Fabergé Greggs

Today I could have been sensible and taken the Peugeot to get my various bits of running around done, but that's boring, sensible talk.

Plus with how much of a zoo anywhere near to a retail establishment is at this time of year a tiny car is a major bonus.  Being relatively immune to door dings in car parks isn't a bad thing either.
The windscreen washers now work correctly from the control again.

Under the dash I had spotted a couple of holes in the bulkhead through which I could see daylight, so found a couple of trim clips to fill those - I put a blob of grease behind them to discourage any water or fumes from using it as a way to enter the cabin.

Sure there are probably plenty more of those, and the grommet the wiring loom goes through there has an opening I can easily fit my thumb through, but I've tried at least!
While I had the trim clip box out I replaced the one broken clip which was holding the dash mat to the top of the dash.  Of course it looked daft with one that was slightly different in design to the others, so I went and replaced all of them.

Hoping this weekend I will have a chance to do something about the dangling wiring under there, but it's always hard to say how time will work out at weekends.
I've set about trying to epoxy the interior light back together this evening.

The contacts are quite corroded so I'm honestly not sure if it will ever work again - but getting it to a point where it doesn't fall out of it's location above the B pillar every time you close a door would be an improvement.

Hmm...Well in that case I may just need to get inventive with the bootlid latch.  Shouldn't be too hard to fabricobble a solution I would think.
Just like that I've spent €320 on Trabantwelt..
For those nosey - and my reference because I'm not going to want to use enough brain cells to translate this from German when the delivery lands I'm sure...
[] HLP68 gearbox oil.
[] Bonnet badge.
[] Radio blanking plate.
[] Steering rack gaiter.
[] Fog light switch.
[] Sachsenring emblem key chain.
[] Air filter to carb hose (one on the car is badly perished).
[] Full window and door seal set.
I think just ordering a complete new seal set is the sensible way to go.  They all seem to be in a poor way one way or another so in terms of minimising long term hassle it's going to be money well spent.  This includes everything for the doors/windows/windscreens in one box so should save me a lot of trouble in the future.  I want to get the rear screen out at some point to sort out the rust in the surround anyway, so not having to attempt to do that without damaging the seal will probably be worth the price of admission in itself.

Would be fascinating to compare the two side by side one day.  Bit of a hike between us though at the moment!
Think this is a record for the shortest time between me getting a car and getting a message from someone saying "Was this you?" relating to a post somewhere.

Yep, that will have been me.
Noticed another item for my shopping list today in the form of a steering rack gaiter.

Not much else going on today aside from a decent amount of driving around locally.
I did give the dash a (very) quick wipe over though, and have got the shelf underneath back into shape again.  It had basically collapsed because several of the trim clips that hold it up had vanished.

They definitely haven't been replaced with a random selection of screws.  I'll put the proper clips in once I have some to hand - all the ones I currently have are too big.
Car definitely feels a lot better for the new tyres.  Really has changed the feel of the steering completely, and it's definitely less bouncy than it was - a bit anyway.

We made it four days before I rage quit on the mishmash of budget tyres on the Trabant.  Wouldn't have been quite as bad if the two matching tyres were actually on the same axle, but the tendency for it to attempt to rotate clockwise every time you so much as looked at any surface water wasn't going to be something I would put up with.  Three tyres had varying degrees of perishing from minor to major present anyway, so on go a new matched set.


Here's a look at the disk brake retrofit arrangement for those who expressed curiousity about it.

Though we did discover that the wheel from a later car is also something that's part of this as the dish is fractionally different and if you put the older wheels on the front they foul on the caliper.
Noticeable that we have a very, very oily looking gearbox there.  Will definitely need to check that the level is correct ASAP, then see if I can figure out where the oil is escaping.  Given where it seems to be mostly concentrated I'm tempted to point at the speedometer drive initially.  I reckon top up then go after the whole general area with the pressure washer and some degreaser is probably going to be the starting point though as there's no chance in hell of figuring out where it's coming from just now as there's a 1/8" thick coating of slime over the whole thing pretty much.

While the gearbox is very oily, the suspension spring it's very obvious is very much the opposite...I have to wonder when that was last greased.
Same looks to be the same for the rear.

The rear arms looks to be in fine shape.  There is a bit of rust on them but nothing scary.  A good wire brush, some Vactan and protection to prevent them degrading further should be fine there.

My choice of tyres will surprise absolutely nobody if they've followed my motoring nonsense for more than five minutes.

Car already feels are more positive, and most noticeably actually brakes in a straight line now - it always pulled slightly but noticeably to the right under braking before the tyres were changed.
As usual the guys there took quite an interest, including the manager of the place who seemed quite taken with it.
Had a few minutes spare when I got back so have continued just picking away at obvious simple to sort things.
There was a random lamp holder floating around down by the fuse box with a ground still attached to it.  On a hunch (after I confirmed the lamp in it worked), I went looking for a home for that.  Turns out it had been pulled out of the back of the rear window heater switch - so that now lights up again as the designers intended.

Those switches could both do with being dismantled, cleaned and having fresh grease applied to the moving parts as they are really, really stiff to operate just now.  Plus the caps could really do with a good clean.  The red circular thing to the left of the hazard switch which looks like a push button is actually the tell tale for the hazards, as the number of contacts in the switch didn't leave space for an integrated light in the switch itself.  This also now works having cleaned the contacts.
Investigation of the two random chopped wires I found in the engine bay a day or two back revealed exactly as I had expected that they were for the windscreen washers.  One is an ignition switched live (which was just floating around uninsulated in the engine bay, nice) and the other is a ground that's switched by the washer contact in the windscreen wiper switch.  I'll get that wired up properly again when I have a chance - for now I've ensured that the live wire isn't given an opportunity to find a ground.

Yes I probably should have used electrical tape, but I had that to hand and the two wires are individually wrapped before being overwrapped so it'll be fine.
The heater hose that goes into the air blend box is quite a loose fit, and you can feel a pretty large amount of air escaping around it if left to its own devices.  I suspect this may well have been far more snug when it was new, but now it obviously needs some help to make a good seal, so a hose clip was added to that join.

Did refitting the jacket around the engine cowling make any difference to the noise levels?  I can't say I really notice anything - but in the same breath the felt underlay from under the carpets is currently in the spare room until I get to the bottom of the plethora of water ingress issues so that's not a fair comparison really.  From outside there doesn't seem to be a really noticeable difference though as far as I can tell.
Was out and about after this doing a variety of errands today and definitely am still enjoying the car.  The gear shift is so, so much better now it's been greased.

It's hard to really convey in photos how tiny the thing is compared to most cars.  You can zap around mini roundabouts which you basically just drive over in other cars with ease. 
I still need to finish getting back used to reversing a left hand drive car though, that always takes me by far the longest of anything to get back into the swing of when I get back into one.

Negative attitude, 3 are working then... 😆
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1063409528183609/
£600

While most areas seemed a good deal drier than yesterday, there was still standing water in a couple of places, so I added a fan to the equation to get a bit of air circulation going inside the cabin.

Next up was investigating the wobbly and lopsided front bumper.  This was particularly noticeable as it bounced quite impressively when the car was idling.

While it was bolted in place on the nearside (albeit not very tight), the offside was making do with a zip tie.  Not ideal, even though the bumper really doesn't weigh anything as it's just a bit of plastic.  Bolts were replaced after a little bit of letterbox surgery via the indicator hole in the front panel, and a secure and more or less straight bumper is now in place.

Much better.
On the subject of ousting zip ties, I also found my eye drawn to this.

Which after five minutes finding a couple of appropriate nuts and bolts was replaced with this from the box of bits.

I don't actually have an electrical feed for the pump at the moment, but it should work fine off the manual pump as it stands.  It doesn't leap out at you as soon as the bonnet is opened now at least.
Interesting to see that this doesn't look to be a modern replacement as it does still say made in DDR on it, with a date stamp from 1989, so not original to the car.

I also found the cool air intake duct for the heater in the boot so that was reinstated between the front panel and the heater air blend box.

I'm probably going to discover that this overwhelms the blend flaps in the heater when at speed and is something that most people fit during the summer and remove at winter which is why it was in the boot!
Engine bay looks a bit better I think now.


Really is crying out for a good clean though.  Especially down in the bottom of the inner wings and such there's about 1/2" of greasy mud. 
Strangely proportioned little car in profile. 

Based on the rear overhang and such, it really looks like there should be about a foot of additional body behind the front doors that someone has just chopped out, and that the doors would be a good bit longer (which admittedly would make entry and egress a good bit easier, it's a bit of a squeeze through the door if you've got long legs).
While digging around under the seats yesterday getting the carpets out something which surfaced was the lid for the fuse box I've just remembered so I'll need to get that put back in place next time I'm out at the car.

I really appreciate cars where you can remove the carpeting without needing any tools.

As predicted, the felt underlay was absolutely sodden.  It is currently hung over the back fence with water literally running out of it.
The carpets have been stuffed in our spare room to dry out.  This doesn't feel like a material which will really hold on to moisture.


When the weather is warmer I'll probably attack them with some detergent and the pressure washer.  
Again in sharp contrast to Lada where the carpets are the cheapest of the cheap and will disintegrate if you look at them wrong, these are really sturdy.  If they were a bit smaller I'd honestly have no reservations about sticking them in the washing machine.  I don't have any doubt they would emerge completely unscathed.
Definitely was a good call.  No real damage done save for a bunch of surface rust as far as I can see, but it feels like the clock was *definitely* ticking.


Whatever is under the top coat is black so it looks worse than it is.  No holes I can see other than those which are meant to be there and even the worst looking bits shrugged off the screwdriver test.
I'll give this a scrub down with the wire brush a good dousing with Vactan then some protection once the car has dried out.  Still need to get the mat out of the boot but ran out of daylight today.
Don't think there's much mileage in drilling holes or anything as the carpet underlay is going to act as a giant sponge once refitted anyway - tracing and sorting the leaks I think needs to be the main mission.
Also, that's better than a giant hole in the dash.

It went very well on the way home too despite the 40mph winds and driving rain, although the overdrive decided not to engage on the motorway despite working properly earlier.
Very comfy. Tremendous heating. On a winter's evening it's a very cosy place to be.
Drives lovely. Lots of grunt, I'd even call it lively.
No unusual noises. Sounds very snorty through the twin carbs. Lovely!
Rolls like a boat but feels planted and has endless grip. Steering is far quicker and better than expected despite being a steering box.
Brakes are absolutely fantastic despite being unassisted.
Gear change is slick. 
Feels like a Volvo.
I love it. ❤️

Let's go for a drive.

Finishing off some bits inside.
Rubber trim around the doors in place of the windlace trim. Also the new headlining installed by @MrsJuular

And more of her work in the new door cards.

The front ones have been upgraded with door pockets from a 240. The original stretch pockets seemed a bit useless. These will hold bottles and cans.

The seats are original but they are different from most Amazons I've seen.

Dome light and sun visors.

The dome light didn't work off the driver's side door. This was down the spring inside the switch breaking a bit off, and causing it to no longer make contact.

A few bits of solder added to the gold connection on the right padded it out enough to work again.
Finally, a shot of the fuel and temp gauges actually working. The temp gauge seems rock steady. A worthwhile and cheap upgrade.

I really love the green backlighting on the dash. 

Baby steps. Made it to the end of the street.

Alternator was fine then belt started slipping. Have started work on a home made tensioner.

Well here goes.

 
Out of the naughty corner at last.
Some issues.
The fuel filter very quickly looked like this.

And the contents of the float bowls.



Cycled the contents of the tank through a series of filters for around 3 hours using an electric pump.

The next attempt wasn't much better.

Could go through a pallet of filters in no time so I set up a syringe with a bit of hose that I can use to backflush the filters with petrol and refit them.
Have also stuck an uberfilter on. This is a fuel injection filter for a Volvo T5 so it should stop this shit getting into the carbs.

Seems to be working. Here is the contents of the filter flushed twice.

Float bowls are still clean so that's something.
Still plenty of work to do.

The mobile editor on this site is really frustrating..  it insists on you seeing this photo again and it can't be deleted.
 

Random bits done.
Needed a new speedo cable as the non overdrive one won't reach the longer gearbox. Here's a comparison.

While under there I took a photo of the finished underside since I hadn't done it yet.

Went to refit the bonnet catch. Used a triumph release cable that was lying around but it didn't have a cable barrel stop on it. Made one out of an M6 connector nut with a hole drilled in it.

Probably stronger than the original.

None of the door locks really worked right, which was a straightforward remove, free up, grease and refit job. One of them needed the linkage adjusted slightly.

One of the rear passenger doors wouldn't shut at all and would just bounce off the catch. Turns out it was clipping the sill on the bottom. This only started after I welded the new sill on which made me think maybe I'd aligned things wrong, but looking at the panel gaps I noticed that the door was simply on squint. 
Not sure how this happened as there's no front to back adjustment on the hinges, but it's possible I damaged the hinges as I was removing the doors.
The only way to close up the gap is to remove material from the hinge itself.

That was a finger in the air guess but it worked perfectly. Door now snicks shut and the panel gaps are spot on.
Meanwhile @MrsJuular made some nice new door cards to replace the ones I melted. Those will look great on the car.

Windae washers. The car has the older style washer nozzles on the scuttle panel. Unfortunately I only had one nozzle.

I did however have one later style dual nozzle from the donor car. This goes in the bonnet after drilling a hole.



Skooshy.

The car didn't come with any mirrors (they were a dealer option in 1960s South Africa!) so I added some Lucas style ones.
Marked out and drilled.


Finally, I couldn't get the charging system working. I'm not sure whether it was the dynamo or the regulator but solving that particular problem is expensive and the end result still fairly shit.
I decided an alternator conversion was the way forward. @320touringkindly lent me a Lucas alternator from his spare engine so that I could make brackets and get it working before I shell out for a new one. This is a good choice of alternator as it's widespread and cheap while looking period.
I overcomplicated this in my head. It's not a big project. Here's the alternator next to a spare dynamo bracket to check fitment.

Solution : a couple of bits of angle iron bolted into the dynamo bracket.

A length of threaded bar on the rear mount.

On it goes. Used the original drive belt and bracket with a small extension on the bracket.

And that's it. Voltage regulator binned off, then the remaining two cables on the car's loom get shoved up the alternators bum.

That's better!
Enjoy some night shots of POWER.

What a dash at night.

Haven't been online much but have been working away on this, mainly redoing the wiring and making the electrics work.
This is a long post!
Starting with the fuse box I binned off the strange stumpy top fuse fitting as it's a pain to get fuses for. As you can see the one currently there is just a normal fuse that has been chopped to fit. Ugly.

Pliers and a drill used in anger fixed that.

Current state of affairs.
Alive : wipers and washers. 
Dead : everything else!
To cut to the chase I've essentially had to rewire much of the car. The loom behind the dash was fine but everything else was varying levels of shit. 
One of the main issues was the factory multiplugs were heavily corroded and brittle, but also the factory fitted scotchlok and screw-in connector blocks. Yes they really did use these.
For your consideration.

Continuity through this mess was, well, it wasn't.
It was decided that this whole section would be snipped out and flung across the garden. I redid it with solder where possible, and spades where not. Don't worry, this fire trap will get all heat shrink wrapped once I know it works.

The rear multiplugs were just as awful and got the same treatment.

Frustratingly although this made the connections reliable a lot of things still didn't work, such as the horn, high beam flash, overdrive and reverse lights. What's more frustrating is that everything looked ok, continuity and good voltage to everything.
Eventually I found that all of the old style relays were completely unreliable and would work when they felt like it.

Those got launched across the garden too and replaced with modern equivalents. Originality be damned.

Lo and behold once I wired these in things began to actually work.

 
That narrowed the list of faults to just the horn, the rear lights and the fuel and temperature gauges.
The horn was a simple fix. The original sounders were dead (off into the depths of the garden.. bye!). Replaced those with some Halfords value units. Still no luck. Turned out the horn ring wasn't actually making a connection.
Simple fix here, it just needed cleaned up with some sandpaper as the ring around the outside is what makes the actual connection.
Before

After

That provided about 73 more beep.
Here is a Halfords horn in place and the tidied wiring loom.

Front lights - replaced these with some new halogen units. They seem good.

Rear light problems were traced to poor bulb contacts and bits of corrosion in the light units.

 
Again simple enough, these were tidied up and rewired. Where the bulb contacts had fallen off, big blobs of solder on the ends of the wires worked perfectly.

 

Ghetto resilvering done with some foil tape.


Redid the lens seals with some generic rubber.


Just the number plate light to sort. It's part of the very beautiful boot handle.

The bodged wiring is not so beautiful.

Redone with solder and crimps.


Fuel gauge was a head scratcher for a long time as I'd previously tested the sender as good. But it wasn't, and it took a lot of pain to get to that realisation.
The resistor wire that the float runs along turned out to be no longer connected at the left side.

 A bit of ugly soldering got me a working fuel gauge again.

The temperature gauge was much more complex. The original gauge is a mechanical one which works using a copper tube full of ether running all the way from the dash to the cylinder head. Of course after all this time the copper tube had burst and the ether is now in the ether.
It's a beautiful bit of engineering inside but its also very expensive to replace.
I had a plan.
Step one, get an electronic temperature gauge and sender for £8. Test it in a cup of hot water. Rejoice.

Smash the gauge to bits and graft the original gauge face onto the new gauge internals.

Looks legit next to the fuel gauge.

Install into the dash using a bit of board and wire it up.


Amazingly it seems calibrated exactly to the same points as the original mechanical gauge. Happy with that.
One final job. To make the 1/8"NPT sender fit into the 5/8UNF hole in the cylinder head. For this I tapped the collar from the original sender to 1/8NPT to make an adapter.


MODERN

Now the dash and windscreen trim can go back in properly.

The fiberglass dash top I got was absolute shite and doesn't fit properly. It'll do for now.
Have a teaser of the interior being put in at night.

Not too far off now.

Please say it's a Matra 

Please say it's a Matra 

So close! I'm now the owner of 1 of 9 remaining pre-facelift BMW 540i MANUAL shifted Tourings! The combination of big V8, manual gearbox and estate body is pretty much unheard of and very few are left (they barely existed in the first place).
Naturally a purchase has just been made, very nice seller. About to start the 200 mile drive home, wish me luck!

At this rate you'll be divorcing us for Pistonheads. 

I used these guys loads when I lived in london and I’d thoroughly recommend. Immaculate premises too. 
 
Their “no pass, no fee” policy also extends to motorbike ULEZ testing which is fucking great in my book. 
 
Here’s a pic of the Saab of many shiters in their bay  

At this rate you'll be divorcing us for Pistonheads. 

At this rate you'll be divorcing us for Pistonheads. 

Why yes, as it happens I am powerfully built, but not currently a company director.
Couple of extra pics after I picked it up.

At this rate you'll be divorcing us for Pistonheads. 

At this rate you'll be divorcing us for Pistonheads. 

At this rate you'll be divorcing us for Pistonheads.