

 

 

I doth my cap to you sir!

 

 

I thought I was mad when I removed all the front & rear brakes/suspension, & cleaned/fitted new. New bolts/nuts to all, new bump stops, top mounts, ball joints, Koni FSD dampers, Powerflex bushes all over, EBC discs/pads, Goodridge hoses. I also de-rusted the wishbones/rear beam..& removed the welding "snot", then "curerust" & black hammerite to the wishbones/rear axle/hub carriers/driveshafts/tie rods..& used two part brake caliper paint on the brake calipers...

 

Mine you no TPS then up here as I did this in the summer of 2007...…& I had no internet either...

 

 

PS I like the wheels...mind you I ran a set of those in 15" with 195/50 on the Fabia for summer & kept the OEM 14" alloys for winters....

 

& I have a set of those same five spoke (TRPR3) in silver in 17" on my current car for winters...& a set of their BTCC alloys (TDPR1.2) same size for summers...

 

 

I'll have to do a "retrospective" build thread on here one day & scan my old pictures in..

[Lofty]

On ‎20‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 15:22, fabdavrav said:

Just read the whole lot over the past two days....

 

feck me!!!

 

 

I doth my cap to you sir!

 

 

Cheers for the kind words!!

[fabdavrav]

40 minutes ago, Lofty said:

 

Cheers for the kind words!!

 

No problems...

 

Mind you having "been there" on many things that you are doing I sympathise...not much though as reading it brought back memories...so much so I had a look at the old pictures, & forgot I also removed all the wheelarch liners ..then cleaned the bodywork behind & waxol'd it all also at the same time....

 

 

Oh god....

[Lofty]

Slow progress at the moment, being thwarted by a couple of issues along the way.

 

The last items I had hydrodipped were the mirror bases now the pattern used on these was “stealth carbon”, the same as the scuttle and side mouldings and fog light surrounds however it had come from a different supplier as the original stuff had run out. Despite it looking ok in the first instance the more I looked at it the difference in pattern became more obvious so in fairness to James at Bold Hydrographics he found 10 metres of the old stock pattern from the original supplier and has redone the mirror bases. 

 

He’s also done a brand new front number plate surround and the chrome Grille, here’s a couple of pics before the tinted gloss lacquer goes on...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The finished parts should be ready next week for collection. 

 

Some time one ago I purchased a used front slam panel (the steel part the bonnet catch goes into), sent it off for powder coating then I stored it in the loft. I dug it out the other day and tried to fit it. It wouldn’t fit FFS.... It was about 10mm too short to go into place properly, only then did I notice it was damaged and bent slightly out of shape... cue lots of strong language and much crossness. 

 

Needless to say its now in the bin and I’ve another one on its way which WILL be checked for fitment before going off to Bournes Powdercoaters in Birmingham. 

 

Once thsts back i can get the front end in a dry build state, then start modifying the polo crash bar and intercooler brackets to all fit.

Edited 29 March, 2021 by Lofty

[Lofty]

Tiny update on limited progress. The new (used) slam panel arrived and has been trial fitted on the car, thankfully with it being undamaged it fits perfectly although it does need some prep work before going to be powdercoated. Just the spotwelds need knocking down with the powerfile so it’ll come back with a flawless finish. I’m hoping to drop that off early doors Saturday morning.

 

Friday night will see the collection of these parts from the dippers...

 

Front Grille, number plate plinth and the re-done mirror bases. All match and look perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m in talks with James at Bold Hydrographics about a modified engine cover.... he’s going to have a look at one on Friday for me. That wouldn’t leave much else left for the engine bay, maybe the airbox lid but I think that’s too odd a shape to dip, still thinking about that though...

 

More soon

 

Edited 29 March, 2021 by Lofty

[Dark_Hero]

Love it, they look superb. You could almost do with a modified smooth air box for having it dipped