TrabbieRonnie

Thank you for the offer Zel, sharing postage costs might be a good idea... I'll have a check of which carb I've actually got, I used to know but it's gone. I changed my gear oil a few weeks back as it started leaking from the shaft seals, and there's no way to know how much had gone without taking it out anyway. It hadn't lost much, but with fresh stuff in the leakage stopped immediately, and smoother (relatively) quieter operation has resulted here too.

I feel your pain with the carb, I'm considering a service kit for mine. I'm pretty sure my idle circuit isn't working, have it idling well, but reliant on the throttle cable adjustment (which is cheating!). I've never experienced bogging in the Trabbi, did once have hot start issues, which was crud in the float bowl. A long cranking time followed by an explosive (read gunshot!) start up was quite fun... unless at a petrol station.

As I am on late shift and rather under-employed at this hour, I have amused myself by plugging my fleet details into Scotland's ULEZ checker... Results of my surprisingly low emission friendly shite below.... '06 Iveco Daily (2.3 diesel)... Not Allowed. '93 Audi Coupe (2.6 petrol)... Not Allowed. '92 Mazda 323 (1.3 petrol)... Allowed! '03 Audi A8 (3.7 petrol)... Allowed! '93 Toyota Hilux Surf (2.4 diesel)... Allowed! '04 Mazda RX8 (Wankel, 20mpg-ish)... Allowed! '93 Toyota Hiace (2.8 diesel)... Allowed! And last but certainly not least, famous for it's exceptional emissions... '89 Sachensring Trabant (0.6 petrol/oil)... ALLOWED! 😂

Fantastic, glad you're enjoying it... I am jealous of your 44mpg's!

Yes, it's odd. I can only assume damage was caused at some point... the other side is perfect! Anyway, more to the point... how are you enjoying wafting around in the A8?

SIGNIFICANT ESCALATION OF WORKS ALERT!!! Shouldn't be surprised by now, these 30 year old motors are never straightforward! Whilst stripping out the strut for spring/top mount replacement, I found a bit of rust... Vigorous poking and prodding revealed the full extent... It's a weird place for it. Seems like the water running down the wing top gets to this point, gets stopped by the wing bolt, and then runs down the seam. Maybe a brake fluid spill in the distant past or something compromised the paint. Anyway, the cereal box came out, and a patch template has been formed... It's a bit of a compound curve job, but should be do-able with a bit of tacking and whacking. I'm in work later on, so can't be arsed getting the grinder and welder out today, but weather permitting, will do so tomorrow. Old cars, who'd have 'em?!

I don't think anyone's forgotten that at all, it's just a yardstick we can use for what a given car/engine combo can do comfortably. I do remember my Dad putting a 1600 in our 1300 Escort estate and the thing bloody flying afterwards... same thing when he put the 2 litre lump in our 1600cc Sierra. Weight though, that's the killer for our more modern motors.

Our A8 was by far the most powerful car we'd ever had, and I would say it has the perfect balance of torque and willingness to rev. It's a 3.7 petrol V8, and there's just something very satisfying about the way it accelerates even from A-road speeds. I make it 155 bhp/tonne, but it's more about the wide power band you get with a big petrol lump. I'm lucky enough to never have to drive in town, and generally am only ever over-taking lorries and tractors. The refined nature of the beast means that all this speed happens without discernable effort too, with only the fuel consumption to remind you... I say 'was' by far the most powerful, because I recently got an RX8, with (apparently) 231 bhp. As far as I can make out, that gives 165bhp/tonne, but in a totally different manner! The beep comes on at 9500 rpm to remind you it may be time to change up, below 6000 it's not very quick at all. Between those magic numbers though, what a car. Although the soundtrack is manic, the way the car goes is very fluid and smooth. I do wonder if it's as fast at the top end as the big Audi though... The venerable Trabbi comes in at 46bhp/tonne, but can corner flat-out and surprised a few cars at our last road rally. Hills however... they are the enemy and require planning! ...that Mini was not taken by surprise by the mighty Trab btw! The noise it made as it tore past us was glorious. So yeah, 155/tonne is my perfect amount. As long as you work fairly locally, not in town, not in traffic, and like an ever-changing and festive array of dashboard lights 😄.

Well, I feel it's a bit boring writing about the same cars all the time, but the fleet seems to have stabilised at its current membership so I have no choice! The Audi Coupe had its turn up on the new tilty-ramps today, to let me at the broken front spring. It lifted the pretty nose-heavy old thing no bother... with the front end pointing skyward, the rear wheels are touching the deck, but only just. I stuck an axle stand under the subframe just in case she wanted to play see-saw. The offside spring was broken at the top, meaning the coil had jumped up past the shock cap and was hard against the inner wing. This meant I'd have to compress it before pulling the strut out... This seemed like quite a faff, so instead I cut the spring up with the angry grinder... much easier! I really should look into getting the proper tool for undoing strut top nuts... That's my brand new 22mm socket getting abused already. I cleaned everything up, wire-brushing and treating the strut to some Fertan (German Vactan), it's marinating now under the bonnet... It takes longer to go off than the Vactan, eventually turning black. It's the favourite amongst boaty types apparently, and I couldn't see Vactan on eBay any more? I'll give it a coat of chassis paint before reassembling with the new spring. I'm waiting, however, for more new bits as unbeknownst to me the nearside strut top rubber has left the building! I'll replace the pair, it didn't seem to have any impact on the driving, but was just floating about as soon as the weight came off it. I'm on lates tomorrow and Sunday, so might get the other side dismantled if I'm energetic in the mornings (unlikely...). Anyway, at the other end of the driveway, good progress was made by my youngest on the old Jeep. It has been wire-brushed, treated, and painted and/or oiled up as required, in the front offside wheel-well anyway. He's replaced the track rod, and upper and lower ball joints, which should tighten up the steering a wee bit. He'll finish up tomorrow, re-install the damper and split-pin everything up. The brakes are in a shocking mess, they're not even old, 'Kavo' branded and truly shite. Roughtrax now stock genuine Toyota though, so a new set of discs and pads are en route. The plan is to do the same on the other side, and then get her down off the truck, for fitment of all the 'new' doors and wings. That should see her good for another few years I reckon, mainly carrying mountain bikes up into the hills.

Godspeed, those BM's have just got better and better looking to my eyes... My pal occasionally tries to talk me into a red convertible 328 (orange indicators(!)), I find it increasingly hard to resist!

Nae bother 💪

They really are great wee things, good fun and easy/cheap to keep. I too am maxed out for space now, I see loads of stuff I'd love to own, but can't bear to part with anything I've got!

Should have updated the sitch on the wee Mazda actually... Did get the thing serviced, replaced the cambelt and front discs and pads last weekend... Took about three hours all in, brilliant thing to work on, plus I know my way around it a bit now! It's hitting the ramps purely for assessment/repair of some rear wheelarch blebs.

Hi all, Couldn't resist the opportunity to tinker on the Trabi while she was up, so have had a good day's scrubbing and re-oiling... Will need to attend to this rear panel again soon, really is looking scruffy now. Even that'll be easier with the lift though. Here's a pic for Zelandeth, shows the difference between my old-style hubs and his fancy new-fangled ones... They're pretty much the same both ends, the front drums have cooling slots in to handle the massive heat build up on re-entry to the village obvs... Spent the day wire-brushing, then painting and or oiling everything that moved. I even scrubbed and re-painted the wheels (inside and out!), a perfect day. My youngest was doing the same on the old jeep, will update that when we get it back together. More pics... Can't believe the original underseal has lasted so well, god only knows what it's made of! The car is actually older than registered, built in 1983 (they were often returned to the factory, rejuvenated and re-vinned, then sold again apparently, hence the '89 reg). So yeah, not bad for forty-one... And down. Still needs a wash and hoover, but I'll do that in the morn, weather permitting. I plan to commute in her as much as possible now, it'll let me get a bit of a tidy up on the white Audi (needs a bit of paint now) this summer. So, she's running well, and I feel better having undone some of the salt damage she endured standing in during the A8's abs saga. Just before we came in, we slid the lifter under my eldest lad's 323 (actually had to lift it by the arches to get it through, because racecar apparently!). We'll see how that lifts up tomorrow too.

Got a new toy! Rosie was employed for testing duties... Bloody marvellous thing, you can see-saw the car end for end by hand. Feels nice and solid too, my driveway is a tad* uneven so I've had to put plates down for the wheels to roll on. I bought it second-hand off a colleague, but it doesn't seem to have been used much. I've set it up for wider than he had it, the Trabbi just sits on the pads and no more, but it should take the 323, Coupe and maybe the RX8. Chuffed to bits!

Car just sitting at work, cheering me up...

I think it's one of the best looking saloons ever, and the perfect engine for it too. Not normally a gambling man, but ticket purchased! I have nowhere to put said bimma, and no earthly need for another old car, but just look at it!

I think that is the correct old-style puller you have there... If it doesn't fit your car, I'd be very happy to buy it for mine! Seems your hubs are different, the drum on the older ones has a lip around the centre that the two halves of the puller would go around, the sleeve clamps it all together and then hey presto...! However, I feel your pain, knowing how Trabbi hubs can weld themselves together! Good luck 👍

Hi all. Wee service on the big Audi today... it shouts it's desire for fresh oil from the dash binnacle every time it is started, when it feels it hasn't had enough attention (very demanding things, A8's...!). Anyway, as well as dispensing another 8 litres of Mobil's finest, this gave me the opportunity to survey the damage... What damage you say? Well... Wednesday night saw me cruising home from work, after a ten hour shift ending at 11pm. Regular readers will know that I live quite rurally, meaning the last five miles of my commute are along a sweeping and deserted (especially at that time), stretch of sweeping A-road. Some modicum of speed was involved therefore, when an unforeseen and unfortunate creature thought my bumper looked like a safe space. I actually felt pretty horrible and don't mean to make light of this, it's not unusual hereabouts, although normally deer are the most common roadkill we see. However, the sickening thud this time turned out to be some poor soul's cat... I did not know this at the time, it literally flashed out in front of me before I'd even lifted off, never mind braked. I assumed given the size of the animal and the deserted and houseless location, that I'd hit a badger or very small deer. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I did not stop, knackered and keen to get the last couple of miles in before the coolant ran out, I pressed on for home. In my defence, I'd have been pulled over on a 60mph road in the dark, searching with a phone torch for an animal I felt sure would be dead anyway. The Audi and myself got back without further issue, and to my great surprise, all vital fluids intact. The next morning saw the following... A badly deformed lower bumper... which pulled back out pretty well. A very badly deformed air con radiator, which had somewhat protected the coolant rad. However, both are now significantly closer to the engine than before... A barely clinging on fog light trim, surrounding a popped-out fog light... And lastly, a long list of exceptionally angry women on Facebook, lamenting the poor cat, and the disgusting lack of morals exhibited by the murdering lunatic who'd left it for the cold light of day to reveal. I am thankful for my anonymity in this matter, but still have not dared to show my face (or bumper) in the village yet. The car is ok. The Aircon may not live to cool another day, but the engine remains untouched. Only close inspection would show the damage to the chin of the beast, and the suspension compressor (immediately behind the fog light) appears unscathed... Am I the bad guy? Should I reasonably expect dart-quick moggies on such a road, at such a time? Doesn't the owner deserve some flak, for the innocent cat's demise and my radiators' present condition both? I'm sorry, I'm using you guys as a support group... What do any cat owners think?

After a beautiful sunny day in the Highlands, I've had a good chance to take stock of our Surf spares. I wanted to lay out all the big bits, and get them a wash... All looking good. There is a small amount of rust along the bottom of the driver's door, but nothing compared to what we've got currently. I'd put checker plate panels along the bottom of the doors a few years ago to hide it, but even that's corroding now. I cut and polished one of the new back doors and fitted the wind deflector, it's come out lovely, really deep metallic finish in the sun... Slightly better than the old one...! So we're now looking at finishing the jeep to a higher standard than we thought. The original plan was to just gradually fight the rust and paint her black, but with the wings and doors looking this good, this would be a shame I think. The bonnet and roof have serious lacquer peel, I might speak to the garage and see if the base colour can be saved and re-lacquered. If not, we're considering a black bonnet, a-posts and roof, just leaving us the rear quarters to try and cut and polish to match up to the doors. The young shiter-in-waiting who is to become the next custodian of this fine vehicle, also preferred the old black wheels... so they'll be making a comeback. I liked them too. The front grille and bumper are off, the slam panel is vactanned and will be painted/oiled up before reassembly. One of the new wings got trial fitted, as did one of the 25mm wheel spacers we found in the stash... We also found a pair of spring spacers for the rear... I suppose they're designed as a cheap fix for the classic saggy rear end that Surf's suffer from, but I guess we could lift her up a wee bit with them (back springs are new), and tweak the front up when fitting the new torsion bars. I'll have to see, as she already had a bit of a hot-rod stance, as you can see in the pic a couple of posts up! We'll carry on fitting up new bits an re-painting where necessary, feeling more like a restoration now...!

Well, what a day! We headed out early doors to pick up the work's van and we're soon Transit-ing across to Inverness... The guy selling the Surf parts was great, and had an absolute shed load of bits. He'd had a long line of Surfs himself, and had plenty through his workshop for other people too by the sounds. We were only really going for the doors and wings (all in great nick having been dry stored for 15 years), but were blown away by the sheer amount of stuff he had. Inevitably, a lot of it is now here...! You're looking at... four doors, two front wings, a full new set of wheelarch plastics, a set of wind deflectors, two sump guards (one lovely aluminium number), most of the exhaust, a viscous fan, all engine pulleys (including two crank pulleys...), a boot load cover and fittings, x2 starter motors, x2 turbos(!), two or three ECU's, two complete sets of new tail-lights, a power steering pump and reservoir, two new torsion bars, a few throttle bodies, all the rear windows, and just about every relay/sensor there is. There's loads of miscellaneous bits and bobs too, track rod ends, bearings, seals etc. He even threw in a set of the big 'SURF' stickers to go down the sides of the new doors. We can't believe it, the price was very reasonable, and as well as being very generous and knowledgeable, the guy was a genuine car person. He was clearing out the garage to give himself more space to sort his beautiful Audi 80 Sport... Feeling pretty lucky just now.

I'm struggling to remember exactly, but I had my rear arms off to weld on new 'spoons' (the forward mounting points)... I don't think there's any 'push' left in the spring once the wheels are off the ground. Pretty sure I just unbolted the arms and took them off, there definitely wasn't any use of jacks or anything trying to compress the spring.

Non-car post... Found (buried under a work bench) an absolute beauty of a welder at work today... Took me back to my apprenticeship days, it's been a while since I saw a proper oil-cooled pot. English Electric, couldn't see a date or serial number anywhere... With scant regard for the PAT Testing regime, I plugged her in to be rewarded with that lovely quiet hum... Funny the things that please me as I get older, what a time I had burning up the biggest rods I could find into the workbench! Appears to work perfectly, smooth power... feels like it would go all day if you wanted, lovely. Had to share it somewhere peeps, hopefully you can appreciate it! 😄 Cars are alright, new springs came for the Audi Coupe, racing red lowering jobs of course... Too much to expect an actual set though obviously, they've sent four fronts! Anyway, it's fronts I'm really needing, the backs can be done when the to-ing and fro-ing is completed... Wee Maz is going great, confidence in the fix is high. Much excitement here for a mission tomorrow, we found a guy clearing out his garage... full of Hilux Surf parts! Have arranged a lend of the work's van, and the initial deal is for a set of doors, and both front wings. After speaking to him on the phone, it transpires that a great many other useful (and now hard-to-get) parts are there too! I have gathered all my spare scheckels... The ol' jeep's refresh has just been taking too long, this should be a shot in the arm for us. Once it's up and running again, I'll be handing it over to no.2 son, for it's next driving chapter (and his first).

Well, long story short... the wee Mazda is back on the road! After barking up the wrong tree for a bit with the fuel pump/relays, we got to the right sensor. With all codes cleared, I turned the engine over, and in frustration really, let it churn for a good 20 seconds. This seemed to be enough time for the ECU to flash up a code again (it never had since the initial handful at the breakdown). The code was 2, which is 'crankshaft position sensor'. The car doesn't have one, instead using the cam angle sensor mentioned earlier (just under the rotor arm). I think this replaces the points in this halfway electronic set-up. The CAS reads the cam position, and via the ECU, signals the ignitor (a wee black box) to fire the coil. A read through the mx-5 forums showed that this part is now prone to age-related failure, although usually at start-up. Trying to find a complete unit was impossible, I think all bar the very earliest mx-5/miatas had 'coil on plug' ignition, doing away with the rotor arm? None of the castings looked exactly right either. I set about the thing on the kitchen table, and was faced with a pretty simple looking set of pickups on a plastic plate. It's a Mitsubishi-made part, and when I put the number into Google, up it came at a place down south! On the shelf and £55. Anyway, it arrived today, and within an hour it was on and going! Running sweet as a nut (just as before), we're all very happy. This wasn't a quick fix, with work shifts, weather etc... and there has been a bit of parts darts. It got both fuel relays, a fuel filter, an ignitor, and of course the new CAS module. However, I've learned a lot, and feel confident it is sorted. I'm planning a service and a cambelt when work next allows, although it still looks very new. For now it has been put back together and cleaned inside and out, and is just back from band practice (boot rammed full of guitars/amps/drums, just as it should be!). Phew!

Have you still got the wee rubber pipe that goes from the cowl to the exhaust manifold jacket? It goes brittle and can easily be lost when removing the cowl (also can be awkward to fit)? I couldn't see it in your pics, but it makes a huge difference to cabin heating... you probably know this as you say the heater works well, but thought I'd mention it as mine was in poor condition when I first got it. Good work again, it'll go a bit better after this job!