Vietnam.

[fakedollar]

I am a soldier in the Army and plan on using a felicia to drive to Vietnam and back to raise money for cancer research and help for heroes.

Its very much still in the planning stage at the moment. We have the donor vehicle, which shall be extensively modified to cope with the journey. We're looking at putting a 20XE or something similar in the car, with uprated suspension, wheels, gearbox, dry sump, winch, under belly plates, bull bars, spots etc.

I'm after a bit of advice about the choice of power plant and drive, obviously it needs to be something that's going to fit without too much hassle, but also not too bad on fuel. We're going to keep it FR drive but install wider profile tyres.

I shall follow this up with a build thread so you can all see the progress.

I'd appreciate any help anyone can give and look forward to your replies.

[nu99et18]

Sounds interesting, as for parts you do have a few options, for coilovers or suspension fronts from a mk1 focus fit and rears from mk3 golf fit, you can upgrade the front brakes pretty easily too, search for the 256mm front brake upgrade. As for engines i believe the easiest is the 1.4 1.6v afh from a polo 100bhp, or the 1.6 16v hybird 125bhp. The vauxhall engine is do able also but more comlex, jim could offer advice here.

What engine does your donor car have fitted?

[fakedollar]

It's got a 1.3 MPI in it at the moment, the reason for thinking of a fairly powerful engine is the car will weigh quite a bit once fully built and loaded. Though the 1.6 hybrid sounds interesting, do you have any more info on this? Thanks for the info about suspension, I'll have a look into it.

[fakedollar]

I'm considering a VR6, anyone done a convertion with one?

[nu99et18]

This thread covers it: http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.briskoda.net%2Fforums%2Ftopic%2F107541-felicia-1-4-16v-engine-transplant%2F&ei=qA4eUbX2Oq6A0AWOhYHoAw&usg=AFQjCNFeq-Mw2pMBUGBiHsEE9fROS5Rr4A

orginally its starts as the 1.4 conversion but then changes to 1.6 16v hybrid, have a read through all the info you need is there. This conversion is fairly straight forward.

As for vr6 it has been done but it would be alot of hassle and costly.

Edited 15 February, 2013 by nu99et18

[djaychela]

I'd leave it standard.

I took a 1.3 SPi estate I bought for £150 to Banjul via the Sahara (and indeed both Paris and Dakar), never missed a beat throughout in the 4399 miles it had to do, not something that could be said for nearly all the other cars (most of which sneered at the Skoda when they first saw it).

Putting anything else under the bonnet is asking for trouble (other than the 1.4 16v) - if you change gearbox then you're starting a chain of events with a whole load of R&D that you need to do to make it reliable. I would gladly drive a Felly around the world - tough, simple, reliable and undesirable, the ideal for that sort of thing. The only thing I would do is get some uprated suspension with higher ride height as the front in particular is a little low for some of the rougher terrain (sumpguard essential), and an extra inch or so here would help massively.

Why would you want a dry sump on a car that you're doing that sort of distance in? The reasons you'd want a dry sump setup are surely a million miles away from what you're wanting for this, it'll increase complexity, decrease reliability and I can't see the advantages for this application (unless there are a lot of high-G corners on the way to vietnam?)

Great idea though, it'll be an excellent adventure, so make sure you blog it as you go and take loads of pictures, etc..

Edited 15 February, 2013 by djaychela

[fakedollar]

The main idea behind the dry sump is to move it away from harm. Thanks for the advice about the engine, keeping it standard is an option, but I was concerned about reliability, plus low end torque when trying to get through hard terrain. Perhaps modifying the standard engine is the way forward to simplify it. Do you think the stock felicia box could handle anymore extra power?

[nu99et18]

Tom runs about 130bhp though his 1.3 skoda gearbox and has done for many miles

[djaychela]

The dry sump won't really help in terms of clearance because the gearbox is similarly low, and you'll -need- to fit a sumpguard anyway, so an immense expense would be largely irrelevant.

TBH unless you're in a competitive event with a significant chance of a victory, there's no point in uprating the engine, in my opinion. Yes, it won't be the fastest car on earth, but a standard Felicia is capable of going fast enough to get you in plenty of trouble, and most importantly if you prepare it correctly it will do so for thousands of miles on end.

The standard gearbox will last very well if it's looked after - i.e. a good one in the first place (input shaft and diff shimming is most important, and easily measured without dismantling the box), with an oil change with good quality oil (I found Bardahl was excellent), and most importantly that you take it easy on the synchros, taking a half a second to change gear rather than rushing/forcing it and damaging the synchros. Once you change at a suitable pace the box will be near bulletproof - I never had an issue with any of my cars once I changed gear sensibly. Torque, not power, is what damages gearboxes, but with a much more torquey than standard engine I didn't have any significant wear issues, and I stripped the box after two years of using it to find no extra wear (box was stripped to change LSD preload, not because of a problem).

The SPi car I had was very tired, and if I'd spent some time on it (and most importantly replaced the radiator and thermostat) it would have even run cool - its only issue was it ran too warm for my liking, but this was flat out in the sahara, driving through both sand dunes and the harder terrain that most of the area actually is. Doing 50+ miles on the beach in Mauritania in wet sand didn't bother it in the slightest.

I seriously think you should look at getting a nice standard one, prepping it by making sure it keeps cool (the most important thing in an engine being highly stressed, I reckon), and then look at some moderate power gains by de-catting the exhaust and a mild porting job on the head and matching the manifold to it. I did similar mods to my first Felicia and it transformed it; probably only 5bhp overall, but made it a much 'happier' car to drive. Dealt with the hills in Wales without issue in '06....

[fakedollar]

The current car has 82k on, it does crunch going into 1st when cold. I shall be trying to source a decent box to use then.

Did the porting increase torque by much?

Thanks for the info, it's exactly what I'm looking for! I'll keep the stock engine then, with a rebuild and performance and reliability upgrades. I already intend to make a few changes to aid cooling, plus using steal braiding and doubling up connections to reinforce fluid lines.

[djaychela]

I never got it dynoed, but it ran a lot better. Like anything in a modern production environment, it's built to a price to make a minimum performance, not a maximum one. I've seen huge variations in the quality of the machining on Skoda 8v heads, and mostly round the valve seat/throat (where the biggest problems can occur). It's not a case of making the ports bigger, just improving what's there. It'll never be a fire breathing beast, but as I said above unless you're in a competitive event (I assume you're not) then it's a waste of time. The Felicia I had averaged over 40mpg on the 4400 miles I drove it.

Which reminds me. If you have a tuned engine, you will no doubt blow it up at some point on such a journey. The fuel that you encounter on the way is massively variable - in Western Africa we ended up running on something they called "super" which was a sort of leaded petrol. You can imagine how some a more picky engine could protest when presented with a fuel that's got a really low octane rating.

I think taking a leaf out of the book of budget road rally preparation is the way to go - jubilee clips on exhaust hanger rubbers, guarded brake lines if you can't run them inside (I would do if I were you on a Felicia as they are vulnerable under the lowest bit of the floor, as are the fuel lines), that sort of stuff.

A box crunching into 1st when cold - depends on how you're treating it, really; it's quite possible the internals are still spinning from when it was in neutral, but it'd be best to be 100% with a good box.

Can't remember how many miles my banjulmobile had on it when I got it, but I'm pretty sure it was north of 100k...

[fakedollar]

Im looking at a 20k+ journey, so it needs to be reliable more than anything, Im definately not after massive power gains, just greater drivability.

Im struggling to find anything about raising the suspension. I was wondering if the pick up suspension could be fitted with bigger springs? Im going to get out tomorrow with the vehicle tomorrow and start pulling it apart so I can see how much play ive got around there..

[Yoss]

I'm liking the sound of this. How far along in the planning stage are you? Any idea of the route yet? Seems like a very sensible car especially as large parts of Eastern Europe and I assume Russia (or former Soviet states) will have to be covered.

Have to agree with most of the above. We did 80,000 miles in our old 1.3 LXi estate (and it was still fine when we sold it) and it only stopped once and that was just one of the brushes in the alternator having worn down. The man from the AA superglued another brush onto the stump of ours to get us home and a new one cost us £10. Obviously we had to do the odd job to it but that was the only time it actually let us down but i'm sure you'll have a few spares with you.

I shall follow this thread with great interest, good luck.

[fakedollar]

We've got a rough route drawn up, we'll be crossing almost every possible type of terrain going.. Makes finding appropriate rubber an interesting decision.. Im picking up the welder this weekend, so the body will start to get cut and welded soon. But the speed of this build depends on funds and time.. Lots to think about!

[TeflonTom]

The c20xe engine as been done before, but it isn't what you are looking for if you want to travel 1000's of miles over rough terrain as has already been said in here, it's not power you need, you need reliability.

Jack the suspension up, throw the thermostat away, put a radiator from a diesel model (larger) it might be worth having more than one set of wheels with different types of tyres on too, but other than that keep is standard..

there is an inherent problem with modified vehicles which gets amplified the further into the wilderness you get, spare parts, the chances are if you have a breakdown you should be able get spares for a standard felicia in pretty much every country in Europe and a fair bit of Asia too.

Also don't bother with a dry sump, just take a spare one with you, make up a skid plate out of some 6mm ally checkerplate or similar to protect the botto of the engine bay, also if possible it's worth trying to route the fuel and brake lines inside the car to protect them because they are prone to damage under the car.

[fakedollar]

I would like to keep it as standard as possible, but would really like to raise the car, thanks for the tip on the radiator, will it fit straight away, or is some fabrication required?

Spare wheels aren't really an option due to space restraints, I'm thinking about putting some winter van tyres on, but not made a decision on which ones yet.. I'll also be carrying chains to help further with traction when travelling across snow.

[TeflonTom]

The radiator will fit fairly easily yes, but it does mount differently to the petrol ones it sit further forward, you would have to do a bit of fiddling to get the hoses to join up but it's all easy stuff..

well you could one spare wheel in the boot recess, on on the back of the tailgate, one on the bonnet, think outside the box, and that's before you've even thought about fitting a roof rack.

don't bother with chains, they are waste of time and space, just fit some chunky knobbly tyres to a set of steel rims, these should see you well through marsh land or mud traps and snow drifts, you're not looking for wide wheels here, something around a 5j width and a 165 width, narrower the better for snow.

[fakedollar]

We're putting a wheel in the back and a wheel on the boot. Then using a good all round tyre for the ones fitted. With snow rubber fitted to the spares, we could swap them to the front when the situation called for it, but could potentially make the car a pain to drive.. Something like 165/80/13 kingpin mud and snow. With Avon av10s for dirt track and road use.

Cheers for the advice so far Tom, much appreciated!!

Edited 16 February, 2013 by fakedollar

[fakedollar]

Had a look under the car today and there's a few vulnerable points there, obviously the sump will need a guard, gear linkage, a gearbox sensor sticks down quite a bit, fuel lines.. Tried and failed to remove a wing, after taking out the wheel arch liner and undoing all the bolts in the door jam and engine bay, still couldn't get it to budge, seems like its glued on? Can anyone shed any light on this?

[TeflonTom]

yes the sensor sticking out the front of the gearbox that points down is the reversing light switch, it's not critical, just unplug it and forget it..

the wings are bonded on, it's like an industrial adhesive, you WONT get them off without bending them up

[rolo]

1.9 diesel with a bosch pump.

If you blow lamp the joins the wings come off. Usually to reveal problems around the top rail.

Edited 17 February, 2013 by rolo

[TehRin]

yes the sensor sticking out the front of the gearbox that points down is the reversing light switch, it's not critical, just unplug it and forget it..

Better yet, leave it. That way you actually have a reverse light, until it actually breaks. :p

Might be better to be prepared with different types of tyre, also how many are going in the Felicia?

[fakedollar]

There's two of us, the back of the cars getting gutted into one big boot.. Cheers for the advice about the wings, think ill just leave them alone.

[Yoss]

the back of the cars getting gutted into one big boot..

The back seat comes out in about ten seconds. Then you already have one big boot.

[TeflonTom]

Better yet, leave it. That way you actually have a reverse light, until it actually breaks. :p

yes true, I was just thinking in terms of getting an mot, the reverse lights aren't testable so there's no need to worry about protecting the switch from damage.