Alex's Fabia Project

[alexmods]

Had loads planned today but it literally hasn't stopped raining until about half an hour ago so dashed out and ironically took the rear wiper off. Was an easy, ten-minute job and I found the hardest part was putting the bloody plastic thing back on the tailgate and I'm still not happy with it, can't get it to sit flush but oh well, it's a £300 car!

 

Will look better when I get a chance to remove the Fabia badge and put a facelift Skoda badge on to match the front. It's come on quite well seeing as I've not even had it a week!

 

Tyredcyclist - thanks man, nice to have a comment even though it's not a vrs! I did actually consider that but I've just bought some MK3 Golf GTi alloys which I will hopefully get on next week. Then I'll look to lower it next month, only 35mm or so. Again it's just a £300 daily runner so not going mad expenditures wise. 

[Tyredcyclist]

They will look nice, are you going to put Skoda centres on them?

 

Just because you've not got much to spend it doesn't mean you can't make it nicer. This is my old Arosa daily.

[alexmods]

I'm going to see if I can I think, might even just leave as is or remove the centres completely so a few options, just need to decide what looks best. Will be better than the steelies anyway. 

 

And thats it, don't need to spend much at all to tidy this up and it should be a good little car.

[Tyredcyclist]

On 28/02/2017 at 12:07, alexmods said:

Fitted the fascia piece I ordered from Skoda while waiting on the adaptor to plug my Sony head unit in and came across this long red wire, anyone know what it might be for? It seems to be coming from the glovebox area but don't want to pull it more in case it is important... 

Just a thought could that wire be for one of these fake alarm blinkers? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251930875373 

[alexmods]

Thanks mate, I thought it could be something along those lines but it doesn't seem to be attached to anything, there was a radio antenna or something stuck to the windscreen when I got the car near the passenger side A pillar so I ripped it out and there's a mess of wires behind there. Not sure why it was installed. I have a feeling there is going to to be a lot of weird wires running through the car the more I dig.

 

It also has a road alarm apparently for which I have the fob but again I know nothing about this and neither did the previous owner as he was given the car with no details. Sorting it all is just one of the many jobs I have to do but I've not had it a week yet so slowly working my way through them. It's actually a decent little car and nice to drive so I'm chuffed with the price. 

[alexmods]

Just ripped this lot out... why do people do things like this. I don't mind as such as I mod cars myself but from experience when people do electrical things they butcher the car and it's a pain sorting it out. I've just taped up the remaining wires as I'm not sure what they are for and left as is, can't see them anyway. 

[Tyredcyclist]

 Could be the door and boot sensor feeds?

[alexmods]

2 minutes ago, Tyredcyclist said:

 Could be the door and boot sensor feeds?

Sorry, what could? If you mean the wires above they weren't even attached to anything in the car, there was also an aftermarket radio antenna thing in there that these were attached to and I've also removed that. 

[Tyredcyclist]

11 minutes ago, alexmods said:

Sorry, what could? If you mean the wires above they weren't even attached to anything in the car, there was also an aftermarket radio antenna thing in there that these were attached to and I've also removed that. 

Sorry I meant the wires you mentioned that you left in and weren't sure that they were for.

 

 

[alexmods]

Oh I see, ha. Well whatever they are I've left them well alone so hopefully won't cause any issues. SlowLy getting there and fixing all the niggling issues. Went to the scrappy this morning and got a couple of bits of interior trim that were missing, should have some more done next week.

 

Whoever had the car previously hasn't looked after it very well at all, I'm actually quite enjoying getting to grips with my first Skoda and tidying it up, hoping it will be a nice little car when I'm finished with it all. 

[retro]

Looking good and some good work has gone in to your Fabia. I would tape up that loose red wire just so it doesn't short circuit anywhere behind the stereo.

 

I think banded steels would look good on this.

[alexmods]

3 hours ago, retro said:

Looking good and some good work has gone in to your Fabia. I would tape up that loose red wire just so it doesn't short circuit anywhere behind the stereo.

 

I think banded steels would look good on this.

Cheers man, only little bits done at the moment but it's already starting to look better I think and they all add up. The red wire has been completely removed, it wasn't attached to anything. I did consider steels but I prefer alloys and have some Golf GTi ones to chuck on. 

[alexmods]

Removed the Fabia badge today. Unfortunately I can't get rid of the outline as it's the paintwork that's failed. Will have to live with it as I'm not getting it resprayed. A facelift badge and lights and a pressed plate should get the rear somewhere near where I want it to be. 

[retro]

3 hours ago, alexmods said:

Cheers man, only little bits done at the moment but it's already starting to look better I think and they all add up. The red wire has been completely removed, it wasn't attached to anything. I did consider steels but I prefer alloys and have some Golf GTi ones to chuck on. 

Weird I wonder if it was just a bit of spare wire from a previous stereo and someone just couldn't be bothered to bin it.

 

Do you have photos of the golf alloys? I tried googling mk3 golf fit but just pictures of heavily modified ones so I couldn't tell which were the standard wheels haha.

 

it looks good debadged, can't see what is wrong with the paint in the picture so I can't imagine it standing out too much. 

[alexmods]

1 hour ago, retro said:

Weird I wonder if it was just a bit of spare wire from a previous stereo and someone just couldn't be bothered to bin it.

 

Do you have photos of the golf alloys? I tried googling mk3 golf fit but just pictures of heavily modified ones so I couldn't tell which were the standard wheels haha.

 

it looks good debadged, can't see what is wrong with the paint in the picture so I can't imagine it standing out too much. 

Whatever it was it was annoying me so it's gone now. I'll upload a picture of the alloys in a bit for you.

 

Went out earlier and thought I'd make a start painting the calipers. Got halfway through the drivers side and thought sod it - they are in very poor condition and the rust is just flaking off so going to buy some new ones and change them along with the equally rusty discs and pads. So yes, I currently have one red caliper and one rusty one, ha. 

 

Anyone know the cheapest place I can buy a set of calipers for this car please? 

[alexmods]

These are the alloys I've got waiting to go on, only cost me £40 so can't complain. 

[alexmods]

Trial fitted the alloys this morning, well, one of them. Two of the tyres look to be virtually brand new with one being a fairly decent Toyo Proxe and the other a slightly less desirable Nexen. Two of the tyres are knackered as you can see so need to replace them before they go on but should look alright once they're on and it's lowered a bit.