chris69

Its still a great little car and the appeal for me is it sits quite low and is nice and basic inside. I've had mine for nearly 4 years now and I still struggle to find many cars that would suit my needs of economy/running cost and speed quite so well. My only issue is the suspension tbh- even in perfect working order with good springs/shocks its nowhere near as good as the mk1 focus I also own. covered 30k and its only ever had minor faults that have been easily fixed- again maintenance is refreshingly simple too.(along with the cambelt and waterpump of course...) 108k on the original turbo so that'll be next on the list but the expense of even that isn't that bad.

I have the standard spring/shocks AP kit and its very good. Removes a large amount of the arch gap, provides a nice stance and rides pretty good. Much better than dirt cheap coilovers from what i've read.

I don't blame you! got a set of AP springs and shocks on order for myself.(can't beleive how good peoples comments are on them for such a cheap kit!) currently on standard shocks and eibach springs and its horrible- I think the dampers are knackered though as the previous owner fitted the springs some time ago.

sorry to butt in but does the 312 setup go under standard wheels?

I try to only put Vpower in mine as it runs so much smoother on it. I started being lazy and just chucking cheapo supermarket stuff and after a while i didn't think much of it....... till i put another tank of Vpower in and suddenly remembered! In answer to your question though i have never found the type of fuel used has changed much other than vpower seems to be more of a grey as apposed to black smoke.

wow, either some people have there tyres fitted wrong or there just taking the pi$$ tbh. I have T1R's all round and find them to be very good tyres- don't make too much noise and loads of grip until it gets very wet! not really that expensive either so worth the extra £15/20 per tyre over a budget set of horrible tyres.

when its new stuff - fitting is a joy, noithiing like adding new shiney bits

spot on Jay, thanks a lot- cheaper than i thought it would be for quite an extensive kit

Hi There, annoying my engine undertray has worked itself loose and I have lost some screws on my mk1 Fabia VRS. Does anybody have any link or advice on where to get new metal fittings/clips and screws?

for £250 remap it will see 160/170bhp easily, try getting that bang for buck out of a n/a car...... 100bhp out of a 1.4 engine is pretty good already, with bolt on items i'd guess you may be able to gain 10 ish bhp and the car will be more responsive.

I'm not an expert but from previous experience with turbo's side to side play is fine(if minimal) It's the in and out play that you really have to watch as ther should be pretty much none. From wot i've read about the KKK turbo's is its very hit and miss with them so just replacing a turbo with all the costs involed seems a bit unnecessary if its running well. have you checked the play/condition of the KKK you have on the car at present?

I have Toyo Proxes T1R's all round on my fabia. Grip is brilliant, very low noise- only drawback is they aren't the best rain tyre.. Right foot has to very patient when its wet.

normal tuning will help a little- so breathing mods such as filter/exhuast etc but often the gains will be quite low and tbh a little placebo because your car will sound faster even if it isn't really!

I think unless spending a fair bit of money its quite close between pad/disk combos. For that reason i've stuck with mintex all round for a while- never been disapointed with a set tbh- perfect for fast road imo. might not be the best if you fancy some track action though.

Any more info on wot to do with the bumps stops? cut or replace them? i think this is teh reason my fabia is quite harsh :think:

I assume you had to change the connector when switching from a kenwood to a sony headunit. If so then the new connector will need the red and yellew connectors switched so the yellow goes to the red and vise-versa. That should give you your premanant live so it keep memory then.

does the vent mod actually make a difference? sorry to butt in just something i was considering along with maybe an uprated side mount intercooler

Mines about the same as above, 5 minutes while i scrape the windows and roughly 5 minutes of driving and the air will be hot enough melt the ice and keep the screen clear. not as good as my focus(miss the heated front screen!) but not bad tbh.

Looks and sounds good! If a little noisy for my tastes! Good to see a nice rs turbo like mine in the garage too :-)

I bought mine modified so another non- standard car here. Mine is lowered,remapped and a few other detail changes.

A very interesting thread, i have used VPower but not noticed much difference in running or economy tbh. I do think it will be the time it takes for the engine to get upto its optimum running temp that makes economy worse in the winter. I havn't had my fabia long enough to really compare just loving the economy/performance compared to my last petrol car lol edit- is it maybe to do with your remap? i have a remap on mine but they all differ...

thats pretty cheap prices from darkside for the cooler and kit, very tempted! I'm assuming a remap would be a good idea after fitment- or would it not make much difference without change of turbo etc etc?? (better cooling so better response and less heatsoak sound very appealing even in near standard engine tune!)

thanks alkip- where is the best place to post up some pics to show my car?

Hi everybody, I'm chris from sunny bristol I've recently bought a lovely red mk1 Fabia VRS. I'm new to most VW/skoda car things as i've always been a ford owner (still am with a Focus estate family wagon and a escort RS turbo project car/moneypit.....) loving the Fabia so far, great blend of economy and performance! (and a big thankyou to Kris if he's on here as he's kept it in great condition!)