Vixy (neé Mona) - another 44

[dafdaffer]

oh, if that's the case it sounds like the clutch shoes are fully engaging too early, are you sure that the springs were right when it was put together, they should go out in stages, primary and secondary shoes. one set engages as a biting point and the other when the car is moving. i have done a few in the past but that was about 10 years ago. the other favourite is putting the spring clips in the wrong way round so they fly out when the engine is running.

also, can you see the belts? check that they are not to far into the rear pulleys, basically stuck in high gear.

Paul

[spunkymonkey]

Before playing with adjustments, see if you can check that she's actually changing down to low gear (outside of back pulleys, inside of fronts) when she's stopped. If she is then it ain't gearing related - most of the change-up is centifugal and that's not going to happen at walking speed!

It's normal to have vacuum in only one pipe at idle - the other one is connected as the throttle opens by the vacuum valve.

To adjust the kickdown, you should get vacuum just showing in the second pipe (the lowest connection from the vacuum valve) when the engine reaches 2700 RPM as you open the throttle (Service bulletin E.0-032 July 1973) or 3000 RPM according to Autodata - the adjustment seems to make about 750 RPM per turn so in reality it's a case of "somewhere around there"!

I'd suggest that you start by disconnecting (and plugging) the main vacuum take-off from the manifold. This will isolate the transmission completely. If she works like that then it means it's definately a transmission related problem but if she doesn't then it's something to do with engine tuning.

If that's the case then tune the engine with the transmission vacuum feed still disconnected in case there's also a transmission problem. Go through a full tune - plugs, points setting, timing and carb setup (in that order) - Once she's working like that, reconnect the vacuum feed to the vario and see how she goes

[pyoorkate]

Before playing with adjustments, see if you can check that she's actually changing down to low gear (outside of back pulleys, inside of fronts) when she's stopped. If she is then it ain't gearing related - most of the change-up is centifugal and that's not going to happen at walking speed!

Yeah, she's sat there - when I was under the car that's the state she was in (having had a run up we got up the ramps) so I could change the vac pipes.

It's normal to have vacuum in only one pipe at idle - the other one is connected as the throttle opens by the vacuum valve.

I didn't really get a vacuum at any point on the other tube - however high I took the revs.

I'd suggest that you start by disconnecting (and plugging) the main vacuum take-off from the manifold. This will isolate the transmission completely. If she works like that then it means it's definately a transmission related problem but if she doesn't then it's something to do with engine tuning.

I shall give that a go forthwith; it seems to be a popular (and sensible) suggestion.

If that's the case then tune the engine with the transmission vacuum feed still disconnected in case there's also a transmission problem. Go through a full tune - plugs, points setting, timing and carb setup (in that order) - Once she's working like that, reconnect the vacuum feed to the vario and see how she goes

I shall make myself yet another cup of tea, and go out see what I can achieve...

[spunkymonkey]

Jul 11, 2009 12:30:46 GMT @pyoorkate said:

I didn't really get a vacuum at any point on the other tube - however high I took the revs.

In that case check very carefully that they've put the vacuum pipes back on in the right order!

[pyoorkate]

You know when you're an backside. I'm going to blame being an backside on my current being ill, but I was under the impression I'd changed the distributor cap and rotor arm. I hadn't. I'd 'temporarily' cleaned them. And forgotten about the thought of 'geeze, that's knackered, I need to replace them'. Ironically, the contacts are fine.

Top speed's still a little tardy, but after I noticed the state of the cap I cleaned it (again) and went for a test drive and she was so much vastly better that I've stopped there for the minute and gone for lying on the sofa and taking drugs.

[spunkymonkey]

Done much worse here in the past, Kate. Like brake change on a mini for an ex landlady's daughter and I was sure I'd done the final tightening on the wheelnuts.

Thought I was on a promise (fit young me - at the time - all oiled up and being manly) until BANG! No harm was done but it spoilt the atmosphere a little ;D

[pyoorkate]

Luck is obviously not following me around at the moment - the second hand door - very nicely sprayed before sending (just needing some more primer coats and a top coat or few) has been sat in the shed, still packaged since it was sent. I unwrapped it today and discovered that parcelforce had smacked the end of it a few times...



They'd bent it also near the top of the door (where the go-faster strip'd be, if there were one), and at the bottom. It'd also loosened what appears to have been a fairly ancient filler repair covering a bigish knock.



Ah well.



Thankfully, my friends have called off their visit tonight, so I don't have to be finished in quite such a rush. So on with the filler...



Not sure what to do about the bits at the top and bottom, I've tried to sort of get them back to the right sort of shape (sort of ), and am thinking I might just spray it and leave it. The next owner can make her prettier

On the plus side, she's now got two exhaust hangery o-rings (which make the exhaust foul the body work. Gah.) and a new throttle cable (nearly set fire to the car putting it in, but it's in, and it appears it was already a throttle cable that'd been retweaked with a bike insert).

Quick question about that. The previous person had hacked around the end of the throttle cable, retaining the original linkage (metal/spring/nut/tube), and feeding it through a cut into the metal / spring affair that's at the accelerator pedal end; I just pinched the spring off it and stuck that on the cable - I wanted a piece of tube to protect it where it goes through the pedal but don't have one. Should I have attempted to repeat the previous owner's trick?

[daf44]

kate.

if it works and doesn't rub on anything, leave it alone.

paul44

[pyoorkate]

Rich - well, I'm planning to go to Canada in the next year (hell, I was planning to leave now, just schedule slippage due to house issues) - and I am already taking the minor and an MZ, I can't afford to take another car - unless it's one to sell on arrival (in which case it'll probably be another minor, for their value over there).

Paul - sadly I have delusions of grandure. My 'quick fill/rub down/spray' has become two careful coats of filler, with filler over a few of the minor dents too, and re-filling a patch which was previously filled but has a dip in it; rub down; spray. Which is, of course, pointless given the bloomin' great bend in the front corner of the door, but hey. Delusional, what can I say.

[pyoorkate]

How come it always rains when I do top-coats?

Thankfully it's in the covered path between the two houses, and I think I'm just about done with spraying for the day - I wanted to do a top coat on the other side of the door, but it'd be better left 'til tomorrow when I can get more thinner anyhow. It is, however, a bit concerning that the rain has decided to pour with rain the second I finished the top coat. 'm hoping it won't screw with the paint too much.

I do need to get it finished soon, otherwise my neighbours are going to start being displeased. I've taken up the corridor for 2 days now... and convenient spray booth as it is...I don't think they are particularly keen on it being used as one.

[pyoorkate]

Uuuh hu. I think my wife would not be impressed. I have long and complex reason for taking the Minor, the MZ just because they're now quite rare and I rather like mine. Also I have a spare engine, and lots of other spares, and thus can keep puttering around two-stroke stylee for a while...

Anyhow, 've made some progress:



Of course, my unfortunate thought is that I need to swap the doorlock over (is that hard?) since I don't have a key to this door (unless I'm exceptionally lucky) - and also I doubt it'll be dry enough for me to polish it - at all - before we go to [Foreign] - for which the door needs to be fitted. Thus making her probably look shabbier than she does already.

[spunkymonkey]

Changing the lock should be dead easy, Kate.

Haven't seen the inside of a 44 door but they're usually held in with either a circlip-type thing or a big nut round the barrel and have either a single rod connecting them to the mechanism or a plate that turns and blocks something - in which case there isn't even a rod to disconnect!

Either way, once the door cards are off allow yourself at least 3 1/2 minutes to swap them over

[pyoorkate]

After somewhere between 100 and 300 miles should you be able to see the colouration of the spark plug (i.e. lean/right/rich mixture)? Only mine still look almost brand new, and in my hunt to find the cause of the feeble acceleration, I've been contemplating that I may still have the wrong mixture or timing.

It's not aided by the fact that my fricking spark-plug socket and extension bar have gone walkabout. I'm not sure if I left them in the enginebay of the sickly daf, or more likely in the street and they've got pinched*. So I had to use the long-pole-and-sparkplug doojit that came with the car and which is a bit too long.

Changing the cap/rotor didn't improve matters beyond the improvement I'd noticed when I cleaned old cap/rotor. In fact, it's been intermittently worse again (to the point where it'll barely drag itself up the street when cold, sometimes).

Things I have changed (not in order):
Mixture
Timing
Points
Distributor cap
Rotor arm
HT Leads (for a not particularly better set taken from the other DAF, but I cleaned them before putting them on).
Plugs
First section of the exhaust (old section was essentially ornamental, there was so little metal left of it that it disintegrated as it came off).
Inlet-Manifold Joiny Hose

Things I haven't changed:
The coil (not getting hot, so far as I can tell).
The condensor (the points aren't pitting or wearing away quickly...)

I've yielded a definite improvement in top-speed (she'll now cruise 60-70 fairly reliably), but still lacking in top-end and very much in bottom end power (compared to the Jejy, the 73k mile DAF 44 which is currently sick and rusty). Some days she'll barely pull away; some days she's reasonably nippy. Doesn't seem dependent on (external) temperature, but she's definately much better when warm.

I currently don't have a spare coil (the only one I've got is for a ballast resistor ignition circuit, since I don't have one, then it's survived as a spare for a long time). I do have a condensor and was considering changing it just for the sheer hell of it.


* There is still a faint hope that it's just in the shed with the tools that got put away rapidly and I've not found it yet...

[spunkymonkey]

By "almost like new" I assume you mean clean white insulator?

If that's the case then it's going to be fuel / carburation / mixture related. The reason for that is that a spark-related problem (which includes timing) would either leave "normal" colour on the plugs or tend to soot them up a little because some of the unburnt fuel each time it misfires will stay in the cylinder and enrich the next charge.

The colour of plugs is mostly set at part-throttle (ie cruising) speeds rather than idle which is why it's a much better indicator of mixture on SU type carbs. On a normal (fixed venturi) like that Dafs have the available idle adjustment makes very little difference beyond maybe 2000 rpm because the main jet is delivering virtually all the fuel by then.

Given that this is a long-term problem that's defied all "tuning" type remedies by now I'd be looking at stripping the carb (not just top off) and checking float level / jet sizes / blockages.

The (relatively) quick and easy way to confirm if it's a carb problem would be to swap the carb from Jejy and see if that cures it. Idle adjustment may need slight tweaking to suit the different engine but once that's done if there's a big improvement then at least you know for sure it's carburettor related.

[daf44]

hi kate.

lacking in top end and bottom end power, but sometimes very nippy would suggest a vac problem on the vario system.
mine was exactly the same when i had a leak on the manifold vac pipe and the vac assist was not working fast enough.

if the mid range power is ok, then recheck the vacuum pipes.


paul44

[pyoorkate]

Aye, I thought that I'd got around to cleaning the carb, but I don't think I did... I actually had it in the list and then thought 'oh, no, that was Jejy'.

So I may have a poke at that on Sunday, although I need to do the door first, especially because eventually the neighbours are going to get mad that it's blocking the passage... or they may accidentally scratch it wheeling the bin through... and since I've gone to such trouble to paint it


Paul44 - I forgot to say, I changed all the vacuum pipes (no effect at all, sadly). I really did think it might be vacuum related...

[spunkymonkey]

When you do the carb, double check the jets just in case it's been swapped from something else (like a 33???). If you haven't been able to get her right since you've had her it's worth looking! Autodata gives the right sizes - seems to depend on chassis number / exact model of the carb.

[pyoorkate]

So who bet on her not making it?

We got to La Roche en Ardenne, more through luck than judgement; the noise eminating from the clutch-drum area was pretty bad - I think at least one of those bearings in there has failed (problem with garages, they don't check things the way I do when I put things back together). She was also misfiring under heavy loads going up the hills on the motorway (when very hot) - she seemed much better going up the little-road-hills when not so hot.

They're apparently shipping her back within the next 10-14 days, because no-one wanted to work on her - I was going to go and talk to a garage myself but then thought that hey, the AA have people who can actually *speak* french, rather than munging together schoolgirl french and flicking through the workshop manual to find the right word for the relevant bit. Both the garages she went to were small and independent... but neither wanted to work on her

Still, the hire car did the job adequately, but even Kathryn missed Vixy - she said it didn't seem right to be in such a modern car...

[pauldaf44]

bad luck wish me luck o wednesday taking Gladys to Hampton Court

[pyoorkate]

Heh. The next adventure is a rental car experience. We're meant to be going up to Edinburgh next week, as the welding's not done on Jejy (and thus she is MOTless), and Rebecca's not repaired yet, I'm in a rental for the scarily forseeable future. I'm on late shifts all this week, so no time to fix the bike. Then on holiday, then on nights.

The pain my bank account is feeling is somewhat worrying.

No idea when Vixy'll be back, either.

[pyoorkate]

Unfortunately I work in Reading - one taxi is 3 days of hire-car (I know, I did it once), and because I live on the edge of Slough near a dinky toy station it'd take me over an hour and a half to get to work by train, which'd mean leaving before 5 in the morning. And don't get me started on the cost of trains! We're off to Edinburgh and it'd cost more for the two of us to get the train there than it has for me to hire a car for 2 weeks.

I can't really afford the hire car, and it's certainly tempting to just buy another car as a solution but at the price-range I can afford for cars I'd end up with another car that needs work and which'd let me down en-route to my friend's wedding!

When the fleet's all back at Chez Kate I'll have a look over them and see what's to be done...

[pyoorkate]

Well, my price range at the moment is pretty slim, and I have to get rid of a car before I can get a new one. One of the DAFs may be up for sale simply because I don't have time to look after them both. While I'm sure that once sorted they're great, at the moment I'm not keeping up with the problems on them so neither of them is landing up sorted.