Bought on the 19th of October it was a two owner car which had spent its life locally in Redhill/Crawley. Reasonable amount of history and below average miles.
The only photo I have of it in its 'collected' state is this.
It needed tidying up so the first step was to hit the headlights with the 3M kit I had lying around
Then a quick tidyup of all the mess i'd made of the engine bay left me with this
A basic wash before some day-one photos
Throughout the following week I scoured the forum and the internet looking for parts.
To solve its rough idle it has had new plugs, new coil pack and in the end one new injector (which was probably the fault in the first place). Its had a recent oil change but I replaced a very black looking pollen filter.
I've had some of the interior trim plastics out as they have gone tacky and found some scrubbing with cillit bang has removed enough of the laquer peel to allow me to touch them again.
The buzzing fan in the roof light (for the Climate control sensor) has been detached as it was driving me insane.
Then I concentrated on some basic cosmetics:
- Silver look indicator bulbs all round from ebay
- Bosch front retrofit aero wiper blades from ECP
- Cleaner number plates from ebay
- Clear side repeaters from the forum
- Blank tax disc holder and other such nonsense
I read the excellent guide on fitting a Fabia splitter, purchased and screwed one on.
The original wheels were straight but tired and had on some hi fly budget tyres. I feel the design is very dated and the car would run wide on the cheap tyres.
Camskill were selling conti sport contact 3 tyres at £62 each so a set of those were ordered and forwarded to Tom-173 who was busy refurbing a set of cup Turinis for me.
Then I spent a day washing, claying, sealing and waxing the bodywork (which is in fair condition for its age and largely dent/scuff free bar the bumpers) whilst the paint correction can wait till the winter is over.
The black trim plastics were looking particularly grey but thankfully some light use of the Gtechnic C4 brought them back to life.
Whilst fitting the wheels I have the front calipers a few coats of silver hammerite to tidy things up.
Finally, after two weeks work, private messages and reading DIY threads on the forum the car is looking a bit better, although doubtlessly a lot like many other cars on the forum.
Future plans include replacing some suspension and steering bushes to tighten it up. This will be new or lightly used shocks and springs, probably new cup shocks and eibach sportline. Then a whiteline ARB; please get in touch if you do have any of this for sale! Finally it will need a half decent audio system as it is my daily driver, oh and of course fitting my Cliosport member window sticker that recently arrived.
The only photo I have of it in its 'collected' state is this.
It needed tidying up so the first step was to hit the headlights with the 3M kit I had lying around
Then a quick tidyup of all the mess i'd made of the engine bay left me with this
A basic wash before some day-one photos
Throughout the following week I scoured the forum and the internet looking for parts.
To solve its rough idle it has had new plugs, new coil pack and in the end one new injector (which was probably the fault in the first place). Its had a recent oil change but I replaced a very black looking pollen filter.
I've had some of the interior trim plastics out as they have gone tacky and found some scrubbing with cillit bang has removed enough of the laquer peel to allow me to touch them again.
The buzzing fan in the roof light (for the Climate control sensor) has been detached as it was driving me insane.
Then I concentrated on some basic cosmetics:
- Silver look indicator bulbs all round from ebay
- Bosch front retrofit aero wiper blades from ECP
- Cleaner number plates from ebay
- Clear side repeaters from the forum
- Blank tax disc holder and other such nonsense
I read the excellent guide on fitting a Fabia splitter, purchased and screwed one on.
The original wheels were straight but tired and had on some hi fly budget tyres. I feel the design is very dated and the car would run wide on the cheap tyres.
Camskill were selling conti sport contact 3 tyres at £62 each so a set of those were ordered and forwarded to Tom-173 who was busy refurbing a set of cup Turinis for me.
Then I spent a day washing, claying, sealing and waxing the bodywork (which is in fair condition for its age and largely dent/scuff free bar the bumpers) whilst the paint correction can wait till the winter is over.
The black trim plastics were looking particularly grey but thankfully some light use of the Gtechnic C4 brought them back to life.
Whilst fitting the wheels I have the front calipers a few coats of silver hammerite to tidy things up.
Finally, after two weeks work, private messages and reading DIY threads on the forum the car is looking a bit better, although doubtlessly a lot like many other cars on the forum.
Future plans include replacing some suspension and steering bushes to tighten it up. This will be new or lightly used shocks and springs, probably new cup shocks and eibach sportline. Then a whiteline ARB; please get in touch if you do have any of this for sale! Finally it will need a half decent audio system as it is my daily driver, oh and of course fitting my Cliosport member window sticker that recently arrived.
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