Arragonis' Fabia Mod Thread

[320touring]

i cant see the pic, but i imagine its nasty!

the m8 is hellish for potholes at the moment.

If it makes you feel better, i've just bought a bmw to replace the scab as its using water..

So the bmw seems to have joined it

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Unfortunately a deep pot hole on the M8 filled with water so I didn't see it and CLANG...

Bummer

Maybe you can sell the remaining rims, and get at least some of of the cash back.


People over here are finally starting to claim their damages on the Gov't because of the poorly maintained roads.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by 320touring

the m8 is hellish for potholes at the moment.

If it makes you feel better, i've just bought a bmw to replace the scab as its using water..

So the bmw seems to have joined it

Shame about the Saab. Which Beemer did you get ?

The really annoying thing was that there was one of those waste of money Amey trucks parked by a pothole about a mile or so before warning people about it. And it was smaller than the one I hit.

Originally Posted by euromodder

Bummer

Maybe you can sell the remaining rims, and get at least some of of the cash back.


People over here are finally starting to claim their damages on the Gov't because of the poorly maintained roads.

I'm going to try but 3 are harder to sell than 4 and 2 others are kerbed. A friend of mine has a claim against the city council for damage to his suspension, he sent them a letter claiming payment in 30 days or court. He has had their first response which was 'we have scary lawyers and will make you lose' which he is ignoring and is waiting for the 30 days to run out.

I think if they pay out enough maybe they'll do something about it.

[robchalmers]

Been noticing the states of the M6 recently - even the tram lines from the HGVs seem to wind round the craters its like auto steer!

[320touring]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Shame about the Saab. Which Beemer did you get ?

The Scab was really never my bag- anything based on a vauxhall vectra can never be exceptional..

I got a 1995 e36 318iS- it shte 16v model with 150bhp. Same power as the saab, but rwd, and no turbo to worry about.

I think the coolant issues could be a leaking heater matrix- teltale damp carpet in the passenger footwell.

TBH, the iS is too nice a car for me to use- I may just sort the issues and punt it on.

As for your wheels- worth ttrying to sell them on briskoda?any money back has to be a bonus!

[Arragonis]

I shall have to see about selling them, 1 is buckled, 2 are kerbed and 1 is perfect. TBH the previous owner put them on, I'm not a fan. They were already quite scabby when I got the car and I had to get them painted and de-kerbed anyway. So when they come off I suspect they will act as a spider colony in the garage for a while before being moved on.

[Arragonis]

New wheels fitted today together with new shiny rear disks, advisory on the MOT at the end of December. No time for DIY so got my local tame spanner people to do it with me working and drinking coffee in their freezine office.

Inevitably they returned the tyres to standard pressure. I would love to say I am so tuned to the car that I could feel the drag but it was actually the much improved ride quality which made it obvious thats what they had done. I have been increasing it but gradually so I probably didn't notice how harsh it had got.

[Arragonis]

Latest fillup on the tank from the 'Snow' and its only 40 MPG (US). This is much much lower than my previous tank in the log - although I haven't been strict on keeping the log up to date since October.

I am disappointed and at the same time not.

I thought this tank seemed OK based on mileage and time but it wasn't as good as I thought it could be.

At the same time this was the tank I used during the snow (I haven't filled up in the real world since before Christmas - I worked for home for most of December and early Jan) so losing that much is not too bad. And normally I would fill up twice a month but I haven't for almost a month and a half.

I hoped the grill block would help but not too much at the moment, I need to look at the lower grill soon. One benefit of super expensive fuel (£1.30+ a litre at the moment here in Scotland) is that any gains are quite large. So as its also my birthday I have saved to get a proper grill block (via SuperSkoda) for the upper one, so TapeOBoard can be retired. It is still in place and strong though.

Overall though not too upset. I would get a tank to last about 420 miles before ecomodder and it would cost me the same as today's. I get about 25% more just now even on this tank so thats about £20 a tank saved.

[Arragonis]

A couple of weeks ago I got a year older so I asked for money. Today the birthday bunnies have been.





This is just improving my existing mod and not pushing it further, but at least it stops Mrs A going on about the tape all over the front of the car.

TapeOBoard has survived all of the snow though.

[Arragonis]

Ok some new mods today.

The old tapoboard grill block was removed and the replacement sized up.



The new block fitted and in place. The clips on this are really well designed, it is a bent piece of metal which is too short but then links to a screw in the front cover, my only concern is that the screw may be pulled through the plastic.

Attached. There is no space for the air intake which is roughly on the opposite side of the opening for the bonnet (aka hood) lever on the other side of the badge in the centre. I will monitor intake temps and look and maybe putting some holes in here.



It does sit slightly proud of the grill surround. I assume this won't make any real difference.



I did look at blocking the bottom grill from behind but wondered how deept the grill has to be to make a difference if the opening is blocked from behind ?

So some weight reduction, the spare wheel and jack kit



replaced with a can of sealant and a pump.



I have a couple of questions on this - firstly given that the spare is actually a full size item why is it rated as only suitable for 80 km/h ?

My second issue is how to support the spare wheel cover (piece of ply) when there is no wheel underneath ? I will have to be careful of how much weight to put in here until I work that one out.

Tyres are up at 45 which makes most glides much better than before but the ride quality has suffered - stuff that didn't rattle before now does, including my fillings.