I figured I would get started on a topic for this thing for anyone interested in following along.

 

At the end of November last year, I decided to have my midlife crisis at the age of 23 and decided to ask a good friend of mine (thanks @BJB540) to take me to Bourne to have a look at a Fabia Saloon of unknown spec, I have always wanted one of these since I first saw one on the road a few years ago. For those interested, here is the original for sale ad - https://www.windmillmotorsltd.co.uk/used-cars-bourne/SKODA-FABIA-16V-MK1-006442?fromsearch= 

 

The good bits -

 

For those who looked at the link above, in pictures the car looked excellent for the condition and a low mileage car too (clocked over to 74k as I rolled out the garage) with just "1" owner since new (technically 2 owners, but it turns out if you work in the motor trade, you aren't included on the v5 or as a previous owner)

 

After doing my research before buying the car, I had decided it had the engine for me, the 1.4 16v 100hp engine, a nice bit of power, cheap to insure and the more reliable and trouble free 16v variant

 

It's had a new passenger front window regulator

 

I got an MOT, cambelt and full service for just £300 before buying the car

 

I managed to get a little money off the asking price

 

It's rust free (with exception to a small patch on the drivers rear arch)

 

The bad bits -

 

There was damage to the passenger front door (a nice big patch of touch up), a small bit of touch up by the drivers rear light cluster, a small dent by the passenger rear panel, 2 small dents in the roof (it looks as though it went through a car wash with the aerial on)

 

It has a fair few scratches about the place (hoping @austenw90 will be kind enough to work some magic on the car)

 

The front door trims were falling to pieces and the drivers seat had a hole that at some point had duct tape over it as well as the rear boot floor falling to pieces

 

The door seals were leaking (this was first on the to do list so that's sorted)

 

The coolant is leaking from the bottle or the pipe at the outlet

 

The passenger window switch is a little dodgy and broken, it goes up and down, but not automatically.

 

It had no history, nothing, zip, nada, but I took a chance on the basis it had been owned by someone in the trade up until 2011 and then an older couple up until the middle of last year, I was able to get a little history with a few phone calls so I know the rear drums are a few thousand miles old.

 

 

Here's a picture from the day I picked it up -

 

 

And here's currently what has been done -

 

The leaky door seals

Stealthy aux cable install

OEM Armrest

Front cupholder

Front and rear dashcam

Autolock and unlock

 

With a few pictures to follow -

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plans for the future are to work on the things that are wrong with it, nothing crazy for now, sorting the most problematic issues first, replace the wheels with something OEM, replace the mirrors for electric and get the door handles/mirrors colour matched. There are probably cheaper better examples out there, but I decided this would be the one, something to work on around working on the Citigo.

Edited 5 January, 20188 yr by Hyphons

No need to thank me pal, anytime!

Something not mentioned in the first post, is the headlights which were given a quick wet sanding and polish as they looked a little hazy, the bulbs were also quickly upgraded to some Osram night breaker full beams, Phillips X-treme vision low beams and some osram warm white led sidelights which all in give a nice clean look as I didn't want some stupidly over bright sidelights overpowering the low and high beams, gives a pleasant oem look to them but with a nice and clear light output 

 

Before - 

 

 

After - 

 

Im in the same club. Fabia saloon.  Any mods  planned??

 

7 hours ago, Trilly said:

Im in the same club. Fabia saloon.  Any mods  planned??

 

Just some upgrades more than anything, plan to keep it standard for now and run it as a daily, already have a few parts to fit, cruise control and some electric mirrors with the door loom rocked up in the post this week, the coolant needs an overhaul to so I have a new bottle, outlet pipe and temp sensor to fit, that's about all for now

Very small change tonight, dug out the old map reading interior light from the Citigo and put into the Fabia, just need to get the bulbs upgraded now (and find the screw that fell out and went missing ) 

 

Nothing too exciting, finally hoovered the car a little and fitted some oem floor mats, this photo has also made me notice how manky the steering wheel is. 

 

Nice to the old girl receiving some TLC.

Interesting to see how you progress.

A quick update, I had a day off today so decided to spend time diagnosing the reason for why the boot didn't always want to open. 

 

I think all I need to say is it was a miracle the boot was even opening in the first place  after a quick fiddle around, I went to check the wiring for the boot latch (I was hoping that maybe it was something simple). After gaining access, I found the plug hanging down like this.. 

 

 

Electrical tape gave the game away that I had found the problem, I removed the tape to see the worst wiring job I think I have come across, I think I child could have done better

 

 

One wire wasn't even connected and the other wasn't connected to the right wire, so I have no clue as to how the boot was working, I'm not an electrician but even I could do a better job at that.

 

Plan now is to, at some point, strip back the wire a bit more, recouple all the wires correctly and see if this fixes it, I had attempted to twist and tape back together correctly just as a temp measure, but ran out of tape. 

Edited 11 April, 20188 yr by Hyphons

Well this took way longer than expected boot is now somewhat working again, although the latch might be buggered as its temperamental so I'll be buying another one, the whole wiring loom to the boot ended up coming out for repair as I noticed more electrical tape that I hadn't previously spotted

 

 

As you can see the ground wire had come apart completely and all the others are wrapped in electrical tape, the wire for the numberplate lights had fortunately been soldered and heat wrapped at a previous point in its life and only 2 of the wires were damaged with 1 completely split in 2, all the rest were okay so there was no need for the electrical tape on all the wires

Update, boot latch may not be buggered as has been spot on since I replaced the fuse to the interior light. 

 

The drop links need replacing at some point as they're on the way out but on a positive note, I ordered the wrong boot floor (but hey, it still fits so who cares) and replaced the disgusting old one that was falling to bits.. 

 

Out with the old

 

 

In with the new.. 

 

Looking good, looks like a cross between a bodger and a mouse did the boot wiring! 

Quick and easy update, brought the rear end into the 21st century, LED number plate nights and LED reverse lights, the same ones used on the Citigo which are super bright 

 

Got a link to the bulbs you bought? Looks really good.

Just now, retro said:

Got a link to the bulbs you bought? Looks really good.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F351581367261

 

These have lasted in the Citigo now for the last 3, 4 years, cheap but good quality

3 minutes ago, retro said:

Got a link to the bulbs you bought? Looks really good.

Forgot to add the number plate bulbs, bit of a gamble onto if they'll last as they're super duper cheap, but I hate having overly ridiculous bright number plate bulbs so it's trying to find a bulb that's sort of in the 4000k bracket. 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CVYH7ZI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_1kicBbM5XJ17D

1 minute ago, Hyphons said:

Forgot to add the number plate bulbs, bit of a gamble onto if they'll last as they're super duper cheap, but I hate having overly ridiculous bright number plate bulbs so it's trying to find a bulb that's sort of in the 4000k bracket. 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CVYH7ZI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_1kicBbM5XJ17D

Thanks for the links, the number plate ones look like some we have in stock at work so I may have to borrow a pair for quality control.

11 minutes ago, retro said:

Thanks for the links, the number plate ones look like some we have in stock at work so I may have to borrow a pair for quality control.

Excellent, assuming it's a Fabia as well? It's a 39mm bulb, just be careful fitting it was a bit of a squeeze back in and I managed to somehow slice my finger open 

Went ahead and picked up some bits from Nottingham today.. 

 

 

My next problem with the Fabia is working out why it's burning oil, it could be head gasket, but not smoking, or the piston rings which I've read up is common for the 1.4, I've put about 2 and half litres of oil in since buying, I've also seen the breather pipe getting clogged with oil could be a further cause for oil consumption, any ideas are welcome, hopefully not a major issue

The Fabia Sport seats will suit it! Hope the oil consumption ain’t too serious to sort out?

I have those seats in my VRS they are really nice!

On 27/05/2018 at 11:27, Lofty said:

The Fabia Sport seats will suit it! Hope the oil consumption ain’t too serious to sort out?

Shouldn't be, hoping its just the crankcase breather

Another job off the list, seats fitted from the Fabia Sport bringing a bit of life back into the interior

 

Old and worn drivers seat

 

 

New and fresh drivers seat (it looks like it's got a hole, but it's just the light) 

 

 

No real before picture of back seats, I just wanted to get this job done as I was sweating buckets  the old seats were a 1 piece and the new seats are a split, lucky for me, Skoda knew their stuff and mounting points were already there for the split seats

 

 

I also replaced the door cards with some more s****ier ones (which would have been in the post above, but of course 20mb upload limit), more so because the drivers side rear had been attacked by a cat and the passenger front was falling apart thanks to whoever fitted the window regulator not having a foggy how to take the trims off.. 

 

Out with the old

 

 

In with the new

 

 

I realise these have some staining on, but stains are easier to remove than scratches.. 

 

Thanks to the chap I bought these off, I was also able to replace the passenger window switch with a less broken one

 

 

Edit - apparently sw4nky is now a swear word

Edited 28 May, 20188 yr by Hyphons

Last post (this bloody 20mb upload limit!) much to my confusion, discovered 2 additional plugs on the drivers side door, which the bigger of the 2 is I believe for electric mirrors and the smaller of the 2 I know for certain is for the door card light (my car had just 2 reflectors in the front), the new door trims came with the door card lights so I was able to plug it straight up, but yet to see if it works as I didn't have a bulb spare lying around, I would need new ones anyway as both clips are damaged so they don't secure correctly

 

Exhibit A. 

 

 

Exhibit B. 

 

 

Here's what came as standard

 

 

And how it will end up looking (sort of)