DVLA have a few pet areas for when cars are re registered, a friends 100E needed a plate a while back.

S10NPH wrote:Yes, I don't know why it doesn't show up correctly on the DVLA website

It does, as it's showing the date of first (UK) registration, which isn't the same as the date of first (anywhere else) registration.

S10NPH wrote:I'm equally surprised by the 'UJ' location mark, I wonder if that's just where the DVLA choose when registering cars that have no particular origin? I was expecting it to be a 'CE', which is the mark local to here.

DVLA Centralisation and it's an age-related mark issue anyway. If it was given a local tag, it could have been CE, EB, ER, JE, VA or VE. It's like all the early non-suffix marks that were SU and SV plates, just a handy unused series. Back in the '90s they'd have give you a local area one. I'm sure there's some great big huge number plate anorak tome somewhere to decipher all these alterations and changes and non-geographic reg mark issues....(Glass's Index of Registration Marks)

Ah yes, you're right Rich, I hadn't read the fields properly.

Here's the V5C showing both dates:

As the system is no longer in use, I'd be surprised if they issued an area specific plate now. The UJ on my transit was issued in 1996 when the system was still used, maybe it was bought 'stolen recovered' by someone in Shrewsbury and it's just a coincidence that your's is the same!

Well I guess that UJ just might be the DVLA's favoured plate for cars of no specific origin, especially as both yours and mine have it. Shrewsbury's not a million miles from Swansea I suppose!

I do know of someone from another forum who imported a car last year whilst the old system of DVLA local offices was still in use - the Nottingham office used issued a Nottingham plate.

I'm just ordering some 70s raised number plates to go on it (which are damn expensive!), so hopefully it will be on the road shortly. I did discover an issue the other day, which is that the vacuum pipe to the clutch disengage servo has been disconnected. When I re-connected it, the whole car vibrated to ridiculous levels - Mac reckons it's a carb fault, possibly idle solenoid, which needs some investigation.

I'm hoping that my number plates and hubcap studs arrive by next Saturday, so I can take it to its first show in Bishops Stortford on Sunday 15th. Although with the carb problem, that may be a little ambitious...!

S10NPH wrote:I'm just ordering some 70s raised number plates to go on it (which are damn expensive!)

Trust me, you don't know what damned expensive is, unless you've bought ones with solid metal digits....

Right, time for a little update. This weekend, I have mostly been fitting number plates and driving the car around legally on the roads, as it is now taxed.


Here are a few pictures:







As you can see, I have also painted the wheels, which look a little too silver, but hopefully some road dirt will soon tone it down. The slightly later hubcaps have been borrowed from BHX for photo purposes, as I'm waiting for the pins to fit the correct black ones.

I've also cleaned the engine bay a little, but decided not to clean off the protective 'gloop' that someone has slapped all over the body - I think it has done a good job. Here are some fun little details on the air filter:



I've also changed the spark plugs; all other ignition components looked brand new.

The car drives nicely and now starts and idles fairly easily. I'm sure it's running too rich, but when I retard the mixture the engine sounds unhappy. The old spark plugs were very black. The vacuum pipe to the clutch disengage servo has also been disconnected, but when I reconnect it makes the engine extremely unhappy at idle. I've left it disconnected for now, and it drives fine without it, but obviously it all needs sorting.


The indicator relay is extremely slow and quiet, you can barely hear it inside the car, I don't know if that is normal. It's interestingly stamped with DAF.


When relaxing the throttle from overdrive in order to slow down slightly, the engine revs go up quite considerably, making a lot of noise. I'm told that this is normal as 77s don't have a tachometric relay but a microswitch on the carb, but it is really very strange.

The speedo needle bounces around like mad.

I still have quite a lot to do, including sorting out some cosmetic rust, seeing if I can straighten the rear bumper, oil change, cure a water leak, deal with MOT advisories (handbrake, leaky diff, split driveshaft gaiter), align the headlamps properly, clean and check the carb and sort out the vacuum to the clutch disengage servo.

S10NPH wrote:Right, time for a little update. This weekend, I have mostly been fitting number plates and driving the car around legally on the roads, as it is now taxed.

Tut, tut.

A man of your profession should know better. That's an offence under S33 of VERA 1994 of not exhibiting licence. Get it on the correct side of the windscreen or don't moan if you get a £100 FPN from a bored copper.

S10NPH wrote:The indicator relay is extremely slow and quiet, you can barely hear it inside the car, I don't know if that is normal. It's interestingly stamped with DAF.

That's normal. The loud clicking for the indicators should be from somewhere behind the dash panel, not that flasher can, I've never sorted mine but it sometimes clicks loud. Even on late cars, you can look at the underside of the vacuum valve and see the DAF logo moulded in.

Picture1 005 by macplaxton, on Flickr

S10NPH wrote:When relaxing the throttle from overdrive in order to slow down slightly, the engine revs go up quite considerably, making a lot of noise. I'm told that this is normal as 77s don't have a tachometric relay but a microswitch on the carb, but it is really very strange.

I'm trying to think exactly how it behaves - as I used to have a DAF66 with the same arrangement. It's all down to the profile of the cam that operates said switch. I'm thinking it doesn't do exactly that, but I'll need to fish the book out and think about it first.

Love it, Sion you are a nutter however!

macplaxton wrote:

S10NPH wrote:
A man of your profession should know better. That's an offence under S33 of VERA 1994 of not exhibiting licence. Get it on the correct side of the windscreen or don't moan if you get a £100 FPN from a bored copper.

Keep it where it is, on LHD cars that is where you want it to be rather than blocking your vision

Great stuff. I'm so looking forward to seeing more of this car. Congratulations on a great buy, Sion!

Robbert makes those air filter stickers, but if those are the original ones on there leave them on obviously!

Tom

This week, I had a few days off from work, so it was time to tackle the shaky running of the 343.

On Wednesday I disconnected the carburettor (type 57) and took it to visit Mac. Mac treated it to a strip down, clean, scrub and a new set of gaskets, fuel filter etc. It looked a lot better when he had finished, like something precision honed rather than a heap of grimy junk.

Before:


After:


Happily, Mac couldn't find anything obviously wrong with the carb, apart from a little water in the float chamber. Roll on Friday, and it was time to refit the new carb, and tune it. Having failed myself previously to get it to idle happily, Mac kindly came over with the right tools for the job - himself, vacuum gauge, RPM gauge, vacuum pump and a CO meter.



Reconnecting the carb was very easy, and the pictures I'd taken before dismantling meant there was not too much head scratching over all the various vacuum pipes. We had to replace the fuel hose as the old one had developed a fracture where it was clamped. The car started okay, and idled fairly well, until Mac worked his magic with his CO meter and RPM gauge, so that the idle mixture and idle speed were properly set. Mac managed to get the carb running sweetly at only 1.3% CO, and here is the picture to prove it:


We did tweak the mixture up a little to about 3.5-4% as the recommended level to get the smoothest idle.

The next job was testing and setting the throttle microswitch for the overdrive. Mac (from his head, of course!) followed the guide from the green book on how to set it, by connecting a vacuum gauge to the overdrive side of the solenoid. After a few teething problems, he set the switch to operate at 2300 rpm.

Mac also diagnosed that the clutch disengage servo valve is faulty, as it does not hold a vacuum. This explains why the car got extremely shaky every time it was connected, as it was a rather major air leak into the engine. So I'm now on the lookout for a spare valve.

I took the car for a little drive, and it ran beautifully, in particular, the revs on letting go of the throttle don't shoot up anywhere near as much as they did, so I am very pleased.



Thanks Mac!

S10NPH wrote:So I'm now on the lookout for a spare valve.

Talk to me Sion........

Looks like you need a set of RHD headlights!

cheers

James

I know a fellow with more of those lights than I've had hot dinners