Daphne: 1974 D Spécial purchased October 2016

Can anyone confirm Budge's thoughts on the height lever being different for LHD vehicles? I had a feeling this was a model designation or year difference...

@ds21bvh thanks for your advice about the cooling system, I guess there's no avoiding some toil!

Hello @Roger Wilkinson, I keep thinking it must be time to visit you with the P6B! Paul is working on extending the shed, but Rome wasn't built in a day...

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MelanieYlang said:
Can anyone confirm Budge's thoughts on the height lever being different for LHD vehicles? I had a feeling this was a model designation or year difference...

@ds21bvh thanks for your advice about the cooling system, I guess there's no avoiding some toil!

Hello @Roger Wilkinson, I keep thinking it must be time to visit you with the P6B! Paul is working on extending the shed, but Rome wasn't built in a day...

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I can't attest to the lever on the RHD cars (ours all drive on the correct side :tongue:) but the height lever on all the LHD cars I've seen are installed directly above the box section. I really can't think of a reason why the RHD cars would be different, since it's a mechanical linkage direct to the height corrector, and I would guess the corrector mounted in the same spot irrespective of driver position. Is it possible your's got remounted down low for some reason, necessitating the extra stops in the lever gate?

You mention P6B. Like a Rover P6? One of the very few cars that can stand next to a D and still be pretty amazing.......
 
On a LHD car the lever acts directly on the rods connected to the height correctors. On RHD cars there is a bar that runs the width of the cabin to connect the lever to the height corrector rods inside the sill. As far as i know all RHD cars are like this

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faulksy said:
On a LHD car the lever acts directly on the rods connected to the height correctors. On RHD cars there is a bar that runs the width of the cabin to connect the lever to the height corrector rods inside the sill. As far as i know all RHD cars are like this

View attachment 103584
Click to expand...

except the early cars. Its interesting to see around buttercup bobs junkyard. He has D's there with the height control still over on the left hand side... the early cars are just bizarre and very intersting.

With the height control. you only really need normal ride height and full high/low for servicing. it does't ride as well on the intermediate high setting. And if the going is so rough your using it ..... you probably should slow down a bit so you don't plough the nose into the ground :D

seeya
Shane L.

seeya,
Shane L.
 
Hotrodelectric said:
I can't attest to the lever on the RHD cars (ours all drive on the correct side :tongue:) but the height lever on all the LHD cars I've seen are installed directly above the box section. I really can't think of a reason why the RHD cars would be different, since it's a mechanical linkage direct to the height corrector, and I would guess the corrector mounted in the same spot irrespective of driver position. Is it possible your's got remounted down low for some reason, necessitating the extra stops in the lever gate?

You mention P6B. Like a Rover P6? One of the very few cars that can stand next to a D and still be pretty amazing.......
Click to expand...
Both my DSpecials have the same lever location, so I had figured it's standard, at least on the povo-spec!

You may have missed the uproar I started mid-2017 when I asked the forum members to discuss the merits or otherwise of the Rover P6, as I was disheartened by my endless DS woes and its gloomy interior. The upshot was that I bought a P6B in good shape with a tan interior from Bundaberg, and road-tripped it home. While it may be spiritually similar to the goddess, it's very conventional and possibly a bit dull in comparison, but worthy in its own way!
 
Roger Wilkinson's Break is the only other DS I've driven ir inspected closely, and for some reason I think it may have had a slightly different lever position or style - is that so, Roger?

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My break has the same manual height control lever as Daphne's.

First nose Dees all had the manual height control lever on the left, with right hand drive cars having the same arrangement as left hand drive cars.

Bob has some cars that are so early they have no manual height control lever.

Roger
 
Hotrodelectric said:
I can't attest to the lever on the RHD cars (ours all drive on the correct side :tongue:) but the height lever on all the LHD cars I've seen are installed directly above the box section. I really can't think of a reason why the RHD cars would be different, since it's a mechanical linkage direct to the height corrector, and I would guess the corrector mounted in the same spot irrespective of driver position. Is it possible your's got remounted down low for some reason, necessitating the extra stops in the lever gate?

You mention P6B. Like a Rover P6? One of the very few cars that can stand next to a D and still be pretty amazing.......
Click to expand...

I'm not suggesting the lever in Melanie's new car has been moved - just that it's located in a different position to that on LHD cars. Given that (from Faulksy's picture) on an RHD car the control rod seems to go from left, right across the cabin to right, then back to left again (!) I guess you don't want it at knee height - so Citroen mounted it all at floor level. Also, being RHD, it isn't in the way of the drivers feet and other pedals/ buttons.
 
faulksy said:
On a LHD car the lever acts directly on the rods connected to the height correctors. On RHD cars there is a bar that runs the width of the cabin to connect the lever to the height corrector rods inside the sill. As far as i know all RHD cars are like this

View attachment 103584
Click to expand...

I guess the reasoning is "Citroen!". I would never have guessed they relocated the correctors over to the right. Is there something on the passenger side that prevents location on the left?
 
I guess you don't want it at knee height - so Citroen mounted it all at floor level. Also, being RHD, it isn't in the way of the drivers feet and other pedals/ buttons.
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Well, the lever is mounted about level with your ankle, just a few MM above and to the inside of the box section of the LHD cars, hard against what would be the kick panel. It isn't going to interfere with your feet anyway. I can see where it might on a RHD car, considering that footwell is considerably narrower. I'm just curious why the height correctors were mounted on the right in your case.
 
RHD height correctors are still on the left. The transverse bar goes across in front of the front seat bulkhead to allow the lever to be positioned inside the right longeron rather than the left one.

Roger
 
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Here are some shots of the interior of the donor, which was the main reason for acquisition. (Having spent a bit more time with it, I'm actually more excited about the rebuilt motor and 5 speed box.) As you can see, it's complete but pretty shabby - and still decades better than Daphne's. As a bonus, I now have head rests! Some things I need advice on, please:

1. The jersey velour seats have gotten moisture in at some stage and smell accordingly musty, though don't seem to have gotten mouldy. How would you treat this (I prefer to avoid harsh chemicals)? I have vaccumed, but only to remove external debris, and am airing it daily. My initial thoughts are to take them out and pressure wash them; spray them with a mixture of vinegar, dish liquid and water.

2. The door cards are also damp-affected and are wonky, with some clips having left the company. Can they be re-moulded? Ditto the C pillar trim and rear head bumper panel.
 
I wouldn't pressure wash the seat covers, I suspect they might fall apart. Spraying with a vinegar, bicarb, water solution sounds like the way to go.

If the masonite backing on the door cards has gone there isn't a lot you can to to fix it. You can carefully remove all the staples and take the fabric off. Use the masonite as a template and cut new backings from thin plywood or recover the ones already in Daphne.

The C pillar trims look as though the fabric has come away from the foam underneath. Shouldn't be to hard to remove the fabric and re-stick with spray contact adhesive. The backing under the foam is basically papermache, easy to fix breaks with PVA and tissue/newspaper. Same goes for the piece over the rear window. It is a right paint to put back on though.
 
Thanks for that advice, Faulksy, that all sounds do-able. Actually, the C pillar trim is a jersey knit fabric that doesn't match the read head pad (which has practically fallen out) , so maybe someone already had a go at re-covering them.

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be as gentle as you can ... with everything. D model fabric interior generally disintegrates to the touch in my experience :(
 
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We got the instrument cluster out tonight - as you can see, the lower unit didn't even have corners! The new cluster doesn't appear to work properly, so I'm just going to swap the fascia over. While I have the fascia off though, can anyone advise if there's something I can do about the speedo and tacho returning to zero while driving? It happens more frequently with the speedo.
 
Can't advise on the taco/ speedo, but do notice that your new cluster has a temp. gauge as well as the fuel gauge. The temp gauge is worth having and is expensive to buy - if you can find one. I know you've got other things to do, but if you wanted to get a round to it, someone here can tell you how to wire that temperature gauge up.

Paul
 
Hmmm. 21 engine, 5-speed, temperature gauge. Someone has seriously tricked-up their DSpecial. I wonder what else they have added. Height-adjustable seats? Tinted glass? Extra interior insulation? It sounds like it would be worth having a closer look.

Roger
 
We did discuss moving the temp gauge, but as we've installed an after market temp gauge that's more informative, I'm happy to consider parting this one out.

The other difference is that the new speedo is in miles only - who can tell me when they went to split/metric?

And I don't think jersey velour was a DSpecial option?

This car was owned by Jerome Navaud, whose father - a French-born French car mechanic in Melbourne, owned it before him; they did the engine rebuild and gearbox transplant. I didn't get his first name when he helped us with getting it started, but I wonder if it might be Guy, from the research I have done online. Is there anyone who keeps records of old Citroens in Australia? The classic Rover club does.

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