Thinking about the above with a view to modifying. Hoping for a relatively inexpensive day to day car for a 55 mile round trip comute ie cheap to buy (max 4-4.5k)cheap to insure and above all some fun both to drive and mod. Is this a good starting point? My ideas are in no particular order...suspension(used vrs springs/dampers) ,rear ARB, uprated brakes(maybe larger discs etc or just uprated pads eg greenstuff etc) , wheels and tyres(quite fancy a stealthy look-original steels&trims with decent tyres) and finally engine mods remap,air filter and pd 160 intake.

Cars i have briefly looked at so far have 53k miles and 70k miles, any advice from any of the knowledgeable folks here as to whether these mileages are too high for the planned mods?

Any advice/suggestions welcomed

Bigger brakes are a bit of a tricky one, check out devonutopia's work to get the picture there

IIRC you need different hubs etc to fit the larger brakes, although I could be wrong

Remap wise and all the other stuff you mention though should be possible.

Can't remember what kinda power you can push this to safely but probably 160bhp-ish?

Fabia TDI PD100

One very nice motor indeed, but not suitable for the kind of power I wanted to push for.

Brakes - you cannot go bigger without changing your front outer hubs and bearings for vRS ones - adds another £350 odd on to the material cost of doing the Audi TT conversion. However, you really feel the difference going from 256mm to 312mm brakes - Note you will also need 16" minimum alloy wheels as well.

Remap - 150 is safe without any other mods. 145 more reliable. I had 154 with some other tweaks. I reckon if you can find a 70k miler, ensure the cambelt was done at 60k, and it will go on for ages yet. Get the 160 air intake pipe on first though, and any other zorst, filter mods too.

Which mods should i do first? ie in what order

I would like say 150BHP and handling/braking at least on par with a VRS

I could probably complete the mods soon after i find the right car although i would prefer to make the mods over a period of 6 to 12 months to spread out the cost and to have some fun along the way

In that case, I would say - first thing - decat the exhaust. Cheap enough for any custom exhaust place to mock one up for £100 odd. maybe go for a tarty backbox? Then, get the cupra air intake pipe (£35ish from a seat dealer I think) and a green cotton panel filter (circa £25-£30, but washable so outlasts a few oem filters)

If you want to, you could fit a front mount intercooler. That would be pretty cool, but you're talking about £600 odd. If you do want the big brakes you're talking £600+ for materials alone, due to the TDI FSIII brakes having the carrier incorporated in the hub. Depending on your budget there are always performance pads & discs. There's no back brake upgrade available. Like I said above, you will need at least 16" wheels - oem vRS Fabia wheels clear the 312mm brakes from the Audi TT.

Handling - Well, you could fit uprated dampers and springs. The eibach ones are very good. I think there's a set for sale on here?

Cars i have briefly looked at so far have 53k miles and 70k miles, any advice from any of the knowledgeable folks here as to whether these mileages are too high for the planned mods?

Any advice/suggestions welcomed

I wouldn't worry about the mileage to be honest mate. My PD100 had 98,000 miles when I decided to get it remapped, put the PD160 air intake and lower it. I also treated myself to some VRS alloys.

Next think I'm looking at is some uprated discs and pads I'm just going to get some grooved discs as I don't fancy spending all that money just to put the 312mm discs on - AwesomeSarah has recommended some ZeroSixty discs, I'm just waiting until I've got some time off so I can fit buy them and fit them in my own time...

As for the order in which to do things, I'd wait to see what you think of the car before deciding. The first thing I'd did was sort out the wheels/suspension as mine seemed to have no grip at all when I first bought it. Once I'd done that I went for the remap as I fancied a bit more power at that time. I'm sure people will disagree with me, but each to there own

I had a PD100, had it about 2 years and didn't have any trouble at all in it. Only had a resistor mod on it which cost about £10 and it was great fun. Ok, it wasn't as quick as some cars on here, but wasn't slow by any imagination.

So a PD100 could be reliably remapped to 140bhp without any other modifications?

So a PD100 could be reliably remapped to 140bhp without any other modifications?

Yup, and it makes a fantastic difference to the way it drives !

Interesting. Very interesting indeed. Ta.

So a PD100 could be reliably remapped to 140bhp without any other modifications?

Don't mean to hijack the thread but does any one have any recomendations where I could get this done? West Yorkshire region

Don't mean to hijack the thread but does any one have any recomendations where I could get this done? West Yorkshire region

There's lots of choice out there, just do a search on remaps.

I had SWMBO's Fabia & my Golf remapped by Angel Tuning with excellent results & they come to you and remap it at your own home or office !

Nice one thanks looks about £10 a horse from them. (+35bhp = £350)

I was looking to do this but wasn't sure what else I had to do but if with a modest remap it's nothing I think I'll go for it

I too used to have a PD100, mine only had a good quality tuning box on it (rolling road figures of 114whp (about 135 fly) and 222 ft lbs), strut brace and vRS alloys and it was fun.

I wasn't keeping mine so I didn't bother spending any more (and unlike others on here I never found the stock brakes too weak :confused:) but good springs and dampers (I'd skip the idea of vRS ones, the weights of the car are different for starters and they're not that much firmer I don't believe) and rear ARB.

Big advantage of the PD100 (other than insurance) is that it is a good 100kg lighter than the vRS. You may wish to think about an upgraded clutch if you're going to remap it though, even on my modest power figures my clutch wasn't at it's happiest.

As i hadnt driven a Fabia with a 100bhp TDI engine i took up an offer from a work collegue today and drove his estate-well impressed.

I am now thinking about mod'ing an estate does anyone have any thoughts it occurs for example that it is probably heavier and is the rear suspension different?

In view of the probable extra weight i appreciate that performance would not be on par with an equivalently modified hatch-does anybody have any experience of tuning the estate?

Sorry about all the questions although i am really just at the ideas stage at the moment and would like to gather as much info as poss.

As i hadnt driven a Fabia with a 100bhp TDI engine i took up an offer from a work collegue today and drove his estate-well impressed.

I am now thinking about mod'ing an estate does anyone have any thoughts it occurs for example that it is probably heavier and is the rear suspension different?

In view of the probable extra weight i appreciate that performance would not be on par with an equivalently modified hatch-does anybody have any experience of tuning the estate?

Sorry about all the questions although i am really just at the ideas stage at the moment and would like to gather as much info as poss.

SWMBO's is actually a remapped estate.

In terms of performance it's on par with a standard VRS now, TBH it was just marginally quicker than my friends standard VRS (he's now sold it).

SWMBO's is the Elegance model and the remap to my mind just completed what was already a fantastic well specc'd little estate by giving it a decent level of performance.

EDITED TO ADD:I've just done a quick check and surprisingly it appears that the Fabia Estate is actually lighter than the VRS. :eek:

source: Skoda

which would probably explain why it is marginally quicker than the VRS after a remap.

Which mods should i do first? ie in what order

I would say:

1) Jabba Rear ARB and PD160 intake and panel filter.

2) Decent rubber.

3) Dampers and may be strut braces.

4) Brakes, but its an exspencive job.

5) Re-map.

Thats how I have planned mine. The way I see it get a car that will do round corners, sort the stopping ready for the remap.

I am upto the brake upgrade and as devonutopia it is very exspencive, lucky I managed to find a set of VRS brakes for