daf 33 back on the road

[jaffathehutch]

i bought my daughter a daf 33 for christmas in 2005.now 3 years later she has passed her test,hooray!!!.Dorothy as she is called is being mot'd this week,she is dark green,has 30k miles on the clock and was last used 14 months ago,she started on the 2nd turn of the key and needs a good wash and polish but is raring to go.She will be based in St.Andrews fife,the reg,no, is TUU 527M.Any known history by anyone would be appreciated,i believe she came up from birmingham area to edinburgh.Cool cars and web site,cheers.

[jaffathehutch]

Cheers john,"dorothy" is being mot'd at 9am sat' morning,then taxed and will be used every day by my daughter,i will get some pics sorted and attempt to post them on here.Any advice on lead additive ratio to unleaded petrol? Gary.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

[jeremy]

.......and I'm right behind you! Bought the 33 from ebay about 8 weeks ago and it's the surprise 17th birthday present for eldest daughter tomorrow. Not sure how she'll respond. The guys at work think she'll blow her top but I think she'll like it. If not, I'll have it!
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts the MOT man found a few niggles. Mostly sorted except for some severe but localised corrosion behind the rear bumper. It's very odd but I think related to how it was stored for the last 7 years.
Pics to follow the MOT,
Jeremy.

[daf44]

hi.

the best place for lead replacement additive is tesco.
redex there us under £4 instead of £5-6 most other places.
i use a medicine cup to measure the additive and pour it into the tank.
i think it is 1ml redex to 1 litre of petrol so it is easy to work out in the garage as well.

happy motoring.

paul44

[jaffathehutch]

hi all,well dorothy passed mot no problem and is road legal now,however,one week later she is still with me and not with my daughter in st.Andrews,the saga goes like this,engine running rough,she has a misfire,wont idle at all and seems very flat when driving,i have replaced the points,(they broke on way home from mot),and the ht leads and coil lead,she coughs and splutters and spits out through carb,when car was parked up she ran fine,she will start ok on choke but isnt well at all,poor car has the flu methinks,anyway does anyone have any clues as to what to look for,to me it seems more electrical than fuel but would appreciate any help at all.Thanks,Gary

[spunkymonkey]

Same advice as for (almost) everything on the Dafs - check the vacuum pipes for the transmission. Depending on the year, the layouts vary a little but essentially it's:

One large vacuum pipe from the carb to a valve - either electrical on the bulkhead or attached to the brake master cyl (looks a bit like a servo)

One from that valve to a solid pipe running under the car

Two from the valve to another valve (operated by a lever from the carb)

One from the second valve to the aircleaner

One from the second valve to another solid pipe running under the car


At the other end of the solid pipes are more rubber sections connecting them to the primary drive units.


A leak in ANY of these will cause exactly the symptoms you describe - to be getting such bad running it's probably a fairly obvious leak (such as a split pipe). The quickest way to confirm the problem is to disconnect the pipe running from the carb to the first valve and plug it (also make sure it's well attached at the carb end).

If it is a leak causing it then the engine will be magically cured, so then you just have to identify the offending pipe and sort it out. Once it's definately cured, it's probably best to replace ALL the flexible sections with new for reliability!

[Richard DAF Webmeister]

Another thing to check that causes the same symptons, is to ensure that the capacitor/solenoid that is screwed into the side of the carburettor (it has cable running to the coil) is securely screwed in and a good electrical connection.

My 33 has a habit of vibrating it loose, and when that happens, the car stalls at junctions/lights etc, and is "rough".

This electrical arrangement was introduced to do with emission regulations in the '70s.

[jaffathehutch]

Thanks guys,the more i read about dafs the more the words,"vacuuum pipes" echo around my head,i will check every one at weekend when there is daylight,work gets in the way of pleasure unfortunately,as an aside,my daughter did drive dot home from mot and with all her running probs at the time,my daughter had a huge grin on her face all the way home,even with me telling her to slow down all the time. Cheers,Gary....

[stefan]

Also change the condenser as you did not list it in the things you replaced

[jaffathehutch]

hi all,well today i replaced dorothys' vacuum pipe,the one from manifold to thingumibob,put in some super unleaded and additive,fired her up and,brilliant!,she runs great and ticks over superbly,i been out in her all day,i love this car,alas my daughter taketh,thank you all for help,tomorrow,i bleed brakes.Cheers,Gary

[jaffathehutch]

P.S. Stefan,where do you get condensers',and dizzie caps and points?? ...gary.

[daf44]

hi gary.
the owners club normally has a range of basic spares for sale.
email them direct.

[e-mail] has a far wider range of spares but is in holland so postage charges and times are higher.

spark plugs and condensers can normally be bought in a good motor factors as they are used on other cars.

hope this helps.

paul

[jaffathehutch]

hello again all,latest update on dorothy,i put new plugs in at weekend and she is running very sweet now,was out in her all day saturday,great fun,not done much this week as she has been buried in snow,going to change oil on sat' and my daughter has asked me to drive her up to St.Andrews at weekend so there goes my new toy,will get pics sorted and send them in.Gary in snowy scotland.....

[spunkymonkey]

Good to hear she's getting sorted, Gary. Don't envy you the weather up there though - we've just got our usual wind and rain & that's bad enough for getting stuff done it!

[jaffathehutch]

Well latest update on dorothy now,two weeks after her move to St.Andrews and permanent residence with my daughter,i drove up to to collect my daughter's tortoise (yip) to bring down for christmas,see my daughter,and check over dorothy of course,something was not right and under fatherly interogation i learned she had been out in car one dark and icy night and slid off road and onto verge,damage was limited to one ruined tyre,number plate bolt broken and scraping of the fan housing and broken fan cover,after staring at her in that fatherly way she admitted to learning a valuable lesson and will maybe listen to my advice in future,anyway,after fixing everything there and then i drove dorothy around town and she is fine and driving great,i do wish my daughter would realise you do have to put petrol in now and again though.I will see car soon as daughter driving home for christmas on tuesday,cheers all,have a great christmas and new year.Gary.

[spunkymonkey]

Nice to hear of another being used through the winter! I've been hanging round one of the Triumph forums starting to keep an eye open for my new toy (for the spring) and it's really quite depressing to see how many of them are wrapped up in cotton wool as soon as your daughter the weather gets a little wet - roiund here that's all year and we'd never get to use them

Hope you have a great Christmas and your daughter has many happy Daf miles in the coming year

[jaffathehutch]

Hi people, here are some pictures of Dorothy...

[jaffathehutch]

Hi john and all,finally some pics of dorothy on site,i couldnt do it so my daughter managed it,aye,cannae put petrol in cars but they can work computors,not very big pics but im sure they can be enlarged,just dont ask me how,anyway she still running great.A very Merry Christmas to all,and a Happy New Year. Gary.

[jaffathehutch]

Hi John,cheers the daf is in great condition,only 30 thousand miles on clock,daughter has been driving car every day,including up and down the M90 and over the Forth bridge,the daf has never missed a beat,yesterday though some numpty reversed into dorothy and damaged her drivers door,pushed the skin in and a few scrapes,daughter distraught,me angry,now we wait on insurance to say their piece,im sure a good bodyshop will fix ok.Bye all and have a good new year.Gary

[jaffathehutch]

Hello everyone,well 46 days later we may finally have an answer from that great lumbering clockwork donkey that is an insurance company; "Never in the field of human conflict have so many phone calls been made to so many people who know,nothing"! ho hum,anyway daughter get cheque soon and we keep dorothy,car is classed as roadworthy write off so may well be trying to find drivers door,with quarterlight,anyone know of one? both mirrors torn off too,vandalism,though i have all the bits so hope they can be welded,hopefully dorothy will have more luck in future. Cheers all.....Gary

[jaffathehutch]

update on dorothy,i have the car back home now to do some work and hopefully get the panels straight,mainly the door,tidy up the vandalism i.e. both wing mirrors ripped off,rear bumper fixed back on,dent on boot and the latest act of numptyness pulling off the daf 33 badge and trim on boot lid.Anyone have a set of wing mirrors and a daf 33 badge? it now reads daf 3! Anyway while i had her rear end jacked up to do brakes etc i fired her up in gear to check belts, discs,wheels all doin the turny thing,only nearside wheel spinning,offside not spinning,belts turning as are drums but drive not going to wheel? what could be wrong? the car may have always been like this,she drove fine.I do know the previous keeper got a replacement drive shaft and fitted it.Oh well looks like i may have dorothy for a wee while,hope my daughter understands.

[pauldaf44]

is the stub shaft going from the rear pulley to the wheel hub intact. This broken I would think would have the same effect as breaking a half shaft on a conventional drive system?

[pauldaf44]

thats funny Rich we just posted the same thing within a minute of each other. hehehe