I've bought a 55 Estate

[quadecz]

Hi there, my name's Richard and I've just bought a 55 estate. Its in fairly good shape for a car that hasn't been on the road for 30 years. As you'll probably work out it was the one that was on ebay recently. Any info about parts supply etc will be very welcome!

[thebear54]

WELCOME RICHARD. ;D

Looking forward to further updates on the 55 and anything you may need to get her back on the road.

John

[spunkymonkey]

Hi Richard, and welcome! That looks like a very genuine, and solid, car. The sill end isn't serious at all and the floor pans (often the worst part) look to be in excellent condition.

Engine parts are basically Renault Cleon, so a lot is still available thanks to the R5 etc.

For the rest, it's a mix of EBay, dafhobby in Holland (www.dafhobby.nl - email any enquiries, hes really helpful and his english is excellent) and other owners, not least Essex Dafs who have an uncanny knack of turning up just about everything anybody needs one way or another ;D

Finally, a lot of (most?) parts can be salvaged / repaired with a little lateral thinking if all else fails because they were properly made rather than churned out using plastic glue-together mouldings like nodern stuff!

[mattsdafs]

Hi Richard...

Welcome to the ED site

Good luck with this 55,it will make an interesting project...as you already know,yours is the 4th 55 est that is known to have survived

When you have some spare time,a visit to Colchester is probably the 1st thing to do,i have 1 or 2 55`s you can look over and try...if you have an idea of what parts you need,we can advise of where to look for them

Regards
Matt

[33grinder]

Welcome Richard and congratulations on your new purchase!

There are some trim items that are particular to the 55, otherwise much body wise is interchangeable with the other larger 'B' body DAFs (e.g. 44, 46, 55).

Mechanically the only difference is the clutch shoes and vario system, the engine is the same as the 66.

I am sure she will make a lovely car and we look forward to seeing your 'parts required' list. We cannot guarantee that we'll have everything you need but you can be sure that you'll receive plenty of encouragement and assistance here.

And like Matt says, when you get a chance to visit us in Colchester you'll discover what your 55 will be like to drive.

[quadecz]

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I think getting 'Tina' back on the road will be an interesting journey. Had a look at the engine today and found its seized. I'm a mechanic by trade so doing the work won't be a problem, my main concern at the moment is finding what braking parts fit eg. wheel cylinders and so on and if master cylinder overhaul kits are still available. It'll be nice to rebuild something small for a change, the last rebuild was a MK4 Ford Zodiac.

[Nick]

least its wet liners so just get pistons and liners, job done, no need for rebores etc