Well, the plan was to sell off the vectra C and the vectra B estate that we were using as company cars and buy something that is both big enough to tow a car on a trailer and carry lots of tools/engines etc... and was still comfortable and modern that wouldnt be modified at all, ever.. But that plan failed and I bought a Skoda :|

As soon as I saw it I knew I would buy it, the car is 100% immaculate in every way, 1 owner, serviced since new at Horton Skoda, and I knocked the dealers down by over £1200 to get a deal that I couldnt refuse. It isnt an ideal car for towing a trailer, too clean to use as a company car and not ideal for carrying tools and engines around but I bought it anyway.

I also failed on the plan for keeping it standard, within 24 hours of buying it I remapped it. nothing drastic, just a nice increase in power, smooth torque that wont kill the clutch and plenty of economy throughout the map. on a 70mph run it will average 65-70 mpg

The only part of the car which was looking a bit rough was the exhaust, it was still the original 4 year old standard one and the hangers werent ideal so on went a 2.25" single box stainless one that we built from leftover bends and bits from the scrap box and a tailpipe that a customer had ordered months ago but then changed his mind, but it was perfect for the Fabia:

Now the exhaust was sorted we concentrated on the intake system. During the mapping we couldnt get the fuelling right and couldnt work out why it would smoke so badly under load before coming on boost, we had never had an issue on these engines in the Golfs and audis etc... So we measured the intake air pressures at the airbox as they are very different on the Fabias to some of the other PD130 engines. We found that under load before it hits peak boost the airbox was under massive pressure and the turbo simply couldnt draw enough air through it. So we modified the airbox to releave this excess pressure and it now boosts more smoothly, fuels correctly and no more black smog

Next up was the intake temps, the SMIC (side mount intercooler) is more than up to the job but its position is poor in the drivers side wheel arch. The audi TT have the same positioning but they also have a wheelarch liner with vents in. As you can see from these pics there is nowhere for the hot air to go after it has passed over the intercooler. So out with the marker pen and after some rushed getto modding style measuring and marking up we had this:

out with the air cutter:

B&Q air vent (£3.29) :

a good clean up and some halfords satin black:

I did a data log of the ambient temps vs inake temps before bodging the vent in, am yet to do a log after, but it can only help things.

Next on the list is some new suspension (probably Bilstein) and some decent brakes. Suspension may be done tomorrow, and if I get time possibly the brakes as well

Edited 22 September, 200817 yr by dave a
update

Nice job.

Nice work - all highly recommended mods, as well as being effective - as you're proving

Enjoy... :drivesaf:

Steve

Great Looking car - The best colour! Enjoy

May i suggest newer tail lamps and shorter badge?

Like what ive done? really freshens up the back end

You could have just fitted A pd160 intake to cope with the extra fuelling rather than hacking at the airbox btw.

nice car

I presume you know that you can't legally fit a towbar to the vRS?

See here: http://briskoda.net/fabia-i/towing-fabia-vrs/111893/

Joe

Looking good mate.

Davy

Nice work, looking forward to more updates.

that is a good idea with the grill there. Ill have to do that myself

were did you puchase the grill from ??

Looks great i andsee you got it in the right colour

were did you puchase the grill from ??

B&Q air vent (£3.29)

Thanks for the comments

I did look at the PD 160 intake but the cost for what is effectively a cheap plastic pipe is silly in my opinion. As a job I design and build engines and also design and build intake systems/camshaft design etc... as well as being an ECU technician and a qualified EFI tech so I spend most of my time either building an engine, fitting engines or mapping ecu's. We have the equipment to measure flow and restriction in an intake system as well as datalogging intake temps, boost timings and pressures etc... with 1 simple modification (no hacking of the airbox as someone sugggested) the airbox pressure ahs been tuned and has not had any negative effect on intake temps. It also cost the grand total of £0 However, for most people the PD 160 intake is a quick, simple and effective yet expensive solution to the problem.

There are no plans to fit a tow hitch either, I have kept the Vectra estate for taking our track car to trackdays.

Looking at your dyno graph mate the torque drops of quite alot any reason for this ? mine holds good torque all the way through to like 4000 rpm

cheers

shaun

so what did you do to the airbox then?

Looking at your dyno graph mate the torque drops of quite alot any reason for this ? mine holds good torque all the way through to like 4000 rpm

cheers

shaun

Good point, the graph is actually incorrect, it was one we printed off during mapping before we had sorted the boost in the later revs, thanks for pointing it out. I will get the correct graph up later.

so what did you do to the airbox then?

To alter the pressures on the airbox to find an optimum value we use a very simple method. A hole is drilled into the underside of the airbox and a rubber tube (o/d of about 24mm) is then bonded into place. We then place a copper tube (od of about 20mm) with 1 end closed off and holes drilled up the length of the tube into the rubber tube and measure the pressure seen in the airbox under varying loads with the copper tube pulled out to different lengths to expose more holes. (very simple manual bypass valve system) The airbox pressure under varying loads and airspeeds (measured in cfm and confirmed by g/s by AFM readings) will change, what will be optimum at 1800 rpm may not be ideal at 4000 rpm so you need to find a happy medium. Some more modern vehicles get around this by having varying length intakes or intake systems that have valves to reduce or increase intake runner/airbox pressures at varying revs/loads.

Once you find the optimum point you can measure the extra volume of air or amount of pressure you need to relieve and convert this into a size value, easiest way to build this into the box is to drill a hole to the correct size. Another method is to cut a square from the airbox and build in a sliding cover that can be opened or closed to give the desired apeture.

Looking good.........

To alter the pressures on the airbox to find an optimum value we use a very simple method. A hole is drilled into the underside of the airbox and a rubber tube (o/d of about 24mm) is then bonded into place. We then place a copper tube (od of about 20mm) with 1 end closed off and holes drilled up the length of the tube into the rubber tube and measure the pressure seen in the airbox under varying loads with the copper tube pulled out to different lengths to expose more holes. (very simple manual bypass valve system) The airbox pressure under varying loads and airspeeds (measured in cfm and confirmed by g/s by AFM readings) will change, what will be optimum at 1800 rpm may not be ideal at 4000 rpm so you need to find a happy medium. Some more modern vehicles get around this by having varying length intakes or intake systems that have valves to reduce or increase intake runner/airbox pressures at varying revs/loads.

Once you find the optimum point you can measure the extra volume of air or amount of pressure you need to relieve and convert this into a size value, easiest way to build this into the box is to drill a hole to the correct size. Another method is to cut a square from the airbox and build in a sliding cover that can be opened or closed to give the desired apeture.

sounds a bit complicated for me , but good luck, you certainly seem to know your stuff

sounds a bit complicated for me , but good luck, you certainly seem to know your stuff

Me too.

I'll stick with my PD160 & Pipercross.

10/10 for effort though.

To alter the pressures on the airbox to find an optimum value we use a very simple method. A hole is drilled into the underside of the airbox and a rubber tube (o/d of about 24mm) is then bonded into place. We then place a copper tube (od of about 20mm) with 1 end closed off and holes drilled up the length of the tube into the rubber tube and measure the pressure seen in the airbox under varying loads with the copper tube pulled out to different lengths to expose more holes. (very simple manual bypass valve system) The airbox pressure under varying loads and airspeeds (measured in cfm and confirmed by g/s by AFM readings) will change, what will be optimum at 1800 rpm may not be ideal at 4000 rpm so you need to find a happy medium. Some more modern vehicles get around this by having varying length intakes or intake systems that have valves to reduce or increase intake runner/airbox pressures at varying revs/loads.

Once you find the optimum point you can measure the extra volume of air or amount of pressure you need to relieve and convert this into a size value, easiest way to build this into the box is to drill a hole to the correct size. Another method is to cut a square from the airbox and build in a sliding cover that can be opened or closed to give the desired apeture.

Jesus! I was thinking on trying this to save money on a pd160 but after reading this I seriously doubt it:O

Hats off though mate, wish I was as clued up.

thanks guys, plan on doing lots of in-depth stuff on this engine, will keep you posted.

Top job there bud! would like pics of what you've done on the airbox, curiosity and all that lol

You're thinking about what you're doing instead of impulsively making changes willy nilly.

Believe me,that is rare behaviour on this forum.

One of the most common excuses given is "I was bored".

What's your opinion on "Blow off valves"?

A "mod" favoured by some vRS owners.