Life and Times of an ex Trophy Favorit

[Toonarf]

Hi All

 

This is going to be a journal reporting the completion of the repairs needed to get H49 CFW an ex Trophy Favorit back into a usable road and competition car.

The first photo shows the car going through the watersplash at Chatsworth House on the 1994 RAC The start number was 166. If anyone is able to share any photos of the car I would be very grateful. 

 

The second picture was taken on collection day back in May this year.

 

The previous owner had started a restoration and had completed the drivers side before he put the project on hold, the doors on the passenger side were both damaged and the rear arch needed attention. The third and fourth pictures show the less tidy near side.

 

I have run out of photo room so will leave the story here.

 

Thanks for looking and please feel free to comment.

 

David

[Toonarf]

Hi All

For its age, and the abuse H49 has undoubtedly endured during its active career  the bodyshell is in amazingly good condition with only a few tears in the floor pans. However the nearside rear quarter was quite badly corroded so this is the area I will start. At some time in the past a replacement quarter panel has been fitted most probably due to accident damage. Unfortunately very little if any paint was applied to the inner faces of the arch panels which resulted in the corrosion I am now in the process of cutting out and replacing with parts cut from a pair of repair panels I bought.

Picture 1 is the state of the inner arch after I sliced the outer panel off. 926

Picture 2  is a sneaky trial of the replacement outer repair panel which I am sure will fit much better when I have finished.746

Picture 3 is with the inner repair panel in the process of being cut down to fit into place.749

The final picture is H49 in action on a round of the Trophy I think in 1994.

 

Thanks for looking and feel free to comment

David

 

[CWARD]

Toonarf, I look forward to seeing how your restoration progresses. 

[Toonarf]

Hi All

 

I spent a productive afternoon on bodywork repairs to the Favorit.  I made little plates to fit and fill the old redundant bonnet pin holes, tack welded them in and added a little filler to level the repairs. I also made new spare wheel well bungs and welded them in. The originals were missing. Sorry I forgot to take any interesting pictures of these 2 jobs.

I spent the rest of the afternoon repairing fully the inner arch lip where I cut it back due to rot. I trimmed the repair panel to fit my needs and then very nearly got it welded in. I failed due to a lack of gas. So with the inner lips position now fixed I started to trim the outer repair panel again to fit my needs, I do not need or want to fit the entire panel.

 

The first three photos are with the bumper fitted back to see how everything lines up. I was very happy with how close everything fitted. This is after all a cover panel so I did have to reduce the rear flange standout. I will also have be creative around the door opening.

The forth photo is after I had started to reduce the outer repair panel's size.

Sorry for the repeated use of the same camera angle witch is not even a good angle but I am restricted by my garage's dimensions.

 

The final photo is the start of the Kerridge Rally from I think 1994.

Thanks for looking and please feel free to comment.

[Toonarf]

Hi All

So with more gas bought it was again time for some welding. Firstly I finished welding the arch lip from Saturday.  Next I trimmed the repair panel to perfectly fit the areas of the outer arch or quarter panel which I have had to cut out. I also cut this outer repair panel into 2 halves, I hope that this will greatly ease fitting time will tell.  The photos tonight document the fitting of a repair piece to the rear end of the cill where it had corroded again due to a lack of paint when previously repaired.

The first 4 pictures are taken during the cill repair.

The last photo is from happier times.

 

Thanks for looking

David

[CWARD]

You’re a braver man than I. The pics of the amount of rust and repairs would have most of us running away. 

[Toonarf]

I find its just a case of taking small steps, yes if you worried about all the areas at once it could become daunting. I just break things down into small jobs, however in this case the quarter is proving to be a lot of work. I try to spend an hour every night after work, long enough to see progress but short enough to not get bogged down. I also find it helps to have several mini projects on the go so if I didn't fancy welding tonight I have something else to progress. However I started to weld the outer arch panel tonight a slow process to avoid warped panels and not photogenic but its looking good in the flesh.  AND PROGRESS 

 

Finally keep your dream in mind it will be as good as you hope one day.

 

Cheers

 

David

[Toonarf]

Hi All

I spent the afternoon trying to get the quarter panel finished, it keeps fighting……..

I got the last of the welding of the arch repair panels finished, leaving just the final little last piece to recreate. Unfortunately this little piece is not included with the repair panels I had bought.  I had 3 attempts to try and create it, the many compound curves always defeating me. Finally I decided to try incorporating the reasonably solid part of the arch curve, which I had only cut out to gain access to the cill top repair panel that I remade the other night, see the first photo below. Using this piece lead me into making the repair piece in several parts, rather like a 3D jigsaw, which then proved far easier than all my previous attempts. I now just need to weld it all together on the bench, dress it up, de rust it, weld through primer it and then finally weld it in place. It will need some filler to make it look acceptable but not much more than a thin skim.

The other pictures show the repairs needed in this area.

 

Thanks for looking and comments and discussion is very welcome

 

David

[KenONeill]

I was going to suggest doing a fillet like that using "Cardboard Aided Design".

[TrevorB33]

Cracking project, good progress and look forward to seeing updates 

[Toonarf]

 

Thanks for your replies guys, its good to know my posts are reasonably interesting.

 

9 hours ago, KenONeill said:

I was going to suggest doing a fillet like that using "Cardboard Aided Design".

 

All attempts involved CAD, the problem was a lack of the required skills to form the shapes in metal........ 

Anyway the part spent the day de rusting in some cider vinegar which I find works very well, I welded it up tonight and will flap wheel it smooth when I get a new flap wheel tomorrow. Then weld it in place.

Now that I can move on from the outside bodywork I can make a start on the floor pans which are quite battered but only have a couple of tears and splits. As far as I can see so far there is surface rust a plenty But NO ROT  so a bit more welding perhaps the odd panel to be let in and it will be a proper job.

 

Cheers  David

 

 

 

[Toonarf]

Hi All

I finally got the motivation to weld the last repair piece into the rear quarter tonight, I think there is another hours welding and tidying then I can call it finished. Because I didn’t feel like welding last night I started on the next part of the project which is cleaning and de-rusting the cabin. The brake pipes and fuel pipes also need tidying along with sorting the fire extinguishers.  

I took the front screen out (it was cracked when we bought the car) to give me easier access to take the dash out. I am glad the screen was cracked and needed replacing because it disintegrated into fairly large shards of glass that I am sure should have remained stuck to the plastic layer in the middle. I wouldn’t like to have been involved in an accident with that screen fitted and been showered with all that glass.

Whilst I will still have some holes to repair in the floors, but by this weekend the shell should be ready for the outside painting which will be a huge step forward. The painting is planned to happen as soon as possible.

The photos tonight are a general view of the interior, a close up of the repair piece mid cleanup.

 

Thanks for looking

David

[Toonarf]

Hi All

With the rear wheel arch now finished I moved on to the floor pans, seemed logical to start with the passenger rear one, it saved having to moving the tools very far……

So onward and upwards.

The pan looked awful, with what seemed like loads of rust and any paint left being very discoloured, however a quick rub with a cloth moved some rust revealing paint. A dawn raid into the kitchen gained some CIF multi surface cleaner with lemon smell which I applied and left to soak for 10 mins. Removing with a sponge and plenty of clean water removed loads of mud and most of the discolouring. I did this before removing the brake pipes and fuel pipes do did not get everywhere clean. The red arrows on the first picture point to un cleaned areas the green arrows point to the 2 areas that had tears in the metal. The pan was surfaced rusted but not holed from corrosion. The first repair piece had been fitted when this photo was taken. A second application of the CIF cleaned the remainder of the dirt.

The second photo is the badly battered piece of the floor I removed and replaced as shown in the photo above. As stated previously I am not fighting rot here it is the more easily repaired dents and tears from the battering the floors have received in the past. Removal of this piece allowed this area to be panel beaten back to shape more easily.

Another view of the repaired piece fitted near the seat mounting. Due to the way the competition seat is mounted further back than standard the square box section, shown with the blue arrow above, forms the rear seat mounting. Whilst I am not the greatest welder in the world the photos don’t do my welding any favours. I have tried to get more representative photos of the welding but without success. I went out to check my welding when I downloaded the pictures from my phone I couldn’t believe how awful it looked.

 

The photos shown in previous posts were in fact from the 1995 RAC Rally. This last photo is also from that rally.

 

Thanks for looking

David

 

[Toonarf]

Hi All

Do they say that power is nothing without control?

Having got the rear passenger side floor pan as straight as it needs to be and all the tears repaired it was time to move onto the front pan. So firstly the front door was removed so I now own a 3 door Favorit…….. The door removal revealed a previously sheared bolt in the lower hinge plate that will need extracting. Fortunately a small stub remains so it should come out OK with a bit of weld and a nut.

The first photo attempts to show the damage to the area of the floor above the chassis rail that is positioned behind the rear wishbone mounting. The chassis rail had been pushed up taking the floor with it. So out with my port-a-power, a ratchet strap and a piece of 6 by 6 timber I made a DIY jig, I was able to use the cage to push off, I would not recommend using the screen opening on a car without a cage. Judging by the ominous crunching I suspect the chassis rail will need some more repairs, however it already needed some from its previous brushes with the passing road.

The second and third photos show the jig arrangement.

The last photo fails to convey that I have moved the floor down somewhere between 30 and 40mm. It also shows how much of the “rust” was removed with my trusty CIF.

 

Thanks for looking

David

[Simondaly]

Great project. 

 

A lot if hard work is going in to this.

 

It would be good to know from other forum members what repair panels are available, for the underneath in particular. 

[Toonarf]

7 hours ago, Simondaly said:

Great project. 

 

A lot if hard work is going in to this.

 

It would be good to know from other forum members what repair panels are available, for the underneath in particular. 

 

[Toonarf]

Hi Simon

How is FAV

Yes it would be a good idea to list where what parts are available. I got the inner and outer rear arch panels from here  https://www.carz2.co.uk/skoda-favorit-89-95-16519-c.asp   They were good to deal with the parts I ordered were in stock and delivered in days. Front wings are available here   https://www.centralpanels.co.uk/product/skoda-favorit-1989-1995-new-front-wing-l-h-fav1-231/ 

I haven’t used them and cannot comment on quality or service. An acquaintance of a friend is restoring an original 1960s Felicia and goes to Czech for parts a couple of times a year. Before his last trip we asked him to see if rear floor pans were available in Czech, he returned with a pair for £8.00 each. Next time he goes we will be asking for front floor pans and the chassis rails that are under the front pans. We don’t know if they are available but we suspect that they are.

With google translate to translate your searches into Czech opens up a whole new world of Favorit parts availability.

I am part of a group of Favorit owners between us we own 3 rally Favs so we tend to buy any panels we come across. New or good second hand.

Hope this helps

David

[Toonarf]

Hi All

I see its nearly 4 weeks since I updated, this not due to a lack of progress although I have not been able to spend as much time on 49 as I would like. As the years pass a warm fireside seems more preferable to a cold garage these days. However I have finished the passenger side front floor pan, I found 2 areas of rot which I cut out and butt welded patches into. No photos sorry, they were simply too similar to the rear pan repairs. I have now painted the passenger side floor pans which now look great and will help motivate me to progress the driver’s side. I hope to have the floors finished for very early in the new year. We are hoping to show the car and give passenger rides on the rally stage at Raceretro in February next year.   https://www.raceretro.com/  

 

I have also taken the time to bring the brake pipes and in particular the fuel pipes up to the latest MSA standards and at the same time renewing the fire extinguisher system which now has to be plumbed in and use tanks that can be serviced every 2 years.

 

I am getting down to the last few period photos that I have and would love to know of any others that may exist.

 

Thanks for looking

 

David

[ScoutCJB]

Great project  - look forward to the updates on this thread 

[Toonarf]

3 hours ago, ScoutCJB said:

Great project  - look forward to the updates on this thread 

Thanks Scout.

 

Hi All

No updates for a few weeks due to the busy Christmas period. However over the break I was able to get her going drive her out of the garage sweep up underneath, turn her and drive her back in again. So some progress! I had to turn her around because I only have electric plugs down one side of the garage. It was also a boost to finally have a drive of 50 metres as well.

 

The first 2 pictures were taken during turn around day last Thursday.

 

The third picture was taken after I had started on the driver’s floor pan which is the worst so far for corrosion, due to time constraints the replacement floor pan it really needs will have to be fitted later. The red arrow points to a sump guard rear mounting. Green arrow one points to the upper flange of the chassis rail, I cut the metal out to remove some previously badly repaired corrosion. The 2^nd arrow points to the foam which has been used to fill the chassis rail presumable to slow down its deformation during rough road rallying. The third arrow points to the circular hole left in the chassis rail during manufacture. The orange arrows point to the captive nuts which hold the rear end of the wishbone. You will notice that one of them is missing. The thread I have discovered is m10 x 1.25 a fine metric.

 

So the next picture shows the same scene with the stiffening plate removed, it is held in place with a spot weld in each corner. I will weld it back in place after I have finished along the cut edges.

 

Next is a view of some rot I have to remove.

 

The last image is a general view of the workshop facilities.

 

Thanks for looking and as ever all comments welcome

 

David

[CWARD]

I think I can make an accurate prediction of what 2019 is going to bring you. Cutting, welding, cutting and welding. At least it will keep you out of mischief. 

 

Keep the updates coming.

[Shaunieboy]

Enjoyed reading this.  I've a real soft spot for these classics and this is obviously a labour of love. Keep us updated  

[Toonarf]

Hi All

 

Thanks for all the positive comments, they help to keep me going when its cold in the garage and the fire in the living room is much more inviting and all I have to look forward to is more welding.

Anyway enough feeling sorry for myself I am doing this for fun so I need to smile......... and progress is happening, I am almost finished with the floor pans I just have to plan and execute the replacement of the missing wishbone mounting nut. Then the the floors are finished. It is also going to be painted very soon so good progress. No pictures of the floor pans sorry they are a bit same s@@t different day.

 

The big news is that I have a part share in another Rally Favorit. More news soon but its a bit rough so will need a full restoration before any serious use. 

 

Tonight's picture is of H49 in an earlier livery note the early grill.

 

Cheers and thanks for looking.

 

David

[KenONeill]

12 hours ago, Toonarf said:

I just have to plan and execute the replacement of the missing wishbone mounting nut.

There are such things as specialist fixings factors, or should this be a captive nut?

[Toonarf]

13 hours ago, KenONeill said:

There are such things as specialist fixings factors, or should this be a captive nut?

 

Hi Ken, thanks for taking the time to reply. As you will have seen in the last restoration photos, about 5 posts back, the welded in captive nut must previously have come loose and which must have been a pig to sort out. When I fully removed the support plate the captive nut was missing. The nut has to be 13mm high to fit tightly under the stiffener and is M10x1.25 which is a metric fine thread and not as readily available. I would prefer to retain the M10 x 1.25 thread to avoid any future complications. Furthermore to enable full welding the replacement fitting would ideally have a flange on the bottom to give access for welding. The hexagon part would also need to be reduced as much as possible again to give more access for welding. These design requirements mean that I need to find someone with a lathe to turn me the part. Hence my statement “I just need to plan and execute the replacement of the missing wishbone mounting nut”

Below is a close up picture of the area, the red arrow points to the remaining captive nut, the orange arrows indicate welded areas.

Best regards

David