CatatonicChimp

Well if you were floating around taranaki street around midday you might have seen a little blue car with lots of smoke, no windows, no seatbelts and no rego come flying out of martin square... It has just been in at ABC to get the brakes fixed and then I just drove it around the corner to get the two front bumper bolts extracted, they are impossible to get to without a proper lift. (just learn't they may also be high tensile steel) Its the first time I driven it more than a couple of meters, and my gear shifting needs some work, (confusion over if i was going into first or reverse, as the reverse gate doesn't have a lock out) but it pulls nicely, brakes need a bit of time to settle but otherwise its in fine shape. Hopefully will have it back in the garage tomorrow, and I'll try book the glass in for Friday (they failed the first time they tried to install the glass) then I am just waiting on seatbelts to arrive back from Australia, as they should be finished this afternoon, and the centre rear brake light from the USA needs to arrive, then its entry cert time. Video to come tonight at some stage when my friend finds time to upload the footage from his camera..

Well the glass install was a complete disaster this morning.... Nothing broke... but nothing worked either. The problem was that the seals are quite big and chunky, it was difficult to get the seals onto the glass, and once the seal was mounted around the glass, they didn't want to stay in place, even with a ton of masking tape. It didn't help that there was only one glazier doing the job when you really needed two.. So they've taken the glass with the seals, to see if they can get the seals to form a bit better around the glass before the next attempt with two people... so glass install is delayed till next week probably... since the glass won't be draining my car bank account this week, I've booked it in to get the brakes checked, snapped bumper bolts drilled out, and I'll see if they can check the timing... timing wise it should be correct according to the electronic ignition instructions (badly translated from german to english) it says that the red indicator light on the unit should turn on when cylinder 1 is 8mm BTDC, however the manual for the original points ignition plate mention that the spark should be at 4mm BTDC. I am not sure if the differences is due to the differences between the way the electronic version is setup vs the points system... but I figure the best way to check is to get them to check with a timing light.

If I had the room I would love it... but I am still 6-9 months away from starting another project...and I would need a house with a bigger garage

Looks awesome dude. I would love to be able to build one of these for my Trabant... as long as I can keep the weight down sub 500kg's (pref around 350-400kgs) then it would be light enough the the Trabi to pull..

I am gonna have to find a boom box or portable speaks to blast out some glorious* German Democratic Republic and Soviet hits. and maybe a large east german flag like this: (probably won't be able to find a flag like that before june), but I will bring my east german military hat and jacket... Edit: Found and ordered East German and Soviet Flag... now to find someway to mount them... *glorious may also mean horrible.

I am actually going to try and get to this event...but it does depend on parts arriving (brake light and seat belts) and getting booked in for entry cert prior to the meetup... because if I am turning up, its has to be in the Trabi. Edit: What time do people actually rock up? the first page of this thread just says "usual time" and the other thread just mentions people will go inside at 7pm...

Progress Report: I did managed to get the car out of the garage on saturday and took it out on to the road for a few moments to turn it around, that was fun since I live on a somewhat steep hill, and the car still has no brakes except a hand brake. The reason it has no proper brakes yet is, I can't bleed brakes to save myself... that or something is screwy in the brake system... The Dash has been reinstalled, and electrical gremlins seem to be fixed for the moment, the basic wiring for the trailer connector is done, but I am leaving it for the time being until everything else is done. All the casing around the engine has been installed and the heater works with no apparent leaks causing exhaust to enter the cabin. I finally got around to putting the new seat covers on the drivers seat and fixing the bodged job I did on the passanger seat.. I do have new covers for the rear bench as well, but the originals are in ok condition, so I might leave those for the moment. Currently Todo list prior to Entry Cert: - Finalise order for 3rd Brake light from US, I found a 6Volt led light that can hide on the top edge of the window, very thin and almost invisible when not in use, originally designed for classic porsches it has quite a few mounting options so I should be able to get it fitted to the trabi without much of a problem. - Send Seatbelts to Oz for rewebbing, They do it to the full ADR standard with correct certification tags, will probably save me any extra problems if I decide to move back to Oz in the future. - Glass Install (Booked for wednesday morning) - Brakes check, I'll probably just book the car in with ABC and they can give the brake system a once over and do the bleeding correctly, and see if I can get them to drill the two rusted bolts out of the bumper mount, I can't get access to them without a lift. And a picture:

Does anyone have a timing light I could borrow for a few hours on Saturday or Sunday?

I am on the home stretch now... the engine runs... still needs some tuning but it runs... The glass + rubbers are going to be installed next wednesday, and hopefully this weekend if the weather is good, I can spend a few hours putting the new seat covers on, rubber pieces that go on the interior wheel arches and bleed the brakes and other misc interior finishes. Electrics are done and working except for the trailer connector... but I haven't decided on how it should wired yet... original east german 5pin setup (uses the round 7pin euro connector just different wiring) or convert it to a standard euro pinout. if I keep the original I would create an adaptor cable to make it work, not that I am planning on towing anything anytime soon...

ITS ALIVE!!!!!

Does anyone have any recommendations on Glaziers? Preferably someone who can do the job on site. I need the windows relabeled (with the glass specifications) as the originals labels have rubbed off over the years and I can't get certed without them apparently. On top of that I need the windows to be installed, as I can't be arsed doing it myself. Cheers A.

No I've not read practical classics mag? is that the UK one? or is there a local one? is the person on staff with the trabi in nz? Yeah I've have seen meet the neighbours, really want to go to one of the Teffen's (Trabant Festivals) one year. Will probably try and organise a group from the of UK/USA forums...

At least they didn't charge me... Just so people don't get the wrong idea, I sent it to them to give the crank a clean and make sure it was still true... they pulled it, but the races for the bearings are free floating... they came off along with all the rollers across their shop floor... Now it was the first time they have touched a trabant engine... but i would have thought they would be able to lift it straight and then check for things like loose bearings before they started flailing it around.. Anyway they lost a bunch of the rollers, and the only place we could find who had them (in the US), said they were all allocated to manufacturing plants, and I would have to order 1000s of them... which wasn't kind of an option... so I ended up buying a crank off Ebay Germany... which due to the slightly new style required a small indent to be drilled in the top of the case... but despite my clear instructions and diagram, they put the indent on the bottom... while its not ruined by putting it in the bottom, it does make it harder to assemble...

Will give them a call, I am making steady progress with it atm... lots of little things to do like small screw/bold missing here and there. Hopefully I can tackle a bunch of the big things this weekend... need to connect the engine manifold and exhaust, torque down the cylinder heads.. connect the new electronic ignition etc... finish the wiring (its a bloody mess). etc etc Cheers A.

I've been given a contact to get my brake master cylinder rebuilt.. but its in Porirua, and I don't have a lot of time at the moment to drive out there to drop it off and pick it up. Can anyone recommend someone in the more central wellington area? I have the rebuild kit, just no idea how to do, and I don't want to risk screwing it up as its a long wait to get a new part, and I don't want it to fail when driving.

Well its been awhile.... Thought I should post an update... Things are making steady progress... all the rust has been removed... new paint, new underseal, most components have been stripped/painted/powdercoated... Catastrophic engine rebuild failure.... (Was not happy with "Headmasters") but should be sorted now (1 new crankshaft later) New Stainless steel exhaust. New Seat covers. New Shocks.. Lots of other bits and pieces done and left to go... hopefully will have most of it finished up in the next few weeks..

Thanks for the offer, we managed to get it sorted yesterday, my flatmates friend from the south coast managed to use his mechanics black magic on it and got the nut off in 30seconds

Haven't updated in a while, but this is the first time in a while I've had time to work on the car. I started disassembling the engine, got the cylinders off and pistons out, but I need to remove the pulley wheel before I can crack the case in two... but the nut is not wanting to move... does anyone have a rattle gun I could come over and borrow (Thankfully the engine is so light atm I can just put in the boot)? or a massively long breaker bar/extension?

Parts from Germany arrived today, unfortunately it wasn't quite door to door service.... Their Door to my nearest Airport, so had to run to the airport, pick up the airway bill, take it to customs down by the port, pay a bunch of GST and then take another form back to the airport and finally pick up my box of parts... Anyway its all done, and they were packed very well... and they included a present as well. Parts: 2 Rear wheel wells (complete) 2 front wheel wells (half) 2 side entry plates 2 door sills 4 jack point tubes The Present: (It was wrapped with gift wrap with a bow) so amazing... 2 spark plugs Engine manifold kit Neptuneblau Trabant Toy Trabant Bonnet Logo Some photos from a few weeks back when I test fitted the Radios I got from Germany (Stern Transit), finally got around to testing them this weekend and they all appear to work.. but I might have blown the small speaker I had... all three steros were working when I tested them originally, and then after a while I tried again and it was a no go... so not sure what was going on there..

Any suggestions for City/Lower Hutt area? I need to start calling around but have little idea where to start. All the rust repairs are structural in nature and will need to be certed in order to pass the entry certification and registration. Most of it will just be replacing old for new parts, plus a little bit of custom fabrication for some little bits..

The Car is back home, the repair certifier had a look, and its not nearly as bad as i thought... just need some new wheel wells in all four corners... and little patch here and there.. Managed to get a few spare hours to play with the car over the last few nights... managed to get all the dash and the steering column and the pedals out. only things left that need to be removed are the wipers, gas pedal and the front and rear windscreen, then its about ready to be blasted.. but when that will happen will depend on when they reply with the quotes.

Thanks to K-Trips and LOW'N'SLOW the Trabi is now in the Hut awaiting certification and repairs... Slight issue on the motorway, the front right panel decided to come loose... probably didn't help that the headlights were not on... had to stop and strap it down..

Just wanted to say thanks again to K-Trips for helping move the Trabi today. Its now safely at the certifiers waiting for certifications/repairs. Edit: I better add Thanks to LOW'N'SLOW for the use of his trailer.

Looks amazing, I can only hope my East German people's car turns out as nice... Where did you get the roof rack from? I really want to get something similar and stick a nice old leather suitcase to match...

Finally got a bit of time to do some serious work on the car tonight... only 2 plastic panels left on the body (not including doors), front right fender and and roof, but I am hoping I don't need to remove the roof as it requires me to uncrimp the edge and apparently they never really go back the same... So here enjoy the photos... came across a bit of structural rust when removing the panels... I've seen worst examples in Trabants.. so hopefully this won't be too bad to fix... I was hoping to send it off to the certifiers this week to get a rundown of what they think needs fixing.. other than the obvious things that are removed.. and get the rust repairs started.. .however sill ACC bill arrived in the mail this week... so yet another delay... Still tossing up if I should remove the glass, or leave it be for the moment, going to replace all the rubber seals in a while anyway... each has cracks and tears, and the front doesn't match the rest of the seals. P.S. Not sure of the date yet... probably about 2-3 weeks away... but can anyone recommend a good car transporter in wellington, or would be willing in exchange for beers to help me move the car with a trailer... I don't have another car at the moment. (Miramar -> Petone)...