After pondering whether to keep or sell and change to something else, I've decided to keep my old furby, mainly because it is a fun car to drive yet can be economical and cheap to run. Changing it for something better will cost me a lot, so if I decide to spend not quite so much, I should still have a lot more fun on tap

For those of you who don't know me, I haven't been posting much recently, but have been around, and, before the "mongrel" came to life, this was arguably the most advanced / tuned fabia vrs of its time.

I originally bought the car off Ross second hand and as he was working with AMD at the time, had already done the majority of the work:

• First generation hybrid turbo
  
• Milltek exhaust (I believe the fabia to have one and served as the prototype)
  
• Brembo GT 4 pot brakes
  
• Eibach springs
  
• Koni dampers
  
• Cruise control retrofit
  
• Audi TT wheels
  

Since then, I've added / changed some time ago (around 5 years I guess):

• Forge FMIC
  
• Sachs organic pressure plate and clutch (OEM clutch was slipping in 5th and 6th)
  
• Second remap by Richard Washbrook
  
• One of the Koni dampers had failed so took the opportunity of a JKM group buy and picked up the FSDs
  

More recently, turns out one of my work colleagues and good mates is a serious tuner. I think he was one of the first to break the 300hp barrier in a 1.9 tdi without lpg / nos.

So we've been thinking and have started turning this more into a project car.

So far, it's had just a remap, EGR delete and certainly got quite a few more horse power out of it, although it smokes quite a bit (see the JKM RR day video!). He reckons that as a first gen hybrid, the inlet can generate more boost, but the exhaust is still on the smaller size so cannot exhaust the gasses enough. JKM RR gave over 190hp, ran it on Surrey Rolling Road a few days later and recorded 215hp, all on standard injectors

And so the changes are about to commence: big turbo upgrade (GTB2260 or similar), welded on existing exhaust manifold. We did consider going for a bigger exhaust manifold à la darkside developments, but then you limit your inlet options as the exhaust piping gets in the way... When he had his 300hp+ car, exhaust was still original so we don't think it will be a limiting factor, at least for the time being.

Initially, I'll be sticking with the OEM injectors. I'll probably upgrade to bigger nozzles soon and take the opportunity to port the head and change the bolts to withstand the extra pressures.

Right now, I'm looking for maybe a bit more HP, but essentially getting rid of the smoke which shouldn't be a problem. Also, having the bigger turbo and bigger diameters, I should get much lower EGTs (especially with the limits of the OEM injectors) so that should make things run smoother and more efficiently.

We're hoping to get most of it done over the Easter weekend, will depend on how we can get it all lined up and welded on the exhaust... Other initial supporting mods will be done at the same time (4 bar MAP sensor, improved larger downpipe to mate with Milltek, new metal pipework to withstand the higher boost pressures...)

Might look at getting a LSD thrown in, will have to see how it behaves with the extra torque and HP at the top end.

I'll try to get some pictures updated, but in essence, the car will remain very OEM-like from the outside, or at least, won't look any different to how it does at the moment

It will be ready for Castle Coombe

Nice update Xav. What sort of mileage is your fabia on now??

102k and a bit I think.

It's been very reliable apart from:

• cracked air con condensor with slow leak. Just haven't got round to changing it (time consuming and expensive)
  
• heat flap motor (common fault!)
  
• rear left door central locking (apparently another common VAG fault)
  
• rear door anciliary carrier seals (who hasn't had them leaking?!?)
  
• glow plugs on their way out. Not a problem in warm weather, just a bit spluttery / smokey on cold starts when freezing.
  
• front right wheel bearing needs replacing as it's a bit whiney at the moment.
  
• front right brake disc has a tendancy to warp slightly / give slight judder under breaking. I'm hoping it's the bearing even though there's no play on the wheel.
  

Engine-wise and mechanically, it's been fine and never missed a bit.

Forgot to mention Ross changed the bushes for powerflex polyurethane ones a few years ago when we did the cambelt. New belt is probably due (coming up to 10 years) as there's a tiny bit of induced slack logged in the timings in vcds so will do that at some point when I do more major engine mods.

Nice to see an update from one of the old timers

Regarding welding the turbo to the manifold. Have you thought about using a AFN manifold and cutting and welding a flange to make it fit?

I look forward to seeing the results. It was certainly pretty nippy back when you first got it!

Regarding welding the turbo to the manifold. Have you thought about using a AFN manifold and cutting and welding a flange to make it fit?

Maybe

We'll see how it goes. I know he has litterally tens of exhaust manifolds, cylinder heads, etc, lying around so we'll come up with something. We were originally going to get the Darkside Development kit, but it is more expensive and so I was trying to assess whether paying a bit more and going for a commercial kit or saving some money (for use later on!) and do something more bespoke.

This car once was the bleeding edge of PD130 tunings (many many moons ago), and I think it's time to return to that moniker

There will most likely be uprated Firad nozzles, ported cylinder heads and more to come, I just have to keep it reasonable as it's my daily driver so can't push things too far

Sure was. Days before specific vRS springs koni now do vRS sport and FSD dampers.

Theirs a guy who welds a VKLR to a standard manifold with good effect so makes me think a fancy tubular may not be good and as you say save a ton of cash.

Highly recommend bigger nozzles if you want to keep with an efficient duration window for a daily driver (no smoke).

You removing the MAF or you going to see how far you can take it? I take it your mate does his own mapping?

Any 2260 will smoke like an absolute chimney!

I seen one yesterday running +120% nozzles with darkside 2260gtb and it made 284bhp but omg it smoked the whole dyno room out

Any 2260 will smoke like an absolute chimney!

Sorry but I don't agree. Will only smoke if AFR is too rich or injectors still open too far past TDC.

Trust me they smoke.

There was also a golf mk4 running a 2260 darkside kit and it made 263bhp and it was the same!

Even my leon that made 198bhp smoked a tad. With power comes smoke! Even devonutopias fabia run from years back smoked like a chimney

Any 2260 will smoke like an absolute chimney!

Not true

Not true

Have you seen one that doesnt smoke?

Cause i seen two yesterday both darkside cars running darkside maps.... And it was a smoke fest, both cars are running the full darkside package with uprated nozzles

Another lad i know has the 2260 hybrid again with uprated nozzles and smokes again....

Depends how it's mapped mate, how far fuelling is pushed. 100% deffo can have a 2260 running good power without billowing thick clouds smoke out.

If they're running absolute max of course it will pump it out, all down to what the customer wants

Trust me they smoke

Trust me they don't have too

Smoke can be caused by a rich AFR but usually with hybrids and big turbo's is down to silly duration lengths. Like Josh says this could be down to a customers request.

Well knowing the customers i can guarantee they wanted them balls out!

So what power is attainable without smoke then?

I seen 284bhp and 263bhp and they both smoked!

240?

Maybe its down to the mapping? if both cars are DD cars.

The turbo plays no part. They often smoke when the turbo isn't known to the mapper and the settings aren't A1. I would rather have smoke than the possibility of not having enough fuel and getting turbo surge.

Looking forward to seeing this develop. Sounds like some good plans.

Well, I'll admit mine was smoking a fair amount at the JKM RR day. Output is between 190 and 215 depending on which rollers you trust, but that's with a 10 year old 1st gen hybrid. We were also with an advanced timing on the cam, pusing the duration a little. I have no doubt that a big turbo can be smoke free providing it's mapped that way.

I'm still very much a noob when it comes to the mapping, but I trust very much what I see and know for a fact that a lot of people who have gone down the massive turbo route also have looney maps accompanying them (whether desired or not).

I'd rather have a 10% drop in power smoke free providing every thing else is fine (so no turbo surge like Jason pointed at). But I certainly won't be pushing for that extra 10% on top with smoke.

As already pointed out, it's tuneable and I fully trust my mate who's doing it All I can say for now is that there will be a fair amount of logging with several iterative attempts to get exactly what I want out of it

Cool. Logging is key.

If you need any help mapping give us a shout.

Happy to help.

Thanks John, but I'm leaving the mapping to Bobby It's also nice having the older, smaller 512kb EPROM, makes it a lot easier to tweak

Yeah the edc15 is a nice ecu to learn.

Bobby. Names rings some bells

Bobby Singh?