1989 Skoda 120L5 - 136 Engine&Bike carbs - 2023 Winter Jobs

[jamesd1972]

One thought on the bumper vs, no bumper debate is that the panels are really thin and would take very little to damage with no protection at all.
Scaffold bar bumper anybody ?
Nice project !
James
Edit forgot to say good luck with the new job.

[HARDCORE]

Congrats on the new job dude, 'sensible' daily looks smart

[lewist123]

Hi all

Started new job in December 2022 and settled in quite nicely now. Bit of a change of pace from my last job, but you get comfortable after 16 years and any change is a bit of a eye opener!

My mini ended up needed a bit of TLC over the last few months - I had to replace the exhaust manifold and cat just after Christmas as the manifold cracked at the pre-cat (quite common). Then the alternator failed, but in order to get to it you have to take the front of the car off. Whilst in there I decided to hoover up a few little jobs that needed doing like changing gaskets to try and stop an oil leak and give the supercharger a service (replace oil, gaskets etc).

Then the better halfs car needed welding on one of the sills in February which kept me busy for a bit.

Anyway, I have been making progress, most of which has been tidying up bits and bob and sorting odd jobs.

The valve clearances needed adjusting as it was ticking, so whilst I had the rocker cover off I refurbed it.







I kept having a problem where the silicone connectors between the carbs and the intake manifold would gradually wiggle off with vibrations causing the carbs to randomly fall off. To stop that happening I made two small brackets which tie the carbs to the intake manifold at the top, so their weight now pushes the silicone connectors on tighter rather than allowing them to wiggle off.

I designed and 3d printed a few prototypes and then CNC cut then out of 12mm Ali










I have also been gradually getting the interior back in - I had some wiring issues which I sorted in the end, and now refitted carpets, dash trim and other stuff.




Refitted the wheel arches, and repainted and refitted the upper and lower trim rails










Refitted the door cards - I purchsed some of the bitumen sound deadening and put some bits on the door skins and ali door cards to reduce some of the tinny vibrations



Although I had the wheels powdercoated, that was something like 12 years ago now and they were looking at bit faded. Plus one of the wheels had a dent in the rim, so I gentley massaged that out and have started repainting them. I got some allow wheel paint which appears to adhere to powder coat OK - I gave them a good rub down and clean before painting. I am going to clear laquer them afterwards so now all trim pieces and the wheels will be gloss black and the car gloss white - should look good.







Will get new tyres fitted in a week or two once the wheels are painted and the paint has had a few days to harden off better.

I still have a few more odd jobs to do, but the list is getting shorter - hoping for MOT in April!

[lewist123]

If anyone is interested, here are a few pics of getting stuck into the mini to change the alternator...




Once you get that deep, you may as well go the full hog...

Supercharger inspection and service. 'Sealed for life' except the oild breaks down over the years and really needs chaning. I think it had already been done once before as the oil was in good condition but it had definately lost just a little bit over either the 17 years since new or since when someone had serviced it in the past.

Rotors looked in good knick as well.









I also changed the rocker cover gasket as it was leaking a bit







All back together with a new water pump and alternator (might as well fit a new water pump as I had done all the other jobs that require the whole front of the car to come off...

[jamesd1972]

Well that escalated quickly!
Proper job
James

[lewist123]

Hi all

I have been hoovering up a few more jobs. I repainted and re-fitted the birdbath spoiler. Its not perfect as it was old and thrashed, but came out OK ish. Still need to add a few more fixings but its back on the car.

I washed and polished it again - I hadn't touched the paint since last year. Looks better in the pics than in real life, but its so much better than the old paint. I also got new tyres fitted to the re-painted wheels and fitted. I need to tweek the front suspension at bit to try and tuck the front wheels in a bit more - I might also be able to stretch the arch extensions out a bit too.

Anyway, some beauty shots...











Also washed and polished up the Mini - also looks good for a 17 year old car.




Getting closer - I can see the end in sight (is the end ever really in sight?)

[lewist123]

A few more quick updates - getting ready for MOT time and crossing the last few jobs off the list.

1. Sump
When I purchased the engine many years ago, it came with a RWD sump, but no oil pickup tube assembly. I had the sump and pickup from a FWD Favorit engine so installed them. This had a few drawbacks - the engine in the estelle is canted over more than the favorit so the drain plub wasnt at the bottom and the oil pickup wasn't flat. Also, the dipstick tubes are in different places between the FWD and RWD blocks so it didnt work and I couldn't easily check oil level.

Thas was anoying and protentially problematic once the car is being used, so I pulled the old engine out of the shed, pulled the sump and stole its oil pickup tube, swapped them and the sumps over, so now it has the correct sump, oil pickup and the dipstick now works.





2. Door seals, rear wing bolts, number plates etc
Ordered some new door seals and replaced some of the more perished ones, bolted the wing on properly and adjusted the boot lid catch so it actually locked shut now the wing was fitted, and attached the number plates.

3. Wheela arches
Here is the final wrinkle. I properly afixed the black arches back on. The rears cover the wheels nicely, but at the front, the wheels still protude a bit too much. The arches cover the tread (which I believe is sufficient) but only just. Years ago I fitted quite short lowering springs and in hindsight, I think its a bit too low. I have some longer springs I am going to fit, but that raises a problem that the wheels will stick out futher (due to the suspension geometry).



















I purchased a cheap set of generic wide arches, but I don't like them and much prefer the OEM arch extensions I have fitted and so I probably won't use them



So my plan is to fit the longer springs tomorrow and then re-evaluate. I might buy some rubber stick on extenders which I think might work with the OEM arch extensions.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275778340923?hash=item4035ab883b:g:SaQAAOSwwgtiyDEQ

I think I can stick these to the edge of the additional arches which will then easily cover the wheels and I think will look OK - better than generic bolt on wide arches.

4. Carb supports
The carbs kept wiggling off the silicone connectors so I made the ali brackets in a previous post. However, they still wiggled off. On closer inspection, the silicone hoses are too small and when stretched on the try and squeeze back off again. So I got some larger tube and remade them a bit longer to give more room for the hose clamps. This appears to have solved the problem, but I will re-make longer ali brackets just to be on the safe side.



Finally, I have now insured the car and plan to get an MOT booked in a the next week or two, subject to sorting the front wheel arch issues (p.s. I have looked for narrower weller 8 spokes for the front, but can't find any in 4x130, 15x6 ET0)

[lewist123]

Right - final piece of the puzzle fitted. I purchased some stick on arch extensions. Not the prittiest things in the world, but look OK and serve a purpose. Plus, they can be removed in future without irreversable modification.







MOT booked for next saturday... fingers crossed.

P.s. needs a wash!

[lewist123]

Lol - ironically, I have just spotted a set of Weller 8 spokes in 15x6 and 15x7 for sale - they would probably be perfect if ET0 and I wouldn't need the extra stick on bits. Will keep my eye on them and might bid. Would need refurbing and might need the front centrebores machined to fit. Current solutions works, but this might be the better longer term solution.

[skodacious]

I think it looks ace - those extensions aren't too shouty and work with the originals. Importantly it gets you to MOT day 😎

Are you planning on putting the bumpers back on?

[westbay]

Quite like those arches , subtle not 'in yer face'

[lewist123]

Well, MOT this morning.... and she passed! So happy - its only taken me 15 years to pull my finger out of my backside and get her sorted.

Got a few little jobs to sort out now, MOT man flagged a solid brake line which needed securing better (mounts were as factory but he was definatley right that it needs fixing better). It needs wheel alignment, and I need to tune the high speed neadles better as it sometimes bogs when I plant my foot (I think its lean - I did set the needles to their leanest setting, so no suprise there really).

[ovimor]

Surprising [... @thelights] Skoda! 😎

Top🎱

OVIMOR

[glenanderson]

Excellent news, well done. 😃👍

[lewist123]

Weather was nice yesturday, so took her for a little run and grabbed a nice picture of it out in the wild.




I also tweeked the carbs a bit - I think its a bit rich on the pilot circuit (plug a bit black on the main thread/body) and about right on the needle position (plug looks light grey on the core and insulator). I might have to go up a size on the main jet as it might still be a bit lean at full throttle. I will lean off the pilot circuit a bit (current 3 turns, but will back it off to 2), stick a new set of plugs in it and keep and eye on things. I also advanced the ignition timing a touch (7 degrees at the moment) and it doesn't appear to be pinging, but again will keep an eye on things.

Got a few other little niggles to sort out - front suspension is squeaking (got some silicone lube coming) and there are some quite bad rattles coming from various places.

Still, all fixable niggles and at least I can work on these now its on the road and drivable.

[lewist123]

A few more updates...

Randomly the fuel guage conked out. Upon taking it apart, the main electromagnetic coil was open circuit (i.e. not connected/broken). Bummer.

I had a look on ebay and there was one for sale for £27, but then I had an idea. I still had the dashboard from an old Skoda Favorit which I stripped and scrapped many years ago. Whilst the dashboard was completely different and I couldn't use the gauge as-is, I stripped it down and realised that the coil assembly was the same.

Old knackered one stripped - wires are far too delicate to repair






Old favorit unit



guts swapped and working - However, not sure yet whether I got the needle back in the correct spot, so will have to see when I run out of petrol!




I also decided to have a crack at doing a wheel alignment. I knew there was no point taking to get alignment if the rear semi-trailing arm adjusters were stuck.

I used the two strings, two sticks method to check the alignment. Front was very toed in (no suprise there, I had stripped the front end and eyeballed it back in). However, I have never adjusted the rears - the nearside was correct (zero toe), but the offside was toed out by a few degrees - might expain why it handled weird.

So I stripped the offside and just about managed to get the adjuster to move and managed to dial it in as close as I could measure. Fronts were also aligned and it actually drives properly now.

A nice little trick and will do for the time being.






Another beauty shot from earlier today at my favourite evening walk spot.

[ovimor]

I once had to swerve violently, to avoid a Be11end and my NS rear wheel thwacked a kerb edge... Steering was odd as I drove home.
Popped into dealer (1/4mile from my house 👌) and the guy kindly whipped her up >>> produced a bent bar with a peg at one end and a 'pencil' sort of pointer sticking up at the other.
Quick wizz with the windy, to loosen the locator plates... Sorted.

Mine being a 130LSE had the trailing link setup 👍

Yours is a Corker🎱

OVIMOR

[lewist123]

Been taking her to a few meets and shows and generally enjoying her.

I needed to do something about the interior, so snagged a Mk1 Skoda Fabia VRS interior off ebay and grafted the seats in. Looks pretty good and an upgrade from the old stock Estelle seats...

[75swb]

That interior looks great

[Rob M]

Wow, what a great build!!
Always liked these, hugely underrated and you have made your look as hard as....
Keep up the good work.