car is a 98 model hatchback Felicia

first some history

:- engine is a 1.3 carburetor engine. engine was built over exactly one year ago. new used gearbox. clutch kit two years old. new distributor. new used engine head. old head was small and big valves, new head is big valves across the board. head was pressure tested and shaved .005 of an inch.

now the problem

:- i getting loads of power on flat roads, but sluggish on hills, if i'm on the highway the car will accelerate to 120kph and then top out if i hold that speed temperature rises to 3/4 mark on temp gauge but never pass it. not losing and coolant or oil. on hills vehicle will ping if i pull off even in first gear, when i'm in the power band no power until engine speed drops and i start to hear the pinging and i will get adequate power to keep me moving at a low speed......

my thoughts

:- i doubt head gasket is compromised because they way i drive and the distance i make on a regular basis i would have a catastrophic engine failure

:- doubt is timing because i saw mechanic put a timing light on it and set it to 10 degrees before tdc

:- doubt is clutch because when we change the gearbox clutch had loads of life left

:- don't know if valve clearance set properly not sure of clearance values for this head

:- not sure distributor advancing when it suppose to..... does ignition box affect distributor advancing? because i have a used one i could try

my plea.......... please help me i love my little felicia too much to give her up....

I would get the valve clearances checked, as they may be way out, which does cause slugginshness. Also is your fuel pump up to the job, or does the fuel filter need changing? A job often overlooked as it can be a sod of a job. We rarely come across carb fed Felly's here as all here had fuel injection, but on hills does almost look like fuel starvation of some form.

If the engine is pinging, or pinking as we call it, i would look at the ignition timing again, also what grade of fuel are you using? as the lower the grade, the lower the power

Valve clearances should be 0.25mm inlet, 0.20mm exhaust. If you've had the head skimmed without adjusting the rockers or shortening the pushrods, they will almost certainly be too tight

As for the ignition advance, I'd be surprised if it was all that different to the to the original 136 carb setup, which has both mechanical and vacuum advance - the only documentation I have for carb engines is an Estelle/Rapid manual. Incidentally this states the standard ignition timing for the 136 is 1-3^oBTDC, but I don't know how different the 135 in Felicia form is from the original 136.

only 1-3 degrees?.... our fuel here is 92 octane and 95 octane i use 92...... I'll get them to check the valve clearance again..... what do you mean it has BOTH mechanical and vacuum advance for the ignition? are they separate as in trim level specific or is it both on the same engine?

I think that figure is for static timing - for dynamic timing (800rpm) I only have figures for the 105 and 120 engines but they are 5^o ahead of the static position. The distributor has a centrifugal advance mechanism on the shaft driven purely by the engine speed, and the additional vacuum advance from the carb to compensate for throttle position as well - the vacuum line should be disconnected when checking the base timing.

Now that I think of it I guess the Felicia might have electronic ignition rather than mechanical points, but knowing Skoda I should imagine the basic functionality is the same. Any more than that, though, and I'm stabbing wildly in the dark - the only vehicle I've had with both a carburettor and a distributor was my 120L, and that only ever gave me electrical and head gasket problems so I'm not too hot on the specifics.

what happens in my case if the timing is too advance? 1/3or 5 degrees before tdc vs my 10degrees before tdc?

OK, it turns out I do have the necessary info, it was just hiding somewhere unexpected (the emissions testing section of the service chapter!). First off the minimum RON for the 135 is 91, so the fuel shouldn't be too much of an issue, although there is a note suggesting to use 95 RON in the case of detonation issues.

Timing is specified at idle speed (800 +/- 50RPM), with the vacuum hose disconnected, to be 2 +/- 2^o before TDC (it is electronic rather than points ignition). In addition, the Estelle manual says the mechanical advance should give an extra 14-18^o at 3600+ RPM (vacuum disconnected), and the vacuum advance should give around 5^o extra at small throttle openings.

I'm no expert, but I'd think that 10^o of base advance is probably a bit too aggressive and likely to be a large part of the problems you describe. Hopefully with the timing backed off a bit and the valve clearances checked it should run much better.

thank you thank you thank you....... i heading straight by the garage in the morning....... hope they goingt o be open to what i have to tell them..... i will tell you what happen when i get back the car from them ..... too bad i do not have the necessary equipment otherwise i would have done all this for myself :p