Trabant 601 - The Beast from the East (of Germany)
Discussion
Yes even this 1990 requires pre-mixing the fuel.
I had 15 minutes today to continue my quest of getting the trabi watertight. The water is coming in on the drivers side and I noticed some damage around the windscreen wipers on that side. It looks like at some point someone has munched the crush washer sealing around the shaft.
In the interests of minimal spending I found some fibre washers in my outbuilding and set to work!
The door seals are also rock hard and seem a good culprit for water ingress. 7m of new seal ordered up to do both doors only £25 so hopefully that should turn up by the weekend.
Someone in the past has obviously had this problem and decided to have at it with the silicone sealant
I had 15 minutes today to continue my quest of getting the trabi watertight. The water is coming in on the drivers side and I noticed some damage around the windscreen wipers on that side. It looks like at some point someone has munched the crush washer sealing around the shaft.
In the interests of minimal spending I found some fibre washers in my outbuilding and set to work!
The door seals are also rock hard and seem a good culprit for water ingress. 7m of new seal ordered up to do both doors only £25 so hopefully that should turn up by the weekend.
Someone in the past has obviously had this problem and decided to have at it with the silicone sealant
Made a start with Jon today. Stripped the interior out and cracked on with cutting out the rot. A little more than we expected so am ordering up 2 new sills from Germany. Floors were all good except for one patch which was riveted over. We cut this out but will replace when the new sills are here. Also fitted the new door seals so the car should at least be waterproof now!
The patch we managed to get in has now been ground back and painted, just needs a skim of filler once we have got everything else sorted
The patch we managed to get in has now been ground back and painted, just needs a skim of filler once we have got everything else sorted
Edited by AceOfHearts on Saturday 28th February 20:21
Well we made some good progress on the right hand side this afternoon. Got rid of a lot of the grot and removed the rotten sill. We were on a roll but unfortunately ran out of welding wire, but we are in a good place that i can crack on next week (am working all weekend unfortunately)
Old and new sill
Old and new sill
Cracked on with a bit more today now i have some wire. Finished welding the floor and got the new sill section in. Just need to finish welding the inside edge of the sill and get the arch patched up and then this side is done
Finished floor patch and sill plug welds ground down and painted. Will probably not bother grinding down the floor welds as they will be under the carpet.7
Where we are at the end of the day
Old to new sill section joint ground back
And almost fully in! Another afternoon and this side should be complete
I might carry on tomorrow but i have a new steering column to put in the TVR so that will probably take priority
Finished floor patch and sill plug welds ground down and painted. Will probably not bother grinding down the floor welds as they will be under the carpet.7
Where we are at the end of the day
Old to new sill section joint ground back
And almost fully in! Another afternoon and this side should be complete
I might carry on tomorrow but i have a new steering column to put in the TVR so that will probably take priority
As this is a bit of a muck-about car, we've decided to try some new things with it!
So I've been hydro-dipping small parts just for funsies on the Trabant. AceOfHearts was insistent I post these pictures... So here we are:
Grill flatted, in primer and then painted in the base coat colour
Dipped with decadent walnut and just lacquered!
Lacquer dried but before flatting:
And a comparison between original and luxurious walnut!
So I've been hydro-dipping small parts just for funsies on the Trabant. AceOfHearts was insistent I post these pictures... So here we are:
Grill flatted, in primer and then painted in the base coat colour
Dipped with decadent walnut and just lacquered!
Lacquer dried but before flatting:
And a comparison between original and luxurious walnut!
AceOfHearts said:
Just looked up Trabi Safari on google, looks great fun
A small update but I have fitted Jons excellent handiwork to the Trabi. I think it is so awful that it suits the car
I also just t-cut a small section of the boot and i think surprisingly the paint will clean up ok.
Back to the welding . . .
That's lovely... It clashes so beautifully with the horrible interior!A small update but I have fitted Jons excellent handiwork to the Trabi. I think it is so awful that it suits the car
I also just t-cut a small section of the boot and i think surprisingly the paint will clean up ok.
Back to the welding . . .
I love these, this guy is putting a Polo G40 engine in his - albeit with a turbo instead of the G-lader:
http://www.polog40.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=116...
http://www.polog40.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=116...
A lot more done today
We managed to get the arch repaired (which for our first ever think went quite well) and Jon did his special 'fix' for the cracked rear quarter panel
All that is left for that corner is finishing off the end of the sill and a small section of the boot floor at the rear of the arch. Then we can get the panel back on and start on the other side!
We managed to get the arch repaired (which for our first ever think went quite well) and Jon did his special 'fix' for the cracked rear quarter panel
All that is left for that corner is finishing off the end of the sill and a small section of the boot floor at the rear of the arch. Then we can get the panel back on and start on the other side!
And some interesting videos to show that the steel frame with duroplast panels was actually quite a strong design. According to this months Practical Classics it actually outperformed the 1990 VW Polo in crash tests.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF4phDLfGF4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ceEh7R1KYA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF4phDLfGF4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ceEh7R1KYA
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff