Toms '85 vario

[thododd]

Hey, im Tom. Ive been knocking about threatening to buy a 300 for a while and this weekend I went to Doncaster and took jackals 340 DL off his hands ... he clearly gave a shit about it during his breif ownership so he'd been playing with the cvt electrics and generally taking good care of it



so shes back in bristol now and got here without fault.
As its stands its just hit 85k and MOT'd til april with fresh tax.
I bought it for 3 reasons;
1) as a car enthusiast I wanted to know what a cvt was like ... f***ing weird is the answer, but now im used to it and have adapted my driving style Ive quite taken to it
2) I needed some temp wheels while the AX gets back on the road ... yes, I like french cars, dont hate me
3) something to play with once the ax is 'ok'

I will be doing a few quick mods (mainly to please my insurers) as soon as I get hold of a spare pair of struts

The shortlist of jobs so far;
Remove bump strips (any tips? The 28yo glue is a bugger to get off)
Give it a proper polish
Tidy engine bay
Convert a pair of struts to coilovers
Lowering blocks
Find some 14" E30 BBS RAs

Ive made a start at the bump strips and cleaning etc
Heres a before (I do have the spare wheel and strap )


More pics when shes more presentable

[thododd]

Well, the vario decided it didnt like one of its belts so it spat it at a fiesta behind me on the m32. This was nearly 2 wks ago and ive been very worried about the remaining belt since.
Its now done around 300 miles on its last belt but thos morning the replacements turned up ....

So im armed and ready to fix her in the morning ... any tips?

[baron_matt]

Hey, im Tom. Ive been knocking about threatening to buy a 300 for a while and this weekend I went to Doncaster and took jackals 340 DL off his hands ... he clearly gave a shit about it during his breif ownership so he'd been playing with the cvt electrics and generally taking good care of it



so shes back in bristol now and got here without fault.
As its stands its just hit 85k and MOT'd til april with fresh tax.
I bought it for 3 reasons;
1) as a car enthusiast I wanted to know what a cvt was like ... f***ing weird is the answer, but now im used to it and have adapted my driving style Ive quite taken to it
2) I needed some temp wheels while the AX gets back on the road ... yes, I like french cars, dont hate me
3) something to play with once the ax is 'ok'

I will be doing a few quick mods (mainly to please my insurers) as soon as I get hold of a spare pair of struts

The shortlist of jobs so far;
Remove bump strips (any tips? The 28yo glue is a bugger to get off)
Give it a proper polish
Tidy engine bay
Convert a pair of struts to coilovers
Lowering blocks
Find some 14" E30 BBS RAs

Ive made a start at the bump strips and cleaning etc
Heres a before (I do have the spare wheel and strap )


More pics when shes more presentable

What mods are you having to do to "please your insurers"? I'm running an identical 340 DL vario in slate blue on a D Reg and my insurers don't have any issues with the car in standard trim?

If you are getting rid of the front seats let me know.

Cheers

Matt

[thododd]

Its only because I was 7 months or so into a policy, that I took out on a modified AX.
I was told the cost of covering the vario on that policy would result in a £50/month increase, however if I modify it without increasing the output it could be covered on the existing policy with reduced payments. Win win

The belts from steve at the daf owners club seem very good quality, lets hope fitting goes well tomorrow morning.

I have every intention of stripping it to a bare shell and making a long term project of it. Everything will be up for grabs then ... its road legal (with fresh belts as of tomorrow) for the next six months, and the mot lasts a little longer than that. Short of terminal failure ill probably keep it in use until it needs a retest.

[thododd]

This thing will not die!!

Having done a few hundred miles on one belt, general everyday use and abuse and then this week having let the fuel tank get quite low she ingested a large quantity of crud that had accumulated in the tank.
I didnt have much chance to do anything about it so ive just kept running it. Feathering the choke, slotting it into D/R as the revs dip and opening the choke when the clutch disengages when coming to halt was all I could do to get round it for a couple of days.

Ive stripped the pump, cleaned all the filters and topped up the tank (I will drop it and flush it soon, but dont have the time atm) and .... ALL IS WELL!! she back to normal now, idling perfect, not dieing when I stop at traffic lights etc etc etc

Other than that, shes been lowered 60mm ish, ive removed the bumpstrips, badges, gutter 'chrome' covers and headlight wipers and installed a stereo and some 6" speakers in the door cards.

That brings you up to date with the first ~2k miles of my ownership, the new belts will be due a tension-ing shortly. All in all im a happy bunny and very much enjoying it. I am itching to give it some power though but I shall be patient, it will be worth it

[thododd]

Have a dreadful quality phone pic from a few weeks back

[thododd]

More shit phone pics






70k mile glt that hasnt seen tarmac since 07, purchased for peanuts mainly for parts for a project ...
Its all there and very original, the weekend will tell what work is involved in getting it roadworthy.

The engine runs sweet.... and if the car cant be save, the engine wasnt one on the bits I wanted for 'the project'

[thododd]

To address the glt's lack of brakes the front calipers were removed, cleaned, painted and equiped with new pads.
Theyre sat in my living room, nearly ready to go on


One of the bleed nipples was rather stubborn so ive had to drill and tap it and im awaiting new nipples and a few other random bolts.

[SteveP]

Haha good effort, was that on eBay? Looks familiar! Reckon it can be brought back or is it too far gone?

[thododd]

Yeah, I got it off ebay. I dont see why it cant be put back on the road, its got its problems but ive seen cars saved from worse conditions
The weekend was a bit of a washout so I didnt get a chance get it under it properly for a good inspection. The calipers are back on and will be bled (?) when I find a spare foot to press on the pedal (guess what I have planned for the other half tomorrow evening if the weather holds out ) then I can check over the rear end and send it to Mr MOT

... need to find a rear section of the exhaust. It was somehow 'lost' by the previous owner