robg2
Part of things
Posts: 815
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Hi - I have a couple of Fav & Felicia rally cars so thought I'd drop in my opinion (although I'm not an expert): As these cars were used extensively for rallying you may be able to find a used set of springs and dampers with adjustable spring platforms. This is a generic concept in motorsport - the damper body has an external thread, with a matching internal thread on the spring platform which can therefore be moved up & down the damper. You'd have to convert to 2.25" springs but again these are motorsport norm. This way you can have sensible spring rates at whatever ride height you like. If you chop your existing springs then you are changing their rate, which might result in wierd handling. You could do something similar with your existing stuff by grinding your existing spring platforms off your dampers and moving them further down the damper body (although I wouldn't suggest welding them back on incase the damper explodes). This way you can again have lower ride height but unaffected spring rates. Engine wise you do realise that Felicias (not Favorits) came with a 1.6 engine? This is VW motor and looks like the same as used in Mk2/3 Golfs and Ibizas etc. I haven't investigated it but chances are there's a fairly hot motor in this family that would effectively fit a Felicia using the stock 1.6 mounts. Look at Briskoda.net.
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Odin
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,406
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Hi - I have a couple of Fav & Felicia rally cars so thought I'd drop in my opinion (although I'm not an expert): As these cars were used extensively for rallying you may be able to find a used set of springs and dampers with adjustable spring platforms. This is a generic concept in motorsport - the damper body has an external thread, with a matching internal thread on the spring platform which can therefore be moved up & down the damper. You'd have to convert to 2.25" springs but again these are motorsport norm. This way you can have sensible spring rates at whatever ride height you like. If you chop your existing springs then you are changing their rate, which might result in wierd handling. You could do something similar with your existing stuff by grinding your existing spring platforms off your dampers and moving them further down the damper body (although I wouldn't suggest welding them back on incase the damper explodes). This way you can again have lower ride height but unaffected spring rates. Engine wise you do realise that Felicias (not Favorits) came with a 1.6 engine? This is VW motor and looks like the same as used in Mk2/3 Golfs and Ibizas etc. I haven't investigated it but chances are there's a fairly hot motor in this family that would effectively fit a Felicia using the stock 1.6 mounts. Look at Briskoda.net. You're describing coilovers there - I had considered converting my standard dampers using the Rally Design kit several people on here have used but as you point out, the welding on the damper is the sketchy bit. I've got the HP Sporting suspension waiting to go on but I want to tweak it for my application. When I cut my springs I deliberately altered the springs rates to stiffen the rear and reduce understeer. The 1.6 motor from the Felicia is from the VW 'small block' family as fitted to the Polo and Ibiza. 'Big block' motors (1.8 and up) use different engine mounts and require a different bellhousing adaptor.
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piperfish
Part of things
Dinky-di 100% meat and veggies
Posts: 386
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;D ;D ;DHey Odin any tips on lowering a favorit Cheers
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Its my snake...I trained it...and I'm gonna eat it....
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Mike
East Midlands
Posts: 3,387
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Check this out! Felicia with 128 miles on the clock...
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Last Edit: Feb 5, 2009 18:25:07 GMT by Mike
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Odin
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,406
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Check this out! Felicia with 128 miles on the clock... Jeez! An early one as well. ;D ;D ;DHey Odin any tips on lowering a favorit Cheers How low do you want to go? If not so low (40mm or so) then you're probably better off with off-the-shelf springs.
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Jun 18, 2010 13:39:38 GMT
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The 1.6 motor from the Felicia is from the VW 'small block' family as fitted to the Polo and Ibiza. 'Big block' motors (1.8 and up) use different engine mounts and require a different bellhousing adaptor. I thought the 1.0 and 1.3 VW engines were classed and 'small blocks' and the 1.6 and 1.8 engines were the 'big block' engine which shared the same engine mounths etc.
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Jun 18, 2010 14:33:54 GMT
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90mm on a Favorit doesn't actually look as severe as it would on some other cars because they have massive ground clearance to begin with. To absolutely deck one you'd have to go about -120mm but then your front springs would just be a rod of metal with a bend! This is what I've got to hand anyway: Before:After (as captured by DarrenW at VW Action): Made a few changes since that pic but you get the idea. That's the back of my house . I'd forgotten how high that one was before we decked it. Another KKK&K result. The camo one is more fun though.
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Jun 18, 2010 16:37:59 GMT
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I had HP Sporting shocks/springs on my Favorit. They were meant to be for the Felicia, so it didn't go as low but handled nicely.
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Darrel
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,167
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Jun 18, 2010 18:00:14 GMT
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Not sure about this Big block/ small block thing as I don't know VW engines that well, but certainly know Skoda ones. I had a Favorit and bolted in very easily a 16v Gti engine. I just used a 1.6 Felicia Bellhousing adaptor. From what I can see the 1.6 VW engine used in Skoda uses the same engine mountings as The GTI. My only modifications I had to do was the fueling and the loom.
Suspension wise the Felicia and the Favorit are certainly not the same. Mk1 Favorit had completly different suspension to the mk 1.5. The Mk2 Favorit was near identical to the felicia, but made in a different country and were better made than the Felicia ones. The Felly ones rust amazingly on the spring cups. Out of 5 Felicias ive owned 2 of them failed MOT due to this and two of them failed whilst driving (pretty scary). If you are going to lower it personally i would source some pattern part cups as these have always lasted better imo.
Oh and last but not least if you do put a heavier engine make sure you install PAS. My GTI engined one was far too heavy to steer.
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Jun 18, 2010 19:32:03 GMT
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quick vw part number tutorial. basically its a 9 digit number system digits 1 ,2 ,3 are the vehicle type and also (sometimes) denotes lhd and rhd,so a rhd steering rack would start 192,19 being golf mk2 and the 2 being an even number meaning RHD,if its lhd or not sided then its an odd number ,so a bumper would start 191. the next 3 digits denote where its found in the parts catalogue,so 411 would be group 4 (front suspension) and section 11 shocks and springs, the last three digits are the 'part number' and the odd even rule again applies for left and right (but not drive) letters on the end mean it is a variant or superceded,and a group of 3 letters after that are colour or surface finish codes. phew!! ;D so although your springs have the end six digits the same the model codes are different. for example golf mk gti front bumper 191 807 311a gru polo mk2 front bumper 861 807 311a
hope this helps
Andy
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RobinJI
Posted a lot
"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Jun 18, 2010 22:46:41 GMT
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Not sure about this Big block/ small block thing as I don't know VW engines that well, but certainly know Skoda ones. I had a Favorit and bolted in very easily a 16v Gti engine. I just used a 1.6 Felicia Bellhousing adaptor. From what I can see the 1.6 VW engine used in Skoda uses the same engine mountings as The GTI. My only modifications I had to do was the fueling and the loom. Suspension wise the Felicia and the Favorit are certainly not the same. Mk1 Favorit had completly different suspension to the mk 1.5. The Mk2 Favorit was near identical to the felicia, but made in a different country and were better made than the Felicia ones. The Felly ones rust amazingly on the spring cups. Out of 5 Felicias ive owned 2 of them failed MOT due to this and two of them failed whilst driving (pretty scary). If you are going to lower it personally I would source some pattern part cups as these have always lasted better imo. Oh and last but not least if you do put a heavier engine make sure you install PAS. My GTI engined one was far too heavy to steer. When you say GTI engine, do you mean polo or golf GTI? As far as I understand it, the VW 'big block' refers to the lent back engines, that orriginaly started out counter flow. These came in 1.6, 1.8 and 2l options. The 1.6 effectively being a short stroke'd 1.8, and the 2l coming several variations of stroke and bore. This is the engine used in 1.6 and upwards golfs and passats (and anything based on them) as well as the Ibiza GTI. Its very very similar to the 1.6 and 1.9TDI engines. The VW 'small block' refers to the lent forwards crossflow engines. These came in 1, 1.3 and 1.6 options. These are used in 1.3l and under golfs, as well as all polos up to the 6N2 (besides the diesel), 1.6 and under seat ibizas and the skoda Felicia. So both came in 1.6 form. As for interchanging between big and small blocks, I'm not really sure. I know on mk1 golfs you have to chop and weld stuff, where as on later cars you just need the bits from the appropriate car, although I think it might be the gearbox side mounts that need messing with, so may be irrelevant on the skodas, if you can get the skoda box to mate up to the big block.
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Last Edit: Jun 18, 2010 22:52:50 GMT by RobinJI
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g40jon
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,569
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the 1.6 is basically a stroked version of the old 1.3 found in polos, its not known for being a very strong motor when heavilly tuned. however it does produce pleanty of torque and run it on an injection system which isnt restrictive like the std one it;ll produce in excess of 100 bhp. A lot of polo gt owners have been fitting the 1.6 and using gt fuel management on them. This will get you up around 100 bhp and a similar figure for torque. On the skoda the engine uses a skoda gearbox rather than a vag one, but thats the only significant difference i know of. Other small blocks which will bolt in without too much hassle would be the 1.4 16v engine out of the mk4 and 5 polos (6n and 6n2) and also the 125 bhp 1.6 16v found in the lupo gti and polo gti
As for lowering..... venom motorsport sell uprated and lowered springs for them and there is also a company on ebay selling lowering springs for the felicia and even the pickup version too. I'm yet to find anyone who will supply uprated and shorter stroke dampers for them though.
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also the 125 bhp 1.6 16v found in the lupo gti and polo gti As I scrolled down the thread I was thinking 'how about the Lupo gti lump?' How cool a sleeper would that be?!
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@pistonbroker on Twitter
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Oct 24, 2010 14:48:20 GMT
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NICE!!! so I'm guessing this is the Felicia with the 1.4 16V? Engine bay is nice!
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