Zel's Motoring Adventures...Volvo, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - Updated 13/11.

[grizz]

You really are doing some great work on this car. 
 

I fitted some LED headlights to the Rezin Rockit but being what it is, they look better. 
 

And I do have a pair of actually monikered RR lights to fit when the mood takes me. 
 

So when I can, I prefer original stuff. Like the Caddy but even that gets a combination of CBA and lets try making it better. 
 

Filled the Caddy for the first time yesterday collecting from you. 

[Zelandeth]

This morning I got an email informing me that my parcel from Trabantwelt had arrived at my local Parcel Force depot and would be released for delivery once the customs charge had been paid, which I could do through their online portal.  Details on that charge would be sent to me...in a posted letter.  All I needed to pay the charge was a reference number...which was not in the email.  Why send me an email telling me you're sending a letter?!?  Either include the reference number I need in the email, or just send the letter.  

I figured I'd nothing to lose so set off to the depot with my ID and reference numbers to see if it could be dealt with in person rather than waiting for the letter, which I doubt I'd be seeing this side of January.  

Thankfully the gent there (who also agreed it's a daft way of doing things in this day and age) was able to look everything up and we were able to get it paid up so the parcel could be released.  Even better, they were happy to just hand it over to me rather than having to wait for delivery.

So a happy resolution at least.  Even if paying £70 in customs charges on top of a £250 order that I'd already paid £35 shipping on did sting a little.  

Oooh, goodies.

The vast bulk of what's in here is door and window seals.  I'll maybe get a chance to go after the door seals at the weekend, but the window ones will need to wait a while.  There were some smaller bits and pieces though which I could put into play in a matter of a few minutes.

First up being dealing with this aftermarket switch on the dash.

This was for a fog light which looks to have long since vanished, so it's basically just acting as a safe termination block for the wiring at present.

It's now been replaced with something which actually fits in the dash properly.

That is a switch for a later model hence the symbol being in the wrong place, but I think you'll agree it's an improvement.  Hoping down the line I'll be able to get hold of one that's actually the exact correct type for the car.

I'm unlikely to ever really have a use for a stereo in this car as it's just too noisy.  So I had ordered up the factory blanking plate which fills the gap it otherwise leaves in the dash.

I think we're starting to get somewhere now, if we compare to the day the car was collected.

A brand correct keyring is always a must, where I can find one anyway.

The car has also now regained it's missing badge too.

Which tidies things up from the front far more than you'd expect.  Though I still need to remove and fill the hole left by that one bolt.  Now the adhesive holding the bonnet latch assembly to the panel has fully cured it's redundant.

She's also been out and about today quite a bit.

Have to say that for such a small and light car she seems far less phased by the wind than I expected, It's been quite breezy here today.

You definitely know it's a breezy day, but I was expecting such a small car to get blown around on the road a lot more than this seems to.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Zelandeth
Typo

[vinyljunky]

Loving your work, even the seats look a little rosier.

 

 

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, vinyljunky said:

Loving your work, even the seats look a little rosier.

 

 

I've not touched them yet, I think they're just a lot drier.  The whole interior was sopping when when the car was picked up.

[beko1987]

The before and after of the carpets is very stark! Assume that's just from vaccing the water out and accidentally extracting all the crap as you went? 

[Zelandeth]

15 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

The before and after of the carpets is very stark! Assume that's just from vaccing the water out and accidentally extracting all the crap as you went? 

That and them not being actively saturated any more!

[kevins]

It's coming along nicely, you should have got the German VAT off the price though, so the cost should be pretty neutral.

If you go there you can also claim it back on stuff you buy, we claimed it back on a Barbour Coat we bought in Cologne. (shop may have to be registered for⁷ some scheme for this though)

[Zelandeth]

19 hours ago, kevins said:

It's coming along nicely, you should have got the German VAT off the price though, so the cost should be pretty neutral.

If you go there you can also claim it back on stuff you buy, we claimed it back on a Barbour Coat we bought in Cologne. (shop may have to be registered for⁷ some scheme for this though)

The duty refund was around €45 - so a fair chunk less than what we were charged at this end.  It is what it is though.  The specialists are based in Germany, so it just needs to be kept in mind when ordering things.  The majority of the parts are cheap enough that it's still decent value comparatively to buying parts for most cars.

-- -- --

Can't really think of a better car for doing battle with the pre Xmas madness if unlike me you were unfortunate enough to have to go out into it than the Trabant.

Usually I'd have avoided going anywhere, but the delivery order was missing about 30% of what we'd asked for, and I needed to get to a pharmacy anyway.

In fairness, stuff was busier than usual but nowhere near as bad as I've seen it.  Imagine tomorrow will be utter carnage though.  I will emphatically NOT be leaving the house tomorrow!

Things in favour of this car today:

[] Tiny footprint.  Even the smallest parking bays look huge.

[] Unreasonably tiny turning circle which makes getting into said spaces easy.  Invacar loses points there as the steering lock actually isn't great.

[] Good sized boot for such a small car.

[] Excellent all round visibility.

[] Finger light driver controls.

[] Plastic body panels shrug off the usual car park dings from errant car doors or stray shopping trolleys with almost complete impunity.

[] It's noisy enough that there's at least a 50% lower chance of people just walking out in front of you than anything else I own.

Was far less stressful a trip out than I'd expected it to be.  Aside from it taking me a trip to four pharmacies before I found anywhere that had my meds in stock anyway, that always gets the nerves going a bit!

Oh, also fixed this, which had been bugging my OCD something rotten.

I didn't realise it was just sitting on a magnet, so nothing to stop me moving it to sit centrally in the car rather than randomly off towards the passenger side.

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

[] Unreasonably tiny turning circle which makes getting into said spaces easy.  Invacar loses points there as the steering lock actually isn't great.

I will admit I am a bit perplexed by this, especially with @dollywobbler's recent similar comment when he got TWC out for a quick run

 

do you know what the turning circle of a Trabant is? a quick google is giving me figures of 9.5m or 10m which is about 32ft (but I know how reliable google is not!)

 

by comparison a Model 70's turning circle is 23ft, thats tighter then a black cab! 

 

 

but its really awesome to see the Trabant working so well, and doing what it was made for  I wonder how people react to seeing a Trabant being daily driven in the Middle of December 2023!

[Zelandeth]

23 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

I will admit I am a bit perplexed by this, especially with @dollywobbler's recent similar comment when he got TWC out for a quick run

 

does thewhat is the turning circle of a Trabant? a quick google is giving me figures of 9.5m or 10m which is about 32ft (but I know how reliable google is not!)

 

by comparison a Model 70's turning circle is 23ft, thats tighter then a black cab! 

 

 

but its really awesome to see the Trabant working so well, and doing what it was made for  I wonder how people react to seeing a Trabant being daily driven in the Middle of December 2023!

I suspect the theoretical maximum travel of the steering on a Model 70 may give you that, but in reality I don't think it's something you'll see in the real world.  I've not measured it, but the Trabant is able to turn at the end of a cul-de-sac near here without stopping which I definitely need to do a 3-point turn to get around in TPA, even with the bars wedged up against the dash.  The amount of effort required is also very much proportional to the amount of lock you're aiming for - and the steering isn't exactly light to start with, something else which makes backing TPA into spaces harder than the Trabant, as you really do need two hands on the bars, which makes leaning back far enough to clearly see behind you difficult.  Whereas the steering in the Trabant is easily spinnable with one hand.

I do wonder if they've quoted from whichever control variation gives you the widest available swing?

The Trabant isn't something you'd really want to be doing long distances in, but for buzzing around locally it does stack up surprisingly well.  

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

I suspect the theoretical maximum travel of the steering on a Model 70 may give you that, but in reality I don't think it's something you'll see in the real world.  I've not measured it, but the Trabant is able to turn at the end of a cul-de-sac near here without stopping which I definitely need to do a 3-point turn to get around in TPA, even with the bars wedged up against the dash.  The amount of effort required is also very much proportional to the amount of lock you're aiming for - and the steering isn't exactly light to start with, something else which makes backing TPA into spaces harder than the Trabant, as you really do need two hands on the bars, which makes leaning back far enough to clearly see behind you difficult.  Whereas the steering in the Trabant is easily spinnable with one hand.

I do wonder if they've quoted from whichever control variation gives you the widest available swing?

The Trabant isn't something you'd really want to be doing long distances in, but for buzzing around locally it does stack up surprisingly well.  

interesting! because I dont recall any such issues with REV, for example the dead end here where she lived, I *think* I was able to swing her around without having to multi-point turn, 

but admittedly that was 2 years ago now, so perhaps I am not remembering all the details, however I certainly dont recall having to actively think about doing a 3 point turn, compared to say when I was backing out of the chippy's much tighter parking space where I do remember actively having to 3 point turn

and from what I can tell the dead end is about 25ft wide from kerb to kerb, so that certainly lines up with the 23ft turning circle quoted in the workshop manual

but again maybe im mistaken, you have got me wondering now! 

 

you certainly make an interesting point about the different control schemes, thats not something I have quite thought about with regards to the Model 70's turning circle, we will have to make some direct comparisons with @Mrs6C's Steering wheel Model 70  

I have certainly not otherwise heard of the turning circle of the Model 70 being variable, and AFAIK the handle bar configuration was the standard/default option, so thats what i'd of thought the figure would been quoted for?

Say @red5 next time you road test REV, dont suppose you could quickly measure/check her turning circle for us?  

 

but on that I know on the Harper Mk6 the Tiller bar had 3 "effort required" positions, and each one increased the turning circle

which you can read about here on this review of the Harper Mk6

I do believe this featured remained on all Villiers Tiller machines, @AdgeCutler makes mention of such an ability with Brian his Invacar Mk12E

On 04/01/2023 at 19:28, LightBulbFun said:

On 04/01/2023 at 18:23, AdgeCutler said:

There are three positions you can mount the steering rod end to at the base of the tiller, when rebuilding I decided to have it at maximum sensitivity but have now placed it back into middle position which is where it had been during service.

No, nothing that bad but it can certainly give you a wobble and is definitely something worth considering. I expect it could be quite nasty if you dropped a couple of cogs in one hit though!

interesting to hear that the Mk12 has such an adjustment, the 1957 Harper Mk6 review that @barrett posted a while back makes mention of a similar 3 position system, which also affected the turning circle of the machine, is Brians turning circle also affected likewise?

https://autoshite.com/topic/32723-lightbulbfuns-invacar-general-ramble-thread-index-on-page-1-survivors-lists-on-pages-24134-adgecutlers-invacar-mk12-restoration-from-page-186-onwards-brian-braves-the-byways/page/134/?tab=comments#comment-2047020

I wonder if AC's have the same adjustment...

On 04/01/2023 at 21:54, AdgeCutler said:

We still have lock to lock capability and feel it would still be possible in minimum sensitivity position. I have the tiller slightly inclined forward/right steer as I have fairly long arms being quite large myself. The latter point makes me driving around in Brian all the more amusing to onlookers and folk are amazed I fit in, I'm 6'3" and near 18 stone. The fact is, owing to the lack of foot controls or indeed anything up front, there is a lot of room in the cabin. One friend that has been notably involved but denies all involvement has also had a successful test drive and had no issues with access or seating dwarfs me, he must be 6'8" if he's an inch. 

but it sounds like Invacar managed to engineer it somehow to not affect the turning circle by the sounds of things?

one key difference is the Invacar Mk12E has AC Model 70 Parallelogram front suspension where the Harper Mk6 has C-tube type suspension, but I dont know how/if that would affect turning circle things

5 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

and the steering isn't exactly light to start with, something else which makes backing TPA into spaces harder than the Trabant, as you really do need two hands on the bars, which makes leaning back far enough to clearly see behind you difficult.  Whereas the steering in the Trabant is easily spinnable with one hand.

funnily enough throughout my driving lessons, one of the big things really struggled all throughout with was parallel parking, but when I had REV in the dead end a couple years ago, it was a completely non-issue, something I didn't even think about it, until I looked back and realise "wow did I really just back that up in there?!"

 

Its quite interesting the comparison and fine differences the same vehicle is for different people  

 

 

[SiC]

15 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

The Trabant isn't something you'd really want to be doing long distances in, but for buzzing around locally it does stack up surprisingly well.

Possibly a design "feature" of Soviet times in the DDR?

How hard is it actually to work on? I always imagined simple but sometimes these air cooled engines can be a pia to get access to bits as so much tin ware and covers are in the say (as in like beetles are). But not just the engine, is the rest of the suspension/interior have stuff easily accessible?

This thread is definitely making me think I need a Trabbie next. 

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Possibly a design "feature" of Soviet times in the DDR?

How hard is it actually to work on? I always imagined simple but sometimes these air cooled engines can be a pia to get access to bits as so much tin ware and covers are in the say (as in like beetles are). But not just the engine, is the rest of the suspension/interior have stuff easily accessible?

This thread is definitely making me think I need a Trabbie next. 

 

Was it intentional?  I don't think so.  Biggest issues for long distances are simply noise levels and that the limited horsepower limits your comfortable cruising speed a fair bit.  I think the designers made the right call by keeping the gearing pretty short as it simply makes the car better at doing what it does best.  Which really is what it was designed for. 

It's easy to forget that going back to the likes of the Beetle and Mini in the 60s (and I'm talking the mass market versions rather than hotted up Coopers) would *do* 60/70mph, but realistically comfortable cruising speeds were going to be in the 50s.  Both of my Metros got distinctly buzzy anywhere north of about 55, and at 70 you definitely felt like there was a countdown clock on the dash ticking down to the point at which something was going to let go.  I'd need to sit down with a pen and paper to do some math to figure out the comparative engine speeds as I can't do that in my head, though I know that being a two stroke means that it probably sounds like the engine in the Trabant is revving a lot harder.

So far so good as far as maintenance access goes.  Though compared to the engine in a Beetle, there's very little on this one to need to get to!  I think pretty much any major engine operation is intended to be done with the engine out of the car.  Though you have no valve gear, camshaft, fuel pump, oil cooler or perpetually leaky rocker covers or pushrod tubes to access at least.

The carb is a little buried at first glance, but I think once the front panel is removed you should be able to get to it pretty easily.  Likewise the cover for the points, getting to that from the engine bay looks quite tight, but through the offside wheel arch you can get to it just fine.  Gear linkage, clutch cable and steering rack are all up above the engine so are accessible without needing to crawl under the car.

I've not really had to do too much actual work on anything so far save for freeing off some sticky heater control linkages, but initial impressions are pretty good.

Parts availability looks to be very good and decently priced.  Only gripe is that shipping and import duties do sting a bit because most of the specialists (unsurprisingly) are in Germany - though even so I don't think most things are going to work out much more expensive than buying the comparative part for something British from the likes of Rimmer's or JR Wadham's at the end of the day simply because most of the parts themselves are cheaper.

Based on my experience so far, I'd say do it!  If you're ever over this way you're more than welcome to have a look at and a shot of this one.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Loving this thread, it’s always great to see you get on top of all the bits and bobs  

You really can’t beat the sound and smell of a 2 stroke and if you fancied turning the volume up a bit higher, there’s always these…  

[SiC]

2 hours ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Loving this thread, it’s always great to see you get on top of all the bits and bobs  

You really can’t beat the sound and smell of a 2 stroke and if you fancied turning the volume up a bit higher, there’s always these…  

I like the four spare spark plugs lined up for two cylinders. Presumably it is tuned enough that it's very hard enough on them so ends up eating them regularly!

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

Really enjoying this thread - intrigued (and smitten!) with the Trabant but love the Renault content and there's a P6 in there somewhere too?  More of that please!   

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Oi_Oi_Savaloy said:

Really enjoying this thread - intrigued (and smitten!) with the Trabant but love the Renault content and there's a P6 in there somewhere too?  More of that please!   

The P6 first made an appearance over here.

It's currently patiently waiting on the weather getting a bit better so I can finish evicting the gremlins from the fuel system.

[Zelandeth]

On 23/12/2023 at 09:54, SiC said:

How hard is it actually to work on? I always imagined simple but sometimes these air cooled engines can be a pia to get access to bits as so much tin ware and covers are in the way ...

Service access you say.  Well remove two thumbscrews and you have this degree of access.

Shown today while I was replacing the perished air intake duct between the air cleaner and carb.  I don't think you can really ask for better than that.  Probably call it ten minutes to do that and get all the heater gubbins out of the way if needed.

The carb is basically invisible with the front panel on,  it is pretty readily accessible once it's removed.  The intake duct is just a friction fit so just pulls off.

The old one was a very loose fit, new one is much better.

Removing the panel also granted me good access to the fan belt adjuster.

Which I had been wondering about the location of as the belt was quite loose.  Probably want to get a new belt ordered up as it's clearly not in its first flush of youth.  It's a lot quieter now though - it was chirping quite a bit at idle before.

[Zelandeth]

6 hours ago, Nyphur said:

The before/after pics of the interior highlight how rank it really was. Enjoying your work on this 👍

 

That's before I've actually made any effort to actually clean anything beyond giving the dash a wipe down - carpets have essentially just cleaned themselves as the water was drawn out.  Be curious to see how they look after a proper shampoo session.  My guess is they'll come up more or less like new.

Think it's really just suffered from a lack of use more than anything, which combined with questionable weather proofing was inevitably going to result in manky carpets and a mouldy interior.

Seems to be a car which thrives on regular use though.  Looking at a video I took on the day she arrived, the idle is so much smoother now (all things are relative...it's still a two stroke!), and the throttle response is a lot snappier.  I really do need to do a walk round video introducing it.

It really has kept impressing me though.  For a car which has been the butt of so, so many jokes and so much derision, it's been full of surprises.  Yes it's basic, but it's a downright genius bit of minimalist engineering where they seemed to have been pretty damned smart in where they have spent the money. 

[plasticvandan]

Two strokes need to be in regular use,they don't like sitting for weeks,equally,they go so much better when the air is cool and damp,so actually perform better in crap weather.

[Zelandeth]

Well it looks like I've added an item to the to do list on the Peugeot.  

That was working four or five days ago.  I'll need to investigate whether it's usually an issue with the display itself or a dodgy connector somewhere - but I'm guessing damp has got to one of the zebra strips between the display panel itself and the PCB it's mounted on.  That will definitely need to be sorted as it will drive my OCD mad.

Had the Trabant out again this afternoon.  Really surprised how well it handles the wind for such a small car save for violent rattling of the offside front window because the seals are shot.

I did notice a random detail I wasn't expecting this afternoon on this car.

I don't think I've ever seen another car with three number plate lights before.  Couple of buses yes, but not another car I can think of.

Probably be taking this car along to the classic car show in Stoney Stratford on New Year's Day, while it doesn't look like the weather is going to play ball, I'd really like to give it a wash before then to at least get rid of some of the moss and ingrained grime.

[Mrs6C]

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

That was working four or five days ago. 

Think it may be due to a lack of volts... my Berlingo display does the same when the battery is low. Try charging the battery and see if it makes a difference.

IIRC it's a 'feature' of those Peugeot Citroen displays.

[Zelandeth]

Yesterday afternoon I had intended to give the Trabant at least a first pass exterior clean as she'll be attending a show tomorrow.  Not going into full valet mode, I just wanted to get rid of all the moss and some of the ingrained grime that's clearly been there for years.

However I then ended up wasting far nearer two hours than I should have trying to get this sodding thing started.

Which actually turned out to be completely innocent.  The fuel in the can I bought around the end of September had simply ceased to be in any way flammable.  With fresh fuel (not from the run down Total garage that's just round the corner from us this time) added, it fired up first pull.

Before I went after the car with the pressure washer today I decided to (in the middle of a downpour or course) change the door seals first.  Figured as I had these on hand I may as well at least do something to minimise the amount of water to end up in the cabin.

The only thing to really watch out for if you've not done this before is that there's a rivet holding the original onto the frame.

So that needs to be removed before the old seal can be pulled off.  Ideally the aluminium kick plates also want to be removed too - however the screws holding the driver's side one in are sufficiently rusted that the only tool that will be removing those is the grinder.  The passenger side one has actually corroded away to next to nothing due to the carpets being so damp for so long.  So I'll probably look to get a new pair ordered at some point and replace the originals using stainless steel fasteners.  I want to get the floor etc thoroughly rust proofed at some point so they'll definitely need to come off for that.

The old seals were a lip type design rather than the tube type which went on today, and had all but turned to solid plastic.  There was virtually no give to them whatsoever and you could see daylight around both of them in several places, like here where there was about a 1/8" gap.

The seal is now snugly up against the door and is far more likely to be doing something useful.  You can really feel the difference when you close the door now as they close with more of a thud rather than rattly click.  Not expecting them to be exactly hermetically sealed or anything, but this will definitely have improved their performance over the very aged stock seals.

Took a total of about 30 minutes to do both sides, about as simple a job as it gets.

So back to it with the (now working) pressure washer.  Target being the well and truly ingrained dirt and moss that was in basically every single nook and cranny on the car.

I hadn't realised quite *how* much was just adhering to the surfaces in general until I hit the first one with the spray from the lance.

At which point the car turned several shades lighter!

We did lose some paint in a few areas but I was fully expecting that and have already got doing some touch ups on the to do list.

Here's the top of the same door as a couple of photos ago after I was done.

Much better.

Being a little scruffy I don't mind so much.  However looking neglected I'm not willing to put up with...and having it's own ecosystem forming tends to suggest the latter more than the former!

I literally just blasted the worst off of it, no detergent was used, and I didn't go as far as doing a wash as the heavens had opened again by this point.  

Not clean by any stretch of the imagination, but better.

You can't tell from the photos, but there was probably a couple of kilos or so of mud blasted out from each of the wheel arches as well.

I did encounter a problem when I went to set out to go on a little drive to dry the engine bay off - I was suddenly missing wipers and indicators.  Turned out to be a blown fuse.

The cause once again turned out to be because of chopped live wires that had just been abandoned in place - from the fuel consumption monitor in this case.  Despite there being female, insulated connectors on the wires about an inch from where they'd been chopped, the wires had just been cut and left floating around on the inner wing.  The tails were removed from the connectors and have now been tucked safely out of harm's way.

As far as the car actually caring that I'd gone over things in the engine bay with a pressure washer was concerned, it apparently didn't care in the slightest.  Which was exactly what I expected.  If the ignition components are in good condition, there's no reason a car should care about this being done.  

Obviously a bunch more water also found it's way into the car so the carpets are even wetter again as there's definitely a lot of leakage around the windscreen.  This really needed to be done though, and hopefully the rain might actually stop for more than 30 seconds somewhere in the next 5 months so I can get it properly dried out!

Hopefully if anyone is along to the New Year's Day Stoney Stratford classic car show tomorrow they might see this little thing on show for the first time (and I suspect far from the last time) in my ownership.  Hoping to find time to make a sign up with some of the critical information on this evening.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Zelandeth
Correcting autocorrect

[Zelandeth]

Sorry for the lack of my usual updates lately.  Firstly there's not been a massive amount going on.  The weather being so bloody miserable (seriously, why don't we just rename winter "the rainy season" as it would be so much more descriptive)has obviously put a damper on doing much outside.  Plus it's been an...odd...I guess you could call the last week, and it's messed with my ability to portion time and resources properly.  That's all massively off topic for this forum though.

The bloody miserable weather however has allowed me to further survey the water ingress issues with the Trabant.  

The door seals have definitely made a huge difference.  There used to always be water visibly running in around them and pooling in the front corner.

There's still a bit dripping off the actual door card on the passenger door, but I think the seal itself is doing its job.  The window rubbers are absolutely shot on that door so I suspect there's an excessive amount of water getting into the door as the wiper seal basically isn't doing anything useful.  

The vast majority of the water though seems to be coming from here.

I'm going to need to stand on my head to see if I can get a better handle on the actual source.  Windscreen seal is probably still my favourite but I'm not 100% certain.

Pulling the fuel tank to make sure there's not large chunks of the bulkhead missing properly wouldn't be the worst idea though.

Looking at the weather forecast it might be a while before I actually get the car dry again though.

I did manage to get the Rover up and running for half an hour or so this afternoon (started first touch) to get everything warmed through.  Proof of concept that the planned re-engineered fuel return should do what we need it to anyway, even though it was just dumped on the ground routed from one end of the car to the other as it wasn't moving today.  Usually at idle with the bonnet closed it'd usually have been hearing the pump trying to pump vapour and seen a lot of bubbles through the filter by this time so it's definitely improved things.  The big question will be whether I need to add a restriction to provide enough flow to the carbs to keep the bowls full under full acceleration, that will need to wait for a road test though.

At the NYD show over at Stoney Stratford I managed to again forget to take any proper photos of my own car.  I have a history of doing that!

Biggest issue really is that the show has just become so popular.  It was absolutely rammed, to the point that even walking around was a challenge, never mind trying to get any half decent photos or actually talk to any owners for more than 3.8 seconds.  Those photos were both taken early in the day when it was still relatively quiet.

[Zelandeth]

I really need to pull the carpets back out of the Trabant to get them dried out again - though at least the sponge-like underlays are still folded up under the sofa in our spare room.  There has been a little bit of an accumulation of water in the car again over the last few days.  Can't say I'm all that surprised based on how wet I got walking the dogs yesterday!

About the best thing you can do when you've got an issue like this and you can't immediately sort the leak or put the car under covered storage is to ensure that any water that does get in can get out again rather than staying trapped in the car.  Which is a bit tricky on the Trabant as there are no rubber bungs or anything you can easily just pop out in the floor pan.  Solution?  Drill a hole at what's the lowest point when parked facing up hill.

Will only take a matter of seconds to blob a bit of weld over the hole in future, but will at least stop water actively pooling until I can get a handle on where it's getting into the car in such great quantities.  I'll get the carpets back out hopefully tomorrow.

Ideally I'd like to stick the dehumidifier in there again, but there's little point until the weather warms up a bit as it won't do anything useful if the cabin is much below 10C.  I did have a look around today but none of the units stocked by Toolstation or Screwfix seem to be dessicant based, they're all heat pump units.  Need to have a shop around online.

The issue with the offside front indicator acting up has reappeared, and investigation has shown the likely issue to be water ingress into the fixture.  The seals are absolutely wrecked, as is the rubber boot that surrounds the whole unit at the rear and the contacts have basically rusted away to next to nothing.  I do have both of the original indicator lenses from the car (someone has fitted an earlier type at some point), and one original fitting...however am missing the other.  I also don't have a single boot to go on the back of them that's not perished away to nothing.  A pair of new units including all of the bits is about £35, so in the interests of saving future frustration I've just ordered a set.  Given the cost of shipping it doesn't make sense to put an order in to Trabantwelt less than £120 or so I reckon, so topped that up with a replacement for the cracked backing plate for the nearside tail light and the complete fuel gauge kit.  I can see me using this car quite a bit so feel that's a nice quality-of-life improvement that's just worth having.  I do appreciate the approach to minimalist motoring, but that to me is maybe one step TOO far towards minimalist!

[SiC]

I have the Meaco dd8l dehumidifier which is desiccant based. Same reason as you for drying out interiors in colder weather - it was my TT Mk1 at the time that needed it (now fixed - bliss!). Not terribly expensive as these things go and worked well. At a previous job we used one in a clothes drying room (when commuting by cycling/running/etc) and it was a solidly reliable unit even used constantly daily.

[PhilA]

Personally I would make a reverse teardrop there at that drain hole. Drains when parked and actively draws through when driving, sucks the water from the underlay.

That's the kind of solution you'd expect anyway.

[bobdisk]

I would take all the carpets out, and dry them out, but leave them in the house until all the leaks in the car are sorted.

[Mrs6C]

A quick way to sop up residual water in a car carpet is to use a disposable nappy. Supermarkets and online retailers sell them quite cheaply in multipacks. Cut (carefully!) around the absorbant pad part of the nappy, so it can be flattened out. Lay it pad side down on the wet carpet, so that it is in close contact for as wide an area as possible. Stand a weight on it (a clean 5l plastic can of oil is ideal) to press the pad down against the damp area. The granules in the nappy will absorb and retain the moisture. Once absorbed, the nappy can be put in the household rubbish or be dried out and re-used. The pad of a nappy can be useful to apply in the vicinity of a leak as well, to capture and store the incoming drips to prevent them migrating further.

Puppy training pads are also good for drip capture. They can be cut to shape and size and be stuck in place with duct tape, to intercept drips and runnels.

The above are temporary mitigations, but useful in the of control of incoming water until a formal remedy can be applied.

[beko1987]

I wouldn't call a reliable and trustworthy fuel gauge a frivolity tbh... Especially if your actually driving it about which for central mk it seems well suited for! 

(I went to coffee hall on new years day to buy a fucked kirby g4 and really didn't need a big diesel)