Quick decline into the life of a 480 owner

[glasgowjim]

New years day started working on car again (this is the one I am breaking) have now disconnected everything except the engine mounts and the rhs driveshaft . When this is done I will then be able to remove engine and transmission. Still wont be able to get car out of garage because the road and driveway is all ice. Happy with progress so far/

went out last night in -11 degrees to change a headlamp bulb. Neighbours thought I was mad

[glasgowjim]

Well cut the drive shafts which were rusty in 2 , removed rear mount (found it was goosed ) loosened the other 2 mounts .After several failed attempts at lifting the engine and transmission out with a hoist it kept jamming. Eventually I though about replacing the 2 individual belts with a single complete loop and surprise surprise the engine balanced perfectly and out it came with no effort at all single handed. Oh why am I sooo dumb

So spent an hour tonight removing the flywheel and clutch plate and gearbox (which is really good and tight). Gee its really warm up here been +2 or +1 degrees all day even now at 22;00 hours.
Some views of my garage cum "workshop"





and to get that working space ....everything went into the shed....

[glasgowjim]

Shed now cleared and sorted out
went to get daughters car trackings checked and wasnt her cv joint on near side goosed

so this long weekend I have to swop over driveshafts with cv joints.

Weld up the doorcheck hinge on drivers door.

remove the dashboard from the scrapper and put it in my car + remove the aircon system.


Well today spent 5.5 hours and completed the driveshaft swop So 1 down and 2 jobs to go.

Tomorrow will start on the erratic idle of Skippy's then remove the dash board from the scrap car and get ready to remove aircon from my car.

[glasgowjim]

Well have almost rigged up a ramp so that I can roll the breaker car out , position the ramps on the down slope of my driveway and push it on to the now level runway just at the edge of my property line So I can now jack up and finish stripping out the car, need to have it level so when the uplift comes they can just lift it onto lorry and take it away. This way I can get at the steering rack and remove all sorts of other stuff. Even better my crabbit neighbour can say nothing . She cant say anything this time anyway as I didnt put an objection in when she applied for planning permission for an extension. Once this one is done I can rock and roll at any time as I now have an engine hoist as well.

Roll on the weekend.

[glasgowjim]

well here is the ramp...






and a general view of 480 central



and the garage looks like this

[glasgowjim]

Ah the blue cycle on the left I built up myself from a frame and its got almost the same gear ratios as a road (pedal) bike but is twice as comfortable and I daren't touch the daughters or wive's bike

plenty of space just got to remove the two front suspension units complete , the entire dash , petrol tank aerial rear bumper a myriad of ickle bits and bolts passenger door which is a replacement unit and recent. brake servo steering column steering wheel and abs sensors if possible. All from the breaker car and get it lifted asap. Now I have the complete breaking system from engine hoist to ramps so I can retrieve almost everything from a car.

[glasgowjim]

Been to Lidl's tonight and bought a cheap pair of axle stands. ready to strip the 480 down to its bare bones.

Nearly bought another 480 yesterday but after a quick phone call reckoned it was too risky driving back to glasgow with it. Pity it was down in Welshpool and not closer to the border

So this weekend will finish removing the aircon and replace with a standard layout. Hope to get the dashboard sorted out as well but this might not happen. So much to do and so little time to do it in Work just gets in the way

[glasgowjim]

Well spent about 5 hours today removing the compressor and the main feed for the steering rack from the power steering pump. Took a while to get the bolts off the compressor it had more bolts holding it together than fran kenstein.



still the steering pump was replaced the alternator swopped over connecting pipe replaced mounting bracket changed



so tomorrow the nose cone comes off and the aircon radiator removed. power steering fluid refilled and the belt replaced
Plus stugs brake caliper has to come off ready for posting

[glasgowjim]

Well alternator in steering pump in belt on steering pipe fitted , fluid filled and all checked working .
removed front evaporator and piping now I will have to remove complete dash this weekend.
Well ir had to happen dead chuffed 5 (and this makes 6) active threads and I have posted sensibly on all of them . The forum is getting quiet some nights I am the only one on here. Quelle domage ! Some posts are even sitting unanswered even though its help/advice required its a shame I cant answer everything.

[glasgowjim]

Couldnt stall any longer , so bit the bullet today and removed the complete dashboard from my celebration , found the heater matrix goosed. Taken all day but have removed the entire plastic housing for aircon and replaced with the housing for the heater car + swopped over the matrix as well, but as darkness fell had to stop at just before 9 pm. It was a lot of faffing about getting the dash sorted back into position , still to reassemble 40% of the dash will take some pics and post up. Best of all did the entire job single handed.

[glasgowjim]

went to assemble the last part then realised that I had routed the cabling the wrong way
So 2 hours later its all in just got the last parts to do the which is fit the dashboard in position but the vent at the left hand side is problematical so have stuffed it full of wide handled screwdrivers to strech it out so that fitting will be easier tomorrow. Then refit the steering wheel and centre console fit hoses and refill coolant system and check all electrical connections.

Still the joys of a quiet Sunday

[glasgowjim]

Well the vent was a major league problem had to butcher the vent from the breakers car and splice the 2 together and now its sorted. So stuck everything together reassembled and checked it all working except just as it got too dark to work any longer the heater fan wont work and I have a "spare connector". OOPs

On top of that I looked at the line of screws and bolts to be refitted and when I had finished there are 2 nuts and washers sitting there

well tomorrows another day

the excitement never ends.

next project make the passenger seat height adjustable. (short wife)

[glasgowjim]

Car cooling system refilled all electrics ok so now removed the two front seats and almost finished doing the height adjustment to the passenger seat , dried car out cleaned up all spillage from heater matrix so reassembly tomorrow.

[glasgowjim]

height adjustment completed , so replaced soiled carpet with another carpet + underlay : refitted the seats so the jobs are now fully completed
car is ace now

[glasgowjim]

Well the smiley effect didnt last long the wife bless her cotton socks decided to clean the vents with cotton buds and did she not drop one right into the main front vent at the windcreen. So if I not very lucky it will be a complete removal of the dashboard. Was not a happy bunny still life goes on . The breaker car was uplifted in less than 2 hours from phoning them (they know the route to the house ) so I have reclaimed the driveway

[glasgowjim]

Well the 2 cotton buds have been retrieved and the car reassembled so at last I am a happy bunny the car is going well and then I got to meet another 480 owner Stewy. So had a great chat and he picked up some spares from me
The "new" heaters ace and fitted it with 2 new bulbs so the only thing left is to fit new bulbs for the ignition ring and the ashtray but to be honest who needs an ashtray light when you are all non smokers

[glasgowjim]

Well a good weekend so far met Brian another 480 owner and spent an afternoon chatting about 480s and 440s - magic.
Now all I have to do is sort my daugthers NS popup which has given up the ghost , already checked the relay so its out with a replacement pop up unit next ah the joys of a quiet Sunday

Well between family an stuff I eventually changed the popup motor but it is never a straight forward job still it was done so tested the popups and no matter what I did when one was up the other was down and vice versa

thought for a moment and I had just connected the motor lever 180 degrees out
So problem solved now skippy is 100% and more importantly I can get my car back from my daughter

[glasgowjim]

Well just gone and bought myself another 480 this time for spares /to break but damn me its in such good nick I am having serious second thoughts about it will post up pics later.

[glasgowjim]

Been out checking the car I just bought yesterday and its in very good condition , the info centre was screwed so I put one of my spares in and surprise it worked perfectly.

Fixed the info function switch

checked the radio and its all working. Someone has spent some serious money on the mechanicals in the past

Just to check and adjust the handbrake , the calipers are in good condition.

spent an hour with the wife looking the car over and discussing the pros and cons of keeping it on road and selling it or going for the original scrapping option but economics wins out its going to be broken for spares soon. Oh why do I feel so sad and bad about this .

[glasgowjim]

and heres the pics..........




and sadly



so its off to the recycling shed o'mine