Felicie, Tatra or Audi...

The story began when Simiczek sent to me a few photos and amongst them I found (even for me) familiar photos of a tuned Škoda Felicia. I saw this car for the first time at The National meeting of sports Škoda cars in 2003 at Konopiště. I knew the guy Jenda and because of my interest about how he is progressing with the repair and restoration of his Felicia you can find out too.


Jenda has written:

„I bought (actually I was given) this Felicia by my uncle in 1997. I’ve tried to restore it as it would have been originally – red paint, light upholstery and 1089cc engine. According to the car documents I found out that somebody had changed the liners to increase the capacity to 1221cc. There was only one carburettor left. The floor of the car had been repaired professionally and was firmly attached to the chassis. This was the first version of the Felicia.
The second version was a dark blue Felicia with two white ‘fast’ stripes along the middle of the car. The engine was a TAZ 1500 with a 260° cam. It was running ok, but that engine wasn’t suitable for the changes. Despite that there were huge changes to the interior in this model of Felicia. There were ‘shell’ car seats and a quite nice centre tunnel leading to the dashboard.
The third version of the Felicia had the greatest change with the engine shifted to the back of the car. And that was the reason why the engine, gearbox and rear axle from a 1989 Tatra T613-3 worked so well. The front of the car was original and worked as a counter balance ‘ . To begin with I changed the attachment of the front body panels using parts from a Škoda 120. It had some upholstery but the fitting wasn’t great. After being replaced it has been much better. The front and back brakes were from a Tatra T613, which had one problem. Because of the front of the car being light the brakes were too sharp and at low or medium speeds they were causing the wheels to lock. I’ve managed to modify it in my last version, which had two master cylinders with a balance adjuster for transferring braking power.

The next major change was the transformation to LPG. As I didn’t have a lot of money the transformation of the Tatra engine to LPG was just the ticket. After this modification and a little tuning it worked well and wasn’t too expensive to run either. It was possible to drive but the engine would only rev to 4,500. Only God knows if the problem was in modification or if the system was unsuitable for LPG. But all this work lead me to the next development of my car mechanical skills.

My friend, who I’ve met just through the transition onto LPG, has changed my mind about a turbo for the engine. Rather than that we’ve started the ‘atmospheric’ modification of the engine – e.g. a new induction system where each cylinder had its induction power constrained independently, individual jets for each cylinder, modified exhaust, and last but not the least Bosch K-Jetronic mechanical injection. Incredibly clever thing! If you don’t know about it you should find out. The cams were re-profiled to 290° and the maximum revs rose close to 7000 revs. The result of the engine on the dynamometer was estimated at 234 horsepower.
The engine was behaving and working well and even could run under 10 litres per 100km.
Of course I shouldn’t forget to mention typical teething problems, which the engine had but eventually I got rid of them all. By that time I’ve had enough of the noise of the crank so I’d sold the engine to a German Autocross racer. His mechanic wanted it for his car to take a part in The Mechanic races.
Meanwhile I’ve been thinking about an Audi 4.2 V8. I managed to get an engine with a six speed gearbox and the transition could begin. Everything went ok. First, I had to get new drive-shafts. The professional engineer from Koprivnice, who is doing sport modifications for the Tatra – Dakar race and also sells parts for Autocross did it for me. The rear body panel from the Tatra 613 stayed the same and the ignition is from IGNITECH, which you can fully program. In the beginning the plan was to use carburettors from motorbikes. At the time Mikuni from Yamaha R1 were installed.

Unfortunately it didn’t work very well so I’ve changed it into a single induction system with Bosch jets. Now it’s missing only a timer for the jets. By the way it’s possible to get them from IGNITECH for 12 000,-kč . Let‘s go back to the engine. The last state of things is as follows: The Audi V8 engine sits in front of rear body panel and behind it is the gearbox selector. The original body panel between the axle and differential has been finished at the original axle line, which means that the original front axle had been transformed into a rear axle. At the front there is a radiator from a six cylinder Audi 100 with two fans. It’s bigger than the radiator from the Audi V8. In due I have also changed the brakes. The car has got smart 5 spoke 18 inch wheels with 225/40/18 tyres and it’s ready for its smart coat of paint. The only thing that will still need attention is some of the upholstery. At this time the car is waiting in the garage and getting dusty...“
According to some rumours this vehicle will change owner soon....


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