Diesel Monte's 2001 Skoda Fabia "Project vRSDI"

[HeavyMetalRich]

Psst... Guys... Don't tell DieselMonte but his old Fabia is actually sitting higher at the back now.

 

Newer, not sagging springs for you eh. Good that it feels better to drive though.

[DieselMonte]

On 04/08/2021 at 20:51, HeavyMetalRich said:

Psst... Guys... Don't tell DieselMonte but his old Fabia is actually sitting higher at the back now.

 

Newer, not sagging springs for you eh. Good that it feels better to drive though.

Yeah I noticed its sitting higher in the back again lol. Definately lots better to drive but thats mostly the difference in the front suspension. Already had rear springs and there doesnt seem to be much difference between the rear springs themselves driving it.

[DieselMonte]

Was down the country and picked up some lights for the mk1. Initially I wetsanded them and clear coated them, only to have the clearcoat crack and craze on me. Great. Had to sand all off and go back up the grits to 2500. Then I polished them up as good as I could get them. Far from perfect but they are a decent improvement over the old ones. I broke one of the tabs on the passengers light as I put them in the boot at first and they started sliding around because I have a trunk liner in the mk2, my mistake. Bit of superglue sorted it.

Anyhow, they're a bit fiddly to fit and the connectors were giving me trouble fitting them. The passengers light kept the indicator on instead of the main beams, maybe some sort of failsafe if the car thinks both bulbs are bust? I like the look of it if i'm honest. If I could wire them to work in tandem with the sidelights (and still work as indicators) I would.

Waiting for the battery to charge again, this alternators scrap at this point so its always barely not got enough battery power to turn over.

Will post some photos up of it outside once it has enough charge to start.

[DieselMonte]

Headlights done and dusted, working 100 percent. Drivers main bulb was broken, so I nabbed one off the original lights, same bulb happily.

Far from perfect but more than good enough for now. Still, another BIG item off the list.

[DieselMonte]

Small update to this thread. I removed the springs I got with the coilovers and put back the apex ones from before. Sitting better now again. Took those springs I removed and put them onto the mk2 for the hell of it.

Anyhow, got around to putting this in my name. On the logbook it was first registered on Friday 13th of July 2001. I put down the date that I got the car as the13th of July 2021. 20 years to the day from when it was first registered. Bit of useless information there, but I think its cool.

Edited 14 September, 2021 by DieselMonte

[DieselMonte]

Found a few pics I took when I first got the car, and a few more from me putting it back together. Felt I may as well upload them here. For a 100 euro junker its proven itself to be as tough as a brick wall, rather a concrete drinker given thats what I hit. Trust me, the drinker lost that fight.

[DieselMonte]

Not sure, some of these might have been uploaded before.

[AnnoyingPentium]

You've done some amazing work to the Fabia, DM!

[DieselMonte]

 

One more for the road.

[DieselMonte]

Back on Steelies for a bit,

Wheels taken off in order for me to do a bit of a refurb on the rims. The spyders will be going onto the Monte for Winter so naturally i'll use that thread to detail whats happening to them.

[VanhireBoys]

Well now - great work DM - I say NCT her ! Can't be too much they can shoot her down for ! 

 

Trick is to go for the last test of the day 2205 and arrive 45 mins early - that way the lads will be in a rush to get your car through and they can go home early !! 

[DieselMonte]

@skomaz

Just if you were curious about how the yellow bulbs look, I took some photos this evening with them installed in the mk1. Not quite as dark mind.

 

Had it out this evening for a few runs, running as well as ever. Cheap fabias are scarce on the ground at the minute so looks like i'll be copying annoyingpentiums idea of making a list and looking through scrapyards until I find what I need.

 

Also, the wiper cowl was cracked so I took it off and glued it back together. Glued it from the underside so its not terribly visible when its on the car.

Edited 19 October, 2021 by DieselMonte

[AnnoyingPentium]

4 minutes ago, DieselMonte said:

Cheap fabias are scarce on the ground at the minute

 

I know, it's the same here. There was a red 1.9 Elegance estate going for £150 up my way with a few days MOT and a knackered PAS system that I considered snapping up, but alas, I don't have the room for it and my Mum would kill me! 

 

 

[skomaz]

2 hours ago, DieselMonte said:

@skomaz

Just if you were curious about how the yellow bulbs look, I took some photos this evening with them installed in the mk1. Not quite as dark mind.

 

Had it out this evening for a few runs, running as well as ever. Cheap fabias are scarce on the ground at the minute so looks like i'll be copying annoyingpentiums idea of making a list and looking through scrapyards until I find what I need.

 

Also, the wiper cowl was cracked so I took it off and glued it back together. Glued it from the underside so its not terribly visible when its on the car.

 

Yep they are very yellow...   I had some in a Mitsubishi years ago for a trip to France when they were needeed and left them in when I got home...   I did find them better in bad weather though!

 

Interestingly I was out in the kodiaq again tonight and noticed how much worse the lights were than the OE LEDs in the Swift so have decided I will invest nin some new bulbs...   Either the night breakers you have or the twenty20 equivalents.  I'd like to try some of the twenty20 LEDs but am wary of the legality (or lack of) and the fit given the Kodiaq uses a specific bulb holder arrangement...

[DieselMonte]

Looking at the way the projector light works in the monte I'm not as much against using LEDs in it. Because its got a shutter that cuts the light down for the dip beam i'd say LEDs wouldnt be as bad in it, going to keep the osrams in mine anyhow.

[skomaz]

HID's in our Octavia with projector lights were perfect so LED's might work.  The Kodiaq is reflectors though so not really worth the risk.

[DieselMonte]

Found these up on marketplace and had to have them.

Set of fabia sport seats, I have the rears too but didnt take a picture of them. No rips, need a bit of a clean otherwise fine. 

In case you couldn't see these seats must have come from a fabia with an oem underseat cd changer. Not much use to me but still quite cool.

These will most likely see their way into the mk1, unless I take a notion of putting them into the mk2. In that case the mk1 will get the mk2 seats and vice versa.

 

Also got a potentiometer to do the evrymod on this thing, may as well.

Hoping over winter I can gather up some odds and ends and make good progress on this.

[AnnoyingPentium]

3 minutes ago, DieselMonte said:

In case you couldn't see these seats must have come from a fabia with an oem underseat cd changer. Not much use to me but still quite cool.

 

You're living my dream DM! I believe you can buy the loom for the CD changer, but you'll also need to get the magazine for it to use it. If you feel like it of course. These will look great in your Fabia.

 

4 minutes ago, DieselMonte said:

Also got a potentiometer to do the evrymod on this thing, may as well.

Hoping over winter I can gather up some odds and ends and make good progress on this.

 

Let us all know if there's any benefit to the evrymod in terms of power. I've been eyeing up an SDI for running veg oil, being an undergrad student and all that, so I'd like to know of cool things to do with it.

[DieselMonte]

Yeah I figured something was missing from the cd changer . Doesn't make much odds to me I don't have much of a cd collection aside from what i found in the cars, an ed sheeran cd in the mk2 and a noel gallagher cd in the mk1. I'll keep the cd changer aside I think. Can't imagine it would be easy to retrofit into my car. Mine is a comfort, but doesnt even have ABS, originally had a lapbelt in the middle seat too, no A/C, no real frills except for the underseat storage which I've put into the mk2.

Often wonder how it was never scrapped, An sdi is the same tax as a tdi or even a vrs here, 673 euro iirc. Insurance is about the same and fuel economy wouldn't make a big enough difference. Further still it was kept fairly well before I got it, had bilstein shocks, decent brakes etc. Considering its high miles, been wrecked and cobbled back together I can't see it ever being sold on. At the same time it would sicken me to see it scrapped after all I've been through with it.

 

In regards to the evrymod, there was a thread recently in the mk1 forum with someone who has done it on their sdi and came back with positive results, I had heard about it before but hearing it makes a difference on these cars makes me want to see for myself. 

 

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

5 minutes ago, DieselMonte said:

Yeah I figured something was missing from the cd changer . Doesn't make much odds to me I don't have much of a cd collection aside from what i found in the cars, an ed sheeran cd in the mk2 and a noel gallagher cd in the mk1. I'll keep the cd changer aside I think. Can't imagine it would be easy to retrofit into my car.

 

I'll post you some over.

 

5 minutes ago, DieselMonte said:

Often wonder how it was never scrapped, An sdi is the same tax as a tdi or even a vrs here, 673 euro iirc. Insurance is about the same and fuel economy wouldn't make a big enough difference. Further still it was kept fairly well before I got it, had bilstein shocks, decent brakes etc. Considering its high miles, been wrecked and cobbled back together I can't see it ever being sold on. At the same time it would sicken me to see it scrapped after all I've been through with it.

 

Someone clearly loved it enough to look after it and keep it on the road for as long as they did. The SDI is in the same tax bracket as earlier TDI and the vRS cars here at £155 for the year. I reckon that Fabia will last longer than either of us to be honest.

 

6 minutes ago, DieselMonte said:

In regards to the evrymod, there was a thread recently in the mk1 forum with someone who has done it on their sdi and came back with positive results, I had heard about it before but hearing it makes a difference on these cars makes me want to see for myself. 

 

Aye I was reading that when it was around, but I'd like to see if anyone else can replicate similar. You can probably make the wee thing smoke like hell too. I'd be interested to see if there's a mild power increase too!

[DieselMonte]

It already did smoke like hell! Its what it failed its NCT on all those years ago, hence why I got it. Used to smoke like **** in the fields but not since.

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

11 minutes ago, DieselMonte said:

It already did smoke like hell! Its what it failed its NCT on all those years ago, hence why I got it. Used to smoke like **** in the fields but not since.

 

Just needed a wee bit of encouragement from you really. It's a good car, even if it's a low spec Comfort (at least it's not a Classic, eh?), but you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, as you have proven.

[DieselMonte]

Progress made on the seats, decided to swap the seat bases as the passengers was significantly better than the drivers, like new even. 

Hard to show how much more bolstering there is on these seats but for comparison heres the original base off the mk1 next to the sport seats.

Had to remove the passat seats prematurely as I needed to take the belt buckles off them, these seats did not come with them.

Quick pic of the rear seats stacked into the back of the Matrix, to keep them dry.

 

I'm really liking the bolstering on these seats and they aren't even in a car yet. Still have to give them a clean and then they can go in whichever car I decide.

Come to think of It I could swear my mk1 originally had a lapbelt in the middle seat, but these have a 3 point middle belt. Fingers crossed this won't become an issue.

[DieselMonte]

Seats are done and in.

Started off by spraying them with a bit of vinegar to kill any mould that might be on them, let that do its job.

Then I used some car plan stuff to clean the seats off. After that I set them infront of the heater to dry a little.

Then I set about the insides, I wasn't going to touch them initially, but figured I may as well. For these I used a spray can of turtlewax stuff and in fairness it did a great job, did the door card fabric, boot carpet, floormat even the headliner with it. Needless to say thats used up basically the whole can.

 

Had these out of the car, drivers floormats been put in the mk2 for winter.

While these were drying I set about trying to clean up the headliner.

Lot of mould.

That damp looking spot is really just a hole where a mouse had made a nest between the headliner and the roof.

And of all the spots, this nest was right above the drivers side.

After a lot of effort, while it did clean it up a lot, its still got some mouldspots.

I think I may have a go with some fabric dye and dye it black, might be worth a try.

 

By this time the seats had dried a little bit but what I did was start the car and let it heat up, install the seats and all back in the car, and let the heater go full blast for about an hour. This worked and the seats felt dry as after. 

As much as I liked the passat seats, I think these fit better.

Well happy with them so far.

Still have to find, demould and reinstall the rear belts but its getting there.

 

For its part the car ran sweet as, didn't have any trouble with it getting hot, infact the opposite.

I let the temp gauge get to the middle before putting on the heater, I come back an hour later and the temp gauge is reading just barely on the quarter mark which I believe is the mark for operating temperature in this car. Be it a temp sensor or a thermostat there is something not right there but the car ran well regardless.

 

Might take a break from the seats and do the evrymod next, not sure.

[AnnoyingPentium]

It's all coming together nicely!

 

You'd maybe be better off finding a vRS with black interior trim for breaking instead of having to dye and paint things. Just depends really. I reckon it'd look the part with some of the lower dash in black, if you don't mind me saying.