I spoke to James who’s painting the rear bumper today, he’s getting on with it, putting lots of hours in, sent me some update pics..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was unhappy with the way the two sections of the vRS bumper are together so he’s spent considerable time on smoothing and strengthening the join out to remove the water trap but retain the body line moulding.

 

 

 

 

First of many coats as he’s currently flatting it back for more yellow to be applied. Told you he was a perfectionist!

 

In the meantime I have derusted the original torx screws that hold the bumper in, etch primed, baked and then satin black painted them, pairing them up with new stainless steel “speed nuts” as VAG call them.

 

 

 

more soon

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

23 hours ago, Lofty said:

I’ve been trying to find some original (In period) dealer showroom plates for shows, black with silver Fabia vRS lettering. As dealers back in the day we had them, same as what’s featured in the brochures, but alas I’ve had no luck yet😔

 

If you have a picture of these mate i can recreate the artwork for you and supply you with a perfect 1:1 replica PDF file. All you would need to do is find someone who can print number plates. DM me if you'd like.

 

 

31 minutes ago, Brogeur said:

 

If you have a picture of these mate i can recreate the artwork for you and supply you with a perfect 1:1 replica PDF file. All you would need to do is find someone who can print number plates. DM me if you'd like.

 

 

Oooh thank you! I’ll see if I can find a good enough picture.

I have a very poor image to give you a rough idea of what I’m after...

 

 

 

 

Would the original brochure be enough to copy it off??

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

I just scanned my old brochure.....

Chrome lights and chrome grill 👍

3 hours ago, fabdavrav said:

I just scanned my old brochure.....

just the ticket! Thank you.

 

 

1 minute ago, faboka vrs said:

Chrome lights and chrome grill 👍

on a black car yes....😂😂. For gods sake don’t wake secret Kev up again John 😳

Edited 4 October, 20196 yr by Lofty

I’m having to manage the need to decorate the house before we move and the need to get in the garage to tinker, both have won today 👍🏻
 

Now that the wet sanding and machine polishing is done on the drivers and passenger sides, and is also done on the bonnet and tailgate, it’s time to get stuck into the boot shuts etc.

 

I removed the entire boot seal and soaked it in a bucket of hot water and Bilt Hamber surfex HD. This allowed me to clean it all easily with a work MF towel. 
 

The painted boot shut was given a good going over with BH Surfex and the detail brushes, before being polished with good old Autoglym Super Resin. I still use this polish for these areas as it’s light cut is good for cleaning areas like this. The main paintwork of the car is waxed with Nippon Shines Soft 99 “king of gloss”.

 

Quite pleased with the boot area now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Looks stunning mate. Must be getting close to starting it now  

32 minutes ago, Dark_Hero said:

Looks stunning mate. Must be getting close to starting it now  

Yeah it’ll be running soon... (he says hopefully 😳😳😳)

Attached Lofty.

Standard UK number plate size.

Just need to source someone who can print them!

fabia.pdf

3 hours ago, Brogeur said:

Attached Lofty.

Standard UK number plate size.

Just need to source someone who can print them!

fabia.pdf 58.18 kB · 5 downloads

That’s ace! Thank you!!!👍🏻👍🏻

On 06/10/2019 at 18:55, Lofty said:

I’m having to manage the need to decorate the house before we move and the need to get in the garage to tinker, both have won today 👍🏻
 

Now that the wet sanding and machine polishing is done on the drivers and passenger sides, and is also done on the bonnet and tailgate, it’s time to get stuck into the boot shuts etc.

 

I removed the entire boot seal and soaked it in a bucket of hot water and Bilt Hamber surfex HD. This allowed me to clean it all easily with a work MF towel. 
 

The painted boot shut was given a good going over with BH Surfex and the detail brushes, before being polished with good old Autoglym Super Resin. I still use this polish for these areas as it’s light cut is good for cleaning areas like this. The main paintwork of the car is waxed with Nippon Shines Soft 99 “king of gloss”.

 

Quite pleased with the boot area now.

 

 

 

 

And a pic of the outer paintwork..

 

Looks so good now its nearing completion , wish I could see it in the flesh ,with exceptional attention to every detail a real credit to you Lofty.

 

Bumper is finished! This is the finish straight out of the gun..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arranged to collect it next week, then I can build back up the rear end for good!

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

That colour is glorious!

On 07/10/2019 at 15:24, Brogeur said:

Attached Lofty.

Standard UK number plate size.

Just need to source someone who can print them!

fabia.pdf 58.18 kB · 15 downloads

Many thanks to Brogeur for kindly getting me the original dealer showroom plates done in PDF format, today I went and saw my local sign writing company - Fatstripe Brierley Hill, who made these up for me.

 

 

Blown away tbh! 
 

More pics later on the car

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

No problems buddy.

Glad to help with a piece of the puzzle. 

 

 

Edited 12 October, 20196 yr by Brogeur

Rushed home and mounted the rear plate on the 4x 20mm double sided suckers, that way it sits over the small pressed plate that’s stuck to the tailgate... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally a pic from the 2003 brochure and the 2019 recreation, pretty close I say!!

 

 

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Looking damned smart!

Well those plates came out well mate 🤘

Little jobs being done, in the meantime the tailored indoor car cover had been getting progressively dustier during the time the cars been parked up so I ran it through the washing machine and tumble drier to freshen it up and reduce the chances of the dust marking the paint. Sad I know😂

 

Better now😎

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

more actual pics of car progress soon. Maybe 

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Update time. Nothing exciting like actually starting the engine up yet but part of the whole getting ready to move house bit means I needed to sort the loft out, and there just happened to be the front bumper in there😳😳👍🏻.

 

The other half is away in London for a few days with work so I set about stripping the bumper down in the lounge😂😂

 

 

 

 

 

I removed the fog light surrounds, number plate plinth and the two headlight washer assemblies.

 

This morning I set about the bumper in the garage, adopting a gently gently approach to trimming, and after about 5 hours it pretty much fits where I need it to.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not fully clipped into the wings yet but the front support bolts are in, and the discreet trimming of the upper edge to clear the cooler is almost done, needs a bit more time on it yet. 
 

 

 

The lower grille will be removed before it goes off for paint, and a new grille, carbon dipped number plate plinth, carbon backed foglight surrounds and carbon dipped washer jet blanks will all go on once it’s back for final fit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still got some assembly to do on the passenger headlight and some more work on the bumper internals but at least she’s got her face back on😍😍👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Bumper work is still progressing, albeit very slowly with the impending house move. I wanted to create an easy and reliable way of fitting the front number plate and show plate without just ramming a self tapping screw through the number plate plinth.

 

I carefully taped the show plate into the carbon dipped number plate plinth and drilled through a 6mm hole to match the number plates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the plinth was drilled out to 6mm the hole was opened up to 9mm which is the required size for the Riv-nut's

 

Now with the large flange riv nut fitted

 

 

 

This now means the colour coded M6 number plate screws can be used repeatedly without any damage to the plinth - Black for the vRS Showroom/Show plate and white for the normal road use number plate

 

 

 

 

 

Coming back to the front end of the car, I manage to locate a mint zinc plated ballast holder for the near side headlight, it'll look lovely when fitted up.

 

 

 

More soon.

 

 

Matt

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Took the car out for a run today...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well a local recovery firm did 😂😂😂

 

 

 

 

Today was the day we moved house, so naturally the car needed to be got out of the way first, so a local guy was recommended, VIP Autos, who’s a fellow VAG enthusiast garage, and they moved it for me. Quite nervous as I watched it go onto the truck. 
 

No pics of it in its new home yet but just to show you the new garage space I quickly parked the Black vRS in there yesterday once we got the keys..

 

 

Lots more room to play in!!

Edited 29 March, 20215 yr by Lofty

Did you move house purely for the bigger garage?

 

I know I would lol!