More Wartburg progress

It runs! But...does it move?

Nashco wrote: It runs! But...does it move?

Theoretically, yes, but it was on jack stands until late last night. Put her through the gears and the wheels turned.

wowsers!

5/24-6/8 no update. You're killing me> You act like you've been busy working on getting it ready for a long trip.

LOL, didnt get it on the road until sunday. Ran ok but rich, died out after a few miles. Fiddeld with it, drove another mile, died. Got a ride back to the house at 3am and towed it home.

Got 3 hours sleep and went at it again, found a fuel system design issue, fixed it, on the road again. made it to Maryland when the oil pump blew its seals and we had to limp it home.

Been putting together the spare motor and got it running tonite. As you know from the other thread Im contemplating a 14 hour solo run to Alabama to catch up. No safety net there, but what the heck.

Gonna sleep on it for a few hours and if I can talk myself into it Im on the road at 3am.

Oh, now that's awesome .

Teething issues aside, how does it drive?

btw, this totally needs to be a magazine feature.

Do the wipers work?

Too cool.

Luke wrote: Teething issues aside, how does it drive?

Loud and harsh but it tracks straight and has good manners.

GR40RACER wrote: Do the wipers work?

No :( Know where I can get a replacement wiper motor for a 58 Wartburg?

Heh, want me to try to find one over here?

That thing looks mean all together, the shortened overhangs give it a much more aggressive look. Nice to see it in the light of day!

I am seriously impressed. That is some skillful tinsmithing.

awesome.

if i may though, please do not use it in LeMons. that thing is way too cool and has way too much time in it to get the snot beat out of it by some jerkoff in a $300 ex cop car looking to point out that "rubbin is racin"

If I didn't see it here, I never would have guessed that was not a dead stock Wartburg.

Nice.

Dan

patgizz wrote: awesome. if i may though, please do not use it in LeMons. that thing is way too cool and has way too much time in it to get the snot beat out of it by some jerkoff in a $300 ex cop car looking to point out that "rubbin is racin"

+eleventy-zillion. Thats why I could never get into LeMons-I like my cars too much.

patgizz wrote: awesome. if i may though, please do not use it in LeMons. that thing is way too cool and has way too much time in it to get the snot beat out of it by some jerkoff in a $300 ex cop car looking to point out that "rubbin is racin"

plus another.

Yeah, the "trifecta of crap" no longer applies.....it looks way too nice to be classified as such.

Oh, I don't know... I'm betting there will be some pretty strict Lemons rules about running against (hitting) the Wartburg.

wiper motor: What's the distance between the posts? I wonder if a Spitfire set-up could be made to work since it uses a cable-drive and the motor placement may be somewhat flexible.

This is one of the coolest builds I've ever seen. Since it came from LeMons it should play there - anybody who hits it - immediate people's curse.

oldtin wrote: This is one of the coolest builds I've ever seen. Since it came from LeMons it should play there - anybody who hits it - immediate people's curse.

Werd. You reading this, Jay Lamm?

No kidding, keep that out of Lemons, I'm not sure if I'd even bring it into the parking lot if it was mine. The short front overhang makes this car look so much nicer, I wonder about taking the grill out and putting a pair of driving lamps in the corners instead, something to set off the front even more.

If you really wanted to lose your mind, get a nice semi-gloss pale blue paint job and lightly tint the windows.

Really impressive stuff.

And it just got MORE impressive!!

carzan wrote: And it just got MORE impressive!!

Just a short shake down run.

but now at least we are pretty sure it will survive long drives, as long as it isn't raining

Heh, I went googling for a standard one so I could compare. This comes up on the first page of images for '1956 Wartburg':

So there is even some pedigree. Maybe just a little, but it's there...

As a LeMons driver (and actually the guy who put the cage in the Wartburg), I recommended that Jim paint the back of the car fluorescent orange or some other bright color that will stand out so people can see it and know who it is long before they get to it on the track. Rolling chicanes tend to not get hit if they realize they are not fast and they don't try and race. LeMons cars get beat up from racing, not just from being on the track.