fibreglass

kirsty_2003 · Post by **kirsty_2003** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 12:21 pm

what parts of a 480 are made out of or coated out of fibre glass (not sure what they did)
i know the wings are coated in it

martinholmesuk · Post by **martinholmesuk** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 12:37 pm

I have metal wings! You must have odd car :p The bonnet is made of some sort of plastic.

dragon · Post by **dragon** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 12:39 pm

The bonnet and front nose are fibreglass, the bumpers are composite, the roof gutter covers may be fibreglass or composite, not sure which, and everything else I think is metal (apart from the glass bits, and the fittings, obviously

) - not sure about the wings - haven't looked closely.

kirsty_2003 · Post by **kirsty_2003** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 1:01 pm

i know for definete that my car has fibre glass on the wings coz some chipped of.

the wings are metal but have a fibreglass coating on it. they still atract a magnet tho coz i was playing about with my magnetic pass plates lol.

pol · Post by **pol** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 2:22 pm

I'm pretty sure there isn't any fibreglass on the wings. More likely a previous repair, patched witha fibrous filler or fibreglass resin... Thats what i think anyway..

pol

allthingsvolvo · Post by **allthingsvolvo** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 3:01 pm

The nose cone was fiberglass - wings are metal & not sure about bonnet never replaced one ?

MatBat · Post by **MatBat** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 3:18 pm

The bonnet is fiberglass, don't ask how I know

Bakke · Post by **Bakke** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 3:29 pm

Well , I crashed my old ES frontally, and can tell you guys for shure : the nose and bonent are fibreglass, the bumpers are composite (ABS) and the wing are fully metal.

volvofox · Post by **volvofox** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 9:35 pm

You may never call the plastic on a 480 fiberglass: it was specially designed by the dutch chemical industry, and a composite of things, unlike fiberglass. so its not resin and glasfiber like in polyester. the nose and the hood is.

the story goes it was initially designed this way to make the car lighter: but after some reinforcements due tests they were in the end heavier than a similar strong design in steel.

One of the little scandals in the design of a 480

sorry to say kirsty, I think your car had a crash or big dent , filled with polyester filler, or a fiberglass mat. It is done poorly, and now came of.

kap · Post by **kap** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 7:27 pm

Hello ,

The right term should be SMC ( Sheet Moulding Compound ) , a kind of prÃ©-preg sheet included inside a hot form to be mold in shape .

volvofox wrote:You may never call the plastic on a 480 fiberglass: it was specially designed by the dutch chemical industry, and a composite of things, unlike fiberglass. so its not resin and glasfiber like in polyester. the nose and the hood is. .

May be some bonnets were metal when Renault , the Volvo supplier , was unable to deliver in time . . . . . and near to stop the Born plant

dragon · Post by **dragon** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 8:43 pm

Well the bonnet certainly looks like fibreglass - I snapped my first 480's bonnet clean across in 2 places and what I saw certainly did a very fine impression of being fibre, whether it was glass fibre or not is another matter, but what you seem to describe doesnt sound like it's made in a fibrous way, so I'd say at least my first 480's bonnet was fibreglass?

volvofox · Post by **volvofox** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 12:20 am

Hey kap, at the time they made 300's and 480 (so the first ones) I walked around in the factory on fridays being a student worker. I remember several difficulties as the french, or french transport was on strike. This is correct.

but I have seen metall presses bigger as houses capable to press 300's hoods, sides and roofs out of one piece of steel... so it would be silly if they were french...

but the engine was... ifact I thing it was almost complete french. It had a very short assembly line. they only mounted things like a starter and some wiring. I rembember the crates, they came complete with gearbox.
forgetting the shitty weak gearbox, the best parts of a 480 descend de france.

kirsty_2003 · Post by **kirsty_2003** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 3:14 pm

oh well. im getting a new wing and door so i dont really car what its made out of. as long as it aint dented.

my car is running sweet now. had a new wheel bearing, new throttle sensor, thingy which i cant remember the name. doesnt leak. its perfect!!! hmm almost ready to sell i think

kirsty_2003 · Post by **kirsty_2003** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 3:17 pm

isnt fibreglass supposed to be light? coz the bonnet is REALLY heavy so surely cant be fibreglass. i can only just about lift it..... hmm might just be me being weak

volvofox · Post by **volvofox** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 8:25 pm

that the humor in this story. they made a hood out of special componds to make it lighter as steel, but in the end , with same strength, it was heavier than a steel one.

johnd · Post by **johnd** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 1:23 pm

Yep, it's probably a short fibre composite which would end up being heavier than steel for the same strength in fibreglass.

Woven carbon/glass composite would be lighter and stronger but the 480 probably would have ended up being about Â£30k new!!

Wings are definitely steel so sounds like a repair. My old ES rear wheel arches were fibreglass.........ahem.......made by me as they had rusted so bad!!

John

allthingsvolvo · Post by **allthingsvolvo** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 4:20 pm

kirsty_2003 wrote:i know for definete that my car has fibre glass on the wings coz some chipped of.

the wings are metal but have a fibreglass coating on it. they still atract a magnet tho coz i was playing about with my magnetic pass plates lol.

Click on the link & all will become clear....

http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/press/pdf/4 ... elease.pdf

johnd · Post by **johnd** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 5:10 pm

That's bizarre....I was just reading that article this morning and interesting reading it makes!!

Yup, sheet moulding compound. That's the bugger!

John