Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[Zelandeth]

All evidence suggests that we've finally beaten the water ingress into the passenger foot well in the Trabant. I'm not totally sure exactly where the source was, but I've gone for the nuclear option and have attacked the whole suspect area with the underbody sealant.



I will be painting over this all in body colour in due course so it will look tidier. In the interest of preventing future rust I will probably go over the whole engine bay.

The remaining bolt from the bodged together bonnet latch has now been removed as it's no longer needed as it's been thoroughly glued in place now. I've filled the hole as well, hopefully once a bit of paint goes on that will be a bit less obvious.



Ideally this really does want a new (or better used) bonnet long term though.

Had the car out and about this afternoon and was glad to see I didn't end up with fuel pouring over the top of the fuel tank from the sender I fitted a few days ago.



I had a look at the headlights on the Partner to see how much of a pain it was going to be to change the bulbs. The answer is going to be "quite a bit" it looks like.

Driver's side I can turn and release the cap...however can't actually remove it as there's a wiring bundle that prevents the bottom edge from being withdrawn from the housing.



On the passenger side the engine bay fuse box is utterly in the way.



Hopefully if I remove the top mounting bolt I'll be able to tip the headlights forward enough to give me enough clearance. Thankfully this just uses H4s rather than anything awkward and expensive, and something I just had in stock. Will try to get those actually swapped tomorrow.

Or just decide it looks awkward so take the Trabant out instead like I did today!

[Michel]

I'm trying to remember how I did it, but you *can* change both bulbs on one without as much dismantling as you might think. That said I could change an early C1 bulbs too with my shovel hands

[Zelandeth]

I'm trying to remember how I did it, but you *can* change both bulbs on one without as much dismantling as you might think. That said I could change an early C1 bulbs too with my shovel hands

I'm sure it's *possible* with everything in place, with a lot of swearing and scraped knuckles. However I'm hoping if I remove the top mounting bolt that holds the headlight itself in I'll gain enough wiggle room to make life a lot easier. 1/2" would make a huge difference so I don't need things to move far.

[Zelandeth]

For reference when it comes to trying to look up potential parts needed for the cruise control upgrade, the VIN for the Partner is VF3**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]. Figured I'd get a note of that while I had the V5 in front of me.

-- -- --

Turns out that removing the one visible fastener on the headlights does absolutely nothing - so swearing and scraping of knuckles was the order of the day.



I really do need to get a new front number plate...

It's absolutely possible to change the lamps without dismantling anything aside from removing the lid of the fuse box, but it's fluffing awkward. Especially trying to get the cover back onto the nearside one which must have taken me twenty minutes and a couple of dozen attempts to get both lugs to latch properly.

Can't really complain about those lamps needing replacement though, judging from the date code on them they're the ones fitted by the factory eighteen years and 121K miles ago so definitely haven't done bad.



Working on the headlights has reminded me that one of the number plate lights falls out every third time I close the tailgate because both of its clips are broken. So rather than having it randomly refuse to be shoved back in place in a couple of months when the car goes in for the MOT I figured this was a good time to order a replacement. They both are full of rust as well so clearly have long since ceased to be weather proof - they're only a few quid so I've just ordered replacements for both.

Despite having sorted the headlights on the Peugeot I still wound up leaving it on the drive and taking the Trabant out to run the day's errands. It's just such a fun thing to drive in a way that only such simple, lightweight cars can be, especially now I've got properly comfortable with driving it. On the subject of familiarity, we have now ticked over 1000km since I picked the car up. Have to wonder how many of the 500 or so that are in the UK do that much in a year...

With the weather seeming content to stay outside the car now I wanted to think about putting the carpets back in - though before doing that I wanted to clean them as they really did need it.

The front section in particular had a very distinct tide mark where the water had been running down the bulkhead. Plus it's just generally grubby.



The rear carpet wasn't quite as dirty, but has a good amount of rust staining from where there was standing water in the footwell for a long period of time.



I gave them a bit of a scrub down with a solution of hot water and washing up liquid before blasting as much of the gunk as possible out using the 20 degree nozzle on the pressure washer.



Have to see how they look once they're fully dry, but judging from the amount of gunk that came out it can't have been a bad thing to do!

[Hell Razor5543]

If you celebrate it, Zel, Happy Burns Night. I am tucking into my Haggis, Tatties and Neeps (but not with a whisky, as I will be driving tomorrow).

[Stickyfinger]

If you celebrate it, Zel, Happy Burns Night. I am tucking into my Haggis, Tatties and Neeps (but not with a whisky, as I will be driving tomorrow).

Think of the terror the Wee Beasties suffer !

[RichardW]

So, on the parts...

Yours is not fitted with the cruise throttle pedal - part no 1601V1 is required. This appears to be a Partner / Berlingo part only.

It's a bit confusing on the clutch front as it shows details for both hydraulic and cable clutch, but in the details tab it says hydraulic clutch, in which case it is fitted with a clutch switch.

There is only one ECU listed for both with and without cruise, so hopefully that contains the code to make it work.

[Hell Razor5543]

https://bylines.scot/lifestyle/culture/ ... o-fiction/

[Zelandeth]

So, on the parts...

Yours is not fitted with the cruise throttle pedal - part no 1601V1 is required. This appears to be a Partner / Berlingo part only.

It's a bit confusing on the clutch front as it shows details for both hydraulic and cable clutch, but in the details tab it says hydraulic clutch, in which case it is fitted with a clutch switch.

There is only one ECU listed for both with and without cruise, so hopefully that contains the code to make it work.

Useful to know. Unsurprisingly if it is a Berlingo/Partner specific part - therefore one also assumes a unique to Berlingo/Partner WITH cruise specific part - there don't seem to be a huge number of options out there to get hold of one. Guessing if I asked the actual dealer they'd probably laugh in my face.

I can confirm that yes, the clutch is definitely hydraulic.

Seems really daft to have two different pedals on a vehicle that's completely fly-by-wire in this regard anyway.

[CitroJim]

Great work again Zel Those carpets seem to have come up well... I'm impressed with the basic high quality of the parts the Trabant is built of...

I know what you mean about fun... I feel the same with my AX... Although moderns are very competent, our fun cars are just that - fun

[RichardW]

Guessing if I asked the actual dealer they'd probably laugh in my face.

Sadly listed as NFP - but surprisingly only listed at £104, which almost seems reasonable!

I wonder if the cruise might work with the std pedal, but not the limiter - you've only got a a bit of time to lose in trying!

[xantia_v6]

Was that pedal also used with automatic transmission, perhaps?

Also, other models may have used an electrically identical part, with just the mechanical pedal on a different shaped arm.

[Zelandeth]

Guessing if I asked the actual dealer they'd probably laugh in my face.

Sadly listed as NFP - but surprisingly only listed at £104, which almost seems reasonable!

I wonder if the cruise might work with the std pedal, but not the limiter - you've only got a a bit of time to lose in trying!

Aye, was meaning laughing at me for looking for parts for a PSA product that's more than 2 months old from the dealer network rather than price - though yeah, the price being not totally insane for anything electrical is a surprise.

As you say though, it's worth a shot. It will be plugged in and Jim and I will interrogate it through the software at the start of the week and see where we get to. Nothing to lose but a bit of time at this stage.

-- -- --

A very large box arrived this morning containing more goodies for the Trabant. Very large box filled mostly with air because some of the things were long skinny parts.



[] 2 sill kick plates.
[] OS window lifter rail.
[] Cooling fan to cowl seal.
[] 20 interior trim clips for the doors.
[] 5 rubber buffers the bonnet sits on when closed.
[] 5 engine jacket securing clips.

Looking at the engine bay now you really can't see that anything was done today.



However in replacing the missing jacket clips I had cause to look more closely at the fan shroud. I'd noted right from the start that the rearmost part looked to have been fitted crooked, though it quickly became apparent that this was because the whole lot was so loosely assembled that everything was able to move relative to everything else. It turned out that of the eight bolts (plus the one holding the fan itself in place) that five had vibrated their way to freedom in the past and that three of the remainder were less than finger tight. That definitely won't have been helping our cause - or indeed helping reduce the horrendous amount of racket this power unit produces.

Thankfully they are just normal M6 bolts rather than anything obscure so I had suitable replacements in stock.





Nice to see that the cowling is reinforced around the bolt holes on the ends where it might be prone to cracking due to vibration over time otherwise.

I also noticed a bit of ducting I'm missing while doing the above work.



Will need to get that replaced. Just looks to be a straight bit of tubing judging from the listing on LDM Tuning's Website so hopefully I've got something floating around that will do. Anything that's uncontrollably bleeding off cooling air though is a big no-no as far as I'm concerned.

The carpets are still a little damp, but I've got the underlays both back in the car now. Even if I do now realise that the front one is in upside down.





Carpets are in the spare room with a fan blowing air over them so hopefully will be fully dry and I can get them back in the car tomorrow.

[CitroJim]

Excellent and so good to see the superb parts availability for the Trabant... It's on a par with the (proper) Mini...

Are those parts new, new-old-stock or remanufactured by specialists?

The Trabant must have a massive following...

[Zelandeth]

Excellent and so good to see the superb parts availability for the Trabant... It's on a par with the (proper) Mini...

Are those parts new, new-old-stock or remanufactured by specialists?

The Trabant must have a massive following...

Seems to be a bit of all three from what I've seen so far. They do seem to have quite a loyal following over in Europe, and I guess the sheer number of them that were made (~3M) has helped ensure enough are still about to ensure there's a market for spares.