Neat solution to the towing eye

1 hour ago, Dark_Hero said:

Neat solution to the towing eye

 

Cheers Charlie, hopefully never need it, and fingers crossed it'll be robust enough not to rip to bits if I do.....

Yes hope it doesn’t have to be used. Should be more than adequate though.

the one I have is a bar with a smaller bolt going through it and that was enough for my car to be towed

Fitted a new bonnet catch today as the old one had got a missing microswitch for the bonnet open warning, so at least I’ll not have a random connector floating about.

 

 

 

 

I’ve made a start on the battery fitting, the BLT versions generally have a much more exposed fuse board set up than the ASZ so I’ve stripped it all down to its component parts, cleaned all the link fuses up in the brick acid then with the wire wheel in the dremel. 

 

Need to order an “upper battery case” from TPS as mine is badly marked and gouged from years of use. I’ll get that ordered for next weekend, then hopefully get the battery in and wired up totally.

 

 

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Battery cover for the BLT has been here a while now, relatively inexpensive from TPS. You can see the damage on the original one compared to the new one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I’m faced with a slight dilemma... while the new BLT battery cover will be clean and damage free, it’s not exactly a pretty solution is it. 

 

I’m doing some looking into possibly retro fitting the ASZ type of battery box with a smooth lid, the main struggle will be does the BLT loom reach the ASZ link fuse board? If so that’s what I’ll prob do, and then get the ASZ battery lid carbon dipped? 

 

Speaking of link fuses, I got a new set from TPS as the original ones were looking corroded and past their best.

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll update you on the battery box solution once I’ve figured it out.

 

In other news the front slam panel is ready for collection next week from Bowld in Alcester. James who does my hydro dipping has a fully functioning body shop as well so can work his magic on painting as well.

 

The slam panel had been blasted and powdercoated Gloss Black but I was unhappy with the finish, with old historical deeper marks still visible. 

 

James took the job on, flatted and filled in the imperfections..

 

 

 

 

Then painted with numerous coats of solid black followed by three heavy coats of liquid glass lacquer.

 

 

 

 

I’m collecting it next week and hopefully it’ll be fitted soon then the battery and lights can be sorted out.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

In a word... WOW! Just read through the entire thread (took me a few hours! ) your work is very impressive! Well done sir! 

More updates coming soon, but in the meantime I can update you on the rear spoiler jobby.

 

I located a used rear spoiler from a member on here, which had been removed from a car years ago due to it coming loose, it’s been blown over at some point with a rattle can but that’s no bother as it’s going to be stripped back before being painted and dipped. 

 

Top surface..

 

 

 

Doesn't look too bad till you start flatting it and all the crazing shows up..

 

I’ve ordered some more sanding discs for my DA so I’ll soon sort that out.

 

The underneath of the spoiler had to be stripped of all the old adhesive and gloop

 

 

 

 

you can see there the groove that has a thin bead of bonding adhesive on it before it goes back on the car. The underneath of the spoiler will be painted and carbon dipped up to that line so it’s a seamless edge when finished.

 

Next up was the ball ache of removing the old spoiler off the Daffodil. Managed it though with judicious use of the heat gun and burnt fingers...

 

 

 

 

All cleaned up and machine polished. The surface will be given a further wipe over with solvent panel wipe before the spoiler gets bonded back on..

 

 

 

 

 

I’m heading to TPS tomorrow to collect all the earlier style of battery box plastics as I’m converting it to run the ASZ style of battery box, complete with the much tidier battery cover, which can then also be carbon dipped to finish the engine bay off. I’m having to replace the link fuse bar, main battery lead as well as the plastics so all will be with new parts...

 

I will get pics of the battery box conversion when it’s underway.

 

 

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Afternoon loyal followers! 

 

I collected another bootful of parts from TPS today all to do with the replacement of the battery box with the earlier type with cover. 

 

Having spent a considerable amount of time studying ETKA, the Skoda/VAG parts system I was confident that the engine bay wiring looms were pretty much the same through all years of Fabia vRS, so it was just a hardware change and a switch over of wiring that was required.

 

I ordered the main battery box, front closure plate, fuse board holder, fused link itself and the top closure cover. Also ordered was the battery positive lead which links the positive terminal to the rear of the fuse board holder. 

 

Trickiest part was unpinning the blade fuse terminals off the old fuse link and then repinning the new fuse link, a bit of a careful rearranging of wire orders and then the whole lot fits together. And it works!!

 

Here you can see the fuse board, new link fuses and the re-pinned blade fuses. Makes sense to take detailed notes and pictures as to what goes where, much easier when putting back together.

 

 

 

 

 

One final pic with the cover on. This will be now taken to be carbon dipped just like the rest of the engine bay plastics..

 

 

 

I then refitted the newly painted slam panel, and the engine bay rubber seal. 

 

 

 

 

Next job is to find the headlights... I think they’re inside the car somewhere??? And set about cleaning them and refitting those to the car. 

 

More soon folks.

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty
Pics not working??

Looks lovely mate. Was the battery box expensive? I could do with replacing mine as most of the clips have broken

1 hour ago, Dark_Hero said:

Looks lovely mate. Was the battery box expensive? I could do with replacing mine as most of the clips have broken

Thanks Charlie, yeah it was a bit expensive, depends which bit is broken on yours I guess? The main outside casing was £40 plus the vat, the dear parts are the fuse links etc

The top cover and the part with the fuses. Are you using a pd160 intake? It’s really really tight against the battery cover, so can get scratched easily

The top cover is the cheapest part at less than a tenner, the board where the fuses go is about £40 

 

Yeah pd160 intake here... fitting it soon

Lovely day for Fabia tinkering! Had to do the annual service on my old man’s 2005 Fabia 1.9 TDi Ambiente, had it from new, just turned 40k miles, so that occupied a sunny Sunday morning and this afternoon I’ve been pottering about doing little jobs and enjoying the weather.

 

The front bumper will be going on soon and before that happens I needed to sort the headlight washer jet covers out. The washer mechanism themselves will be removed as there’s no way of running the Darkside FMIC and retaining them. I didn’t want to just glue the covers to the bumper so I bought two new ones..

 

 

 

 

As standard these have a couple of lug mouldings on the back which locate onto the washer jet itself so I got rid of those with the powerfile, then epoxy bonded on a mushroom headed M6 12mm long bolt. That was yesterday and I forgot to take the pics of that..

 

Today saw two applications of Upol SMC Carbon reinforced fibrefill/adhesive.

 

Not pretty but work in progress..

 

 

 

This was then powerfiled and sanded back level, and the threads cleaned up with the wire wheel in the dremel.

 

Now I’m not looking for bodyshop level of perfection on the back, as long as they are strong and level that will do..

 

 

 

 

I have some 50mm M6 penny washers coming which will go inside the bumper to secure the covers. A thin 2mm double sided tape will also be applied 3mm back from the edge to further secure them.

 

As for the front face they will be soon off to be carbon dipped to match the grille and numberplate surround...

 

Exciting times!!

 

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty
Extra pic

That’s going to look sooo good once it’s done

I think I have a problem, not being able to accept when something is “good enough”. Lying there last night thinking about those washer jet covers has seen me outside tonight giving them a coat of fine filler and sanding that back smooth. Why? I can’t tell you TBH, but I’m happier now...

 

 

 

I also found the missing bolts for the bonnet catch so fitted that and adjusted it to suit. Good news is the bonnet is now shut for the first time in nearly three years!!

 

 

 

 

I was interested to know how much (if any) of the Darkside front mount intercooler you’d be able to see with the bonnet shut and I’m glad to say almost nothing. Only with the flash of the camera can you make it out. Happy with that.

 

 

 

 

More tinkering soon. Spoiler will be next to be prepped.

 

 

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Just had a random thought, carbon dipped wind deflectors? 

12 hours ago, Dark_Hero said:

Just had a random thought, carbon dipped wind deflectors? 

 

Never been a big fan of them tbh, prefer the smoother lines without. 

To all those brave or high enough to still be here, welcome.

 

The spoiler work is ongoing. At a pace. That pace happens to be one of a slightly lame Tortoise but pace it is..

 

Trouble with the spoiler having cracked and crazed aerosol paint finish is that it can’t really be painted over without a risk of reacting or further problems down the line, so the only real solution is to sand it all back to the bare plastic surface, PU or Polyurethane in this case. Chemical stripping may work but the risk of knackering the surface of the PU is great, so mechanical stripping it is. With a DA sander, and fingers, and lots of hours. I mean lots of hours. 

 

I have to start quite aggressive with the paper, 120 grit, then gone down to 240/400 in readiness for plastic primer then 2k primer. 

 

After 3 full hours and numb fingers I got this far...

 

 

 

 

About half the upper surface done.

 

6 hours in the upper surface is done 

 

 

 

The recess where the OE aerial rubs against was roughed up with 80 grit in readiness for the Upol SMC Carbon reinforced filler. Again not pretty but will be sanded level.

 

 

 

 

But wait... what will the aerial now rub against I hear you ask?? Well the OE aerial will be replaced with this...

 

 

Supposed to be a VW Golf Mk5/6 unit. I’ll see if it works eh??

 

More soon!

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Loving the updates, will be a machine when it's done.

Hey. Guess what? More sanding that’s what!!

 

I knocked back the SMC then applied a tiny thin coat of normal flexible body filler..

 

 

 

 

It will need a dot it two of fine stopper before it gets primed but I’ll let James do that for me.

 

Now all I have to do is the same prep work on the rear facing side of the spoiler.. yawn!

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Spoiler is finished from a sanding perspective. I hate sanding. That is all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Off to the dippers next week, I’ll post more enjoyable updates when I’ve something shiny to show you all.

 

 

(still hate sanding by the way....)

It’s high time we had an update. I had an email from James at Bold Hydrographics at midnight last night to say he’d just finished polishing the bits and bobs and he attached some teaser pics...

 

 

 

 

Needless to say I’m excited to pick these up after work tonight...

 

More pics as usual over the weekend.

 

Cheers

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Zero time today, been babysitting a 5 month old overnight so zero sleep as well!

 

Did manage to pop into the garage just now and slip the battery cover on. Well worth the time and expense to retro fit the “ASZ” box, fuses and cover as it’s really tidied up the eyesore of a corner

 

 

 

 

and my favourite shot so far....

 

 

 

 

More soon. 

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Wow

Fixed broken picture link now. 😆

Edited 10 June, 20196 yr by Lofty