ULEZ Expansion Solution* - Skoda Estelle , Czech it out

[2flags]

Looking good. I bet you'll be glad to get it back on the road.

 

[wesacosa]

9 minutes ago, 2flags said:

Looking good. I bet you'll be glad to get it back on the road.

 

thanks. Yeah still haven't driven it yet but few more jobs still to do even after the carb 

[lisbon_road]

Thanks for sharing this.  Looks like you are making good progress.

Presume that it is about 1989, in which case it has about four years to be ULEZ exempt.  We might need to move to Scotland as all their zones have 30 year exemptions, not 40, which means you'd be ok. 

[wesacosa]

thanks. Its actually quite a late one (April 1990) so a fair way to go

Scotlands system is much fairer on the classic car fan for sure

[vulgalour]

On 21/08/2023 at 21:06, wesacosa said:

I did get a picture of it from circa 1981 (although it looks older so maybe not an accurate date)

 

If it is really earlier than '81 it won't be by much since that looks like a mk4 or mk5 Cortina on the street so you're looking '76-82.  Looks to be a couple of Mk1 Escorts parked up too which would make sense for the sort of late seventies time period.  Not sure when Major went out of business, not an easy company to search for since it's a fairly generic word.  The Major sign is very similar to Burmah's logo, perhaps that's just coincidental.

[wesacosa]

7 hours ago, vulgalour said:

If it is really earlier than '81 it won't be by much since that looks like a mk4 or mk5 Cortina on the street so you're looking '76-82.  Looks to be a couple of Mk1 Escorts parked up too which would make sense for the sort of late seventies time period.  Not sure when Major went out of business, not an easy company to search for since it's a fairly generic word.  The Major sign is very similar to Burmah's logo, perhaps that's just coincidental.

yes your probably right. I think the quality of the photo maybe makes it look older

[vulgalour]

That and the fact it's Worksop which is hardly at the pointy end of progress.

[wesacosa]

Carb back on. Just needs the throttle and choke cable length setting and the fuel hoses connecting 

In the interest of it not warping again I've put some spring washers under the carb nuts and just nipped the up. That said the main issue is the airbox fixing bolt. I have seen people do away with it and use some springs to hold the airbox to the carb so may think about something like that

On the engine side I think its just the alternator belt, valve clearances and setting the points gap left to do before its ready to try and start

Oh, and the job I'm dreading; replumbing the coolant hoses and filling/bleeding 

 

[Zelandeth]

Important safety tip as a former owner of several Estelles:

Don't be tempted to fire it up without the throttle return spring fitted.  It will seem to return just fine, right up till the first time you touch it with the engine running.

Also as far as alternative air cleaner mounting goes, the fuel injected version used a clip same as the intake duct side to hold the air cleaner to the throttle body.

[wesacosa]

thanks @Zelandeth

New throttle return spring is fitted, assume there isn't supposed to be another one?

 

[tooSavvy]

If the 'skinny' hose, running over the front boot, is there & has the bleed tap fitted [and works] then bleeding the lot should go smoothly 🥸....

Get to it....

😉👍

[Zelandeth]

It normally runs from a little hole in the air cleaner bracket (the one that clamps under a rocker cover nut) and the throttle arm itself.  Annoyingly I can't find a clear photo of it in situ because stuff is in the way.

You can just hook it over the rocker cover stud for testing, but I suggest adding a zip tie so it can't ping off into low earth orbit (or into the side of your head).

[wesacosa]

7 minutes ago, tooSavvy said:

If the 'skinny' hose, running over the front boot, is there & has the bleed tap fitted [and works] then bleeding the lot should go smoothly 🥸....

Get to it....

😉👍

All of the cooling hoses including those have been replaced an a brand new tap fitted.. I've also refurbed the heater valve which is another source of potential air locks.  Biggest issue at the moment is I disconnected the metal pipes under the car to change the little rubber joining hoses but I think I bent one of the hoses slightly as I cant quite get them all lined up correctly now and its quite a difficult job to do with just one pair of hands

[wesacosa]

3 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

It normally runs from a little hole in the air cleaner bracket (the one that clamps under a rocker cover nut) and the throttle arm itself.  Annoyingly I can't find a clear photo of it in situ because stuff is in the way.

You can just hook it over the rocker cover stud for testing, but I suggest adding a zip tie so it can't ping off into low earth orbit (or into the side of your head).

ah ok cool thanks. I assume it's still attached to the airbox then which is stored in the garage. I will take a look.

[Zelandeth]

Found one photo of the aforementioned spring lashed up in "service mode."

As I recall that was about 30 seconds before it escaped and exited into the scenery after bouncing off my right temple and making me fall into a rose bush.  Hence my suggestion of a zip tie!

[wesacosa]

hmm interesting thanks.. feck knows what I've done with that. I better start hunting around 

[wesacosa]

well it was definitely there before I started taking bits apart

 

[Zelandeth]

If in doubt rummage around in the deceptively huge voids behind the rear wheel tubs.  They can eat an astonishing amount of tools and components while looking totally empty.

To test the engine out you could even just use a couple of rubber bands.  It's just a helper spring as the internal one isn't strong enough to overcome the drag of the long throttle cable in this application.  If the cable isn't hooked up yet you should be fine. 

Just mind your eyebrows as these aren't shy about spitting back through the carb if running lean, especially when cold.  

[wesacosa]

cheers.. the whole carb has been apart for a clean and refresh so its going to be on the Haynes Manual recommended idle & mixture screw setting when fired up so will watch out for the eyebrows 

[wesacosa]

yuk

 

[wesacosa]

23 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

If in doubt rummage around in the deceptively huge voids behind the rear wheel tubs.  They can eat an astonishing amount of tools and components while looking totally empty.

To test the engine out you could even just use a couple of rubber bands.  It's just a helper spring as the internal one isn't strong enough to overcome the drag of the long throttle cable in this application.  If the cable isn't hooked up yet you should be fine. 

Just mind your eyebrows as these aren't shy about spitting back through the carb if running lean, especially when cold.  

the spring was still attached to the air cleaner box as hoped 

[wesacosa]

gave the top end a little clean up, just trying to get the large clumps of manky oil and sludge out.

Valve clearances were all a little tight so I have set them. I thought I had bought rocker cover gasket in my stash of spares last year but seems it was a gasket for the rocker inspection cover on the side of the block so awaiting a new one

I had previously fitted a Gammatronix box (a sort of partial electronic ignition which does away with the condenser but keeps the points as a low voltage trigger, as I have one on the @spartacusPanda which seems to work well and leaves you not relying on finding a non shite replacement condenser or burning your points out )

but I thought I'd switch back to a NOS condenser I bought for the inital start up and switch to the Gammatronix once I know everything works ok

I checked the static ignition timing and it seems to be running around 7 Deg retarded versus the handbook setting of 5 deg BTDC. I know the PO has fiddled with a few things to try and get it running properly (which of course were all doomed to failure due to the warped carb) but seems he didn't play around with the ignition timing.  I will set the static back to book settings and then check again with the timing gun once its ready to run

notch in the pulley should be on the second notch from the right 

I have also set the carb mixture and idle back to the Haynes manual recommended initial settings and set the points

Once the rocker cover gasket arrives thats hopefully the engine almost done, other than finishing off the coolant plumbing 

I did find a bit more grot in the wheel arch which I fear may need a tickle with the sparkly stick so not all good news today 

[Zelandeth]

I had to retard the timing quite a bit on my 120 compared to the book so it didn't pink like an absolute bastard on modern fuel at low revs, so do expect to have to tinker with that a little.  Probably going to end up being a case of doing that by ear at the end of the day.  I sadly didn't note what setting I wound up using as far as I can see.

They are nice little engines when working right though.  Really happy to rev and very smooth for an old school OHV unit.

To be honest they're actually really nice driving little cars all round when in good fettle, so if that one is largely solid it's worth a bit of perseverance.

Still miss my first one.  That one had had some work done on the head and I'm not totally convinced was running a stock camshaft.  That thing revved like an absolute nutter and was still perfectly smooth even when the red line was history.  It was really hard not to drive it like a hooligan on country roads.

[wesacosa]

It seems pretty solid everywhere else from what I can see. Its just where one of the inside of one of the rear wheel arches meets the bottom of the engine bay cubby hole thing near the mud flap attachment point 

 

[wesacosa]

why is it that even the small jobs somehow turn into epics

Trying to fit a rocker cover gasket but the Estelle ones are cork only. not sure if my rocker cover has distorted a little but I've spent two hours fucking around with it and just can't get a satisfactory fit

the one I took off was rubber but they never did a rubber one for the 1.2 Estelle so no idea what ita off. Probably a 135 rapid or a Favorit

 

[plasticvandan]

Always used to stick cork rocker gaskets on with hylomar or similar on reliant rockers,mainly to stop them falling off when trying to shoe horn them back in the engine bay.you may find soaking it in hot water for a while aids finding its shape 

[wesacosa]

was looking to use hylomar as I'm a big fan but its nowhere near fitting. soaking might be worth a try though. ta

[wesacosa]

after being reminded on another thread @Dave_Qis our key man, what do you think my chances of getting a blank to cut a spare ignition key for this

I also need a door key but I managed to get an oem blank already

 

 

[Dave_Q]

Are we on about the black one in the background or the silver one in the foreground?

These are potential candidates. 

The silver ones could be a SKO-7 and the black one a SKO-2?

[wesacosa]

26 minutes ago, Dave_Q said:

Are we on about the black one in the background or the silver one in the foreground?

These are potential candidates. 

The silver ones could be a SKO-7 and the black one a SKO-2?

thanks. I managed to get hold of an original blank for the silver key. I assume its sko-7

it's the black top key i was looking for although to my unstrained eye i couldn't tell the difference between 1,2 and 8 well aside from the different in the direction of the top part