Hey guys and girls,

I recently aquired a fabia (yay!), its only a 1.4 8v classic but hey, first car. its not too bad . Anyway, after my lovingly first day driving in london and back to guildford on the same day i found that on low rev's its fine but on higher rev's it starts to lack the power.. it seems like i've used its limit after 3.5k rpm. [edit] This is from 2nd gear upwards.

I was wondering is that supposed to happen due to it being slow and dont like it being rev'd?

Thanks in advance!

-John

Hi there,

The 1.4 8v does not have loads of top-end power (being an 8v not 16v); it does its best work in the range 2,500 - 4,500 rpm. having said this it should run smoothly, if a little noisily to the red-line @ 5,500rpm, certainly in 2nd & 3rd.

You say you've just bought the car; what do you know about it? How many miles? when was it last serviced? where did you buy it? If from a garage and there IS a problem you may be able to get them to have a look at it. How mechanically minded are you? etc.

Have a look at your air-filter.

I changed mine, and it pulled again to the redline.

Hi there' date='

The 1.4 8v does not have loads of top-end power (being an 8v not 16v); it does its best work in the range 2,500 - 4,500 rpm. having said this it should run smoothly, if a little noisily to the red-line @ 5,500rpm, certainly in 2nd & 3rd.

You say you've just bought the car; what do you know about it? How many miles? when was it last serviced? where did you buy it? If from a garage and there IS a problem you may be able to get them to have a look at it. How mechanically minded are you? etc.[/quote']

Actually It's redline is 6,000RPM,

It should pull perfectly evenly between 2.5-5k as it has a very even power delivery. It can't breathe properly beyond 5k, which is why it's pointless to go beyond that if you are looking for speed. It lacks horsepower, but It has alot of torque because it's OHV. Make the most of the torque and you will get the best fuel economy and performance

Thanks for the useful replies ! the car has 37k 02 plate and faily recently serviced by what seems to be the same garage for the past 4 years (the previous owner was very picky...), so i believe theres no problems mechanically.

As for the filter, it looked fine but im planning to put an induction kit on it to hopefully see some improvement

Actually It's redline is 6' date='000RPM,

It should pull perfectly evenly between 2.5-5k as it has a very even power delivery. It can't breathe properly beyond 5k, which is why it's pointless to go beyond that if you are looking for speed. It lacks horsepower, but It has alot of torque because it's OHV. Make the most of the torque and you will get the best fuel economy and performance[/quote']

I have checked MY red-line - its at about 5,650rpm; definitely not 6,000rpm AND the rev limiter cuts in at 5,800rpm!

Anyway - Having tried an induction kit I have reverted to a freeflow panel filter from itg, although Green Cotton's one seems to be preferred by Briskodians; and have got my own diy version of the cupra 160 intake, simply made with a length of 3" dia aluminiumised intake tubing - cost me less than a fiver! It certainly seems to give good response.

I have checked MY red-line - its at about 5' date='650rpm; definitely not 6,000rpm AND the rev limiter cuts in at 5,800rpm!

Anyway - Having tried an induction kit I have reverted to a freeflow panel filter from itg, although Green Cotton's one seems to be preferred by Briskodians; and have got my own diy version of the cupra 160 intake, simply made with a length of 3" dia aluminiumised intake tubing - cost me less than a fiver! It certainly seems to give good response.[/quote']

What Model Year is yours. Mine goes 1 bar into the red and upto 6,000RPM when the electronic limiter cuts in and I would have assumed they are all the same

Are you sure you havent got a diesel by mistake:D

What Model Year is yours. Mine goes 1 bar into the red and upto 6' date='000RPM when the electronic limiter cuts in and I would have assumed they are all the same

Are you sure you havent got a diesel by mistake:D[/quote']

I wish the hell I had a diesel; I'd have had it remapped/chiped with 25-30% more power/torgue by now!!!

My 1.4mpi is an '02 import from Ireland, bought new from Motorpoint of Derby (very good price at the time). Maybe Skoda don't expect it to be driven as hard over there or something!

Its all academic anyway, as I find 4,750 - 5,250 is the best change up point and therefore pointless taking it to the red-line.

Haha mines from Ireland too! Mines on the revo says up to 7,000. The redline on mine starts at 6,000..? never really went higher than that. thought it'll hurt the poor little car But, i didnt know there was a rev limiter which kicked in so early (least not on my car). Yeah i wish i had a Tdi too! lots of power..

[sorry for sidetracking ] How did you do the 3" piping? did a friend/you machine it? I've kinda looked for weeks upon end in the forums reading about the green cotton filter with pd160 and piper x induction kit; with mixed views, but since a website on here (which i forgot the name of) was doing a free del. offer, it made the price the same as each other. So i thought.. why not

How did you do the 3" piping? did a friend/you machine it? I've kinda looked for weeks upon end in the forums reading about the green cotton filter with pd160 and piper x induction kit; with mixed views, but since a website on here (which i forgot the name of) was doing a free del. offer, it made the price the same as each other. So i thought.. why not

Simple really; it is a while since I did it but it was straight forward. New part needed was just a suitable length, I think I had to buy 1m, of 3" aluminimised piping that's flexible and like a slinky spring, from my local Motor Accessories shop (not halfords) cost less than £5.

Take off the engine cover, and remove the existing air filter box and air intake pipe, the warm air feed is clipped to something near the exhaust manifold; it is not connected at the front end.

Remove the screws(?) and take the intake pipe off the airbox. Put one end of the new pipe on the airbox and secure with the screws, being flexible it will mould to the correct shape, use a cable tie for extra security and duck tape to ensure an airtight seal.

Take the oval/rectangular air intake 'bellmouth' out of the front panel, a couple of screws again(?), fit this to the other end of the pipe, I used a couple of pop-rivets for this and again duck tape for a seal.

Refit the airbox with new pipe and bellmouth back into the car, the pipe will flex/stretch to the right position. Engine cover back on. Job done!

The result is a wide air intake pipe that is sealed to provide a full flow of (cool)outside air into the air filter box. Fit a standard or replacement filter into the airbox, I've got an itg one as I prefer foam to pleated cotton.

It won't be pretty but it will certainly be effective. You're not entering any custom car/ Max Power (oops did I really put 'Max Power' on briskoda.net?) shows are you?

There is ONE downside - you loose the intake roar of an open filter or induction kit; but what do you want? Best performance or to annoy the neighbours!

PS> This description is from memory and I therefore do NOT guarantee its complete accuracy!

You're not entering any custom car/ Max Power (oops did I really put 'Max Power' on briskoda.net?) shows are you?

lol! - just imagining the cover car of next months max power mag will be a fabia......

Ahh thats good, thanks for the tip since i brought the induction kit anyhoo i'll probably see where that leads to and do the piping with the kit if i can find some somewhere; thats if it'll have space.

-John

basically its an 8v so it isnt going to be powerful anyway!

The description of bahnstormer is good.

I have the same thing on my car + some thermal insulation arround the flexible hose + heat resistant aluminium tape over it. This way it will reject the heat from the engine as the aluminium pipe tends to get warm.

It pulls better, and from my measurements on group 120 it gained extra torque.

I've measured the same engine (stock) on several fabias and all did 118nm. Mine does 128.

Besides the modifications above I have a free flow exhaust, intermediary and end mufflers with the OEM cat.

Only with end muffler and intake mods it did 124-126. Now with intermediary mufflers it does 128 and you can feel the difference.