Trabant Tech Forum

I'm in middle of wartburg engine rebuild at minute. Went to IFA day in Glasgow and engine started rattling on way home. However I have the luxury of a spare engine so I fitted that to keep car on road. The wartburg engine is similar to trabant and it takes longer to clean everything than to actually assemble.

Hello all,

I have ordered a new engine from TrabantWelt (get me... no expense spared!), but while waiting for it I have had some problems with my stand-in power plant...


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Works ok for a bit, then feels as if the cylinders are fighting against each other...!


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Haha! Anyway, the two inner bearings on the crank had come apart, and the springs that hold the rotary valves were either damaged or missing completely. The rotary valves themselves had damage to the edge, and were scored on their surfaces. So Rosie gets a new heart! I'll keep her old engine and maybe one day (when less busy... which may be never...) get round to sorting it, or use it as spares for Keith (our other Trabi still lurking in the garage...).

Hope all's well with you, enjoy what's left of the weekend!

Ronnie.

''I have ordered a new engine from TrabantWelt (get me... no expense spared!), but while waiting for it I have had some problems with my stand-in power plant..''

I seem to remember you do a big mileage so a quality complete engine is sensible. Maybe buy a crank and assemble a spare engine when you have time. Ostmobil.hu do complete cranks for 180 euros outright . A friend bought a couple and they have been OK . I have a wartburg crank in my car that I bought from them also

Aye, that was my reasoning mbeamish, 250 miles a week from now until November is the plan, and a wee bit of travelling for shows too. I'll have a look at that Ostmobil site, cheers for the tip.

The thing's paid for now, but have you heard anything good or bad about TW's engines? Everything else I've had from them has been spot on, so I was fairly happy, big purchase though! They were (just) cheaper than LDM, and post for free so that and the fact I've never dealt with LDM swung it for me. £934 is the magic number, fingers crossed it's a good 'un!

Cheers now, Ronnie.

I can't comment on trabiwelt , the ostmobil.hu seem OK ,new bearings fitted and feel smooth but I suspect trabiwelt/ldm ones are much higher quality. If you are a ruthless uncaring capitalist you could buy that £200 trabi and break it up for spares and probably end up with a 'free' engine. I did that with a rotten barkas I bought for 300 euros but didn't feel guilty because it was so rusty

Aye, it's hard to imagine breaking one up... what would actually happen is I'd end up with a yard full of rusty 'rescued' Trabis.

I have almost 20.000 km on a trabantwelt engine, and no problems so far, just remember to tighten the heads after approx. 200 km, or they will leak a little.

Thank you Mati, that's really good to hear!

Use a torque wrench for this as it's all too easy to strip a head stud

Maybe it was somewhere else but do you need some special tool to remove the heads? Can't see why a standard deep well socket wouldn't work.

I need to de-carbonize my heads sometime and might as well replace the gasket between the jug and crankcase while I'm at it. I shined a flashlight through the spark plug holes last time and noticed a layer of carbon on top of the pistons.

One day while trying to get my electronic ignition functioning, I accidentally had the timing advanced too far and after I shut the ignition off, but the engine continued to run!

I've heard of run away diesels with bad turbo seals but had a never seen a run away 2 cycle engine! I suspect the carbon buildup got hot and was acting as a glow plug.

I was able to pull the hose off between the air cleaner and carburetor and placed my hand over the throat of the carburetor and managed to kill the engine.

Will they no longer leak if you tighten them up?

They seem to be tight now, but the cylinders are covered in black grease.

Hello all,

My new engine is here! I'll be fitting up at the weekend... anything I should be aware of when using it? Do you have to use more oil etc, to break it in at all? One problem I have noticed is that it hasn't come with the ebza pick-up (or points) housing fitted, and my old one is cracked/stuck fast to the old lump... some persuasion will be needed!

Anyway, the thing looks bloody lovely, I may even smarten up the engine bay a wee bit before I drop it in!


Cheers all, Ronnie.

I didn't over oil mine and it it running fine. Be sure to torque the cylinder base nuts and the heads. And retorque them after a few hundred km. To break it in, I varied the rpm a lot and didn't go full speed until I had quite a few hundred km on it. I know it is tempting to 'try out' the new motor but in the long run it is best not to go full speed until everything settles in and gets working well. Just my 2 cents. Good luck and happy to hear that you should be back on the road soon!

Back on the road!


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One happy pit crew!


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Even with a break for an emergency call-out at work, the job went very smoothly... managed to salvage the old ignition pick-up housing too. It runs and drives really well (took her for a five mile test run), I will take it easy for a bit, and see how things settle in, but so far so good! I had expected some fiddling with the timing, but with the pick-up mounted exactly as it was before, she started instantly and idled nicely. I was shocked but grateful!

Anyways, cheers for your input guys, and as always, the site in general.