Volvo 480 Club Europe

Hello,
Been reading through your pages for quite some time, thanks a lot for all the useful information within this forum

I am currently restoring a smoke grey 480 Turbo to roadworthy condition (well to be honest, it is already more than roadworthy, but having owned a 480 Turbo before, I'd like to address as many points as possible before using it in daily traffic) and one of the things that had to be re-done was the sound system.
The previous owner was a ... is clot the right word? cut off all the tweeter cables, the original speaker connectors, used wire clamps in a lot of wtf-are-they-doing-there-places and so on.

I need to add a separate amp to the new setup, since the radio I will be using (old Clarion unit) doesn't come with an internal amp. My problem is:
This ist a Turbo. With AC. From 1990 (ABS MK2). I could not find any free rubber seals to route the power cable through the firewall, they are all in use by the AC lines etc, the cable looms that enter through the screw-on caps near the windshield are packed full, can't squeeze in a 10²mm there either.
Do you have any recommendation where I might try to route a cable inside so that it is well protected and won't act as an entry point for water?
(LHD car, I'm from the continent ^^ )

Oh, and any advice on how to route new speaker cables inside the doors? Will have to do that, too sadly, the old ones seem to be a bit messed up (and quite thin).

Thanks in advance,

Tobias

(P.S.: My nick comes from owning a 855 T5 ^^ )

The previous owner of my car (''esta'' on here) fed (i think) a power cable for her sub through the relay box, just beneth the windsreen..

Thanks a lot,
that's what I was thinking of too, since that is the way I handled it on my 855. The difference is that the 850 has a higher box with a shallow lid, so you can route the cable trough the side of the box, whereas on our cars the lid is the thing which you have to cut into... I still want to keep it 100% watertight though, it's gonna be tricky

My lid isnt drilled, the cable is just passed through between lid and the seal, tis not leaking at all. Thankfully.

Just wanted to say thanks - got it figured out
Behind the darn ABS MK2 unit there was a tiny little unused breakthrough in the firewall - the last unused hole left
I was able to route the powe cable that way and it's working fine

Can I ask for a few pointers on the relay box? IS that behind the fuses. Any help much appreciated here!

timrosser wrote:Can I ask for a few pointers on the relay box? IS that behind the fuses. Any help much appreciated here!

Essentially yes, but you access by opening the bonnet, its the triangular lid thats on the drivers side (for RHD cars...I also have the odd feeling that the early models had them somewhere else?)

Brilliant, I know that box, I was just cleaning grime out of the little rubber gutter that sits in front of it, this sounds like a plausible job If I fed the power lines into the cabin from the box, any idea where they come out, do they just drop into the driver footwell?

Thanks again

timrosser wrote: If I fed the power lines into the cabin from the box, any idea where they come out, do they just drop into the driver footwell?

Somewhere in the plastic above it yes!

Hi Captain slow- what do u think the chances are of running a sub of the heated seats electrics? Would save having to do much in the way of wiring?

Best

I think the heated seats can power everything, I use them to power the alternator


But really, I havent a clue! it was Esta (the previous owner) who did all the fiddling with the sound system on mine, then removed it all-which is also ok with me!