Zel's Motoring Adventures...Peugeot, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - 03/06 - Trabant: Off with its head!

[RichardK]

It looks like an ATF cooling line to me with the crimped bit on the end. Leftovers from past work?

[PhilA]

Transmission breather line. Should be connected to the driver's side of the case, there's a union fairly high up.

With a cooler fitted it forms the return.

You can run a 35 without a cooler but it does help in traffic.

Phil

[Zelandeth]

38 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Transmission breather line. Should be connected to the driver's side of the case, there's a union fairly high up.

With a cooler fitted it forms the return.

You can run a 35 without a cooler but it does help in traffic.

Phil

Will have to have a dig then!  Likely left disconnected when the drivetrain was last refitted.  

The lack of a transmission cooler is something I spotted a few weeks ago as the radiator is a manual spec one.  So I believe the ends of the cooler lines have just been joined together, though it's hard to see - will be clearer once the radiator is out (it needs repairs either way).

[PhilA]

Small external cooler will work fine if you can't find an automatic transmission radiator for decent coin.

Phil

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, PhilA said:

Small external cooler will work fine if you can't find an automatic transmission radiator for decent coin.

Phil

That's exactly what my plan is.  New radiators seem to be basically unobtainable, pretty much everywhere offer them on an exchange basis - hence my plan to just get mine repaired.  A small cooler tucked away somewhere in the void between the valance and the rad will do the job just fine.  That's a little ways down the to do list though.  I'd rather have it done before we're out in 40C weather again though!

[Zelandeth]

Had a chance to look into the lack of heating in the P4 today.  Initially couldn't get any water through the heater core.  

Poking a screwdriver into the feed immediately revealed the reason for this.  

The valve itself was also well and truly gummed up.  Eventually, after a good 15-20 minutes digging and generally faffing about with it I managed to get a decent flow through it.  

Turned out that the linkages were also adjusted wrong, so the valve wasn't opening when the heat control was set to high.  

I then faffed about for a while getting it bled - there's no proper provision for bleeding the system on these and the heater is the highest point on the system so it's a bit awkward.  

We now have...some vague suggestion of warmth.  I suspect I may need to bleed it a bit further or poke the linkages a bit more.  Progress though.  I also want to see if I can get hold of the cable and get the flaps for the windscreen demisted vents open.  I'm not inclined to dismantle the whole control assembly to try to reconnect it, but if I could just get the demisters open and just leaving it that way would make sense at this time of year.

As Abby was in the office today so I didn't have the Peugeot on hand it drew the short straw for daily duty today.

Still enjoying this car.  Hopefully I can get it equipped with more or less a fully working heater tomorrow.  

[Crackers]

On 24/11/2023 at 00:12, Zelandeth said:

New radiators seem to be basically unobtainable,

Is that specifically for autos? Mine was manual and had a new, higher-cored radiator put in by the previous owner. Whether it was supplied on exchange I don't know, but does it particularly matter if it is exchange? 

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Crackers said:

Is that specifically for autos? Mine was manual and had a new, higher-cored radiator put in by the previous owner. Whether it was supplied on exchange I don't know, but does it particularly matter if it is exchange? 

Haven't done a massive amount of digging, but the listings I found when I had a rummage the first time around all either stated that they were exchange units or were listed as out of stock.

Imagine any place that does custom rads could make one up, albeit probably for a price.

Given there's some damage to one of the end tanks on this radiator I reckon a lot of places would likely refuse it as an exchange item - so will just be getting it repaired locally and source a separate oil cooler when I get to that stage I think.  The recore (with uprated core) Vs replacement costs weren't vastly different anyway.

[Zelandeth]

So we've got a delivery and collection mission coming up tomorrow, so the P4 has been loaded up with the various spares and such for the new owner.

Hoping to make it back somewhere around 1500-1600 with a bit of luck, hopefully the traffic goes will play nice tomorrow.

[Zelandeth]

Good start...2:40 drive and it's pouring with rain.  I'm in a car with awful wipers and near non existent demisting.  Great!

[grizz]

Despite the curved balls I suspect you will miss this one for longer than you care to admit. 
A tinkerers heaven. 
 

I was certainly taken with it when you collected me in it. 
 

Saw this on FB.  
 

Reminded me of many of us. 
 

Not quite what we get up to but ……..

 

[Zelandeth]

It was going to have to move on in the spring anyway due to the arrival of the P6.  I will definitely miss it, and definitely won't discount the possibility of owning another P4 in the future.

In the meantime I figured let's have a bit of silly fun.

Currently just waiting on Hagerty actually answering their phone before I can start heading towards home.

[crad]

mega

[jimi]

Trabant ?

[bobdisk]

Reminds me of the Berlin holiday!!

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

It was going to have to move on in the spring anyway due to the arrival of the P6.  I will definitely miss it, and definitely won't discount the possibility of owning another P4 in the future.

In the meantime I figured let's have a bit of silly fun.

Currently just waiting on Hagerty actually answering their phone before I can start heading towards home.

Oh fuck yeah! I am really looking forward to seeing how you get on with this one! especially in how it compares to TPA, both are 2 cylinder cars of close engine capacity, with non ferrous bodywork, but otherwise very different! 

 

I *really* hope I can have a go in it at some point, hell I am tempted to call dibs on it if in a years time or so you plan on moving it on  

 

On 02/07/2018 at 19:00, Zelandeth said:

It is now confirmed.

 

I have committed to buy the proposed new fleet member.  Collection will be this coming Monday if all goes well.

 

Now you lot get to guess what.

 

Your clues are that much like the Lada, it was very traditional in design, to the extent of being quite obviously obsolescent compared to a lot of the competition by the end of the production run.  It also has an extremely recognisable instrument panel, and really odd interior door lock controls.

On 02/07/2018 at 21:12, LightBulbFun said:

is it a Trabant? please tell me its a trabant

 

5 years later it is indeed a Trabant

 

[bobdisk]

You can see "Trabant" on the steering wheel

[bobdisk]

12 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

I *really* hope I can have a go in it at some point, hell I am tempted to call dibs on it if in a years time or so you plan on moving it on  

I could be second in line, if circumstances change, and allow it

[Zelandeth]

We be home.

Only +10 minutes from Google's original estimate which I thought wasn't bad going.

She had one distinct cough after we'd sat in a traffic queue for 15 mins or so, but other than that didn't miss a beat the whole 120 miles home.  I reckon that cough was just one of the plugs getting loaded up a bit most likely.

Used exactly half a tank of fuel which my math makes to be roughly 45mpg.

It is possibly the strangest car I have ever driven.  

I guess my brain was kind of prepared for it to be in some ways reminiscent of the Lada, but it really isn't (other than being damned noisy at speed).  In the Lada everything is heavy (except the excellent gear shift) and fairly vague.  This is really the polar opposite.  All of the controls are light (the clutch in particular you could press with a finger), and the car feels light and nimble.

Actually gets up and goes a lot better than I expected given the blazing 26bhp on tap.

The fact they have put sound deadening on the underside of the bonnet to attempt to tame the ridiculous amount of noise generated by that engine does somewhat amuse me.

The vast majority of my experience with two stroke engines has been with a couple of Detroit diesel...which share one thing with this, the fact that biblical amounts of noise are generated...I don't think a bit of padding really is going to make much difference!

The car was absolutely happy to buzz along at 55mph and definitely had more to give it needed - but I was definitely taking it easy on the trip home.  Not least because I was having to lean halfway into the passenger seat to see where I was going because the driver's side wiper is loose on the spindle and only wipes about 1/3 of it's intended stroke (most of the time).

Ride is a little bouncy but not at all jarring.  Kind of unavoidable in such a light car, especially with such a comically short wheelbase.  Surprisingly comfortable I found, even if the driving position is exceedingly odd.  

The seat is very low to the floor, and because of where the wheel tub is the pedals are massively offset to the right, the accelerator being well over the centre line of the car I think.

Nice little period accessory, intended to track fuel usage.

It currently seems to be jammed up but I'll see if I can get it working.  Would be nice to be able to set it to when I next needed to plan to refuel.

Something it also shares with the Lada is a heater which could double as a blast furnace.

It is *fiercely* effective.  First air cooled car I've driven which actually has a halfway decent heater, even if it did take me a few minutes to figure out the controls.

Which is a good thing as otherwise keeping the windscreen demisted might have been a bit of a chore given I've apparently got the optional indoor swimming pool specified.

Not particularly surprised.  The windscreen definitely leaks and there's signs of water ingress from around the rear windscreen too - I'll look into that in due course.

There are some areas where the wiring will definitely be needing some TLC.

Plus we've ascertained that there's an earthing issue somewhere in the vicinity of the offside headlight as the indicator is back feeding into the sidelight circuit.

The fuel usage meter is currently dead as when the tank was replaced the sender for that apparently was also removed.  They're pretty cheaply available though so that should be simple enough to reinstate.  It doesn't actually give you any numbers, it's just a bar graph based on flow rate.

The taped in switch was originally for a fog light installation, that will be ousted for a correct switch which actually fits in the dash which I'll probably run a reversing light with as that's actually useful.

It also needs a Damned Good Clean inside and out and a few bits of paintwork touching up which will have it looking a lot better I think.

All in all, quite taken with it so far.  It's a wonderfully bizarre little car, and my immediate reaction is that yes it has shortcomings, but it doesn't seem anywhere near as bad in any way as the urban legends would have you believe.

[grizz]

Congratulations on your selection. 
 

I suspect that I would like it too. 
 

Optional pool is tad not ideal. 

[Marm Toastsmith]

Envious of this one. I should've bought it.

[LightBulbFun]

Awesome! glad to hear it made it back without much issue  

wonder what people thought of a Trabant cruising around the south of England during December!

42 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

I guess my brain was kind of prepared for it to be in some ways reminiscent of the Lada, but it really isn't (other than being damned noisy at speed).  In the Lada everything is heavy (except the excellent gear shift) and fairly vague.  This is really the polar opposite.  All of the controls are light (the clutch in particular you could press with a finger), and the car feels light and nimble.

thats not helping my resolve! how does it compare to the 2CV then? I know you have driven @Six-cylinder's old one, (and I have too) and it sounds similar in some regards to that

 

I look forward to seeing more on it, and especially with how you fix all the small niggles and everything, always very stasfying to see/read about!

 

it goes very well with the Rover P6, almost Father and Son like with those tail fins!  

[SiC]

When you get bored and want to move it on, I'm definitely one of those that would be interested. A Trabbie has been on my hit list for a long time. My interest in them first peaked when I was big into gaming in the early 2000s. Operation Flashpoint was one of my favourite games and that was set in a fictional eastern Europe Island during the 80s. Of course a lot of the missions had Trabbies dotted around! My fascination with them has been since then. That reference will probably age me as I imagine there are a few on here who weren't or only just born when that game was released in 2001. 🫣 

There used to be someone in Slough that regularly imported them right up to around 2016 or so. Used to appear every so often and always for £1250 or similar. Back then I was never in the position nor had the guts to buy one. 

Since then they've always been on my radar but one I haven't quite got around to yet...

(Would love to buy one directly from Eastern Germany and drive it back, but time is short for me to do such an adventure nowadays)

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

The fuel usage meter is currently dead as when the tank was replaced the sender for that apparently was also removed.  They're pretty cheaply available though so that should be simple enough to reinstate.  It doesn't actually give you any numbers, it's just a bar graph based on flow rate.

I have a vague recollection those gauges could cause issues with the fuel supply and many were bypassed because of it. Someone with more Trabbie knowledge I'm sure will know more. @TrabbieRonnie ?

 

[hairnet]

ring ding ding etc

if you see a bicycle dont hit it - youll lose

always wanted a go in one - only ever had a go in a polo versioned one and its not the same

 

[Zelandeth]

Very different car to the 2CV.

Not meaning to be disrespectful of the 2CV in any way - it has to be known that I love them, but the way the Trabant *feels* going down the road is far more robust.  In a 2CV you can feel everything flexing and bending, but the Trabant actually feels surprisingly solid.  The suspension also doesn't even come close to that of the 2CV in terms of it's ability to iron out undulations.  Steering has far more feel, probably because of the wider tyres.

It *feels* like the Trabant is the better handling of the two - but I know full well that 2CVs will grip way, way, way better than seems physically possible.

2CV is probably a bit quicker off the line, though the two cars are geared quite differently so it's a bit hard to compare.  The Trabant has absolutely sod all in terms of torque with it being a two stroke, so you need to get it spinning at a fair rate before anything really happens.

It's definitely louder than a 2CV by a fair margin!

[TrabbieRonnie]

40 minutes ago, SiC said:

When you get bored and want to move it on, I'm definitely one of those that would be interested. A Trabbie has been on my hit list for a long time. My interest in them first peaked when I was big into gaming in the early 2000s. Operation Flashpoint was one of my favourite games and that was set in a fictional eastern Europe Island during the 80s. Of course a lot of the missions had Trabbies dotted around! My fascination with them has been since then. That reference will probably age me as I imagine there are a few on here who weren't or only just born when that game was released in 2001. 🫣 

There used to be someone in Slough that regularly imported them right up to around 2016 or so. Used to appear every so often and always for £1250 or similar. Back then I was never in the position nor had the guts to buy one. 

Since then they've always been on my radar but one I haven't quite got around to yet...

(Would love to buy one directly from Eastern Germany and drive it back, but time is short for me to do such an adventure nowadays)

I have a vague recollection those gauges could cause issues with the fuel supply and many were bypassed because of it. Someone with more Trabbie knowledge I'm sure will know more. @TrabbieRonnie ?

 

Alas, my Rosie did not come with the decadent fuel usage meter (informally 'Mauskino', or mouse cinema!).

I too hear that most are removed to allow max flow, and all the horsepowers.

Great buy, great read... they really are more than the sum of their parts.  Rosie leaks from the joint on the screen rubber (top centre).  

Also, good in snow/ice...

[Six-cylinder]

27 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Very different car to the 2CV.

Not meaning to be disrespectful of the 2CV in any way - it has to be known that I love them, but the way the Trabant *feels* going down the road is far more robust.  In a 2CV you can feel everything flexing and bending, but the Trabant actually feels surprisingly solid.  The suspension also doesn't even come close to that of the 2CV in terms of it's ability to iron out undulations.  Steering has far more feel, probably because of the wider tyres.

It *feels* like the Trabant is the better handling of the two - but I know full well that 2CVs will grip way, way, way better than seems physically possible.

2CV is probably a bit quicker off the line, though the two cars are geared quite differently so it's a bit hard to compare.  The Trabant has absolutely sod all in terms of torque with it being a two stroke, so you need to get it spinning at a fair rate before anything really happens.

It's definitely louder than a 2CV by a fair margin!

Come the spring we can do a Back to Back with my Ami if you like.

I laugh at your 26bhp from 595cc as I have 31 bhp from my large 602cc engine!

[Zelandeth]

35 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Come the spring we can do a Back to Back with my Ami if you like.

I laugh at your 26bhp from 595cc as I have 31 bhp from my large 602cc engine!

We really will need to do that.  Comparing the two back to back from the viewpoint of two different drivers I reckon would be really fascinating.

I'm quite looking forward to getting into getting some of the issues ironed out on this.  Indicators, wipers and water ingress are at the top of the list for now.

[PhilA]

That's a lot of beige. Well bought.

[barefoot]

You have to fix the fuel flow meter, those constantly changing LEDs were the absolute highlight of my trabbie experience!