Mk1 Skoda Fabia VRS, a rare car indeed!

[Sheetmaself]

Used to have a diesel Ibiza cupra that was remapped through revo. Sweet jebus that took some holding onto. Would spin the wheels in 5th if any moisture and a lack of sensitivity.

Had to brake very hard for corners though!

[swampy442]

I had an Ibiza PD track car a few years back fettled by Darkside developments, next part of 300hp and twice as much torque, that was fun

[swampy442]

Court_S said:

swampy442 said:

Turns out it can’t be repaired, well not from the end anyway, why do people design things so they can’t be easily serviced? Could have changed an oil seal in an hour.
Oh well, new rack it is then

Also whilst messing about topping the steering oil up today I noticed this - That’s the brake servo vacuum hose

That's just daft. The cynic in me thinks that its a good way to keep repair bills healthy / easy (ie complete parts rather than just the failed bit).

A friend of mine has an F21 120d and apparently they dint have a fill / drain plug on the diff!

That’s a common thing, sealed for life gearboxes and that, like the Audi S8 I had, they all failed around 70k because surprise surprise, you need to change the oil!

[swampy442]

Looks like it’s internal, strange one. It’s a bit leaky. Funny thing is it only takes less than half a litre to fill the reservoir, that looks like a lot more than 400ml!



[url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/AxPf5jwU[/url]

[swampy442]

Nice little run out to the beach yesterday, and to collect my new rack, 200 mile round trip to Bridlington, chips and a near 58mpg average. Great engines these PDs

[swampy442]

Onto the rack change, depending on experience I’d put it a good old Haynes 3 spanner job. You have to drop the front subframe to get it out but it’s straight forward enough.
I went for a used rack largely because the lead time of getting a new one. If this one goes south I know I can do the job in a day, no biggie. And it was only 40 quid.
There’s a couple of different part numbers for these racks, this one came from a Mk2 Fabia which is good to know.
Onto the pics

Old. It was totally shot, pissing out of both ends. It’s not a common failure because there’s hardly any info online about them.



New



So much oil under the car, as far back as the exhaust



Filled, functioned, leak checked and good to go. It’s electro hydraulic so the pump doesn’t load up until the car is on the ground. So far so good



Hopefully today I’ll do a leak check then be pulling like a train again by lunch.
But first off I need to clean this undertray without causing an ecological disaster….

[bungz]

swampy442 said:

Nice little run out to the beach yesterday, and to collect my new rack, 200 mile round trip to Bridlington, chips and a near 58mpg average. Great engines these PDs

Lovely seafront bar behind you there, mum lives 5 minute walk away it gets frequented quite a bit!

[MK1RS Bruce]

A project manager at fabricator we were using, used to have one of these, I had my focus RS at the time and we were both leaving their factory at the same time

He was heading south and I was heading north, I was very glad we were going different directions as the speed it took off at was eye opening, maybe it was soft suspension but it looked like it launched very hard!

[swampy442]

I’ve never been before, luckily I went on the only day in the heatwave when it rained It was nice.

It’s a surprisingly quick car, you can get to 3 figures with easy and it doesn’t stop pulling. Tempted to get a remap

[21st Century Man]

I had two of these, a Black one for three years, then a Blue LE for three years, a basic remap gives 160bhp/320lbft, not too shabby. I have fond memories of them. I then had a mk2 1.4TSi, which went nicely but it wasn't a good engine, it drank oil and I hated the gearbox. As has been said, a rare sight now although I saw a near mint Yellow one not too long ago.

[Tommie38]

swampy442 said:

Tempted to get a remap

Popcorn limiter and straight pipe?

[Tommie38]

Are these the same engine as the Ibiza Cupra TDI? Those are great fun.

[nismo48]

good preventitive maintenance

swampy442 said:

Top tip - If you have a Fabia/Octavia maybe even a Golf, always clean the ‘crap hole’ out, stopping your front wings from rusting from the inside out . That way you will spend less time in the body shop getting new wings or rust repairs carried out, and more time pulling like a train.
The dustpan contains the dirt from only 1 side!

Edited by swampy442 on Saturday 14th May 17:04

[Ouroboros]

Tommie38 said:

Are these the same engine as the Ibiza Cupra TDI? Those are great fun.

different engine codes, the cupra had 160 bhp, Fabia had 130.

[swampy442]

Tommie38 said:

Popcorn limiter and straight pipe?

Maybe. As in absolutely not!

[swampy442]

nismo48 said:

Its worth doing every so often for sure

[swampy442]

I’d call that a success, time to do more pulling like a train

[swampy442]

Celebratory wash and polish, then back into daily duties

[swampy442]

And a little finishing touch

[Evanivitch]

Good choice on the black car, really hides the soot marks from the filthy remaps

I do like them, I think they were very iconic of Skoda at the time, but a shame that they've now largely attracted a certain crowd.