My adopted sprint yellow VRS

[kentdale]

[kentdale]

Not sure what happened to my post when I started my project but I have managed to put info on my fabia into my profile.

Can any moderators sort it for me and put it with my project section. 

Also can someone advise on how not to mess up again.

Thanks

[kentdale]

Hi everyone, my VRS which originally my son bought about 5 years ago with about 30,000 miles and being a one  owner car with Lightcliffe Skoda supplying dealer and service history.

It now has about 70,000 miles and has been rather neglected, but not past saving that's for sure.

I can remember when the Fabia VRS was launched and having a test drive thinking that it had loads of shove in normal driving, although the Mrs was not impressed so we ended up with the end of run Octavia elegance 130 pd hatch, similar shove but slightly muted of course.

Anyhow I am starting to sort the VRS out and there are already issues ,as posted recently the cylinder head gasket has started to leak, well my son did get it tuned by Dark Side but didn't know about better stronger head bolts.

I think it is tuned to 165 ish bhp.

I am time poor at the moment so it will be a long haul no doubt but I hope to get there in the end.

The main issue beyond the cylinder head are the surface rust covered sills, I hope they are not too far gone.

Also the dreaded wet floor was an issue three years ago and it was so severe we ended up removing the whole carpet , it must have recently started as there were no signs of rust, my son had our local Skoda garage repair the doors which have been ok until I noticed on door leaking again, the nearside window winder has bust and someone has drilled the carrier rivets bar two at the top but strangely it doesn't rain in.

Well that's it for now, any advice on my issues is very welcome, and yes I have been scouring these pages for info and they are very informative.

Cheers

[Lofty]

The door seals are a well documented and easy fix, do all four doors with plumbers gold and they shouldn’t need doing again for years and years. 

 

Get some pics of the sills up if you like? Again if you have the time you can prep these well and get them painted properly or you can do a DIY fix if you’re that way inclined. 

 

They’re easy enough cars to work on, just get stuck in and don’t skimp in cheap parts, quite often the genuine parts are not much more expensive but better quality.

[kentdale]

Hi Lofty,I have already looked into how best to sort the door leaks and I have used plumbers gold on work related jobs.

I also agree genuine parts are the best way to go,if a jobs worth doing it's worth doing well.

Never tried body repairs so that will be another area I will need advise on as and when I get to it.

Thanks.

 

[kentdale]

Just a few photos on various issues wit the body work, poorly aligned bumpers, rusty sills and not sure what my Son has done to the wheels, good job he bought a replacement set although they are not refurbished as yet.

I know it was an immaculate car when he bought it with full skoda  history and one owner.

The drivers door stay sounds terrible when opening and shutting the door, loud cracking noise, the other three are silent in operation so that has to be changed.

Be warned the wheels are it a terrible state.

[kentdale]

More pictures

[kentdale]

If anyone can advise that the bumpers are adjustable on the support brackets as I have no idea, not had any free time to do anything as yet, only to report on things that require sorting.

I have noticed a few VRS bumpers appear to sag down and have no gap against the lower edge of the wheel arch.

[kentdale]

Just an update to a slow project due to holidays and work commitments and the seeming endless wet weather.

Decided to get some clay bar time in, working on the back of the car and after improving the surface I found it was still left with minute raised bumps which were rather strange looking.

Out came the tar spot remover and whilst a few bumps did dissolve I was still left with these mysterious ones and I mean lots .

I then left that job and cleaned the off side door shuts and door insides, unfortunately no before shots but they were in desperate need of sorting, under the drivers door and on to the sill vrs plate was an unsightly tar like stain which took ages to remove , looked like black paint and not tar.

Then I looked in the filler cap to find a considerable gungy mess from spilled fuel and attracted road film.

Anyhow all cleaned up nicely but unfortunately the filler cap rubber/plastic tail parted company with the cap as I wiped it clean.

I took time to research the strange bumps on the paintwork and found it may possibly be metal spot contamination so I ordered some Korrosol and that had the desired effect but required two applications and careful agitation second time.

Lots of bleeding as you can see.

Also looking at the roof spoiler it definitely looked quite faded,I had some Meguires  plastic reviver and did half to see how it looked and was an improvement so that is up to date with things done, I know its not much but its also therapeutic if nothing else.

Martin

 

[kentdale]

Just another question for anyone who may know, the car as bought by my son had the leather interior which is in vey good condition in fact the rear seat  doesn't look as its  seen much action if you know what I mean.

Was it a factory option or do you thing its a re trim, not had time to clean the interior as yet since I got the car.

Oh and no photo of roof spoiler as yet. 

Martin

[mdk1]

Car looks nice, re the leather seats, I know back in the day Seat Surgeons in York were a forum sponsor and doing some good deals on reupholstering seats.

[kentdale]

Hi mdk1, interesting what you mention about the seats possibly being re upholstered,who ever did the work they made a very tidy job.

Hope to sort it out more when time allows and get it on the road.

Martin.

[kentdale]

Just a small up date, I found whilst dusting the dashboard off that one of the central louvered vents was not closing properly with one of the slats out of position,

Decided to remove the vent surround with my trusty bojo  tool, having never done this to the Fabia it was a suck it and see moment with the vent housing rather reluctant to be eased out, anyhow success it came free without damage to either dash or vent.

I then Had to remove the offending vent housing thingy once safely out of the main housing it became very obvious as to why it didn't operate correctly.

The photo's  show the issue, I took all the slats out then tried to bend the caved in delicate slat housing back but to no avail, heated it up but I basically buggered it.

After much cursing I made a trip to my local breakers yard and out of a 56 plate classic I got a replacement for a fiver.

So all is well on that front.

Yesterday I decided to look at the issue my son had with the nearside front window, this apparently decided one day to drop to the door bottom and stay there.

My son managed to take off the door card and found a long silver braided wire all twisted and hanging from the winder motor.

I re fitted the motor and it appears to work fine from both switches, the main issue is that I cannot see exactly the type of fitting that is holding the door handle, deffo not an Allen key or a Torks , is it possibly a star type?

If anyone can help identify that would be great.

Also found that the air box lid has one of the lugs that fits into the base section of the air box has been somehow broken and does not squash the air filter down to seal properly, looks as though I need a replacement for that as well.

Had the radiator water chemically analysed at a local garage and the head gasket is deffo toast. 

Not much progress I know but moving forwards slowly.

Martin.

 

[john999boy]

On 19/06/2019 at 20:32, kentdale said:

Not sure what happened to my post when I started my project but I have managed to put info on my fabia into my profile.

Can any moderators sort it for me and put it with my project section. 

Also can someone advise on how not to mess up again.

Thanks

Not too sure what you mean but I've added this thread to 'My Project Build Log' which shows alongside your name when people are viewing the desktop version of the site.

[Guest BigJase88]

are you 100% sure that's sprint yellow? looks lemon on my laptop 🤓

[kentdale]

Hi Bigjase88, I originally thought that sprint yellow was the only yellow shade produced- hence the project title!

After looking into my build option codes it is probably lemon yellow, and discussing with Lofty and his yellow project car which is sprint yellow, he says sprint yellow shade cars have colour coded door handles,mine does not.

My paint code is 6260- lemon yellow according to info within this forum,sorry but can't remember name of member who collated all info for build codes etc.

 

 

[Guest BigJase88]

12 hours ago, kentdale said:

Hi Bigjase88, I originally thought that sprint yellow was the only yellow shade produced- hence the project title!

After looking into my build option codes it is probably lemon yellow, and discussing with Lofty and his yellow project car which is sprint yellow, he says sprint yellow shade cars have colour coded door handles,mine does not.

My paint code is 6260- lemon yellow according to info within this forum,sorry but can't remember name of member who collated all info for build codes etc.

 

 

Lemon yellow IMO is the better looking yellow its less in your face Radiation style

However lemon yellow does fade (the lower part of your rear bumper shows this)

So its a trade off

 

Sprint yellow came out to combat the fading you get on the Lemon yellow

[kentdale]

Hi again , been a while since I posted.

Looking at replacing the documented front near side door window regulator complete panel, mine is the riveted one.

any one know what size of rivets I need, and any recommendations on sourcing said panel, looked on ebay but are they the same gauge steel, and any recommendations on the lazy tong riveter, looked at various makes and costs vary quite a bit.

Any advice much appreciated.

Martin

[kentdale]

After several months of being busy with work and now same as a lot of us construction types finding out no customers want me near I decided it was Fabia time again.

Not had the head gasket sorted yet  but it still runs but only from the garage to the great outdoors and back again 60 seconds at most, it requires the battery to be kept on a bench on a charger.

The discs and pads being mentioned on its last mot (2018) as an advisory do require replacing , and I suspect the calliper's re furbishing, never done that before so that's going to be interesting.

Generally the under bonnet looks grubby but not rusty so that's an area to be tidied.

The bonnet slam panel requires attention (just put a post on the Fabia forum for advise) as there are some rust spots that look like spot welds, I know some members have had the panel stove enamelled as opposed to gloss spraying, not sure on this, also would like to keep/replace stickers with new if possible.

Bought new inner door panel with new regulator and managed to source as skoda rivets and door card clips from a seller on e bay.

Anyhow not much of a progress diary but things cant progress as planned -engine first would be more sensible but there we are.

Thanks

Martin

[kentdale]

Just an up date  as to progress with the window regulator panel, had quite an interesting week end (for a change) fitting the new panel, the existing panel was not riveted to the door ,must have been someone else other than my Son that did it, also two of the four speaker rivets were drilled-rather strange.

Anyhow following Tech1e's detailed help (many thanks) I removed the original panel with associated wiring loom, removing the door pillar to door electric connectors was just a bit difficult to say the least, anyhow managed not to break anything.

All the 10 rivet drilled out heads were still rattling around in the bottom of the door, removed with a magnet/needle nosed pliers.

With the old panel on my work bench I carefully removed the wiring loom and the lock and transferred it to the new panel, that's when I noticed the lock support bracket was cracked through where it is riveted to the lock .

I remembered watching a video on you tube showing how to plastic weld so I gave it a go for the first time and it worked.

I decided on buying a heavy duty riveter not the lazy tong type hoping it would be strong enough, thankfully it was fine.

The most difficult bit to the refitting was feeding the four electric connectors back through the water proofing bellows and re connecting the connectors to the pillar.

I made sure all was working prior to riveting the new panel, window winder motor ,lock etc.

I put a post on the mk 1 forum yesterday as the door locked but refused to release from the lock keeper which was quite a shock, initially the moving part of the external handle was standing proud of the fixed handle piece when I got the car off my Son so I thought I would try to adjust the lock cable to make the handle fit more flush when released , trying about half a dozen times the handle would operate the lock with out closing the door, all appeared to be fine only to be pretty shocked to find the door would not release from its keeper as expected.

I must have tried it quite a few times then it suddenly opened, needless to say I moved the adjustable cable to the handle back to where it was when I started and all appears ok at the moment, unfortunately the small section of inner door handle is missing so will have to visit my local vehicle dismantlers who knows when.

I know Tech1e mentioned particularly the cable that I had trouble and finally luck with, had visions of the door never opening again.

Martin.

[kentdale]

After finding out the locking wheel bolt was missing last weekend (only had the car a year) and following help and recommendations from several members I sourced a 10 spline key , it arrived this morning so I wanted to check under the wheel arch plastic liners to check on the wheel arches for rust etc.

I think they look pretty good for a 14 year old car, although some attention is required to treat areas of rusting.

I found that the front off side drive shaft gaiter is split so that needs attention as well as the front discs /pads as they are grease coated, the mileage at its last service was 57,639miles and now at 71,378miles, time will tell if the knuckle joint requires replacing as we all know if grease comes out debris can get in.

The fixing screws for the liners varied in states of rusting and some almost had no where to get a good torx fitting grip, slight tightening then loosening did the trick and all came out , will require new ones once the liners go back on.

There appears to be lots of surface rusting on the rear suspension beam but hopefully it's still sound.

There was a piece of shaped hard foam drop out once I removed the front liner, not sure how it fits back or it's orientation, also a long clear tube dropped out at the back arch once I removed that liner, not sure but it looks kike a drain from the filler cap.

I washed the arches out and got rid of the grime and mud.

The scuttle drain looks full of leaves ,pine needles and who knows what else, so another job is the remove the scuttle panel and have a look.

Anyhow took a few photos of how it looks, some prior to washing and some after, not much difference really.

Martin.

Edited 5 June, 2020 by kentdale

[Luke6n]

Looks great, nice example you have. Keep it up 

[kentdale]

2 hours ago, Luke6n said:

Looks great, nice example you have. Keep it up 

Hi Luke, always wanted one after test driving one when they first came out, didn't think it would happen. 

I have been checking if it had any nasty surprises lurking  in the rust issues but up to now all looking ok I recon, 14 years as a city car and it's OK. 

Scuttle panel removed , full of leaves but not one bit of rust so all good.

Cheers.

[kentdale]

Some pictures of the scuttle area which I hoovered out first, then used a detail brush with diluted Bilt Hamber korosol  then washed out with hose on a gentle setting, and the plastic scuttle panel after I put some restorer product on it from Mer,  which came up really well, had to purchase a set of pullers as the wiper arms would not budge, I even took the arm retaining nuts off and flooded the spline area with wd40 and left for 24 hrs.

there was a build up of grime on the windscreen just above the scuttle top edge which would not move with washing so had to use a razor blade scraper which did .

Edited 14 June, 2020 by kentdale
more text

[kentdale]

It's been a while since my last post, since there was an advisory on the last mot for brake discs I decided to take advantage of the black Friday discounts from ECP and bought new front and back discs from Pagid  along with Brembo pads.

Today I decided to look at the rear offside brake as I have recently been putting the car out of the garage on to the drive, it has been noticeably reluctant to move and any movement is accompanied with squealing and a hand brake that has suddenly become reluctant to release.

Nothing untoward with the pads or disc and the handbrake lever calliper end  is free to move with strong return off movement.

Sliders that hold the calliper are also moving freely. 

The calliper is a Lucas one but in silver not green so I suspect that this one is a replacement.

I decided to replace the existing disc and pads for now.

I need to look at the nearside brake next as there was noticeable groaning from that side as I lowered the car off the jack.

I also managed to get pictures of the rear suspension beam which looks rather grim with eruptions of rust on top and underneath, I know it has been covered by other members , what it best to do, I don't think it is perforated , I think it needs to either replaced or restored, I found a seller of new -restored ones that are not expensive also comes with bushings.

Has anyone done a restoration on a beam and would removal, replacement affect the cars tracking, not sure if there is any adjustment.

Anyhow Happy new year all and hoping for better times than 2020.

Martin