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Post by 33grinder on Jul 2, 2011 21:18:52 GMT
For a while now we've had a thread running on both DOC and DCA forums called 'Essex DAFs'. Whilst it is customary to have one thread per car (and indeed that's how we started) it soon became clear to us that with the volume of cars we own collectively it really wouldn't be feasible to keep tabs on each of them individually. So, we started our own combined thread and just about anything and everything goes in - from Devil Car antics to tea drinking and decorating, not to mention the DAFs! Still, it appears to be popular for some reason and has scored more than 10,000 hits on the DOC forum - crikey! So, the thread will be copied over to here right from day one...eventually when time permits! You'll see references to others from the DOC forum but it would be too time consuming to edit each posting individually, nor would it be right to copy over other member's postings without their prior consent, so that won't be done either. Please do be patient with me - this thread has been our mainstay for a long time and will appear here in due course - indeed, it's from whence our name eminates! Per my sign-off from each update: Cheese, 33G. P.S. I can copy over the thread in one of two ways: 1) Lock the thread until it has been copied over in its entirety, or 2) Leave it open for people to comment on - should they wish - as it is uploaded peicemeal, kind of like an omnibus Eastenders. I don't mind either way. Each copied post will contain the date of its original posting to the DOC forum. Does anyone have any preference for 1 or 2 above?
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Post by mattsdafs on Jul 4, 2011 10:46:30 GMT
there is nothing like a good no.2 m8 but in this case im saying no.1..we dont need any more added to what is already there
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Post by 33grinder on Jul 4, 2011 17:51:34 GMT
Well, our founder has spoken so once I start copying over the posts this thread will be locked until it's up to date! Much as it'll be a bit of a chore to copy over the whole thread I'm kind of looking forward to reliving some memories and if I can copy one or two updates each day then it wont seem so tedious... Updates to follow...
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Post by 33grinder on Jul 4, 2011 22:14:26 GMT
The start of the thread, first posted 23rd November 2009.Hi all, 33G here. As you know, my fellow Essex Daffers Matt and Dan are unable to post to this forum (although they can sometimes get online to view) and as such, there's much going on with their own Dafs, as there is with mine. So, with that in mind, we decided that hence forth any of our Daffing activities should be combined into this thread, continuing on from the photos you've seen in North meets South thread and the threads about my white 33, Gavina and Passionwagon the 33 van. We hope you like and approve of this format. Matt spent much of his life in Cornwall. He has been into Dafs for many years as his father used to run them. Here's a photo of one of Matt's favourite Dafs owned whilst in Cornwall, a 33 which he eventually sold to a friend who restored it and is still using it today. Matt bought a car from Dan a few years ago and since then they have been in touch. Today's activities started with Dan visiting Matt in his Volvo 66. I wasn't there to see it and it resided at Matt's whilst the rest of the activities continued. Volvo 66 (Dan hasn't named it yet) meets Goldie, Matt's recently back on the road 46. Interesting fact about Goldie. She was rescued from the fire brigade for the sum of £50, she was due to be cut up in a practice session using the jaws of life. Happily Matt was in the right place at the right time to save her. Then Dan helped Matt fix Animal's achilies heel, the distributor. A new one was fitted, but as we know, Dafs are never greatful for the attention they're shown and she thanked Dan by trying to eat him! ;D ;D Incidentally, Matt had some bad news last week. Somebody took a swipe at Animal whilst parked outside his house. They didn't leave a note but did leave his bumper barely hanging on. Fortunately Matt had a spare and so Animal is now back in working order. So, with the dizzy replaced some tinkering on Goldie, Matt's 46 saloon's exhaust was undertaking and then the lads set off to not so sunny Rayleigh. Gavina was started up and there was much tinkering of the choke and throttle assembly. Finally we got the choke fixed and the idle speed low. We were able to drive her and change gear with the engine running - yay!! ;D Photos are intentionally blury to give the illusion of speed! Happyness is a warm Daf. With all that in order, attention was tured to the brakes which could optimistically be called 'spongy' but when she was legally on the road the combination of the original Michelin ZX tyres with those brakes gave me moments when by backside would twitch quicker than a rabbit's nostrils! ;D So, Matt reversed his mobile toolchest onto the driveway and work started on inspecting the brakes. Front drums were quite easy to get off, and the cylinders and shoes appeared to be relatively new! OK, just because I'm taking the photos doesn't mean I don't do anything myself!! Dan kindly took this one. Thanks Dan. Then attention in the fading light turned to the backs. The drums were born out of wedlock, for want of a better description, and needed quite some persuasion from Matt to come off. Again, they revealed new shoes and cylinders. Also some pipework has been renewed. Dan doesn't hang around! Here's matt giving some gentle persuasion (persuading hammer not shown). Then something amusing but frustrating happened. I made my fellow Daffers some tea and when I returned with it they were acting rather sheepishly. Someone (didn't find out whom) had dropped the brake fluid resevour cap into the open hole of the heat exchanger (no hoses on mine yet). Much fun and games ensued over getting that out! It wasn't me, honest, I was making tea! Then we decided to start her up again and the starter picked that opportunity to give up the ghost. Lots of whirring noises, like it wasn't able to engage/disengage correctly. So, after a bit of grumbling, the starter was removed, as was the battery and it was tested with some jump leads. The starter spun but the pinion wasn't jumping out. Do they on 33s? Do I have a duff one? We sprayed it copiously with some lubricant and put it back on. To add insult to injury, a nut was lost that connects the batter cable to the starter. We looked absolutely everywhere and can only assume that Gavina had swalled it somewhere. The nut and bolt box was searched but nothing suitable was found. So, with shame she was pushed into the garage. I took a quiet Dutch moment to seek inner calm and aarrgghh! WHERE'S THAT FECKING NUT GONE TO!!! We also found that the flexi hoses need replacing, luckily Matt has some new rear hoses. I also found that she has a small fuel leak, on the pipe that runs up and away from the tank (not the initial pipe), we think Matt has a spare. So, a bit of a mixed bag today. Matt was really disappointed that we couldn't have progressed further and with the set back over the starter. She must have heard the word MOT! We'll meet up in about 3 weeks time and try to get it finished and MOT ready. I'll get some new front hoses and there's a reconditioned starter motor on e-bay so I'll get that. With the hoses done and a new starter on, hopefully she'll finally be ready. I'll let you know of future developments with all of our cars. That's all for now! Cheese, 33G.
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Post by 33grinder on Jul 5, 2011 19:45:08 GMT
First posted 29th November 2009Hi all, Well, here are the photos I didn't get round posting when I started this thread. The two 46 parts cars that were photographed outside Matts barn on the North meets South thread were finally dismantled. One was too far rotten, the other remarkably sound having been restored not so many years ago by the previous owner and then mysteriously recorded as scrapped. Both gave up many usefull spares and the cars on the trailers had many more bits removed before they were weighed in. On Friday Matt and I paid a visit to another Daffer, Stephen, in Colchester, who Matt had met a few year years ago. Stephen has a 31 in need of restoration. He has been gathering parts for over 10 years and is now finally ready for the restoration to begin. I'm sorry that I didn't take any photographs, only the car was a little burried. I'll stay in touch with Stephen and when he starts the restoration I'll take photos then if he is ok with that. Stephen was a coachbuilder and believes in the old skills like lead loading. We're lookng forward to seeing his skills. He has many, many Daf parts and spares for sale for 'A' bodied cars and van. Everything is new, and I mean new. panels in red primer from the factory, parts in original Daf bags, even brand new engines! It was a real aladins cave. Stephen also has a 33 donor car, but probably has enough parts to rebuild it. Stephen is now wanting to sell many of his spare parts. I can vouch that the quality of everything that I have seen is top draw. Regretfully it would appear that he has had dealings with certain unruly individuals of the Daf fraternity and has spent thousands on parts. For this reason, he wants to recouperate some cost for some of the parts he no longer needs. Needless he will not be letting things go for silly money. Matt and I will return to photograph and catalogue these spares and post any further details on this forum. One thing he has no need for is the wing pictured below. It is too early for his 31 and we're not totally sure which model it is from. I will ask on the DCA forum too. Stephen will sell this wing for £300. Admittedly, this is a fair whack, but substantially less than what he paid. It is still in the factory red primer. If anyone can identify this wing let me know and if anyone wants to buy it let me know (and let us know if you have an early A type hidden away). Stephen has a conundrum to solve regarding the rear pillar badges on his 31. His are quite thick, are flatt bottomed and fairly weighty items. The imprints are painted yellow, possibly in the factory. The studs at the back were broken so Stephen has found replacements but they are not the same, the imprints are not painted and the reverse has a chamfered edge 'to rub the paint'. Stephen has been told that these are correct. Is it possible that they could have been painted in the factory? Did the pressings change through production so they could have been solid at one stage and be thinner with a champfered edge later in production? So, after that no Daffing was done by myself. Saturday was about moving my Renault 5 GT Turbo project into my friend Martin's garage. It was previously stored outside under a tarp, but with the onset of winter it was time to move her inside. Renting a corner of my friend's workshop means use of all his tools, including 4 poster ramp, compressor/air tools, and even a mig welder. The day went from bad to worse. I helped Martin collect a freezer he won on e-bay. We took his Land Rover Defender and collected the freezer. Loaded up and ready to go we found that the starter wouldn't engage, so we had to roll in reverse down a hill and kick it into reverse to start her. Not a problem except the landie only holds £20 of diesel at a go, as it has a leaky tank. Returning to Brentwood on fumes we stopped at the petrol station and removed the petrol key from the keyfob and put another £20 in the tank whilst the engine was running, for fear of not starting her should we switch off the engine. We then went to couple up the traler and whilst removing it a bracket rubbed the wheel of a mutual friend's recovery truck and punctured it! So we then get to the R5. Another car is in the way which is locked, so there not being a towin eye, a rope was dragged around its back axle andwe dragged it back a metre. We then had to push it out to find it had a flat tyre (and it has brand new Pirellis on it so not pleased), so it was a total beach to push. We eventually got it onto the trailer, although it had been lashing it down with rain.When we got back to Martin's workshop, he needed to move his project Defender which resolutely refused to start. So the jump starter came out which eventually got her started, but the throttle valve had become gummed up inside and needed to be freed up before she would drive. Eventually the R5 was nestled into place. No photos I'm afraid as it was hissing down and it was a miserable day for all involved. Today saw family business and no Daffing. I can report that Matt has been beavering away though. He has been moving cars around at the workshop to make room for his 44 estate which will be started next. He also found time to tension the drive belt on his 46. I do live visiting Matt's barn. Aside from seeing his lovely collection, the barn is in such as rural setting, being on a farm and surrounded by countryside. I'm sure Stef, Paul and Onne would know what I mean. There's nobody else there, no-one to distrub the Daffing, it's so peaceful. This is why Matt doesn't get too upset Daffing by himself, as he knows there'll always be some company for him there! ;D Matt believes he has also found a replacement for me, although my protege still needs a lesson in making great tea!! ;D ;D Well, that's all for now from our part of Daf land!! Cheese, 33G.
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Post by 33grinder on Jul 6, 2011 18:22:26 GMT
First posted 8th December 2009Hello all, I thought I would get this thread back on line now and talk about just Dafs (and perhaps tea) and, as my school philosophy teacher once proffered, 'there are three topics that should not be broached in polite conversation, namely: politics, religion and the secrets of the bed chamber.' Naturally I am ok with the latter subjects but certainly not the former! ;D I should mention that I would have posted this last night, only Mrs. Grinder suddenly became rather anxious that we hadn't written any Christmas cards and that at 10:30pm they had to be done there and then! Anyway, my weekend started on Saturday when I finally was able to go to the sorting office and collect Gavina's replacement starter motor which I won* off e-bay for £39.90 (*nobody else bid) plus £15 postage. I will keep the old one as it can probably be repaired and kept spare. Unlike the old one, the pinion actually comes out on the new one. With the old one out, some engine degreasing could be done and the replacement could be installed. I have bought before from this particular flea-bay vendor and never had any problems with him, but I still tested it out and needless to say it works fine. Now, I must confess now that I am a grinder again. No, not in the conventional way. It is the impeller scraping again on either the oil cooler and/or cowling. We'll see. My hoses arrived today so that's a job now that will wait for the weekend when I have Matt and Dan's assistance. I've learnt from my last 33 that you really need 3 people, one to bleed the brakes, another to pump the foot brake and the other to keep topping up the tiny brake fluid reservoir. ;D As for Dan, I called him on Saturday evening to see if he had any Daffing to report from the northern reaches of the badlands, and actually caught him on his back under his 55 coupe. He has been changing weeping shock absorbers. To prevent a Father Larry Duff moment I didn't keep him on the phone too long! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Larry_Duff And as for Matt? Well, a promising day Daffing was on the horizon at Essex central, starting with a routine service for Goldie and Animal. Shortly after things took an unexpected turn when Farmer Giles needed Matt's assistance with his broken tractor. That took up much precious Daf time and we shall return to Matt tomorrow. Nothing more was heard from Dan. I do hope he was working under axle stands when I called him...... I had to play the Grinder family card on Sunday. I did pop down to Halfrauds though, they have a special half price offer, a small tool chest with 235 tools for £50. Ratchets, spanners, screwdrivers etc. Probably not the best quality tools, but when Gavina is on the road I shall be carrying this in the boot 'just in case'. Good value as I see it, so I thought I would mention it here. Other than that, the only thing I got round to doing was investigating the fuel leak. I've cleaned everything up and tightened the clamps holding the rubber hose joining the fuel pipes near the bottom of the tank. I'll keep an eye on things but suspect that won't be the end of it. I have some liquid metal to the ready and one of Matt's spare tanks just in case... So now we will return to Matt's Sunday. Time came round to do some work on Matt's 44 estate, Dorothy. This will most likely be the next one to return to the road. Matt bought her from Dan and that is how their friendship started. She has done about 55,000 miles and needs a little light work for the MOT, such as the battery tray replacing and a replacement engine mount. Otherwise she is a very sound car as I think these pictures will attest. Unfortunately, she didn't want to idle and would only run under acceleration. Matt now thinks the carburettor anti run on valve is fubar. It's a 6 volt one. If anyone has a new replacement or a proven second hand one that could help Matt then do let me know and I'll pass that on. I think all this work on Gavina has inspired Matt as he got the 33 out for a little look see. Now, I did have the details on this one in a text message which I insisted that Matt send me as sometimes I can have the memory retention of a goldfish. The memory retention of a goldfish. So, I've lost the text. Sorry mate. Here's some pictures anyway: Things didn't go to plan though as Matt only has one 6 Volt battery and having played with the 44, the battery wasn't happy with being pushed into service on the 33 (another 6 volter) so it gave up. Matt now needs a new 6V battery. I remember a thread on this forum about that. Paul, how did you get on with finding your 6V battery? There was another problem, but as Matt and I were speaking on Sunday night, between yours truly trying to get Grinder junior bathed and to bed and Matt trying to watch Top Gear, I wasn't paying full attention. I cannot remember if the problem was getting the passenger door to open, or getting it to shut. I think the latter was the problem. The 33 is quite sound so it's not warped or anything, any ideas? Matt has asked if anyone has some name suggestions for her. The registration leads to the name Olive, but for an orange car?!! Finally, you'll remember last week that as I was unavailable for Daffing, Matt replaced my tea services with his trolley jack. Like I said, it just doesn't make a decent cuppa. Matt's found some new friends to make him tea now, but their tea 'tastes sh!t too'! Sorry mate, once you've found a tea wallah you have to stick with them! Well, that's all now from us lot. Next week promises some good Daf action too! Matt is collecting a 66 saloon 1.3 for breaking on Saturday and on Sunday we'll hopefully all be meeting up in the badlands southern regions to work on Gavina. Cheese, 33G.
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Post by 33grinder on Jul 7, 2011 16:14:50 GMT
First posted December 13th 2009Hi all, 33G here again, I've had a coconut and report that I now feel much better. ;D Well, the weekend didn't start with any Daffing for me. My land rover mechanic friend, Martin, was finishing off a replacement engine job on a freelander and wanted some help. We got quite a few bits done but the exhaust was the most stupid of designs, mounted at the back of the engine side on. Access from the top was impeded by the engine top cover which would mean removing the injection system. Access from the underneath was ok for getting the exhaust in place but not getting the studs on. No, the only way to do that was to hold each nut in the socket with some gungum, using about ten extension bars and going through the inner wing hole that the steering rack passes through. A fiddly pita job. The best thing about Martin is that I get to learn how to swear in Maltese! It's very different to our swearing. Malta is very much a roman catholic country and Martin's swearing borders on blasphomy. Thanks to my father working for a greek company most of his working life, I also know some nice Greek swearwords, much learn some Dutch ones though for when working on Gavina - more on that later though. Saturday WAS a Daffing day for Matt though as he collected his 66 1300 salloon. It is in a poor state of repair and as Matt calls it a spares part car. Nothing is unrestorable I suppose and Matt wishes to offer it to the forum for the money it stands him in, ie £200 in buying and recovering it. If nobody is interested then Matt intends to break her. Here's some pictures: Lower corner of drives side window: The bootlid is shot, rubber bumper ends and number plate lights are missing: Front valance rotten, headlamp base rusty: Front offside end of sill, rotten through to the cabin: Front nearside corner, also rotten through to the cabin: Passenger door, rotten and skin coming away at the bottom: The interior is missing front seats and the tan back seats are damaged, the black panels are good though: Near side rear end of sill, rotten: Today was my Daffing day. Dan has been busy with work this weekend but Matt visited such that work on Gavina could continue with pace. Matt arrived in Animal of which I was quite pleased as I've always admired her. Time was tight as football in the pub beckoned for Matt. The intention was to replace all brake hoses, bleed the system and investigate the rubbing that has started again in the impellor shroud area. Here Matt models my new mac tools Head Lamp product. Matt was quite impressed with it: I'll come back to the rear offside hose later.... We then switched to the rear nearside and the hose was succesfully replaced. Matt managed to take a sneaky snap of me actually working!! ;D: Then attention was moved to the front nearside which again was quickly dispatched: It must be said that the weather had been really quite grotty, we had both been caught by showers and being out in the wet and cold (the work was done on the drive way) and handling metal tools means fingers soon loose their sense of feeling. It was time to call it a day for Matt and get to the pub for the footy. I dutyfully carried on and replaced the front offside hose. It's worth mentioning here that the hoses I got from Danny are about an inch longer than the items which were replaced. So, what of the rear offside hose. Well, this is the first time either Matt or I have replaced brake hoses on a 33, and we came up against a snag. the unions are tight on the floor pan against the secondaries on one side and the fuel tank on the other. Getting a spanner on is tricky enough, however it is possible. Once on though, there is no room to turn the spanner before hitting the tank. Has anyone experienced changing this hose and is it going to be a tank out job? I took a photo but it really is the dark hole of culcutta in there and so the picture is really poor. You may just make out the brake union, everything else that's pitch black to the right is the fuel tank. How the Ricardoens I can get in there without removing the tank I really don't know! So, we didn't get the forth hose sorted nor the brake bleeding. It didn't go too badly though and we ended the day feeling upbeat and pleased with our efforts, if a little defeated by something we think Daf could have designed with a little more consideration! I do wish we could have finished, leaving me free to MOT her. I suppose being pragmatic, Dafs have their own timescale and cannot be rushed. I feel disappointed as I am aware that I am using Matt's free time to help me, and I haven't been able to repay the favours except to be posting the reports on this forum. Having said that, Matt does have a healthy tea consumption rate (about one 2-3 mph (mugs per hour). ;D Now, I really must buy more shares in PG Tips. One thing for sure, I spoken to many Daf fans on this forum, but not met one as dedicated to the marque as is Matt: I did ask Matt whether he could face the camera and smile, the below picture both serving as a close up of Matt's tattoo and answer to my question : Just kidding mate! I would love a tattoo but I have alot of moles. I did think of joining them up but it spelt the word 'tosser' so I decided against it! ;D OK, that's all from the badlands until our next instalment. If you're back to work tomorrow then enjoy, and remember a bad day daffing beats a good day at work!! Cheese, 33G.
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Post by 33grinder on Jul 8, 2011 20:40:26 GMT
A knackered Ovlov 300 series and will Gavina ever become roadworthy??? Ah, those halcyon days... First posted 15th December 2009So now we return this thread to the badlands. Matt has a proposition for anyone interested, an Ovlov 340 auto, no MOT and category C write off which can be returned to the road. Matt is asking £200 for her. If there's any interest or questions state them here and Matt will see when he view the forum, or you can always PM me. There's a little ding in the tailgate. Worst damage are door on one side: Otherwise Matt tells me she is fairly clean, with only one peice of lifted paintwork. Over in the garage of Rayleigh's largest (aka only) collector, there was some Daffing today. I had taken the day off for Grinder Junior's first nativity play (he played the part of a snowflake, bless!). Having taken him to school for 8:45am I didn't need to return there until 2pm, brucey bonus! The next job on the agenda was changing the rear offside flexi brake hose which had eluded Matt and myself on Sunday. I really didn't fancy more messing around so plumped for the removing of the fuel tank option. First off was the fuel neck rubber (I removed the cap first, no funny comments about the photo please) That came off easily and then the tank earth wire was unplugged. I then put my jerry can under the tank and after undoing the rubber hose put another hose on to direct the fuel into my jerry can (Gavina had half tank of fuel or thereabouts). It must be said though that this was a very messy job and quite a lot of petrol did make it onto my garage carpet. Currently the whole of the ground floor of the Grinder household absolutely reeks of petrol and Mrs. G is not best pleased with me. Anyway, the tank was emancipated from it's rubber encumbrance: Then I could remove the old brake hose. The fecking fecker!!! The access through the wheel arch with the car jacked is quite good for one end of the hose The other end of the hose is another matter entirely. You'll see it connected up and the hole where the tank was. Getting the tank back in was easy enough, although getting the rubber around the tank seem was a little bit of an @rse, although this handy tool (for removing interior trim) came in quite handy. My tip is to start on the corner by the filler pipe as the access is more restricted and the rubber will get tighter as you work around. Only trouble is that the rubber hose on the fuel line is leaking again now, wish I had replaced it before I put the fuel back in! Hopefully on Thursday night a friend is coming over to help me bleed the brakes. Once that is done, there is the rubber impellor (again) to look at then hopefully she'll finally be MOT ready. I'll look at the fuel leak once I've used some fuel up or it has all leaked onto the garage floor! ;D Well, that's all for now, Cheese, 33G.
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Post by 33grinder on Jul 11, 2011 20:35:51 GMT
As to be expected, things slowed down a little at Christmas time. There was still some time for DAFfing but the reports slowed down a little (so I'll condense those below) until some good news at the end;) Needless to say those of us who could DAF did, erm...DAF. First posted 22nd December 2009Well, there's not much to tell from the badlands at the moment. Dan's still very busy working! Matt renewed the sorn on his 55 coupe and as bad luck comes in three, in Matt's case it's batteries, with Animal's battery feeling the cold clasp of death in our recent weather. Yes, we even get that white powdery stuff down south too! For my own part, a friend assisted me with bleeding Gavina's brakes although I haven't had the chance to road test them, it would have been too much aggro to move Mrs G's 500 as the snow was fairly thick in our road. Then I had some parts for my R5 GTT to move into my friend Martin's workshop, along with some porsche spiderweb alloys which I had forgotten about but another friend who was storing them needed the space back! So if anyone knows anybody in the VW scene who wants some mismatched (colour wise) but sound alloys, send 'em my way! Incidentally, driving the Rover in this weather was shall we say, entertaining. ;D We all knew this weather was coming and our council failed to grit any of the roads. Not only that but the pavements have been treacherous. Rayleigh is one big hill which I need to traverse to get to the rail station. The pavements down this hill are like a cresta run! If I were being cynical I would say the potential cost to the council of litiagation against them from trips and falls is greatly outweighed by the cost of keeping the roads and pavements gritted. Anyway, I digress, I then thought about taking the front off Gavina and faffing around with the replacement cowling to try and cure the rubbing impellor problem, but it was too cold and I couldn't be doing with lying on the snowy driveway so I gave it a miss. So, not the most exciting weekend. At least my edition of Belting Along... has been delivered and I must say, well done Mr. B, sterling job sir! I like the postcard on page 6, it's Stef's van Poor Sam! Nice to see the restoration projects and contributors from this forum, well done all! That's all for now. Cheese, 33G. First posted 26th December 2009Well, there's not much to report from the Badlands. Christmas is a time for family, not for our loved ones!! ;D Christmas eve started badly for me, but we were let out of work early. After spending some family time, it was evident that grinder junior was mosly interested in playing on the wife's nintendo whilst Mrs. G was doing some work on her computer. So as I wasn't missed I had the chance to give Gavina some t-cut and polish. She's come up quite well, and even her rusty bits are shiny now! There was no chance for any daffing on Chistmas day, but this afternoon there was the chance to look at the rubbing impellor problem. Regular forum visitors will be familiar with this view of Gavina: The cowling was then removed. The impellor was not rubbing against the oil cooler, so I decided to go with the three spacers. I think I've found the problem with the cowling. One of the bolts had broken from it's plastic mountings. To name one of my favorite Icelandic phrases, 'fokking fokk fokk' (translation available on request). Fortunately Matt came up with a spare, which following a clean up and algae removing exercise has come up nicely. The bolts are fine with this one, it has a very small crack where one of the centre cover poppers attaches, but it's at the bottom and hence won't be noticed, so I can live with that. I started her up and no more grinding noises were evident from that department, so the exercise was deemed a success and the grill was bolted back on. I was intending to take her for a trip up and down my road and test the recently bled brakes, but Mrs. G reminded me that she hasn't driven her car for a week and objected to starting it just to move it off the drive. Never mind, she'll be popping out in the morning, so I'll get to test them out then. If all goes well I may even consider an MOT, who knows!! Well, that's all for now, I hope everybody is enjoying their festive break and preparing for some good daffing action in the new year. Cheese, 33G. First posted 30th December 2009Hi all, I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas. Today I am.... Absolutely nothing to do with a recent Dutch moment which has only served as an embellishment to my day. Nor do you need to 'Squeeze me to make me laugh!'. Nuff said. P.S. I don't suffer from 'PMS' either!! ;D First posted 31st December 2010 Thanks guys. It's been a long time coming, but here it is She drove very well to and from the test station, even reaching the heady speed of 65mph, and that's with all the junk still in the boot, including the bail of toilet roles. Honestly, if I suddenly had an attack of the Montezuma's I would have been well sorted!! On initial start up the dynamo light was glowing and at the first busy roundabout she stalled on me, but after that she was fine and the light soon went out. The return journey was approximately 15 miles, mainly on dual carriageways. She even won her very first traffic light grand prix, although I'm not entirely sure the other car was trying, either that or they weren't expecting me to be!! It was also nice to see the reactions of the drivers and passengers of other cars which over took me on the dual carriage way (although I did have the pedal to the metal, honest!!). I sometimes get this with the Rover, but only from the boy racers mind!! Anyway, back to the MOT. The following were her advisories from my MOT tester friend. Play in rack. From speaking with Matt this will involve renewing the bushes. Play at lower balljoints. Here, not having tested a Daf before he didn't know how much play was within tollerance. I asked him how much play, half inch for example to which he replied 'hell no, as a maximum maybe but I'm sure it wasn' that much', so does that sound within tollerance? Not very scientific I know... ;D A fuel or brake pipe was rubbing against a swing arm. Not a problem but made me aware to keep an eye on it. O/S headlight is a foreign item so the pattern is wrong. Ahem, he didn't notice that until after the test of course. The brake pedal is stodgy. I have a replacement NOS master cylinder from Matt to fit, I didn't fit it before the MOT as I knew if I did then I wouldn't have anyone to assist in bleeding her, so 'better the devil I know' kind of thing. Having said this my mate tested the brakes (driving her, not on the brake roller) and braked firmly from 25mph. He said they were sufficient and that was without pumping the pedal. With a couple of pumps they pull up quite well. I will be replacing the master though. I must mention how very fortunate I am to have my MOT inspector friend. One of my HT leads had rubbed the fan belt, he quickly removed it and walked off, returning with the worn part of the lead patched with gaffer tape and a cable tie to tie the lead out of harms way. I then produced the small inspection hatch plate with the two self tapper screws and 'give it here, pass me that screwdriver' and he had it on in a jiffy. Top man. He also noticed I was missing an exhaust rubber and the other central rubber is worn. The rear is also worn. Hopefully replacing them will be a job for this weekend. Of equal importance will be fitting replacement cables to the heat exchangers and the new ducting from Danny so I can get some heat into the cabin. I had to drive with both quarterlights open to prevent the windscreen from heating up, and us southerners don't like the cold! I have insurance for her but no tax as I don't need tax to got to and from an MOT test and being miserly I'll wait for 1st January to tax her; I'll only be out on the razz tomorrow anyway. So, I'd like to say a big thank you to everybody on this forum, especially Matt of course, for helping me achieve her MOT. For putting up with the rants of a deranged daffer, and answering all of my banal questions. To think she was languishing in my garage for a good year or so before I happened to log onto this forum by chance and be inspired by the advice given here. So thank you everybody and a happy new year to you all from the badlands!! ;D Cheese, 33G.
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Post by 33grinder on Jul 13, 2011 12:06:58 GMT
So, the new year would see me finally DAFfing in Gavina....or would it... First posted 1st January 2010I started Daffing today, having fitted my hot air ducting from Danny and new exhaust donuts, the one that was still there being very perished, the other missing. I got 50mm donuts, don't know whether that was correct but it was a match for what was there. I had promised by brother that I would visit him once the 33 was back on the road. Grinder Junior wanted to come too. The journey to my brother's went well, with a maximum speed of 72mph achieved on the A127, a fast dual carriage way (well, the parts that the council haven't screwed up with their speed cameras that is). On arriving at my brothers house she promptly stalled, but I wasn't bothered as I had arrived. After a while and upon leaving my brother asked if I could give him a lift to the pub on the way out. No worries, except she kept stalling and I had to use the choke at junctions whilst holding her firmly on the foot brake. After a while the problem seemed to subside, although she seemed a little unwilling to pull away at junctions and traffic lights etc. My brother duly dropped off at the public house G Junior and myself proceded home. Our journey however was to end just before the Rayleigh turn off on the A127 about half a mile from home, on a bend on a hill just before the exit slip. I just about managed to pull her up onto the pavement to get her half off the road. Due to the dangerous position the car was in and the proximity of overtaking motorists obviously caught unaware at my Daf looming into view, I called the RAC and upon telling them the situation and having a youngster with me a recovery van came within 10 minutes or so and towed me to safety into a nearby car park. Further examination showed that the spade terminal connecting to the anti-run off valve had somehow sheared and disconnected. A new connection was made but then there was another problem. I could not turn the key in the ignition barrell. Further examination showed the wires from the barrell to the wiring multiplug had shorted somehow and the multiplug is toast. The answer was to cut the wires to the barrell and hot-start it. To switch the engine off was a case of removing a wire from the coil. The worse thing is that I had assumed a burning smell to be from the hammerite being burnt of the heat exchanger, but all along it must have been the wiring. There were no blown fuses which I find a bit odd. Still, onwards and upwards. I'll remove the multiplug and make some other connections, probably bullets, and see if Matt has another ignition barrell! I did take a photo of her new heater pipes and of her broken down at the road side but I really cannot be @rsed at the moment, I'm a bit peeved with her and she is sulking in the garage. Tomorrow I'll get cracking on it and maybe have a laugh about it. First posted 4th January 2010I've forgiven her Joe, just a bit peeved that had to happen. If only I had looked under the bonnet when she first started stalling I may have found the problem and still have a decent ignition barrell to boot. Matt had a couple of spare barrells which we tried out, one gave ignition but no start, the other gave start but then wouldn't release the starter when the key was released. I tried something a little Heath Robinson last night. I smashed the plastic gimboid out of the back of the barrell intending to 'modify' another one and hold it in the back with a cable tie. That didn't work. But I've connected the wiring of the new gimboid and I can now start it on the key (aka 'screwdriver'). Am I right in thinking that the barrell itself if attached to the column via a snap-off bolt and the only way to remove it is to drill out the bolt? As for Matt, Animal is coming up for her MOT and has started protesting. Yesterday she blew all of her fuses. Also one windscreen squirter has packed up. Both had stopped working but one has freed up with some compressed air. She really is protesting about her forthcoming test!! Matt intends to put her in to see what the failures are and work on her in the grace period. Matt also fitted a new back box on Goldie, his 46 and she has responded well to that. She was previously using a Marathon back box which sounded nice albeit the baffles were blowing. Well, that's all for now, although if anyone has a good spare 12V 33 barrell and key do let me know, together with how you removed it from the column! ;D Cheese, 33G First posted 5th January 2010Thanks for the advice all. I may try the turning out with the pin punch. I'm assuming it would turn out anti-clockwise? If it's got to come out then I can't make it worse than it is! It's a shame that the colum obscures the grub screw and you can't get to it otherwise. Also the plastic at the end of the wires into the loom are uber brittle and I may do away with it all together, as all the wires are spades anyway. I assume the plastic clip is to keep the wires apart and from shorting (not that it worked in this case), isn't that what leccy tape is for?!! This is how I was using the ignition until recently (twisting the black and blue wires gives ignition 'on' and touching green wires switches starter on); I really must spray glue that carpet down, it's annoying me now. Anyway, I now have the key in the ignition barrell to remove the steering lock, and I have an additional key now, which when not in use sits nicely in the dashboard airvent so I don't misplace it (the interior light doesn't work): God, I cut my knuckes to shreds smashing the little gimboid out of my barrell, to no avail...... Anyway, just for (Gladys) Paul's edification, here's some photos of Gavina 'out and about'. Broken down on a dark desolate part of the A127 (well, just before the Rayleigh exit slip as it happens): Gavina dutifully waiting for me in Wick's car park (Rayleigh) whilst buying some solder for my soldering iron which cost me £15 (yes, I bauked at that) and I didn't get to use any after all that: Gavina reaquanting herself with Animal at Animal's stomping ground.... ...Essex Daf Central of course!! ;D And yes Stef, I use her in all weather, although I do have a guilt complex because she was t-cut and polished before the MOT and looked uber shiney, not she's filthy and I have to look at the mess everytime I go into the garage. Hey ho, cars are meant to be driven after all. I really must fix the heater. Danny's heater pipes are doing the job (noisely) but the cold air switch is stuck half open, so I'm not getting as toasty as I would like to be, us Southerners don't like it too cold you know! ;D
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