Modifying Your Fabia MK III

[Mickmartin]

On 30/06/2020 at 23:44, Ryzantium said:

 

 

 

 

Are these just the standard monte carlo side skirts?

 

Thanks

[FabiaGonzales]

27 minutes ago, Mickmartin said:

 

 

Are these just the standard monte carlo side skirts?

 

Thanks

Yeah, this is a Pre-Facelift Monte Carlo Estate (1.2TSI).

[Mickmartin]

11 minutes ago, FabiaGonzales said:

Yeah, this is a Pre-Facelift Monte Carlo Estate (1.2TSI).

 

Cheers mate.

 

Any difference in length between those and the hatch version? My search begins!

[FabiaGonzales]

34 minutes ago, Mickmartin said:

 

Cheers mate.

 

Any difference in length between those and the hatch version? My search begins!

As far as i'm aware;

 

The rear bumper/diffuser is different.

The front splitter, side skirts and rear wing are all the same.

 

Between facelift and pre-facelift;

 

The side skirts and rear wing are the same.

The front splitter and rear defuser are different.

 

Might wanna double check that though.

[Jeremy_Peeters]

2 minutes ago, FabiaGonzales said:

As far as i'm aware;

 

The rear bumper/diffuser is different.

The front splitter, side skirts and rear wing are all the same.

 

Between facelift and pre-facelift;

 

The side skirts and rear wing are the same.

The front splitter and rear defuser are different.

 

Might wanna double check that though.

The rear wing is different too from what I remember. The hatch version has like a cutout in the middle compared to the estate. Might be wrong though

[Mickmartin]

15 hours ago, FabiaGonzales said:

As far as i'm aware;

 

The rear bumper/diffuser is different.

The front splitter, side skirts and rear wing are all the same.

 

Between facelift and pre-facelift;

 

The side skirts and rear wing are the same.

The front splitter and rear defuser are different.

 

Might wanna double check that though.

 

Thanks mate, Its the side skirts I'm after & looking to put them on the mk2. Looking around £180 for the pair second hand.

[haderz]

Im Thinking of painting my break callipers red but dunno what colour to paint the rear breaks any suggestions?

[Fab1493]

Today I come with an issue and hopefully someone can guide me in the right direction. 

 

A few months ago I noticed a new sound when driving the Fabia. It sounds like a metallic rattle which only happens when in gear and accelerating. It usually happens below 3k RPM and then stops at higher RPM. I've also noticed a long time ago that up hill the car tends to shake as if it doesn't enough power, not sure if that is related at all or not but certainly feels weird.

I have a lot of mechanical sympathy and the rattle when accelerating just sounds wrong. 

 

I've tried recording the sound but it is impossible to hear over the exhaust and intake sound.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thank you everyone

[TheFozzy]

On 24/07/2020 at 14:42, Fab1493 said:

Today I come with an issue and hopefully someone can guide me in the right direction. 

 

A few months ago I noticed a new sound when driving the Fabia. It sounds like a metallic rattle which only happens when in gear and accelerating. It usually happens below 3k RPM and then stops at higher RPM. I've also noticed a long time ago that up hill the car tends to shake as if it doesn't enough power, not sure if that is related at all or not but certainly feels weird.

I have a lot of mechanical sympathy and the rattle when accelerating just sounds wrong. 

 

I've tried recording the sound but it is impossible to hear over the exhaust and intake sound.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thank you everyone

I'm not sure what that sound might be, but you're more likely to find help if this has its own thread rather than getting lost in the modification thread. 

[Fab1493]

5 hours ago, TheFozzy said:

I'm not sure what that sound might be, but you're more likely to find help if this has its own thread rather than getting lost in the modification thread. 

yeah good point.. 👍

[Eladshaul]

Does anybody know of any fuel injectors and pump that will work with the mk3 ? i am currently getting 174hp (1.4 turbo , exhaust , intake). i was told that it could help me achieve 10 ish hp and more low end power ..

[Fab1493]

For anyone interested - JBS in chesterfield is now doing stage 3 kits for the 1.0 TSI - reaches circa 180bhp & their UP! GTI managed to do 0-60 in 5.8 secs!

Im not sure if its applicable or not but I imagine the kit would be compatible with the Fabia 1.0 TSI

[FabiaGonzales]

6 minutes ago, Fab1493 said:

For anyone interested - JBS in chesterfield is now doing stage 3 kits for the 1.0 TSI - reaches circa 180bhp & their UP! GTI managed to do 0-60 in 5.8 secs!

Im not sure if its applicable or not but I imagine the kit would be compatible with the Fabia 1.0 TSI

Yep, the Fabia engine the same as the UP's, curious to know what they used, hybrid turbo? Or taking a leaf from our book and stuck a 1.5tsi turbo on it? 😂

[fenderstrat]

 A very very light modification - Frenchy Foglights!

[TheFozzy]

2 hours ago, fenderstrat said:

 A very very light modification - Frenchy Foglights!

 

Ayy, nice to see more people with yellow fogs

 

 

[Aviii]

Yellow fogs are the best aha

[Aviii]

Speaking of lights, has anyone got any ideas on how the headlight bulb comes off? I’ve been at it for ages now and I can’t get the stupid thing off.

[TheFozzy]

I've swapped my front lights to LEDs.  Assuming you have the projector headlight units with H7 bulbs, there are two rubber covers on the back of the unit that just slide off.  The bulbs need turning anticlockwise I think to remove.

 

If you're just replacing the bulb with a standard one, just take the bulb off the metal clip attached to the plug.  If you're switching to LED, you will need a metal adapter to attach to the led bulb and you can just plug the other end of the led bulb into the h7 plug normally.

 

For the indicators, there is a rectangular piece of plastic it is attached to with a round hole at the end to pull out the indicator bulb out.

 

If you need pictures, i may be able to do so in a bit when I get back home.

Edited 4 September, 2020 by TheFozzy

[Aviii]

Yea mate I’ve got the projectors, I managed to get it off in the end. For some reason the connector is a lot stronger on the drivers side so I used some angled pliers. Passengers side was easy and I even managed to keep the battery on.

 

Which bulbs did you get for yours?

[Compstructor]

Gday all, I'm also thinking about upgrades to suspension, and looking for anti roll bar solutions. There appears to be very few choices out there for NJ Series Estate, so can anyone confirm whether the Audi A1 1.2tsi, Seat Mii, or the VW Polo items are identical fitment? Many thanks. 

[FabiaGonzales]

1 minute ago, Compstructor said:

Gday all, I'm also thinking about upgrades to suspension, and looking for anti roll bar solutions. There appears to be very few choices out there for NJ Series Estate, so can anyone confirm whether the Audi A1 1.2tsi, Seat Mii, or the VW Polo items are identical fitment? Many thanks. 

As far as i'm aware, the Hatch and Estate are identical in terms of suspension components, the only difference being a heavier spring on the estate to compensate for the extra loading.

 

hardrace do two variants of rear arb (a solid type with no drop links), one being softer than the other, both are 17mm though, whiteline do a floating one with drop links, i believe that's 22mm and probably should be paired with their front arb upgrade (which, if i remember correctly is 24mm).

 

Polo MK5 (6R/6C), Seat Ibiza, and Audi A1 are also the same in terms of suspension parts.

 

Parts from/for the Seat Mii (and VW Up, Skoda Citigo), are not compatible.

[Compstructor]

That's just the information I needed, thank you. I have my eye on a pair of Eibach arb's, and now armed with this information I feel confident in ordering them. Thank you. 😀

[TheFozzy]

On 04/09/2020 at 10:58, Aviii said:

Yea mate I’ve got the projectors, I managed to get it off in the end. For some reason the connector is a lot stronger on the drivers side so I used some angled pliers. Passengers side was easy and I even managed to keep the battery on.

 

Which bulbs did you get for yours?

Sorry for the late reply, the bulbs I went for in both the dipped beam projectors and the high beams are these H7 LEDs off Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07TV41S91
 

They are a bit of a struggle to fit into the headlight housing due to the fan and heatsink (you can hear a faint buzzing from the fan when the lights are on and the engine is off) but they will just about fit with the right angle and some persuasion.  One thing to note is the metal clip to hold the LEDs in place will not fit on these, so the best option is to buy some replacement clips specifically for fitting LEDs here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B073P1PRJH

 

I also swapped my front, side and rear indicators out for LED ones.  For the side indicators in the mirrors, is this wy5w bulb from Osram: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00E3R8OQI  For the front indicators, I bought these with the wy21w connector: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07BHQLW44  For the rear indicators, I bought the same bulbs as the front, but with the py21w connector: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07BHPD8RY
 

With the front and rear indicators I purchased, they are canbus compatible and don't hyperblink on my car.  Word of warning though, the front and rear indicators are incredibly bright, to the point they are blinding at night - to mitigate this issue I used some 30% window tint (blocks out 70% light) that I had lying around and stuck it round the bulb which has resolved that issue.

 

I have also fitted rear number plate LEDs and replaced the rear bulbs with LEDs, however these were not canbus so I have plenty of light warnings on the infotainment display, the fix to this is finding replacement bulbs or wiring in some resistor packs, I'll upddate when I have made a decision on that.

 

I will send a couple of pictures and videos to show how the lights look at night in the next hour or so, but daytime pictures will have to wait.

[Fab1493]

Heres some questions for the more mechanical minded:

1 - If I wanted to upgrade the gearbox from 5 speed to 6 speed say from the TSI 110, would it be a simple bolt on job? I'm guessing space and actual fitting points won't be an issue, but I'm more thinking about clutch and flywheel. Obviously the clutch will also be converted to the one from the 110 to work with the gearbox, but what about the flywheel? Can the flywheel from the TSI 90 work with the clutch from the 110?

 

2 - For those of you who changed your own turbo to the TSI 150, how difficult is it? And what is the process? Do you need to get the car in the air or did you do it all with access from the engine bay? Did you also need to drain all the oil and coolant from the engine? And is there anything that you need to remove to access the turbo or is it pretty accessible?

 

Thank you

[FABinBlack]

On 11/09/2020 at 10:00, Fab1493 said:

Heres some questions for the more mechanical minded:

1 - If I wanted to upgrade the gearbox from 5 speed to 6 speed say from the TSI 110, would it be a simple bolt on job? I'm guessing space and actual fitting points won't be an issue, but I'm more thinking about clutch and flywheel. Obviously the clutch will also be converted to the one from the 110 to work with the gearbox, but what about the flywheel? Can the flywheel from the TSI 90 work with the clutch from the 110?

 

2 - For those of you who changed your own turbo to the TSI 150, how difficult is it? And what is the process? Do you need to get the car in the air or did you do it all with access from the engine bay? Did you also need to drain all the oil and coolant from the engine? And is there anything that you need to remove to access the turbo or is it pretty accessible?

 

Thank you

the change is pretty easy , no need to drain anything only block the 2 coolant lines , lifting the car would be helpful but not a must .. its kinda tricky to take the bolts that hold the turbo

 off if the car is not lifted but possible from the engine bay.. whole proccess took me and my dad an hour and we are going to do it on his fabia too so ill have so pics.