That beige Polonez: EUROTRIP 2014

[skoda_fan]

Have you joined our elite FSO UK Owners Club on Facebook? Any pics?

 

We have 10 members and 8 cars all in the UK

 

Yep. Mine is one of the 8. No pics yet as a) it's been pissing down ever since I got her, and she has "issues" at the mo and I want to picture her out and about rather than festering!

[SambaS]

Ahh you must be Graham! So an LPG FSO Caro

 

Excellent!

[eddyramrod]

Re the driving experience I would say based on the heaps I've owned in the past it's somewhere between Lada Riva and Victor FE, ie heavy and ponderous

 

Sounds about right. I used to compare mine to a Hillman Hunter. Having owned all the models under consideration I reckon the comparisons are all valid. Hunter is leaf-sprung of course, like the Polonez.

 

You'll find me in the FB group under my wife's name (the FB account is hers, not mine). I'm not in UK nor do I presently own a Polonez, or indeed any other FSO. But I'm hoping to change that in some nebulous near or middle future.

[SambaS]

Took the Polonez to my local garage today to have the front left wheel repaired. They knocked the tire off for me and wire brushed it all up. The outer lip was really uneaven with corrosion so that's been chipped away and brushed up. He put it in a bath of water and said it's okay so fingers crossed it holds pressure for longer than 24 hours. Not one of my cars has four tyres that hold pressure!

[SambaS]

Okay it tried to kill me again at a roundabout, nearly stalling just when I needed some acceleration. If you accelerate there is a delay before anything happens. Also it seems when you push the choke in even when warm there's a considerable loss of power. No other manual choke car I've owned has had this loss of power. There was a problem with a stuck float in the carb. causing it to only drive with choke on full but the garage remedied this. Would you suspect the carb. to be at fault?

[CYANIDE STEVE]

It's definitely the carb. We used to have alot of problems with these at the main dealer when they were new much to the disgust of the new owners

The tech guy from the head office came over and showed us a modification on the jets involving a bit of drilling but I really can't remember exactly how it was done. (It was 22 years ago and I've slept since then )

These were troublesome even when new so it's just a case of stripping the carb to make sure all the jets are clear and fiddle with the mixture screw until it runs ok. I actually bought a weber conversion for the last polonez I had.

If I remember or find any old paperwork on that mod I'll let you know but even that wasn't a complete cure.

[SambaS]

Cool, thanks. Guess I'll just have to dawdle around at junctions and suchlike like the octagenarian people expect to be behind the wheel

[nigel bickle]

Sounds like the little accelerator pump too me. Take the air filter off & (with engine off) see if a little bent pipe squirts a tiny amount of fuel in when you open the throttle hard. Should happen 3-5 times before its reservoir runs out.

 

Bet the jets blocked or the pumps not working. Thats a classic symptom on nearly every laid up Fiat I've ever owned. Copious carb cleaner & use sorts it.

[CYANIDE STEVE]

Yes with all my waffling I forgot to mention the accelerator pump. If that's not squirting, you will definitely have problems pulling away. I'd take the carb off and strip it and clean it.

But that's just me

[Lankytim]

I'm sure there is a common weber carb that bolts straight onto these..

[CYANIDE STEVE]

I'm sure there is a common weber carb that bolts straight onto these..

In the '80s I did modify a cortina twin weber carb to fit my 1500 125p. It wasn't a straight swap but with a little work I made it fit.

 

......All this talk of FSOs, I'm getting broody now for another one! 18 years after my last one

[SambaS]

I'll have a look, I did observe it working the first time I had a choke/carb. problem but it could have blocked up I guess. And the carb. is a Webber only a Polish licensed one, I believe.

[SambaS]

Still haven't got on top of the hesitation problem. There is a fault with the carburetor of some kind, we think with the accelerator pump...

 

Have a new exhaust front pipe coming next week and an air filter.

 

I had a bit of trouble on my way to Scunthorpe this week, a van pulled along side me and pointed at the car... I though he was checking the car out but turned out he was indicting to my flat tyre

 

I pulled up and didn't have a wheel brace so had to make a sign and stand facing the motorway until some nice people pulled over to help.

 

So could do with a pair of new tyres now as the flat one isn't serviceable due to being driven, the sidewall has deteriorated, and the spare is bald.

 

Worrying that I didn't notice a totally flat rear tyre!!

 

I'm currently smoking a Fiat Punto on a W reg........ after driving the FSO for nearly 6 months what a luxury!

 

Also there's an intermittent banging noise from the rear wheels when braking.

[stuboy]

miss my old polonez 1.6 sle......powwwer

[CortinaDave]

What a fanny magnet. Strangely I love these cars.. Seems to be very few in the uk now sadly

[ProgRocker]

I wish I had the chance to drive a Polonez - just for the curiousity more than anything.

[SambaS]

Knew I shouldn't've left mending the exhaust until Friday; my new downpipe came in the post from Germany this week. It turns out a previous owner has welded the front pipe to the middle section so wasn't straightforward. We had to cut it off and make a tempory sleeve out of some spare pipe and clamps. I'll get a new middle bit for it next week. So... see yall at Shitefest

[SambaS]

[Spiny Norman]

I wish I had the chance to drive a Polonez - just for the curiousity more than anything.

 

An uncle had one and I had a go in it a few times. I can't remember too much about it other than it was better than I thought it was going to be, and a far nicer steer than a Lada was.

[CortinaDave]

i have to admit I'd love a go of one as well for the curiosity value - that and a Yugo

[SambaS]

Well if you're at Shitefest and have insurance be my guest

[ProgRocker]

Well if you're at Shitefest and have insurance be my guest

 

Other plans tomorrow night - wedding evening do!

 

Enjoy Shitefest! No doubt Betaboy's new Jaguar will be the toast of the tournament.

[SambaS]

[SambaS]

The BBC are borrowing it for a week for filming in Clarkson's xmas DVD. Thanks to Benno and Mr Nowill for setting this up for me. And yes it's coming back in one piece, I am assured. And in other news the hesitation is back but the frankly bizzaar symptom created from havin a Shitefest carb. rebuild have gone.

[dollywobbler]

Is Clarkson borrowing it because he was so impressed when we all drove past him at Shitefest?

 

I bet he doesn't rate it as highly as I did. I was genuinely impressed with it when I had a spell at the wheel. Far, far better than I expected.

[SambaS]

This has been in the pipeline for a number of months, I did ask the producers to mention us driving by, he say he would and that he thought something like that would stick in Jeremy's mind. I know they wont be kind to 'the worlds first lemon powered car'. Not after the last 'road test' they did.

[SambaS]

Here is a post I made last week but AS broke down mid way through!

 

Yesterday after work I headed over to Krujoe's to look at a secret underground bunker* where I can stash a few cars. Big big thanks to Joe and family for helping me with my owning too many cars problem

 

En route I stopped off to bother a chap selling a Lamborghini, we communicated using only sign language. Top bloke really, he was upset because I was blocking the way in to his car park (very briefly).

 

 

Then the Polonez found another friend:

 

 

And I practiced "A" framing!

 

 

Then to top off a brilliant day this was on my doorstep:

 

[barefoot]

i have to admit I'd love a go of one as well for the curiosity value - that and a Yugo

 

Drove one many years ago, was sluggish compared to my current Chevette despite its bigger engine & the steering was heavier, but was comparatively smooth

[SambaS]

It's been 12 months since I took her in for MOT.. the car has covered 6300 miles and today flew through another MOT - YAY!

 

Actually, there was a bit of fix-as-you-go, we had to tweak one of the headlamp bulbs, put a nut on the battery clamp, and fix the number plate lights again but that's her sorted for another year =)

[Skizzer]

Fine work! Congratulations

 

I like this picture: