Almost there :)

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

no not on a journey as such but instead i thought some folk might like to see the on
going transformation of my DAF - if you dont like DAF’s then look away…

So back in 2010 me and the missus crunched the numbers and quickly realised the MAN needed to go as the monthly payments were killing what was left of our little business. i’d always liked and wanted a super space DAF, the spec i had in mind was 480bhp, manual gearbox and the little midlift for the extra diesel - as one of my pet hates is faffing around stopping for diesel! so i started looking, and this one turned up not 20 minutes from where i live…


it was certainly no oil painting, but that didnt concern me as i had a picture of what i wanted it to end up looking like and i knew i wasnt going to be lucky enough to find that! unfortunately the salesman failed to inform me of its origins, i was to discover the horrific truth about two months after taking ownership and wafting my magic spray gun around it, once i’d binned the god awful side skirts that were on it and had some new ones made!



the little bit of blue around the headlights should have served as a clue of who used to own it…

i was to learn in the coming 12 months that my new pride and joy had been very un loved. :frowning:

and so she stayed as i had started for a couple of years.


until last week that is, i had last week off to mot the old girl and give her a spruce up, unfortunately for me (not to mention our lass) this spiralled out of control and i end up doing more hours than in a “normal” week!!
with the help of my friends at Weightmaster trailers in Scunthorpe i was able to do the job right :slight_smile:

strip and steam clean…


sand blast…


then onto the paint, nothing too fancy i just want a nice satin black, i had some primer in my shed at home but chris wanted me to try ppg’s high build primer so we got a couple of gallon of that - not actually sure who’s paying for that lol…


and then on with the colour, i didnt take any photos that night, this is kind of where it got really out of hand, bear in mind, originally i had not planned on sand blasting, just “sprucing”. so while my side skirts were off and the rear arches there was no other time to paint them to than now - so off i went. it became clear (no pun intended) there was a problem with the black, it just wouldnt cover, when ever you shone the light at it you could see through it!! there is now about 4 coats of paint on my chassis - which is no bad thing other than it took two of us just over 5 hours to paint and about 9 litres of colour plus the hardener and thinner at 3:1:1 - you do the maths!..



next to build her back up and get to the mot station for 1pm on friday - no pressure at all!

talk about last minute.com - wrap still hanging off the top and i’d wired the brake and indicator up wrong - fortunately the tester was a diamond…

home then for a bit of a wash, no polish because it tipped it down all day, but the end result still looks pretty good…



and off to work, stopping for a coupke of piccies …





it didnt end up quite being satin black due to the weak mixture but hey ho, just need a bit of chequer plate for the tanks and chassis and it’ll be about done :slight_smile:

lets hope the snow ■■■■■ off soon :unamused:

2

Absolutely superb! I used to drive an 05 reg 480 space cab and loved it, the only way it could have been better would to have been a super space. You’ve done a great job there and thank goodness the little mid-lift is out of view behind the side skirts!

3

Nice one. The front bumper and the front of the side-skirt look a bit low.

4

looks very clean now mate, nice one!

5

Very nice mate, i love seeing these kinda threads lot of graft has been put in.

6

but it,s a daf.

7

You either have very understanding neighbours or a very thick skin.

I was caught on an unplanned night out last week, two days back to back, so I stopped past home on the way to the warehouse on day three for a shower. I was gone by five am and still got complaints about parking a truck by the house!

8

looks good…its sure getting looked after now…what a difference a bit of tlc and paint make…good luck to yer

9

nsmith1180:
You either have very understanding neighbours or a very thick skin.

I was caught on an unplanned night out last week, two days back to back, so I stopped past home on the way to the warehouse on day three for a shower. I was gone by five am and still got complaints about parking a truck by the house!

That might have been your problem!?

10

mucker85:

nsmith1180:
You either have very understanding neighbours or a very thick skin.

I was caught on an unplanned night out last week, two days back to back, so I stopped past home on the way to the warehouse on day three for a shower. I was gone by five am and still got complaints about parking a truck by the house!

That might have been your problem!?

It wasnt the noise, it was the fact I dared to park a truck near their house! I would understand if they complained about a knackered old daf ticking over outside the house but it was all bout keeping up appearences. I swear I live on a road full of Hyacinth Buckets.

11

My bum hole would be winking every time I went over a speed bump with those side skirts.
Looks nice though.

12

Tbh not a massive daf fan in the sense I don’t find them all that good looking but your one looks spot on, nice all in white clean and as they say less is more looks simple but quite classy if you get what I mean
Amazing what difference a bit off tlc makes ,look forward to seeing it finished off with the chequered plate.

13

Can you put some pictures up of your cossie as well please??

14

robinhood_1984:
Absolutely superb! I used to drive an 05 reg 480 space cab and loved it, the only way it could have been better would to have been a super space. You’ve done a great job there and thank goodness the little mid-lift is out of view behind the side skirts!

it is a comfy truck to drive - side skirts were always a priority from the start, bit of a pain when you find a damaged or punctured tyre as they dont just lift up. cant have everything though :slight_smile:

15

mucker85:
Nice one. The front bumper and the front of the side-skirt look a bit low.

its all down to personal taste - i like the low ride look, hopefully i’ll never have a front blow out, as having the skirt lower than the bottom of the rim is’nt the best of designs!

16

merc0447:
Very nice mate, i love seeing these kinda threads lot of graft has been put in.

i’ve always done all my own paint etc,i enjoy it, some how i find it relaxing(when there are’nt any deadlines) fixing things, i couldnt imagine paying someone else to do it, well i could, and knowing what some people charge i dont know how they make it pay, which in turn hurts others in the same trade - much the same as ours i guess.

17

FarnboroughBoy11:
My bum hole would be winking every time I went over a speed bump with those side skirts.
Looks nice though.

cheers - its the special puddles that cost the money, the ones that seem small but are in fact very deep! if i go into any place the first thing i check out is the tereign…i went to universal containers (or what ever their name is) at irlam recently, it was tipping it down, but you could tell the place was rough, i was watching the other trucks drive in and dissapear into the floor lol, fortunately i couldnt get a box from there so i reversed back out - and then headed to olympic at the other side of town - which is far worse!!! i was waitng for the lift driver to moan about how slow i was going, but he didnt, i think he knew what my repsponse would be :unamused:

18

looks well nice…a right beast :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

19

Karl86:
Tbh not a massive daf fan in the sense I don’t find them all that good looking but your one looks spot on, nice all in white clean and as they say less is more looks simple but quite classy if you get what I mean
Amazing what difference a bit off tlc makes ,look forward to seeing it finished off with the chequered plate.

thanks - you hit the nail on the head, this was exactly what i set out to achieve, the less is more approach, not sure when i’ll be doing the chequer plate, but i am hoping to be at peterborough this year so hopefully before then :slight_smile:

20

FarnboroughBoy11:
Can you put some pictures up of your cossie as well please??

cant resist that one…


have a look on my you tube channel the cars on there :smiley: