mattbvRS

Interesting, are you not pushing the gt1752 past it's safe boost pressure to achieve that sort of power? Not saying your wrong but to get 220bhp you'd have to be pushing the limits of that turbo? I've always thought you'd need the 1756vk to push past 200bhp hit the 220-230bhp mark.

Have a quick read on here, if you scroll down there is a little chart that shows what power you can expect from each turbo, what revs it provides full boost at and the safe boost pressure to run. I think you'll be pushing the limits of reliability on a hybrid 1749 pushing it past 200bhp. You'd be better going for the GTB1756VK which can reliably push to 230bhp / 31psi. If you want a drive in/drive out service then Darksides offer isn't bad beat but if you want to just buy the turbo and have it mapped by someone else then xman on here (I think that's his name) is highly regarded on here for turbos.

I can't see it doing any harm, have you google it for use with PD engines to see what comes up? As always stuff like this is going to be awash with opinion and personal preference. Not oil related but I always run a bottle of Forte Advanced Formula Diesel Treatment through the fuel system once a year. Does it make a difference? Maybe not, but the first time I used it a fair bit of gunk got blown out of the exhaust and MPG improved slightly, so make of that what you will. I'll continue to use it for the sake of £15 a year knowing it'll help keep the fuel system clean.

Even if you've lost the manual I bet you can find one online somewhere lol. Google is a wonderful thing!

The best option often conflicts with budget. The B4s are perfectly fne to run with a set of mild lowering springs up to 40mm (it states as much on their website) and they will be a big improvement over just banging some springs on 8-10 year old worn dampers like most people do that's for sure lol. OK the B6/B8s would be better but how much extra would they cost? The B8s are £500 from a quick search! - That's over 3x more just on the shocks. When your spending that sort of money it opens up other options and I'd probably go with a full coil-over kit with that sort of budget. The AP shock/spring kit or the B4s and Eibachs, you can't really go wrong with either. Both are good options for a reasonable cost and will give a noticeable improvement over stock. Just pick an option and go with it!

Yeah that's my reason for DIY servicing as much as I can. Don't plan on selling the car anytime soon so having a stamped service history isn't that important, plus when I do come to sell it it'll probably be 10-12+ year old so not worth much anyway lol. Think I'll do a bit more research on the process, youtube is a good shout. Cheers.

Yeah I've seen a set of locking tools on e-bay for around £30 which isn't too bad. I've also read the guide here which is pretty decent, but yes there are quite a few things to remove before you can tackle it. I've got a laptop, interface cable and VCDS lite for checking the torsion value. So that's not a problem. Think I might book a week off work in January and tackle it or just bite the bullet and pay a garage to do it. But then there is the satisfaction of doing it yourself and knowing it's done right.

Thing is you can get aftermarket bushes that are black too, but you should be able to spot them as they'll be solid rather than voided. Google a few pictures of Fabia vRS console bushes to get examples of the different ones. If it has been done then it's one less thing you've to worry about! But yeah B4s and a good set of springs sound ideal for your situation.

"Whichever setup I choose will be wrong in someone's eyes" - NO! There is no right and wrong in regards to suspension components, only what other people have tried and tested in the past then give an opinion on how they got on with a certain setup. I've not heard much about Weitec springs myself but read plenty of good reviews about Eibachs and H&Rs, with the Eibachs tending to score better for ride comfort than most others. Also heard good things about the AP spring/shock kit too. If your using it as a road car I'd say go with B4s and Eibachs/H&Rs as that will probably be the best in terms of maintaining ride comfort while giving you the sportier handling. If you want something a bit more track focused then go for the APs or consider a full coil-over kit, but you'll sacrifice some comfort then. Quick question, have you replaced any of your bushes? I'd be doing the console bushes as a bare minimum before spending money on springs/shocks. Also check for play in the ball joints while your at it and replace if necessary.

How hard was it to do out of interest? I've read a few guides on here and it doesn't look too difficult, the only thing that worries me is how easy everything is to access? I'm fairly competent working on cars, have changed most suspension components and carried out services in the past. For some reason the cam-belt scares me lol. Which on this engine it probably shouldn't seeing as it's 8 valve so it's about as simple as it gets!

You can't blame people for trying it on, it's a buyers market out there and no one I know would pay advertised price for a private sale car. Plus the fact there are 100 others out there for people to choose from which probably don't have any faults, or at least any faults listed. That will be putting a lot of people off I reckon. Why not fix the problems yourself then you don't have to list them in the add? I wouldn't even mention an oil leak so long as it don't need topping up every few hundred miles. There is such a thing as too much honesty when trying to shift a used car lol. You list every niggle and fault and you'll likely not sell it or get people making silly offers. In fairness the £1100 isn't a bad offer, it's only £300 less than your advertised price and given that it could cost £100 or so to put the issues right it's not too far out... If you want £1400 for the car, get the issues fixed then put it up for say £1600 so there is a bit of wiggle room for folk to barter.

Did you not look at the service history before you bought the car? Not trying to be funny but it's pretty basic stuff to cover before handing over the money! Anyway, I'd suggest you read through the service history and find out when it was last serviced. If it's due a service then you might as well do a full oil change. If it was me and I was unsure about the service history I'd probably give it a full service, all fluids and filters, for piece of mind. I'd also look at when the cam belt was last changed, it's imperative on these that it's done to schedule as they can be prone to going if neglected. Every 60k or 4 years, whichever comes first is the service schedule for the cam belt, people also have the water pump done at the same time seeing as it's driven from the cam belt.

The cost of a clutch/flywheel kit with the release bearing, which you may as well have changed while the box is off, come in at around £350-£360 as seen here It's the labour that bumps the price up if getting the job done at a garage. Expect to pay anything from 4-6 hours depending on how competent the person doing the job is. Unit 18 will probably turn one round in 4 hours or less simply because they will have changed loads of these where as a smaller local garage might take a bit longer. If your going to attempt the change yourself then it is doable DIY but you'll need something to support the gearbox. It's quite heavy so ideally an engine crane would be best and would help with trying to get it back on too. There could well be a guide on here if you do a bit of digging about that could help you to see if it's something you fancy tackling yourself or not.

How many miles has it done, when was the fuel filter last changed and when was it last serviced? 1) This will likely be EGR related, it will likely want cleaning out and there is also a 'fix' for this using a different gasket which can be got from the dealers. There should be more information on here in the threads if you do a google search for 'BLT EGR gasket'. 2) It could be slight DMF noise but it's nothing to worry about unless it's very noisy, something to keep an eye on for it getting worse/louder. It could also be the release bearing but again it's not a big issue unless it's very noisy. I wouldn't be in any hurry to fork out for a clutch/flywheel change unless it's sounding like it's on it's last legs because both the clutch and dual mass flywheel will need replacing at the same time, gear box off, and it's easily a £400-£600 job in a garage. 3) Engine shake could be the timing being out, this can be checked on VCDS and/or a failed engine mount. You could try running some of this through the fuel system to see if it lessens/cures the judder, it will also help clean out the fuel system and the injectors and keep things tip top.

You know that manual thing inside your leather service book? It can reveal a lot of secrets about your car!

Can't remember off the top of my head but if you have your manual it should say in there? Or failing that do a google search on this site with your query and it should bring up an answer. It's something to do with the trip reset button, it can be turned to the left or right for so many seconds with the key in a certain position (I know that's of zero help but at least it points you in the right direction lol).

I run these all round, I would recommend them but make sure you pay a bit more for the XL (extra load) ones as they do have soft sidewalls. They are a very grippy tyre but don't expect the wear rate to be fantastic as they are quite a soft compound. Depending in how you drive I'd expect to see 7-10k out of a front pair, maybe a touch more if you don't drive it too hard. In terms of grip these things are on another level compared to the set of Kumhos I had on previously. Grip in the dry is fantastic, you'll struggle to get the traction control to kick in even off the line in 1st/2nd gear. In the wet they are also very good, you can usually use full power in 2nd gear without too much fuss and I'm running a mild stage 1 map. They also feel a lot safer in the wet compared to the Kumhos which felt a bit skittish in comparison even just driving relatively normally.

Keeping a very keen eye on this. My side mount and pipework have seen better days and I don't really fancy messing about fitting a FMIC when it's otherwise standard bar a mild stage 1 map. If this does indeed work out cheaper than a stock replacement then it's a win/win!

I know this wasn't what you asked but personally I'd be putting my money into improving the handling and brakes first. Power wise it's pretty pointless spending serious money on the current engine because you just won't see the gains for the outlay you'd have to put into it. You could add an air filter and exhaust but honestly you'd be lucky to see 5bhp and that's being optimistic! The best and most cost effective option for bigger power while keeping it as a daily (Guessing you don't wan't something that's going to make your ears bleed in terms of noise) would be looking into what's been done above, dropping a 1.8T BAM engine in.

I would go for... RARB, console bushes (cupra, psb, powerflex - plenty to choose from) and Eibach 25mm springs for handling, the standard shocks should be healthy with only 53k covered so I wouldn't worry too much about those at this point. Remap to give it a bit of a kick up the backside 312mm brake conversion or you could just go for a set of decent standard discs and some better pads for now. Plus a good set of 4 tyres tyres, this is just as important as any of the above. Don't want to sound like I'm trying to teach you to suck eggs but the number of people who spend money on handling mods to then run mediocre tyres is quite funny! Also don't forget to have the alignment done if you change the bushes and/or springs.

From experience the MPG readout is a bit optimistic, so the expected range can't really be relied on either. I recently did a 300mile round trip down to Santa Pod. Trip computer was saying 58MPG after the journey. But worked out properly based on the fuel I put in and used it was more like 45MPG. Which I think is fair considering I wasn't hanging around lol. But goes to show how out the trip can be. I'd imagine if you were to drive very consistently and steady it would be more accurate but any sort of heavy driving or on/off traffic will likely throw it well out.

I've read somewhere on here that the standard air box is designed to improve low end/off boost torque so removing it for a cone filter will likely make the car feel a bit laggy round town.

The speedometer won't be the same unless the tyres are as close as possible to the originals diameter, often people don't follow this rule and it results in the speedo being thrown out. Either way I think we're going well off topic now lol. I think the OP has simply gone too low for the other components to cope, the joints are probably being stretched beyond what they are designed for especially when going full lock. I echo what I say above, get it set up properly by someone who knows what they are doing. The car will drive and handle a lot better afterwards.

I suppose so but larger alloys do look to fill the space a lot better, even if the actual gap isn't that much different. The other option is to take it to someone who can do a proper 4 wheel alignment and get them to set up the coil-overs. I'd imagine the geometry to be well out going that low and they maybe able to see if there is anything else causing the problem while they are at it. A full set up usually costs about £80-£120 but it's well worth it.

How low are you going for it to be killing the CV joints?! Raise it up a bit? You'll struggle to loose the arch gap on 15s, your friends cars running larger wheels probably won't need to drop it as much for the same look. Maybe this is your problem that your going too low?