Hi all,

 

I've just managed to pick up a W Reg Skoda Felicia 1.3MPI in white that was registered in 2000 for an absolute steal. I'm not new to tinkering and doing bits on cars as i had a MK4 Golf previously. I'm after some inspiration or ideas of how to make this car better. I'm open to a challenge and I'm fairly confident. Any recommendations of website or places where i can find parts and access information would be very useful to me. Any ideas on how i can improve performance, ride and aesthetics would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hope this all finds you well.

Hello, i have a Felicia 1.3 ,year 2000 MPI with many modifications (not extreme).

There are many sectors so you have to specify which one and your budget.

Keep in mind that there are some restrictions here in GR so for example i can not say anything about an engine swap because it's illegal here and won't pass the MOT nominally but in other countries you can do it.

By the way where are you come from?

25 minutes ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

Hello, i have a Felicia 1.3 ,year 2000 MPI with many modifications (not extreme).

There are many sectors so you have to specify which one and your budget.

Keep in mind that there are some restrictions here in GR so for example i can not say anything about an engine swap because it's illegal here and won't pass the MOT nominally but in other countries you can do it.

By the way where are you come from?

I come from the UK.  What are some of the Modifications you've done. The first one i did yesterday was fit a new air cone filter which has made it become a little raspy engine. I'm after a little project.

First way to improve and tune the car is the boring old full whole car service, maintenance and repairs and checks.  Carry out a 36, 72, 80, thousand mile service and check, do thorough and comprehensive work and checks  - not quick skimpy work and checks like many mechanics, garages and auto-electricians do.  Things like gearbox oil, coolant changes, power steering fluid are often neglected or ignored and flushing and changing those fluids to clean, fresh modern better fluids can often make noticeable improvements just by doing them (properly and thoroughly for best).  (ETA: brake fluid check and change is obviously a priority)  Things like HT leads are often forgotten, just because something is fitted to the car it doesn't mean it is fitted properly or well and just because something works doesn't mean it is working well or properly or not past, or well passed, it's optimum or best.

 

Fitting a cone engine air filter may give a raspy sound but so can a defective exhaust. 😁  You already seem to have made a rookie mistake, you don't want to "upgrade" or "improve" by changing parts until you have thoroughly driven the car and carried out the long term service, maintenance and repairs and checks to know what actually needs doing on the car and what you like or don't like and what you get used to or not.  If you are replacing a part in a service, maintenance or repairs then at that point you could consider fitting a better part.  Cosmetic work as much as possible wants putting off until you have driven and used the car through say four weather seasons of a year.  Spending money on "upgrades" and "improvements" may take away money and resources from work that actually needs doing or unexpected expenses - and many "upgrades" and "improvements" turn out not to be so, I've been there many times, eventually I learnt.

 

There's at least one long thread on engine air filters - but putting any filter on a car that's not been fully serviced, maintained and repaired could be a complete waste of time and money and after it has been fully serviced, maintained and repaired it might be found unnecessary or worse still actually stifle performance.

 

You want to take regard of the car as a whole for improvements particularly in performance.  The important things are brakes, steering and suspension, all three include the tyres, next is safety electrics lights, wipers, horn and windows, mirrors and reflective number plates - see and be seen.  Engine and transmission are pretty near the bottom of the list.

 

You can learn and save yourself lots of time hassle and money by my mistakes, I've spent 10 of thousands of pounds on old cars, but most us have to learn by our own mistakes when we are younger, very often only age and experience teaches us it's better to learn from the mistakes of others.  Don't think that a low cost car will necessarily be low cost to restore and improve, it might be but it all depends on original condition and how far you want to go with it.  Many shiny show cars or modified/customised cars can look great but run badger's ar*e rough and more used looking cars run very well.

 

Good luck.  As well as this forum you could also look in 'Classic Skoda Guides' - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/178-classic-skoda-guides/

 

And once you have a good foundation to work up from after all I've put above if you still need or want to you could look for ideas in 'Classic SKODA Projects' - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/206-classic-skoda-projects/

 

HTH.

 

Edited 7 January, 20251 yr by nta16
ETA:

Service is on the cards, I've got a friend with a lift so when I find a spare day on the weekend, everything is getting done. She definitely needs new tyres to begin with as well. Thanks for all your useful information. 

I've got a spare radio headunit lying around and im thinking about installing it, would i need a Radio ISO Lead similar to this one: https://incartec.co.uk/product/VW-group-cars--Radio-ISO-lead

I suggest doing the 36, 72, 80 (wotever) thousand mile service and checks staggered between using and driving you certainly you'd not do a thorough service of that nature in one day.  Many think an engine oil and filter change is a service (just about all you get with modern cars at Dealerships) but as I've put the engine service is lower down the priority list and that includes a lot more than oi and filter change generally on a 24 year old car.

 

Tyres is a good thing to change but you want to thoroughly check and attend to as required the brakes first and the steering and suspension if you don't want excessive wear on your new tyres.  Always get the best appropriate tyres you can (and quality matters more than size even when modifying) old sizes of tyres often have a fair few cheap crappy or city shopping-trolley brands and models on offer, avoid those, bargains often turn out to be very disappointing or even disasters.

 

Friend with a lift can be great but consider availability of tools, equipment, parts, consumables, cleaning and tidying up, shops being open - I've borrowed a lift and pit before and found the actual work time on the vehicle compared with the hassle not to be great but sometimes a lift is need particularly to do a god inspection of the underside.

 

Before getting to the lift give the car a thorough clean, outside, underside, under wheel arches, if possible in engine bay, interior and boot that way you can see more when you have the lift and can discover more generally, not always an uplifting exercise but necessary particularly at start of ownership.

 

Always, always, allow a lot more time than you think you will need, if you finish early great you can get other small jobs done but don't be tempted to take on too much in that spare time otherwise you've broken the rule of allowing lots of time and you might find you can't finish the extra job(s) or end up working too long or too late for you or others and worse still perhaps rush and/or not do the job(s) properly or cause more issues from rushing the job.  Things you bodge or neglect often come back to bite or kick your ar*e.  Don't fall into any of this macho b*ll*cks  of how quick others can do anything (often they do a poor job and/or are exaggerating or self-delusional and have no ideal of real time-management or time and motion.

 

Good luck, plenty of chaps here that have lots of knowledge and experience of Felicias (not me) and loads of, sometimes very detailed, information and procedures (including unsuccessful sometimes).

 

ETA: Checking the battery and fully recharging it (ai a low slow rate) with a battery charger and checking the battery terminals connections and main cables and earths are clean, (inside and out) secure and protected, then the fusebox(es), wires and connections are also in good condition and clean. secure and protected takes priority over upgrading the "stereo" and may be needed to successfully do the install and upgrade.

 

Battery in poor state of charge and/or health and non-factory wiring (wiring done by others) are common causes of problems, issues, hassles and headaches with old cars new to the owner.  Bear in mind what I put before about things on the car and how they work.  Your car might be fine, I've no idea, but I've seen and heard of decades of others that had issues from previous owners (and old factory) electrics.

 

With this car don't try to run when you've possibly not even started to crawl yet.  Good luck.

 

Edited 7 January, 20251 yr by nta16

3 hours ago, vladimirzootin said:

I'm after some inspiration or ideas of how to make this car better.

Power costs; how fast can you afford to go?  

1. Standard 1.3 MPi.
2. You'll need to find parts but 1.3 MPi "Skoda Challenge" engine.
3. 1.6 VW Golf engine; one way to do this would be to find a front "clip" from a Felica or a "Fun" pickup that's had a rear end crash.
4. 1.8l 20v turbo.
5. 2.8 or 3.2l VR6.There are or were at least 2 of these in the UK but they play merry He11 with the weight distribution.

The 20V turbo would be insane. 

6 hours ago, vladimirzootin said:

The first one i did yesterday was fit a new air cone filter

 

I have tested: Paper filter (factory type) from 2-3 brands, gauze filter (K&N and BMC), POD (cone filter) 2 brands and just for experiential purposes No filter at all.

The best results were from the k&N filter, beware to buy one from a local official dealer or a well known store and not from ebay because it's very easy to sell you an imitation.

I have also modify my air filter box, i have removed the factory clapet and it's thermostat, make it smooth inside plus an extra hose from the grille to brink more fresh air inside, i kept the factory hose which brings air from the factory bumper.

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/514344-engine-cover-do-we-really-need-it/page/3/#findComment-5851822

I have some pictures added.

 

The POD (cone filters) produce a rough sound and that's for show-off only in our car, keep in mind that i have a ECU chip plus custom exhaust from headers to the tail pipe (45mm external).

Edited 7 January, 20251 yr by D.FYLAKTOS

56 minutes ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

 

I have tested: Paper filter (factory type) from 2-3 brands, gauge filter (K&N and BMC), POD (cone filter) 2 brands and just for experiential purposes No filter at all.

The best results were from the k&N filter, beware to buy one from a local official dealer or a well known store and not from ebay because it's very easy to sell you an imitation.

I have also modify my air filter box, i have removed the factory clapet and it's thermostat, make it smooth inside plus an extra hose from the grille to brink more fresh air inside, i kept the factory hose which brings air from the factory bumper.

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/514344-engine-cover-do-we-really-need-it/page/3/#findComment-5851822

I have some pictures added.

 

The POD (cone filters) produce a rough sound and that's for show-off only in our car, keep in mind that i have a ECU chip plus custom exhaust from headers to the tail pipe (45mm external).

such an interesting read to see what you have done with the air filter box and sanding that cone. 

5 hours ago, vladimirzootin said:

I've got a spare radio headunit lying around

 

Let the I.C.E last.

19 hours ago, vladimirzootin said:

I've got a spare radio headunit lying around and im thinking about installing it, would i need a Radio ISO Lead similar to this one: https://incartec.co.uk/product/VW-group-cars--Radio-ISO-lead

 

No, Felicia doesn't have ignition on the iso plug, both wires are battery +12V. You need to make sure that your head unit doesn't consume much power when it's powered off.

 

There's not much that could be done with the 1.3 engine without spending a lot of money. The air cone may actually hurt the engine, since the stock box has quite good cold intake solution and was designed for a more powerful engines.

22 hours ago, vladimirzootin said:

The 20V turbo would be insane. 

No it's perfectly sensible 🤪. I would definitely recommend improving handling and braking before considering more power, however.

32 minutes ago, Bete Noir said:

I would definitely recommend improving handling and braking before considering more power, however.

 

Especially braking. Non-vented 239mm front brakes are barely sufficient for the stock car.

Good quality appropriate tyres, at correct pressure(s), have a big effect on the existing or future brakes.  Again as with tyres size isn't everything, good quality metal and friction materials are more important and of course that the brakes are set up and if required adjusted correctly in a timely manner.

 

It depends on how much concern there is for figures and where the dial needles are as to how much power is wanted, a car with lower power can be a lot more fun in real world driving conditions that those with more or much more power especially if the car is set up well for handling, which you would need (more so) with more power anyway.  Most drivers have no idea how little power is actually required or used in many driving conditions especially newer modern drivers only used to modern car fashions.

 

Another tuning factor that improves the car's handling (and speed) overall is usually very unpopular with male drivers is further driver training, not necessarily track training but real world road training and this can be transferred to future cars and not lost on one car after it has left your ownership.

 

First tuning and improvements on the car is whole car full and proper thorough servicing, maintenance and repairs.  It also provides  good base for any further tuning and improvements.

 

Quote

 Non-vented 239mm

 

Felica 1.3 has 236mm brake discs.

Felicia is better left alone, even an air filter can hurt its performance, don't forget its speed/density mapping.
There is really nothing you can do, service it keep it running good and maybe get it chipped by some pros over in CZ

17 hours ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

get it chipped by some pros over in CZ

 

Chip alone doesn't do much. Reputable modders  at least change the camshaft - MPI has a little reserve here, since the factory targeted to improve low RPM torque compared to SPI unit. For example Motor Excel provided camshaft+remap for ~60kW, but it moved the peak torque above 4000RPM. Anything beyond that became just increasingly more expensive for smaller improvements.

 

Edit:Source - live site is not available anymore

Edited 9 January, 20251 yr by Papez

One way to increase power is to reduce weight, some manufacturers used to offer stripped down versions of some models to make them more fun (for those that didn't want/need the usual mass market conveniences).  Steel wheels (often narrower) with (often narrower) weighting less than the "lighter" alloys, not have electric motors for things that can be manually done, etc., etc..

 

5 hours ago, Papez said:

but it moved the peak torque above 4000RPM

unusable for the Felicia, sadly this vehicles perform the best before 3500rpm for me at least 3000 rpms is the actually comfortable limit

2 hours ago, nta16 said:

One way to increase power is to reduce weight, some manufacturers used to offer stripped down versions of some models to make them more fun (for those that didn't want/need the usual mass market conveniences).  Steel wheels (often narrower) with (often narrower) weighting less than the "lighter" alloys, not have electric motors for things that can be manually done, etc., etc..

Undrivable from all the noise 

42 minutes ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

unusable for the Felicia, sadly this vehicles perform the best before 3500rpm for me at least 3000 rpms is the actually comfortable limit

 

It's not THAT bad, the lower end is stil above the stock, at least according to their graph

 

 

Ironically, at least in my case, 4000 RPM was better than 3500 - there was some sort of resonance around that speed. Without mass damper on the right driveshaft, it was even worse, at 3000RPM.

49 minutes ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

Undrivable from all the noise 

You're too pampered. 😁 And anyway different engine air filter and exhaust would be noisy anyway (even if they add very little or nothing or subtract from overall performance).  Narrower wheels and tyres, especially if better quality tyres may be a bit quieter too.  Depends on which way the project of a project car is aiming.  A well set up engine, proper induction and exhaust, reasonably good transmission and well set up suspension with reasonable quality parts should also reduce noise, then there's selective use of sound dampeners.  Most now are too busy with their infotainments to notice car noises or "stereo" so loud and powerful that it's all they can hear (or perhaps the panels rattling or vibrating with the excess bass, volume over quality).

 

 

22 minutes ago, Papez said:

Ironically, at least in my case, 4000 RPM was better than 3500 - there was some sort of resonance around that speed. Without mass damper on the right driveshaft, it was even worse, at 3000RPM.

Same make, model and year of car and engine can vary a lot after decades of use and abuse and different tuners and engine builders can get different results.  I've had cars with really annoying noise and vibrations at 3500 rpm, which was even more annoying as that was a good spot in the power band for car use.  I remember my first Estelle 2 had an annoying noise and vibration at 70 mph in 4th (top gear) and as the national speed limit was 70 mph even more annoying, swapped to a 5-speed, not as nice for overall driving fun.  I had another car with a newly installed reconditioned (4-speed) gearbox that was very noisy between 50-80 mph when I had a 500-mile a week work commute so I learnt to drive at 49 mph on motorways and often had to slow down so as not to undertake (illegal) when I was in the "slow" lane of the, then, three - but that' another car and story(ies).

 

33 minutes ago, Papez said:

Ironically, at least in my case, 4000 RPM was better than 3500 - there was some sort of resonance around that speed. Without mass damper on the right driveshaft, it was even worse, at 3000RPM

I managed to source a set but it was veryyyy hard

Now

 

On 08/01/2025 at 21:56, Thefeliciahacker said:

Felicia is better left alone, even an air filter can hurt its performance, don't forget its speed/density mapping.
There is really nothing you can do, service it keep it running good and maybe get it chipped by some pros over in CZ

 

 

but few years back you wanted an ECU chip:

 

On 16/11/2018 at 22:54, Thefeliciahacker said:

I am currently studying in the UK and i thought of possibly getting my ecu tuned here as back home (Greece) we dont have many good tuning shops
The car i own is a 1.3l 68ps sport line felly ( Simos 2p ecu ) 
So i have some questions 
Can i just get the ecu tuned without the car (like a basic tune) (its much easier to ship an ecu than a car)
Do you know any good shops that would do that

 

😎