Looks like I have the finances sorted to push for more mods. Question is, what do you reckon I can safely go to, and still maintain a degree of reliability (bearing in mind I don't drive the car hard or anything - just sometimes.....)

IMHO It all depends on how you get those figures

NOS would get you close to 300 I'd imagine - but that really would be just for a laugh.

Mine should be back in normal running soon, apparently should easily do 200bhp at the wheels and then it will be stabilised for a while, then I'll have another crack at it

Looks like I have the finances sorted to push for more mods. Question is, what do you reckon I can safely go to, and still maintain a degree of reliability (bearing in mind I don't drive the car hard or anything - just sometimes.....)

Um well if your after that sort of HP why not buy a N-P reg BMW M5 you'll get 315hp std & Nuremburg suspension pack all for max

Do you want a high number or a quicker car?

E.g. Carbon body panels & replacing the glass could nicely eat up a large chunk of your savings and speed the car up with no reliability problems. But it won't give you more power?

Push it all the way you can! Someone has to be a 'trailblazer' for the modding crew!!

Why not try for 200hp and then NOS to 350hp - without any additional internal engine work.

Then again if you want a really fast car buy a TVR Cerbera 4.5v8 for the same as all that modding will cost.

Jase you are the man!!!! :thumbup:

Long live the King of Fabia Tuning!!!

(Told you guys he was up to something major!!! )

If I was you, rather than aim at a certain bhp, I would go with relatively reliable mods:

Ditch the propane - sell it on eBay.

Get:

1-Uprated Injectors from Kermatdi

2-VT5 from turbodynamics (cheaper and allegedly better quality than elsewhere)

3- Get the OEM manifold TIG-welded/machined to mount the VT5 if you have a mate into that. This may be too expensive in the UK, may have to buy one from Allards

4-Custom tuning based on RR data

Then you're looking at a long-term solid real 260bhp.

To leave something to look fwd to in the future - NOS for trackdays - +50bhp when needed! You would know better than I, but IIRC I read that if you exceed the 50bhp NOS setting on a 1.9TDI you can snap a driveshaft like a pretzel. Having used NOS I can say when you hit it, it's a sudden hard jump in power. Then you can say that you have 310bhp. :eek:

Of course, you can also do as I suspect others have done and seek out the most optimistic RR dyno and exceed those figures on paper ........

Great Stuff Mate - keep us informed!!

Cheers

Bas

Don't spend another penny on the car.

It's a waste of money , so start saving for a replacement that will have more power to start with

if you haven't already make the car more usable by fitting better/bigger brakes, LSD and then fit fibre glass/carbon fibre body panels

Why would anyone in their right mind spend what I guess will be the best part of £2k on a machine which would only have been worth £12k new, I guess this may be worth say £8k now so spending 25% on go faster parts.... this is a big mistake you will not only boost up your insurance lower mpg and vastly decrease potential future 2nd hand buyers you will also decrease the life of the engine.

Please dont waste your money as the age old saying goes if you want a fast car then buy a fast car in the first place which is designed for those higher speeds it has better suspension/brakes/wheels/transmission/fully independant suspension/ bucket seates/crumple zones etc etc

Note also the vRS Fabia will not last you forever once you have a wife + kids then its too small as pram etc will fill the boot so you will have to chop it in get a bigger like say M5 or E55 or RS2 etc all for well under £10k and compared to the vRS are so much more appealing and endeering

Only problem is Jasons car was never a vRS, its a hybrid TDi with some vRS bits including the engine.

I say go for what you think is best, but dont push it to far otherwise you'll need another vRS engine.

Your deciding factor should be what the transmission & drive shafts can take, if the gearbox cant take much more power you will be entering a very expensive area for a custom built box if a better one from the VAG range wont fit. I was lucky with the 4x4 as the TT box fitted.

It's not about 'which car is the most suitable for the power' any longer - it is already a unique car

Must admit the propane is now turned off on mine, and I'm still considering whether it is or isn't safe to use in the long term. At the moment it will be off for sure.

Why would anyone in their right mind spend what I guess will be the best part of

Why would anyone in their right mind spend what I guess will be the best part of

If your going to do it go for he max

I think you may have missed the point to be honest. If you look just at the money then yes you are totally right. However as project/learning experience it's a bit different. Yes he could go out and buy an M5 (or whatever), but where's the fun in that! I don't think he's really interested in resale values!

Well if you start with a fast car and then decide to modify that then you are getting seriously fast.

Learning experiance ouch thats going to hurt in the pocket - those interest rates going up is really going to hurt & if there is a housing crash putting money into a car is the last thing you'd want to be doing.

If its purely for fun then why not buy a 205 GTi track day car fully stripped and pay the annual

I'd say go for a VT5 and leave it at that. Never seen the point of NOS as it doesnt last long where a bigger turbo you will always have the power their. Your propane should be then enough to max out the air of the turbo. Just get jabba to map it to reduce the torque maybe or move it higher up the rev range so you dont start snapping things again.

My concern is that the propane on Jason's & mine is a different system, and I'm not convinced either system is safe for the engine - I ran mine for 20k with propane and the damage is quite scary tbh - I may go for it again in the future though

Id say defo requirement on the lsd/atb diff. after that its up to but theres no point in having power if u cant put it down on the road

As said, if your going to go for the max. Go for the bigger turbo and raise your game to 270-290+

Well if you start with a fast car and then decide to modify that then you are getting seriously fast.

Learning experiance ouch thats going to hurt in the pocket - those interest rates going up is really going to hurt & if there is a housing crash putting money into a car is the last thing you'd want to be doing.

If its purely for fun then why not buy a 205 GTi track day car fully stripped and pay the annual

what can you do to improve the traction of your fabia

because remeber Jason your moddified fabia in 1st and 2nd gear is the same as my standard fabia vRS :P

In some ways 1st and 2nd are probably harder to drive remapped like Mr J's then without.

I *really* missed the Quaife when using the A2 (which is nowhere near the power of the vRS) - traction out of corners is greatly improved with it fitted.

I reckon you'll need it to be able to continue using the car on a daily basis.

The great thing about VNTs is that the lag is still controllable

I've voted the biggest number but being serious you need to focus on driveability - a week ago I'd have said 300+ would be fantastic, but over the weekend I drove a Skyline R32 gtst (rear drive with same power as GTR) with a whisker over 400bhp.

It was fast in a straight line on a dry bit if you were gentle, we're talking twitchy in a straight line in the dry - now imagine driving that down the motorway in the wet - you see a gap and boot it, head diagonally into the barrier and that's it. Now I know FWD won't be so twitchy but realistically are you going to get 300bhp+ down safely?

I understand why you'd want to but I'm not sure the results would be as good as the idea.

JMTPW