Skoda Estelle rebuild

[Philsom26188]

!!!WARNING!!! Lots of Pictures!!!

Right I've posted on here a wee bit. I put a link to retro rides on one of them but I though I might aswell stick up all the photos on here. We are rebuilding her to use in the retro rallys in Ireland.

Inside the beast

And again.

Yes it's.............a Skoda Estelle 130 8) The rear

Came with 4 of these tasty alloys in addition to the ones on her.

Sills arent too bad. And floor looks clean enough.

The front.

Yea.....it needs a wing. :lol:

The engine bay

The engine!!!

Theres quite a few photos here, but we got a bit carried away and decided to give you an idea of the stuff we have in the shed. The fergie is Russells, the Mini is also his. And the polo is now the donor car for our rally polo. :lol:

[

Edited 1 April, 2009 by Philsom26188
I was asked to

[Philsom26188]

Pictures dont seem to be showing up. damn

[faboka vrs]

Works fine for me. Keep the build process coming

[Philsom26188]

more...

Old Merly and Otto outside

[Philsom26188]

new engine with webber set on.

bonnet is off, which makes it easier to repair front lip.

Trial fit

Have two rather blurry photos. But here you go.

Drivers sill partially removed

Rust!!!

[Philsom26188]

(this is all copied off a mini forum that I'm also a member of)

Front section

More of the front section, the bottom section will need the majority of the lip replaced.

This is the jacking point. We arent cutting this bit out until we have the rear section fixed, as its the only part that still has the position of the bottom seam visible to match up to.

The rear section. I cut away the rot here. There was a lip similar to the front. so plans are to fabricate a replacement section and spot weld it to the face of the solid part of the original.

Hole through to rear arch. The bottom part of the rear arch will all have to be patched or cut away and replaced.

The rear up close.

The rust.

Parts of old honeycomb section. (sits between floor and inner sill and outer sill.

Give me a mini anyday. This has the most complicated sill layout ever. I'm now confident I know where erverything goes, but bloody hell. :roll:

[Philsom26188]

This is the latest on it so far

Finished product. God knows how many runs is it. I painted over the runs with each layer I appied. :lol: But its a budget job.

Rear wheel arch

Rear floor and inner sill

Front floor

****ty patch to cover hole. To be removed and a tidier job done.

I finally painted the inside of the wing with whatever was left over, which was silver/grey manifold paint. :lol:

However i got a little overspray on the "cleanest polo shell in the country". Oops. Has since been wiped down with white spirits.

Floor repairs complete.

New front inner sill fabricated and welded in place.

Removing the inner sill on the rear section with a brick bolster left a small hole which we then had to patch....

Repaired rear arch

closer.....

Mr MIG

Since these photos were taken we have now completed the rear inner sill, fitted the honeycomb and the outer sill. Just a bit of tidying up with isopan to do. And one side should be complete.

[rigsby]

One of the early photos says the engine is a 130 8 , That should be a 136 engine

Car is coming on well though, keep posting photos

[richardsfavorit]

Impressive stuff, keep up the good work. I would love a project like this.

[Philsom26188]

Impressive stuff, keep up the good work. I would love a project like this.

It could very easily be yours. :lol: We tip toed around doing the first sill. But now we know what to do, we can't wait to get the other side done and then straighten the front out. But there is a heap of mechanical work to be done then. The car was lying in a field for over 10 years, so everything needs freed up and all bushings replaced.

I apologise for any mistakes with engine sizes and what not. This is our first Skoda and our first rebuild of any car come to think of it. So any help at all or advice is more than welcome.

[KenONeill]

Nice. Does it have the semi-trailing arm rear suspension, 5-speed box and rack & pinion steering?

Is that a wee Fergie I spied there too?

Oh and could you edit the OP and stick in a "lots of photos" warning in the first line or 2?

[Philsom26188]

Nice. Does it have the semi-trailing arm rear suspension, 5-speed box and rack & pinion steering?

I think it has the semi trailing arm rear suspension. As for steering and 5 speed box. I dunno. How can you tell?

Is that a wee Fergie I spied there too?

It is yea. My mate Russell, the welder rebuilt it two years ago. Its complete with original 1953 tax book, cover and jack.

Oh and could you edit the OP and stick in a "lots of photos" warning in the first line or 2?

I can, but what is OP? Topic title?

[hawkeracing]

Wow.....you must have way too much time on your hands as well as a lot of will power and skill. I would have taken the nice bits off and put them onto an Estelle that was still alive!!!

[Philsom26188]

Wow.....you must have way too much time on your hands as well as a lot of will power and skill. I would have taken the nice bits off and put them onto an Estelle that was still alive!!!

No job, no skill, and very little will power. But its a good way of killing time or anger management.........."now where did I put that 9 inch grinder?" :lol:

Plus there arent too many estelles left alive over here. If there are Will has them bought up. We are learnin everything as we go along. Russell is learning to weld, and I'm learning to fabricate and paint.

[KenONeill]

If it has the semi-trailing rear, it's almost certainly a 130 from that alone. The bits can be swapped, but due to production constraints, Skoda only shipped semi-trailing ends on 130s. That is also stongly indicative of a 5-speed box (try and engage 5th), and rack and pinion steering (steering rack, rather than a steering box similar to the Fergie at the bottom of the column).

Oh and yes it's not just older cars I'm interested in!

OP - Original Post (or Poster, depending on context).

[Philsom26188]

If it has the semi-trailing rear, it's almost certainly a 130 from that alone. The bits can be swapped, but due to production constraints, Skoda only shipped semi-trailing ends on 130s. That is also stongly indicative of a 5-speed box (try and engage 5th), and rack and pinion steering (steering rack, rather than a steering box similar to the Fergie at the bottom of the column).

Oh and yes it's not just older cars I'm interested in!

OP - Original Post (or Poster, depending on context).

She doesn't engage into any gear now the engine is out. We have been given two engines with it. The fella we bought it off used to rally them and built his fair share of them. So who knows whats in it. For instance the front brakes have been converted to 4 pot which I've been told are rare. The engine that came out was skimmed to much much and kept blowing head gaskets. So the engine to go in is out of a rapide and was fully rebuilt as a spare engine for his other estelle to do the Circuit of Ireland in. So you could say it's a bit tuny.

[hawkeracing]

The 4 pots were standard on Rapids and 130s so they arent that rare.....and apparently not much better than the 2 pots.

[Philsom26188]

The 4 pots were standard on Rapids and 130s so they arent that rare.....and apparently not much better than the 2 pots.

Well I'm happy at that. Means parts will still be available. Shes on adjustable shocks all round too. Any idea if you can still get roll cages for them and what they're worth?

[hawkeracing]

No I dont think you can an off the shelf cage in this country. Having one made would be the best part of £500.....I know Ive looked! Why you selling?

[Philsom26188]

No I dont think you can an off the shelf cage in this country. Having one made would be the best part of £500.....I know Ive looked! Why you selling?

Not atm. Its keeping the car held together. :lol: Was just trying to find out how sought after one would be. Our one was FIA approved. But the car was never actually used competitively. So it's like new. Might be forced to sell it though, at some point down the line to pay for the rest of the restoration. Depends ultimately on whether we do rally it or not. That's why she was bought. But after putting so much time into it, and the realization of what lies ahead, by the time she comes on the road I dont know whether I'll want to risk wrapping it round a tree in a rally. So I might just bring her to shows instead and the odd autotest.

[KenONeill]

Quoting from the great John H (and others) again, the car is actually over-braked (at least for gravel) at the front with the 4-pots. Of course, this means you can run a pretty much stock front end (discs and pads as well as calipers).

[KenONeill]

Oh and cheers for adding the warning. I asked because I'm stuck on a 2Mbaud contended link, and the machine seemed to have frozen due to the time the pics took.

[Tenman]

looks like an Ashley exhaust on there as well ...

[Matt Bodycombe]

Big respect to you for restoring one of these little cars. One of the guys at the Maidstone meet has one and it got me wanting one of these again. A mate had them when he started driving and I have always loved them. Should be a cracker once it's finished. Just as an aside did the 136 engine get the tougher crank that was fitted to the Favorit. My Skoda book (L&K Skoda) says that the 130 Estelle engine is only good for about 70K before a rebuild?

[Philsom26188]

Cheers for the support,

I haven't baldy about the crank. When we get the bodywork complete I intend on askin the previous owner a list of the full spec of the engine he gave us to put in. I know there is some form of high lift cam in it but that's about the height of it.

An Ashley exhaust you say? Is that a good thing?