Living with Zastava Florida Business - Factory ICE, supercharged

[IronStar]

Minor update: I got a call from LPG place. The LPG mixer was most likely never serviced since first installed and as a consequence completely fuxxored and needs replacing. It could be rebuilt in theory, but a new one is more cost-effective. Looking forward* to more findings of neglect, bodgery, and general brokenness. 

[IronStar]

7AM start to pick up the car today. Carb guy I really wanted to talk to before driving off has some stuff later, and was there ‘till 9AM so it had to be this early. 

Now twin barrel carbed! With 2/3 of the fucking LPG system replaced! Actually goes allright for a fucking change.

Brand new fuel pump was duff, seal was too big and blocking fuel from getting into the engine. 🤦‍♂️  Got new plugs, HT leads, some other assorted hoses, and other bits.

Vacuum valve that’s supposed to be operating when aircon is on is shot though, and the result is it stalls on idle with aircon on. Annoying, with parts that are probably unobtanium, but I’ll try. They mentioned that it can maybe replaced with LPG/Petrol valve and made to work like that.

What’s way more annoying was a call I got from the shop some 5 minutes after I left.

- There’s a huge puddle where your car was, and I think it wasn’t there 5 minutes ago. I might be wrong but….
- Temps seem ok, but I’ll check immediately.

Stopped. It seems fine. Oh, there’s a couple of drips, maybe condensation from aircon? Let’s give it a few more minu…*fan kicks in* *pink liquid shoots out* *temperature going above 90* Oh fuck me. 

- Yeah, it’s from the car. I can’t see where exactly, somewhere on the back of the engine, but as soon as the fans kick in, it starts leaking like a sieve. 
- Oh for fucks sake, really sorry man, can’t believe we didn’t catch it in the garage. Look, don’t worry. Can you bring it back without overheating it? I hope you didn’t get too far?
- Nah, a kilometer tops. I’ll let it cool down a bit and drive back.
- We’ll find it later today, just leave it in front of the garage. I’m really, really really sorry. 

Car left to cool off a bit, driven back no problem. Left it at the entrance, with a coolant puddle spreading underneath. 

Taking a bus home now.

Seems that this car has decided to fight me every single step of the way. 
 

[stuboy]

rather coolant than fuel leaking

[IronStar]

3 minutes ago, stuboy said:

rather coolant than fuel leaking

There is next to none in the tank as it didn’t work properly on petrol since I bought it. At this stage, I’m honestly worried about brimming it. Only one way to find out if it leaks though. 😅

[IronStar]

A split hose next on intake manifold caused the coolant dump. It was upset when manifold was switched to a twin-barrel one, and pressurization of system caused it to start leaking. Hose swapped, normal service resumed.

Today’s “you thought it’s going to be a smooth ride? You sucker.” entertainment* was provided by fuel cap. The LPG filler is hidden behind fuel flap, next to petrol cap. Cap got lodged under the LPG filler, and it couldn’t be unscrewed.

Cue 5 minutes of swearing and trying to remove it, before guy working at the station came out with “need a hand?” Yes, but not because I don’t know to pour petrol. He tried as well, then came back with a screwdriver. I unscrewed LPG filler, to make some space to turn the fuel cap, and after some fiddling away it went. This cap is a screw-on type, so I predict fun will continue to be had until I can figure out a replacement that doesn’t catch. 

The car actually shifts now! It’s no hoon at 65bhp, but it’s also light, and goes rather well when floored! Did some 50km today, with no drama. I even got stuck in Belgrade’s rush hour, which is probably the worst type of traffic an old car can be in, but it coped really well! No unexpected temperatures, no shakes, all is well. I don’t trust it as long as I don’t make some 500 trouble-free kilometers.

Stereo sound was lost somewhere along the way, so I’ll need to check where did it go, so speaker surround will be going down again. I also went to the garage, and refitted most of the roofliner trims back on. I forgot to take photos, but other than some clips that just don’t want to go in need to be convinced, it’s almost all there. I also dumped the bits I was driving around in it, so it’s actually a car with useful space inside now.

It also got bumped in parking foodchain, as I forgot to pay for resident parking permit in front of my flat, so with 307CC being away, it was dropped into a garage, like a proper pampered queen. 😄

Next up?

Suspension needs to be sorted. Rear shocks are virtually non existent, and it’s no fun listening to squeaks, and driving with no suspension. Front top mounts are dead-dead and need to go. 
I’m also still trying to find a sparky that can re-wire the stereo properly, and sort out the rev counter. We’ll see how that goes.

Overall, I’m so chuffed that one car is finally back home, and the reason it went into a garage seems properly fixed. 

[fatharris]

Loving the work being put into this mate

[IronStar]

1 hour ago, fatharris said:

Loving the work being put into this mate

Thanks man! I really like it despite all the snags, and I would love to see it properly sorted.

They are such a rare sight nowadays, especially pre-facelifts that I have very limited time before they're gone and no more parts are available. 

[IronStar]

Yugos and Zastavas in general, when new, arrived with a toolkit that’s essentially everything you need to do any work on the engine or interior. These have, of course, been mostly long lost and I think I saw only one car for sale that still had them either the car. Going through the boot the other day, I was thinking - yeah, there needs to be some tools in the back, in case I need to tighten up something. Spare wheel has been kicked out in exchange for that stabby cord thing, but it would still be a good idea to have something to tighten the wheel with. Quick look on classifieds, and turns out there’s still NOS tool box available for ~20€ delivered. Impressive for a thing that’s been out of production for over 20 years now.

I also wanted to sort out the blown dash bulbs the other day, started disassembling, and when I threw it all back together, I thought I saw a blink when I locked the car. Unlock *blink blink* Lock *blink* Lock the locked car *blink blink blink*. I was wondering who the hell installed remote central locking with no indicators, but thought it’s probably one of those things. Apparently not, it just wasn’t working right.

 

Minor thing, incandescent interior bulb was swapped for an LED unit, so it actually illuminates the interior now. I need to measure it and get a warm white / yellow one ordered, as only white was available, but this is a small but significant quality of life improvement. Annoyingly, there’s no switch, it just turns on when door is ajar, but there’s a blank next to it, so I might wire something up in the future.

I wanted to fix the lights behind the switches, but Florida also uses absolutely insane system with fiber optic that gets light up from a single bulb, and inevitably gets broken and ripped from the fixtures in the switches, so I left that alone. There’s enough space to shove in a bare led and keep it in place with a glue gun, so that’s what I’ll probably do at some point. 

[IronStar]

Back to the dash lights.

When I said it’s fiber-optic cable background lighting, I was serious. Someone in Zastava thought that tried and tested reasonable solution of fitting a switch with a bulb is not a good idea. What they did is fitting a single bulb and running fiber optic cables to switches. It looks like this in pre-facelift Yugo

Now, you may think “well that’s a shit idea, was there some sort of fixture or bulb shortage in Yugoslavia? Surely they got rid of that for newer models or with a facelift?” Nope to both. It also comes with a bespoke connector that’s absolutely shit and prone to cracking and even when it’s working fine it’s so dim it makes you wonder why did they even bother in the first place. What they did in Florida is running not one, but two sets of fiber optics. Heater controls have same optic loop, with predicable results of only small part of the actual controls having any light on them. Oh and because all of this is not insane enough, bulbs controlling all this are buried behind the instrument cluster, requiring you to rip everything out to get to them.
So that’s what I did tonight.

What can be done to rectify this is running LEDs with 560ohm resistor to every switch, then using a hot glue gun to get it in place. 

I know that Wago blocks are frowned upon, but I can’t think of any other solution that is not overly complicated that allows me to swap a failed switch or a LED diode without ripping apart entire harness again.

Ideally, I’d like to replace the switch holders as well as they’re cracking and in generally poor condition, but if I don’t find them, Wagos allow me to swap it out at a later date easily. 

I’m still thinking of a solution for the heater controls block. I was thinking a LED strip behind a diffuser, but that’s too bright and generates too much heat. I tried with leftovers of 220led/meter strip, so maybe better results with a low power 60 one? If I don’t figure it out by the time I’m reassembling this, I’ll just leave power wires for that, and figure out a solution later, as that bit doesn’t require dash taking apart.

While I’m there, I want to take care of the failed dash backlight as well. Remove the bulb and…oh, it’s one of those insane things that make you change an entire fixture, not just the bulb.

I’m absolutely not taking this apart again unless absolutely necessary, so I’ll just replace all the bulbs in the cluster hoping not to see the back of it for quite some time. 
 

Reassembly day hopefully tomorrow 🤞 

[Black_GT]

9 hours ago, IronStar said:

I’m absolutely not taking this apart again unless absolutely necessary, so I’ll just replace all the bulbs in the cluster hoping not to see the back of it for quite some time. 
 

Reassembly day hopefully tomorrow 🤞 

The illumination on the switches looks great!  This bulb with holder looks very much like what was used in 80s VWs - when I fixed the dash lighting on my Scirocco a few years back I was able to buy the bulbs with the holders pretty cheaply 

[grogee]

Wago blocks are OK I think? Especially if you may be changing things around in the future. Big Clive on YT likes them and he knows his onions when it comes to electrics. 

I guess there's potential they might wobble around and rattle if not secured with a cable tie. But maybe squeaks and rattles aren't high up the list of Yugo concerns. 

'Posher' Metros, Maestros and Montegos have a variation on this fiber optic nonsense. Each steering wheel stalk contains a fiber optic cable that routes light from a single bulb mounted under the steering column. The idea being that the control symbols are lit up at night, something I haven't seen on more modern stuff. 

It's typically shonky Lucas design but it does kind of work, it's pretty fragile though. 

[IronStar]

20 minutes ago, grogee said:

Wago blocks are OK I think? Especially if you may be changing things around in the future. Big Clive on YT likes them and he knows his onions when it comes to electrics. 

I guess there's potential they might wobble around and rattle if not secured with a cable tie. But maybe squeaks and rattles aren't high up the list of Yugo concerns. 

'Posher' Metros, Maestros and Montegos have a variation on this fiber optic nonsense. Each steering wheel stalk contains a fiber optic cable that routes light from a single bulb mounted under the steering column. The idea being that the control symbols are lit up at night, something I haven't seen on more modern stuff. 

It's typically shonky Lucas design but it does kind of work, it's pretty fragile though. 

I'll find a place to secure them so they don't rattle around. Florida is fairly quiet on the rattles and squeaks front and will get even better with the suspension renewed. The only very squeaky bit is the driver's seat which is a bit broken, but I'm looking to get that reupholstered and sorted in the near future as well.

I know there's a bunch of Lucas-licensed electric parts in Yugos, so this might be one of those. I still don't understand what's wrong with running a bulb to whatever needs to be lit up though. Terrible idea, awful execution. 

 

5 hours ago, Black_GT said:

The illumination on the switches looks great!  This bulb with holder looks very much like what was used in 80s VWs - when I fixed the dash lighting on my Scirocco a few years back I was able to buy the bulbs with the holders pretty cheaply 

Thanks! 

I think I found the right bulbs, I swapped them out, but they don't look as snug as I'd like. I'll try it out and see how it goes.

[Zelandeth]

The fibre-optic system will date back to the Fiat origins of the design - they used the same setup on the Panda/Uno/Tipo and probably others.  Jaguar in the 80s were a huge fan of fibre optics too.

[MorrisItalSLX]

10 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Jaguar in the 80s were a huge fan of fibre optics too.

They certainly were, the bastards!

I destroyed all the heater controls fibre optics on my XJ6 SIII trying to remove the radio, all very brittle.

[IronStar]

Garage needs to be vacated for the impending arrival of the Mini, so It’s reassembly o’clock!

The dash in this car is out of Lada 112. I really don’t understand why the fuck did they bother to force this ugly, ill fitting piece of Russian crap in instead of what was in there before they did an interior facelift. It even looks completely out of place when you lift the cowling.

Anyway, lights for the instrument cluster were acquired, and all the backlighting is now operational.

Wago was employed to distribute power 3-way, to both sides of the cluster, and to heater controls. 
Assembly was reverse of disassembly, with lots of swearing going in the direction of Zastava and their ill-fitting plastic moldings. In general, I’m an apologist for a lot of things they did or didn’t do, but things like this

are just unnecessarily and unacceptably bad. 
Also it’s impossible that they didn’t catch in QA that switch mounts are shit, and switches end up looking on a piss as it rattles away.

Anyhow, it all went back in and now looks like this

Result!

I still didn’t figure out the heater control backlight, so for now it’s staying with a wire hanging in there 

I also got older center-cap style hubcaps. The car is still getting alloys, but these were a fiver for 4, and were NOS so felt rude not to. I don’t think they were ever factory fot on Floridas, but meh they look nicer that what’s on the car now IMO. Long-term, if I’m making 1.6 16v Yugo, I want these on banded steelies.

 

Next up on comprehensive list of making this car actually nice - (mostly) suspension. I got new top mounts and bearings, new halfshaft boot, rear bearings, and I’m hunting for shocks. Rears shouldn’t be an issue as they’re Golf 2/3 units. Fronts are off Ritmo, and there are two types. No idea which one is one until they’re taken off, so that will be reactive I guess. It’s booked for that work next week. 

[IronStar]

Text heavy, not many photos, as I didn’t get any of the work done, and I forgot to take pictures of the parts I got. Bear with me.

Florida went out to get new suspension. It even got picked up (and returned) in front of my place, which was a proper shocker to me, as I really didn’t expect that sort of thing. Tame Zastava mechanic moved to remote suburbs of Belgrade, and has determined it’s easier to pick up and return cars, than get people to drive all the way to him. Or something. IDK, but not going to complain as it’s not a paid extra and saved me a lot of trouble for not having to run out of work to hand it over.

As outlined in the grumpy thread, despite most Floridas having most of the rear suspension of a mk2 Golf, this one, in late-model madness, doesn’t. I mean, it does, but not really. Springs are wider than on normal Floridas, and consequently mounts on shocks are wider than on mk2 Golf units.
 

Obviously, these units are NLA unobtanium, so fuck you and your car. Thankfully, tame Zastava mechanic decided not to give up there, made some calls, realized that Bilsteins have these mounts removable, and  that the best course of action is buying these and machining the mounts to fit the Bilsteins. Mounting rubbers are thankfully same as mk2 Golf units, so that went in. I will say I’m not happy paying Bilstein prices instead of QWP I initially got for the car, but to be fair, I’m really lucky that he could be bothered to find a solution, and not told me to fuck off. Pricy but made to fit is infinitely better state of affairs than not having rear suspension. 

I can’t stress enough how amazing this guy is in general, and how amazing he is with old cars. He’s proper old school, and doesn’t really do new cars. But he did thousands of the 90s and older ones, and has patience of a saint to faff around with NLA parts, people that have stashes of NOS parts, old scrappies that are around for ages that stock things that everyone else turned into Whirlpool long ago. people that know people, and is all the things you’d expect of a great mechanic, but is a lost art for ages now unless you’re mates. He really doesn’t stop until the problem is solved, car works and his customers are happy. Amazing. Really. Honestly. Shockingly cheap as well, but I really try my best to tip. 

Fronts were a bunch of NOS parts. Monroe shocks, bearings that looked like they were sitting on a shelf for 35 years but scrubbed nicely, top mounts in Zastava baggies.

To finish it all, it got new propshaft boot along with new gearbox oil (old ones was 400km old, but heyho), FAD rear hub assemblies went in, as well as coolant that replaced water that was in the system after it dumped it all out when LPG was done.

I’m told that there’s no mechanical issues that are obvious to him, and car generally looks to be in a good shape. He also told me that he had one of the neighbors dropping over to his garage, asking about the car and saying how he loved it, which is a bit* unexpected, but apparently tide is turning for Floridas as well. Also told me he knows a great sparky (of course he does) that doesn’t get snobby around cars like this that can look into rev counter and re-wiring the stereo to ISO. Oh and he loved the LED backlight, and found it way nicer than what was there from factory.

I went for a short test drive. In an absolute shocker, having new suspension is much nicer to having blown suspension, and new Bilsteins on the rear are nicer than NOS Monroes on the front which have been sitting in a box on a shelf for 20 odd years. Car is genuinely comfortable and not bouncing all over the place. 11/10, would have suspension again.

Total cost was very very very reasonable too. Under 400€ for all after I return QWPs, which I think is really good value for the amount of time spent and work done.

Next up? Sparky to rewire the stereo and fix rev counter. Rear parcel shelf mounts can be replaced now as rear suspension has been swapped, so they don’t need to be upset again. Driver’s seat is disintegrating and is really uncomfortable, so it’s either getting replaced, or lately I’ve been leaning towards getting it fixed. There’s a small hole in the fabric itself, but its squeaky and sponge inside failed, leaving it an uncomfortable mess. I’ll get a quote (or five) to sort this out and keep it original. LPG needs a onceover after a run-in. I still didn’t order the aircon vacuum valve. It needs proper wheels and wheel trims in the bin. And, finally, elephant in the room - it needs welding and ideally a respray. This one I’m absolutely frightened of, as it takes forever as evidenced by Cabrio. This one hasn’t been crashed and needs things swapped over and sills welded, so hopefully faster? We’ll see how it goes.

[IronStar]

Today was an alignment day. I was a bit* worried about this one, as it reveals if the car had any knocks you didn’t see or knew about. After Mini last week which was a bit bent, although I was hoping it’s all rectified, I was wondering what Florida is going to show.

What I have to report is…

.

.

.

It’s absolutely fine! 🎉🎉🎉

No stuck bolts either! It was in and out in less than 10 minutes. I don’t think I managed to do it that fast ever. Amazing! Seriously.
New suspension transformed the way it drives, much more compliant and not all over the place. 

Negatives are that it’s now obvious that tyres are shambolic. They are fairly new, but a type of winter tyres that are only good in the winter-proper. Anything over 10 degrees and it’s a squeak and wheelspin town, especially on comedy 13s. 
Oh and it developed an exhaust leak somewhere. Seems to be picked up by ventilation, so I’m looking at you, exhaust manifold. Exhaust needs some adjusting anyway, so I’ll try getting someone to look into that while am at it.

I also realized that I have re-trimmed A112 steering wheel sitting in the garage. It’s supposed to go onto a Yugo,  however that seems to be long time away, and it should be much nicer than what’s on there now. So I guess I could throw it on, and I can always remove it if I don’t like it. 

[IronStar]

A wild package appears!

 

What’s that then?

Factory stereo and speakers for Yugo America! While not something you’d find in a Florida, it’s as close as it gets I guess. 🤷‍♂️

This is a model 5744 stereo. Why is model code significant I hear you ask? Some absolute madlad on Zastava forums reverse-engineered (well, more like read the schematics that comes with the stereo, but I digress) the thing, and found you can hijack AM amplifier power supply and tap into the outputs, so when you turn on the radio and switch to AM you can power something else…say a Bluetooth module.

So I got to disassembling it! Some solder, wires, and 45 minutes later

White and red are speaker outputs, yellow is AM amplifier power supply power.

That radio is not getting installed anywhere in a hurry, because

Of course it has its own bespoke connector, which is different than the one in Florida, because why not, let’s have 75 different connectors! I’ve tried running a Google lens on it, but no matches, so if someone has seen this connector before, and all that.

I would re-pin this to ISO, but it’s a bit…jumpery and I don’t want to make a mess out of it.

I’ve asked if someone has the factory harness for it so I can make an ISO adapter and keep it looking nice. Hoping there’s a few knocking around and someone is willing to sell.
 

 

 

 

[IronStar]

4 hours ago, IronStar said:

 

 

I’m a moron, this is 12pin Molex. I’m really hoping I can find other side pre-crimped locally as I don’t have appropriately sized JST crimp tool. 

[Barry Cade]

I have exactly the same connector on the Chevy Astro, for all the mood lighting etc. Starcraft conversion.

[Westbay]

13 hours ago, IronStar said:

I’m a moron, this is 12pin Molex. I’m really hoping I can find other side pre-crimped locally as I don’t have appropriately sized JST crimp tool. 

Not local, but ...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334535090319?_skw=12+pin+molex+connector&var=543597689448&itmmeta=01JC0EZ2KP01KD9TERG86PACMD&hash=item4de3d8608f:g:ASIAAOSwZ4Ri~Q5K&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlQqx6krO5GqGiAzSDbVJOJoveUFMmrx54FBLNMAHut5HOPoK2YX1QRCVRt265jSIpEzjnVoNPcE9W3udwEDGzIiHYaaRHeUW05xbBsriFKCP%2FSou%2BY6hy61oixcKXO%2Bms2bzcIH6Dph%2B%2Bb1ETdJ4Mg41OY30uCDyzXC24dLtiAK5nZuDA2iv7lkCOSzZq64vGxD2k0MFEdaT9sgiRiUdgUGBgFl667G6G82ASmVwVYJF07QxnS53YG%2BRPw0%2FfXmep3khkCgrk06xOlTEGpjuyILXhXuXIh5EgbNxhp35b8Pg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR7Sq_I7gZA

[IronStar]

So, today a package has arrived - 

2 of these. Turns out my JST crimp tool has appropriate size for crimping these! Result! So I got to work

When I finished with this, I thought, y’know, what the heck, let’s try wiring it up to the car. How difficult could making another adapter be?

Armed with a multimeter, I went back to the car. Unplugging it from the car, I got reminded of why am I redoing it. Then I unwrapped it:

What the actual fucking fuck is this? How did this not catch fire? Polarities mixed up, a pair of speakers not even connected, permanent and switched live twisted together and wired up to a power window switch. Earth taken from the power window switch as well.

Now, some of the wires are marked, and I quickly realized what’s what. Other than speaker pairs, there’s also 3 extra wires which I’m guessing should be earth, power and acc power, but somehow both lives are permanent live. I dread thinking where is this spliced and fucked, but that’s job for another day. 
The cables are, naturally, in sad state, but I couldn’t get JST pins today, so I had to work with what I had. I unpinned a couple of pins, soldered wires together, and other then having to redo ground a few times because the wire was absolutely shot and connector falling apart, it went reasonably well.

With everything wired up, I went to the car to give it a shot. Connected it all and…nothing. See those two pinned but not connected pins in the previous photo? Those are gnd and power, and I managed to mix up their locations, despite taking it to the car in order to get it right. 🤦‍♂️ Back up the stairs to the 5th floor, just to have ground wire completely falling apart. Boghed it back together and, here’s a final look before I fed it all back through into the box

How many adapters? Yes.

Plugged it in and, hey presto, everything turns on!

Bluetooth works as well, but ground wire for that is absolutely terrible, too thin and just generally shit. I took it all back out to solder it back, but there’s still some pinging. Took it out again, stripped it some more, and soldered again. Didn’t retry as I’m too tired now. 

Floors climbed going up and down because X is missing, acting up, not working - probably about 50. Wires that snapped - 5ish. Times cursed - probably around 200. Result? A factory stereo that works! I’m overjoyed!

I’d like to get it to switch on / off with ignition, but that can wait until weather gets nice in the spring, and I’m taking this result as an absolute win! 
Better photos and a photo of final installation tomorrow.

Next up? Rear speaker mounts / parcel shelf supports need to be switched for those nice ones I fixed up, and antenna needs to finally go back up to the roof. Might take a stab at fixing the driver’s side power window as well.

Cheers!

[IronStar]

Yeah, that re-soldering didn’t do anything, still tons of loopback pinging. So I ripped apart the adapter. Yeah, no wonder it’s pinging, that shit thin wire isn’t even soldered in fully. Touched the radio chassis to the pin and - it stopped. Out came the much thicker wire. I couldn’t find the O mating thing, so I just tightened the bare wires around that grounding pin on the rear and. Sucess! Sounds great, and no more loopback! I’ll probably revisit that substandard grounding wire, but I’m taking this as a win for the time being.

Oh, there’s pins for mic on BT adapter, so revisit might have me adding a proper handsfree support.

Final installation shot, all screws tightened and cover fitted:

[grogee]

You are an absolute looney @IronStar, that is incredible work, I'm so impressed. Just how rare is a Zastava in your area? I mean, my MG Maestro is fairly rare but I do see them about from time to time. But I can't see many people wanting to relive their Zastava past. 

Your perseverance has paid off in the stereo. I should really do something similar for the Maestro and have a hidden Bluetooth system + factory stereo, but instead I've gone with late 90s Blaupunkt cassette plus an amplified setup. 

I'm hoping to buy a quieter stainless exhaust for mine next year. It has a stainless system on it now but it's too loud and I've realised (too late) that driving it long distances has made my tinnitus even worse. 

[Yoss]

49 minutes ago, IronStar said:

Yeah, that re-soldering didn’t do anything, still tons of loopback pinging. So I ripped apart the adapter. Yeah, no wonder it’s pinging, that shit thin wire isn’t even soldered in fully. Touched the radio chassis to the pin and - it stopped. Out came the much thicker wire. I couldn’t find the O mating thing, so I just tightened the bare wires around that grounding pin on the rear and. Sucess! Sounds great, and no more loopback! I’ll probably revisit that substandard grounding wire, but I’m taking this as a win for the time being.

Oh, there’s pins for mic on BT adapter, so revisit might have me adding a proper handsfree support.

Final installation shot, all screws tightened and cover fitted:

I don't really understand any of that but we'll done anyway. Incidentally the Škodas have the stereo wired in to the live side, they always did do, right up to the Felicia anyway, I suspect the Fabia probably wasn't as VW had more input. I like it like this because if I'm sat around waiting for someone I can have the stereo on without the ignition. Only a couple of times I've forgotten to turn it off and come out to a flat battery. 

Wierdly the Felicia also had continuously live brake lights which is the only car I've known with them, but when you think about it is sensible. 

I still have the original Blaupunkt, but Škoda branded, stereo from my last Felicia but it is in my Triumph as it gives me somewhere to play my old cassettes. The Škodas both have more modern units as I want digital radio so I can have BBC 6 Music which is obviously not something you need to worry about. But yours looks great in its correct environment. At least I still have a Škoda one if I ever want to go back to original. 

[IronStar]

40 minutes ago, grogee said:

You are an absolute looney @IronStar, that is incredible work, I'm so impressed. Just how rare is a Zastava in your area? I mean, my MG Maestro is fairly rare but I do see them about from time to time. But I can't see many people wanting to relive their Zastava past. 

Your perseverance has paid off in the stereo. I should really do something similar for the Maestro and have a hidden Bluetooth system + factory stereo, but instead I've gone with late 90s Blaupunkt cassette plus an amplified setup. 

I'm hoping to buy a quieter stainless exhaust for mine next year. It has a stainless system on it now but it's too loud and I've realised (too late) that driving it long distances has made my tinnitus even worse. 

The further you go away from big cities, the more likely you are to see them. There’s a fair few Yugos knocking around, followed by 101/Skala 55 (511 in the UK). Floridas are very few and far between. The ones you can see are usually later, facelift ones, usually with Peugeot 1.6 engine. I’m not sure when was the last time I saw a pre-facelift one like mine actually being driven. There’s always a few for sale, in different states of derelict, but those haven’t seen the road in a while, and are unlikely to see it again. Yugos and 101s are having their moment again, with prices surging in the past couple of years (see also my Cabrio) as the early ones are also a symbol of a simpler, better times.

The bane of this car is also what made it better than what came before it - it has no relation to Fiat 128/127 platform underpinnings. This made it significantly more expensive to buy than Yugo and Skala, so people looking for a cheap transport opted for those. It’s also more complex, making maintenance more expensive in comparison, with parts not being shared with previous cars also being more expensive. Many were broken for their 1.4 engines to be stuck in Yugos, making that engine option virtually extinct nowadays. It also came at a very unfortunate time for the Balkans, with Yugoslav wars on the horizon, which also didn’t really boost the sales.

I love the final look of that stereo! It suits it so well, coupled with cassette tape player. I was ready to build an amp if it was too quiet, but this is more then enough and audio quality, while not 2020s good, is more then good enough.

Yeah, I need to take a look at the exhaust as well, this one is not really bolted in right and has some rattles. To make it worse, it sounds very raspy old car on last legs sound, rather than pleasant note small Italian engines are perfectly capable of. Not an urgent job, and I’d rather spend money on getting it welded and resprayed before fitting the new exhaust system.

[IronStar]

2 minutes ago, Yoss said:

I don't really understand any of that but we'll done anyway. Incidentally the Škodas have the stereo wired in to the live side, they always did do, right up to the Felicia anyway, I suspect the Fabia probably wasn't as VW had more input. I like it like this because if I'm sat around waiting for someone I can have the stereo on without the ignition. Only a couple of times I've forgotten to turn it off and come out to a flat battery. 

Wierdly the Felicia also had continuously live brake lights which is the only car I've known with them, but when you think about it is sensible. 

I still have the original Blaupunkt, but Škoda branded, stereo from my last Felicia but it is in my Triumph as it gives me somewhere to play my old cassettes. The Škodas both have more modern units as I want digital radio so I can have BBC 6 Music which is obviously not something you need to worry about. But yours looks great in its correct environment. At least I still have a Škoda one if I ever want to go back to original. 

My dad’s ‘99 Felicia also had live-wired stereo. It was a very period Pioneer unit, but I don’t know if it was wired in with an adapter or was it butchered in.

We don’t really do DAB here, and only have 4 state-run radio stations that are unavailable on FM, so it doesn’t really matter.

If you have a schematics of the original Skoda one, I can take a peek (or someone more knowledgeable) and tell you where to splice in Bluetooth adapter if you’d like one.

[Yoss]

Thanks but I have no interest in Bluetooth. I don't even have any music on my phone anyway. I still have a record player downstairs. I don't use it that much but it is there along with a CD player. I have CD players in both Škodas and as mentioned a tape player in the Triumph. We no longer have any tape players in the house so if I want to listen to a tape it does now have to be in the Triumph which is a good excuse to get it out. I'm fine with that. Thanks, anyway. 

[hairnet]

17 hours ago, IronStar said:

 

I’d like to get it to switch on / off with ignition, but that can wait until weather gets nice in the spring, and I’m taking this result as an absolute win! 
Better photos and a photo of final installation tomorrow.

Next up? Rear speaker mounts / parcel shelf supports need to be switched for those nice ones I fixed up, and antenna needs to finally go back up to the roof. Might take a stab at fixing the driver’s side power window as well.

Cheers!

you are @PhilA aicm5 dinar

[IronStar]

The snow has arrived, and I didn’t have time to swap tyres on 159 so Florida was pushed into daily service.

What a fabulous daily driver it is! It’s an absolute joy to drive, and is handling it like any other normal car would. Bonus points for absolutely no one chancing it when you’re in it, even the ever-cuntish huge german luxury SUV drivers. They probably think I don’t care enough to brake for their behavior, as another bumper for me is 20€ and I’m just adding another scratch to an already scratched car. Really fun to watch them wince and push in in front of another car, but not me. 

Minor minus points for rear demister that doesn’t demist and a drivers seat that really really really needs to be either replaced or completely reupholstered. Demister turns on according to the dash lights, but does nothing. It’s either one of the connectors coming into it, or the wire that’s pinched on the flex. Either way, should be a simple fix. The foam on the seat has completely deteriorated and it’s like sitting on a metal frame. I sent a few messages asking for the price to get it fully repaired, but as usual, I’m getting ignored by people in car-related trades for asking them to do the job they’re supposed living off. 🤷‍♂️ Will try a few more places. I’d really like to keep the seats as the colour scheme is Florida Business only, but if wait times are impossible, I’ll probably fit 156 leather seats I have and leave these for another day.