What Has My Trabant Ownership Experience Been Like?
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2024
- I try to sum up three years of happenings into 13 minutes. Also, the engine falls apart.
Adam Benko currently has 3 Trabants for sale in the US. Two Sedans and one wagon. You can contact him here: adam.benko@yahoo.com
Patreon: / agingwheels
Merchandise: teespring.com/...
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That looks EXACTLY like my mom's stolen Ford Taurus.
100 internetpoints for you!
I got bored and was looking thru people's sub lists. I subbed to you.
Wasn't the Trabbi used in a Dukes of Hazard episode??
You mean OUR Four Taurus
It doesn’t!!
“Actively choosing not to worry about it until I absolutely have to” sums up the life of a Trabant perfectly
The trabant wasn't a symbol of oppresion to the people of the eastern block, it was quite the opposite. It may have been a sympton of a broken system, but to the people that owned them they stood for freedom.
and east germans love their trabants still to today. in germany, east german cars and bikes are vehicles, loved and driven by young people too.
it took only 20 years to get em
@@Feliday I don't know if you are from eastern germany but in my village alone (~500people) 3 Adults own a trabant, 3 more teenagers want one as their first car, and almost every teenager has a S51/S50 or a Schwalbe
@@kemian4156 same here (between Rostock and Stralsund)
I went for a Lada 2101 as my first car myself, but a friend of mine has a few S51s and Schwalben
Even the words "broken system," don't seem to capture everyone's experience with it either. A troubled system, may be a better way to describe it. There was an interview I remember where someone who'd lived through the DDR and the transition to a whole Germany had something to say like "I may not have been able to vote for president, but I could vote to remove my boss."
Women's status in Eastern Germany was actually better in some ways than it is today in reunified Germany.
"We're not talking about ornithology, but about Germany's gender pay gap. Germany has one of the highest pay disparities between men and women in Europe. On average, German women earn 21 percent less than men, about the same disparity as the United States..."
"In East Germany, nine out of 10 women worked outside the home, as teachers and secretaries, but also as chemists, bus drivers and plumbers. That's a contrast to West Germany where, until 1977, married women officially needed permission from their husbands to get a job. In the 1980s, only about half of West German women worked outside the home."
www.pri.org/stories/2017-12-07/women-germanys-east-earn-close-what-men-do-can-we-thank-socialism
We used to go on vacation to hungary back when i was a child. 4 people all their luggage and a trailer. My dad were able to fix most of all problems that accrued with just simple adjustments or replacements. I still have that trabant in my barn. I converted it recently to a 12 Volt system with vape ignition and now i am going to do some body work. Next year "we" will travel to Balaton. My wife is from cologne and the only experience she had with that car is the smell and the noise when i started it last year in the barn after two decades and it immediately backfired on her a dark and oatmeal thick cloud of old two-stroke smoke. To say the least she is concerned . Greetings from Germany
It must require a lot of strength to push a trailer and a Trabant up all the hills.
Oatmeal thick I'm crying
This is one of the most heartfelt stories I've read. Thanks for sharing.
>To say the least she is concerned
Wäre ich auch. o.o
Ich glaube da würde ich dem alten Kadett D mehr trauen den mein Schatz mal fuhr.
>To say the least she is concerned
Wäre ich auch. o.o
Ich glaube da würde ich dem alten Kadett D mehr trauen den mein Schatz mal fuhr.
That are not problems, that are features.
British people defending their cars
Where I live they used to use trabby engines to power hang glides. Nice momories.
*Quirks and features*
Mad_Cat *Time for a Doug Score*
@@acoolerhandle this is not a british car.
Something about the Trabant's headlighs and grill makes it look like it's always slightly worried or nervous about something. It's like the little car that hopes it can but won't be surprised if it can't
If you were a Trabant, wouldn't you be worried too? Well, there you go then.
Yeah it's the 😬 of cars
most underrated comment in the whole comment section here - maybe even on whole youtube. damn i had to wipe tears from my eyes and had a piss because of your comment xD our family had one when i was a child in the late 80's. i have only good memories with this car, so its fair to say, although "our" trabant always looked slightly worried it always "could" xD
It's worried about the communism 😆
Wow, never noticed it before, but it has a definite "Hide the pain Harold" vibe to it!
That car looks like a stolen Ford Taurus!
A very Hungarian and Communist Ford Taurus
it was after customs got their cut of it
We all know that’s bull!
@@thelazyyinzer5548 - Taurus the bull, funny!
Cool crab
you should really take the holes out of the engine. maybe replace them with non-holes. it's not cheap but worth it.
That's the plan. I'm too curious about where the problem is to not take the engine apart.
Aging Wheels JB Weld 👌
You would need the BIG tube of JB Weld!
@@agingwheels Just put in a 4 stroke Honda
Flex Seal it!
We have a joke in Germany about Trabants. How do you double the value of a Trabant? By filling the fuel tank.
Joe Sans No, That’s for Yugo.
And for Wartburg in finland
@@Lucas-tr9hh
Trabant, Zastava Yugo, Dacia 500 Lăstun and any kind of small eastern block piece of engineering.
@@vizmuvesjanos1045 but it is truly true for a trabant, because at one point, you could buy one for 30 deutsche mark, which is approximately 15€
Have a windshield wiper for a trabant?
Sure, sounds like a fair trade...
Yeah the engine has holes where there shouldn't be one, but show me any other car that can still run in this state.
Funny thing is he was horribly wrong, the exhaust manifold was loose, not the cylinders having holes blown in them.
As much rust as a shark has eyebrows. Now that's a remarkable thing to say...
69th like
What's unremarkable is the owner used primer to "stop the rust" - Primer is not a sealer and will only marginally slow the rust down. Especially if he stripped the factory paint.
@@the_kombinator it's called rustoleom
@@gabrielgomez2483 Point to the part of the video where that is said or it is apparent and I'll take it back.
(too lazy to check an old comment, I could be wrong)
With change.
Some additional info for your license plates - those are not "normal" Hungarian plates. The ones beginning with "Z" and followed by 4 numbers (the smaller numbers are for the date) are temporary plates for vehicles that were exported abroad. The normal license plate is in a "ABC-123" format with 3 letters and 3 numbers.
Though, since it's from '81, the best would be to give it an old format license plate, which was AB-12-34 (2 letters - 2 numbers - 2 numbers) in Hungary.
Nice summary and great to hear that you are planning to further restore the car :)
The short VIN is definitely something that is fun to deal with even in Germany. It does not fit any format.
What you are experiencing with your engine, and also diagnosed yourself after seeing the exhaust leak, probably results from leaky gaskets on the top or bottom of the cylinders. Since you have a new carburetor (ruling out float valve problems) and your ignition was already finetuned multiple times, that seems to be the only problem for me. Luckily all (externaly applicable) engine seals are only a couple of bucks on Trabantwelt.
As for electrical problems: Check the grounds! Especially if everything is making contact in the headlight assembly. In the engine bay there are only 2 connection points to check. My left blinker magically came back to life after I reattached the ground wire to the front left wheel arch.
Buffing for me worked well with a mildly abrasive household cleaner (the one you use for the kitchen sink etc.)
Three friends and I roadtripped my Trabant this summer. Made it 3200 kilometers to Portugal in a 29 hour non-stop driving session + 14 hour session. Never had a single problem. However, the engine "gave up its ghost" shortly after beginning the return trip by sucking crankshaft bearing parts into the cylinder. I never knew its true age, but if the 95000 km on the odometer are correct, that's a good lifespan. Now I need to save up for a rebuild after I get my car back on a trailer...
That's funny actually, the disintegrating crankshaft bearing was the exact same problem I faced on a two week trip this summer from southern germany to eastern poland and back via the czech republic (four Trabants with roof tents and everything!). Cut a nice chunk out of the bearing surface of the engine case, too. However, we actually had a spare crankshaft with us. Changed it in a small town near Brno at around midnight, which was quite an expirience! Brought me back home, though.
Great story! And sounds like a nice route! Also, I am jealous of your roof tents.
We actually thought about packing a replacement engine. However, 4 dudes in a Trabi (without anything on the roof or in a trailer) including luggage for 2 weeks, as well as oil and and a fuel tank leaves little room for spare parts. In addition, I had little luck sourcing a spare engine in time. It's no use buying "attic finds" or "ran great until I took it out of the car... [...10 years ago]" and what I got in the end was unusable as well :P. The best thing about the trip was that none of us expected the car to last about 6000 km without problems. So we just made the best of it, met a funny old mechanic where the car is now awaiting pickup, and we returned by rental cars from the insurance.
@@SpamOnToast
Nobody:
Trabant owners: *carries a spare crankshaft*
@@VeraTheTabbynx Yeah, now that you've mentioned it, i picture us four running back into their home just before driving off for vacation in their little trabants going like "yeah hold on for a sec, gotta get me some spare engine parts for my car, mate!".
A Wartburg next?
You are a car guy?
Never expected to find you here.
If this car passed safety inspection, it tells everything about safety inspection on the US
As someone who is also in Missouri and actually is licensed to do these inspections it honestly shouldn't have passed with those problems. It's pretty obvious the inspector didn't really care and did the old 'wiper check and sticker slap'. The grabby brake and malfunctioning lights are automatic fails for the MO safety inspection including that dim "Headlight".
On the topic of US safety inspections not all states even do inspections I know Kansas for sure doesn't and several others, but other states do more comprehensive inspections including emissions.
Ohio only does e check.....but Ive seen rusted out box trucks on the road that smell like rotted eggs on the road. There is one where I swear the entire thing leans to the left Ive seen on the highway a few times. Cops dont care about unsafe vehicles here at all
Your description of installing the halfshaft boots was entirely, unabashedly accurate. It is less difficult to re-compress & assemble the front spring without the correct tools than it is to put those buggers on.
Oh my god! I'm hungarian and my dad, my grandfather and my uncle all used to drive one of these. Still have one in working condition back home. Good stuff!
An Amerikan was visiting his Norwegian cousin and claimed: My farm is so big that I use a day to drive around it. Oh, the Norwegian mumbled, I also had such a car!
I have heard the joke in the more classic way: Me too, years ago I had a similar horse.
Long time viewer, first time comment. Thanks for tempering my lust for Trabant ownership with a lethal dose of reality. But I still sorta kinda want one as a daily driver because adventure.
I would daily drive mine if I didn't have an hour long commute on the interstate and work in downtown St Louis. Well, I shouldn't say daily. More like every couple of days.
He has had some serious bad luck is my guess, Trabants do need work on a regular basis though, but usually those are just small jobs. (that goes for all classic cars, just a little more for Trabants)
@@agingwheels As someone who endured a '68 VW bus as a daily driver during a few Chicago winters, I understand your reluctance to commit to a full on Trabant reliance.
Next best thing.... get the game!
Jalopy?
I'm glad you own a Trabant so I don't have to! LOL Thanks for posting
I just stumbled over this video and I cried from laughter while watching. Thank you from Germany.
My dad once owned a trabby we kids loved it to bits. It was a fun driving experience for us and the Motorsound was one of a kind. We were really sad when he trashed it.
So yeah I'm always glad to see a trabby.
Holy hell... just found out Trabant made a pickup truck!! You up for a trip to Hungary?
I have the will if you have the means
Coincidentally that is the slogan of Trabant loosely translated to English.
They never made one, it's just one of these strange conversions this cute little quazimodo of a peoples car has gone through over the years. There are even Strech Limos and stuff...I currently own two (I live in former east germany, more specifically where they made the engine for the Trabant) both are sedans and my wife and I are restoring the better one for her to drive since she loves them.
Don't get too excited, we haven't got many left. I moved out of the country in 2008 when there were plenty, but when I went back last year, I saw an entirity of one Trabant on the roads.
I made a roadtrip from Sweden to Hungary two weeks ago in my Lada 2106 to visit the international Lada meet, I saw at least 10 trabants on the road and 5 at the meet, one of which was an extended 4 door station wagon
So pleased to discover you're having the exact same electrical problems with your Trabant as I am with mine. I don't feel nearly so inept now. Thank you.
Hello Sir from north west England, I always look forward to putting my feet up with a cup of tea to watch your videos. You have great presentation/communication skills which comes across very well not to mention really good video editing skills, very cool indeed. It should be compulsory to wear a east European 'newsboy' cap when driving a Trabant which on another note are excellent at killing mosquito's via the tailpipe emissions. Looking forward to you unleashing major horsepower with the engine rebuild project.
Oh the car just felt bad that you had to take the spark plugs out to prime it so it made you some priming holes.
When you get the Trabant sorted out, you should take some vacation time off of work to drive it to Yellowstone National Park, for no apparent reason but to say that you did it.
Or he can start work on one of a rapidly declining population of Yugo's. It wouldn't be fair to the future generations of Americans to miss viewing some of the biggest POS's ever built and marketed here.
Kraftstoffmomentanverbrauchsanzeige = momentary gas consumption gauge.
Wie bekam der Zweitaktmotor eigentlich Löcher im Zylindergehäuse?
Maybe the piston rings failed in a spectacular fashion?
Ich würde sagen es liegt daran dass er einen schlechten Ersatzzylinder gekauft hat ich weiß aber nicht ob das ein Originalteil war.
Keine Ahnung das hat mich auch gewundert er kann sich mal eine SIMSON kaufen da hat er garantiert nicht solche Probleme
Der Abgaskrümmer hat sich anscheinend gelöst, sagte er - das passiert öfter, wenn Leute vergessen, die vier Sprengringe nach der Demontage wieder aufzusetzen. Dadurch, dass der Krümmer an den Haltelöchern jeder Flansch zwei minimale Vertiefungen hat, hält eine Mutter in der Regel nicht lang ohne Sprengring. Eine Alternative wäre das Verkontern mit einer zweiten Mutter, ist aber auch aufgrund des entstehenden Hohlraumes sowie der zu kurzen Gewindeausstände suboptimal. Durch die Formung der Rippen und die vorderseitige Abdeckung mit der Motorverkleidung erscheint es dann so, als würden die Abgase rückseitig ausgeblasen werden. Wir hatten damals öfter Leute da, die ebenfalls ein Loch oder einen anderen Schaden vermuteten - jedes Mal waren es aber die fehlenden Ringe.
@@bekarecord6985 Ja, hab das Video schon gesehen. Konnte mir nicht vorstellen, dass einfach so zwei Löcher erscheinen und der Motor trotzdem noch läuft.
They have to come all the way from „Das Vaterland“ made my day!
Greetings (German guy)
This is awesome!! I grew up around these in the Czech Republic in the 1980s. Thanks for having such an awesome attitude toward it.
My hat's off to you. I used to live in the eastern part of Germany where the Trabants were still put-putting around. The owners all swore to me that they could do all the maintenance themselves because the cars were so mechanically simple. But they did seem to "maintaining" them constantly at all hours of the day. At the very end of the German Democratic Republic, the Trabants were delivered with four stroke Volkswagen engines. Maybe those would be more reliable although I don't think they make that adorable "put-put" sound.
The Trabant: master machine, and King of Road.
Thank you for the video. It was entertaining and informative as always. And thanks for sacrificing yourself to the trabant horrors for our sake!
I sincerely thank you for showcasing this wonderful piece of automotive history. I can see the joy in your face as you telling us things that's wrong with the car, looks to me that you're living in automotive heaven.
This whole video is simply excellent
As an east german who survived his early childhood in one of these I'm very happy to see an american being so dedicated to keep a Trabant running and functional xD
My favourite RUclipsr
You bought a Lemon.
We purchased a New Trabi after waiting for 5 years in the 80-s.
It was the VW of the DDR.
Great car ,always started even at -20C ,never missed a beat.
Oh my god!
I owend a Trabant for... 4 month. I mean, I really liked it and it was fun, but the engine was going to kill itself, so I just sold it after 4 funny month. I life in germany and my dad use to own one of them in the GDR.
So good job!
keep it running and have fun with it :)
You are great. Thanks for taking care of this car. It was probably build by one of my relatives and I really appreciate it.
Hey aging. Have you considered taking a synthetic clay bar to the paint? It should clean it up really nice without damaging the paint. Much better ideal than buffing it
This is absolutely brilliant!
If you ever work on motorcycles I suggest you try and find a CZ, Jawa or (more likely) an MZ. All Eastern Bloc bikes from the same period as the Trabant. They do also require the same sense of humor and ingenuity :-)
In your case they'd tick all the boxes.
(Former Trabant and present MZ owner) :-D
I love love love the fuelleveler under the hood. To check the fuel, open the hood, open the tank, put the ruller in, tata the level is readable on the stick. Simpel, not easy, not fast.
Also not very safe, what happens when your driving down a motorway and you want to check your fuel, you have to ask your lovely communist wife to stick her body out the window, open the hood just enough as to not blind you and check fuel that way, or you could install a trabant approved hole in the hood and use that to quickly check fuel levels
I used to have a Trabant and it had a few problems even on a very cold day, it was minus 1 in Fahrenheit and the blinkers stopped working as well as the headlights and the rear window heating and Ihad to bring some people home safely, but still I loved it.
Do a dyno pull with the cute Trabant.
it probably couldnt spin the rollers !!!
Javert Levesque Too slow, just like the Model T.
ruclips.net/video/wEMvjglbsUo/видео.html
It's been 3 more years. Time for the 6 year ownership update! :D
I use an 1988 601 as mine daily driver in Germany without much problems. :D
And your windshield wipers position is to high.
They need to be way lower.
Good to see a great channel based in my home state
Poor running in twostrokes is usually an exhaust leak.
Turns out the exhaust manifold was loose..
And crankbarings are shot, but that's besides the point lol.
@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 Ahhhh yup, that'll do it!
@@skonkfactory well spotted sir.
i have an 80cc 2 stroke motorized bicycle kit and yes. i had my exhaust manifold hit on a rock and it broke off and it idled lean and high as fuck. i replaced the studs and its all good now but yea loose exhaust it will run lean and wont want to idle down after its had some throttle if it ever does start to idle. you can re jet them to run right with the exhaust off but then it will be way rich with it back on. but it gets more torque with it off cause no restriction at a supprisingly low rpm. if you took the exhaust off the trabant and replaced it with an open header the size of the exhaust ports it would very likely double in torque through out the whole rpm range and you would be supprised at how well it climbed hills afterward
@@chaytonruijsenaars3971 Uh, no. A twostroke engine depends on the reflected pressure wave off the back of the exhaust in order to get anything approaching full power and reasonable fuel consumption. Walter Kaaden figured that out in the 50s. I'd suggest googling him.
Having owned several 2 stroke motorcycles back in the 70's as a youth, I am now very nostalgic about anything 2 stroke. To see the smoke coming out the exhaust brings back many happy memories. I had the chance to buy a West German made 2 stroke car while stationed in Germany back in the 70's but I bought a VW bug instead.
597 likes and 0 dislikes. That’s what I like to see.
Can't wait for that project series, ever since I discovered trabants I've been watching your channel and I've been interested of purchasing one when I get older, any opportunity to learn more about them is very helpful
I get the feeling that these two twins don’t like each other, when one comes over to make a comment the other walks off....
Can't say I've actually laughed this much while watching a car video in a long time
You, sir, are a master of words and comedic timing!
Flextape the cylinders! The compression isnt that high. Other youtubers make great content with it...(no garanty it works longer then 5 minutes)
Good to see others struggle with their Trabants. The positive cheers on the streets keep me going too. Keep up the good job, I love your videos.
hey I a me from Romania and I lern to drive on a Trabant
What is wrong with a Dacia?
I have Trabant for almost 5 years, this was my first car :) Its never broke, hard to drive but i learn alot driving with it :P Got my special trick for starting it in -30 celcius back then when here in Poland
just keep it on the road comrade.
Hello from Germany, as someone who is doing an full frame off restomod on a Trabant, I have reason to believe that tiny bit off rust under one of the Axles is actually a hole. Since all not preserved Axles rust trough at the point below the bearing's.
hey check your exhaust manifold, maybe its loose
My father had a Trabant when I was a child. And when you started yours, I swear to God I could smell the exhaust of that thing...
Stupid idea: replace all of the lights on the trabant with LEDS.
My uncle was stationed in Germany while in the us army and had one of these shipped to texas this was in the late 80s early 90s until now his was the only one I'd ever seen in America... It was a fun little car loud ugly people would tell him all the time gee its about time you got that engine rebuilt and he would tell them it was a 2 stroke 2 cylinder that it was supposed to smoke like that... The little car was a character and it definitely had strength of heart... He ended up selling it because he was not mechanically inclined and noone wanted to work on it... Fun memories and good look to you sir
5:45 to 6:10, sounds like a rotary haha
Wankel was invented for the factory that makes the Trabant.They also made a wankel motorcycle,first in the world.
Couple of dudes from the Czech Republic took trabants and drove them (literally) across the world. Just last year from India to Europe. Also across the south America, Africa, South East Asia etc.
This Trabant is best Trabant
I love seeing trabants with 2 different wheels (one from 70s and one from the 80s) :D
@@preslav8021 exactly XD
Sorry to say but that title belongs to the Convertible Sedan Trabant or the Wagon Trabant
He has the worst Trabant ever
@@ДимитријеКончар lol isn't every Trabant the worst Trabant ever XD
Love your videos. Good Entertainment. There is a an old joke that I learnt from an ex colleague who was from East Germany. It goes like this: A guy walks into a Trabant sales shop and wants to order a Trabant. "Fine", says the sales clerk."But you should be aware that there is a ten year lead time". "OK" says the guy, takes up his calendar and looks up the day in exactly ten years. He then asks the sales clerk: "Will the delivery take place in the morning or in the afternoon?" "Why do you ask?" "Well, the plumber will come in the morning!"
The Hungarian plates are temporary "zoll" plates toll plates.
Normal Hungarian plates have tre numbers tre letters like large parts of the EU.
Danish plates have 2 letters and 5 numbers. And of course custom plates
(i.e. AB 12 345) or ("Example")
What I really like about this channel is that it puts things in perspective in regards of car's origin and vintage (Unlike *cough*Dough*cough*DeMuro's complaining that 1975 Mercedes didnt come with touch screen navigation unit). Cars such as Trabi, Fiat 126p, Lada's etc are a masochistic reminder on how modern cars are spoiling us, and how even thing like intermittent wipers are often taken for granted. And some of us gearheads are masochist enough to lust for those ;)
1:50
Government stupidity in a nutshell...
Really enjoyed your video. Obviously owning a Trabant requires a sense of humour and you have that. Happy motoring!
The cylinder heads cracked due to pure Russian horse power...
Nothing Russian in there - just East German engineering trying to cope with too little resources available to build it properly.
Would be an idea to keep a back-up engine on the work bench, rebuild one to keep it ready for the next transplant, thanks for explaining the start-up routine, something very different, love your car, Trabant. 😊
Today I drove a Trabant.😍😂 And oh man! I saw this video months ago and thought to myself, what an odd little car. I had a really good time watching how you review and drive this little thing. 😂😂😂😂
Fast forward to today and I am sitting by a steering wheel of this oddity😂 that was an experience. It dies if you don't use gas while idling , the flimsy turn stick an the gear shifter.
I fell in love with this little car in the most strange way. Winner of the oddities and ridiculously cheap way to make a thing just to barely pass as a car😂
New Aging Wheels videos make my day. Thanks for posting.
We still have our Trabi's licence plate in our garagewall, even though poor fella got destroyed by an accident around 2003. God, I miss it so much. On the bright side, my grandfather still have a 2-stroke Wartburg 353 (made in 1986) in almost mint condition.
As an old motor-scooter and moped rider from decades back...for folks using premixed "Petr-oil" as in those 2-strokes where the fuel and oil are ALREADY mixed together... I was told that when stoping at the end of a day etc and especially if the engine was to be out of use for many days, then to turn off the petrol/fuel tap just before the end of your journey so that you run the carburettor dry. Otherwise, even with a nice new carb with good seals, as the warm engine sits and slowly cools down, the petrol?gasoline part evaporates, but the oil mixed with it remains behind. As this happens repeatedly everytime the engine is turned off, oil residues slowly, well, rapidly, build up in the carb, causing hard to start next time you use it. I have a tiny cheap Chinese generator and the petr-oil mixture in it is now many years old, yet it starts without too much trouble after having been left for 2 years at a time... but everytime I have finished running it for awhile and before putting it back into storage in the back of the garage, I turn off the fuel shut-off valve and let it run itself until the carb is dry. If RUclips allows me, I will include a link here to my 2-stroke generator. cheers.ruclips.net/video/LP5YcYhjqYE/видео.html
Good tip, I do it like this every time I shut off my Trabant. Also prevents excessive leakage which could occur otherwise. However, sometimes I check if everything is still as sealed as it should be by leaving the tap open for some time. In a working carb, nothing should happen. If it doesn't seal properly anymore, the carb will leak or the engine will be filled with fuel.
You make me happy. Thanks for making us smile with your experience and your awesome video making skills.
Hi Robert, don't feel bad about your engine taking a dump. When I first put my trabbi on the road, it made it 200 miles before the crank bearings blew. Still drove it home too!
I've only been driving a 601 for a few months, around 3000 miles. I don't baby it either...
These cars were made for the poor, so they had to fix them with what ever they could. It means a lot of half A$$ repairs to get by.
A great starting place is the wheel bearings, just fix them all..... at once. On the rear hubs, both of mine were worn out. Seems one time a DDR bearing locked up, and spun in a bad way. Had to remove another swing arm from my bad car. Still loose, but ok... The fronts take a VW rabbit bearing. Sealed units are the way to go! Did the same with the brake system..
Bought a rebuilt crank, then the fan bearings blew, fixed that, then today while getting gas. I noticed the big fan clamp was broken. It was a new part...
My EBZA electronic ignition pickup is worn out, and the trigger wheel will not stay centered on the shaft. Royally screws up the timing... Keeps drifting.
Like your points!
Had to replace two head bolts with Capitalist SAE hardware, and many washers.
Last week while driving down the interstate, the rear brakes locked up. So essentially the car tried to murder me. Had to crack a brake line loose. Later realized the MC pedal had been adjusted too tight( maybe at the factory?).
Been lucky with the electrical stuff, it all works fine. Of course the Alt, was rebuilt....
As for the "hole" in your cylinders. I would fancy a guess your gaskets blew out. Either way, it is running WAY lean now, has been for a very long time with those leaky crank seals... Soon it will be crankshaft replacement time! If you want to do it right, all at once. Either rebuild, or get a rebuilt crank.
I guarantee once you get your other issues sorted, those bearings will go.
When it starts to rumble, click, and shake- there done..
Aside from the crippling cost of a new too you crank, the rebuilding is very easy. When you get your cylinders off, try rocking those sealing disc back and forth. Any play means they, and the pins on the crank are shot.
I’ve never seen a video with this many views and likes with no dislikes! Great job man 👍
The trabant car was a nice tiny car not far less then a mini cooper in the old days. If trabant 601 was a decent cheap car people who still own one today they should be proud of the sentimental value that this kind of car accumulated over the years. I believe with today's modern technology the trabant little car can really come back to life as a hybrid rechargeable car. Nice video with very good sense of humor.
It's gain and pain to drive a Trabant but also unique fun. I hope you'll stay with it. The starting problems can be caused by a worn out engine or badly justage of carburator.
I'm from hungary and that plate is a toll plate. We use plates like ABC-123. Can't wait the second installment of the engine rebuild! :)
You should rotate the air filter cap so the pipe sticking out points towards the hood/windshield and not the exhaust manifold. It really helps. The way it is now, is how they would set them up for "winter running", sucking in warm air from the manifold. The backfiring through the intake points towards a faulty rotary valve. They have little springs that push them against the crank case, so it can seal properly. The springs tend do bend and break. Fixing the rotary valve would probably fix the lean running also. There could also be a faulty crank seal either on the clutch or ignition side (or both!). There's two types of engines, older ones would use rubber seals instead of the metal rings the newer ones have (they're like piston rings), but the crankshafts and crankcases on the old and new models are also different, which means the seals are not interchangeable. That's about it, seeing as you replaced the cylinders and pistons, there's nothing else to replace.
Trabants back in the day would be rebuilt quite often. I think your car was maybe way way overdue. :) There would be a state-issued "rebuild kit" that a Comecon mechanic could install twice in a day. The Trabant doesn't last very long without help but its goal wasn't 100,000km, it was %100 employment.
Love just to see it drive again! Maybe a road trip to show us the comfort of this mean machine
You know, Robert, I saw about 4 Trabants hanging up in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland. Amazing!
That thing sounds like our old 99 jet ski. Probably because it was a two stroke, two cylinder engine with no muffling of any kind in the exhaust. Man I miss that thing. Don’t miss having to warm it up to go skiing, though. Had to get rid of it because it couldn’t get warm enough in the winter. Who’d’ve thunk that literal ice water is too cold to go skiing in?...
At first when i saw your video like a years ago, i wondereder what happened then, but i am happy about to see that car again. I watched a series about how somebody fixed his trabant, and maybe he made a 110% job so now he just only use the car only on events and on a sunny sundays. Welcome from Hungary. I will have the oportunity to drive a Trabant. Maybe if you can ask some trabant specialist you can have some god advice. Have a good adventure with your cars.
I consider myself lucky to have seen this along with your Saab 96 as the St. Louis European Auto Show this year!
Its funny to see an trabant in america. I love your trabant videos, please make more of them, cant wait.
These are just the best videos, every one puts a smile to my face!
Love the editing, especially the ending! :D
I enjoy your comedic style. The more the merrier because otherwise automotive repair and maintenance videos can be pretty boring. So, I was wondering ... since its entertaining to see you -- and yourself -- appearing together in the your videos, is there any chance you can add in maybe three or four more of yourselves into some of the shots?
I'm from Poland, we had a lot of Trabant's. Even my friend had one in high school. Very funny car, we took off the whole engine on a skateboard with two-person, with no lift.
I work on 2 stroke outboards for a living and could help point you in the right direction. Your lean issue could be coming from an improperly tuned carburetor, or leaking crank seals. If the engine can suck any bit of fresh air it will run like junk and pop/cough/sneeze excessively. Once I had a Yamaha 2 stroke four wheeler come in that would run full throttle just from starting, that was caused by a completely eviscerated main crank seal on the mag end. For the backfiring out of the carburetor your crank sealing valves whether they be reed or rotary valves are not properly functioning properly and allowing air and fuel to escape. The cold starting issue could also be from an improperly tuned carburetor or just from the wrong spark plug or fouled spark plugs
What a cool lil machine. Good work, good luck too
4:53 You need to look into that by taking the fender off. There's usually rust on the body under the duroplast, and you need to fix that if there aren't any holes yet
There is so many of you haha, I love your video editing.
I hope soon your trabant will be mechanically perfect(ish) soon, best of luck for engine rebuild!