The weather today was insane so not much done, I bought 15l of fuel in cans to try and get the thing out of 'low fuel warning' and spent the rest of my time inside the truck cab with the weather cover *on* as it was too windy to remove it. Despite having got the high beam flash working as a freebie from installing a fan circuit fuse I can't fathom where the headlights have gone. I've got a small selection of switches, one I think is 'sidelights'; one is hazards, i know where that one goes and it works the hazards. I have one that looks like it should be fog lights, and one which I THINK is dipped beam. However, no matter which sockets I plug them into in any order I can't provoke the lights. Annoyingly I CAN get the heated rear window light to come on on the gauge cluster but that's a bit silly because we're a truck so we don't HAVE a heated rear window. Heh.

The forlorn studying of the wiring diagram continues, we won't be beaten.

Woohoooooo, finally got it! By luck or by cheating really rather than any actual science. I spent ages poking stuff with a multimeter, comparing the wiring on the back of the loom sockets with the diagrams and aligning the right switches with the right sockets. Nothing seemed to help at all, fuses all good, wiring all seeming to be connected to the right stuff, but... as I was wiggling I saw the dash lights in the heater controls flick to life for a scant moment, so I kept fiddling with stuff and they flicked on again.

 

The problem seems to be in the sidelight switch, I cleaned the hell out of the terminals (which were a little not ideal) and have squirted switch cleaner into the connector and plugged and unplugged the thing a load of times and it's not gone from hardly ever working, to *mostly* working. I think I'm going to have to get into the terminal connectors with some needle files. This said, everything seems to be present and correct now. Buzzer buzzes when the ignition is off and sidelights on and everything.

 

 

On 04/09/2024 at 13:09, skoda_cat said:

Two things:

 

Anyone know what search term to use for the clips that go into the car body that the wings screw into? i dunno what i need to buy and i don't want to slam tech screws in like i don't care.

 

Also, anyone recognise these bits? Maybe they're not even off this car?

 

These look like the brackets from the front of the front inner wings.

20 hours ago, Bete Noir said:

These look like the brackets from the front of the front inner wings.

 

Oh you hero, that's exactly what they are. They'll need a run through a sand blaster and new studs welded on, but they're just the lads I need.

Today was rainier than expected, chickened out of welding again. But I ran the power wire for the sub amp from behind the seats through to the battery, clipped in along the passenger side, the RCAs will in due time go up the driver's side so we don't couple too much noise in there.

 

I dropped off the brackets for blasting and they've come back same day pitted but looking good, still plenty of material there to support the wings and bumper, that said, the studs length suggests they've been snapped previously so they'll need drilling out and new ones hot glued in. I sprayed them with zinc primer to protect them.

 

I'm really confused about draining the coolant, i don't seem to be able to remotely get 6l out of the damned thing. I can't find the block drain. only the tab in the lower radiator hose link pipe.

I was REALLY confused because the picture in the HBoL looks so clear, ITS RIGHT THERE screams the picture

 

But because I'm an idiot, i thought this was the UNDERSIDE of the engine, i figured the drain would be low down, but of course everything below the chambers is oil, so this is the lowest part of the jacket.

 

So I found it, on the front of the engine where it always was.

 

I'll get this cracked and see if there's any chance I can actually get this engine DRY before trying to fill it with fresh 😕

 

Everything is obvious in retrospect, heh.

I made a start on the welding today, I worked for about an hour and hilariously have only managed to sort out THIS much of the welding.

 

But the front right, is that much less likely to fall off, so I can't complain. Now I've broken the fear of touching the car with plasma I can get on with sorting out the rest of it.

 

I can't leave this post without the result though, can I. so ok, here it is

 

I wonder if that will do.

this end doesn't have a big hole in it anymore:

 

And there is this much less rusty hole in this bit:

 

Lots more to do, but there's still time. Happy with progress.

The hydraulic crap for adjusting the headlights doesn't work so I'll have to explore that and try and refill it or whatever.

I figured out what the things were i found in the bottom of the rail, cage nuts with the cage bit rusted through so they fell in.

Are the wings really held on by 19" rack cage nuts?! the holes are certainly perfectly sized.

 

 

Hoping to get this rail finished tomorrow and the light bucket thingy and see if i can test fit a wing!

Interminable rain. I wish I had a garage I could get the thing in, heh. I pulled out the headlights and found both headlight adjusters have cracked where the hydraulic tube goes into the plastic housing.

I've ordered a couple of manual adjusters which hopefully are enough for MOT whilst I figure out some way to either fix these ones, or rig up some servo motors to do the job instead.

 

Put together a patch panel for the last bit of repair on that wing, but I can't weld it in in the rain, so it has to wait. welp.

sorted.

 

annoyingly my new wing doesn't fit.

I'm pretty sure the outer skin is right, but the inner rib is friends with the front rail in ways it shouldn't be. I need to get my big girl pants on and cut it to clearance.

 

 

Bit of a bummer, would have been super fun to get that fitted up and see how it all tied in.

grinds teeth, i can't find any differences in the outer skins, but the inners:

 

I've made a joggling stick, so I guess i just cut that lovely new wing off a cm away from the template line and joggle the return back into it. I can't imagine why the panels are different, what car WOULDN'T have the bracing in the inner wing there, I can't think the truck has it for extra strength compared with the car?

Edited 16 November, 202416 Nov by skoda_cat
can't not can

poked it with the air shears till I realised I couldn't turn a corner with them (maybe this is user error) then did the rest with a worn down, thus smaller and more manoeuvrable angle grinder disk.

Gradually worked over the new return with the joggling stick, finally gave a couple of choice areas a whack with the hammer and I ended up with this:

 

Which seems to fit on the car like THIS:

 

 

Which I would have to categorise as feeling flipping awesome! We can get this stuff DONE, can't we?!

and the other wing is now done:

 

 

Which has given me a real mood lift in thinking about how I can get this thing back on the road. I'd better order some wheel arch liners to keep all this work SAFE.
So what's left to do is both buckets that sit between the wing and the light cluster, the other rail, and the mess round the windscreen.
As ever, the windscreen is left till last because I'm using the rest of the welding to learn on first.
Still haven't managed to source a replacement windscreen either so that's something to think about. Getting cold isn't it

Rain would have meant I couldn't carry on welding, but SNOW means I have to go outside every couple of hours to scrape the stuff off so it doesn't pull the car cover through the windscreen hole. grrrrrr. hahahahaha.

Indeed; it's actually snowed in the micro-climate where I live!

44 minutes ago, skoda_cat said:

Rain would have meant I couldn't carry on welding,...

 

Surely it doesn't stop you, just makes it a bit more exciting ⚡

3 minutes ago, Gaz said:

 

Surely it doesn't stop you, just makes it a bit more exciting ⚡

 

It's not THAT risk I'm worried about, it's hydrogen inclusion in the weld puddle from the frying water.

Also it's cold, no you shut up

I'm getting a BIT better, but not better enough, grrrrr. Metalworking isn't easy at all. Also I think I'm running out of gas.

 

 

I've been working on making sure the metal I put in is at least lower than what is there so that filler is an option, that at least I have achieved.

I'm sorry there's been nothing going on with this thread, I THINK my welder may have a gas leak which I want to investigate before I drop another £50 of gas through it.

The days are now so SHORT there's not much light available to achieve anything meaningful.

I've been planning though, I've got rust neutralising paint on stuff so i can flat stuff like this back and treat the surface before priming.

I think it must have been rubbed back and then just... left.

 

The other side will get the same because it looks like someone else's slightly crap repair is bubbling.

 

The last thing is that I've got my grubby paws on a shrinker and stretcher thingy which I believe will be really useful in making the right shapes for the remaining terror which is

 

This thing is not going to beat me, although the weather is sure making it less fun.

 

You may well already know this but in case not. there's lots of information and advice on Felicias in the 'Skoda Favorit, Skoda Felicia, Skoda Fun and Skoda Forman' forum. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/90-skoda-favorit-skoda-felicia-skoda-fun-and-skoda-forman/

 

totally gross, but just surface rust.

 

painted in ferrozinc

Not sure if the oil is a bit milky. Sad face emoji

1 hour ago, skoda_cat said:

Not sure if the oil is a bit milky. Sad face emoji

😞 You mean this one (colon then open bracket then spacebar)?

1 hour ago, skoda_cat said:

Not sure if the oil is a bit milky. Sad face emoji

 

Give it chance - could it just be condensation?

 

Gaz