Zel's Motoring Adventures...Volvo, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - Updated 25/02.

[TrabbieRonnie]

And here's my eldest having a go...

 

 

[rusty_vw_man]

I love this - I’m a big fan of anything with a slightly* left field engine. The picture of the bare engine back in the bay reminded me of something, took me a while but I think it’s got model rc nitro engine vibes:

I’ve only ever seen a trabant once, it was giving it some along a main road in Chester making the most amazing noise and smell. Feels like something I should have a go at owning at some point, if only to balance out the number of smug electric car drivers that live round me now!! 

[RichardK]

What a fantastic build up and result, I'm (word that is like jealous but positive/happy for your successes but would also enjoy doing such a thing myself - there'll be a German word for it) and it looks really satisfying to put together.

[RichardK]

24 minutes ago, rusty_vw_man said:

I love this - I’m a big fan of anything with a slightly* left field engine. The picture of the bare engine back in the bay reminded me of something, took me a while but I think it’s got model rc nitro engine vibes:

I’ve only ever seen a trabant once, it was giving it some along a main road in Chester making the most amazing noise and smell. Feels like something I should have a go at owning at some point, if only to balance out the number of smug electric car drivers that live round me now!! 

Now I really want a 1/8 RC Tabbie with a two-cylinder nitro engine and accurate recreation chassis...

[Zelandeth]

12 hours ago, RichardK said:

Now I really want a 1/8 RC Tabbie with a two-cylinder nitro engine and accurate recreation chassis...

That would be a lot of fun!  Quite a project to build though!

Today I fixed the issue with the fan belt rubbing on the heater feed duct.  Made massively easier by discovering I could do this.

Yes, after you loosen the fan belt you can just pull the fan out without disturbing the cowling.  I really wish I had realised that about a year ago.  

Gives you a glimpse into how the cowl routes the air over the cylinders and heads there.  It's not just an open tin box that the fan blows into.

[LightBulbFun]

On 23/02/2025 at 21:19, Zelandeth said:

The big news however is that she's moved!

Woo! glad to see the Trabant is back in action, its been very satisfying watching you give this one the methodical no nonsense Zel Treatment, and then likewise again with the replacement engine and the fitting of it  I am very much looking forward to hearing how the performance/handling/tractability etc is like once things are run in and you can give it some beans  

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

Woo! glad to see the Trabant is back in action, its been very satisfying watching you give this one the methodical no nonsense Zel Treatment, and then likewise again with the replacement engine and the fitting of it  I am very much looking forward to hearing how the performance/handling/tractability etc is like once things are run in and you can give it some beans  

Wouldn't say it's been that methodically done.  Mostly just been fixing broken things as they're found.  

It's been a thoroughly Illogical process.  What I should have done with this car if I had even a shred of common sense would have been to just buy a tidier example and transfer over the nice upgraded parts that have been fitted to this one to a better car and kept the surprisingly tidy interior bits as spares.  Spending this much on a new power unit for it was nothing short of absolute and total *madness* financially.   Eh, life's too short for that nonsense and these cars are only going to get rarer.

Still need to decide if I'm going to try a take two of the trip over to Birmingham in May or if I should just consider the first failure to be an omen and that discretion is the better part of valour!

That's a ways off yet though.  There are two months (and an MOT) between us and that happening yet.

[Zelandeth]

That time of year again for the Volvo.

Was pretty confident this would be fine given the general condition of it and given it's clearly been so well maintained historically.  Still always a bit nerve wracking putting a car in for its first test in your ownership though.

Need not have worried.

That's this one out the way for another year.  Always nice to get a clean sheet.

Next up is the Trabant, though there are a couple of things I want to address on that first (most notably the one crusty bit of sill).

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Next up is the Trabant, though there are a couple of things I want to address on that first (most notably the one crusty bit of sill).

thats exempt from MOT's now as its over 40 years old and will be eligible for the Historic Vehicle Taxation class on the 1st of April, where you should be able to get a refund for any remaining tax  (the MOT exemption kicks in the moment a vehicle turns 40 years old and the tax exemption from the next April after it turns 40)

[ruffgeezer]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

That time of year again for the Volvo.

Was pretty confident this would be fine given the general condition of it and given it's clearly been so well maintained historically.  Still always a bit nerve wracking putting a car in for its first test in your ownership though.

Need not have worried.

That's this one out the way for another year.  Always nice to get a clean sheet.

Next up is the Trabant, though there are a couple of things I want to address on that first (most notably the one crusty bit of sill).

Glad to see it's in such good hands. That's probably the last decent Volvo they made.

[Zelandeth]

38 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

thats exempt from MOT's now as its over 40 years old and will be eligible for the Historic Vehicle Taxation class on the 1st of April, where you should be able to get a refund for any remaining tax  (the MOT exemption kicks in the moment a vehicle turns 40 years old and the tax exemption from the next April after it turns 40)

This involves wrangling with the DVLA because it's an import.  The computer sees the date of first registration (1999) rather than the date of manufacture (which is listed under the notes on the front of the V5).  Getting that sorted involves having to mess around getting dating certificates from the owners club and having to apply in writing to have it changed.

[LightBulbFun]

44 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

This involves wrangling with the DVLA because it's an import.  The computer sees the date of first registration (1999) rather than the date of manufacture (which is listed under the notes on the front of the V5).  Getting that sorted involves having to mess around getting dating certificates from the owners club and having to apply in writing to have it changed.

the issue you had trying to do it back in 2024 was because it was not the next April after the vehicle had turned 40,, the vehicle was over 40 years old, but it was not yet the next April afterwards, if you look at the Trabant's V5 it will have in its special notes "Declared Manufactured 1984" and that is what the DVLA use in cases like this for Historic vehicle eligibility etc 

currently the historic vehicle exemption is for vehicles from *before* 1984 which excludes the Trabant, after the 1st of April it will then roll forward to vehicles from before 1985, which includes your Trabant  

https://www.gov.uk/historic-vehicles

(if the DVLA did not know what year the Trabant was made, it would be on a Q plate, by the time the Trabant was registered it would of *had* to have had a dating letter/proof of age of some kind to be registered on the age related plate it was on before the private plate was put on it)

as an aside to this if you have an online account with the DVLA and view the vehicle record they will tell you exactly what date of manufacture they have the vehicle down as, and because the recording of exact date of manufactuer was only something that happened fairly recently, for most older vehicles they will assume the end of the year, again hence why the computer said no when you tried to do the trabant last year  

(I just noticed they spelled "Chassis" wrong LOL) 

 

 

The MOT exemption is also completely separate from the Historic Vehicle taxation class, which is why if you look at the V112 form you will see its a *declaration* that you make when it comes to tax the vehicle, of you saying "this vehicle is over 40 years old and not substantially modified, and thus exempt under Catagory R, so I dont need to produce a current MOT certificate to tax this vehicle"

you can for example have a vehicle that your still paying tax on but is MOT exempt, and likewise you can have a vehicle that historic vehicle exempt, but not MOT exempt 

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

the issue you had trying to do it back in 2024 was because it was not the next April after the vehicle had turned 40,, the vehicle was over 40 years old, but it was not yet the next April afterwards, if you look at the Trabant's V5 it will have in its special notes "Declared Manufactured 1984" and that is what the DVLA use in cases like this for Historic vehicle eligibility etc 

currently the historic vehicle exemption is for vehicles from *before* 1984 which excludes the Trabant, after the 1st of April it will then roll forward to vehicles from before 1985, which includes your Trabant  

https://www.gov.uk/historic-vehicles

(if the DVLA did not know what year the Trabant was made, it would be on a Q plate, by the time the Trabant was registered it would of *had* to have had a dating letter/proof of age of some kind to be registered on the age related plate it was on before the private plate was put on it)

as an aside to this if you have an online account with the DVLA and view the vehicle record they will tell you exactly what date of manufacture they have the vehicle down as, and because the recording of exact date of manufactuer was only something that happened fairly recently, for most older vehicles they will assume the end of the year, again hence why the computer said no when you tried to do the trabant last year  

(I just noticed they spelled "Chassis" wrong LOL) 

 

 

The MOT exemption is also completely separate from the Historic Vehicle taxation class, which is why if you look at the V112 form you will see its a *declaration* that you make when it comes to tax the vehicle, of you saying "this vehicle is over 40 years old and not substantially modified, and thus exempt under Catagory R, so I dont need to produce a current MOT certificate to tax this vehicle"

you can for example have a vehicle that your still paying tax on but is MOT exempt, and likewise you can have a vehicle that historic vehicle exempt, but not MOT exempt 

Noted.  I'll have another bash at dealing with the tax again at some point this year.  I'm not too bothered about the MOT side of it as there's really no reason that it shouldn't pass a test once I've got the one bit of rust sorted out and I think that's a sensible thing to have done for a car that's in regular use anyway.  I'd really like to get TPA through one to be honest but have struggled to find somewhere that does class 3 tests that hasn't pissed me around, I'm zero for three on having actually tried to get the car tested so far so just kind of gave up!

This afternoon I wanted to try to knock at least some of the worst of the tree gunk off the Trabant.

Initially I took the car to the jet wash at one of our nearby filling stations - first place it's actually gone since the engine change.  Only a mile or so, but it feels like progress.  Immediate observations are that it feels like the car gets up to 40 or so far, far more quickly even with my being pretty gentle on it at the moment compared to flat out beforehand.  Not really surprising given that all the evidence suggests that the old engine was probably missing a few of the original 26 horsepower even before whatever actually failed let go.  The engine itself is also far quieter - one thing which isn't though is the exhaust - the buzzy raspy noise from the tailpipe now when you're on the throttle is WAY louder than it used to be.

I had seriously forgotten how pointless a lot of those jet washes are.  I honestly could have got better pressure just using the hosepipe at home, and our water pressure isn't great to start with.  So dragged out my own pressure washer and got that involved.  Hey look, this one actually does something!

Some of the really ingrained stuff (and the plethora of oily hand prints on the front panel and bonnet) will need some more elbow grease to shift, but on the whole the car looks far better for a quick hose down.

Will see how brave I'm feeling tomorrow, might actually use the car for normal car type things again.

[Zelandeth]

3 hours ago, ruffgeezer said:

...That's probably the last decent Volvo they made.

Funnily enough, that's pretty much exactly what my MOT tester said when we were talking about the car a while ago.

[Mac69400]

3 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

(I just noticed they spelled "Chassis" wrong LOL) 

No offence, I know you do a sterling job for many shiters, but for someone that always uses "of" instead of "have", and "where" instead of "were" that's a bit rich. 

[plasticvandan]

The exhaust probably isn't that much louder,it's just now you can hear it over the engine!