Right guys,

The time has come to go ALL OUT. i've put everything into this vrs, the thing is i love rwd aswell. I dont know if anyone has ever has done this before, i've seen other fwd cars being converted to rwd but not a FAB.

So got a mate breaking an s13 200sx, so thinking of buter weld in the drive train in, with all the goodies ie driveshaft, transfer box, viscous diff, floating rear brake assembly, and coilover suspension ...

Mig/Tig welding has been a BIG hobby of mine over the past few years and i would love to take on the challenge of cross converting my Vrs with the s13, does anyone have any ideas how to aling things like the suspension turrets and engine mounting points? would i be able to just use a plum bob and measuring tape to get it roughly accurate?

Could this be the first wall tapping skoda fabia instead of having to use 2 mcdonalds trays under the rear wheels........

Just remember that if you want to road register it that it will need to go for an IVA test, so worth checking what that will need.

Whilst I think this sounds cool, like Llanigraham points out, to make it road legal will be a massive head ache.

You'd be easier buying an S13 to begin with....

Why not build a rear drive kit car and put the vrs panels on it?

For out and out RWD, I think it would be better to use the entire running gear from another car. Probably easier to get the entire 200SX running gear working in the Fabia shell, than it would be to try and mate the gearbox etc up. original engine pointing the wrong way to start with is a pain. Really want a longitudinally mounted engine for RWD - makes the whole gearbox/prop thing easier.

Why not go 4WD, I should think you will be able to find the running gear from a written off 4x4 or Scout Octavia and modify it to fit the Fabia.

Why not mid engined? Renaults did it with 5s and clios

I like RWD converted cars, and this could be awesome (espec with a WRC/kitcar arches ect and the power to back it up)

But, you need to think about what you want it for once its built (and budget). If you want to go drifting, then using a popular drift cars mechanics as the basis makes a lot of sense (and it really needs to be front engined/rear drive). if your doing it for trackdays/show/giggles, then mid mounted also works.

IVA will be required, but getting a newer car through will be alot easier than a mini for example as teh stock interior can be used as a basis and should pass fine as with teh stock outer panels/lighting/glass

If you go down the route of using a S13 for example, the easiest way would be to use the bulkhead/chassis legs and a shortened floor pan from the S13 and graft that into the remains of the Fabias. This way you can use all teh S13 tuning parts and mechanically the only custom bit would be a shortened prop

If you go mid mounted, have a look at Zcars conversions for minis. they mount bike engines/ Vtec's and even SAAB turbo/focus RS engines into a complete bolt in ( once you've chopped out teh rear floor/bulkhead and boot floor :p) rear spaceframe which would work very well and I've seen versions going into Saxo's/Polos and fiestas so a fabia shouldn't be any harder. Also seen a (failed) Ka project using the back end of a grass track racer which could be a cheaper option.

hope that is of some help, would love to see it happen

When I built my rwd felicia as a rally car I just spent lots of time measuring things making sure EVERYTHING would work, from axle widths and wheelbase to engine position, mine had the gearbox (alfa 75) in the back with a 2.5 scooby motor in the front.

make sure there is enough room inside for seats alongside a big transmission tunnel etc and the fabia engine bay is quite short so bulkhead will have to be radically chopped and front Xmember/steering rack will be right in the way of a gearbox bellhousing etc.

If I was doing it all again I would use subaru rear suspension shortened to suit the car.

Think it thru before starting any cutting tho as it could be a lot of time wasted to make something that handles worse than a std one ..

A quick look online and (according to wiki) a s13 wheel base is only 15mm longer and the track 40mm wider so you could use the underside and bulkheads quite easily.

You might need to move the engine back (so you can still get a rad/ intercooler in), but much easier than trying to fab it all from scratch.

Felicia 16v, have you got a build thread for yours, sounds ace

One of the problems with this thread is that the original poster has been offline for 5 months so I suspect the idea has been shelved.....I love silhouette cars mysterious and interesting......my favourites were the old 130RS fibreglass 70s racers with Yank V8s fitted.

Edited 14 December, 201213 yr by hawkeracing

Yeah guys, don't continue the conversation and evolve ideas if the OP isn't going to read it - what a waste of time that would be...

Yawn.......sarcasm without wit is such a tiresome thing.

Felicia 16v - you definitely need to post up some pictures. When did you have it?

Edited 15 December, 201213 yr by hawkeracing

Ok guys, I have a few pics but mostly after I had to shelve the rwd idea due to the MSA not allowing it in the bloody end... so I converted it to fwd with a 2.0 XE and paneled over the rear spaceframe (which ironically was the bit the msa wouldn't allow lol, amazing what they don't look at...)

most of my pics are in this folder so feel free to have a browse, there is some random crap in there too tho lol...

http://s265.beta.photobucket.com/user/felicia16v/library/technical%20pics

Do you compete with it much?

Thats a neat install.....looks like it's meant to be there. I can see what you were planning from the photos....the MSA are a law unto themselves - you are lucky in rallying, at least you're allowed engine swaps....in speed events an engine swap puts you into an impossible class with sports racers and the like, as well as a huge wad of safety regs. I think the Alfa transaxle in the rear would have caused some grief - I've owned 3 Alfa 75s and several other Alfas with the rear transaxle set up and the best I ever got was notchy and mildy difficult....the worst being stirring porridge and impossible!

unfortunately she ended up like this

after doing this

4TH gear 90mph accident which started with a rear shocker failing over a slight right and started it weaving all over the road , it bent EVERYTHING even the tailgate wouldn't close properly or the osr door but we both got away lightly my codriver is still suffering with back problems due to a trapped nerve or something in his neck..more rally pics here..

http://s265.beta.photobucket.com/user/felicia16v/library/rally%20pics

We were 6th overall at the time with 3 stages left to go and had done 2 stages with punctures 2 miles each so the car had potential.had a top 20 over epynt and 12th OA at down ampeney after breaking 2 driveshafts and limping round 2 stages..

Basically I had everything in the car to run it rwd, gearbox mounted and the engine mounted and needing the propshaft making, I was leaving the floor in place and running the prop above it in a strong tunnel..I had 3 GTV gearbox's with lsd's in them and was making a cable gearchange

The msa asked for photo's of the install which I sent then they said I would have to take the completed car to the msa tech place at colnbrook and they would inspect it at £400 and maybe then allow logbooking..or if they wanted anything else doing it would be another £400 for another inspection so I just sat it in a shed for 2 years lol.

ironically the bit they didn't like was the space frame rear end but once I panelled it in and sat the fuel tank inside the big box behind the seats noboby even looked twice and I left the space frame as it was lol...

I'm building a fabia stage car now and have a thread in fabia projects of anyone wants to take a look... its not going to be as quick as the felly was but I'm hoping for a few decent results..

Ouch...that was a proper crash! I will have a look at the Fabia build......in all honesty I'm not a fan of most modern Skodas (except as cheap transport) but if you are doing something similar then it should be good.

What year was the big crash?

The MSA are a nightmare.....we need them, but it seems they want to make money out of everything and all their efforts are aimed at people looking to become professional drivers - despite the fact that most people are only doing it for fun. I don't know if other European countries have the same problems, but looking at the internet I suspect not.

2010 mate, fabia is now 1600 16v with vvt polo gti motor in, not anywhere near as much outright grunt that the 2.0 had (around 180 bhp) but its all I can afford at the mo. msa just seem to making it harder and harder for the genuine clubman to compete in anything, I'm aiming at an everything car with the fabia, stage rallies, road rallies (hence std inlet mani) and I'd like to do the odd sprint or speed event too if I can.

the beauty of the fabia is that ots all VAG parts bin stuff really so most of it is plug and play like bigger brakes etc..

That makes sense and I know what you mean about costs....they have gone through the roof in rallying in the last 15 years and the events have disappeared too. Our club (Wigton) used to run several single venue and a couple of forest stage rallies in the 1980s, we now only run 2 historic rallies which, although fun, aren't stage rallying. We are down to one speed event and a rake of autosolos and autotests. In speed events they introduced FIA suits, gloves and flame proof helmets for all competitors in the last 2 years.....thats £400 of safety equipment before youve even got to an event whereas it used to be a basic helmet and proban suit - £150. No one I know in the sport thought it was a good idea, but it all went through. Its hard to persuade someone to give it a shot in their road car when they need to fork out that much up front.

If you do take it to speed events you will need to find a venue running a class for rally cars (quite a few do though) or you'll end up in that class I mentioned earlier with the sports racers because of the engine swap.