Reply With QuoteCould not agree more, the BL company of the 70s and 80s produced some of the most dire cars the world as ever known. By the way you forgot two more that were worse the Maxi and Montego. Now they were badOriginally Posted by Huertecilla
There is no discussing taste, less still from a country that gave birth to the Austin Allegro, the Maestro et al of the BL family. At least ´These old Volvos are great fun and very robust. as Yoda writes.
Last edited by Huertecilla; 15th May 2017 at 18:35.
Could not agree more, the BL company of the 70s and 80s produced some of the most dire cars the world as ever known. By the way you forgot two more that were worse the Maxi and Montego. Now they were bad
Now these old DAF!!! 340s are very sturdy and when you have the balls to just thrash them quite well handling with a lot of forgiveness. RWD with very good weight distribution. Ok, so they are initially oversteered and roll a lot. Nothing a bit of extra enthusiasm can´t cure.
Added to this the 2.0 and especially the 1.4 engines are virtually indestructable. Maintenance parts for the latter (Renault Cleon engine) are omnipresent at rock bottom prices.
As most of the mechanics are straightforward, it is the ideal father & son project car.
The neat thing about it being not all that attractively styled is that it is overlooked by EVERYONE. The ´granddad´ image adds to that. They don´t come much more underdog. GREAT!
Not sure the 360 springs were a good choice; the car sits LOWER.
They are a whole lot stiffer and the car does not sag with driver and passenger so the dyniamic ride hight may be higher.
Also bumps use up less wheel trave so again the effective ground clearance may have increased.
A HUGE difference, apart from the stiffer ride, is way less body roll.
Next is the sump guard. With the thing on the bridge we could have a good look and take measurements. An alu plate of 40 x 55 cm. will do the protecting and double as a skid plate.
Original the car comes with an extensive plastic ´splash guard´which closes off the whole bottom of the engine bay, leaving only the bottom of the sump exposed for some cooling. The true goal was noise reduction of course. The price was hotter running which for the variomatic model made a cooling duct from the bumper necessary.
Just a sump guard will protect that sump and will still have the air flow way more open. No we will not forget a nice hole for the sump plug to change oil :-)
Right, tire choice made.
Same spec as per standard to avoid inspection issues but recycled ones; higher and more resistent against punctures:
We revised the brakes so the leads needed to be bled.
As the jobs are also a tutorial, my son is doing most of the work. Bleeding is a two ´man´ job, meaning I can´t teach him under the car when operating the brake pedal so...
The resident female was behind the wheel, my son under the car and I explaining to him, instructing both. All under close scruteny from four Frenchies.
IT ACTUALLY WORKED! and.... WITHOUT ARGUMENT!! Man, like I was in a parallel universe.
The test drive was hilarious. Just down the drive, over a field and back. The Frenchies in hot pursuit.
Meanwhile the car passed periodic inspection without the slightest glitch.
The mud tires were too course for the road so we went for the M&S profile.
Also swapping the camshaft.
Mounting the skid plate and a less restrictive muffler is next.
Hi-lift camshaft?
"A man of little significance"
Nah, not real ´high´ but yes, although it has just that much more overlap, the main difference is opening a bit further at max lift.
Great project, keep it up. Love topics like this.
Cheers..
Jase
Are you changing the valve springs as well?
No, as that would stress the whole valve train.
It is the ´hottest´ of five cam upgrades Renault considers ok for the standard valve gear.
Hence still a relatively mild cam only:
Will still make a noticeable difference though as the standard cam has all of 1 degree overlap and 36 degrees of duration* (forget the 180 as they don´t count).
I mean; 6 degree overlap is 500% increase.
* with 0.1 mm play the comparable sales duration is 275 degrees.
Depending on how the engine runs, I may give it 2 degrees more ignition advance to account for the slower burning speed of 35 years gasoline development.
Last edited by Huertecilla; 14th July 2017 at 10:04.
The engine is running again. Noticeably rougher. Need to adjust mixture and advance the ignition 2 degrees.
The not-so-muffler sits under neatly, saving a few more cms bottom clearance.
The skid plate needs bending up a bit at the front.
Meanwhile my own weight reduction is on track too. Not as fast or brutal as buying a lithion battery but still a hefty change; aiming for a handful of kilos under my height minus a meter; bottom part of BMI. Should be there in about a month, so with time to balance/build up energy levels well before the raid.
Oh man what a fun car this is!!
The clutch of the resident female's car gave up. As she needs a car and I was going to the coast for 5 days, we pulled the 340 off the bridge. It is all ready for the road and the rest can come later.
I left my car at the farm to be used and drove down the mountain with the 340.
It is a JOY at the coast in tourist traffic. It hangs on the gas and in between modern lardy cars is quite nimble in present set up. It drifts with ease and eagerly jumps over speed bumps. My son was so correct in dubbing the car "jolly Jumper!
Everyone looks at it like we are lunatics and keeps distance. It is like the car of Mozes; the Red Sea of traffic opening up around it.
The charming company is very much amused and all giggly because of it. Rather naughty too: Last night we go out for diner and parked under some trees the diffuse light is very pretty on the car so I think to take a photo. She spontanuously poses next to it asking if that is better. I say no, you got too much clothes on and off goes her shirt.
Yes, it is a fun car :-)
Lucky you, every time I park my rust bucket under a tree, birds spontaneously sh*t on it.
Last edited by VDG; 22nd July 2017 at 13:02.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Hahahaha!!
Yes, I am. Not much standard in my life.
Last night went out to an open air music concert with the spontaneous bird and the resident female spontaneously turned up. Had a great time with both.
Now writing this from a Cuban bar at the mediterranean beach, enjoying a clara-con-limon, a cool breeze swirling under my silk sarong; a present from the bird.
The 340 has a day off. Tomorrow it has a haul up the mountain.
The car or the bird?
Do keep up mate it was two birds spit roast.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Just a few weeks for the start and the entry list has been published.
135 teams entered with ´historic´ cars ranging from the evergreens R4 and Panda to Porsche 944 and Lancia Delta HF.
Teams form a dozen different countries, no Brits. One English make car; a LandRover Disco.
We are on the list with a DAF 77
So instead of swapping silly bits at high prices, I have shed near 25 kilos myself.
Last edited by Huertecilla; 3rd October 2017 at 16:52.
Correction
There IS a British entry in ...... an MG Maestro.
The skid plate:
Her smooth bottom with absobtion damper is obvious as is her being higher on the legs.
Made a kit to retain more nothing:
The one-way valve is to prevent it .... disappearing?
No, really, the cvt drums are operated by pressure differnce between inlet vacuum and ambient air pressure.
The EMVK switches/controls that.
At full throttle acceleration, the inlet manifold has close to full ambient pressure. For economy that is great but for pulling power, longer actuation of the lower drum ratio is needed.
So, more vacuum is needed. Rather an odd way to put it when you think of it but I cannot think of a better way.
A buffer for vaccum is needed at the downshift side of the EMVK.
The valve is to keep it available for the drum and not have it ´escape´ because of the full pressure in the inlet manifold.
In this case literally less is more.
The rear seat was only 15 kilos btw. Still 15 kilos though. With my 25 that is already 40 less for free :-)
With the vacuum-buffer we now have a briskly ratio reducing CVT with standard mountain ratio ánd sports (intermediate) ratio.
With all the electronic gadgets we are taking along ánd the electronic roadbook from the organisation, we need plenty of charging sockets. To make sure I am fitting a second cigaret lighter socket.
Mind boggling that; the car nicely free of electronics apart from the ignition and then we need foúr sockets to keep the external electronics on the boil. Ah well, sign of the time.
Rather hectic with last moment stuff. Mainly sponsor details.
Should all have been sorted weeks ago, but it is after all Andalucia. Same thing the Correos; received confirmation about a package delivery for the 10th yet
nothing has materialized so far. Still gets on my nerves a bit after 17 years here.
I don´t like those last moment open ends because even withall sorted there are always last minute complications.
Anyway, the two ´magic´ mods I did work great; one for a ´sports´gearing, the other for instant CVT response no matter the inlet manifold pressure;
The package arrived and the rev counter fitted in place of the ashtray.
Yesterday the first real rain since begin April. The weather looks to be stable again the next few days, just with the dust settled. Nice!
Also the first opportunity to run the car in the wet; the engine does not pick up smoothly. Not nice!!
Leaving tomorrow before first light. 4000 kilometers to go, 2300 of which chrono on dirt.
Brilliant, keep us updated please.
"A man of little significance"
Good luck!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Thanks guys.
Will keep you posted. Hopefully for 10 days meaning we are still in the race :-)
There are several photos between whatsap and email in cyber space.
Meanwhile the thing was rather upset about rain after 6 months of wonderful weather.
I put the rubber hoops on pressure, went to top up with gasoline and she protested on the pick up from idle and plain baulked at a vado.
The combination of a sports cam, ignition advance and wet weather was a bit too much for the tiny dual stage Weber. I had to sweet talk and massage, tweak the sensitive bits and hope for the best.
Typical female; needs a lot of drink when cold, but when hot the slightest bit can be too much already.
Anyway, last thing I did was painstakingly clean, degrease and pollish all windows inside and out, then wipe with glass stuff. That will make keeping it clean and clear underway so much easier.
At the moment the co-pilot is taking a shower after having threatened with worse than hell, the resident female is preparing heaven in food and my mobile is working overtime with the best wishes of other company sending sweet things about open arms but meaning otherwise, while I am enjoying a Trappist beer. Tomorrow I am out for a motor sports adventure with my son. Ahhhh... life is good.
After 12 running hours and 1000 kms Jolly stands topped up and washed in the parking garage under the hostal.
Not a beat missed, not a drop lost.
Beautiful, per example with the rising sun shining pink on the snowy tops of the Sierra Nevada and much more, but uneventful, unadventurous.
With our stuff in the room, we went out for a drink and tapas.
100 meter to the left and ... the 'adventure' of the day; we have an invitation of the charming lady owner for coffee when we leave early tomorrow. Early? No problem! She will have the machine warm for us and breakfast ready.
We can, what? must! park the car in front. She wants on the photo with us and the car.
Right and now the electronic roadbook. We have just received the links to download the files.
Last edited by Huertecilla; 20th October 2017 at 20:25.
Did it always have two cigarette lighters or is that a mod?
One for the driver and I one for the charming company, surely.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Finishes in Lleida, Zaragoza, Burgo de Osma and today Avila.
Very heavy terrain and basically lunacy with a variomatic. All are incredulous.
My son has to get out several times a day and so does my brain: thus lightened and without the burden of common sense we sofar have gotten through.
Best day result 13th of 140. Our turn to be incredulous. I mean; about a third are ofroad 4x4s!!!
That has meanwhile been rectified a bit as we got stuck on boulders with four wheels off the smaller stones. Again unbelievably without damage and more stunning still only dropped to 25th in the GC. Apparently more got lost/stuck.
Because of drop outs we are starting 20th tomorrow.
It will be the harshest day with 11 hours of stage driving. We are starting at the crack of dawn, no time for lunch; eating while at a tank stop.
We are not allowed to continue the stage after sunset so will be only thinking of getting to the finish before sundown and noooooo further thought on the GC.
Here a photo of a still quite clean Jolly at a rare pause:
Awesome!
Sounds like a whole lot of fun
It's just a matter of time...
11 hours of continuous driving over rough caminos even terrain. Many incidents and broken down cars. One broken chassis and driver in hospital.
The bit through POrtugal was awesme. Haevy and bas but stunningly beautiful. More so as we got over s snowy pass to get there.
The last part was swerteringly hot under the cork oaks of Extramadura.
it was unbelievably heavy but worth it as we have crossed terrian which is normally strictly without access. Because of that the 'roads' are hardly existing and worse than bad but oh so beautiful all.
It was also total mayham because of impasseble stretches and thus rerouting over terra incognita. Hence no time to stop anywhere.
Starting times had to be extended an hour, than cut back again half an hour and not all received all communications. It was a common sight to see someone going a different direction on the horizon.
We did get lost, met most time limits and got at the finish in Merida on time.
We are starting 19th again. If I can sort some little things. Details can still stop you though.
The variomatic does not have sufficient reduction by a long stretch and the car weighs a ton so getting up broken up gravel paths at 15, 20 and way more % is interesting. We need to anticipate, take speed on the down and keep above 3K revs. Spinning and drifting is the only option. Lifting is getting stuck with no chance of restarting uphill. Through hairpins and over ridges it impossible to see so it is at 1000% concentration and the jumps help keep the wheels spinning. Scary, hairy but ever so much fun. In Portugal the fans went hysterical with our no-brain-style :-)
Ok, time to go to the start....
Sounds like you're having a lot of fun, more pictures as they come please!
"A man of little significance"
Well done on results so far. Keep up the posts!
4200 kilometers of which 2300 gruesome unmetalled in ten days later we are back home. We were recieved by a butt naked charming company waving pompoms. THÁT is what like to see but don´t expect.
Also unexpected and ever so sweet were packages waiting for us at the recepetion desks of several hotels and one gf had arranged for a friend to show us Cordoba but we were too knackered.
The car has been awesome. Only replaced a muffler support rubber.
This totally belies the going which was nuts; tough on prper offroad 4x4s and yet the mundane dailies managed bravely. Our Volvo was one of the handfull of cars that had no problem. Some others had to replace up to the whole engine and one had the chassis crack and break terminally.
Amazingly no serious accidents.
Our best daily result was a tenth place!!! and we ended 18th overall in the GC.
The fully RAC rally specced Meastro with 2.0 longstroke engine ended 6 placed behind us.
Not bad for a near standard variomatic DAF77 :-)
The finish on the pavement of the Palacio Real in Madrid was something.
Very cool bonus was that we were invited to park Jolly on the indoor terrace of the restaurant where we had the price givings.
Photos later. The nurse of the organisation sent us a neat video fragment of us drifting.
Well done! Must have been a great experience.
Cheers..
Jase
after a good xxxxxxxxxxxx and sleep things are back to ´normal´.
Son has two tests he missed to take first and second hour. He has hauled the 5 kilos of roadbooks with him ;-)
Was rather cool; he socialized a lot and no less than two medical docters competing offered to write him a medical justification for school. The were flabbergasted and impressed that I had obtained permission from school. My son thus again supermegaproud of his supermegadad. What a priviledge to be able to do this with my son!!!
Man how do I appreciate the espresso from the Europiccola!
Next taking the bicycle out for a spin.
What an epic adventure, well done.
Great stuff, I've enjoyed the trip so far!
Great result, well done.
Why do you think you were so successful (beating many 4x4s for example)? Choice of car, preparation, driving or something else?
In this case choice of car was a handicap. Not because of quality of build as that is definitely a step in ruggednes up from Fiestas and even Golfs of the period but because of being underpowered and then castrated by lack of low gearing ánd clutch because of the variomatic.
For the rest THE key is that the chain is as strong as the weakest link. Preparation must be as good as the event demands, the driver must be as good as the circumstances demand or at the least not overdriving the car, the co-pilot must be as good as the roadbook sets the bar etc. If one is not up to it ór overperforming, something wíll give sooner or later.
Most 4x4 teams overestimate that the car will sort their problems and that is an error. Those too have only four tires. With proper off road rubber a none too heavy 2x4 is pretty good traction wise.
The advantage of ground clearance is also very relative since just about all have the diff lower than a properly prepared 2x4 has the lowest part. Again overestimating the car is a pitfall.
To illustrate that; we only had FOUR proper off road vehicles in front of us.
Now obviously a Fiat Panda/Seat Marbella 35 will not get you among the top competitors. Nor will any pre-PSA Citroen*, nor a Volvo 340. But with a properly sorted R4, an AX, a Panda 4x4, an Sj Suzuki etc. gives you a shot at the top 3. It needs no explanation that the car needs a suffienly low gearing and enough ground clearance but for the rest weight is THE crux.
Concerning the car that is. The car will then give you a shot, say the gun but navigation is the sight/sighter. The driver is just the one putting it together, pulling the trigger.
That observed it would be a mistake to start this adventure with ambitions in the GC. Leave that to those with commercial interests. Enjoy the adventure, don´t overdrive and you will probably surprise yourselve. Like we did with a tenth place. That day was a tricky one and being too eager cost the favorites any chance on a top three even. My son had a laughing fit when he learned that they finished behind us that day.
Now for an entertaining example:
One team was a set of businessmen from Cataluña. They took part with a nicely, sensibly, prepared Audi Quattro. Not having much of a clue about navifating, their goal was a relaxing adventure. Sveral of their friends had helped them with some sort of sponsorship. One had donated two boxes of the nicest cava of his vinyard.
In front of the Palacio Real they invited us to help empty a box. How come óne box? Ah, they said, from the other box we enjoyed a bottle every evening...
The ended 55th or so.
* The CX is a wonderful car for this event but the wheelbase and the weight will handicap it in the technical niggly-wiggly bits of which there are quite few.
Great car to do this event with though.
Last edited by Huertecilla; 30th October 2017 at 15:31.
Never mind the cars, any photos of this?
"A man of little significance"
Yes, but since she is a bit of a reputable public figure best not put those on display ;-)
In that case... more car photos please!
"A man of little significance"
The Sierra 4x4 stuck....
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