Finally got round to doing the wheel arch mod after having the vent for 3 years in the garage.

Took some shots for the video.

Used a drill, rivet gun, dremel, and black plasti-coat.

30 minutes, and jobs-a-good-un.

why not mount it on the inside with the screws on the outside?

Or just fit the seat arch liner ?

Or just fit the seat arch liner ?

 

1st i've heard of this, do they fit ok? 

 

I've had a couple of these in my possession when i had the Cupra, and they would be an excellent option

What is this Seat arch liner you speak of.........?

The ultimate in pikey mods lol

The ibiza drivers side arch liner has a vent in already

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/161241395955?hlpht=true&ops=true&viphx=1&lpid=95&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=95&ff19=0

I would imagine it can't be a million miles from fitting but haven't tried it myself

Trouble with that, is that you can get serious damage to the Intercooler. Better to vent with slats that are protected, with a lip over the top (then the Intercooler is protected by water, stones flying off your tyres and other foreign objects, winter slush etc etc).

 

Ive considered myself, when i get round to it I'll do my own version.

Nothing more satisfying than making your own though.

 

If you point the slats downward, nothing should come through the vent unless you are speeding in reverse   This is why a map vent is a pretty good retrofit.  Not sure what the oem one is like, but I would feel I had achieved more retrofitting my own vent, than just swapping arch liner - but that's just me!

A year on, vent still OK, no issues.

Could have mounted on inside, didn't remove the underside plastic cover that blocks access to the intercooler though hence the quick (easy access) method of mounting on outside.

Could seal it with black silicone I guess, I just sprayed it with black spray, seems to have held up.

<thumbsup>

Mines been fitted for about 4 years now. No problems what so ever. I had the vents pointing down thinking that the rotation from the wheel would draw the hot air outm and stop small stones entering it when flung from the wheel.

just realised you have as well haha.

Edited 3 May, 201511 yr by stevobeavo

Looks like it does a job mate. It's there anyway you can gauge if this actually makes any difference though? I guess they wouldn't do it on other cars if it didn't and the concept of why it is done is sound I suppose.

sent from my Galaxy Note 4

You could log the difference through vcds, however on really hot days you don't get heat soak as quickly

Just to revive this for a minute... Heard a mk1 tt front wheel arch will fit on the mk1 vrs. Is this right? Anyone done it?

Just to revive this for a minute... Heard a mk1 tt front wheel arch will fit on the mk1 vrs. Is this right? Anyone done it?

Doubt it, radius will be different, fixings probably in different places as will be the cut aways. On the octy we buy a TT arch, cut the vent out, cut out a section in arch and tiger seal it in, clamped in place. Could try that, profile of curve might be slightly different but if plenty if tiger seal used and good clamps while it cures should be fine.

I just used self tappers on mine then sprayed it satin black. Didn't even know it was there.

Does the effort to fit a vent system have any evidence to improve performance or such ??

I don't think anyones logged it on a fabia but on a hot summers day my old car pulled for a bit longer. It just creates a bit of air flow otherwise the hot air that's passed through the intercooler just sits in the wheel arch heating the intercooler further.

If it's standard on the Ibiza and tt then there must be gains.

Any extra cooling will help

If it's standard on the Ibiza and tt then there must be gains.

 

Not gains, just less losses!

Am I right in thinking the Ibiza one doesn't have the whole at the bottom to show off the messy boost pipe?

hole in the bottom to show off the messy boost pipe?

 

An unfortunate choice of words perhaps... 

An unfortunate choice of words perhaps... 

 

Only for the dirty minded LOL

Did mine with a dremel and covered the back side with fine mesh

As I have treated myself to VCDS-Lite I thought I would try logging the intake temp to see what the pikey mod actually does, I already have the pikey mod done to my car so I taped up the vents with silver insulating tape and then thick duct tape over the top.

 

Here is the vents I have done to mine, not the usual little metal louvers screwed/riveted on as I consider them way to small to be effective, also this way cutting and heating/bending involved no cost (whole point of a pikey mod?)

 

 

I have overlaid the two graphs as best I can, I tried to drive the same for both runs but there is bound to be a little discrepancy in there, good enough though for this little experiment I think:

 

 

Graph numbers explained:

 

(1) standing start onto main road gentle acceleration to 30mph and hold at 30mph (2)

(3) gentle acceleration 30mph to 40mph and hold at 40mph

(4) gentle acceleration to 50mph and hold at 50mph

(5) gentle acceleration to 60mph then off throttle till back to 50mph (6)

(7) 5th gear full throttle 50mph to 70mph then off throttle coast and braking to 0mph and a u turn (8)

(9) gentle acceleration 0mph to 60mph then holding at 60mph, downhill so lot of time little or no throttle being used

(10) Bottom of hill coasting from 60mph to 40mph

 

5 degree difference at (8) and 9 degree at (9), only 1.8 degrees difference at the peak of (7)

 

My Conclusion:

 

Does the pikey mod make a difference - Yes but so slight I doubt it is noticable when driving, I did not notice a difference driving with vent blocked or open.

 

Is it worth doing? - if you want to pass an hour or two why not but make the vents as big as possible.