Hello all, 33G here again!
Well, I hope you're recording that favourite tv programme, have gone to the loo, have your beer and ciggie supply at hand and are sitting comfortably. Yes? Good, then I'll begin!
Again, this thread starts with a tinge of sadness. Anyone who is familiar with Essex DAFs will know that over at Central we are never alone. We count on the friendship and support of the chickens. They entertain us, inspect our work and, whilst they are not always correct, they always have an opinion. Quite frankly, what they don't know about DAFs isn't worth knowing!
Over the weekend Matt was witness to Farmer George walking past with a wheelbarrow full of dead chickens, ten of them.
Whilst George normally keeps them under lock and key at night, safe from predators, this cruel side to nature happened during broad daylight, the perpetrator of this malicious attack being a stray dog. This has decimated the chicken stock leaving only a dozen or so left. Our thoughts are with Farmer George and then remaining chickens who must now be suffering severe survivor guilt.
Naturally both Matt and I are very saddened by this and whether the chickens will be out to play in future reports remains to be seen.
The chickens during happier times. Let them rest in peace.
In other non-DAF but slightly poultry related news, I can report that Gavina's lucky (?!!) mascot has now had two spins in the laundry and has come out much cleaner. The remaining grease and oil would probably lift out with a proprietary cleaner but the down at heal look suits a DAF mascot suitably I think!
I am, however, now in two minds as to what course of action to take. The (as such unamed) mascot stands charged with falling asleep and severe dereliction of duty as he was on shift coming back from Matt's when the engine went. Perhaps I am being unfair and such bad luck was beyond the protection of the mascot. So your thoughts are welcome. Should I either:
A) Bin him, he's a jinx and will bestow nothing but bad luck to all those relying on him, or
B) Aw, give the poor sod a chance and he is rather sweet.
Answers on a postcard please! ;D
OK, so on with the DAF news from our little corner of Blighty.
Friday saw Blue Thunder go for her MOT. Sadly she failed on the offside sill, which was always a little suspect. There is good news though, in that she received no advisories. She is currently waiting welding by the MOT centre itself, so a pass is now imminent. Once I have received the good news from Andrew, I'll let you all know.
Friday night was also to see me reinstating Gavina's front grill.
Saturday morning started with being woken by the door bell and a yapping G hound. A parcel was delivered which contained the lenses from Starider. Thanks for that, appreciated.
(The lenses that is, not waking me up!) Together with the spare that Howard put in Laura's boot, I now have a choice of three lenses for Tigger, a big relief.
Saturday morning started with a trip to Europarts at Rayleigh Weir following Dave's suggestion and although Mark wasn't there, an equally helpfull chap was, who sorted me out with a replacement points and condensor. Had I had my wits about me I would have brought my rotor arm with me, there's always next weekend to do that though. Thanks Dave for the tip-off, appreciated mate.
There was no more Daffing for me on Saturday, more a case of stretching Rover's legs and catching up with some friends. Early doors for any car related activity as we had a football inspired BBQ to attend early afternoon.
Even the G hound got into the spirit, until that goal keeping fumble - doh!!!
A very pleasant time was had by all and following much beeriation and an extended Dutch moment my taxi driver (also known as Mrs G) decided it was time to leave home and seeing as she was driving I had to agree with her. Unfortunately though, Rover was to play up on the way home. She sounded and felt like she had a misfire, and was unwilling to pull at low revs. We limped home and I cursed my bad luck. Surely I can't have both cars out of action? A call to my mechanic friend was made who resolved to visit me on Sunday to 'ave a butchers' at her once he'd fitted a replacement clutch in his aunt's Ford Ka.
Matt also had an enjoyable day attending a classic car show at White Coln on the outskirts of Colchester. Matt has been looking forward to this show as it is near to the fire station from where Goldie was rescued. Regretfully Matt was not to meet with any of her former owners or learn any further history, however Goldie was to receive a fair amount of attention and there was much banter with the attending public.
As is customary with car shows, many photos were taken and for this reason our report is slightly delayed. Hope you enjoy.
This owner brought the wrong moggie! ;D
Lovely flat bed VW and how often do you see Commer vans?
They were not the only buses there though. What a lovely pair!!
Commercials put on a fine display.....
......as did the Landies
I still mourn the loss of my Trabbi.
Matt kindly took this photo of what looks like a lovely clean combi. Thanks Mate.
Matt was quite smitten with this old Riley
Fine old girls.
Lancia Fulvia and georgeous Jenson Interceptor!
There were classic bikes.
This scooter at the front even has my favourite number! ;D
;D
Tractor fans were kept happy......
......likewise for fans of steam engines.
There was even a collection of 'little' engines.
Those into militaria were well catered for that day!
Finally, not forgetting the star of the show of course!
And so we move onto Sunday which was to see Daffing done by the three of us.
Needless to say that following the festivities the previous night, this Grinder was slow to rise. Following the customary Sunday morning breakfast of strong tea and a cigarrette, I was ready for some daffing, and got cracking with a job I didn't enjoy the last time I did it - reinstalling the front bumper.
That done I waited for Matt and Dan's arrival.
Meanwhile over at Central......
......Animal did not want to play nicely and was giving Matt and Dan all sorts of problems with her brakes.
So eventually Matt rang to say they were just bleeding the brakes and would be straight on their way. I decided to grow my beard whilst I waited.
Then Matt texted me to indicate they were on their way over to Essex South....in the international language of tea. ;D
So, just as I was checking my stubble and considering a trip to the barbers I was alerted to the sound of a water cooled variomatic which turned out to be Animal carrying Matt and Dan.
Matt caught me checking my stubble and jumped out of Animal. 'That kettle had better be on!' he said, then started to tell me Animal's woes.
One of her brake cylinders had decided to leak quite badly. The lads replaced it with a brand new item, then everything back in place found that the bore for the bleed nipple was cross threaded. They put on a used replacement instead, which appears to be holding up well.
The offending item.
So, tea was consumed and general DAF matters discussed before attention turned to Gavina.
Once recovered from tinitus caused by the misfiring engine on attempting start up, diagnosing the fault could begin. I had used the distributor from the donor engine and the points were totally burnt out. These were swapped for the new points but all was not yet well.
We pushed Gavina outside whilst procrastinating over the problem. We noticed that the cap leads did not look to be in the correct position and with Gavina still not firing we deduced that the timing may be out and started tweaking the dwell angle, looking for that sweet spot.
Well, eventually we found it!! I kept trying to film that magic moment but slowly slowly catchy monkey and it took a few attempts. Unfortunately I missed filming that magic moment (as I do actually pitch in myself, honestly), so just for you fellow Daffers, we recreated it for you (just pretend this was the first time round, ok?). ;D ;D
We then took turns test driving her. Dan's never driven a 33 before - she needs a bit of choke mate!
;D
And so, feeling quite contented with the days' daffing, Matt and Dan left and Gavina was tucked up for the night. The lads tell me she was a little bit smokey and to give her some redex, this will be on the cards for next weekend along with some local trips to let things settle in.
We are all feeling the pressure of getting our cars ready for Princethorpe. Although Dan has attended before it will be the first time for Matt and I, so we want to make sure we make it there! Gavina will need her brakes bleeding as her pedal is getting long again, but otherwise she will hopefully be ready. Did the lucky(?!!) mascot have any doing in this?
Just as I thought my day could not get any better, it did, as my friendly MOT inspector arrived to look at Rover. We found the plugs showed signs of underfueling
and the gap on one of them was totally closed up - bizarre!
With a quick clean up of the spark plugs with a wire brush and a tweak on the carburrettors to given a little extra fuel (I doubt I will notice the difference in mpg somehow :
all was sorted, and Rover seems to be much happier now.
What a great day!! I even remembered the Grand Prix had been on earlier and Sky had automatically recorded it under a series link. I settled down to watch that thinking the day couldn't get any better! Later that night I even found two missing socks in the laundry - bonzer!!!
Well, there's not much that can top last weekend for a while, so I guess that's all for now, hope you enjoyed our report of happenings in the badlands of Essex.
Cheese,
33G.