Skoda Rally Blog

Well, due to a sudden influx of finances, I’m in a position to do some more to the car, and really it’s only speed that it needs. Not lots of it, ‘cos I still want the car to be reliable and capable of being driven to the events. But anyway, here’s the plan:-

Throttle body injection. This will be the GPz1100 throttle bodies I’ve already mentioned, tied to a home-made manifold and injection system from a DIY system I’ve found on the ‘net. The parts for the ECU and test gear are on their way as I type, and the main problem is making the manifold. But I have a spare head to work with which will make things a lot easier to fabricate. Should make tuning a lot easier when the next phase comes along….

Big valve head. I’ve got to look carefully into this; a lot of people talk crap about this that and the other, but I think that the Skoda will need a bigger valve head to make more power. Again, not a huge amount in absolute terms, but if we can get around 110bhp out of it then it should be good. And as I’ve heard tale of over 140 from the same engine, it should be doable.

Bottom end. Had a bit of a find on eBay – a brand new crank and a brand new set of pistons with new liners, all for ?66 including delivery from Germany. Bargain – that’s about ?400 worth normally. So I’ll need a block to get building into. I’m only planning on fitting this if the other bottom end expires as it shouldn’t owe me too much money.

So that’s it really. There are other little things that need doing, such as a decent intercom instead of the utterly tragic OMP one that’s currently fitted and is worse quality than the ?5 transistor radio I had when I was a small boy. I mean it – we’re talking LOW quality here, which is no joke for something that cost ?70. And a few other little bits to make things sweeter.

As far as events are concerned, we’re definitely in the Spotted Dick and Custard stages on the 5th September, and hopefully should get an entry for Caerwent on the 26th – regs should be with me tomorrow. That should be good fun, if a little tiring. Power steering, anyone?