Zel's Fleet Blog...Rover, Renault, Peugeot, Trabant, Invacar & Sinclair C5

[Dick]

Congratulations
I have a mild panic attack every mot time..

[Zelandeth]

Kind of annoying day today as the weather kept looking decent for being outside, but pretty much the minute I'd start doing anything the heavens would then open again, for about 2 minutes. Then it would be sunny again. Rinse and repeat about a dozen times before I ran out of patience.

I did at least get the roof of the Trabant given a quick skim over with the polish at least.



It's a bit patchy so will want doing again but is definitely a lot better than the streaky ingrained dirt that was there before.

You can definitely tell which bits have and haven't been polished. Have the passenger side left to go over.



As stated, my intention has never really been to make this into a shiny show car, I just want to do what I can to help it look cared for. I don't mind it looking a bit care worn, but don't want it looking neglected. Chalky and covered in moss isn't exactly the look I want!

Not much else to report, I've just been using the car about as much as I can come up with excuses to over the last couple of days.

[Zelandeth]

Following the irritatingly erratic weather on Saturday it was lovely on Sunday. However my body decided that lumbering with me with a headache threatening to turn in to a full on migraine for a good chunk of the day was a great idea so my productivity was rather limited.

In the quest to get some of the grime and rust streaking off the Trabant, I really wanted to get these covers off the rear pillar vents. I wanted these off to look behind them anyway as I wasn't in any way convinced that these weren't in some way responsible for our water ingress issues.



Surprisingly the first screw actually came out without progress, the second however snapped pretty much as soon as I looked at it.



I wasn't planning on reusing these anyway, so it was just drilled out and re-tapped to take an M5 A2 stainless machine screw instead. With a bit of grease applied to the thread for good measure.

I'm not at all convinced this isn't a point of water ingress.



The seam sealer which attaches the inner section there feels like it's gone brittle just like the stuff on the front bulkhead had, so I'll be giving that a good slathering with some PU sealant when I've got a bit more time and working brain available.

There's a good couple of millimetre gap behind these grills and the surrounding metalwork (there's actually a spacer in there to ensure they do NOT sit flush), so basically all the water running down off the roof is going to run behind the grill and into the chamber rather than being deflected over it as you'd think to look at it. I reckon that putting a seal around the top and sides of the panel might be a decent idea. That way water will largely be kept out of this area.

At least I know I can easily get in here again in future.



Need to get a bit more elbow grease involved in removing that rust staining.

Do have some slight nervousness regarding what the top of that screen surround will be in once the screen is removed. We know that needs to happen as I know the offside lower corner of the surround is holed and the screen needs to come out to fix that. Sure that will be an interesting day. That will likely not be done by me, by the way. That will be entrusted to someone who knows how to fix this sort of tinworm damage.

Don't think I've ever had another car which looks quite so at home in a slightly shabby urban setting.



TPA comes close, but does tend to stand out a bit more just by not being quite normal car shaped.

[Dick]

I'm not sure what the green thing is but I'd rather have the trabant..

[Zelandeth]

Few little bits and pieces done this afternoon, but nothing particularly ground breaking.

The Trabant has never been particularly fond of idling smoothly (even by two stroke standards), but it was definitely better after changing the blown head gasket. Today I had the thought of using an IR thermometer to compare the two jugs to see whether both cylinders were properly contributing. Imagine my surprise when I pointed it at cylinder number 2 and realised that the spark plug was moving.



Yep, it wasn't even finger tight and I was able to turn it about two turns tighter by hand. With that tightened up the idle seemed to be a good bit better, though I've not actually done a test drive to get it properly back up to temperature since. Wish all fixes were this easy.

On the Rover I had a few small things I wanted to look in to (as I didn't feel up to wrestling with the oil pump housing today).

The windscreen washers worked once but have resolutely refused to do anything ever since. Think I'm going to have to give in and just buy a new pump there as everything *seems* fine and it's not full of slime, it just refuses to pump. I think the little rubber vanes have probably either gone too hard to work or have perished. Plus the motor only seems to run about 50% of the time unless I whack it with a screwdriver. The bottle is cracked and can't be filled more than about 1/3 anyway so hopefully I can find a whole replacement for not stupid money.

I knew something was up with either the headlight switch, circuit or way the switch was hooked up. This was because as soon as you clicked the switch to the first notch, which should be side lights, you got side and headlights - exactly the same as when set to the correct headlight position.



Yes, that would do it.

With this jumper wire removed everything appears to work normally. Though I'm guessing the switch has proven to be intermittent in the headlight position once warmed up. Can't see any other reason you would do this.

I've removed it for now (not least because the gauge of wire isn't even close to being up to the job) and will investigate further at a future date.

I had also wanted to have a look at seeing if I could sort the handbrake switch as currently the brake warning light on the dash only comes on via the float switch on the reservoir, and it should also work when the handbrake is on. I know the lamp itself does work as I've tested it.



However I failed at the first hurdle - how to get into the centre console far enough to find the switch. I'll need to consult a manual to confirm where the fixings are so I can get it apart without breaking any bits of brittle, near 50 year old plastic.

[Zelandeth]

There's a local classic car gathering tomorrow (Sunday 31st) afternoon at the Beefeater opposite the XScape in Central MK tomorrow from 1500. My intention is to be there in something. Most likely the Trabant as the Rover is still covered in moss to an embarrassing extent to be seen in public beyond being passed on the road. Granted, the Trabant being 3/4 polished does look a bit silly too.

If anyone on here is likely to be there, feel free to say hello.

Total car news for today consisted of putting the Renault's battery on to charge and chucking a piece of fuel line to replace the bit that's rotted off so it can be started up for the first time in far too blasted long tomorrow. Along with the Rover she also really needs a wash as the moss is taking hold.

A friend has very kindly given me another mechanical fuel pump for the Rover. It does need a full service and is missing a couple of bits, but with the remains of my old one should be sufficient to make one good unit. I'm inclined to give it another chance as I now know I was originally facing a losing battle with no return line - plus my original pump was obviously just cursed and wanted to die! I've ordered a replacement lid/pump for the washer bottle along with a fuel pump service kit - the whole bottle is annoyingly expensive, so I'll be trying to repair the crack in my one before giving in and replacing it. It's usable as it is in a pinch, you just can't fill it more than about 1/3 of the way.

I really need to get started on putting a web page together for the Trabant as well I think. It's always such a chore trying to catch up with everything done if I leave it too long!

[Zelandeth]

The show was a bit of a mixed bag. Few interesting cars there, but a bit of a modern and modified leaning for my personal tastes for the most part. Was still fun though, and good to catch up with a couple of folks. We also managed to make a Volvo 480 look like a big car.



I'd noticed that the tail lights on the P6 were full of condensation again over the last couple of weeks. I'm not entirely sure if it's just got in since I changed the seals or if there was still moisture in when that was done. So I took them apart again, blew everything out with the air line, left them apart in the sun for a couple of hours before putting them back together.



Lenses need a really good clean, but that's a job for further down the to do list.

On the Trabant the patchy, rusty headlight surrounds have been tidied up.

This was bugging me as I could see the rusty bit from the driver's seat so I needed to do something about it.



I do need to do something about that hole in the wing, that sorted and a bit of paint on the front panel would make the car look a lot less scruffy at a quick glance.

I had a shot at changing the gearbox oil, however the drain plug is stupidly tight and defied all my attempts at shifting it. There is enough oil in there as I checked the level plug first and oil came out, it is definitely due a change though as what came out looked awful. Did wonder about using the Pela and draining it through the filler but there doesn't look to be a clear shot to get far enough down into the box to do that. I'll need to get the car up on axle stands so I can get the big driver bar and some decent leverage onto it. Hopefully the plug just comes out rather than it taking the threads out with it. The oil definitely needs to be changed though, so it needs to come out one way or another.

[Luxobarge]

Happy Birthday mate!

Good updates, keep 'em coming.

[Zelandeth]

Happy Birthday mate!

Good updates, keep 'em coming.

Thanks!

-- -- --

In spite of my having picked it up basically as a bit of fun, not really expecting to do a huge amount with it, the Trabant as of yesterday has formally clicked over a thousand miles since it arrived with me at just before Christmas. I hadn't expected to find it getting so much use. I honestly can't see that changing either...

Not a huge amount to report today, just had a couple of half hour chunks free.

The tail light backing plates now both match (and also match the headlight surrounds which were painted yesterday).



My intention is to use that slightly lighter cream colour for the bumpers in due course as well. They're just in white primer at the moment. Though I'm torn on the bumpers somewhat anyway. This car would have originally had the chunkier, square profile type fitted originally which I personally think suits the car a bit better. There should also be an air dam behind the front one which is designed to keep road spray off the carb and alternator (also hides the heat exchanger a bit). That in particular just looks a bit odd with the older style bumpers. It's a low priority job though and would basically be something I looked at if a set turned up cheaply and within collection distance. Paying several hundred quid for a new set just makes no sense. It would be nice, but it's nowhere near that important to me, not worth spending actual money on.

Have been to the post office today to see whether we could get the tax changed to historic, but as I had pretty much expected it looks like I'll need to contact the DVLA directly regarding that. The only date which their computer brings up is the 1999 import date, and there's no option available to them to change the tax class. Sure that will be a barrel of laughs to sort. Will need to wait until a day where I'm feeling particularly patient.

Later on in the day (right before the rain reappeared) I got the front mud flaps fitted. Not least because I was fed up of them getting in the way in the garage. If they're on the car they can't be contributing to clutter!



They will come back off so I can rust proof the wheel arches properly, but it's just four bolts.

I did find some crispiness on the offside front sill bottom which will want sorting at least before next winter. It's about as easy a repair as you could ever ask for though, pretty much all flat and easily accessible. Especially as removing the adjacent carpets and such is a 30 seconds job in this car - and removing interior trim is usually about 90% of the time sink on jobs like this. I'm not really bothered about this, it's just par for the course on a car this age which hasn't seen major work before. This actually looks like an old patch which has reached the end of its life. It will all be sorted properly in due course. Driver's side in the same area is pretty much spotless at least.

Having had a bit of a better crawl under the front/middle of the car, it does by and large look really clean. The frame itself is also way chunkier than I'd have expected on a car of this size. I meant to grab a couple of photos but apparently forgot. If the weather cooperates tomorrow I'll try to grab a couple.

Speaking of photographs, I've caved. As a few relations sent gift vouchers for my birthday, I used that as an excuse to order a proper film scanner, so a Plustek 8200I SE is now on the way. This seems to get very good reviews, pretty much all the criticisms I've seen in reviews is actually pointing at the bundled software (a pretty old version of Silver fast) which I won't be using anyway as I'm already set up with VueScan. Hopefully should be here on Friday.

I took quite a few photos at the show on Sunday using the new (to me) EOS 40D - and discovered that the CF card slot in my card reader doesn't work as one of the pins is broken...I imagine somewhere in my room there is a card with a pin stuck in it! So I'm now waiting on a new one of those to arrive, as I don't have a USB cable for this camera. Curious to see properly how those came out though - there's definitely a learning curve involved in learning to drive that though. It's quite different to any other cameras I've used regularly.

[suffolkpete]

Good luck with the DVLA. My Matra had the year of manufacture shown in the special notes on the front page of the V5C although the date of importation was two years later. Your best course of action would be to contact the owners' club to see if they can provide build data. The DVLA will only accept manufacturer's build data or an entry in Glass's check book (not to be confused with Glass's Guide). I got a copy of the build sheet for my car from the club, which showed the car to be a year older than the DVLA said, but I gave up trying to change it and just paid the extra year's tax.
My Canon EOS uses a standard mini USB.