trabitom's Mk1 343 GL Touring

[volvosneverdie]

Lookin forward to the pics from the trip dude.
I do love that car.

[trabitom99]

Update time: the car's now got its historic plate



Those plates are very useful to have over here, they halve the car tax, and are the entry ticket to Germanys dreaded "Umweltzones" which are causing more damage to 1980's car numbers than the scrappage scheme. Gives the car a teensy bit more prestige too

To get them you need to undergo a kind of "originality test", only period modifications allowed, and the car needs to be in a better condition than is normally required for an MOT. I half expected them to quib at the Zender spoiler, but they waved that through without any problems. Not so good was a cracked front spring, so now I've got new front springs (standard Mk1 height ) and Monroe gas dampers.

Thought I'd treat the car to some new ignition components too ... and ran into a problem changing the spark plugs. It's impossible to remove the middle two spark plugs without moving the distributor out of the way, weird! I've got one of those random AC Delco distributors fitted, more common was Ducellier AFAIK, maybe clearance issues were a reason for changing them? I'm also having trouble locating a replacement "king lead" from ignition coil to distributor, the Bosch one I have seems to have a DIN connection for a Renix at the one end - I think I need SAE to SAE with my setup.

Tomorrow it's off to a DAF meet with the car, maybe someone there can help getting the middle two plugs out and also help change the points, I'd have no idea how to reset the ignition timing afterwards ...

Tom

[volvosneverdie]

dont forget your camera when you head to the dafs dude!

[Hell Driver]

What part do the number/letter combinations play, I see you have 343!
Over here a similar age car with original plate would be (for 1977 for example) HDT 657S
H is random, DT is for the local issuing office and S is the letter for August 1 1977 till July 31 1978
Is your plate a format that would have been on the car when new or is it just for you?

[SteveP]

Nice to hear the updates, I love this car - one of my favourite on here...

Interesting on the distributor location, must be different to the later cars? Have you got a pic? Very jealous of the historic plates too - they're almost like a private plate over here

[foggyjames]

I had similar spark plug problems on the 1980 345, but only when trying to use my insert reaming tool...I think I could get a spark plug out ok, especially with a wobble-ended extension or UJ. Not sure which dizzy it has, off-hand.

cheers

James

[sven360]

Looks well

[volvodspec]

common problem on non-renixed B14's, is trouble with removing the sparkplug on the 3rd cylinder., if you're having problems with 2 and 3 try using a spark plug socket with knee socket and 3/8 extension + 3/8 rattle

i prefer taking the distributor completely out every spark-plug service to check it replace the points etc and time it afterwards with a lightbulb but if you're not too confident about that here's another trick:

on the left side of the distributor there's a wire connected from the loom, same bolt the capacitor wire is attached to. if you undo that nut you should be able to just get 3rd out

[Chris_C]

I believe from when Tom's spoken about it before, BN for Bonn, V343 is random and H is the historic part?

She looks awesome as ever Tom!

[trabitom99]

Thanks for all the comments

Yes that's it Chris, German number plates are fairly easy to interpret, the first few letters are the town, the next letters / numbers are either spat out of the computer or you choose a combination for a small extra sum. The H is reserved only for historic cars. You get a new number plate if you move to another town.

Thanks for your advice, Anjo! It was the second plug (from the front of the car) which was the most difficult. We got it out at the DAF service meet using a regular 21mm ring spanner after all the angled ratchets had failed, the "ring" was just indented enough to get to the spark plug. I don't know if that's non-Renix or AC Delco specific, the AC Delco dizzy caps screw on, which could mean the "body" of the distributor is wider?

What's cool is that I've got a new vaccuum control gubbins fitted now which prevents the clutch engaging when you press the button on the gear selector lever. Big comfort gain, no more pushing in the choke every time I want to change gear on cold starts

Other than that, the oil level in primary and secondary gearboxes and the tension (?) of the drivebelts were checked, no problems there.

Pics to follow...

Cheers

Tom

[volvodspec]

yeah that's the 3rd cylinder

distributor body isn't wider for the srewed on type, it's just a design fault i think.
they solved it with the renix though; no need for points etc

instead of pushing the choke back before driving off; you could have short circuited the immobiliser relay so you could start in D or R; that's 343 launch control

[trabitom99]

instead of pushing the choke back before driving off; you could have short circuited the immobiliser relay so you could start in D or R; that's 343 launch control

Argh, that'd be a bad idea Manouvering space to get into the garage is tight, I'd be sure to hit something

Anyway, pics from the meet:




replacing the vaccuum switchy anti-gear-crunch thingy (what's it called?) Apparently DAFs never had them, they were introduced with the Volvo 66.


fixing a wobbly exhaust:


Some of Heinz-Jürgen's cars:






... also just got it's historic plate:




Tom

[nvdw]

replacing the vaccuum switchy anti-gear-crunch thingy (what's it called?) Apparently DAFs never had them, they were introduced with the Volvo 66.

The declutching servo! Adds a bit of comfort to the gear selecting business but to be honest, if drive my DAF for almost a year now and I rarely grind the gears.

Anjo's trick also works fine when the servo DOES work, especially when the engine is still warm and you want to drive off after switching it off earlier because a bridge had opened or whatever. Just keep it in D, depress the gas pedal slightly, turn the key and off you go!

[SteveP]

That Daf 1300 coupe... yes please!

[foggyjames]

Tom...do you see what I see in the middle of that silver V66's alloy....?

cheers

James