Xav's original fabia with a new lease of life

[faboka vrs]

I'd be interested to see the AFR graph

[devonutopia]

Xav - power is still climbing at the point the plot stops?  That is something to think about anyway - Have you raised the rev limiter by any chance?

[Xavier]

John, I might post it, just not yet

 

Jason, yeah, I noticed that. Can't remember what the limiter is currently set to. I think it's 5200rpm. What's yours at?

[devonutopia]

John, I might post it, just not yet

 

Jason, yeah, I noticed that. Can't remember what the limiter is currently set to. I think it's 5200rpm. What's yours at?

 

Mine's at stock level - 5000 I think.  There was talk of 5500rpm from my tuner though.

[Xavier]

Over the last month or so, I had a bit of a whining sound from the turbo. Not a mechanical type sound from the turbo itself, but more like an air leak - sounded rather like a high-pitched bottle blow!

 

Now that the weather was both drier and warmer, took off the fron bumper to check for leaks. One good thing with the DD kit is you have less places for air to escape - so despite it being a bit of a pain to fit, it should be more reliable, particularly with the higher pressures.

 

Anyway, as the bumper was off, I thought I'd take a few photos to show how the FMIC now sits along with the pipework.

 

 

 

Here you can see some of the cutting away at the crash bar. The extra piece of silicone tubing on the left is to protect the pipework from being rubbed through by the crash bar.

 

 

The smaller one was definately on the loose side: the clips supplied by DD aren't really up to the job IMO. We had already replaced the others, but this one was left over and maybe a smidgen loose. I could have put a bit of threadlock on it, but didn't bother - if it comes loose in the future, I'll just change it.

 

A quick drive up the road without the front bumper and the whine has pretty much gone.

 

So it's all back together again, and drives fine, maybe a little better. We're looking at tweaking the map again, hoping to get a few more horses out now it's settled in and the whiney gremlins have gone

[Xavier]

Hmm. The retightened collar might have come loose again as it's whistling once more.

 

As the weather's nice, I might have another go today. I now have a proper Mikalor T-bolt clamp and if that doesn't fix it, then nothing will.

 

I also have invested in a cheap spline set so might as well take the crash bar off and have another check. I might take some more photos with the bar removed so it's easier to see

[Xavier]

Well well well! After finally getting the right sized collar fitted, met up with Bobby who had tweaked the map a bit, although that's a rather large understatement: the difference is phenomenal!

In fact, it's such an improvement that there's good news and bad news.

Good news is there's a butt load more torque coming in just under 3k. Bad news is that the Sachs motorsport organic clutch that was the highest torque bearing clutch one could get all those years ago can't take it. I had the impression two-up that it was maybe slipping and after a couple of runs on the road, a rather toasty smell appeared O:)

We need to tweak a little more as we now have some overboost but we now have a fresh set of logs and the car's booked for a rolling road next Thursday where we'll try a few new maps and take some new afr readings.

She's a real animal now and the big nozzles and ported head are starting to show their benefits.

One thing for sure - I need to start researching clutches again and would appreciate your thoughts. Might as well take the opportunity to slot in an LSD while we're at it too. And I think an upgrade from 4 pot brembos is in order too.

Does the slippery slope ever reach the bottom of the valley? Lol

[Dark_Hero]

Great update, you can't go wrong with a helix clutch.

Sounds like it definitely needs an LSD now

[Xavier]

I'd need to check what the specs are on it. I can't remember the sachs organic one, but it was quite high, well into the 400ft.lb and I guess I'm over that now...

 

Amazingly, my OEM dual mass flywheel is still holding up. If that needs changing, I'd like to avoid the racket the SMF makes in neutral...

 

And LSD I think is a given. Considering the effort to get at the clutch, seems stupid not to lob a new diff in

[devonutopia]

Xav - my Sachs SRE clutch from Darkside is coping fine with my power.

[Xavier]

Thanks Jason. SRE?

[devonutopia]

Yeah 

 

http://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/products/sachs-race-single-mass-flywheel-smf-clutch-kit-for-vw-02m-6-speed.html

[Xavier]

You have scintered I guess instead of organic? Organic isn't enough for me by the feel and smell of it. Unless it's the flywheel? I'm still surprised it hasn't given up the ghost yet...

 

Edit: I also already have the Sachs pressure plate fitted too. I don't know whether the "SRE" is different to the one I have.

 

I found my original clutch discussion thread here: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/35867-pd-clutch-update-part-2/

Unfortunately, I can't find Ross' original one which had all the details and specs as the URL format has changed and a search hasn't yielded any results :(

[Xavier]

Ahh SRE = Sachs Race Engineering. Looking at their website, found the stuff

This is what I currently have: http://www.sachsperformance.com/Sachs-Performance-Clutch-Powerclutch/VW/VW-Golf-IV-Variant-05-99-%3E/1-9-TDI-96-kW-;-11/2000-/SRE-Performance-Clutch-Kit-I::82.html

Rated to 550+Nm which is 405 LbFt. So either I'm over that, or the problem is with my original DMF.

 

I'll found out for sure next Thursday, but if I am over 550 Nm, what other products are there out there that fit the PD130 engine and still allow for a relatively user-friendly daily-driver clutch?

 

Is yours scintered or not? That allows for a bit more torque. If you do have the scintered one, what's the pedal feel and bite like? With mine, the pedal is a little harder and the bite point a little harder, so slightly trickier to start, but it's OK. If the scintered one makes it unusable as a daily driver, then I'm stuck? :(

 

Edit: on second thoughts, it's more likely to be the DMF as I'm now WAY over what it was originally designed for and if you don't have any issues with yours, then only the flywheel plate is massively different between your mongrel and mine. Question is: can you get the SMF on its own? They only package it with the clutch and pressure plate which presumably I wouldn't need?

[Bobby Singh]

Hi Xav lets see what Thursday brings hopfully it'll holds until then.

I have account with Sachs so dont order just yet

Goes to show dmf can handle the power just need to feed the power and torque in with the rev's.

Cheers

Bobby

Edited 3 May, 2014 by Bobby Singh

[Xavier]

Result of Thursday's run:

 

 

Funny how I thought there would be more torque. The car is far more drivable now, easier to pull away, and just never gives up, although it's really the mid-range torque that makes it so much fun.

 

Tweaking continues...

[Xavier]

Small update: I'm having to look at getting a new clutch now. It's started slipping in fourth onwards when in the power band. Research continues...

[devonutopia]

My Sachs SRE clutch has never slipped with my power.

[Xavier]

Jason, do you know how many miles you've done on it? Ever changed it (for the same thing)?

I can't determine whether the one I have is the same as yours. Maybe mine's slipping not because of the torque (you must have more than me) but just because it's wearing out - I probably have a good 40 to 50k miles on it.

[devonutopia]

Not had to change it since it was fitted about 30,000 odd miles ago, and hope never to have to.

[Xavier]

Right, a bit of a mega revival thread, but I'm now starting to have to think about selling my beloved Fabia to make room for the new motor coming end June.

 

I thought I'd post here as I have no idea how to price something like this. Obviously the costs aren't anywhere near recovered, but there have been a few additional changes since:

• Fitted the D2 racing 6-pot brakes up front with DS2500 pads. Yep, they're good. I haven't had a warm day to try with, but they seem to outperform standard road tyres with ease!
• Added Depo HID Xenon lights. Couldn't be bothered to fit the whole washing thing. Put the ballasts in OEM positions - one has room behind the light, the other has been fitted under the slam panel.

The clutch seems to be holding fine now. Maybe just because I've been doing mainly motorway miles. Economy has gone down with the big nozzles, but I can still get 500 miles to a ventectomied tank.

[vRS Joe]

Hi Xav,

I was wondering what would become of this beast with you ordering a Tesla, you're not the only one!

Sadly worth more in bits I suspect....

What's the mileage?

I'd say it's worth £4K if it's in good nick.

Edited 25 April, 2016 by vRS Joe

[Tech1e]

two owners (me being the first )

[vRS Joe]

Maybe it could return to its first owner...

Buy it Ross!

[Xavier]

It's at 120k miles, going up a bit as I'm commuting to London and back every day (70 odd miles).

 

I've spent quite a bit on it over the last few years so don't expect to get it back.

 

It's one of those things where I guess if you find the right person, they'll agree a sensible amount. A lot of the work is quite specialised (ported head, turbo welding on manifold, etc), so not that easily done. But it's a niche area

 

It's got its share of bumps and scratches for a 13 year old car. One of those things where a lot of it could be fixed to make it a really nice example, but just not worth paying for someone to have it done professionally. If I had the time, I'd do it myself