Arragonis' Fabia Mod Thread

[ecoxantia]

Personally I don't bother swiching off at traffic lights, as the lights around here have fairly short phasing. I'm guessing the losses outweigh the gains on a small diesel. I would in urban areas as there's an air quality argument.

[Arragonis]

The light is a PITA - traffic crawls in waves towards it for about 1/2 a mile. If you coast engine off then apparently its a crime against humanity - how dare you leave more than 10 ft in front of you - beep, move up...

When I'm crawling toward the light I can watch the average drop from close on 50 to just over 40. With my new route I can keep the average at 47-49 before I pass the snarl up light and get onto the bypass.

I have wondered about temps and starting but apart from the first start I don't get smoke on startup - Helga is probably due some glow plugs and she's a little reluctant to get up on cold mornings - aren't we all these days - and even if I sit idling in the queue the temps don't get up. They get up when I start to pull onto the bypass.

Then its the first crawl on the bypass up the hill to the ski slope that kills it down again to 45-47. A little light cruising to where I come off and I can get it back up to 50-52 and I can keep it there until I stop at work.

On the way back of course its downhill so I can get up to 48 before the bypass, up to mid-60s, sometimes 70+ when I come off and then it will stay 60-65 until the next crawl section and then a steep hill - so it drops to 55. Just now there are some roadworks so it drops again.

Without these when I get home I will have an average of 50-55, just now its 45-50.

[ecoxantia]

PB: 92mpg (imp) today. Must have been the light following wind

[Arragonis]

68.4 for me on a rare trip over 30 miles

EDIT - something I found quite funny is that when I filled up the range comp said 575 miles. Now after 127 miles it says 620. So I'm magically adding range...

[Arragonis]

Long time no mods.

Somewhat inspired by Piwoslaw's postings on his 'walls of seperation' between the radiator, intercooler and the intake, I've decided to look at this area on Helga. In fact this is an inspired by what PW thought I had done and which had inspired him to do a mod idea and which has in turn inspired me - if you know what I mean.

What I am trying to do is to allow cold air to the intake but keep the upper grill blocked - Diesels like a warm engine but cold intake. This is the area behind the upper grill.



The slot to the upper, right is the air intake. This is my grill blocked.



So the air intake is now being fed by whatever comes up from below as my lower grill is not (yet) blocked. This is the view straight down, as you can see this is the full height of the radiator.



The silver bit at the bottom is actually the bottom of the front panel / bumper which extends quite a long way back from the factory, it actually goes underneath the radiator so any warm air at the front will go straight up. My intercooler is in a front wheel well so there is no heat coming in from that.

My plan is to seperate this area from the intake with a shelf or block of some kind, as shown in red here.



And I will combine this with some small holes drilled into the grill block just where the intake is. The holes should be small enough not to effect any aero there but should allow cooller air into this upper area and therefore into the intake - it will be a little like a shower nozzle of air.

Thoughts and comments welcome.

[vtec-e]

Hi Arragonis, on my yaris, the upper grille block is behind the grille. It's a factory jobbie and its job is to deflect air up to the intercooler duct, just over the top radiator member. You could install a 3/4 length grille block on the outside, with a bit inside the grille to deflect air up to your intake. It would look slightly odd on the outside but would do the job of grille blocking AND letting cold air into the intake. I have no pics of my grille block yet so words will have to do for now! Plus i'm having a few cool ones....

[Arragonis]

Hi Vtec.

Enjoy the cool ones , me too.

The outside is totally blocked with the superskoda one.

Cheers

[Arragonis]

Update - I measured and cut the shelf but it didn't get fitted as we have had storms and strong winds. We lost part of a fence near the house and behind us is a forrest so it was a sleepless night making sure they didn't come in through the back

The fence is nearly new but as the guy who did it was going to name me in his divorce a few years back I can't really ask him to honour the guarantee so it is going to need some money to fix.

BTW I was NOT involved before anyone asks.

Still undecided on Helga.

I had more or less plumped for keeping Mrs A's Octavia in case we need a larger car but it needs some work on it now - new oil pump (2.0 TDi ones are flakey with 100K+ on them), front suspension bushes need renewing - not a big job I suppose - and really all four springs / dampers need doing as well. I drove it for a weekend as a test and got some excellent average MPGs though - 98MPG on one local trip but it drives like it is very very tired.

As ever I don't have the time to spanner this so it will be something I have to pay for, after the fence.

On the other hand Helga is in fine fettle really. The rust seems to be at bay and I spent (wasted ?) a couple of hours on rattle finding (refitting the radio, padding out the rear headrest tubes, removing door cards and packing loose wires, slicing off my fingers etc.) - and its like driving a new car

Latest tank was a going with the trend of the previous one. Given my fillups last 4-6 weeks depending on work driving then this could be my last fillup in Helga if she goes so not sure about the shelf thing.

Additionally the Octavia is a much more saleable proposition as it just has normal wear and tear plus some goodies like Leather and bum warmers which people go for here - you need both, cold leather is not nice.

So Helga may stay - for at least another year anyway.

And I will start a fuel log for Mrs A's Prius when it finally arrives...

[Arragonis]

230 miles on this tank, predicted 525 miles remaining. When I filled up it also predicted 550 miles so I have had 205 miles for free ?

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

230 miles on this tank, predicted 525 miles remaining. When I filled up it also predicted 550 miles so I have had 205 miles for free ?

You wish

You've just been driving a bit more economically than before the fill up.
Those predictions are notoriously unreliable - until they start falling off rapidly towards 0


Most optimistic prediction after fill up on my car was 1480km - 920 miles.
That would mean 3.51L/100km - 67mpg(US) - 80.5 mpg(UK)
That's not very likely to happen anytime soon