Former

If you wanted you could go even shorter by using a different gear lever knob. There where DIY solutions for quick shift lever on the Ford Type 9 gearbox that cost pennies and IIRC very little simple work.

I'm not a chemist or metal ologist, material ologist or wotever, it's not something I would try when there are inexpensive products designed to do the cleaning already available.

Please don't the car already has enough creaks, rattles and thumps, and intermittent to add to the 'joy'. Perhaps they're from was my suggestions to try it on brake pads and discs, whoops. Yes you could try some contact cleaner at the pivot points and if that don't work move on to GT85, even if it does work after you could give the GT85 a quick shake and spray as a longer lasting lubricant. Thanks for the photo say going into the dark hole of the footwell looking at black plastic against dark carpet on my knees. Most service and maintenance and many repairs boil down to clean or clean and lubricate, even the very sexy and macho scan tools deleting error codes is electronic cleaning or the old favourite "switch it off 'n' on agen". This weekend I went to lock my neighbour's porch pvc door but the 5 point lever would go even with the door open out of the frame so as I knew he had a can of GT85 because I gave it to him a quick shake and spray and the GT85 and all was fine door locked with ease. That'd be a £130 job down that there Lundun plus call-out fee. 😄

Yeap Vauxhall was RHD Opel part of GM, the company that the American government bailed out then later things got even worse ending in Stellantis. America isn't the only place that you can get your information from. Quickshift, short shift, these are about motor sports, what's good for motor sports might not be so good on a road use car or even not good at all. Shortening the existing gear lever at least keeps standard parts that you know fit and work, whether this or different parts actually achieve what you want is a different matter. I've had shorter levers in two of my cars, one I just cut the length down in situ, didn't even need to thread it, it gave me the effect I wanted more elbow and knuckles room. Below cheap quickshift lever being offered up for my mate to cut down and thread at his work during hie lunch break.

Either gravity feed tank on the roof of you car, you can squeeze off the supply hose and release it as a tap or the help of a glamorous assistant, or pump /syphon, it can be done. Doesn't mean it isn't awkward but all working at the side of a busy road is to be avoided where possible. Best to stick with one type of coolant and make and model of coolant if possible and avoid any additives if possible, who knows what will mix in well with what.

ETA: One of my theories is that the thin aerosol lubricant spray can/may wash out debris but that doesn't mean you have to use a lot of the spray, shake the can, quick spray both sides of the pedal pivot, leave to soak in for a minute or two, work the pedal up and down by hand, if creak has gone great if not another quick spray, soak and work in. You may need more to get the old spray grease out, an old tooth brush bristles might be enough, I don't know I've never looked at the pedal.

I checked only earlier this year with WD-40 Company (the invasive Yank corporation that owns the former British company that was GT85) and on second try they replied that it hadn't been tested for such unlike WD-40 Multi-Use but a couple people I know that have tried it have said it's been fine, I'm not sure I've ever used it on electrics because I still have Servisol Super 10 switch cleaner and lubricant but I probably have and would without worrying about it but I'm just some bloke off the internet. If you use it and it buggers up the pedal and you crash and die do let me know and I'll be more cautious about its use. Always remember to shake the can first (the instructions are on the label).

What about G12evo that took over from G13 (G12evo is the latest VW engineering specification, specified by the engineers, taking over from their previous changing specifications.) 😁

The SOC charge is said to be 80% or 70% but I've not seen any original information on this, the12.4v mostly refers to AGM batteries but the VW start/stop system isn't really designed for battery life longevity it's about "look we're trying to save fuel and deduce emissions". That's why they have to change the battery at 5 years but the more modern cars can't make it that far even. I might be wrong as my memory isn't brilliant but IIRC later Owner's Manuals have charge at 12.3V. I'd not take 12.47v as fully charged, it may be sufficient charge but it's not fully charged and I'd not want to see 12v when car is rested, I've no qualms about filling the said 20% or 30%. But don't misunderstand me, I don't frequently check the battery state of charge (at the posts, car unlocked for about 20 minutes) and don't worry about it. The replacement AGM battery has needed charging more than I expected but it's not much more than a few a year, I don't know if or how much more frequently it'd have been needed if I'd stuck to an EFB battery because my wife's car doesn't have the extra insulation said to be required for an AGM battery so may not be as efficient as it could be, but we're all surviving with the occasional help of the low cost Ring charger maintainer. Don't get too hook on on this, just do some routine checks or when there's a period of greater use or much hotter or colder weather. Ultimate Speed I think I've seen are in/from Lidl/Aldi and I've known neighbours and others buy cheap battery charger maintainers from them and they have been good, that tool would be just for diagnostics checking for me, once in a decade or so (or more) use on my car but if it gives you accurate reassurance then it deserves the glovebox space. I don't like too much storage space as then it tends to get filled with stuff just because the space is available, my last car didn't even have a glovebox. 🙂 If your Bluetooth thing is just a generic code reader and not VW specific then it'll possibly only pick up generic OBD error codes, again nothing to lose sleep over but worth doing if you can.

You can use gravity. or some sort of pump or syphon, the matrix won't hold that much, have double it's volume available and repeat as required.

Miata is the American name, at home it's called the Eunos and in UK MX-5. Yeap, you alter the point of wotsit (fulcrum?) pretty standard stuff, either kit adaptation or as you have shown replaced lever. MX-5 / Eunos (Miata) is the biggest selling sportcar ever so has lots of aftermarket support and tuning and cosmetics items for sale. Was going to suggest you don't rely on America for your info but I changed my mind.

Do the easy stuff first, clean and lubricate, my choice is GT85 as it's a penetrant, longer lasting lubricant, smells nice and not thick and greasy as er, grease which can hold debris and perhaps cause a creak. 😁 If you want to hold a steady 60 mph the cruise control (if fitted) will be better (steadier) at that and give a little bit more mpg (not that I ever use it as I don't like it and don't worry too much about mpg as one or two people travelling in a heavy car). https://gt85.co.uk/ HTH.

If your gearbox and clutch are not up to quick shifts the short shift will just save a bit of cabin space, you could do the same for this effect just by cutting the gear lever down, and if required rethreading the top, for the gear knob to sit lower in the car.

Yes. If it's not convenient to remove then you just use the inlet and outlet connections. Connect a hose up to the outlet and get water going in the opposite direction to usual, the inlet is connected to a drain/backflush/rinse hose to a large bucket or receptacle to at first at least catch what comes out to inspect the coolant that was in the heater matrix (rad). My system normally is to clean (using some sort of cleaner) the whole cooling/heating system but you could just do it on the matrix, then flush and backflush with clean water as many times as required until waste water is clear and clean, then drain, syphon or blow out residue water ready for fresh clean coolant to go back in.

ETA; you don't get much engine breaking on modern cars, inflate your tyres to 'eco' setting, reducing the rolling resistance of the tyres, and you'll see just how far you can roll without the accelerator being touched. I'd not worry about carrying any testers (or spares or tools) in your car, prevention is better have things right at the start do your driver maintenance (preferably at home when convenient) and you'll soon get to know things are good or going off a bit.

New battery full charged after it has been left to settle will be 12.7-12.9v depending on lots of variables, on the car, after opening the car and letting all the computers settle for about 20-30(?) minutes you see about a 0.3v drop (everything turned of that can be (12.7v will show as 12.4v). All rough figures only for example. A mate's 10 year old slightly buggered battery off his 2005 diesel Jag I fully charged (well as much as it would) in my shed a couple of weeks or so ago after a few days just sitting in the shed it settled on 12.8v, just checked it now 12.7v, it'd be fine for use on some cars not not a little use and then only short journeys diesel Jag or a modern VW. VW, if you can believe anything from them 😄, battery figures - (n load to voltage) 12.7v-100% - 12.3v-60% - 12.1v-40% - 11.7v-0%. I was thinking of getting the battery 'coded' and an error report before deleting any errors codes (to see if any return, hopefully not, a battery in low state of charge and even disconnecting and reconnecting the battery can upset the Gods that are the car's computers. For battery 'coding' and error report and deleting codes, someone on the list may be able to help you for beer tokens. Mine was done on an OBDEleven by a site member not far from me. The reports can be very long so below is just the battery 'coding'. List of member that might be able to help you. - Briskoda VCDS Owners Map (click me)

Internally (and externally if possible) clean the heater matrix and rinse an flush and back-flush through.

My mate sets his valve clearances to his setting rather than the book as the engine aren't new and he has so much experience on the engines and having used his "classic" as a "daily" for so long and the engines aren't standard anyway. He now owns my last "classic" that I used as a "daily" and the only car I owned for the previous 16 years (I could also use my wife's car if available but it rarely was). The others have seen the vid but you might be interested. My neighbour asked if he could do a video on the car for his YT channel and his well established comprehensive website on motor car history, this was all done in a bit of a rush on s/h camera just out of Covid lockdown (hence my long "covid-locks" hair) everything one take and edited on free software. His site. - https://motor-car.net/ The video, a go car not a show car. -

On there are the Owner's Manual supplements one for a short hood cover which I presume is for covering of rear seat that go into the bed of the pickup without the cover the rear passengers would have plenty of headroom. Here this shows what you a bit of what you want to see. - "Here's a funky little four-seater pickup in which the rear seats fold out into the pickup bed - that's just a cool touch no matter how you look at it!" - https://hidenseat.co.uk/content/skoda-felicia-fun-pickup/

Have you looked at all the information on this site? - https://skodafeliciafun.co.uk/index.html

The "glitters" is one thing and sometimes seen in leak sealants, whether that caused the black gloopy I'm not sure, it might be the photos but it looks very black and shiny, perhaps it's different additives reacting or something else as suggested. I too would investigated further, if your rad has a cap I'd look at that and the top of the rad, extract some coolant if required to see the top of the inside of the rad and see what the coolant looks like too. Perhaps if the heater is higher take the hose off and see what it looks like insides, again also looking at the coolant there.

😆 I'm a 'serial 'offender', really annoys some but I don't see the harm especially if the issues has been resolved or there's a long delay before resolve cn be reported. You've got a clock, and its digital, you're showing off now. 😆 That's late for non-car here, the whole cat thing is only because the Americans are so insular and wedded to consumerism but we won't go into how they 'help' the world. Yes but it's silly because if they are actually mechanic the more basic cars obviously cover the basics of mechanics, like learning to drive if people intitally learnt to drive in an old car they were learnt the basics of driving rather than just how to pass a test. Yes a robot could do as some who just follow a error codes rather than using the scanner just as another diagnostics tool and checking the information the scan tool has given and further diagnosis. In most ways earlier cars are so much easier to work on so you would think they would like to work on them, if only for a change. Unfortunately there are good reasons for this, most "classic" car owners don't want to spend money on the vehicles other than for cosmetics because they drive the vehicles so infrequently and for such short distances, this also means they have very little idea of how to drive the vehicles or how well they should or could go so very many very shiny vehicles are not in the best running condition or anywhere near it. When I had an older car but not "classic" of a specialist English manufacturer I took it to a chap I was recommended too and he was telling me about a customer moaning about the cost and the work and parts required, I think at the time his labour charges were at least halve of those that the specialist Dealership type garages charged so I told him to put his prices up to get rid of such customers (these were not cheap old cars). 6 months later I was back and he put his price up and I was the first customer at the new tariff, and same again 6 months on from that.😆 I didn't mind as he done a good job and still at much lower cost and predicted he was doing more work as he was no longer dealing with irresponsible customers returning always wanting half a job done then moaning about it. I've worked dealing with the general public and businesses and as a customer of course and there is good and bad on all sides (the customer isn't always right and many "try it on", same as many in the car trade. If you are going to drive a car you should learn the basic driver checks and maintenance regardless of age and they apply to old and new cars. Parent, grandparents and guardians that provide the children with vehicles and do all the work and administration for them are doing the children no favours. They don't need to know too much or do anything but driver's maintenance but that should be a minimum. It used to be a lot easier as the Driver's Handbook (Owner's Manual) actually detailed the servicing and maintenance work work required and how to do (and capacities and grades unlike todays VWs). I always suggest for old or new cars that owners should read the Owner's Manual and refer to it as required. I've know owners that are good at mechanics and owned the car decades yet still have something(s) wrong on an old car just because they haven't read the Driver's Handbook for decades and think they know everything already but have forgotten in reality. I also suggest those thinking about buying a new, or new to them, car but particularly a "classic" that they read the Owner's Manual' before even going to look to buy to see just how much servicing and maintenance might be involved and how properly to use the controls and drive the car rather than what they might have been told or read, there's so much misinformation and errors about. For servicing and maintenance you should refer to the Owner's Manual BEFORE the workshop manual and even for repairs, particularly with new cars they could save themselves time, hassle and money as they might find the quick, easy (often clean hands) and no cost solution in the Owner's Manual. A tip for you, the car 12v battery has always been very important, make sure that it and its connections and cables (including earths) are in good condition, clean, secure and protected and that the battery is in a good state of charge. If you have a starting or electrical issue first check those items mentioned and fully recharge the battery with a low amperage charger, to full, as this will help with finding and resolving issues (or even resolve the issue) whereas if things are not in good condition and battery low in charge it can hinder or even prevent diagnosis and resolve. More than once I've been told long stories of issues that took lots of work and time to find the cause and I spoil the end of the story by saying "I bet you fitted a new battery and it was solved". 😆 If they had fully charged the battery and maintained the charge at the start they would possibly not needed to change the battery at all and wated all the time and effort. State of battery charge and state of battery health is even more important with the newer cars, the newer the more important because of all the consumers and computer bits on them. I agree, but I don't like to experiment and would rather find correct information but sometimes you do have to experiment, particularly if you can't remember what order the bits go back in. 😄 Do always bear in mind that you need to check and cross reference any information you get from any source be it Owner's Manual, workshop manuals, any database, the internet (particular old blokes with poor memories), with if possible two other (hopefully) reliable sources of information. Bear in mind things can change and some things that were poor quality can sometimes improve (for a while/ contract). 10% (and 5%) ethanol fuel can be an issues for some "classics" here particularly those that aren't driven often. one of the reason for the last couple of rolling road sessions. I've found old engines like changes of oil & filter, air filter and when required or as preventative or performance change of spark plugs. A mate puts new plugs in ever year at annual service as they are so inexpensive (always stick to old copper type). Of course the engine is not the most important part of the car, instead brakes, steering, suspension (all three include tyres), lights (horn) and glass (windows, mirrors) (reflective number plates(?)) - see and be seen. Brakes can go hard from age and lack of use, and maintenance, brake fluid might be fine for water content but could have other stuff in it like runner that wears on the rubber seals more so flush changing can be a good idea - or if you don't have that new fangled ABS silicone is very good and too many myths surrounding its use. Tyres are a very complex component and often ignored if there is plenty of tread on them, they can go hard from age, exposure and lack of use, a new set of tyres can make a (big) difference to braking, steering, road holding, handling and comfort and noise. Yes sorry about that, another one of my typos I already had to covert it to miles so I knew it was 195k-miles. Apart from a couple of times when I supply information and instructions to the mechanic and his boss if applicable and even leave another copy in the car these are ignored by either the mechanic, the boss or both. I always ask that if any issues come up just to let me know, they rarely do and slow or mess the job up. That's was one of the reasons I started do the work for myself because after I had paid someone to do the work I had to redo it to get it right. Sadly sometimes I can do a better job, that's not a boast just a very sad statement because I'm not that competent and certainly not with a good attitude to doing the work. Yet I don't mind doing small jobs on my neighbours' cars. And here endth today's sermon . . . 😃

I think it's fantastic you have such a car and are looking after it, 1997 is a modern car though. 😄 Well done on the 133,000 km 331,000 km on the original head gasket, shows it's been looked after. Don't get me wrong I'm not a mechanic or anything else and I loathe working on our cars, when we had them, I would much sooner pay someone else to do the work but I found most were not that great and I could do just as badly at a much lower rate of pay. As you've probably learnt cover the basics and all else is better, regular timely, servicing and maintenance is very necessary with older cars not matter how much you use them, and like with modern cars the less you use them proportionately the more they require. JP Group I don't know but they appear like others to have perhaps parts made or bought in and put in their own label boxes along with their other label Classic Line, just looking at a dissy for a VW they look similar quality to a few other brand labels we get here and as you've learnt in general best avoided. Remind me of First Line here that actually bought some of the production line so still keeping the old brand name but not to the old standards, like Borg & Beck that you might have heard of, they do at least have some level of quality control on what they produce but not as good as decades back. Sorry I couldn't help more with that. What places might be making good parts at any time varies with contract, at one time the ship builders in Turkey (IIRC) were desperate for work so making so parts at very low prices but to good engineering standards because that's what they were used to doing. Sometimes the case with China but not for car parts usually or India, Massive stock contracts go to whoever will do them cheap and the stock can last for years. Most suppliers will send you a new part to replace a faulty one and not want the faulty part back, and repeat as required, law of numbers occasional you might strike lucky. Even having the original tooling means nothing, it could be worn and/or no one left who knows how to use the tooling properly. Stick with Bosch or Beru for rotor arm and dissy cap if applicable, SMP Europe's Intermotor brand not bad for arm and cap (whereas their Lucas and Lemark brands are best avoided, for old car parts at least, Genuine NGK for spark plugs are reliable. HT leads you can make up yourself, Ferroflex is good to use (no longer sold direct to retail) but available from various places at low prices, just watch the quality of the end boots and connectors, you can buy better, and make to proper lengths. If it was a Lucas diisy you can get NOS good quality parts and advice on springs for curves but if your old dissy works well stick with that, there are good quality ignitor head to go under the dissy cap to replace the CB points but you might want a rest from electronics for a while. 😆 Good luck.

Just out of curiosity where did you get the poor quality dissy from, if UK I can think of a few suppliers but it doesn't matter as their source is the same and for other suppliers in other countries, just that I might be able to advice you on other ignition parts from them if I know them.

@SaltySkoda you must be new to dealing with old cars parts(?). For 30+ years I used various old over-priced, over-valued, old cars called "classics" for work, commuting (300 and 500 miles a week for a good number of months) leisure, pleasure, holiday in UK and Europe, club tours and events so many miles in all of them and got through a lot of servicing, maintenance and repairs and dealt with and sourced many parts from various sources. Many new parts have been not good / ****-poor / abysmal for at least the last few decades as original manufacturing companies disappear, get taken over or merge, the brand name is bought and manufacturing entirely different or parts are sourced from places like China were the price dictates the quality and quality testing. Now even New Old Stock parts, if you can source them, may be from a time when the quality had dropped or suffer from age and storage. Reconditioned parts could also be not good / ****-poor / abysmal quality. Parts from scrapyards are a gamble may be great may be very worn, but even very worn they may still be better than many new not good / ****-poor / abysmal parts. Some new parts or replacements like the 123-ingition were very good quality. I don't know about your make of dissy but the ones on the cars I had were out of 'tune' for want of a better word within a few years of use from the car leaving the factory, mainly it's the bottom mechanical part the plate and springs, it never mattered that much as has been put the accuracy of the rest of the engine isn't great anyway. We have a chap in the UK that rebuilds original Lucas dissys using original old stock parts or new electronic top parts if wanted but I've no idea how long the bottom parts remain in spec on his rebuilds, again it may not matter that much for most of his customers who may only do a few dozen, or few hundred or even few thousands of miles a year. My Midget I used as a "daily" for about 16 years and it was modestly uprated so I wanted reliable (uprated) performance which the 123 gave me at a very reasonable price given how long it has so far lasted and been very reliable and not needed any attention (other than annual cleaning) and it was a very good improvement over the igniter head in an original dissy it replaced, the increased precision meant it other (small) performance (in fuel consumption and power) improvement could be reliable made and as put better starting, idle and delivery throughout the rev range. I stopped using contact breaker points over 30 years ago as they weren't reliable then, some love them but they don't know what they are missing having electronic BUT it has to be good reliable and long lasting electronic which many of the ones sold certainly are not. Good luck, you don't need to over lubricate the dissy and stick with good quality makes of rotor arms, dissy caps, HT leads and spark plugs don't be tempted by the cheap kits and parts as you've found they can turn out to be expensive and a lot of hassle, sometimes almost immediately if not immediately.