Lofty's Black Magic Fabia vRS MK1 - "Project Naomi"

[hutchysrs50]

4 hours ago, Kiddmeister1 said:

does the normal mk1 skoda fabia vrs have airbags in the seat, i was aware they never, thanks

 

Not many do but some of them that had the option for extra airbags do, they have a label on the side saying airbag, it's very obvious so if yours doesn't have that then it's nothing to worry about.

[Kiddmeister1]

cheers hutchy, i was been lazy aand didnt want to take the covers off as they were a pain to get on, thanks mate

[Kiddmeister1]

On 07/02/2017 at 22:03, Lofty said:

Seat Ibiza Sport seats are now here. A quick wipe over with a damp microfibre cloth and they're good to be fitted at the weekend.

 

 

 

Side airbags as well so hopefully they will have the same plug as the factory optioned side airbag seats that are currently in there.

Last question honest lol, does it matter if the interior is from 3 door or 5 door model, noticed yours has the side clip for 3 door, and thats the same s the interior ive seen, thanks

[pip_vrs]

A 3 door seat in a 5 door car is fine.

A 5 door seat in a 3 door car is a problem as you cant tilt it forward to get in the back.

[Lofty]

Seats quickly fitted this morning before the snow showers start again. The airbag plugs are exactly the same on these as the fabia which I understand is a rarity but fit they do and no lights on the dash!

 

 

 

 

Im aware the rest of the interior needs some love, especially the plastics. All door cards are coming off next for deep cleaning and to fit the uprated 6.5" speakers in the front door builds (the only bit of the big pro installation I've kept)

 

The obligatory Briskoda stickers have arrived- thanks Colin

 

 

 

 

 

[Lofty]

Flying the flag on the front screen as well

 

[Robert571]

Those seats look way way way better than the stock cream ones. (cream seats in a black interior stick out like a sore thumb). I'm going to keep my eye out for a set from a 5 door A1 sport and have fun fitting the rear seat  I'd loose the heated option tho :( I guess you could retro fit heating pads but I'm not going through all of that.

 

- I need to figure out how they made those speaker covers for the 6.5" woofers. I had to space my woofers out so mis the windows, I put sound deadening in which does help, keeps sound sound in the cabin and the outside sound out also reduces the metal panel vibration. The speakers I went for are the Focal PS 165 FX which sound amazing, pricey but I figured I could keep them and move them from car to car or sell them. (I wasn't happy with the sound until read about audio/sound processing for time alignment and slight eq'ing. So rather than going out and buy an Audison Bit Ten from Ebay for around £150 I bought a £15 JBL MS-2 which quickly sets the time alignment out and puts in some basic EQ. It does sound a little artificial but I would recommend them.

 

Anyway the seats look very nice, good job!

[Lofty]

Front bumper going on tonight and fresh MOT at 8.30 in the morning.... wish me luck

[Lofty]

 

 

well despite the car the car looking like a complete shed, it passed the MOT with flying colours. A note to change the handbrake cables in the summer was made as they are looking worse for wear. Smoke test was fine and despite the brakes being rusty from standing it was all ok. Going to put some miles on it this weekend and next week to shake it down and see what else falls off...

 

The new wheel centre caps arrived from china so they were popped in, look better than the team dynamics ones imo..

 

 

 

more soon once ive got the snagging list written out lol 

[Thomson]

Good to hear it passed! You have done very well with this. 

Doesn't  look like a shed at all.  Definatly makes me want a black one. Keep up the good work. 

[Lofty]

Cheers! But up close it needs some continued work.

 

Got home and decided to do the leaky rear door seals, now I was fully expecting to find evidence of them being crudely bodged before but no, the door panels came off to reveal virgin carriers.

 

I ran a line of carefully spaced self tapping screws along the carriers then sealed the whole lot up with plumbers gold. 

 

Gave the footwells and rear door seals a good going at with the wet and dry Hoover and hopefully it'll be leak free for the foreseeable future. 

 

 

[Lofty]

Managed to secure a few days off before starting my new job next Wednesday so getting on with various Fabia shaped jobs. 

 

Done nearly 300 miles in the black one and it's proving to be economical and quiet, so with the weather being too gash today to get any detailing done I painted the grille instead.

 

 

The paintwork is still bugging me, I've decontaminated it, but the machine polishing needs a dry day to be done. Hopefully soon

 

 

[Lofty]

Another satisfying and strangely (for me) free job done this afternoon.

 

The previous owner had paid for a body shop to paint the side mouldings on the car a matching shade of Black Magic. Probably looked lovely at the time but big sections had come off and despite previous attempts at picking it off I'd resigned myself to fetching the mouldings off and replacing with new. I attacked them this afternoon with a kettle of boiling water then the pressure washer dead close. The paint then blew off! Mint original textured mouldings underneath!!

 

I also changed the gloomy 501 bulb in the boot for a much brighter SMD LED.

 

 

 

Excuse the crap in the boot!

 

Looking into modernising the audio set up, thinking of a double din head unit that has Bluetooth, DAB and allows streaming from my IPhone. Suggestions welcome as I know as much about ICE as I do about speaking Welsh 

 

 

[AshVrs]

Please could you post a link to the LED's you bought for your boot light? I haven't had much luck with COB LED's in the past, the ones I have tried just get really hot, start flickering, then die! lol.

[Lofty]

Suspected the battery that came with the car was getting a bit passed its best so sourced a new one with a 4yr warranty on from TPS.

 

 

and the tired old one..

 

 

Starts instantly now, much perkier 

[Lofty]

The black pig has been pressed into service as of this morning, makes a frugal commuting snotter and I'm not unhappy with this....

[Lofty]

So, a couple of weeks into regular long distance use and it's pottering along reasonably nicely. 

 

With all of these things, there's bound to be issues arising from being stood idle so long, and maybe the sheer age of the car.

 

Ive noticed the last couple of days a few spots of fluid around the drivers side rear of the car, I put it down to filling the car to the brim, then filling the vent space up as well, so I jacked it up yesterday thinking I'd find fuel collecting somewhere but no I found the drivers rear damper leaking oil... bugger. Now the dampers that are on it were fitted in about 2008 by Jabba and are actual Eibach dampers. Can't complain after nearly 10 years of use so the plan is for the yellow car to donate its Bilstein B8 front and rear dampers to the black one. 

 

Ive also had a droning noise seemingly getting worse at 50mph, can't feel any play in any of the wheel bearings and no noise when spinning them up by hand. That's something I'll have to keep an ear on over the next couple of weeks, see if it gets any worse. I've got a set of front and rear bearings in stock so I might just bite the bullet and do them whilst doing the suspension.

 

The cars also being pressed into service learning my son to drive... eek!!

 

 

Im now factoring into the running costs, a new dual mass flywheel and clutch in due course.... plus engine mounts lol!

 

Ive also took a bit of pity on her and made a start on the paintwork restoration.

 

A thorough wash using Bilt Hamber Surfex on the mucky bits, a going over with Bilt Hambers amazing fall out remover Korrossol, followed by a good dousing in Autosmart Tardis to remove any tar spots was the first phase.

 

The paintwork was then clayed with Bilt Hamber medium clay. 

 

A full three stage machine polish with the rotary polisher using the 3m range of compounds and pads, followed with a very quick coat of chemical guys sealant and wet butter wax leaves it looking half decent..

 

 

Im taking my time as other things keep needing to be done so I've still the roof, bonnet and front bumper to do but I'm doing the Stone chip touching in as I go and I am genuinely half impressed with how it's coming on. 

 

It will be due its 110k service in 800 miles so I'll update then 

 

[rich9]

Looking good as always ,what will you put on the yellow one 

[Lofty]

Thinking of the full house Bilstein coil over kit for the daffodil

[rich9]

Bilstein is a nice ride in your yellow one .

[Lofty]

It is, hence it'll be lovely as daily suspension on the black one. 

[Lofty]

Essential maintenance = chance to upgrade as we go along.

 

One very poorly Eibach damper..

 

 

Daft thing is the damper was complete rooted, the piston rod just flopped about in it but it didn't crash or bang on the road.

 

The daffodil had the full Bilstein B12 kit, meaning B8 dampers, with eibach springs. 

 

When i fitted it to the yellow one, it had new genuine top mounts, bearings, bump stops and dust shields. These have done less than 2500 miles so are being swapped over to the black daily.

 

 

The front legs/hubs complete are stripped off the yellow one and are having new wheel bearings and ABS sensors and will go on shortly.

 

The passenger drive shaft on the black one will need a new outer CV boot so I've got enough of those to change them on this one as well as when I Refurb the shafts for the yellow one. 

 

I'll see how the black one fairs on tomorrow's commute.

 

 

[Lofty]

Another evening of essential maintenance on the black beauty lol.

 

Fitted the Bilstein B8 front dampers, eibach springs, new top mounts and bearings, new front wheel bearings/hub flanges, new front ABS sensors, new bottom ball joints, new drop links and new track rod ends. 

 

Thankfully it's cured the wheel bearings that had just about become a constant howling, and cured the knock knocking from the tired top mounts as well. Ride is lovely now..

 

Tomorrow will see another parts run to TPS then I'll give the car it's 110k service. Going to change the gear oil back to 75w/80 instead of the 75w/90 that I used to run in the yellow one for track work. It's just to baulky and notchy when cold.

[Lofty]

 

Cup holder in full use lol

[Lofty]

Still plodding along merrily munching the miles, just me being a fussy so and so means I'm still ticking the jobs off. 

 

The rear dampers were both changed recently and the state of the rear arch liners was distressing to say the least. Both were broken on the lower leading edge and I can only assume that whoever fitted the original uprated rear dampers had brutally chopped the top section out to get to the top mounts, downside to such butchering is all the road dirt and rubbish goes behind the liner.. kind of defeats the object!??

 

New liners were bought from TPS.

 

Some before..

 

 

 

 

Shiny new one!

 

 

 

Given the car a good clean, and its back into service tomorrow as usual.

 

Front door speakers will be next then it'll be bodywork time in the next couple of months