Volvo 480 Club Europe

I'm now a 480 owner. 480 Turbo, to be precise.

As rare as they are, It's the second one I looked at, and whilst superficially in poor state, there's a lot of potential there.

We'll start with the body - Its ruined. Ok, perhaps an overstatement, however, the only panel that doesn't need painting is the roof. The rest are a never ending list of dents, scratches, and cheap blow in's on the bumpers. That said, there's no rust.

So why buy it? Well, apart from the no rust part (ok, I'll probably need to fabricate a rear bumper bar), what swung it was the spec; It's full leather with no rips (some wear on the bolster, but saveable), heated seats, and air con. Mot history was good, and the service history included a recent starter motor swap out too.

I'll get some pics up soon, but the plan is to drive it for a while (it's got Long MOT) whilst building up a list of stuff to be done.

Nice one dude! Welcome to the horror, sorry, the joy of 480 ownership! Glad to see you got a turbo, well done! Hope it treats you well, have fun

You should be worried.... you not *that* far away from me...

Well done! Looking forward to the pictures

Only a couple of teasers as I was losing the light very rapidly and was quickly trying to clear the crud from under the arches to confirm their conditon!



Very flattering shot - its FAR worse in the metal.





Seats - You can just make out the wear on the drivers bolster



And part of the fleet....

Well done!

I am sure with a bit of work you'll get it up to the standard you want it - certainly looks like a sound one.

Meanwhile, just enjoy enjoy enjoy...

David

That's the one that was on eBay recently isn't it? Glad to see it went to a good home. Ignoring and scratches/bodywork damage/arch rot, none of which can really be seen from pictures, everything else looked excellent. Top-level spec throughout, including that highly elusive leather steering wheel, which I am rather jealous of!

There looks to be zero arch rot - The body shop seem rather pleased by it! There's plenty of scratches and dents but in terms of rust, its surface stuff (due to exposed metal from scratching).

More pics on there way soon to illustrate and whilst it'll need painting from the roof down (and they're talking about doing the roof just for the sake of it), rot hunt has amounted to zero. Need to get underneath it still, and get the wheel liners off to check behind them, but so far, so good!

Didn't realise the steering wheel was elusive - Actually relieved to not have an airbag. Whats a "normal" steering wheel like?

Looks much the same, but plastic rather than leather. Looks are about the only way in which they are similar though, as the leather one is far nicer in every other way. If you haven't had a normal one in the past to compare it to then the leather one is wasted on you!

More pics....

In need of some unobtainium as well as a front bumper paint



OSF wing


OSR wing



More unobtainium please.... and a rear bumper paint


NSR wing



NS Door (and its dented below the rub strip too)


Bonnet


And an under bonnet shot for good measure - Suspicious wiring to be investigated...


So apart from looking rough, the plan looks like I'll run it for a while whilst waiting for a slot in the bodyshop. Has a healthy amount of MOT, but I'd sooner have a proper look over it myself.
It needs a proper good soaking in TFR, arches need cleaning out and underside cleaning.

Well done Jifflemon!

I've just been catching up on forum posts and having read the one about Skandix was asking myself why is Jifflemon buying 480 parts on eBay when I'm sure he's said he doesn't own one yet? Keep reading on down as they say!

Anyway, really good news that someone is joining the 480 family as I've come to the conclusion its time for me to leave, for now at least. Whilst I've been having all my starting problems I had to get another car and although the 480 is now up and running again - just done 400 miles this week without any problems - with limited parking available something has to go. So what I bought as a curious 'stop gap' back in 2012 will soon be up for sale - will offer it up on the forum first once I've taken a few photos.

Aidan

My oh my... that car looks scruffy from the outside, and so clean on the inside! Never seen a contrast like that.

About the unobtainium, someone here in NL has managed to reproduce the DRL lenses (just the square part in front that always fades & breaks, not the curvey part on the edges) for € 80 a set. Pretty hefty for two pieces of plastic, but they look exactly like original.

Have fun!

brinkie wrote:My oh my... that car looks scruffy from the outside, and so clean on the inside! Never seen a contrast like that.

About the unobtainium, someone here in NL has managed to reproduce the DRL lenses (just the square part in front that always fades & breaks, not the curvey part on the edges) for € 80 a set. Pretty hefty for two pieces of plastic, but they look exactly like original.

Have fun!

I know - I've sent emails out chasing the front lights, and sent you a PM too!

It's such an odd car in terms of condition; The outside looks like after the first scratch they just gave up and never washed it again! The roof feels like sandpaper. The inside has probably survived as well as it has, as it never actually got much use.

Tidy enough,shame about exterior panels, did tehy park by touch?

at least body work is fixable, rust is a pin but interior will SUCK up cash if you need to find NOS, and if no NOS then repairing is a pain.
last 480 I bought had iffy engine, (discovered after first oil top up after 100 miles, as it was empty , although full when bought . . . .) but good body previous SS1 had SERIOUS rot but good inside and before (SE5a) that mostly a skip . . . .

I'm sure it will all work out OK, a 480 without extra /iffy wiring must be like hens teeth ?

I know all about chasing rot - It's been a major theme of most of my cars! Getting better at preventing it now though, as prevention always better than cure.

The car lived in London, so yes, parking by touch was likely, as were the scratches when you steal someones else spot!

Had a quick check at lunchtime, the add on wiring seems to be a second feed from the alternator to the battery, so that's getting ripped out, tested and corrected if needed at the weekend.

So, a little update from today - didn't get to work on it yesterday as I was sticking huge brakes and an exhasut on the V70.

So, from today.
First thing I noticed was it steaming up inside - a sure sign of damp, and low and behold, rear passenger footwell is sodden. However, I suspect (and hope) it's just that the half empty screenwash container behind the seat has leaked and its not actually damp!

Went to move the passenger seat forward to investigate further and cant... OK, there's something else for the list!
Took the boot carpet out, just on the off chance that we've got leaks going on, it'll make it easier to chase down (although obviously start with the rear lights!). Also took the volvo winter trays out of front and rear - carpets dry everywhere else,

Pulled the heater knob off and cleaned off several years of "I really don't want to know" - It's not gone back on yet, as I might give it a coat of paint.
Will need a replacement dashboard too - cracked in several places.

Opened the bonnet and gave it a bit of a scrub - Needs a whole lot more still! Sounds pointless but if I'm going to work on it, it needs to be clean!

Then finally moved to the front and took out both indicators and the O/S foglamp. Also noted that the OS headlamp was flopping about, so will probably need some of those platics that Brinkie mentioned in the Skandix post

OS drivers lamp was full of condensation - as a started to take it apart, it was obvious why; the seal had failed. I'm currently sat with these bits on my desk drying out after a good scrubbing.

silicon mastic works pretty well as a bonding agent

Yup, I'm just waiting for my replacement lenses to be made and then the sikaflex will be coming out!

Another quick update: Something bothered me last night whilst cleaning the engine bay. The water didn't seem to be draining away from the bulkhead area. At the time I just thought it was suds, but it played on my mind. So out I went tonight to have a look and lo and behold!

Blocked drain Valves.




Other side was as bad too. Cleared them both out then I got looking at the wiper cover; there was a lot of dirt behind it too, so off it came. I'll let the pics do the talking.








and after a scrub...



You can see how the trapped mud has held water, causing the screen to start to delimanate. It's under the cover, so for now, I'll leave it alone and change the screen when I have too. If you've not checked this area on your own, get out there ASAP!

More updates from the cleaning spree....

Took the rear wheels off - Thank heavens, no locking wheel nuts - and gave the inner arches a scrubbing. I'm quite pleased!









Looks like one of the previous owners attempted some rustproofing - Shame they left the wheels on when doing it!



Even after some pretty expensive chemicals and lots of scrubbing, they both looked like this:





I think petrol may be the next thing I try to clean them with!