DieselMonte's 2012 Monte Carlo Project.

[DieselMonte]

Ended up sending it off to get the alignment sorted, and the gearbox mount finally put on. It took a day or two, but the car is back and holding an alignment. Both ball joints were replaced, with stock ones. Going to try my luck and send the tt ones back under warranty, its worth a try atleast. Still have the polybushes installed though.

The gearbox mount has made the car 10 times better to drive. Gear changes are much easier now, and so much more confident. Old one was past it, cracked rubber and very loose compared to the new one. I may have a go at filling it with urethane and throwing it into the mk1. 

 

Edited 21 June, 2021 by DieselMonte

[DieselMonte]

When I got the car back, I ended up doing a little bit of fettling with the EGR. I removed the front pipe and piece that goes into the intake manifold and cleaned them as much as I could. Then, I got the dremel out and cut a notch in the "nozzle" of the egr. The purpose of this is to be able to have the exhaust gasses shooting straight into the intake rather than going away and then being pushed into the intake. Apparantly this is standard on later Tdi's. Once that was done I started putting all back together. My last bit of fettling came in the form of a restrictor plate I bought just before I sent the car off. I installed it as I put the rest of it back together. As I didnt get the egr removed when it was remapped, I couldn't do a blank. BUT, using a restrictor like the one I bought wont cause an engine light and still prevents a lot of exhaust gases being put through the intake.

It does seem to run a little bit better since but more importantly, it should keep everything a bit cleaner for longer.

[DieselMonte]

I "borrowed" one of the alloys from the mk1 to use as a spare wheel for this car. I'll be going on a roadtrip over the country in it so it makes sense to me to have a spare wheel with me.

Lastly, changed the original skoda badges for another pair I've had for probably a year. Mine weren't bad, but since I had them, I just swapped them out. 

I think I might get (or make?) a catch can to try and keep some blowby out of the intake. I would imagine its not doing any harm, but I would still rather it not be coating all the intercooler piping and potentially help clog up the intake manifold.

 

[DieselMonte]

Not long back from my trip to the west of Ireland. Car performed great the whole way there and back. Averaged 58mpg carrying 3 passengers and a full boot of luggage most of the time. Atleast with the remap it was comfortably keeping a good pace the entire time even with the air conditioning on non stop. Knowing how it behaved pre remap, I'm glad it had the extra power to haul all of us with ease.We ended up heading all the way down to the cliffs of Moher and came across a very fun section of hairpins. Had a blast wringing out second gear climbing it.

Even with the back of the car tucking tyre the entire time it was still decently comfortable. 

[DieselMonte]

Two new tyres put on today.

Pair of Grenlander Enri tyres, 130 fitted for the pair so can't complain. Only driven them a little bit so far and they seem okay, next wet day will tell all I think. I'm just happy that I dont need to be driving on these tyres anymore. Apparantly one of them was put on backwards too and no one ever noticed until recently when they were put onto the front!

Also one of the foglight bulbs quit working that morning so ended up buying 2 bulbs and replacing the pair. Bit of a waste as the new bulb looked the same temp as the old ones but not a big deal.

[DieselMonte]

Very minor and very boring job today. I had some free time and thought the pedals looked dull so I took them off and took them apart to give them a good polish.

I used some meguiars nxt metal polish with my knockoff dremel and spent a while buffing the pedals. For not a lot of effort I think they came out good! Very easy to separate the metal from the rubber and that made it incredibly easy to just put the metal parts in the vice and Polish away!

[DieselMonte]

Another pretty pointless post, but maybe it will help someone.

Bought some H8 Michiba 3000k 35W bulbs to replace my literally weeks old normal white foglight bulbs. Since it takes 2 seconds to change them. I already have tints but wanted a stronger yellow so got these too. I thought the tints made the fogs pretty yellow but the difference is insane! Have yet to try them out at night, when I do I'll throw up a photo.

Edited 7 August, 2021 by DieselMonte
(Edited to add 2 photos of the lights at night)

[WillSmithy]

Its funny seeing you on here and on 4chan. Small world.

[DieselMonte]

21 minutes ago, WillSmithy said:

Its funny seeing you on here and on 4chan. Small world.

Let me guess, the brit/o/ thread?

[WillSmithy]

Yeah but I've seen you post your cars on other threads over past few months.

[DieselMonte]

Saw a few things come up for sale that I had to have. Got these 312mm brakes for this car, and a set of coilovers for the mk1. Got the 312MM Carriers, calipers, set of new Mintex pads and the part worn brembo pads and discs that are in the picture. From what I can gather the 288mm and 312mm caliper are the same? But either way I have the whole 312 setup there. Not putting these on straight away, but I will put them on soon. Love the coat of green that was put on them, whoever painted them did a much better job than I did of my own brakes! 

I realise that the 312mm brakes are a touch overkill, but when I saw that the person I was buying the coilovers from also had these, I figured I should get them. Bleeding brakes is a job I don't love doing, so I want to see if I could use my 288 calipers. 

These discs have plenty of life in them, if anyone could chime in and tell me if the rust on them will come off after a few good stops I would appreciate it. Otherwise I think i'll spring for some new discs to go with the pads.

Of course that means I'm left with the 288MM brakes spare, they have lots of life left in them so I could keep them for my mk1 in the event I can get the hubs from a vrs to put on to it. If anyone is interested in them let me know, I could probably post them from Northern Ireland to the UK thus avoiding any customs hassle.

Otherwise, with 312s soon to be going on the front I think its time I start looking for a disc rear axle to complement the fronts. Already looks a bit daft with 288s and drums in my opinion. Having a decent handbrake would be a very nice plus too...

[HeavyMetalRich]

I wouldn't be worrying about the "rust" you have there. Brake discs here go like that after an hour! They'll clean up nicely I would say.

[DieselMonte]

55 minutes ago, HeavyMetalRich said:

I wouldn't be worrying about the "rust" you have there. Brake discs here go like that after an hour! They'll clean up nicely I would say.

Good to know. Means I can use away at the current discs and pads and keep the Mintex ones spare for again. Thanks.

[AMD87]

288s and 312 callipers are the same. Only the carriers and discs are different. 

[DieselMonte]

1 hour ago, AMD87 said:

288s and 312 callipers are the same. Only the carriers and discs are different. 

Nice to have confirmation. Gave them a good clean anyway but since i'll probably just use the carriers it seems there wasn't much point. So I probably wont even need to bleed the brakes at all then?

Edited 30 July, 2021 by DieselMonte

[AMD87]

15 minutes ago, DieselMonte said:

Nice to have confirmation. Gave them a good clean anyway but since i'll probably just use the carriers it seems there wasn't much point. So I probably wont even need to bleed the brakes at all then?

Probably not but I’d bleed them anyway but that’s just me 

[DieselMonte]

I'll be going on another small trip next week, so I took the time today to do 2 things that I've wanted to do since I got the car.

First up, fix the seatbelt. I only fixed the passengers side belt as it was much worse than the drivers one. I might do the drivers one at a later time because theres been times where people cant get it on because its so sensitive. Wasnt a hard job in the end, just took it out, removed the cover for the gears (the cover I took a photo of) and sprayed the hell out of all the stuff that was behind the cover with ptfe spray. Works a treat now and I don't have to worry about people not bothering putting it on now.

Video of what the belt was like on a good day.

Video of the fixed belt.

Secondly, since I had the spline bits out and the battery off I finally put in the underseat storage from the mk1, dead easy to do and looks nicer than the original blank that didn't even sit right. Doesnt seem to be the exact same shade as the rest of the seat for whatever reason, but its close enough. Considering it won't be seen and it was free, I'm not bothered.

 

 

[DieselMonte]

Down the country on a weekend trip away to Wicklow with some mates. Cruised down the M1 and M50 no sweat, had Waze running the entire time to warn me of anything ahead, came in handy but mostly for traffic reports this time. Next day we got up and did Glendalough, from there we went up the R115 from glendalough to Sally gap. That road got particularly bumpy nearing the crossroads at sally gap. In particular there was 1 bump that I thought I bust the sump going over it! I'm amazed the undertrays still attached in all honesty. I would have done serious damage if it was any lower. Was fun as hell otherwise. At the crossroads we took the r759 east heading towards Bray. Still a bumpy road but not near as bad as the road we took up. We were glad the weather held up, you could see for miles around you.

We ended up going on some more back roads around the Wicklow mountains, stopped in powerscourt for a bit before heading for Bray. The roads around the Wicklow mountains were tight enough too, even in a fabia it was a bit of a squeeze if you met anything on the roads, zero chance to pass anyone either so if you came up on someone going 20mph, you weren't getting past.

On the sunday before we headed back up the road, we went to courtown for a bit, not exactly beach weather mind!

Overall I put about 500 miles on the car over the weekend, performed well given the roads and returned a healthy 58mpg again, no complaints there.

(I also got a few things for the mk1, but i'll wait until they're ready to go on the car to show them. They would be ready tonight but I must have done something seriously wrong as I clearcoated them, and it immediately started cracking and crazing. So tomorrow I'll have to sand them right back and do it all again.)

[DieselMonte]

Had a go at knocking back some rust yesterday. Backed over the pit and went at it for a few hours.

What I ended up doing was:

-Grind back as much of the rust as possible

-Kurust

-Zinc oxide primer

-Isopon stonechip (if thats the name of it)

-Finally sprayed over all that with a tin of VW candy white.

I was hoping the white would match the rest of the car underneath. It did not.

Access wasn't as good as I hoped so the bits I couldnt easily reach I got in with a wire brush and knocked back as much as I could. Didnt do the rear beam as I intend on swapping it out for a disc one in the future.

The whitelines paint is already flaking off on some parts, I've only had it on since January, thought it would have held up better but a bit of paint will sort it out. Also it seems to have slackened off on the two clamps somehow, tightened it back up with the impact and immediately the cars tight as ever.

I'll have the front over the pit next time and do that half of the car, doubt theres much to do but worth checking.

[DieselMonte]

Front of the cars done happily. Not too bad actually, but when I was already doing the back of the car I felt I should stick in and do it all.

Same story as before, only difference is I didnt paint over the stonechip, atleast not yet. I think the subframe looks decent in black stonechip, will probably paint over the other bits I touched up in white though. Might give the wishbones a coat of paint when i'm putting the undertray back o .

Tomorrow all I need to do is clean up the plastic cladding a little and put all back on. Front undertrays looking pretty knackered, I think i'll seek out a metal one if I ever

replace it.

[DieselMonte]

This I might divide peoples opinions on.

Inbetween waiting for coats of paint to dry I set about swapping the rear springs on the mk1 back to the apex lowering springs I was running before, after it was pointed out to me how high it was sitting at the back. Took no time for me to do and its now sitting MUCH nicer now. 

Looking at the springs, I thought they looked to be almost exactly as tall as the mk2s springs. So inbetween coats I jacked the rear of the car up, damper bolts off and lowered the rear beam. Springs come out and I put them side by side to double check. Side by side they're the same height, small wonder the mk1 was sitting so high up then.

Took a photo of the standard monte spring vs a standard fabia spring also, in case anyone was interested.

Only difference in them is that the ones I got have more coils, so they should be stiffer. Installed them and the cars sitting exactly the same as before. Took it on a small test drive and while its a little bit firmer over farm tracks, its not bad! Cornerings improved too, but I want to do a bit more driving to properly feel out how much its changed.

What I was mainly thinking of when I considered swapping them, was that a stiffer spring won't sag as much when the cars loaded. Before, even just the weight of the fuel in the tank would make the car sit noticeably higher or lower. Before pic was taken with fumes in the tank, after pic is with a brimmed tank. I'll see soon if the stiffer springs sit better with the car fully loaded.

Tyres look especially rubberbandy in these pics, next time I must go for 215s.

Still not sure if this is going to be much of a difference overall, but it was free and very easy to do so worth a shot I suppose. I intend on getting new shocks and springs anyhow so not a big deal.

[DieselMonte]

Cleaned the undertrays and put them back on, waiting for those to dry I sprayed the subframe metallic grey for the hell of it. Hardly noticeable unless you put a light to it. 

I've decided to wait and leave the brakes to be put on when the cars serviced in a week or so, all the bolts on the calipers look crusty and i'm afraid i'd strip them, or worse take the threads out with the bolts.

[DieselMonte]

Box of goodies came in finally, Discs, new engine mount, heatshields and a cabin air filter. Changed the cabin air filter, popped the bonnet to change a sidelight that had gone out and took a look at the engine mount. Knew it was worn but compared to the new one it had collapsed in on itself. Was intending to wait and have all done when its getting serviced but seeing the state of the original one I just changed it then and there, not too hard. Driving it after made me sorry I didnt do it sooner. Much easier to drive and less vibrations too. Did end up swapping the top bracket off the original one onto the new one cause I wasnt sure the new bracket was the one for my car, Mount itself is the same though.

Anyhow since the discs have arrived its just a matter of dropping the car off and having all done. Think I'll need to paint the heatshields though, they came unpainted.

Went a bit ott and ordered some very nice parts that should be coming end of this week/start of next week so I'll fit them after the car comes back. 

Any guesses what I've bought?

 

[DieselMonte]

Car got dropped off Thursday evening, back this morning all done. Good job I sent it off, seemingly there was a lot of trouble with stuck bolts, stripped bolts etc. Mechanic wasnt happy with the heatshields I got, too small for the new brakes. Apparantly he got ones for a passat that fit the 312mms better.

Brakes seem much nicer now, but I want to wait and see how they feel after a few days, and after I bed them in proper.

[DieselMonte]

Right, so most of the stuff i've ordered has come in may as well post it up.

So I had ordered coilovers and Powerflex top mounts, both came in today. Coilovers are supersports, probably don't hold a candle to h&r coilovers or the likes, but I got enough of a deal on them to give them a shot. Better than whats in it at the minute anyway, saying that i'm impressed they actually look decent enough. I intend on keeping as much height as possible in the car, trying to avoid going low if I can help it. 

I got powerflex top mounts to go in place of the original rubber ones, they offer a shorter bush that drops the front of the car 10mm lower, I didnt go for those. New bearings also.

Rears can go on straight away. Fronts, I'll need to hunt down a swan neck 21mm or 22mm spanner. And I'm not sure if I'll need to run Mondeo drop links or not (apparantly these can be set between 30-60mm lower than standard). Again, if anyone could chime in there I'd appreciate it.

Wonder how these new rear springs fair against the old ones I swapped over a few weeks ago. These coilovers come with adjustable rear perches which is nice.