Trabi/IFA Chat Forum

Nothing,still bad weather!
But,recieved today new 79Oktan.
It is an German magazine about cars from eastern europe!

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Right then everyone, thinking caps on. The rain today is absolutely sheeting down today and I've just been out to look at my newly painted areas on the floor and boot to see where the leaks, if any are coming in. I could see very little in the boot, but at the previously mentioned rusted area near the battery on my car was a steady drip from the hole in the rain gutter where a rubber bung with a flat top fits. This bung is to cushion the edge of the bonnet when it's closed, but mine, and I guess others, is not waterproof. Even if you did waterproof it, the down gradient on the gutter in that area is not sufficient to disperse the water, especially if you park on any up incline. What it needs is a drain tube from that area to take away collecting water in the gutter and take it clear away from the battery shelf. Exactly the same thing is happening on the other side of my car, and as a result a nice deep pool of water collects in that corner next to the fuel tank. As mentioned before, it's a design fault but I'm particularly pissed off because of what has happened on mine as a result of this fault. I have thought of fixing some sort of funnel shaped device under the hole where the bung is (might as well use holes already drilled) take out the bung and cut off the bit that goes through the hole and just stick the circular bit in the gutter nearby. The funnel would have a spout under to attach rubber or plastic tubing.
Fixing the funnel to the gutter? Gorilla glue, or silicone sealant maybe. What do you think guys?

Also today I was watching BBC 1 news at 1.25pm and an article about the Imperial War Museum in Manchester was on and there next to the reporter was a lovely Trabbi Kombi on display, and he waxed lyrical about the iconic vehicle in the cold war and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Nice.

Steve, have you thought about just drilling a 1/4" hole in the pocket where the water puddles? After the repair is done? I don't know if that would drain into the cabin or not.

Mine never rusted out in this area for some reason. Or at least I don't think it did. Someone did do some welding repair on the shock towers for some reason. I don't know if they rusted out or developed stress cracks around where the shocks go up through the wheel wells like Yugos are notorious for.

Here in the Southeastern US, it's that time of year where we transition from winter to spring. Which means tornados, high winds, torrential downpours. hail, snow, extreme temperature swings from one day to the next . 65F (18C) on one day and 25F/(-3C) the next , all that good stuff. I think we got about 3 inches of rain within 2 hours on Wednesday.

But despite all that, I've been able to get my Trabbi out of hibernation. Mainly because I don't like driving this car below 32F/0C because of the mediocre heater. For some reason the J pipe/silencer keeps wanting to pop off the heat exchanger and I don't know why. I've tighten that clamp about 5 times and it keeps vibrating loose.

I think drilling a hole in that shelf would lead into the passenger area, where you would then have to make a collector and pipe it through the compartment, through the floor to the outside. I think my solution is better and I've just ordered this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162353094303
They are 2 cms across the top, the exact width of the rain gutter, so I think that's the way to go. Just got to figure which adhesive to fix them with.

I'm a joiner by trade but I do a a mixture of most building trades with the exception of electrical and gas work as I'm not registered, at the moment I'm doing a lot of kitchens but it changes after a few months last year I did a lot of bathrooms you've got to go with the flow and do whatever comes along but I always seem to be busy which is good especially as I don't advertise its all through word of mouth although I do contract to a company as and when needed,I also dislike paying some one to do a job I can do myself

Try some sticks like its like silicon but stronger it comes in clear or white I prefer the clear as it over paints easier I buy it from my local how dens joinery centre but it's available from other trade outlets,the only problem with drilling a hole is it may start rusting around the edges you could try using seam sealer on the seams after de rusting before painting this is what's done to modern cars

The hole is already there with the anti rattle grommet/pad/thingy stuck in it, and it hasn't rusted in all the car's years. Just leaked water which has rusted the battery shelf!

The small funnels a good idea are you planning on running a drain pipe under the car? I would seam sealer all seams and repaired joins to keep water out you can get it in tins or tubes like sealant

I'll have to send you some pics of my budget kitchen remodeling job I did. I'm rather proud of it. I think it turned out well for around $500. I never was too good at wood working but seem to be better at working with metal!

I've used this stuff many times and it works great:

http://www.eastwood.com/rust-encapsulator-27490.html

You can also thin if down with lacquer thinner (cellulose thinner?)or acetone. I've put it into a spray bottle and sprayed it onto layers of rusted metal and it soaks it right up. You can apply it over rusted metal then primer right over it. I've had issues with primer and paint sticking to POR-15.

I've already got several cans of this stuff so when I start tearing the sills off my car, I'm going to coat the insides of them with it.

By the way. Talk about water leaks and design flaws. I used to have a 2006 Ford Explorer with the modular V8 engine. One day the engine start misfiring after a heavy rain. With these engines, you have to drive them about 300 miles with the engine misfiring before the check engine light will kick on in order for the OBD II code reader to know which cylinder is misfiring. With Subarus, if you fart too loud, will set off the check engine light.

So I determined that it was #8 cylinder at the rear of the engine. These engines use coils on each spark plug and long plug wire boots. So I pulled the coil and boot off and the boot was wet! I sprayed some WD-40 in it and blew it out with compressed air, installed it and the truck ran fine until it rained again. Once again condensation was in the plug boot.

So I got to looking and there are four drain holes on the cowl (scuttle?) lip. Two of which are directly above the rear spark plugs. I took some of that aluminum tape and covered the holes up from underneath. That way any water would run toward the outer holes away from the engine. Problem solved.

These engines are notorious for bad coils. I've already replaced three coils on my father's Ford truck with the same engine.

we have eastwood products in the uk they get good reviews in the classic car mags,my brother in law had a vauxhall corsa which used to get a bad misfire afer it had rained but it used to clear up after about 20 miles or so when i pulled the plugs the ones at each end were corroded the car has one large coil pack which has 4 plug leads built in this sits under a plastic engine cover so you cant see it the misfire kept comming back evertime we had rain which seems a lot,after numerous plug changes i diagnosed his problem,his drive slopes down to his house and he parks facing down hill, the rain was running down the roof and screen and over the plastic scuttle cover and onto the engine cover and onto the coil pack so he started parking the other way round pointing uphill the misfire stopped and the car ran fine for the next 6 months untill my daughter bought it off him and a misfire returned this time it was the coil pack failing no doubt due to the previous dousings it used to get as when i cut the plug leads off they were all corroded and burnt,these coil packs cost around £150 from vauxhall but the local motor factors sell vauxhall oem ones for £100 or non vauxhall oem speck ones for £75 and tells me he sells mostly non vauxhall ones and doesnt have any come backs from them,most of the old bikes ive had have had to have new coils as the old ones they seem to fail after a few months use,these bikes have usualy been left unused for a number of years until i rescue them, i now just put new ones on when i rebuild the bike as a matter of course

Take of master brake cilinder because it was leaking a little to inside of car.
To prevent for worse I take of cilinder and ordered a new one by TrabantWelt in Germany!
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Trabi had a great day. And took home an award. The other cars had very fancy paint and most did tricks the trabi had never seen. Something called 3 wheeling and some even could hop. But in the end the trabi got much love and had a great day with all the hot rods and low riders.
Even got a few tips on new tires for the trabi.

Waiting for delivering parts TrabanWelt.
Today DHL will bring it to me.
Meanwhile I have changed fan-belt.

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