Am at a bit of a cross roads here, i want another more modern project when my golf retires as a daily driver and moves to showcar/good weather fun car duties, i am no stranger to the fabia vrs as i have owned 3 of them in the past, the last one being my se, trouble is i feel i have unfinished buisness with the fabia, as i never achieved what i set out to do with it,for those who don't remember my se it was definatly one of the best handling fabia vrs on here, but never quite achieved the power i was hoping for, the fabia game seems to have moved on a little now, and i fancy another crack at it, a sort of 4th time lucky type affair, so do i get another and rejoin the race for 300bhp, or do i quietly admit defeat and move on?

Do it! I really can't think of another car that has the same draw to it that the fabia has. The only thing is, as much the the handling can be improved massively, its always going to have a big heavy diesel lump up front.

Matt

Of course you do! Its no coincidence mine is for sale

Get an old one and drop 4x4 and a 1.8 in. That's doing it proper.

I had a very serius look at doing just that back when i had my unit, but it was going to be far too much work and far too expensive to get a company to do it!!!!

Any pics of your old ones? I say go for it, you only live once, plus, it might end up superceeding your expectations

I think the Fabia VRS is such a nice compromise - the idea of attaining 300BHP - in your case - from a 1.9TDI baffles petrolheads for a start. I mean that literally btw. I know my mates just think of all diesels as tractor like, and having fun in one (driving it that is) is something completely unheard of to most.

The other thing that is drawing myself towards the Fabia, is the fact that, as far as mainstream modification to cars goes, they're a little obscure. Its for the same reason i like Volvos and SAABs. I know they're essentially VWs, and the scene for them is arguably just as big as JDM, but still - its a Skoda.

I've not even got one, but i know that when i do it should hopefully get some modification. It seems that the scene is small enough for people that are into figure competition to be able to do so, but not so small that it doesn't have an identity.

The diesel tuning scene hasn't hit the UK modifying scene properly yet, so i think the feeling of being amongst the first to start mainstream modification of derv's must be quite a nice feeling.

So, yeh - what are you waiting for?

Edited 6 September, 201015 yr by JesVRS

I think it was Carrol Shelby that said if you want to make a very fast car, start out with a fast car. A Fabia isn't a FAST car. It's quick alright, but not FAST. For the kind of money you'll have to spend on a 300bhp Fabia, you could get a properly fast car and frankly, that's what I'd do. Focus RS perhaps?

I think it was Carrol Shelby that said if you want to make a very fast car, start out with a fast car. A Fabia isn't a FAST car. It's quick alright, but not FAST. For the kind of money you'll have to spend on a 300bhp Fabia, you could get a properly fast car and frankly, that's what I'd do. Focus RS perhaps?

£ for £ though, how much would it cost to get a Focus RS to a level that would make it stand out from the rest?

On the other hand, i wouldn't go number chasing, thats pretty sad and a bit e-penis-ey.

Edited 6 September, 201015 yr by JesVRS

I think it was Carrol Shelby that said if you want to make a very fast car, start out with a fast car. A Fabia isn't a FAST car. It's quick alright, but not FAST. For the kind of money you'll have to spend on a 300bhp Fabia, you could get a properly fast car and frankly, that's what I'd do. Focus RS perhaps?

Trouble is i've had fast cars, skyline, vr4 gallant, impreza's and a couple of others which escape me at the moment, i genuinly liked my fabias, sensible running costs ect, i have also seen one or 2 crack 5 seconds dead to 60 on timing gear down the quarter mile at york, if thats not fast i don't know what is!!!!! My fabia went round the nurburgring in a whisker over 9 minutes, and got banned from the scoobynet trackdays along with scudmissile because they all got upset!!! I agree its never going to handle properly as you cannot change the laws of physics, even with the lsd in the se it never quite gained the composure in the twistys as my mk2 golf, i like to buck the trend too, i'm not really bothered about the cost of getting to where i want to be with the car, hell with the se i was over 20k before i touched the engine, sure for the money i could have gone much quicker, but i've been there done it, and nothing puts a smile on your face quite like when you monster a car you shouldn't even be in the same league as on a trackday and the owner comes up later asking what the hell it is, oh just a diesel granny shopper, never failed to make me smile, and never failed to excite any of my trackday passengers either, at the end of the day its not what you have its how you use it

Should i do another Fabia?

no. they still suck.

buy Mavis and make her quicker

Edited 6 September, 201015 yr by andypandypoos

no. they still suck.

Allways count on you for an honest answer andy

hows my diff,gearbox , clutch and flywheel doing? Fancy selling them?

I think there's more to the Scooby banning story isn't there Gary?

But anyway - yeah, if you want to - go for it. I got a bit tired of them after my 3rd, but it depends what your aims and focus are for it.

I'd love to see a 2.0 converted with a 1.8T/2.0T and Quattro, but know what you mean about what that would require! Difficult to do it without a unit/large garage, not to mention a large amount of time!

Cheers,

Steve

I think there's more to the Scooby banning story isn't there Gary?

But anyway - yeah, if you want to - go for it. I got a bit tired of them after my 3rd, but it depends what your aims and focus are for it.

I'd love to see a 2.0 converted with a 1.8T/2.0T and Quattro, but know what you mean about what that would require! Difficult to do it without a unit/large garage, not to mention a large amount of time!

Cheers,

Steve

They just stopped inviting us, they were scared

Am at a bit of a cross roads here, i want another more modern project when my golf retires as a daily driver and moves to showcar/good weather fun car duties, i am no stranger to the fabia vrs as i have owned 3 of them in the past, the last one being my se, trouble is i feel i have unfinished buisness with the fabia, as i never achieved what i set out to do with it,for those who don't remember my se it was definatly one of the best handling fabia vrs on here, but never quite achieved the power i was hoping for, the fabia game seems to have moved on a little now, and i fancy another crack at it, a sort of 4th time lucky type affair, so do i get another and rejoin the race for 300bhp, or do i quietly admit defeat and move on?

I pondered dropping the dough to get my vRS to Jabba Stage 3 level, as I'd get an absolute kick out of surprising the life out of more *ahem* prestige cars but ultimately decided it really was more money than sense. It hasn't stopped me having another thought though: a proper Fabia sleeper.

Just a bog standard looking Mk1 Fabia (actually the scruffier the better) and take it to the absolute max, which means dropping another lump in it for a start, I've been thinkin about what might fit: VR6? something VTEC?

Maybe this could be an idea for you? It's something I'm going to explore in the future.

Edited 6 September, 201015 yr by weezb

Any pics of your old ones? I say go for it, you only live once, plus, it might end up superceeding your expectations

Loads of pics of my blue one on here somewhere, but i'm on my iphone so its a bit of a hassle to find them lol, i will post some up when i get home friday

Allways count on you for an honest answer andy

hows my diff,gearbox , clutch and flywheel doing? Fancy selling them?

at least it's an informed opinion these days

box, diff and SMF are doing well, clutch not so much:

Edited 6 September, 201015 yr by andypandypoos

Trouble is i've had fast cars, skyline, vr4 gallant, impreza's and a couple of others which escape me at the moment, i genuinly liked my fabias, sensible running costs ect, i have also seen one or 2 crack 5 seconds dead to 60 on timing gear down the quarter mile at york, if thats not fast i don't know what is!!!!! My fabia went round the nurburgring in a whisker over 9 minutes, and got banned from the scoobynet trackdays along with scudmissile because they all got upset!!! I agree its never going to handle properly as you cannot change the laws of physics, even with the lsd in the se it never quite gained the composure in the twistys as my mk2 golf, i like to buck the trend too, i'm not really bothered about the cost of getting to where i want to be with the car, hell with the se i was over 20k before i touched the engine, sure for the money i could have gone much quicker, but i've been there done it, and nothing puts a smile on your face quite like when you monster a car you shouldn't even be in the same league as on a trackday and the owner comes up later asking what the hell it is, oh just a diesel granny shopper, never failed to make me smile, and never failed to excite any of my trackday passengers either, at the end of the day its not what you have its how you use it

I think you're touching on what i was getting at too. There is a difference between getting burned on a trackday by a Skyline or some other JDM rocket - with a turbocharger so large it has its own gravitational pull - and having the same thing done to you by your grannies shopping car. An Impreza or Skyline that can rip your face off hardly gets a look these days - everyone is at it and the club scene is swamped with people all trampling on each other by trying to have the 'fastest' one with the most BHP. Half of these chaps probably don't know how BHP is calculated, or how it even transfers into on the road performance (which we know, in most cases it doesn't anyway)

The wolf in sheeps clothing aspect of tuning a diesel Skoda to a ridiculous level is the one thing that appeals to myself for sure. Whilst the bloke down the street has a 900BHP Toyota Supra, a chap in the town across has a 650BHP SAAB 9000. Its not as quick as the Supra (probably) but its a SAAB 9000 ffs haha! I know which i'd prefer

at least it's an informed opinion these days

box, diff and SMF are doing well, clutch not so much:

Ouch!!!!! Looks like the same problem as that spec one i had, mind you at least it was cheap

at least it was cheap

and in it's defence, it didn't slip once

I pondered dropping the dough to get my vRS to Jabba Stage 3 level, as I'd get an absolute kick out of surprising the life out of more *ahem* prestige cars but ultimately decided it really was more money than sense. It hasn't stopped me having another thought though: a proper Fabia sleeper.

Just a bog standard looking Mk1 Fabia (actually the scruffier the better) and take it to the absolute max, which means dropping another lump in it for a start, I've been thinkin about what might fit: VR6? something VTEC?

Maybe this could be an idea for you? It's something I'm going to explore in the future.

I want to keep it diesel really, i like cheap running costs,i will also keep costs down by hybridising my own turbo to my own spec, and doing the rest of the work myself, with the contacts and good friends i've made over the years and favours done i think i can sort the hardware side of things out cheap enough, then it would be placed in the hands of ben at shark for a bit of mapping, will i screw it up, who knows, will i achieve my goal this time, again who knows but one thing is for sure if i get another vrs it will be staying

Do it Gary!

Your SE was awesome, and one of the reasons I purchased mine

unless you're thinking about creating some monster b*st*rd hybrid, I reckon you want something like the turbo Jason's using rather than a poxy little hybrid GT17xx

Do compound turbos... mix it up a bit. OR engine transplant!?

unless you're thinking about creating some monster b*st*rd hybrid, I reckon you want something like the turbo Jason's using rather than a poxy little hybrid GT17xx

Oh yes, i think the shifty fabia pretty much proved the limits of the gt17 bla bla bla turbo,something more is definatly required,the key to 300 bhp is in the cylinder head, of that i'm sure, plenty of turbos are capable of moving the air, but is the head as capable? In standard form i would say no, and there isn't much scope for bigger valves either, so i will be back on the hunt for a solution, that if i'm honest on pure diesel i'm not sure actually exists when using an 8v head, or at least didn't exist last time i was in the hunt!!!