remember this?

[h39]

hi, i bought this car back in 2007 as my first car, from a skoda loving couple in the midlands. i think they had owned it a couple of years.when i bought i promised them i would never cut it up to make something "fun". i didnt. i drove the car for a year , almost trouble free , apart from a 300 odd mile drive home on half throttle (my fault for not checking carb operation before setting off!), sorted that out pretty sharpish and enjoyed a responsive fun car for a year. oh and the hammer required to beat the starter motor every now and then.subsequently the car has been stored for about 5 years now and every year i give her a lil welding or sealing or whatevers needed.she gets started frequently and runs ands holds temp and everything works well.or so it seems!

  basicly im posting to try to find if anybody knows any history or previous owners. anymore info on my car would be greatly appreciated. the pic attached is one i found on google it shows my car before i bought it.i will try upload some new pics if anyones intrested.thanks .               

  

                           http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/skodamate/Donny186.jpg 

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I remember this car -I think previous owner called it hell5 and was a member of the s.k.o.d.a.s (scunthorpe and doncaster) section of the owners club (skoda monkey) if memory is correct good to see its still about.does anyone else remember it or is my memory somewhat cr*p ?

 

[skodanorman]

Memory isn't all gone Jon... but this is the 120 that was owned by Paul Catt in Middlesbrough and sold to Kenton Rose of S.K.O.D.A.S (Skoda Klub Of Doncaster And Scunthorpe). Kenton then sold the car and I had no idea what had happened to the car. I shall point Kenton towards this thread as I will know he will be keen to hear of it. 

As I remember it was very low mileage and in excellent condition. 

[skodanorman]

PS. Do you have any recent pictures?

[h39]

i new this car had loving roots! i actually went and drove it out of its storage today .... omg i forgot what a beast it is. I couldnt get any decent  pics but will try again tomorrow.as regards to mileage , if my memory serves me correctly i think its around 27000. as regards to condition the paintwork is the biggest floor. im not gunna mug off any previous owners but theres some pretty bad colour matching on the lower half of the car! running gear wise it seems ok although after being given a hella blast earlier it seems it needs a tickle.when i drove the car 5 years ago i drove it HARD and it responded well i was told when i bought it that it had a lot of engine work done?? anyone remember if this is the case? thanks for your response.

[RapidRapid]

My old car, the 1 I regret selling more than most.

 

From what I can remember it hadn't had any engine work done, i fitted an exhaust and a larger carb which improved the drive ability, especially on the A1, I also lowered it quite a bit, as seen in the above photo. The paintwork wasn't the best when I owned it, and could have done with a respray back then. When I sold it, the couple who bought it wanted standard springs refitted, but it looked better lowered. I'll have to see if I can find the photos I have/had of it in my ownership. I would love to see it now, and if you ever wanted to sell it, I might even be tempted to make a space for it.  

[h39]

sell it! goodness no! im holding onto this for my son, hes only got 13 more years to wait!  the guy i bought it from was in alfreton. it looks as though he spent some money on it.ive got reciepts for bits n pieces including 450 quid for a stainless 3-2-1 exhaust. i always assumed it had some engine work done beacause most old boys i took out in it said the estelles they drove  didnt move that well! is it normal for a 1174cc estelle to reach 105 mph on the flat? and valve bounce at 7750 rpm? gonna try get some pics tonight, but just to warn you she has seen better days ( as most of you seem to be aware). cheers.

[RapidRapid]

That would be the couple I sold it to I would imagine, they were from Alfreton. They may have had some work done on it, but it always seemed a bit quicker than other 120's I had owned. Sounds like it has a good home then. 

[hawkeracing]

sell it! goodness no! im holding onto this for my son, hes only got 13 more years to wait!  the guy i bought it from was in alfreton. it looks as though he spent some money on it.ive got reciepts for bits n pieces including 450 quid for a stainless 3-2-1 exhaust. i always assumed it had some engine work done beacause most old boys i took out in it said the estelles they drove  didnt move that well! is it normal for a 1174cc estelle to reach 105 mph on the flat? and valve bounce at 7750 rpm? gonna try get some pics tonight, but just to warn you she has seen better days ( as most of you seem to be aware). cheers.

Valve bounce at 7750rpm......I think your engine has not long to live and/or your rev counter is faulty!  Exhaust system - especially the  manifold,does make a big difference on these engines from personal experience. It will definitely make the car feel more sprightly and rev quicker.......just  not 7750 if you're sensible. I have a lightened and balanced race spec engine and my limiter is set at 7100 - not safe or sensible going beyond it (apart from the fact your power will long since have evaporated unless you are running a ridiculous spec cam)

[h39]

thanks for the responses. as regards to your comments on rpm range i will take heed of your opinion ,based on your experience, your probably correct to suggest faulty gauge or reaching that sweet spot just before the BIG BANG! when i bought the car i remember the guy saying it had 2 litre pinto valves with stem oil seals , and a ported and flowed head which ???apparantly was something built to replicate a 136mpi head??? but i have no reciepts or proof as ive never split the block.is 105mph normal on standard wheels and tyres? cheers

[hawkeracing]

If its still on a 120 5 port engine then he is talking ********. You can port and flow but due to the spark plug location big valves are almost impossible (I have looked into it on my old 130 engine).....well, no bigger than what was fitted to the 130 head and they aren't massive. It's possible to git valve stems seals but the standard head has no facility to have them so if it has then it's been machined. If you take the valve cover off you will be able to see them. If its on a standard cam the power will drop off a cliff after about 5500 revs whatever has been done to it. My car is running an SK6 cam which is a full race cam and the power starts to dip after 7000rpm I am also running an iron 8 port ex works rally head - with my old 5 port head (professionally ported flowed and fitted with grp A valves) the power dropped off a cliff at 6000rpm with the same cam due to the inability of the set up to breath as well. The 136 MPI head was a good design in that it's alleged to be a replica of a ported 136 SPI head, buts it's an entirely different design to any of the 5 port heads - they have nothing in common other than the cylinder spacing. What I'm saying is - take it all with a pinch of salt......old Skuds feel much faster than they are which is great because most don't have a great deal of power but they are a lot of fun, particularly if you thrash them. I have a standard 105 - today I went through one of those speed device things and it recorded 26mph - my speedo said 35mph. I have smaller wheels than standard but not that much smaller! Down country roads 40mph feels like 60mph does in my modern Alfa.....maybe more. Enjoy it for what it is!

Edited 11 December, 2013 by hawkeracing

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My memory was a bit off -it wasnt hell5 -I used to work on this estelle for Paul catterall before it got sold-it was standard apart from weber carb when he had it.I got an s100 from him around the same time which went down to a skodas member -was it kenton?.Iam getting too old now to remember all the details lol.

[RapidRapid]

Yes John, the S100 did come down here, Phil Ball bought it, we collected it with my Felicia, and it is now tucked away in my garage. I'm a part owner of it. 

[h39]

thanks alot for clarifying that for me . it is still on a 5 port head ,so from what youve said i either misunderstood the guy or like you say he was chatting s*%t. i guess ive been fooled by a loud exhaust, faulty dials and a lack of experience.nonetheless i enjoyed every minute of my potential 50 bhp and wouldnt change it for the world ! lol

your experience and knowledge is most appreciated and duely noted.thanks

also its so good to know people remember it! does anyone know if the previous owners from alfreton are members on here? im spending the day tomorrow messing about with it and will try get a couple of pics.probably just end up coming home with a headache and a shopping list longer than my arm! again cheers.

[hawkeracing]

The dials aren't faulty - that's just how they were built....105mph is still pretty impressive because that's probably over 90mph in real life. The 5 port engines just aren't great for power. After 2 years I managed 101bhp out of my 1350cc example and that was with the SK6 cam, lightened and balanced alloy pistons, fuel injection with a fully mappable system set up on a rolling road, weber 40 throttle body, and a tubular exhaust manifold and system. I will say it again though.....out of all of that the exhaust made the most difference, so if you've had a decent system added, combined with a Weber carb you will probably have a fair chunk of extra power over and above the standard rating.

[h39]

cheers for your input . im not gonna start asking the ins an outs of gnats asses , i will consult a book or something as i imagine you get sh%^ty questions from newbies all the time,lol!. when i bought the car my dad (a long time full time mechanic. not fitter.)bet me i would blow it up in under two months! 3 months down the line he starts back tracking and tellin me he thinks it must have be at least balanced to have survived the royal thrapping it recieved!. btw im not tryin to prove anything by posting these comments im just tryin to understand a little more about my car!the set up at present regarding air in and out is a twin choke downdraught weber 28-36?(memorys bad) AND A 3-2-1 tubular stainless (non noise level shhhhh)exhaust. other than that the engine exterior looks standard.no moddified elecronic ignition units or electric fuel pumps.oh and what rear axle suspension set up should i have? i understand theres a difference between 120 and 130 , correct? cheers

[h39]

not sure if this will show but ..

[hawkeracing]

The 120 (with a couple of ltd edition models) had the swing arm rear end that has been criticised for being a bit sharp to oversteer. 130s had semi trailling arms which is more progressive. I currently have one of each and there is nothing wrong with the swing arm set up, particularly not if you have modern tyres. My 105 is very neutral handling wise (front roll bar went in the bin) and the oversteer only kickcs in if you're really really silly.

[hawkeracing]

Sorry...my post should read - The 120 (with the exception of a couple of ltd edition models)

[h39]

some pics from today.

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looking good all these years down the line-regarding the performance I used to setup a orange estelle 130 nicknamed tango for alan moody from york-that was running an sk3 cam ,weber 40 dcoe,k&n and performance exhaust that used to go to around 105mph on the speedo but didnt feel like it but handled like it was on rails is that one still about anyone?

[h39]

noisey little ******.

[tiny big]

Yes John, the S100 did come down here, Phil Ball bought it, we collected it with my Felicia, and it is now tucked away in my garage. I'm a part owner of it. 

some pics would be nice if possible Kenton-is Phil aka northern monkey still messing with skodas then?

[RapidRapid]

some pics would be nice if possible Kenton-is Phil aka northern monkey still messing with skodas then?

I'll dig some pics out, Phil has crossed to the darkside now, and has a Renault Scenic  :think: . 

 

The S100 is still undergoing a SLOW restoration, we have a lot of fibreglass panels for it, (front wings, rear wings, engine lid and a 130RS Bonnet). My 1979 Estelle 120LS has taken priority at the moment. 

[RapidRapid]

some pics from today.

Hard to believe it's the same car, i wonder what happened to the 'BirdBath' rear spoiler that it had when i sold it. I look forward to seeing what you do with it.