Hey folks.

Nelly had her MOT yesterday and unfortunately she failed...

All the sills are rusted and rotten through.

Needs new N/S bottom ball joint.

Needs new O/S brake caliper.

New O/S wheel bearing.

O/S rear brake shoes wearing (foot and handbrake not very efficient).

So I am taking her off the road for a bit and buying a weekly bus pass and see how that goes. Journey to work will now be 1 and half hours as apposed to 20 mins!

I will then make the decision whether or not to repair and get her back on the road or break for parts and get a new car.

Sad times.... :'(

My brother felly failed on the sills, really cheap to fix. I think he paid less than £100 to sort both sides to a standard that would pass the MOT (Not factory standard). They dont look great cosmetically now, but the car passed after getting them sorted. The other repairs should be cheap enough as well.

Ahh that's sad news, hope you come to a good decision.

None of those things are a disaster mate, and your car is more special than any normal Felicia. Where do you live?

I suppose money is the issue, but truthfully, I've seen newer cars than Nelly fail the MOT with worse.

The biggest job is probably the sills, I don't know for certain but I assume you can buy complete sills for the Felicia which would be a better job and longer lasting than loads of patches. The rest could be done at home with a few tools over a couple of weekends and a Haynes manual.

Just curious but what's wrong with the calliper?

I'm sure some very kind members will help you get it up and running... Sadly I'm not very mechanically skilled.

About the brake caliper I presume they just mean the piston is leaking, in which case I am sure a new piston and seal would do? Rear wheel bearings are quite easy (not tried a front one). Handbrake/rear shoes I presume is just the needing to be adjusted outwards thing which is also quite easy.

Major thing is the sills. I am pretty certain you can't get these on their own, at least officially from Skoda anyway.

Where do you live?

Location:York, UK

Edited 24 January, 201016 yr by anewman

Sad news :'(

As other posters said, brakes/joints/bearings are ordinary stuff that one must be prepared to fix after a MOT (a bit unfortunate to get four of these faults the same year).

Sills will corrode sooner or later. But it can be fixed if you can find someone handy with the MIG equipment. After that it's just a matter of vanity, i.e. how much time you want to spend with body filler and paint...

Cheers guys. Yeh I know there's nothing hugely major to do there and I can probably manage to do it all myself pretty easily (except the sills!)

My dad mentioned replacement sills as he recalls the days of ford cortina ownership where one would just weld a new sill on top of the old/rusting one to get it through its MOT for a couple of years! Lol

That's my only one main concern is the sills and that it could turn into a right mamouth repair job finding some decent metal etc. Then even after these repairs the car is till 14 years old with rust taking hold everywhere else. Just not sure I can keep putting money into her tbh.

It's looking likely she will be going for spares unless I somehow manage to sell her complete for a decent price.

The front caliper is siezed slightly so either needs a new piston or just replacing.

Well for the time being i got my weekly bus ticket this morning! Makes me want to cry! :(

Thanks

Phil

Why not talk to somebody like daverapid, who IIRC rebuilds older skodas?

I'm sure he'd be more than willing to advise you on the best place for cheap, but good parts and advice on rebuilding the car and other parts.

The front caliper is siezed slightly so either needs a new piston or just replacing.

It will probably just be the slider pins seizing so it doesn't free off properly after being applied. I've had it myself. What I did was used a file, then varying grades of wet and dry down to a fine one, on the inside of the caliper carrier until the pins went in and out freely. The other way to go about it (assuming the problem is the pins) is to just get a new caliper carrier. Mine didn't fail the MOT (was advisory) but did have a scare when I needed to brake harshly (affected side locking up), and also a bit of squealing.

Edited 25 January, 201016 yr by anewman

There's nothing too bad there. When they say the sills, they will have marked them on the car - let's see a photo of what's actually wrong. The rest of it is half a day's work, if that.

Seized calipers are usually easy to free off, just get it undone, get the pads out, then use the pedal to extend the piston as far as it can go (without going TOO far), then use a G-clamp to push it back in. Do this 3-4 times, it;'ll be fine. Then free off the sliding pins.

The "shoe wearing" can be the adjusters for the rear shoes not working, easy enough to take a hub off to have a look.

if you weren't so far away, i would repair it for you... seems like a shame to let it go to scrap.... although if you do, i've got first dibs on the seats

honestly phil, it's not that bad, fix it

Have a stooge around smaller local garages; there's usually at least one who'll have someone who knows that "inner sills from a Thripps Thunderclap mk3 just need a corner taking off with a pair of tinsnips, and we can do it and weld 'em on for you for fifty a side guv'."

Why not talk to somebody like daverapid, who IIRC rebuilds older skodas?

I'm sure he'd be more than willing to advise you on the best place for cheap, but good parts and advice on rebuilding the car and other parts.

:yes: With regard to the sills the biggest cost would be the labour not the parts.

If you can get the car to me somehow I'll be more than pleased to do anything you can't/don't want to do. It'd be a shame to see such a special model of Felicia be scrapped because it needs a few repairs. I guess I'm a big softy when it comes to old Skodas!

:yes: With regard to the sills the biggest cost would be the labour not the parts.

If you can get the car to me somehow I'll be more than pleased to do anything you can't/don't want to do. It'd be a shame to see such a special model of Felicia be scrapped because it needs a few repairs. I guess I'm a big softy when it comes to old Skodas!

That's a very kind offer!

I really don't want to see her go either and would really love to keep her.

I guess I could do the repair works myself (excluding the welding!) then let someone (read: you!) do the welding work.

If I'm going down that road though I'm going have to commit properly to her and see about a plastic tailgate and sorting some of the body work out too.

Oh I don't know! :S

You have a lot of support to keep her Phil - I would support you in that too! Its a rare model, and if its running well then you have nothing to loose!

i've got a new wheel bearing here if you want it phil, ie; it's complete, the whole hub assembly all pressed together ready to go!!

might be able to dig up an o/s caliper from my secret stash too

Edited 26 January, 201016 yr by TeflonTom

Secret stash! Maybe we should rename this thread to - Save Nelly The Felly!!!

I have brake fluid, a bottom ball joint [i think] and plenty of tea, coffee and milk!

Get well soon Nelly

Well if you want to fix the rust, can I strongly recommend the bilt hamber stuff,

It's excellent.

I'm fairly certain I've got a litre of gearbox oil which you're welcome to if I can get it up your way through member or give it to Tom to pass on.

Either way, don't let it go.

I did that with a BX due to a tiny bit of rust by a hinge and a fuel pump that was leaking so required replacing and a new cambelt.

Really wish I hadn't let it go as it was a great car with a lot of character.

Phil, you think YOU have problems!

I'll swap ya, and I don't mean the Rapid! :p

oh and the rear drums thing might just be because they need adjusting too....

i can't help feeling that some mot test stations just dream up some faults because they want to take your car off you for peanuts

What a nice bit of support from you guys!

I really would love to keep her so may set about getting the work done. My only reservation is not having the money and certainly not the time to be maintaining an old car anymore.

I may see about doing some of the work and then guaging interest in selling her as she is. Perhaps to someone with more resrouces and time on their hands.

My absolute dream would be to taker her off the road for some time and restore her to her former glory! (by this I mean rust treatment, plastic tailgate, new side wings (which are rusting), new front bumper (which has some damage to it), replace some worn/damaged interior trim, replace mechanically worn parts and then a respray.

Phil