1988 Yugo 45a Review- OP update with full save story

[warren t claim]

Spot on save! I was lucky enough to have the van version back in 1991 and that went like a rocket.

 

Good to have you back with us again! Have you ever considered a job writing for Practical Classics?

[scooters]

I quite like the yellow headlights.

 

I was down at the motor factors today picking up a new battery. The Unipart guy went into drools when he saw it and started ranting about how it was one of the most sensible mini cars of its period and had a reputation in the trade for reliability, toughness and lively handling - a hoot to drive. He also dripped scorn on those who wrote it off as crap especially Clarkson.

 

Funnily enough, in researching the background on the 45 there are more positive recollections than there are negative. The level of misinformation around it is quite staggering I have read..."the body was plastic and it cracked", "the enines were rubbish" "it was basically a Fiat 128 with a hatch" "The dissolved""....and anyone who says that they drove like a pig has clearly never driven one The 45a may be many things but it is a total hoot to drive and is a lively handling car, a far cry from the bloated 'mini' cars of today. There are weaknesses - the gear linkage can suffer and the gear box's are not the toughest but that is about it.

 

Further info - the 'A' in 45a means American spec..thechnically, according to the DVLA there is only one 'A' survivng, this, however, is nonsense and I would expect that most of the 22 survivors are A's...this one certainly is and it is registered with the DVLA as a 45..not a 45 A

 

It's a shame that there are so few survivors bad press seems to be one of the reasons but another is the problem over parts avaliability from 1992. The nato action against Serbia effctively finished Zastava in the UK and indeed, for a time, car production with the boming of the factory, - also a weapons factory. In these internet days it is easy to forget that before we could source parts online the only option was the local factor and his network of suppliers. Today the club sources most of the specialist parts from Serbia directly where they are still avaliable.

 

FFor the shitter - it is the perfect vehicle for a daily scoot about....also, given that it is effectively a free car in terms of running costs, Mrs Scooters has sanctioned the sorcing of another Daimler Sov at the back end of the year - tempted to find a nice black one....maybe even an early 80's double six!

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

excellent write-up, lovely beigeness. Welcome back, scooters!

[Pete-M]

I'm pretty sure I passed your old Sherpa on the motorway this afternoon. Can't be many that old knocking about.

[scooters]

I know of about 4 on the road - not sure if it would have been mine though as it is currently in the Torsten Home for Scatalogically Challenged Automobiles!

[gtd2000]

Now, if you'd wanted a bit more driving fun you could have hopped onto the A7 at Melrose/StBoswells

[CortinaDave]

i actually prefer the A68 as a driver's road .. only downside is the speed cameras, when there are none on the A7.. but in the Yugo you're not going to be doing camera troubling speed, so A68 every time for me!

[scooters]

A68 especially south of jed to the errington arms is a great road. No cameras on english side either. The 696 to otterburn is a great road as well. Camera locations in Scotland easy to learn. I did Newcastle airport to Edinburgh averaging 62mph on a Sunday afternoon in the e34 535i this time last year..no danger of that in a yugo but heaps of fun.

[gtd2000]

i actually prefer the A68 as a driver's road .. only downside is the speed cameras, when there are none on the A7.. but in the Yugo you're not going to be doing camera troubling speed, so A68 every time for me!

 

I'd agree with that South from St Bowells but other than that, it's had pretty much all of the kinks sorted out.

 

They are supposedly putting in double roundabout North of Heriot on the A7 for the re-launch of the Waverly Line - what a wonderful engineering solution that will be....

[stuboy]

love the yugo's...

my mum had a 513

stepgrandparents had a 313

i bought n sold a few 45's and 55's......

 

alway wanted a 65glx nearly brought a new one

[scooters]

Bounce for an OP update

 

Sam Glover bought that 65glx that was on ebay last month. Being sold by Charlie of the Yugo Owners Club ad is located in Devon. It's white with red bits and an outrageous factory fitted body kit! Can't wait to hear how the trip home went but seem to re4cal it is sans MOT at the moment so SG may have flatbedded it.

[scooters]

Been doing a lot of reading.

 

Yesterday I filled up the car to the brim with posh petrol (user manual says use 4 star 97 so I thought I would give it a treat - 30 quid later (it seems to be a 30 lt tank)

 

I noticed a real honk of petrol in the car yesterday and even worse this morning. So strong it was stomach turning.

 

So a quick scan of the US Yugo GV forums highlighted two potential issues - dodgey or decayed filler pipe - checked and solid....or dodgey sender gasket...carpet up and low and behold when I lifted the plastic access cover (obviously just clipped in place - this is a Yugo - the whiff was very strong and there was visible seepage around the top of the sender unit.

 

It is held in place with 6 nuts and some of these I could move with my fingers - the gasket had obviously seen better days - rather than replace the gasket bodgery was the order of the day so I spannered it down as tight as it would go without breaking anything or causing a spark. Next was the sender and return pipes - both are held onto the sender by a very weak circlip the return pipe in particular was could be popped on and off with one finger - so I replaced the circlips with tight jubilee clips - tightened as far as I xcold go without breaking anything. I then squirted some blue gas seal around the place to discourage further seepage and applied blue gas seal to the edge of the access cover to make it air tight and keep out any further honk..

 

A new sender gasket is on the shopping list.

 

Whilst I had the rear seat up I thought it might be an idea to check the wheel arches, shock tower mountings and boot floor for corrosion etc.

 

The off side rear shock pillar was nice and sound but the nearside one isn't - there exists a good dollop of tin worm between the shock mounting and the rear wing - this will need welding at some point and is one of the few weak spots for rust in the car - usual situaiton - a mud and crud trap at the top of the inside of the shock pillar. Nearside more prone as more solids get thrown up into it.

 

The other thing I noticed was cracking to the paintwork on the inside of the car- almost as if the paint has shrunk with age and cracked through to the metal -= it shows the thickness of the paint and undercoats - a gonod millimeter thick - wonder why this has happened - I suspect the only solution will be to sand back the cracks with a dremel and repaint - the steel is undamaged.

 

Lastly I looked into refitting the air filter and air box only to find that we must have left the adapter that sits between the carb and the air filter housing and has the pipes for mounting the PCV at Niges - these parts could probably do with being replaced and I'll need a new flame trap anyway so will order one up when I get round to it and ideally before the cold weather starts.

 

Sam G called me yesterday, he had arrived in Devon to collect his 65 sport - 1.3l with full body kit - rare as mince! and kindly called to ask what parts he cold pick up for me as the vendor runs the parts dept of the club - I asked him to get a set of badges and a new strring column cowal in beige and a new near side wing mirror glass but forgot to ask him to get me a new speedo cable....doh!

 

car is still a hoot - can't believe how little gas it uses - the only drama was putting too much redes in it causing a cloud of white smoke on florring it or reversing...oh well

[barefoot]

- can't believe how little gas it uses -

 

Isn't that because you've spent the last 6 months or so in hefty Volvos & a Sherpa!

[red5]

Fantastic write - up, and ace save. Worked for a main dealer in Worcestershire for a while - these were great fun and pretty unbreakable. The accepted 'fix' for the vague gearshift was to drill a m6 or m8 hole through the two bonded together metal sections of the linkage by the gearbox and 'adjust' the clamping effort via a nylock nut.

 

Seem to remember the transmission oil being odd, as the diff(?) had brass* bearings, and would detonate if normal hypoid was used. Some Shell stuff I think. Will have a look in the toolbox and see if I can find any old paperwork.

 

Sam, somewhat envious.

 

 

* possibly. It was a long time ago.

[scooters]

Brilliant.

Today I get to drive the yugo to Newton on Sea in Northumbria. We are heading there for a few days hols.

 

The family are still getting used to being sans Volvo which means they packed so much clobber we can't get it all in the scenic. Especially as it is our youngests second birthday and the in laws who are coming with us have given het a flippin huge dolls house.

 

As the yugo is essentially free to run the missus suggested I go in it with luggage.

 

Result!

[scooters]

Well, the latest installment of Yugo related japes.

 

Last week the inlaws invited us down to Newton-on-sea on the Northumbrian coast, just south of Beadnell where they had taken a house for a week. As I had some work to do in the area I decided to take the Yugo as well as the wife's Renner.

 

An uneventful drive down was highlighted by a slightly and occasional irregular thrum from the4 engine as if the flow of petrol was being interrupted – this after crashing into a pothole too quickly en route.

 

On arrival, I parked up – then had t move the car – dead battery...suspected something might be up -a good way to check if you have a recharging issue is to plug a mobile into the fag lighter – the light might come on and the charge signal but if the battery takes either a very long time or actually doesn't charge at all, despite the phone indicating a charge then look to the alternator/fan belt etc.

 

On checking the fan belt there was a fair bit of slack so one breaker bar and a spanner later all was tight (Yugos don't have decadent capitalist devices as an adjustable alternator mount as the GLORIOUS WORKERS have stronger forearms than their flabby imperialist western cousins and can easily tension the belt with communist vigour!). So I jumped it again from the Renner – started but still no decent charge – no multi meter so carried out by using the mobile phone recharge test as above. Another, closer look showed some pretty ropey wiring behind the alt. The live feed especially was on its last legs so a bit of bodgery later I had replaced the wire with a new length and -soldered it n with a hot screwdriver and all sorted. Car started again and I then noticed a thin stream of petrol skooshing out of the side of the upstream fuel pipe to the engine mounted pump – closer examination revealed that this whole section of rubber covered in cloth pipe was pretty rotten - so I covered all in a few layers f insulating tape and will fit a new pipe asap.

 

Anyway – fixed this and then started up again and hurrah – a strong charge!

 

By this time it was 7.00pm last night and we needed to get back to Edinburgh. The Renner was packed up, the wee-anes bathed and fed and in their child seats and just then the Yugo conked out whilst recharging and wouldn't start again – bugger!

 

A tight lipped Mrs S drove the kids back into the house and put them to bed there – we were staying another night. I got down to tracing the fault and eventually discovered that the fuel lifter was faulty.

 

You will recall, last week I fixed the dodgey sender gasket with some blue gasseal – this time I had to remove the sender – very messy with all that gasseal kicking around but eventually it came off and sure enough it was rattling ominously.

 

Like all other plastics in the Yugo the sender is made of Caramac consistency stuff so I carefully dismantled it to find that the up push spring had slipped off its mounting – must have been the jolt of the pothole – I popped it back on and refitted the sender but will have to order a new one as I damaged the fuel gauge in the process. So now there is no fuel gauge and no speedo/odo either (I need a new cable). I put everything back together, gave the carb a god tune and tested it all – everything worked! Result and the missus is well impressed with the lack of swearing and success. I drove the 100 odd miles back to Edinburgh first thing this morning with no problems at all and the engine running sweeter than ever.

 

Tomorrow morning I have an early start – I have a 400 mile round trip to Cheshire and back – in the Yugo...whilst it is a splendid car for 50 mile hops – these sort of journeys are a bit more arduous – the car is even more tedious than a normal car on the motorway – the list of road trips I have to do in the next few months is getting longer so I am going to see if I can get that 4th Gen Celica on the Options thread as a stop gap motorway cruiser. I may or may not keep the Yugo – I haven't decided yet – I would love to keep it but may have to be sensible – then again it is pretty cheap to run so we will see.

[dollywobbler]

Or buy that V6 Xantia. Hmmmm. Wafty. (though you will definitely need to carry a multimeter, wire and maybe even a soldering iron at all times!)

[stuboy]

time to find me a yugo

[scooters]

lol well spotted DW I HAVE been all over that Xantia V6...soooooo tempting but I betcha the insurance will be crippling - mind you there is always your Saab 9000 as an option!