Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Slow progress!!

Bloody fuel problems are driving me nuts at the moment, but after many false dawns and more illusions, I FEEL I HAVE FINALLY FIXED the fuel starvation problem.
As I last posted, I left the trabi over to welder to get sills fitted.
Well, I picked the car up and didn't get 250 yards before the engine slowed and stopped on me. AGAIN!
new joining T piece in place and connected.

I got out, fiddled with the fuel hoses and it started and away i went. Again, 200 yards down the road, stopped on me. This continued for 3-4 miles then suddenly drove fine for another 3-4 miles home.

I took the 'mauskino' off and blew through it to ensure it was clean, which it was.
I considered bypassing it altogether and just running one long hose from fuel tank to carb, but after putting new hoses all round, I didn't think there was anything hindering the mauskino, or fuel from it to the carb.
So, I took the three fuel hoses off the T joining piece and looked at it.
I did this before and noticed that one end ( the air breather end that goes to top of petrol tank) was severely pinched inwards., but done little about it as trabiuk didn't have a T piece in stock and I didn't want to pay 18 euros postage (from Germany) for an item that cost 6 euros!

So today, I took the T piece and went around hardware places looking for something similar, that would do the job and the third place I went to had something. It's made of copper too and much more substantial than the original.
So, I got home and connected it up, tightened the clamps and took the car out.
Did 15 miles over plenty of hilly country and had no problems whatsoever.
It didn't ever feel like it might stop.

one door sill ready for painting!


I always felt that the problem was a simple one, merely an air lock/ fuel starvtion, but with  repeated stoppages I was beginning to think, as some suggested that the carburettor was the problem.
There's nothing worse than coming to a complete stop in awkward places and knowing the problem is a simple one, yet failing many times to fix it.

So it seems that all that was wrong was that the T piece was causing an airlock, due to one end being pinched in. I never thought that the air breather pipe would have had such an effect, but I'm learning!

So, all fuel hoses have been changed and positioned to facilitate gravity flow. The inline filter has been dispensed with and all filters have been cleaned with air.

I'm confident now the problem is sorted, until the next time anyway. :)
If it stops again, the sledge hammer will get an outing. :)

So next thing is to get the tailgate hinges fitted ( whenever they arrive!) and spray the new sills ( welder primed them, ready for painting). There's also a number of touch-ups to be done around the car to tidy it up.

The car is a very good original motor, which drives probably as it did when new and as well as a trabi can.
on top is the old one, where you can see how pinched in it is at one end. New much better one below.
other door sill done.
every bit of carpet and trim was taken off, washed and in some cases turned over before being  put back on the car. Doing this has made a huge difference to the interior of the car. The interior is as good as you will see.
The best thing about this car is its originality. So often cars are restored and they look good and are ok for a while before their inactivity comes back to haunt them and they develop one problem after another.
This car has never been off the road and always well maintained. I think an original car that's always been running is always a better bet than one that's been inactive and undergone restoration.

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