Zelandeth

Been a long while since I've been on here as my last Skoda was moved on five years or so back now. Couple of folks have suggested I pick your brains though as to whether it would be possible to retrofit cruise to my current daily, a 2002 VW Caddy SDI. Everything is fly-by-wire, so to my mind it should theoretically be possible. The question really is if a separate control module would be needed or anything...or just a couple of switches & a new indicator stalk with the relevant buttons on, then activation via VCDS. Stalk shouldn't be a problem as it was used on about 39469276 different models across the VAG range, but anything more in depth at this age is likely to be tricky I'm guessing. Any idea what would be involved?

Cheers for that, I'll look at getting a set ordered from Skopart. I'd rather support a marque specialist than some unknown eBay seller.

Hopefully a quick question... Looking to buy a new set of brake hoses for my 120LX. She's still running the original hoses, and there's a bit of perishing now visible. Brakes are one of those things that it pays not to skimp on...so let's just change them! Now, if I remember rightly the 120 and 130 had different rear hoses, because the pipe routing was slightly different due to the trailing arm/semi-trailing arm suspension differences between the models. The 120LX is a slightly odd model which is best described as a 130 but with a 120 engine. It's got the semi-trailing arm suspension, but does not have the four pot calipers on the front that the only 130s I've worked on so far have had... So can someone tell me whether I need to be looking for hoses for a 120, 130 or half of one and half of the other so I'll just need to get some made up to order...?

Ooh...Lookie what DHL dropped off for me a couple of days ago... Looks like we've got all the bits here now save for some cabling and some hoses, those I'll just grab locally...Hopefully make a start soon!

Fuel pump has been tracked down...still in the boot of the Peugeot 306 I left back Up North! It'll be in the post down to me shortly. Little shipment arrived for me a couple of days ago from Lada... Most critically there is the CPS, the later style crankshaft pulley and the later type timing chain cover with the bracket for the CPS. Once the fuel pump arrives I reckon we'll be good to get started on this. ...I do need to find a suitably retro looking fuel injection badge to put on the back though!

Correct lambda sensor has now arrived (rather than a horribly made Chinese clone which the first one from eBay turned out to be). Once the CPS, crankshaft pulley and timing chain cover get here we should be ready to get moving with this...

Quick addendum to my previous post. Here are a couple of video links. This is how things were before things got sorted out. Pretty plain that things aren't well at idle. While there were brief periods where she would behave this would always then revert to having two or three cylinders working and the idle speed wandering all over the place... Aaaaand 30 minutes or so later, after the offending vacuum hose was changed (well...videos are actually a few weeks apart, but in terms of how the car's running they are 30 minutes apart!). Seriously wish I'd just done the sensible thing and changed that hose first! Have also made a discovery which makes my injection conversion a lot easier - Turns out that the bracket for the crankshaft position sensor is in fact cast as part of the timing chain cover. So I can simply swap that (and the crankshaft pulley obviously) straight over, plug the factory sensor in and that should be that...No need to mess around with custom brackets or anything like that. Bonus.

So a couple of days ago, I removed and brought home this collection of goodies... That's the entire injection system from a Niva 1.7i (with the exception of the lambda sensor - wouldn't budge, and new ones are readily available on eBay etc for around £30 so I wasn't going to waste time on it, and the crankshaft position sensor because somebody had already swiped it), the injection loom, and the interface loom that connects to the vehicle wiring. This is going to be my project for the next couple of months - switching my Riva over to the injection system that I reckon it should have left the factory with.

Yep, so long as they light amber the MOT tester will be happy. The only thing that would be a deal breaker due to fading would be the rear facing reflectors, which have to be red. Anything else you can deal with just by fitting coloured lamps to. This has had amber lamps in the indicators since the day I got the car. Brand new clusters were only £35 a pop straight from Lada though and there were quite a few tiny cracks in the originals which were visible close up and were bugging me, so it made sense to just get them changed. Will need to see if I can track down an F and i badge in the same typeface as the 1.5E bit soon as she will hopefully soon be fuel injected, planning to pick up the bits for that project later this week. Should be a fun project.

Was going to edit my previous post, but can't seem to see any way to do that, guessing I'm either being blind or my browser is playing up...both about as likely. Anyhow, here's the result of the replaced tail lights... Before: After: Sadly didn't have space for a wider shot due to how close I'd parked to the garage...Will try to snap one at some point shortly.

The indicator lenses do tend to fade, but new ones are available from the factory for sensible money, so figured it would make sense to just get them changed. Yes, we were over there, so it's entirely possible that you did see us - I did wonder if between the various automotive forums I'm on if anybody would have spotted us!

Things have been pretty quiet lately to be honest. Only real news of note was that the Lada went in for the MOT at the end of the week, and despite the usual fun and games trying to get the cat hot enough to do anything and just squeaking through the emission test, got a pretty clean pass. Only advisory was for slight perishing on the front brake hoses, which I was already aware of, and in fact had the new ones already in a box on the passenger's seat and will be getting fitted at some point over the next couple of weeks with some luck. Along with: [] New tail light clusters (current ones have very faded indicator lenses). [] New front brake pads (serviceable, but I want to take the pads out and clean the slides up etc, and for £12 it seemed silly not to just change the pads while I'm in there). [] New steering idler shaft, seals & bushes. Hopefully that will get rid of the annoying clonking noise from the nearside front corner. [] New heater hose bulkhead cover. Annoyingly this will need me to drain the cooling system to do. Though to be honest, I want to change a bunch of hose clips anyway... I've also tracked down a Niva 1.7i which is being broken relatively locally, so intend to be heading over there shortly and grabbing the injection kit off that in its entirety. I have this crazy plan to convert this Riva from a 1.5E to a 1.5EFi.

Sadly not quite so simple on the Lada... they're the only company I'm aware of who decided that a carb and a cat were a good combination, so you have a carb with electronically controlled fuel meeting, and about half a mile of vacuum hoses which control the other half of the system. The usual PCV and fuel tank venting accounts for probably 20% of the hoses...the rest is actively involved in the running of the engine. I'm currently playing with the idea of transplantation of the throttle body injection system that the 1.7i Nivas got in the last few years as that is a self contained system that was added on and it both works very (surprisingly to be honest!) well and is very reliable. Yet to find anyone who can give me a good reason not to do it yet!

Always thought the black plates would suit the predecessor to the Riva better, the Riva only appeared in 83 so never would have worn them originally. Well, in the UK mainland anyway. I wouldn't mind getting some embossed plates though, bit of a pros and cons exercise though as I'd lose the original dealer details and have to deal with the modern typeface then which I don't think ever looks right on cars of this era. Done some further faffing around with the emission control system today which achieved nothing, but at least I know the carb solenoids are now both clean and working properly.

Here's a quick snap from last week. We're just a perfectly normal family going away for holiday for a week...We're not in any way, shape or form in the slightest bit eccentric! Okay...Maybe I am just a little bit...

Have taken something like 150 photos over the last couple of days! Have had a specific request for interior photos though, so here you go. Will add some more when I get a bit more free time. I rarely use the term "as new" but I think it actually fits how the interior cleaned up. Aside from a bit of hackery (now repaired) to the emission control system - no great surprise as it appears to operate on witchcraft if you don't have a clear understanding of it, and the usual oil leak from the rocker cover, the engine bay is pretty clean. (Many) more to follow!

So I've been trying to find a decent Riva Estate since 2003. No, seriously...13 years ago. In the intervening period I've owned a Samara 1.3S 4-door Saloon, a Niva 1.7i Hussar (fantastic beastie), and an absolute shed of a Riva 1.5E Saloon (plus probably about ten other non-Ladas and a trio of Skodas in the intervening period). The Estate though, the one I really wanted kept eluding me. Until today that is! When I was up in Aberdeenshire I became accustomed to having to drive to deepest darkest England to retrieve interesting motors. How ironic then, now being based in Milton Keynes, that I had to come up to Edinburgh to get this one! So, a couple of obligatory photos - they're a bit pants because the light was fading and it's just the hotel carpark where I'm staying over night (it ain't half weird staying at a hotel you're used to attending a convention at on a "normal" day...). Will snap some better ones when I get home. Front wings are crusty, but the seller knocked five hundred quid off to get that sorted and there are two brand new wings on the back seat. Likewise the original white steel wheels are in the car, I'll be getting those cleaned up and powder coated then back on the car. The horrible body colour radiator grill also needs to go and be replaced with the proper black slatted one - and those aero wipers also need to vanish. I know they work better, but sorry...they look absolutely daft on a Lada. Only rust of any consequence I could find was on the wings, couple of bits underneath with some really light surface rust, but nothing that needs anything more than a wire brush, Kurust and then a good coating of Dinitrol. Have to guess that this car has spent a lot of its life in a very dry garage. Mechanically it seems pretty decent too, only real issue I've found is that it really doesn't want to idle, so the carb may need some love, goes fine, just doesn't want to idle. Will investigate that when I get home. Also seriously needs a good valet, but I enjoy that side of things so I'm almost happy to be left that to do!

Mate of mine has had one pretty much since the supercharged one was shown on Fifth Gear. He's never had any problems with it save for your normal service items - and many, many rear tyres. Makes a truly epic noise (a screaming supercharger is highly addictive along with that exhaust note), but do be aware that you'll struggle to get 15mpg in the real world, and it's very easy to get it into single digits... I've driven faster and more powerful cars, but don't think I've driven one which delivers the power in quite such a brutal way when you floor it, which makes it feel *very* rapid. I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I could afford it, they're hilariously good fun.

Drained somewhere around 15 litres of fuel off today (left it just above the red on the gauge) then went and filled up with super unleaded at a less dodgy looking garage. Strangely enough after about two minutes the running problems vanished - though I do now need to adjust the idle speed back to something sensible as I adjusted it up in an effort to keep it from stalling so has now shot up to about 1500rpm. Also need to recheck the valve clearances as she is clattering like an 80s Fiesta so reckon I mucked one or two up. Easy check at least - or they were just well tight when I got the car.

Valve clearances checked this morning and were very close, but have not been set correctly. No difference. Checked for vacuum leaks by removing and plugging the brake servo line, no signs of leakage - I gave the area around the carb and manifolds a good blast around with carb cleaner to try to track down any other leaks without finding any. The brake servo hose is on the to do list, but there's no sign of active leakage at present and it's not made any difference. I had a chat with the chief mechanic at the garage I use and he agrees that with what I've already checked that there isn't much left that it can be and that fuel is a likely suspect. Also today I picked up a little present for the fleet (especially the Estelle given its old school ignition system). Will spend a bit of time on it tomorrow and see how much work it will need to get up and running. 80s tech is very much up my street though so I should be able to find my way around just fine. While I don't have it, there is apparently a companion unit to this which allows it to also display a %CO value, now finding that as well would be really handy...

Cheers for that, the carb side of things seems to be okay (the fact that the fault is present on two separate carbs), accelerator jet is clear, though it did need to be reshaped a bit as it was hitting the centre barrel rather than getting pulled smoothly into the carb. Have already got a filter in place as I've had issues with the accelerator jet clogging before. This afternoon though it's gone and started to behave again!

Will certainly check those, valve clearances are due re-checking anyway. What size is the crank pulley bolt actually? Knowing and picking a socket up to suit that would make it a lot less hassle than last time!

Tank is metal as far as I'm aware, but the filter is clear (I've fitted a standard disposable filter in addition to the screen built into the pump), fact that both carbs show the same fault when fuel volume and pressure have been checked in addition to checking we have a good spark says a lot I think in this case.

Glad you enjoyed seeing it, that's the best part of taking cars to shows for me. Almost 100% on my contaminated fuel theory now, took it out for a quick test run this evening with the normal carb back on and it's intermittently willing to idle and not, and is pinking under hard acceleration which it never normally does (timing was checked and matches the manual figures). Going to drop by my usual garage tomorrow and pick their brains see if they follow my line of thinking - and to ask how best to deal with a tank of contaminated fuel. ...and it's a good opener for the discussion I want to have about the ancient Krypton engine analyser that's dumped on its end in the yard...

Yep, the points are looking fine, no visible damage to the faces. Manually opening/closing them (carefully, with a suitably insulated tool - learned that lesson before...likewise about starter motor solenoids) didn't show any excessive arcing either. I do have a couple of spare condensers floating around somewhere (the 135RiC I had used to eat them for a passtime for some reason I never got to the bottom of) but can't for the life of me remember *where* they are or I would have tried substitution just to cross that off the list. Based purely on prior experience though I'd expect a weak spark to be evidencing itself under load as hesitation or a lack of power rather than at idle. As it stands she will go just fine if you put your foot down.