Darren - in answer to the water pump text question - ( sorry for the delay, been spending every non-sleeping hour in the workshop getting the CNC Mill up-and-running) - A new/old stock water pump that's correct Octavia is an autojumble jobbie or spot-the-bitz and rebuild it yourself.

If I remember rightly ( which is less and less often these days) there is a Far Eastern manufacture pump for the 1203 van which is sold under the Octavia part number. It ain't original-looking and it ain't designed to be repairable but it should be still available, which is half the battle.

Wot u fink ?

Darren - in answer to the water pump text question - ( sorry for the delay, been spending every non-sleeping hour in the workshop getting the CNC Mill up-and-running) - A new/old stock water pump that's correct Octavia is an autojumble jobbie or spot-the-bitz and rebuild it yourself.

If I remember rightly ( which is less and less often these days) there is a Far Eastern manufacture pump for the 1203 van which is sold under the Octavia part number. It ain't original-looking and it ain't designed to be repairable but it should be still available, which is half the battle.

Wot u fink ?

Cheers John

Hmmm original but broken or pattern that works?

If it fits & it works, it sounds good to me!

cheers ... Darren

Bit of an update ... got the Combi radiator re-cored last week.

The old core had corroded to such an extent, & was so full of sediment, that the cooling capacity of the radiator has effectively trebled. Will need to flush the engine out to clear all the water channels.

John Shelley, I will PM you regarding water pumps & other items on the shopping list

Well as some of you possibly noticed I took the blue one (I'm very techie) to the Gaydon rally.

Overall 300 miles covered at the weekend, the new bonnet tensioning spring seemed to hold in the main, only one quick pit stop about 10 miles from Gaydon, although it was particularly windy at that point.

Of course I made the mistake of parking next to Terry's very shiny 1000MB,

which won the "vintage section".

Although I did get awarded best Octavia by Will (Tigger_1979),

unfortunately he wasn't one of the judges and he might have had some cider by then!

Still, it turned a lot of heads on the M1, or were they just admiring Wayne's well polished Rapid?

Lots of pix now in the Gaydon aftermath thread

Great looking little cars. I was really taken by Skoda U.K's little blue convertible at the Gaydon meet and was around at the end to see it driven onto the transporter. The engine sounded really sweet and it's a shame the car is not driven more. The 1100 DOHC was something else though...

Well folks, bit of an update...

The owner of Area51 is emigrating & so the old cars were facing life on the streets with just newspaper & cardboard boxes to keep them warm...

Fortunately after much clearing, I've managed to just squeeze the combi into my Mum's garage.

Simon very kindly towed me there, as the water pump etc still needs sorting out.

I've also hired a storage container, which now hosts the other saloon.

However, with a busy spell at work the saloon had actually run out of MoT!

So I had to drive to a pre-booked appointment to sort that out.

Of course it had to rain all the way there just to test how well insulated the electrics are!

Unfortunately it failed, however, the MoT station could do all the repairs needed in just a couple of hours labour. I just needed to walk home (3 miles) to get the parts!

Whilst this was ongoing, there was the small matter of moving some chunky parts,

so one hired van and one helpful brother to provide some much needed muscle!

Then this morning, the Estelle panels made the trip to my garden shed, the door just closes.

I guess I'll have to ebay them, as I don't think SWMBO will be pleased by quite a few Octy bits in the living room & hallway!

hi i have got hold of a 440 pre octavia,looks like it was stored for 20-30 years bodywork no rust,might need paint job and crome work,mileage 25,000

as seen at the nec this year,

dont know what to do leave as is or restore

octfel

look in good condition for age

hi i have got hold of a 440 pre octavia,looks like it was stored for 20-30 years bodywork no rust,might need paint job and crome work,mileage 25,000

as seen at the nec this year,

dont know what to do leave as is or restore

octfel

Have you got any links to some photos?

I didn't manage to get to NEC, so I'd be interested to see the differences.

cheers ... Darren

hi i have got hold of a 440 pre octavia,looks like it was stored for 20-30 years bodywork no rust,might need paint job and crome work,mileage 25,000

as seen at the nec this year,

dont know what to do leave as is or restore

octfel

Does this specific car have a "notable history" (eg ex-rally car for someone famous, owned by someone famous)? If not, I'd suggest there's nothing specific that makes "patina" worth retaining, but equally you don't want to turn it into an over-restored concours queen.

Been to the new lock-up today with a booster pack.

Gave the blue one a look over, oil & water etc seem to have behaved themselves.

Primed the fuel pump, attached booster leads, started on 2nd turn of the key.

Massive thunderstorm deterred a test run.

So if the weather looks ok tomorrow,

looks like the blue one might get it's first run out of the year.

So if the weather looks ok tomorrow, looks like the blue one might get it's first run out of the year.

I've been in movie star mode today, went out for a little drive in the blue one, ended up covering 75 miles.

Spent a good chunk of that in convoy with Franco in his Zastava Yugo 311.

There were plenty of people mouthing "what's that, oh and what's that"

One of these may well be out to play tomorrow on the Yorks/Lincs/Notts meet at Thorne ...

Lots of pix from the Thorne meet in the Yorkshire section

There's a page full article on this years SALT rally in the current Classic Car Weekly.

You'll have to be quick as I think most shops stock it Weds - Tues.