Felly Fav and Trum. **New Carpets**

[wesacosa]

52 minutes ago, EightMegs said:

My 1991 Toyota Carina has it on the right, as did the '94 Starlet in my PFP and that dreadful '06 Hyundai Getz I had a few months ago, but my mk1 Yaris has it on the left. I think the Japanese and Korean marques clung on to the right-hand indicator stalks longer than European ones did.

definitely, the k10 Micra and my 96 Mazda Xedos both have them on the right. 

[dozeydustman]

3 hours ago, EightMegs said:

My 1991 Toyota Carina has it on the right, as did the '94 Starlet in my PFP and that dreadful '06 Hyundai Getz I had a few months ago, but my mk1 Yaris has it on the left. I think the Japanese and Korean marques clung on to the right-hand indicator stalks longer than European ones did.

Nissan started the switch from right to left with the T12 Bluebird, facelift version so late 1980s, all subsequent Euro/UK spec Nissan models gradually shifting to the left, I think the K10 was the last in 1992-3 when the blob K11 came about.

Toyota was mid-1990s with E110 Corolla, P90 Corolla. Probably same for Toyota-owned brands such as Subaru and Daihatsu.

Not sure about Mazda but probably similar era.

Kia/Hyundai hung around to around 2008 when Kia facelifted the mk1 Picanto, Rio, etc and Hyundai dropped the named models for the i numbered cars.

My word this makes me sound like a proper sad case, knowing when cars switched the sides of their indicator stalks. Or is it useful* knowledge?

[666jjp]

my wife's 1995 rav4 is on one side, but our 1998/9 facelift rav4's are on the other.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

19 hours ago, Yoss said:

It looks like both your cars have the same indicator stalk. The Invacar one is straight out of the Leyland parts bin. 

Bringing it back to Landcrabs again, the autos had their selector on the dash on the right hand side. Combined with umbrella handle handbrake on the earlier cars left the floor completely clear. I had a Wolseley 18/85 auto with optional power steering. You could drive it with just your right hand and foot, leaving your left side free to lean on the armrest or eat pies or pretty much anything. 

Do it. 

My late-ish Morris Minor had the indicator stalk on the right - the dash setup was identical to this:

Most Jap stuff was also on the right until the mid to late 90s. I remember imported JDM classic Imprezas were on the right, whilst the UK variant of the same year was on the left. 

[Yoss]

So if I can take you back to this picture from a couple of months ago. 

The duct tape was doing such a good job I left it alone but finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a new pair from CZ. 

They were only £25 each but are made of Chineseum so it's a bit of a gamble, let's see what happens. 

First thing I noticed is that on the original Škoda mirror the three cables are wrapped in a plastic sheath whereas these are bare. 

More noticeable underneath. 

And the thread here was rather messy meaning the locating ring that screws on to it would only go so far. I tried cleaning it up but to no avail. Fortunately this was only on the one mirror. 

And then when I fitted them I noticed the adjusting toggle is slightly longer so the rubber grommet won't locate properly, so I need to shorten those. 

Then, best of all, when I tried adjusting the mirrors, well the toggle does adjust them but not in the direction you move it. It appears to be completely random. I just had to laugh at that point. So, so far, exactly what you'd expect from cheap Chinese shit. 

BUT! And it is a big but that warrants both capitals and an exclamation mark, the mirrors fold in like they are supposed to. 

None of the original Škoda mirrors do this anymore as they have seized solid. The two parts of the pivot are made of different metals that react with each other and fuse together. This is the whole reason I needed a new mirror in the first place. As I said before I just clipped wing mirrors gently with another car quite slowly and it just snapped off. I doubt any original Favorit mirror has been able to this for about 25 years. 

But mine does. 

 

Look, powerfold mirrors. With my hands providing the power. 

Of course, I've no idea how long they'll stay like this, they might seize up just as quickly as the originals so I need to remember to fold them in on a regular basis to keep them supple. 

 

Also got a few other bits in the same order. I always do this as its about £8 minimum postage from CZ so you might as well chuck in a few extra bits as they're so cheap anyway. The biggest and shiniest of which were a pair of front fog lights. They are made by the same people as the mirrors so we'll see how long they last. But the originals have lost a lot of their reflectiveness. So they might be shit but they will look better to start with and they were only a tenner each. But I'm going to wait until I don't have to lie on a wet drive to fit tgem. 

 

[grogee]

Masterful work there Yoss. So jealous of your Fav. It's almost like I should buy one of my own... Oh. 

[Yoss]

4 minutes ago, grogee said:

Masterful work there Yoss. So jealous of your Fav. It's almost like I should buy one of my own... Oh. 

As fun as the Favorit VRS was, I definitely think I kept the right one. 

[IronStar]

On 02/02/2026 at 21:50, Yoss said:

So if I can take you back to this picture from a couple of months ago. 

The duct tape was doing such a good job I left it alone but finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a new pair from CZ. 

They were only £25 each but are made of Chineseum so it's a bit of a gamble, let's see what happens. 

First thing I noticed is that on the original Škoda mirror the three cables are wrapped in a plastic sheath whereas these are bare. 

More noticeable underneath. 

And the thread here was rather messy meaning the locating ring that screws on to it would only go so far. I tried cleaning it up but to no avail. Fortunately this was only on the one mirror. 

And then when I fitted them I noticed the adjusting toggle is slightly longer so the rubber grommet won't locate properly, so I need to shorten those. 

Then, best of all, when I tried adjusting the mirrors, well the toggle does adjust them but not in the direction you move it. It appears to be completely random. I just had to laugh at that point. So, so far, exactly what you'd expect from cheap Chinese shit. 

BUT! And it is a big but that warrants both capitals and an exclamation mark, the mirrors fold in like they are supposed to. 

None of the original Škoda mirrors do this anymore as they have seized solid. The two parts of the pivot are made of different metals that react with each other and fuse together. This is the whole reason I needed a new mirror in the first place. As I said before I just clipped wing mirrors gently with another car quite slowly and it just snapped off. I doubt any original Favorit mirror has been able to this for about 25 years. 

But mine does. 

 

Look, powerfold mirrors. With my hands providing the power. 

Of course, I've no idea how long they'll stay like this, they might seize up just as quickly as the originals so I need to remember to fold them in on a regular basis to keep them supple. 

 

Also got a few other bits in the same order. I always do this as its about £8 minimum postage from CZ so you might as well chuck in a few extra bits as they're so cheap anyway. The biggest and shiniest of which were a pair of front fog lights. They are made by the same people as the mirrors so we'll see how long they last. But the originals have lost a lot of their reflectiveness. So they might be shit but they will look better to start with and they were only a tenner each. But I'm going to wait until I don't have to lie on a wet drive to fit tgem. 

 

Ah the bourgeoise delights of folding mirrors! *cries in 155 mirrors*

Nice improvements!

[Matty]

On 31/01/2026 at 22:26, Yoss said:

Oh okay, that throws my theory out the window then. What Austin is it? I used to collect Landcrabs which are from that era and they were on the right. 

Sorry late back. A40 Farina Mk2.

[Yoss]

To follow on from the Chinese mirror saga I adjusted the length of the toggle switches with an angle grinder this morning. 

So that I can reattach the rubber covers. 

I could have just chopped them off completely for all the use they are. 

 

Had another minor problem on the way to work last week when the main beam came on and stayed on. Fortunately I wasn't far from work (it only takes seven minutes all the way) and anyway my main beam is probably dimmer than a lot of modern dipped beams. 

Trouble is when I got there they wouldn't turn off at all so I had to disconnect the battery. On reconnecting after work all seemed back to normal so I guessed maybe there was some moisture somewhere seeing as it hasn't stopped raining for six weeks. So once home, out of curiosity I tried the main beam again and once again they stayed on, so once again I disconnected the battery and went indoors to ignore it. 

As we can see here even on dipped beam the main beam was still on. 

If you disconnect the battery for a while it would go out and it was fine until you touched the main/dip stalk. By a while I mean whilst at work or overnight, if you only left it for ten minutes they would still come back on upon reconnecting. 

Seemed like a problem in the switch. I knew I had one though it took nearly as long to find as it did to replace it. Quite a simple job. You have to remove the steering wheel to get the cowl off but that's just a nut, no horn or airbag or any other buttons on this wheel. 

Then it's just one screw holding the stalk itself in place. 

So you can imagine my annoyance when it was exactly the same. So perhaps it's a dodgy earth somewhere. I decided to to remove the main beam fuses and go indoors to contemplate my actions. 

The fuse board is under the glove box pointing downwards so you have to lie in the footwell looking up at it. I decided to take this picture to help me compare it with the diagram in the Haynes BoL. 

As a side note I find it a bit strange that the fuse board says Slovakia on it in a car that was built two years before Slovakia existed. 

But once indoors whilst looking at this picture I suddenly shouted the word relays silently in my head. It seemed so obvious. If a relay is opening but not shutting again it would surely produce the same results. 

It was getting dark by then but first thing this morning I went out and put the fuses back in and removed the relay first to make sure it was the right one. Then removed the heated rear window relay and put it in place of the main beam one and sure enough it worked fine. Just to double check I put the dodgy relay in the HRW hole and sure enough it stayed on once I'd switched it off again. 

Strangely it stayed on with the ignition turned off too. I'm not sure how this happens because the headlights are permanent live but the HRW is wired through the ignition so surely it shouldn't work even with a duff relay.  Anyway it doesn't really matter, I threw that relay away and went and found another one in the garage and all is now well. 

 

 

[Zelandeth]

It stays on without the ignition because the relay *COIL* is ignition switched, but I'll bet the switched side is permanently live.  Not normally an issue as once the coil goes off, the load goes off...unless the relay physically sticks.

Saab 900 headlight relays do the same.

Good job getting it sorted though.

I still love the design of the lights on that instrument panel.

[Yoss]

Today is one year since the first trip out after the engine rebuild so I think I can safely assume it worked! 

It still looks like this under the bonnet. 

Pretty much free from leaks and stains and I haven't had to top up the oil since the rebuild (I have changed it twice as one should with a new engine but no top ups in between).

Went to The Range earlier in the week and saw this, which makes an interesting colour combination with mine. This was as close as I could get. If I could have parked any closer I would have done. 

Wierd to think the Mini is five years newer than mine. 

[Yoss]

This is the first time I've done anything to the Up! as nothing has happened to it. Just a minor service as we've had it 14 months. I try and change the oil on my cars annually but as January and February were just constant rain I couldn't be bothered. And besides we've only done 5k since we've had it. 

I went a bit mad and bought genuine VW parts! Partly because looking on the Up! forums to see what oil it takes just revealed arguments and no real answers. And as there is a VW dealer over the road from my delivery it just seemed easier to pop in. 

Mind you I've never bought oil in a box before! I had to go on YouTube to figure out how to open it. I'm not impressed. Firstly you push these bits out to form a handle. 

Which reveals the thin bag that the oil is in. Then push the the holes in the top in and pull the top out. 

I think they should have made this hole nearer the corner as oil kept running down the cardboard. 

I get that they are trying to save plastic but it's a little ironic when the thing is full of oil. Also there's no way of knowing how much you've poured out. It says the Up! takes 3.5 litres so normally I could stop with 1.5 litres left but here I have no way of knowing and have to keep stopping and checking. 

 

The air filter housing looks quite simple, you just have to remove the all the screws around the edge. Unfortunately three of those screws are inaccessible at the back.

But fortunately the whole housing is very easy to remove. Just pull off one breather hose and wriggle it off a couple of locating lugs and a tight push fit on to the throttle body. 

The old air filter was also a genuine VW one but worryingly was dated from 2014 so it appears it had never been changed before. It certainly needed doing. 

 

In other news, the Škoda passed its MOT today, but that's not really newsworthy as it always does. 

 

[High Jetter]

Not a wine box user then 😀

[EyesWeldedShut]

1 minute ago, High Jetter said:

Not a wine box user then 😀

A friend* told me that the best way to ensure that you get the last drop out of those is to pull the bag out, invert it, blow it up like a balloon. Turn it right way up and open the tap.

At today's prices that's a fiver's worth of oil saved -I just don't fancy going down on that thing ......

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

A friend* told me that the best way to ensure that you get the last drop out of those is to pull the bag out, invert it, blow it up like a balloon. Turn it right way up and open the tap.

At today's prices that's a fiver's worth of oil saved -I just don't fancy going down on that thing ......

Ah, gwan. I'll stick to  bottles tho

[Yoss]

8 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Not a wine box user then 😀

Evidently not. 

[Yoss]

Have bought new carpets for the Triumph. Chieveley approves. 

Also comes with some nice thick underlay. Not quite sure when I'll get to fit it. I don't think I can realistically do it in the garage, or at least it will be easier on the drive where I can open all four doors up and have a bit of room around it. Hopefully the weather will start to warm up a bit soon. 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

Chieveley approves. 

I think he was saying "You're really going to put that in here? Oh well..." Flump.

[Yoss]

59 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

I think he was saying "You're really going to put that in here? Oh well..." Flump.

He does like to get involved in whatever I'm doing and often looks at me like I'm the idiot. 

[Yoss]

Well I got this far. 

Old vs new. I think I got my moneys worth out of the old one. 

I have to say they haven't given me much to play with. In fact it wasn't quite wide enough. 

I ended up using the offcut from the top corner to fill that little pointy bit that sticks out. Most of this will be behind the parcel shelf when it's finished so it doesn't matter if it's not perfect.

And as I didn't have quite as much to fold over as I would like I had to clamp it in place while the glue dried. 

Then on refitting I used the parcel shelf bracket to hold it in place. There are also three self tapping screws down the trailing edge and despite marking them before glueing I couldn't find them with the carpet in place so ended up just drilling a new hole. This is how Triumph did it from new anyway. If you try transferring these panels from one car to another the holes won't line up and you have drill new ones. 

Also, I realised once it was in place that the sill carpet tucks underneath so I have to take it out again anyway! But at least I've made the panel up. And to add to the fun the corresponding panel on the other side has the bonnet release bracket sticking through it so I have to disconnect the cable and completely remove it to get the panel off so this is going to take a while. Still, there's no real rush is there?

[Yoss]

So with the seats removed we can see the state of the old carpet. My car originally had a black interior but I swapped it for a red one but never got round to doing the main floor carpet. Then I replaced the front seats with black Dolomite seats so the whole thing was a bit of a mish mash. 

Either way it was all a mess now so I stripped it all out. This is, after hoovering it all out. 

First to go in were the sill carpets. They are cut roughly to shape but you still have to finish them off with extra slits and stuff but it's all fairly simple if a little time consuming. 

 

This was the awkward corner with the bonnet release cable. These panels were quite awkward to refit as the new carpet is obviously thicker than the old. No matter how hard I pushed I couldn't get the bolts for the parcel shelf bracket to reach the holes behind so I had to go and hunt in the garage for some longer bolts. 

I have ordered some new furflex door seals but they're not here yet. But the new carpet is making the old stuff look decidedly ropey so it has to be done. 

Then the strip under the back seat. This practically invisible, you only ever see it if you're crawling around in there looking for something you might have dropped but they included it in the kit so I thought I might as well. 

These are all the bits that needed glueing in. I still have to do the main floor and front footwell carpets but they have to have all the underlay cut and glued to them first so for now I have put the front seats back in so I can still use it. This is important as the Škoda is currently inaccesibile. 

I have a week off next week so hopefully I can finish it off then. In the meantime I shall be using it for work this week. 

And yes, if you're wondering, I am going to have to do something about the seats once the carpets are done seeing as the fronts are black cloth and the rears are red vinyl. I won't be doing those myself so that's going to get pricey but I won't worry about those yet. 

[Zelandeth]

It'll feel like a totally different car once that's all done.  

I reckon I may need to go down the same road for the Rover somewhere down the line as the carpets are absolutely shot.  Going to be eye wateringly expensive, but will make such a difference it'll probably be worth it.

[Yoss]

7 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

It'll feel like a totally different car once that's all done.  

I reckon I may need to go down the same road for the Rover somewhere down the line as the carpets are absolutely shot.  Going to be eye wateringly expensive, but will make such a difference it'll probably be worth it.

These are from a company called Coverdale. They have patterns for most classic cars so I'm sure they'll have the Rover. These cost just under £400 which I don't think is too bad. They do three different grades, this is the middle one. The cheap one is fully synthetic, this is an 80% wool mix, and the top one is all wool and deeper pile which I think is meant for Rolls Royces. 

[Yoss]

Did the front footwell this afternoon. 

This is the old one which I kept simply to use as a template and have now had the great pleasure of throwing in the bin. 

And the big sheet of underlay. The Triumph bonnet makes a handy makeshift workbench. 

The stuff was very difficult to cut, either with scissors or a Stanley knife but we got there in the end. This, like the carpet itself is rubber backed. I wasn't entirely sure which way round to stick it but decided fabric side to the underside of the carpet so the rubber goes on the floor where it should grip and stop any movement. 

So a layer of contact adhesive on each side and... 

 

The money shot. 

The parcel shelf sits on those two metal brackets so the carpet is just the right height to tuck in behind it. 

I have now put the old mats from the Up! over the top.

Genuine VW items because I bought some cheap blue lined mats for it to match the paint. 

So now all I have to do are the transmission cover and the main floor carpet. But that's going to be the most complicated one as I need to cut holes for the handbrake and seat belts plus extra holes in the underlay for the seat runners. But that's a job for next week. I think I'll put a new Stanley knife blade in for that. 

 

[Homersimpson]

I've used Vinylkote https://www.kolorbond.co.uk/vinylkote-paint-leather-vinyl/ in the past to recolour vinyl and it worked well and seems to last ok, might be worth considering even as a quick interim measure to make it match.  Just send them a sample and they will match the colour.

Pictures are of some door cards I changed fromtan to blue and some seats recoloured in the same colour.

 

 

 

[Yoss]

6 hours ago, Homersimpson said:

I've used Vinylkote https://www.kolorbond.co.uk/vinylkote-paint-leather-vinyl/ in the past to recolour vinyl and it worked well and seems to last ok, might be worth considering even as a quick interim measure to make it match.  Just send them a sample and they will match the colour.

Pictures are of some door cards I changed fromtan to blue and some seats recoloured in the same colour.

 

 

 

Thanks. At the very least I really need to clean the doorcards but I could recolour them as they are a bit lighter than the carpets. You could get a lighter red carpet but I've seen that in cars and thought it was a bit too bright. But as I'm going non standard I may as well go completely non standard. I'll bear it in mind. 

[Zelandeth]

On 06/04/2026 at 19:49, Yoss said:

These are from a company called Coverdale. They have patterns for most classic cars so I'm sure they'll have the Rover. These cost just under £400 which I don't think is too bad. They do three different grades, this is the middle one. The cheap one is fully synthetic, this is an 80% wool mix, and the top one is all wool and deeper pile which I think is meant for Rolls Royces. 

Cheers for that.  Will keep them in mind.  These ones really have had it!

I'm the same breath, they've done 64 years of service so definitely don't owe anyone anything!

It's a ways down the list for now though.  No point in worrying about it until I've 100% solved the water ingress issues either.

[Yoss]

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Cheers for that.  Will keep them in mind.  These ones really have had it!

I'm the same breath, they've done 64 years of service so definitely don't owe anyone anything!

It's a ways down the list for now though.  No point in worrying about it until I've 100% solved the water ingress issues either.

I'd be tempted to do them in a dark blue to match the paint. Light coloured carpets never seemed like a good idea in cars. 

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

I'd be tempted to do them in a dark blue to match the paint. Light coloured carpets never seemed like a good idea in cars. 

That would look the part.  Rolls liked colour combos like that, with the carpets and seat piping matching the bodywork.

...It would probably really annoy the rivet counters as well.  Though the colour (which I'm pretty sure is a far later BL colour, it was originally a far darker shade of navy blue) probably will do a good job of that anyway.