Blinky 51/480

Here you can talk about the joy owning a Volvo 480 brings. Non-technical discussions take place here, like what is the difference between an ES and a S version.

Moderators: jifflemon, coyote1980, Rachel

Alan 480
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 1489
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:03 am
Location: Aberdeen

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by Alan 480 » Sat Jul 28, 2018 7:30 pm

According to HBOL, not that difficult, most difficult is getting a spanner onto the top right nut at front of rack.

heat shield can be a pig to get undone, I think I used a fair bit of brute force to pull it over the heads of the wee bolts :wink:

getting the rack wangled out can be a chore as you need to turn steering wheel slightly to right ( I think) to get access to the pinch bolt which can be reached (just) with a long extension from the drivers side wheel arch (wheel off) remove bolt entirely and mark the steering wheel so it goes back on correct splines (masking tape a mark with wheel at the correct angle to gain access to pinch bolt makes life easier and works)

then you also need to split both ball joints

TBH the back nut should come undone easily as oily within?.

if you are trashing the pipe then slide a ring spanner over the pipe (22mm AF) to hold the fitting. The fitting is actually 'Loctited' into place but best not to disturb it.

it is M16 x 1.5mm. the cone is 60 degree. The fitting INTO casting of the rack is also M16 x 1.5mm with a shoulder and a copper (or better still) a dowty washer.
Alan

480 ES 2litre 'Celebration' ? , C30 1.8ES, SS1

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Sun Aug 05, 2018 2:10 pm

The LHD pipes arent an option.

They dont mirror the RHD pipes by going forward the cross the full length of the steering rack which is a pity for me.

Image

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:03 pm

My poor 480 has been parked in the garage for the last few months as I have not had a minute to look at a couple of issues.

Today I managed to get it out and make a start.

First casualty was the rear bumper, the bolts are so rust that I managed to tear the plastic shell when man handling. Will need to be more care full removing my spare.

Next up is the Springs and drop links. The plastic retainer broke off at the slightest hint of strain....not sure of the state of the ones on the LHD car but any suggestion on how to remove without breaking?


Photos to follow.

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:51 pm

Some photos of todays work.

CV boot had worn through on a small section of 2 inches with no wear on the rest of the boot. Having struggled to fit this last year with the plastic cone I decided to treat myself to the pneumatic tool. Works a treat and saved hours of struggle and skinned knuckles. There is a drill powered version.

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Have has a spare front wing, good job as I didnt realise that the original with rush bubble was so bad.

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Whats left of the rear crash bar.
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arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:15 pm

My little problem with the spring cap may have been solved.

If you are ever removing them there is a plastic pin in the centre, you might be able to prise it up and out and the cap should come free. However if like mine they are brittle and break off this is what came to me this evening.

The part of the cap which fits in the bracket is 17mm and expands to 20mm when the pin is fitted.

I have ordered some rubber rivnuts which should do the job, I will use a stainless steel bolt to hold it in place.

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Spring cap

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Bracket which is welded to the axle.

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Rubber Rivnuts.

Alan 480
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 1489
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:03 am
Location: Aberdeen

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by Alan 480 » Wed Oct 17, 2018 6:48 pm

Rear crash bar / internals of rear bumper, probably par for the course :wink: ruddy expensive to repalce (if you can find one), ended up welding mine!
Alan

480 ES 2litre 'Celebration' ? , C30 1.8ES, SS1

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Wed Oct 17, 2018 9:42 pm

Got the spare bumper off very easy. Unfortunately it also needs repaired but is better than the one I took off. Altleast the plastic is ok, more care will be taken with this one.

Will need to break out the welder and see if I can make a good one out of the scrap.

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Sun Oct 21, 2018 10:19 pm

Mixed feelings this weekend. think i will be parking the car up for the winter.

Wanted to do a few small welds in the sill. metal was blowing even on the lowest settings, was glad when my gas ran out.

New springs I fitted are making the car sit high at the rear, not sure they will settle. Did this with an old mini and ended up doing all 4 springs.

Whilst failing to sort the PAS I managed to lean on the raised headlamp and broke it. (need to dig out my spare if i can recall where i put it.

I did have a few good jobs, got the spare rear bumper fitted. and wired up the second fog lamp. The good spare front wing was given a coat of epoxy mastic on the inside and bottom which had surface rust from the mud trap. Waiting for new stainless screws to arrived so i can refitted the inner arch plastic.

A frusrating week but atleast a few jobs went well. The new hoses i had made for the PAS are ok but i have a few issues. one was the lack of sealing. thought I got it but then over tightened the fitting so not sure if it stripped the fitting or the adaptor had enough by that point, needed to get it out my garage and back to the lock up. Clean the garage (filled a wheelie bin with the crud produced from working on the 480) and get the good car back in the garage.

I am sure enthusiasm will return soon.

Alan 480
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 1489
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:03 am
Location: Aberdeen

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by Alan 480 » Mon Oct 22, 2018 11:49 am

arthuy wrote:
Sun Oct 21, 2018 10:19 pm

I did have a few good jobs, got the spare rear bumper fitted. and wired up the second fog lamp. The good spare front wing was given a coat of epoxy mastic on the inside and bottom which had surface rust from the mud trap. Waiting for new stainless screws to arrived so i can refitted the inner arch plastic.

I am sure enthusiasm will return soon.
I chopped off the bottom flat section of front wings :eek: and bolted on some 18SWG galvanized sheet in it's place, making sure plenty of clearance to let the crud out!!!

hope the mojo return soon
Alan

480 ES 2litre 'Celebration' ? , C30 1.8ES, SS1

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Thu Nov 01, 2018 10:06 am

Having a senior moment.

I removed the headlamps from the LHD car weeks ago. Put them somewhere very safe and cant find them now.

Wouldnt be a problem but I need one of them to replace the one I broke.

Hopefully it will appear soon.

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Thu Nov 01, 2018 7:25 pm

I found the headlamps. Put them in a very safe place and found them when I wasnt looking as is the way.

Will try and get a bit of time to swap out the one I broke. Glad I wasnt going mad.

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Tue Feb 05, 2019 10:46 pm

I thought I was being clever and over the last few months got what I though was all the parts needed to build a set of front struts.

Went to put them together over the weekend but the spring was way too big for the strut. I realised that there is a cup the the bottom of the strut for the spring to sit on.

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Does anyone know if these are available? I was hoping to swap them over without reusing the parts on my car, not the end of the world if I have to.

Just spent the last hour updating the links to my photos they had somehow become corrupt, I had to change it to include (serving.photos) between http:// and .photobox just in case anyone else has the same problem.

Alan 480
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 1489
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:03 am
Location: Aberdeen

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by Alan 480 » Wed Feb 06, 2019 12:46 pm

arthuy wrote:
Tue Feb 05, 2019 10:46 pm
I thought I was being clever and over the last few months got what I though was all the parts needed to build a set of front struts.

Went to put them together over the weekend but the spring was way too big for the strut. I realised that there is a cup the the bottom of the strut for the spring to sit on.

Image

Does anyone know if these are available? I was hoping to swap them over without reusing the parts on my car, not the end of the world if I have to.
bottom pan is NLA, well not that I could find last year, spent hours trawling internet and various sources that claimed'in stock' but really they didn't have any . . . . :cry:

so if you find any buy four! then sell the other two

it is almost a case of sourcing a 'coil-over' set if the pans are rotten (which is the route I was looking at)
Alan

480 ES 2litre 'Celebration' ? , C30 1.8ES, SS1

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Wed Feb 06, 2019 12:54 pm

I will have a spare set from my LHD car but was hoping not to have to strip some down :(

Alan 480
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 1489
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:03 am
Location: Aberdeen

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by Alan 480 » Thu Feb 07, 2019 12:33 pm

arthuy wrote:
Wed Feb 06, 2019 12:54 pm
I will have a spare set from my LHD car but was hoping not to have to strip some down :(
at least you have that option. . . .
Alan

480 ES 2litre 'Celebration' ? , C30 1.8ES, SS1

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Sat Jun 22, 2019 3:50 pm

With an MoT looming and club meet I have had to find sometime to sort out my to do list.

An easy one is to sort out the front struts so I can do a one for one swap.

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To echo the findings of Jifflemon, the original Volvo gaiters and bump stops are in great condition. I had sourced some Monroe items but they arent a patch on the originals so I will be reusing.

Other than the spring pans, gaiter and bump stops all of the components are new.

So the outstanding to do list has 2 small welding jobs and the pesky PAS hoses.

jifflemon
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 2464
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:03 am

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by jifflemon » Sat Jun 22, 2019 5:46 pm

Clearly the rubber gaitors were approved first by the design committee, and by the time the rear crash bar and interior plastics came round for approval, cash was low so they de-specced all materials involved! :rofl:

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Sat Jun 22, 2019 5:46 pm

Image

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Some of the parts I took off have some life left in them if they are of any use to someone let me know.

arthuy
Advanced 480 rookie
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:02 pm

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by arthuy » Sat Jun 22, 2019 5:49 pm

Must be, it is amazing the variance in quality on the 480 models.

jifflemon
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 2464
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:03 am

Re: Blinky 51/480

Post by jifflemon » Sat Jun 22, 2019 5:51 pm

Did you paint your spring cups? And if so with what?

I’m probably going to reach for the por15

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