Volvo 480 Club Europe

I have recently and rather than lurk about thought I would say hello.

I live near Glasgow and loves my cars, working on the ideal number of cars being N+1.

Mostly I have been into Rover and Landrovers of various types but also have an S60 which has been bomb proof.

I am looking for a nice looking 480 to use as an everyday car. I will be replacing my Rover 216 Coupe,it has been great car but it is impossible to get the rear quarter panels, I wanted to get it to 200k miles and it has done well.

No rush to replace but if there is a roadworthy car for sale I am happy to look.

Cheers

welcome to the world of 480s

I am also in glasgow as my name suggests

Having been looking for the last few months I have seen some really nice condition cars come up but they tend to be Autos.

Have driven plenty of Autos and I do like them with big engines though would imagine a small car like the 480 would be better in manual gearbox spec.

Any opinions in favour of the auto? I do use alot of twisty back roads but am not a rally driver.

Cheers

Hi Arthy i have a 96 celebration manual in white which i am putting up for sale in the near future. Its very clean no rust done 90,000 has been my daily driver for over a year all electrics work recent service,recent water pump, mot till march 2017 .price includes about 50 spares among them pop ups and motors front scoop nose cone door mirrors boot cover and lots more. Looking for £2300 if you give me your email will send pics, i am in Leeds


Cheers Norm57

I have for the first time I have driven a 480 having picked up a new purchase which was then subjected to a 200 mile shake down.

I will be starting a list of faults to resolve but nothing major.

Brakes - Various issues (needs recon calipers all round)
arch rust - will deal later
Rattling trim
various electrical gremlins
Missing cover for cabin filter
rough idle - full service should help here
Suspension - bushes and shockers seem a but tired
engine mounts - seems to have a bit too much movement
rear screen wash jet - broken off
Horn -feeble not inop

The big bug bear on the drive home was the speedo, it isnt working (dial and nothing recording on info centre) there is a motor noise whirring away. will this be the gear cogs?

I had planned to MoT this week and then moth ball it for a couple of weeks whilst I clear the decks.

Could do with a couple of bits of trim and finger grips for levers like the boot release which are missing.

I am sure there will be more jobs to do. otherwise it drove ok, it is a 2.0 celebration.

oooo get some pics up! Has it still got its numbered plaque?

Brakes - Various issues (needs recon calipers all round) - If you're quick there's new refurbished pairs of rears on the Bay for about £80
arch rust - will deal later - Deal with ASAP!
Rattling trim - Standard! probably broken clips everywhere!
various electrical gremlins - Again, standard!
Missing cover for cabin filter - Don't think they have one?
rough idle - full service should help here - Yup, gives you a nice baseline to start from too
Suspension - bushes and shockers seem a but tired - still readily available
engine mounts - seems to have a bit too much movement how much is too much?
rear screen wash jet - broken off - they're made from finest unobtanium
Horn -feeble not inop - thats a new one on me!

I'd pop it through an MOT first to see what they make of it.

Hello Arthuy - well done for finally embarking on 480 ownership!

As jifflemon asked, which number Celeb is it?

I can't add much to his comments except to confirm that there was no cover on the cabin filter: there should be a little clear "box" at the filter end of the black grille that lives under the bonnet vents, which diverts water from the filter (with only some success, I might add!).

As for the horn, there are twin horns so one is probably kaput, hence the feeble sound. Easy to change - look underneath at the front (remove the engine under-tray first!) and you'll see them. Standard horns so should be a cheap replacement.

You may find rear washer jets from kind people on here - sorry, I passed my last spare to someone else on here a while back.

Let's see some pictures!

David

Hi Colin and welcome

I have myself "joined the club" a few weeks ago and the 480 is an ongoing project for sure.

I will start posting pictures when I am satisfied with the outside and inside look so this will not be before June due to sticking to a strict(ish) monthly budget. However I agree that the rust must be dealt with as a priority, make sure you have a good look under the wheel arch plastic covers.

At least here you will benefit from the expertise of many people who have mastered the dark art of of the 480

Moi

arthuy wrote:The big bug bear on the drive home was the speedo, it isnt working (dial and nothing recording on info centre) there is a motor noise whirring away. will this be the gear cogs?

I sense an instrument cluster in need of a holiday abroad

I will leave the mot for now until at least the brakes are sorted.

been out today and more items for the list are clutch adjustment well out.

diverter for the vents doesnt seem to work. limited blow and not really able get any air to matcj the ac button pressed.

Does anyone have a pic of the rear screen jet? i have an idea to make one.

def looking for proper volvo mats if any one has a set.

colin

Was speaking to a member tonight who said he'd got a few washer jets, I shall point him over to this thread (as he said it's been a while since he was here!)

it is 51/480, been trying to upload picture but photobucket is not what it used to be will also need to resize the photos.

brinkie wrote:

arthuy wrote:The big bug bear on the drive home was the speedo, it isnt working (dial and nothing recording on info centre) there is a motor noise whirring away. will this be the gear cogs?

I sense an instrument cluster in need of a holiday abroad [/quote

I thought you were gonna say that you sense disturbance in The Force.

Nice photos Colin - I hope the one by the old AA box wasn't indicative of needing rescue...

Good to see a Storm Grey Celebration - over half of them were Burgundy Red - and now we know where no 51 is!

Definitely get the rust sorted as a priority; the other issues you listed should all be pretty routine once you know you have a solid car to go forward with.

Most important, though, is enjoy the car!!

David

frenchfries wrote:

I thought you were gonna say that you sense disturbance in The Force.

Ahh, frenchfries, you should know that there is always a disturbance in The Force when a surviving 480 finds a good new home, which I have an instinctive feeling is the case here!

David

arthuy wrote:I will leave the mot for now until at least the brakes are sorted.

been out today and more items for the list are clutch adjustment well out.

diverter for the vents doesnt seem to work. limited blow and not really able get any air to matcj the ac button pressed.

Does anyone have a pic of the rear screen jet? i have an idea to make one.

def looking for proper volvo mats if any one has a set.

colin

I am also looking for matts for Skip. I see a lot of those on Ebay or Amazon (supposedly for 480) but the driver side does not look like the one I have which is an original Volvo one. If you struck it lucky feel free to send me the links or whatever trail I should follow

I have original Volvo mats. They go green with age and let down the interior of the car and are starting to wear through. I'd like some new ones too but to the exact same shape. If anyone knows a good mat maker, I will happily send my originals for a template to be made and we can all buy a set.

jamescarruthers wrote:I have original Volvo mats. They go green with age and let down the interior of the car and are starting to wear through. I'd like some new ones too but to the exact same shape. If anyone knows a good mat maker, I will happily send my originals for a template to be made and we can all buy a set.

These look quite similar no? The mat on the driver side looks like it should be.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-480-Spo ... 33c3e650fe

I was having trouble posting pictures last night.

The rust is something which will need a bit of thought, having been there before once you start cutting you need to be prepared to deal with what lies beneath. I will look at this over the summer when I have sourced some 440/460 wings. Could do with a front wing to save making a repair.

I have a few questions that hopefully you can help me out with.

The A/C doesn't seem to have much of a blast from the vents, if you press the buttons the air doesn't change just sort of comes out the floor and screen. Where should I start with this one? on the diagram is appears to be controlled via the CEM. Also maybe connected and maybe not. The fan speed switch has been rigged up. there was a fault and it is now running from a permanent feed and not via the ignition. I reckon there is a connection here.

Central locking, I like to lock the doors when driving in some areas. Is it possible to lock the car and still drive or does the alarm kick in. Did volvo not fit a dash button to lock the car?

The tyres look to be on the small size (185/55HR15), could anyone tell me the correct size for the standard celebration alloys.