Nilani on Tour - With Headgear!!

[Martin Mc]

Hello folks,

Thought I'd start a thread in anticipation of this weekend's camping adventure in Northumberland...

Many thanks to David (DCWalker 480 Guru) for lending me his set of extremely rare Thule roof bars specifically designed for the 480 - Although the fitting instructions have passed into ancient Thule history, the quality of their design and construction made it relatively easy to work out what goes where.. I also gave all of the threads of the securing / tightening bolts a quick lube with HMP grease, which helped to ease things along, as some had become a bit furry with oxidation.



It is a slightly complicated affair, with clamps to the door surround for the front bar, side bars which clip into the front and rear bars and are secured by another clamp to the body above the door pillar (see below). Once everything is done up though it feels solid and looks good!


Front clamp



Mid point clamp above door pillar



Rear bar (not clamped, but secured by side bar)



The plan is to acquire a top box in the next day or two, before heading up to Newcastle to pick up my lads on Saturday morning, with the camping gear loaded up top - if you knew my lads you'd appreciate the necessity of this (both are 6' 3" plus and well built - I am sure Nilani is capable of coping though) It is either the gear up top or one of them - OR using the people carrier instead... but where would be the fun and intrigue in that?

Another job I'm contemplating before the trip is to get the aircon regassed - local garage of 35 years good service say they might squeeze me in...

Anyway, I will post more pics of 'Nilani on Tour' as they come to pass

[JohnO]

Looks great, enjoy your trip.

I've still got my original roof bars, although the Volvo ones do require you to drill into the roof!

Reminds me of the time we took the 480, with 4 of us and camp gear to the Snetterton btcc night races. Fun times

[dcwalker]

Well done Martin for making such an obvious success of interpreting my rather vague and waffly instructions on how to fit!

Looks the job - it'll be interesting to see it with a box attached, and I'll be very interested to know how well they perform, having only ever fitted them to a 480 (Nilani, as it happens) to collect a Christmas tree! Certainly everything stayed secure then, although it was only a round trip of about 6 miles...

John - I always thought the genuine Volvo option looked quite smart once you overcame the natural reluctance to drill holes into the roof to fit the longitudinal fitting rails.

Anyway, enjoy your trip and lets see some photos on here afterwards

David

[edie_fox]

Excellent. Looks good.

I hope you’ve got time to spray the roof box to match the car! ……or is that just my unnecessary OCD?

[jifflemon]

Excellent. Looks good.

I hope you’ve got time to spray the roof box to match the car! ……or is that just my unnecessary OCD?

and add a Volvo badge to it.....

[Martin Mc]

Won't have time (or enough paint) to get the roof box sprayed with the right colour before we go, but it might be a project for the summer

Air conditioning now recharged and working wonderfully - phew! Watch the weather turn Siberian now

Will post pics of the top box tomorrow - I hope she looks good with a hat on over her horns!

[jifflemon]

Air conditioning now recharged and working wonderfully

Use it constantly. There’s oil in the gas that lubricates the o-rings, stopping them from going hard, shrinking and petting all that expensive gas leak out…..

[dcwalker]

Won't have time (or enough paint) to get the roof box sprayed with the right colour before we go, but it might be a project for the summer

Yes - I was thinking that there wasn't that much left in the can I gave you...

Good news on the air-con front

David

[dragonflyjewels]

Reminds me of the time we took the 480, with 4 of us and camp gear to the Snetterton btcc night races. Fun times

Which reminds me of the time Snetterton had their first night race. I woke in the middle of the night and could clearly hear engines revvings, and thought it was the local youth who use the bypass as a race track - it's only a mile away so we hear them clearly. Then I heard a tannoy, and thought damn cheek, setting that up ! Asking for trouble with the local law. It was only later I read about the night race and realised what I'd been listening to - 25 miles away as the crow flies. Amazing how sound carries in the dead of night.

I've still got my original roof bars, although the Volvo ones do require you to drill into the roof!

As on the white turbo rescue car, R4. They look very smart on white, but there is evidence of rust where the roof was drilled. Knowing who bought it new, I doubt anyone other than Volvo fitted it.

Anyway, Nilani is looking great Martin, a real credit to you. Have a wonderful trip ! Lots of pics when you get back please.

[Martin Mc]

New Hat installed!

[dcwalker]

Looking good!

David

[Martin Mc]

Going well so far - Nilani ate up the miles up to Northumberland- arrived at Hadrians Wall for breakfast & on to Newcastle to pick up the lads by 11.



Onwards to glorious open roads and wide open spaces as far as the eye can see..



Camp all set and ready for midge attack this evening

[jamescarruthers]

Nice to see one getting used properly on a holiday.

Original (but damaged) Volvo roof rack kit here on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-volv ... 635-2958-0

[dcwalker]

Great to see Nilani getting good use - and also a relief to see you haven't yet lost the whole structure off the roof!!

I hope the Kielder midges aren't proving too much of a nuisance...

In case anyone is wondering, whilst I appreciate the logistics of getting the roof rails around the country could be tricky (it's easy for me and Martin since we're not that far away from each other) I'm very happy to lend them to other 480 owners on here.

David

[Martin Mc]

Great to see Nilani getting good use - and also a relief to see you haven't yet lost the whole structure off the roof!!

I hope the Kielder midges aren't proving too much of a nuisance...

In case anyone is wondering, whilst I appreciate the logistics of getting the roof rails around the country could be tricky (it's easy for me and Martin since we're not that far away from each other) I'm very happy to lend them to other 480 owners on here.

David

Hello all,

I'm very grateful to David for having lent me the roof rails, which have performed impeccably during the 500 or so miles of the tour They are certainly a quality item, easy enough to fit and solid-feeling as a basis for the 320 litre roof box we used during the trip. I'd certainly recommend them and have enjoyed the additional dimension they brought to our short break.

Now we are back, I'm going to sort through the various photos and videos from the trip, and will post some more anecdotes in the coming days. The good news is that I can confirm a Volvo 480 is a fine basis for a lads and dads camping trip (with roof bars and box), but the bad news is that the combined weight of three large blokes and (light-ish) camping gear has taken a toll on Nilani (fuel economy destroyed, speedometer stopped working after 437 miles, and a possible cracked / broken rear spring )

Watch this space!

Martin

[dcwalker]

Pleased you had a good trip Martin and the roof-bars passed their first serious test

Not so good about the toll taken though! Rear spring is probably due to the shock of someone riding in the back for the first time in many years , fuel economy you'll get back with lighter loads, and the speedo...is it the actual speedo that's stopped or the odometer? If the former, probably either the plug under the air-filter box coming loose or else the PCB connection/solder, if the latter then time for a cog transplant

Look forward to the further footage

David

[Martin Mc]

So, apart from the broken speedo and odometer (although they burst into life briefly this morning for about 5 mins), possible broken rear spring and the dreadful Mpg, the trip to Northumberland was a roaring success

The roads up there are fabulous - I credit the Romans for long stretches of straight highway, cresting hills and scouring deep valleys along the way. For the most part though, it was just wide open skies and not much traffic, as the following will attest (near Bellingham).

https://i.imgur.com/dAk1wuQ.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/AkLjvCb.mp4

Three up, the car was comfortable and felt spacious and a match for most everything the roads threw at us..


I mentioned the fuel economy going to pot - that might have had something to do with our combined weight - I'm 14 stone, older son is 14 stone and younger rugby playing son is 17 stone - I'm nearly 6ft tall but they are relatively giant at 6'3 and 6'4" respectively. It might have had something to do with the sudden cracking and creaking after 250 miles (a loud creak and twang over a pothole)...

Anyway, we arrived safe and sound as you'll have seen in earlier photos and here in video form...

https://i.imgur.com/7V2s71a.mp4

Kielder is a hotspot for supercars and superbikes, so we were regularly overtaken by more powerful, more modern kit but hey ho, Nilani belied her years (26 and counting) and felt very much at home in the wilds and twisty stuff around the reservoir.

The wide open skies were a boost to the eyes!

[jifflemon]

Hollar if you need springs. Or speedo repairs

[Martin Mc]

Last bits..

Enjoyed a wonderful meal with my sons at the Pheasant Inn at Stannersburn - recommended if you are ever up that way



There was a lovely ginger cat, the same hue as the setting sun!



And Nilani looked very much at home in the dying embers of the sunset over Kielder!



All in all a memorable trip - I'd definitely recommend anyone to use the roof-bars and box as a means of enhancing the carrying capacity of the wedgie, whilst also adding a touch of touring class to the marque. It IS possible to get three large blokes, a load of camping gear, and all their beer and stuff into a 480, and travel in style and comfort to your destination!

Thanks for looking!

Martin

[Martin Mc]

I've tried to post this a few times, but it just seems to crash the site...

Hopefully putting it on it's own will work..

https://i.imgur.com/BxZSLGs.mp4

It is a lovely timelapse showing us packing up the car ready to depart. You can get a lot into a 480 with headgear, ye know!