Trabant 601 - The Beast from the East (of Germany)

[Lewis's Friend]

Vitorio said:

Excellent work, and ill echo the "much better then the car deserves", you guys are really doing quality work!

That front wishbone suspension is just engineering comedy though

When it's finished, we'll take some photos of the underside; its immaculate. Less so the rest of it!

I think the effort going into all the bits you won't see is a combination of 'because we can', and 'because it's funny'...

[Lewis's Friend]

As prompted, here is a small bit about refurbing the front hubs. This is not because it is especially interesting, but more because it was unreasonably difficult and I feel others need to share in my frustration...!

Here is one hub, having been wire brushed so it looks merely old as opposed to rescued from an ancient shipping disaster.



Getting it apart to remove the pivot shaft required some very creative positioning of the hub in a press, but I got there eventually. It then got treated ready for POR15 painting.



And painted



I then pressed all the bushes, bearings and pivot shafts in. Something that should be easy, but took hours. Particularly annoying as I thought it would so simple!



I also had to buy a 20mm and 22mm reamer, which I eventually managed to find cheap on eBay, as otherwise this was going to be a fortune. Reamers get expensive quickly...



Finally I blasted all the filth of ages from the grease points, which was gross and satisfying in equal measure!



And that's it. Not a massively exciting update, but quite cathartic for me...!

[Dr G]

Knowing that a job is done well is indeed very satisfying; keep us updated

[AceOfHearts]

Small update. Brake lines fitted to the front subframe, and the engine bay cleaned, seam sealed and rust ground back and treated. Now ready for a coat of Halfords 'Lada Beige'

Before


After

[AceOfHearts]

Big update today!

Gave the engine bay a quick tidy up with a lick of paint (yesterday)



Got the engine crane out and fitted the front subframe and fuel tank



Wheels on and she is back on the ground!







The suspension has already settled a little more since the pictures. Currently the front bumper has 4.5" ground clearance but there is still no engine or interior fitted

Edited by AceOfHearts on Thursday 9th June 21:16

[Lewis's Friend]

Strong effort getting all that done by yourself. Does that mean its heading over my way soon...!?

[AceOfHearts]

I'm afraid so. We still need to sort out the logistics though!

[Trabi601]

I really need to sort a suspension drop on mine. They look fantastic sitting a few inches lower.

[AceOfHearts]

In preparation of Trabi's move to Jon's house I thought it best to get parts out of the garage and bedrom and back into the car.

I started by making the very fetching new carpets using the old ones as templates. Complementing Jons dog lipstick handbrake



With a matching boot carpet



And bolted the seats back in. Majestic I think you will agree







Unfortunately I don't know if the seat covers will stay as they are quite disgusting and itchy as hell. Now I just need to find places for all the things that I was storing in the Trabi as she is no longer a dumping ground.

Edited by AceOfHearts on Sunday 19th June 16:16

[Mothersruin]

Great thread.

I was in Berlina few weeks back and tried, and failed, to talk the wife into doing the Trabant tour.

[Lewis's Friend]

Props for getting that done - I didn't realise you were cracking on so much. Strong effort.

Now we just have to plumb the brakes, put the engine in and get all the control gear working. Almost finished...!

[LunarOne]

AceOfHearts said:

Unfortunately I don't know if the seat covers will stay as they are quite disgusting and itchy as hell.

I always find that wearing clothes whilst sitting on car seats prevents any itches. Try it!

[AceOfHearts]

Another big hurdle overcome yesterday and quite a busy day. I cleaned the engine with a mix of engine degreaser, gunk and liberal use of the jetwash. It came up quite well in the end. Whilst I was doing that Jon fitted the new brake master cylinder and piped up the copper lines for the front brakes.















And then it happened!

[Lewis's Friend]

Thank you for those photos of me. Now my online presence makes everyone think I camply stand in engine bays gazing with a terrible intensity at brake pipes.

Also, I think for the exhaust, we need a boso style rear exit (probably detachable for MOT purposes!). They make me laugh...

Edited by Lewis's Friend on Monday 18th July 08:10

[anonymous-user]

Probably better now than the were out the factory
Always wanted to build one with some huge loud v8 and some fk off side exit pipes, RWD with some huge slicks.. Maybe i will one day.. I'll let you know if i ever start.

[HughG]

All done then?

[AyBee]

AceOfHearts said:

So when is the engine going back in?

[Lewis's Friend]

AVV EM said:

Probably better now than the were out the factory
Always wanted to build one with some huge loud v8 and some fk off side exit pipes, RWD with some huge slicks.. Maybe i will one day.. I'll let you know if i ever start.

In fairness, we were discussing having a front bumper exhaust exit - I confess I'd like the noxious 2-stroke crud to exit the vehicle behind where I sit though...!

[Lewis's Friend]

AyBee said:

AceOfHearts said:

So when is the engine going back in?

Too mean...! I feel that that will get us faster than we want to actually go in it...

[Trabi601]

I've seen 100km/h in mine. That's plenty fast enough to scare the life out of me.