Felly Fav and Trum. *Wanna see a fupped engine?**

[Yoss]

Today was one step forward, two steps back. Actually more like twenty steps forward, one step back. 

Put the rocker on, joined up the last few pipes and thought there was nothing left to do but try it. 

As I said, I disconnected the coil so it wouldn't start  and turned it over on the key for quite a while. I was hoping the oil light would go out but it didn't which was a bit worrying although it had been sitting for over two months with no oil in so it might take a lot of priming. 

Okay, I thought, I'll plug the coil back in and actually try and start it but with no throttle. This took a while as it sucked the petrol up from the tank but once it started the oil light went out after a couple of seconds so that was a relief. 

I went back a couple of hours later and it started instantly and the oil light went out straight away so that's all good. 

But... There always seems to be a but these days, the exhaust was blowing quite badly. I crawled underneath and it was fairly obvious. This picture was taken lying on my back under the car looking up the down pipe at the flange that links it to the manifold. 

I imagine the manhandling getting it off and back on the manifold has caused a weld to break. 

Right, I think I might have one of these so go off for a rummage in the back of the garage and come out with this. 

 

It looks unused and indeed the welds look good and strong. 

 

But it obviously isn't because at the other end is a snapped off bolt. 

 

So I have one that needs welding and one that needs a broken stud removing. I'm not sure which is easier. The good news it's easy to remove, four nuts at one end and two bolts at the other, all of which are easily accessible from underneath so I don't have remove anything in the engine bay. 

So it's a bit annoying but as the engine starts and runs I'll still take it as a good day. 

[grogee]

18 minutes ago, Yoss said:

But it obviously isn't because at the other end is a snapped off bolt. 

So I have one that needs welding and one that needs a broken stud removing. I'm not sure which is easier. The good news it's easy to remove, four nuts at one end and two bolts at the other, all of which are easily accessible from underneath so I don't have remove anything in the engine bay. 

So it's a bit annoying but as the engine starts and runs I'll still take it as a good day. 

Drill out the stud and fit your own bolt and nut? Doesn't have to use the welded one to seal the flanges gas tight. You could even fit stainless/copper for better longevity. 

[grogee]

Also those manifold to downpipe fixings will be a complete bastard unless you've been at them recently. 

[Yoss]

32 minutes ago, grogee said:

Drill out the stud and fit your own bolt and nut? Doesn't have to use the welded one to seal the flanges gas tight. You could even fit stainless/copper for better longevity. 

I was thinking that anyway. I have a new kit for that joint as part of all the gaskets I bought. 

32 minutes ago, grogee said:

Also those manifold to downpipe fixings will be a complete bastard unless you've been at them recently. 

They've only been on about a week, and they've been on and off several times in the last couple of months as part of the rebuild so no worries there. Even the first time I undid them they were no bother. 

[Yoss]

So I popped down to Machine Mart to look for some kind of stud extractor to get the broken stud out of the new* downpipe. I'd found a couple on their website but when I got there they were much bigger than I imagined. As the broken bolt is surrounded by a sort of flange these were not going to fit. 

So we were back to trying to drill it out. I had already had a go at this but all my metal drills are shit. They don't cut in to the metal, they just erode it slightly. It seems most metal drills are considered single use. I have a box full of the things which I might as well throw away. So the man at Machine Mart suggested cobalt drills and I brought a couple home with me and fuck me what a difference. This was just in the cordless drill, so nowhere near as fast as the mains one. 

Had it out in about two minutes with the thread mostly intact. I didn't have the right size tap as mine are all ancient and imperial but I ran the nearest size one through and then followed it with a metric bolt of the right size. 

It did up nice and tight but I'll use an extra nut on the end anyway as @grogee suggested. There's a couple of spare nuts in the fitting kit anyway, I may as well use them. 

Of course nothing ever seems to be that simple so of course one of the bolts holding the old pipe on refused to undo, just spun round and round without coming out. First of all I tried a ball joint separator like this.

So it is putting lots of pressure on the end of the bolt. I thought if I undid the bolt with this leaning on it it would push it out. If it had worked I would have considered myself a genius but it didn't of course so I ended up with the angle grinder. I was loath to use it in such a confined space as if anything went wrong I wouldn't be able to jump out of the way. But it was only one bolt and went exactly as it should. 

Once I'd got the old one out it was obvious they are a slightly different design with the new one looking better. The underside of the flange is only tacked on in three places on each pipe. 

 

Whereas the new one is welded all the way round. 

 

To make up for this the old one is welded inside the pipe leaving a sizeable ridge all the way round. 

So the new one should be freer flowing. That must be worth at least 15bhp!

The fitting kit came with a new one of these cone things but the old one seemed to be very firmly fitted so I gave it a quick going over with the wire wheel and left it in place. 

 

I used the new springs and bolts though. 

I'm never sure how tight to do these up. The idea is the springs are strong enough to hold the two pipes together, the cone end sits in an opposite shaped bit on the centre pipe. 

But then if you go over a bump  or rev the engine they can move a bit. I started it up and it sounds OK but there was condensation dripping out so it can't be airtight if it's not watertight. I can do the bolts up further so the springs will be shorter and therefore push harder. But if I do them up too tightly there won't be enough flex and I'm concerned that something will fracture. Which is what happened to the old pipe although it seems that happened when I was messing with it earlier, but it must have been on its way out for me to be able to do that. 

When I took the old one off I could see somebody had covered the joint in silicone sealant though it obviously hadn't been effective judging by all the soot on it. I removed all of this before refitting. Obviously not from this bit as I'm not using this bit but I cleaned it all off the other side. The whole set up seems a lot less satisfactory than a normal flexi pipe. 

 

And lastly this is looking down the old pipe where the fracture is clearly visible. It goes nearly half way round the pipe. This also clearly shows the restrictive welding. 

So it all seems to work and it sounds OK. I ran it until it was warm but only revved it a little bit. I will probably tighten the springs underneath tomorrow, then I have to refit the air filter box and have a massive clean up in the garage. And then I should be able to drop it back on to its wheels. Fingers crossed. 

 

[Yoss]

Okay, I really shouldn't be working on cars any more. I did another really really stupid thing. As I left you a couple of weeks ago I had just got the car running again and was feeling pleased with myself. At that point I hadn't tried putting it in gear.

When I did the gearstick was all floppy. I thought this was odd as the car hadn't moved. So I crawled back underneath (luckily I still hadn't taken it off the stands) and it was immediately obvious what I had done. 

Spot the deliberate mistake. 

 

Have a closer look. 

When I had cut the old bolt off of the exhaust joint I had pushed the exhaust sideways (it's only on a rubber hangar so moves quite freely) and sliced through the gear selector rod. Not entirely but a good three quarters of the way. I felt worse about this than wrecking the engine, it just shouldn't have happened. But what with all the sparks and wearing my safety goggles I just didn't notice. 

So back to the Škoda Díly website and sure enough they had them in stock. There's a lot of stuff they don't stock for the Favorit but they always seem to have the stuff I break. Which is handy. So I ordered two as they are only £9 each and you never know. I don't usually make the same big mistake twice but its nice to have one in stock. 

Made by Viká again. At this rate the car is going to be more Viká than Škoda 

Changing it should be a doddle. It's one nut and bolt at the gearstick end and a simple roll pin that needs tapping out at the gearbox end. 

I'd just like to show you this picture and caption from the Haynes BoL. 

Yeah just stick a big screwdriver in there and tap it out. Yeah, like fuck. I beat shit out of it with everything I had and it didn't budge even a fraction of an inch. I put a big stubby screwdriver up there and put the trolley jack under it. Jacked it up and the whole engine and gearbox went up. I tried putting a bit of wood from the top of the gearbox to the garage roof but I couldn't be bothered to take the bonnet off so the wood was at a bit of an angle so it just fell off as I jacked it up. 

Drills next. Normal metal drills wouldn't touch it. I recently bought some cobalt drills from Machine Mart to drill a bolt out and they worked well so I went back and bought a couple more of  the right size. Nope, they wouldn't touch it either. It's only a roll pin, what do they make these things out of. 

In between all this I kept going back to beating the shit out of it as hard as I could more in hope than expectation but nothing moved. 

By Saturday I'd given up and was thinking I could get my friendly local welder to just come and weld the old one back together. It was fairly accessible under the car. I rang him but there was no answer. I'll try again tomorrow, I thought. 

Then Saturday night another idea came to me (I've spent every night for last two weeks lying in bed wondering what to do next). I wonder if I can get the ball joint separator in there. If I can get it to stay in place you can apply a lot of pressure with one of those . So there I am lying under the car with a small bolt between the roll pin and the ball joint separator. The idea being that the bolt would push the pin out. I forgot to take any pictures at the time as I was in the zone but this sort of shows what I mean. 

From this picture you can see that it worked but it still fought me all the way. At one point there was a loud crack, like metal snapping. I though I might have broken the ball joint tool but it was the roll pin giving way. I though once it had cracked I'd then be able to tap it out the rest of the way but no. I had to get a longer bolt and wind it out all the way. That was yesterday and I went to bed more relaxed than at any point for the last two weeks. 

This morning it became obvious that getting the new roll pin in was going to prove just as troublesome as getting the old one out. New one on the left. 

This is the old one. It shows the effect of many minutes of drilling with the hardest drills you can buy in a normal tool shop. What do they make them from? You can see the sides are quite smooth so how it could hang on so tightly I have no idea. 

I briefly toyed with the idea of using the ball joint separator again to squeeze it in but it wasn't having any of it. Same with a G clamp. In the end I put a nut and bolt in like so. 

Even this wasn't that simple as you really have to put the bolt in from the top otherwise it could fall out but there is all sorts of gearbox in the way. So I cut the bolt as short as I could get away with then selected first gear so the selector rod was as far out as possible and leaning to the left. Even then I had to file one side of the bolt head off to get enough clearance then give it a final tap in with a long bar from the engine bay. I really should have cut it with one more thread to catch the nyloc part of the nut properly. But I don't think it will go anywhere as where I cut it with a hacksaw the thread was a little rough so it shouldn't shake loose. Even if it did, the bolt won't go anywhere as there isn't enough room for it to jump out of its own accord. 

This has to be a better solution than these roll pins anyway. If I ever have to drop the gearbox for any reason (I've had the car eight years and never touched the clutch for instance) this will make life easier. I get that the roll pin has to be tight as it sits in a vertical hole so there has to be no chance of it vibrating loose but really this is excessive. 

 

So now I'm back to where I was two weeks ago. The car works, as it should though it is still on its stands and the garage looks like a bomb site. That's, a job for tomorrow. 

 

I'm just going to leave you with picture again. Dear Mr Haynes, I think you should go away and contemplate your actions. 

[Matty]

6 minutes ago, Yoss said:

It's only a roll pin, what do they make these things out of. 

Spring steel bud. It's as tough as fuck.

Anyhow I wouldn't be embarrassed. Sure people have done worse than that!

[Zelandeth]

If it makes you feel any better, it took me three afternoons to get the gear linkage off a Skoda Estelle which had snapped at the lever end - I'm pretty sure looking at it the attachment between the rod and selector is the same from (admittedly old) memory.

[Yoss]

19 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

If it makes you feel any better, it took me three afternoons to get the gear linkage off a Skoda Estelle which had snapped at the lever end - I'm pretty sure looking at it the attachment between the rod and selector is the same from (admittedly old) memory.

It wouldn't surprise me, there are a surprising number of bits carried over from what two very very different cars. 

[wesacosa]

Blimey it looks like I had a lucky escape when I did the shifter gaiter on mine when I got it. The pin came out fairly* easily with a pin punch and hammer and I think went back in with mole grips

[Jenson Velcro]

He who never made a mistake did nothing, or so the saying goes. It’s all part of learning. Fair play for documenting all your progress, warts and all.

[Yoss]

20 minutes ago, Jenson Velcro said:

He who never made a mistake did nothing, or so the saying goes. It’s all part of learning. Fair play for documenting all your progress, warts and all.

As long I learn from my mistakes I guess that's OK. I also secretly quite enjoy the problem solving when things don't to plan. At least I do when I finally get there. 

[captain_70s]

One does not simply just cut through the thing they intend to cut through.

Fond memories of severing most of the front to rear wiring loom in the Acclaim while cutting out the floor...

[High Jetter]

I've used a jubilee clip in the past to squeeze a roll pin in, then hit it. Hard

[New POD]

the last tool I designed for fitting a roll pin (very accurately) in 2022. 

[Yoss]

3 hours ago, New POD said:

the last tool I designed for fitting a roll pin (very accurately) in 2022. 

Nice. If I'd had more room I may have been able to make some sort of clamp but there just wasn't. I expect Škoda will have had some sort of special tool to keep it straight as you push it in but when I tried with both the ball joint splitter and G clamp I just couldn't keep the pin straight. 

Maybe with more perseverance I could have got it in but the nut and bolt seems a better idea anyway. But I shall keep the pins (I bought two) in case I have a sudden urge for originality. 

[Yoss]

Well it's been back together for about a week now and it starts fine, absolutely on the button every time but as it warms up the idle speed starts fluctuating. And the warmer it gets the more it starts pulsing until it drops so low that it stalls. I could up the idle speed with my foot but even then it's still pulsing.

So I think I'm going to have to investigate the carb. It's a Pierburg 2e3 (or at least a Czech version made under licence by Jikov) as used on most Volkswagens of that era. These are known for giving trouble and indeed I had to strip it down when I first bought the car but that was eight years ago and I've forgotten all I learnt so I think it's back to YouTube to refamilliarise myself. 

It might be something obvious when I take the air filter housing off (I'm hoping) but it was sat in the corner of the engine bay whilst all the work was going on because I couldn't be bothered to undo the throttle cable which seems silly considering how much else I did. So it's entirely possible  it has some dirt in it. 

But at least it looks like a car again now. 

And there is still no real rush as it is no longer insured. I swapped it over when we bought the Up!. I'll probably put it on a classic policy for a while.

The other problem is that if you turn around from the above picture it looks like this. 

So I'd need to move three other cars. To complicate the matter further we live in a permit parking area and the only car with a permit on is, ironically, the blue Favorit. Or it was, we've just applied for another permit for the Up! to give us a bit more flexibility. It's a maximum of two permits per household and they're £30 a year anyway so I'm not going to get more. 

[Yoss]

Well for once something went easier than expected. I had simply forgotten to reattach this earth wire. 

I had looked at it the other day and assumed it was attached but with the air filter housing on you can't see it as clearly as this. I had peered underneath the housing and thought, yeah that's on, whereas in fact it was just sitting in the natural shape it had formed from 33 years sitting in that place. So the wire was just touching the terminal. As soon as I moved it the engine cut out. Obviously the fuel cut off valves default position is shut and it needs the 12v feed to open. So obviously when the engine was running the wire was vibrating on and off the terminal leading to the uneven running. As soon as I put it on properly it started running as smooth as you can expect a Škoda 136 engine to. 

 

To celebrate I did a job that even I couldn't mess up. When I have to buy stuff from ČZ I always have a browse and see what else is available. The minimum postage is about £8 and their stuff is so cheap that I always get a few extra bits to add to my spares stash. This time I found these. 

Genuine Tesla plug leads. The real Tesla, not that American upstart. Back in Czechoslovakian days Tesla made almost anything electrical, not just for cars. If you could think of it, Tesla made it. These are still Czech made and more importantly are a fetching shade of blue that matches the car, with gold writing on them. 

 

The ones on the car were a non matching set with a mix of straight and cranked ends as a couple had previously broken. The ends had stayed on the spark plugs when I removed them. 

 

Now. 

Makes absolutely no difference to how it runs of course, just looks better (to me anyway). 

[Matty]

Sets off the restored rocker cover nicely 👌

[Noel Tidybeard]

+5bhp

[Yoss]

28 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

+5bhp

That'd be nice. When you've only got 61 to start with, an extra 5 would make a noticeable difference. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

4 minutes ago, Yoss said:

That'd be nice. When you've only got 61 to start with, an extra 5 would make a noticeable difference. 

sorry i missed the decimal point out!🤣

[Yoss]

12 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

sorry i missed the decimal point out!🤣

That seems more realistic. 

[Yoss]

Finally got the thing insured yesterday so I had no excuse not to go and try it.

The first time it has seen daylight in nearly four months. 

Which meant the Triumph could go back in the garage, which pleased both the Triumph and myself. Being so much smaller, and particularly narrower, it gives me a lot more room in the garage. Particularly the ability to get to the back of the garage without turning sideways. 

 

And so off we go. The first couple of miles I followed bus routes as a means of insurance before I got braver and ventured down some country lanes between here and Romsey. 

It all sounded and felt like it did before which is encouraging. There was quite a lot of condensation from the exhaust but I'm hoping that's normal. It was quite a cold morning. Particularly after a couple miles but I forgot to get a picture. I did eight miles in total, trying not to exceed 2,500rpm, after which it looked like this, although the photo doesn't really look like it was. 

But this was a lot less than it was after the first couple of miles. 

The inside of the filler cap still had some condensation in it. 

 

But it looks fine in there and the water level hasn't gone up or down so hopefully it's fine. 

 

Also, this is the first time I've had these two together. 

[Yoss]

Popped in to my local friendly motor factors to pick up some more oil and a filter for the Favorit and this pulled up outside whilst I was in there. 

Looks pretty good in the photo, looked a lot more pre loved in the flesh. The paint was quite flat and there were bubbles breaking through here and there. Perfect condition for an everyday car, looks good enough from a few feet back but scruffy enough not to have to worry where you park it. 

[Yoss]

Went to visit a friend with his Up!s today. 

His are both facelifts so there are a surprising amount of differences between the two. But not enough for most people to notice. He also has a set of bronze Ronals on his white one so I think my Ronals will be going on our Up! eventually. 

In Favorit news, it's been out on a couple more local trips and all seems well, fingers crossed. Yesterday I degreased and cleaned the two bits of undertray. I'm not going to refit them until I do the first oil change, probably after a couple of hundred miles. It's impossible to change the oil filter without spilling oil on the undertray. 

Ideally they need shot blasting and powder coating but that would be overkill on something that will still be in almost everyday use. 

[Yoss]

As Blue Favorit sailed through its MOT I thought I'd do an easy cosmetic job to reward it. 

The bumbers are rather faded.

There are many different products on the market to black them up, some working better than others. The best one I find is Auto Glym bumper and trim gel but it still only lasts a matter of weeks before it has faded again. 

About three years ago I picked up a brand new rear bumper. It has been in the loft ever since so I thought I'd bung it on. After all they come off really easily so I ought to have it done in under an hour. 

You can see the before and after here. 

The difference is even more stark in sunshine. 

But you can also see in the above pics that it has twisted slightly, probably due to poor storage which may well be my fault. But, thought I, surely once it's all bolted up it will straighten out. Well yes, but getting some of the holes to line up was right pig. 

It has three bolts along the top, two underneath and one on each side. I tried doing them up in various different orders but it kept coming back to the three top ones. You can't push them up from underneath because the bumper bar is in the way. All you could do is push it inwards very hard which would lift the leading edge. But trying to do that with one hand and lining the bolt up with the other took much longer than expected. 

Got it in eventually but then it shows up the plastic surround around the number plate. 

 

So I had to get the Auto Glym out. 

Still not quite the same but near enough. You can still feel the oils on the surface of the new bumper so it will be interesting to see how long it stays black. Hopefully it will encourage me to keep the front bumper blacked up more often too. It does look a lot better when it's just been done.