Restorations Forum

I do believe those are Rivets! Generally speaking, they can be drilled, ground or chiseled off, though you want to be careful of the Duroplast.

And don't worry about not getting a "better" Trabi. Yours looks perfectly adequate and the motor sounds OK.

The Adoption Fees you have paid so far, even if massively more than the Initial Adoption Fee*, are quite reasonable for an Exotic Car from faraway places.

Plus, you get the very great, even Priceless** experience and honor of knowing your Car, oops! Mechanical Comrade inside and out.
There is simply no better or easier car to repair, completely restore and overhaul, which, ultimately, even if you adopted a near-perfect example, you will have the honor of learning.


On the fun side, few Americans (possibly few NZ landers?) believe that a Trabi is German.
Even if you call it correctly as "The BEST German Car Ever!" people around here (possibly there too?) invariably refer to it as "That Russian Car".

So, to have fun*** with this, you might want to consider pronouncing your "I"s as "ee" or "ay", substitue "Da" for yes and say things like: " Da Comrade! eet ees a fine Soviet car from our Nemetskie, oy, German Comrades!"
In no time at all, you too can be considered a foreigner in your own hometown amongst your friends and neighbors!




* Initial Adoption Fee: Often referred to as "Purchase Price in Facsist regimes.
** "Priceless" is often considered "worthless" by the cynical and pessimistic.
*** "Fun" is relative and very, very subjective. This kind of mischief can actually get you deported in less tolerant/humourous societies, so enjoy!

Didn't mean to sound nosey.

I suppose the reason i asked was I could have given $8000 for one in the same condition, just because it was already here in the US, past customs and with a clear title. Instead I had mine imported and paid half that.

I could have bought one for $12000 in mint condition but I can restore mine myself for a lot less money.

So I finally got some time to work on the Trabi tonight... I managed to get the majority of the interior out, found some random shards of glass under the drivers seat at the same time, who knows how long they have been there. I also managed to get a bunch of wires labeled and cable tied, ready for removal.

I now have access to a drill, so I will give the rivets a go tomorrow and see I can get the duroplastic off... has anyone taken their roof off? any suggestions on how to do it?

Hopefully I will also get time to have a go at removing the engine/subframe tomorrow.... I assume the best way to do that is to remove the engine, unbolt the subframe and then lift the rest of the car above it and slide the subframe out? or is there a different method I should be following?

I'll grab some progress photos tomorrow when its a bit lighter in the garage...

Not as much work done as expected today.. but here is some photos... (silly clutch lever is in the way of removing the hex bolt, allen key handle is too big to fit in between)
Apologies for crappy phone photos.. greasy hands and canon dslr do not really work well together... so instead you get shitty iphone photos...


Removing everything from the engine for removal.. (starter hex bolt is my only problem at the moment)


Alternator, Carb and Fan Removed


All electric cables taged and tied ready for removing.. had a look under the dash, its a bit wtf with spaghetti of wires..


All the cables for rear lights have been moved into the cabin.. interior carpet and seats removed..


Lights, bumpers, boot and bonnet removed..





Some of the rust (at least what I assume is structural rust)


more cracks, left hand front side


more cracks, right front side


and some more cracks, right front side....

To clear the clutch lever.....
Why not turn the Allen wrech around and use a 10mm socket and extension as a handle on the short end?

Overall your car is in much better condition than mine, cracks and all. At some point I'm going to have to strip it down as you have.

The ratsnest of wires isn't as much of a challenge as it appears. This is how all cars one looked before the advent of multi wire connectors. This is why the wiring diagrams for Trabis have both a schematic and wire chart.
If in doubt, tag everything with bits of number tape made for this purpose.


What color are you going to paint it?

have fun!

I like your thinking... I'll give it a try tonight... otherwise, I'll just go to the hardware shop and get either a cheap Allen key that will clear the clutch.. or buy a Allen key socket attachment... if I can find one...


yip tagging is what I am doing a lot of at the moment... here is hoping that the tags stay in place...


I am going to be keeping it the same colour NeptunBlau... at first I couldn't find the colour in the car paint finders... but it turns out that its under Wartburg.

Good News Everyone.... the cracks that I have photos above, are not cracks or rust... well technically they are cracks... but its only cracks in the paint job... its a thick amount of paint, but I just had a quick digging session in the engine bay with a screw driver, and quickly hit steel, with intact prime coat... OMG...

So happy... gonna check the interior tomorrow because I suspect the same thing... but hopefully it means a lot less $$$ having to be spent...

There is still some rust on the wheel wells and in the corners... but otherwise I am much happier.. although I just got a bill for my Socialised/Communist Medicine... (as a self employed contractor I have to pay a lump sum per year instead of it been taken out of my taxes) so now will have to wait a few weeks before I can afford to get it sandblasted and rust repairs... and maybe new seatbelts while I am at it...

Got busy yesterday and removed all the side panels except the doors... got the engine out last week finally, and the gear leaver is now out as well.
Only things left is the transmission and the dash...

With the panels off, the right side rust looks worst then the left, but I will wait till I get the final verdict from the certifiers.

Here is some photos from last night. This morning I just gave it a good vacuum and removed the front right panel and the two side rear windows, the rubber was about to give so decided to just take them out....

Such great pictures.

The metal looks great or at least very good.
It's going to be an excellent Trabi when you get done.

but...
Are you sure you want to stick with Neptuneblau?
Maybe a "Himmelblauer Trabant"?

Mine gets loads of attention in a "close match" to the original Marmonweiss.
Being just a shade off, it still matches the interior but looks brighter and more fun. Plus, it goes well with red!

If you like Neptuneblau or are big on originality, never mind!

If not, why not try bright red with yellow stars? White with zebra stripes? Florescent green, orange or yellow?

There is a bit of rust that definitely looks worst in person, but it looks to be in an accessible place to repair... all my bills are now paid, so I might see If I can get it dropped off at the certifiers this week to get the ball rolling on rust repairs...


I actually quite like the Neptunblau, I know its not as famous as the Himmelblauer, but the fact that it is a somewhat rare colour makes it a bit more special. I do also like the idea of keeping it original.

Oh!

I almost forgot....

When you remove the dash, you might find it helpful to remove the wiper and headlamp switches from the dash without removing the wires.

But how to remove the knobs!

It's easy. Just push the knob in and turn. I think it's CCW for the headlamp switch, CW for the wipers. The knobs come right off, then you can unscrew the switch nuts and remove the dash with the switches still attached to the wires..

Have Fun!

thanks for the switch tips, that was going to be next on my list...

I'll let you know how I go

Cheers

A.

The dash has been removed as has all the wiring in the car, now begins the task of building a brand new loom from scratch... fun just need to find where I left my crimper and wire strippers...

found one wire had broken on the indicator/horn switch... so I wonder if that was causing the odd indicator/4way flasher issues...

Car is booked in for its first attempt at certification... it will no doubt fail.. but hopefully rust repair can be started...

edit:
I should also add, having a look at the front last night, I looked a little off when I got the car, and now that the duroplastic is off, its clear as day that the car as had a but of a bump at some time in its life... the front left has a nice bend in the metal in front of the wheel well... hopefully a bit of hammer action can straighten it back out...

What about the hazzard light switch? How do you remove that?

easy... pull the red button out to remove the plastic push down button and the light bulb...

you can then either awkwardly rotate the aluminium ring bit now exposed with your fingers like i did... or

there is a little hole in the side of that flange that you can put a small screw driver through, accessible from behind the dash.. and rotate it that way