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

[Yoss]

Was browsing ebay the other day just seeing if there was any unusual or interesting Favorit stuff about when I came across this.

A single piece of card for £2.95. Seems a bit toppy.

 

But it opens out into this. Cut out card kits of two mk1 Favs (one in beige, lovely) and a Czech bus. 

The instructions are a bit patchy and entirely pictorial (not that I'd be able to understand them if there was any writing). But it seems there's an easy and a hard way to do it. The easy way is to do the simple box (there can't be many cars more suitable to being made from card) or you can cut away the undercarriage and make a little chassis. But you have to make your own wheels from wooden baton or rolled up card not supplied. 

You can also have opening doors boot and bonnet. There's a representation of the engine bay and the doors are folded so they have door trims and you can see a bit of the seats if you go for the door open option. 

The coach has many option too. 

And to top it all, they are 1:87 HO scale so will fit in with my model railway when I finally get it set up. Having said that, I'll probably never build them. They seem a lot of faff and take up a lot less room  unbuilt. It just seemed like a nice thing to have and for £2.95 including postage I couldn't really say no. 

[Yoss]

Does this car look like it's laughing to you? Because it is bloody well taking the piss. 

It hasn't been out in a while, not since the steering work on the previous page in fact. I should use it more but I have to move two Skodas, two wheelie bins (I'm sure I've lined up some sort of old fashioned Skoda joke for someone there) and unlock a gate to get it out. And it's permit parking round here on weekdays so the Skodas have to go back on the drive and quite frankly I'm too lazy to do it too often. 

The steering feels great now, most of the slack has gone (not all but it's a fifty year old Triumph so it should have some) but the horn had stopped working. So I've spent the last two afternoons trying to sort this. Okay, not the whole afternoons but an hour or so each day. Checked all the connections, they all seemed fine.

Looked at the fuses. Both of them. Yes this car only has two fuses, one for the permanently live stuff and one for the stuff that goes through the ignition. Except the headlights of course, they're not fused at all, I mean why would you? 

Fusebox. I checked both fuses several times and swapped them over with each other and the spare but to no avail. Tried wacking the horns with a trolley jack handle as the diaphragms can stick if they're not used for a while. Again nothing. So back to the wiring. I don't have a multi meter (really should get one) so I start bypassing sections with other bits of wire. Wired a horn straight to the battery and jumped visibly as I wasn't expecting it to work, but it did. 

So I know the horns themselves work. Next we start tracing the wiring from the wheel to the Fusebox (my phone seems to automatically capitalise Fusebox). It's always fun trying to lie in the foot well looking up, again bypassing bits with another wire. Whilst trying various things I noticed the interior light wasn't working either. This is also on the permanent live side which made me doubt my ability to check fuses so I went back to those, this time replacing them completely with bits of wire but nothing. 

Having got bored with the horn I thought I'd have a look at the interior light. Unlike most cars, the light and the switch are separate with the light being in the centre of the roof (or in my case further back because of the sunroof) and the switch is a toggle switch on the dashboard 

I didn't have the screwdriver I needed to hand so I walked back to the garage, about three car lengths, to get one. By the time I got back to the car the light was on! So I picked up a bit of wire and struck it across from brass pickup to the steering wheel (the horn push itself having been removed as part of the investigation) the thing only bloody worked didn't it. Bastard thing. I mean I'm pleased it worked but it's annoying when it works because it wants to and not because of anything I did. 

This is what you get for not using it. Old cars like being used and this was its way of reminding me not to ignore it. 

[Yoss]

 Who needs a van?

Needed some shelving for the loft. The back seats come out in about two minutes and the only thing stopping it being mere seconds is having to squeeze the rear seat belts out through the gap between the squab and the seat back. Then I thought about folding the front seat flat but it's only four bolts to remove it completely, with no wires to worry about so I thought what the hell. 

This gave me nearly 9 feet of almost flat floor which swallowed the 2.5 metre lengths of furniture boardwith several inches to spare 

These are now in the loft like so:

The idea being to clear all the shite in boxes, just out of shot, off the floor and onto these shelves. The reason for the gap between the upper two and lower two shelves is because that's where the trains are going to go. More on this in Miniature Railwayshite in the coming weeks. 

 

One thing that was evident is that when you remove all the seats (all but one obvs) from a car that only has 61hp that it makes a noticeable difference to performance. It felt really spritely going up to B&q. It made me start wondering what else I could strip out of the car, to make a super-lightweight special but the answer is very little when you've got a Favorit! 

[Yoss]

My friend turned up today with his new Skoda. The colour clash with mine was rather striking. 

The green was so bright that in direct sunlight my potatocam was unable to cope and turned it white whilst darkening my Fav. 

Works better in the shade but this thing has a radioactive glow.

I'm used to my car being the brightest thing around but not any more. 

Two green Skodas. Two very different green Skodas. Plus bonus Matiz action from next door! 

[jumpingjehovahs]

That’s an awesome colour. Are those little Citigos any good?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Yoss]

My mate's on his third one so he would say so. He loves them. He's moved on to Fabia and a Seat Ibiza but said wanted another on as they are more fun. Though he tells me they've stopped making the Skoda and Seat in petrol form and if you want a new one you'll have to buy a VW. He got this cheap as the dealer already had this one and apparently the colour is a little* niche. A quick look at the Skoda configurator last night still has them on there but trying to add some of the options wasn't possible suggesting you can only buy the ones they've already built. 

They are still going to be available in electric form, (the VW Up already is) but not petrol. I don't know if that's a good idea but I'll bet it's not Skodas decision. All three marques come off the same line so it would cost nothing to keep it going. This sounds like a ploy by VW to keep sales of the Up going. 

[egg]

Yoss, thought you might like this. Is it genuine I wonder?

 

[Yoss]

Don't know if it's real but I like it! 30kc is about a quid so that's a bargain. CSSR sounds a bit Socialist but it's dated 2018 so who knows? 

[egg]

Ah, seems to be a private issue banknote (whatever that is) - you can buy one!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Czechoslovakia-30-Korun-2018-Private-issue-Specimen-UNC-Skoda-Favorit/362761782135

[Yoss]

Fifteen pounds! For a one pound note! 

And I'm going to be picky now. It says Czechoslovakian Socialist Republic (in Czech) but the main picture is a mk2 which came out after the Socialist Republic became the federal Republic so it should be a mk1. Probably only me that thinks that. 

[Yoss]

Felly's had a trip to the west country. 

This is the Torpoint ferry. 

I was hoping the view would be better, but it wasn't. Apologies for repeating this picture in the lazy spotters thread due to Talbot Express. 

So we drove to the village of Wilcove on the Cornish side of the estuary to see if we could see the the Tamar bridges. We found a single track road that led to a stone jetty but the bridges were further away than I hoped. 

Then it started properly pissing down so I retired to the car. 

Meanwhile Mrs Yoss got very excited because we'd parked next to a sloe bush still full of berries and no rain was going to stop her. 

When the rain eased off I jumped out and took a few more pictures as it was a nice spot. 

Then finally I went and helped Lorraine with the sloes, by holding the umbrella and bag and managed to take this at the same time. 

After which we went and parked by a firing range. 

Where Lorraine found some more sloe bushes but being by a public footpath had already been pretty much stripped bare. 

After a bit of a meander along the coast coast we headed back towards Plymouth, where we're staying, so I had to stop off at Saltash to get a proper look at the bridges. 

That's been there for 160 years. 

Big old bag of finest Cornish sloes. 

All we need now is another bottle of gin. 

[Yoss]

I picked this up yesterday. 

Hang on I'll get it out of the car. 

A brand new nearside front wing.  For £35.

From a company called Central Panels who turned out to be an old couple in a big wooden shed near Kidlington, Oxford. Unfortunately they only had the nearside one left but that's okay coz that is by far the worst wing on my car. The other side has a few bubbles but there's years of life in that one yet. 

My car looks pretty good from a few feet away but closer inspection of the wing shows this. 

So it does need doing. 

[Yoss]

There is something satisfying about doing brake discs. They are so very obviously new. Some things don't look any different when you've changed them. These do. 

 

I had a new set of front tyres recently and the tyre place said I needed new discs. I'm always a bit suspicious of these places touting for work but I had a look when I got home and they weren't joking. 

The new ones were considerably heavier. 

Also the new wider drive makes doing both sides at once considerably easier. 

Previously I'd have to do one side then move it over. Money we'll spent. 

[Yoss]

Well here's another bodge I'm quite proud of. 

The sunroof leaks a bit. Luckily not when it's sat still but the water collects in the seal then when you drive off and go over bumps the water works it's way through and goes down my neck/face/glasses. And with the amount of rain we're having at the mo this was getting a little tiresome. 

This is the seal. 

The inner edge is supposed to be nice and firm and make contact with the glass. It's not, it's all floppy. It's also hollow which got me thinking if I could feed another bit of rubber inside, that might perk it up. So start googling rubber extrusions and they seem to come in lots of shapes but not round. 

So I pop round to Martin at Swaythling Car Accessories because I know he's full of good ideas and immediately he says windscreen washer tubing. Says he uses to perk up old door seals too. 

So. 

The seal was already split in a couple of places mainly because it had been siliconed shut when I bought it and I couldn't be doing with that (though that did suggest it would leak if I unsealed it but I didn't care. Being openable in hot weather was more important to me than the the odd leak). I made it a bit worse when unsealing it. So I sprayed the tubing with silicone spray as I fed it in and did it in two halves, one bit round the front and one round the back. 

Saggy corner. 

Firm corner. 

You can see the tubing in the foreground where the seal has split. Once it was all in I stuck the damaged seal to the tubing with silicone sealant. 

Well we've had much rain in the last day or so... 

... and so far I've had no nasty surprises down the back of my neck so I think we can put this one down as top bodgery. 

[Yoss]

Re, the new discs and pads two posts up^^. MOT today:

Spot on. Money well spent. 

 

To celebrate we took Favorit out to Weston Shore where I took these pictures. It's a slightly communist looking estate backdrop. Looks right at home. 

[Yoss]

Actually, now I think about it I took some pictures of the bus round the other side of said flats last year. 

[Yoss]

Took Favorit for a gentle drive in the country today (it spends most of its time just going round Southampton). Ended up in Shaftesbury so I popped in to Shaftesbury and Districts yard and was able to park it next to a Routemaster for the first time since I sold mine last summer. 

RM 1654 was also used by Southampton CityBus, as was mine (I still consider it to be mine even though I sold it), in the Bus Wars of Deregulation. Has a Leyland O600 engine. 

I know the owner of Shaftesbury and District and know he's a fellow Triumph licker (he was the only other person I knew who owned both an RM and  a Triumph). Not seen him for a few years but he wasn't in anyway. However, on the way out I spotted this. 

Unlikely to be a coincidence. It had an engine, but not a Triumph one, though I couldn't see what it was from where I was sat and I was too lazy to get out. 

[egg]

Ah I didn't know you sold the RM, was it for any particular reason?

[Yoss]

Yes I mentioned it in the bus shite thread at the time. I had been thinking about it for a while but never advertised it as I didn't want idiots coming round poking it and saying stupid things. I let a couple of people know I was thinking about it and just let the RM grapevine do its thing. 

It had to go to right person and I found him at the Alton rally last year. I've known him since 1992 when my bus (then jointly owned by three of us) was parked next to his then bus, RM 2107 in Twickenham Garage, now long gone. He's been through a couple of other RM's since but life kept getting in the way. But he's had a bit of inheritance and had the money to do it properly. He specifically wanted a Leyland engine and he knows the history of my bus and where it's been. He's an ex Brixton driver and my bus was at Norwood for its final years in London which was the next garage along so he knows its old routes. 

He has undercover storage for it too which is great. The body is all alloy so that's ok but the paint does suffer if you leave them outside. Pogweaselling on a huge scale. So it's gone to the best home I could think of. 

[Yoss]

You know when you don't use a car for a few days and the handbrake sticks on and you have to give it a few revs and the the handbrake comes off with a bang? 

Well that happened but the handbrake didn't feel so good afterwards, it came up a long way and was only just holding it on hills so I thought I'd better have a look. 

Spot the deliberate mistake. 

That's not supposed to do that is it? 

Fortunately I had some in stock but I don't like doing them. Front brakes are so easy, rear ones are a complete PITA. Especially as you have to swap over the handbrake and self adjusting mechanisms. At least the Triumph doesn't have self adjusters, makes it a lot simpler and the manual adjuster is so simple and easy to adjust, that this doesn't seem like progress though I realise most people these days are never going to do it. 

 

Thought I'd better check the other side. The shoes were intact but as soon as I took the drum off it was obvious the cylinder was leaking. Forgot to take a picture so this was after I cleaned it all up and was about to dismantle it but you can already see it starting to seep out of the right hand dust cover

 

This job came with its own Y Tho moment. 

These have a whole face, eyes, nose, mouth and ears! 

 

 

Pleased to report both the hand and foot brakes are now much improved. 

[Yoss]

Whilst working in that area I couldn't help noticing the crusty wheel arches. I mean I knew they were going a bit but had been ignoring them. Now seemed a good time to have a go at it so the twisted wire wheel on an angle grinder came out. It wasn't actually as bad as I thought it was going to be. There's a couple of holes but they are in the flangey bit at the very rear, not in the sill itself. 

 

So first of all I wanted to attack it with the rust converter. But not just the bit you can see, I wanted to get in to the whole wheel arch because we all know the rear arches are the worst area on these cars and they can go all the way round. 

The arches are double skinned so in my infinite wisdom I thought if I drilled a hole here... 

... using some gaffer tape and a punch to both mark the spot and prevent slippage I could drill a hole to insert the wand (using Dinitrol). But it turns out that bit isn't double skinned! 

Fortunately the rubber bungs that came with the Dinitrol were a perfect fit. 

 

So I start looking up inside the wheel arch itself but I couldn't really get the drill in there, plus the inner and outer skins are very close together (hence why they always rust there). I decided to give up as I had visions of the drill coming straight through the outer skin when I had one of those half eureka, half why am I so stupid moments. Went and opened the boot, removed the carpet from around the rear lights and, hey presto, there's a ready made gaping hole into which the wand can be inserted. 

I felt both pleased and stupid at the same time! The wand is more than long enough to reach the front of the wheel arch. 

As witnessed by it pouring out here. 

The nozzle is a neat design. 

So it sprays out at high pressure in all directions. The rust converter was followed by copious amounts of cavity wax in both the arches and sills. There's a handy ready made hole in the back of the sill. 

And such is the power from the spray that you can see here... 

It is dripping out down by the trolley jack and is indeed seeping out of the seam right at the front. Also the right hand hole by the suspension mount, I stuck the wand up there and it kept going so I started squirting away. It was only this morning I see that it's gone all the way round as is running down the mudflaps.

Well that's good, at least I know it's getting around. 

The car now has a blob of trusty Bonda Primer (zinc based red oxide) on the holey bit as all my cars inevetibly do. 

It's like my calling card. I've had the car over three years but it's finally officially one of the family now. 

I know it's almost impossible to stop the rust completely once it starts but this should keep it at bay for a few more years. It's doing okay for 28 years. 

 

 

[Yoss]

But as is often the way, one job leads to another. When I moved the car out to do the waxing I found this puddle under the car. It wasn't oil, it was anti freeze.

It was coming from the back of the engine bay and following the trail up it was coming from under the heater unit. I knew what this was. It was weeping from the hot/cold valve on the side of the heater. It's been doing it for at least two and a half years but as it was a really tiny amount (so much so that it evaporated before it the ground) I'd ignored it, but it suddenly got a lot worse. But I had at least gone as far as ordering a new one. 

Though the new one is a Chinese repro and doesn't look as good quality. 

Though to be fair it's good that I can get one at all seeing as it's from a 28 year old car from a country that doesn't exist any more. I bet I'd struggle to find stuff like this for a British car of this age. This came from Skoda Dily in CZ of course and cost about £4. Imagine how much Rimmers would charge for something like this for an Austin Rover group car. Luckily people in CZ are now reproducing stuff for these so I'm still able to run it as an everyday car. 

The biggest problem was the O ring was a bit tight and would pop off one one side as you pulled it on the other side. So I applied some Wellseal clamped it on and went for a cup of coffee. By then it stayed in place long enough for me to bung it in the hole. 

 

I noticed on the old one that the hose connections have actually turned oval. So it could have been those leaking rather than the O ring, not that it makes any real difference, it's done now. 

[Andyrew]

Highly approved pair of motors. 

What's the tailgate like on the favorit? they used to be prove for a bit of grot around the rear screen inside, but I think it was more the ones that had the spoiler on them.

 

[Yoss]

My tailgate is perfect and it has the spoiler (which is essential* for putting that 61 bhp down on the road) but I've seen some pretty bad ones. They go under the windscreen on the inside. I don't know why some do and some don't. I have some blistering under the tailgate seal on the body which will be attacked soon but it's only surface at the mo. 

[N Dentressangle]

Nice work. Can't remember the last time I saw a Mk 1 Favorit.

[Yoss]

Thanks, apart from mine neither can I. 

[Andyrew]

After lockdown etc etc reaches some form of normality I've got a pair of favorit front wings and a tailgate I'll be looking to sell. 

Pattern parts All new, in the black coating and never fitted to anything. 

My favorit will never see the road again so they are just taking up space. 

I paid £100 as a lot which was a good price then a few years ago ,so if I got that back id be a happy camper.  

I don't frequent the skoda forums or groups anymore. Maybe you could sell the tailgate and other wing on for a profit? Then you'd  get the wing you need and maybe a few quid in the skoda fund?

On 5/1/2020 at 6:55 PM, Yoss said:

My tailgate is perfect and it has the spoiler (which is essential* for putting that 61 bhp down on the road) but I've seen some pretty bad ones. They go under the windscreen on the inside. I don't know why some do and some don't. I have some blistering under the tailgate seal on the body which will be attacked soon but it's only surface at the mo. 

 

[Yoss]

Hmm, interesting. Where are you? And when you say your Favorit won't see the road again, what are you going to do with it and what spec is it? It's surprising how different the mk1 and 2 are and how little is interchangeable. 

[Andyrew]

I'm in Dunstable but I will be popping  to godstone at some point after things ease up so that gets them further south if you wanted to meet somewhere?

My favorit was rather cosmetically modified and is stored/abandoned having been off the road about 10 years. Maybe one day I'll do something with it but for now it's bottom of the list.

It's not what I'd do with a favorit now as my tastes have changed but I was 19 at the time circa 2006 and into the then modified scene and didn't care for the norm, alot of people liked it, alot of memories with that car. 

Having no door handles or locks can create some unique stories! Note the untinted quarter glass. 

[Yoss]

Ok. Dunstable and Godstone are about the same really, one just north of the M25 and one just south so you may as well leave them there. 

I assume the tailgate actually fits in the back of a Favorit (or Felicia, which is the same really). With the seats out obviously.