Quick decline into the life of a 480 owner

[nick_ovlov]

Ill just add on here- was great to meet you and your wife jim, many many thanks for the extra parts and knowledge!! and to your wife for the coffee

480 central was quiet in the morning! but sounds like you had a rather full on afternoon faffing about with that alarm!



cheers,

Nick

[glasgowjim]

Fantastic working outside in warm sunshine listening to the radio and fixing my son's 480 turbo. Removed the front bumper as it was the outer only in between the mountings. Then fitted a replacement foam cushion and mounting plate and reassembled It was a bit of an awkward job but its done now. Today removed the dash and fitted a replacement instrument pod. Next weekend I will replace the fuelfilter and lines as He has a leak under pressure. Think I my have partially sorted the idle problem as well but didnt have time to check the adjustments. Another job is to mount up a rear foglight .

Looked out some spares for forum members and photographed them (the spares that is ) pm'ed them and awaiting their replies.

Took a few photos of the turbo's engine bay and have posted up in the engine section as there is a pipe not connected to anything
and need advice.

Still at least this weekend I have achieved something.

[glasgowjim]

I may have achieved something but the garage is a bomb site


even using 480 parts to prop up wife's bike
my trim bin is untidy as well

never mind this lot

[glasgowjim]

Just an update on peter's turbo here is the description....
1994 480 turbo , in need of a bit of bodywork.
92k miles
High Flow fuel pump, Walbro 255
FSE Boost Valve Fuel Pressure regulator
Forge Recirc Valve, manual boost valve & replaced actuator.
Cat back twin exit stainless exhaust system.
All vaccum lines replaced.

Engine bay has also been stripped back to bare cleaned and painted.

Recent suspension: Lower arm bushes and ball joints,track rod ends, anti roll bar links all round, shocks and lowering springs 40mm & one wheel bearing.
Discs and pads all round, new handbrake cables. Calipers all stripped and cleaned.
Pretty unique alloys TSWs no longer made. Made in the machine shop at RAF Leuchars, a set of custom Hubcentric wheel spacers , 10mm per wheel, military aircraft grade alloy ( pretty cool ) and swapped to a studs and bolts so much easier getting wheels on and off.

It was at one point flooded in an underground carpark hence the engine bay strip, that was two years ago and its been used daily since.

Now the bodywork: Car is totally solid except for one ragged rear arch ( welded in all new metal, reconstructed from a front wing. Also removed the pointless rear corner reflectors and the electric aerial which had failed and welded in new metal, filled finished and primed .

Since purchase the car has been resprayed been shunted by another car had the front bumper removed and the foam and back support member replaced.
It has now developed a water leak around the water pump shaft and bearing so I will be replacing soon. It still has a bit of a lumpy idle but am sorting that out soon I hope.

[glasgowjim]

These are Donaco's pictures below and show the work that was done to the car.











Car also has certificated THATCHAM CAT 1 Toad Alam/Immobiliser and recent thermostat. Also the daft rear side reflectors have been removed and new metal welded in and smoothed.

The Alarm system caused nothing but trouble , so I eventually removed it from the car
The alternator has been replaced so the battery drain was fixed. Gradually getting things sorted out.

[glasgowjim]

Gee over 15k views wowser

Its a funny old world trying to diagnose and fix a 480 in N.Ireland via the VOC forum long story but sold some parts through that site. as you do

Now I am diagnosing the fault in the electrics of an old MGB via the phone earlier tonight.

Drained the petrol out of the tank on the car I am scrapping and couldnt get a cheap siphon anywhere the neds must be buying them up to keep their clio's going so thought laterally and raided the daughters fish tank stuff and stole her siphon , cleaned and dried it , adjusted the length of the tube and its the best siphon I have ever used.

Tried to remove the volvo towbar and it took some doing removed the strengthing plates and the the support tubes , all bar one why oh why is there always one that wont come out. Looks like the grinder will be busy again. however removed one rear cluster successfully and the centre reflector. Will store away for a rainy day.

[glasgowjim]

Busy Sunday swopped over a water pump that was leaking on Peter's 480 and refilled the radiator.
Earlier last week I had adjusted another members handbrake replaced a window motor and fixed a popup.

so meesa busy man

[glasgowjim]

Been a while since I last posted .

Had to get rid of an EOL 480 but needed to scrap it fast , storage space is saturating so didnt strip it down as much as I could. Then within 7 days I get a flurry of enquiries about parts that have just gone is that not typical!

Son's turbo needs some work opn it the nearside front drop link needs replaced and then tonight he limped home , pothole took out his low profile tyre and trouble never comes on its own his top radiator hose split as well !!!!

Well thats my friday holiday gone then.

[glasgowjim]

Well 2 months later...
Biffo went in for his mot , prepped it the day before still had one or two things to do last night but wife took ill so ended up this morning whipping the dash off and sorting bulbs on instrument panel just before MOT.
It failed on 3 things
1 front bushes on both wishbones goosed. (only lasted 20 years )
2 headlamps aim too low (5 mins with a spanner and thats sorted)
3 adjusted brakes too much slight binding

So got on internet and found eurocarparts had a 30% deal so bought 2 new front wishbones with bushes and 2 lower ball joints - may as well replace at the same time. All for £114.60p ! makes you think I was quoted just under £120 for one wishbone replaced by garage and that is without the ball joint. So thats next weeks holidy accounted for

Not bad for a twenty year old car cant really quibble about it.

[glasgowjim]

It never rains but it pours

daughter's car the clutch gave out so that has to be done as well.
sons mot due soon so need to put in a new speedo sensor shock a rooney!!!! the cost has just doubled to eighty odd pounds !
enough to make you weep
apparently volvo have revised their prices last month and they aint gone down ah well the price of spares might have to go up

I will be a busy bunny the next few days

[glasgowjim]

Spent the second half of Saturday trying to change the offside lower suspension arm (front wishbone) got to the stage that the angle grinder came out cut off the tongue connecting the lower ball joint to the suspension arm .
As the car is 20 years old and these are the original parts but it had only done 47K miles upto now I was surprised that the nuts hadnt totally rusted up and seized on ; still a breaker bar comes in useful

Had angle grind/cut off the lower ball joint then moving the ball joint nut up as far as it could go and using the edge of it as a guide I cut off most of the thread on the ball joint connector bolt .
Still not enough room to get a splitter in the top of bolt. Then it started raining and the thunder started so that was it for the night . Pity you cant really see the rain but it was heavy . Read the HBOL for inspiration well that was a total waste of time
so I got the angle grinder out clamped the splitter arm into the vice in the garage and cut it so size. Next day (Sunday) tried it on the ball joint and it worked ball joint came away easily . Refitted the new arm which came with its own ball joint.
One down and one to go the second should be easier than the first oh no it wasnt. For a start the spring compressors didnt fit as well on the nearside spring for some reason took 3 goes to get it in best position. Then after loosening the bolts through the bushes and removing split pin I hit a major problem the single castled nut was seized on major problem so rather than waste lots of time I simply disconnected the 2 bolts to the tongue of the ball joint. and removed the suspension arm very carefully supporting the disc with a trolley jack. The 2 bolts came away although I snapped the first one in two . took the new balljoint off the susp.arm and used the 2 bolts . After some careful manoevering the second arm was in place and then the 2 ball joint bolts fastened up almost finished 5 hours after I had started (20mins tea break). Adjusted headlamps in 5 minutes. only the brakes to do now but thats for tomorrow. Was going to put up a how to but did not have the time to photograph every phase of the operation.

[glasgowjim]

well the next day was a total bummer
First due to a misunderstanding the car was retested before being checked result failed beams too high and a split pin missing. Totally teed off.

So then went remove the rear window wiring loom for another forum member from a spare rear window , and it totally shattered in my hands

gave up and growled at the wife BAD MISTAKE

So took the dogs for a long walk to escape SWMBO and got eaten alive by midges

Some days it is better just to stay in bed all day.

However today the car passed mot yippee
I am a happy bunny again

[glasgowjim]

Doh just gone and done it again bought another 480 a 94 gt just have to raid south of Hadrians wall again and pick it up on Monday evening.

[glasgowjim]

And here is William the gt...




and 480 central looks busy again



Had a very long day travelling to pick up this little beauty which incidently runs like a dream. Left at 1pm on megabus to Manchester then had a look round Manchester for about 2 hours then train to Milton Keynes and from there the M1 and M6 then M74 home got in at 5.40am crawled into bed then up at 8 am again for the new day
Gee the M6 is one dreary long drag of a road.

[glasgowjim]

The very nice lady who sold him wanted the car to go to an enthuiast who would restore him to his former glory , and I know a man who has a lot of spares

She has kept him in excellent condition just some bits and pieces to be done....

[jamesy12345]

U just can't help it!

What model is the blue one Jim?

[blanki1981]

That looks quite tidy Jim, its a twin of the car I bought a few weeks back. I noticed you've got a Vesa missing too these wheels seem very prone to damage for some reason?

[glasgowjim]

I am not worried about the odd alloy as I have 3 vesa alloys lying round the side of the house + 1 which is dented in so I am not short of a vesa just not got round to fixing it up yet

In fact have not yet fixed up the daughters clutch yet either , I keep finding excuses not to start - just so tired these days have a cold / virus and cant seem to shake it off (more excuses). Discovered another way water gets into the 480 if you park with the nose pointing up the hill water pools around the relay box and runs into the cabin.

[glasgowjim]

well here we are a few days before Christmass and today I showed Peter how to remove and replace a window regulator on William. William is running well. Peter checked the oil , water and screen wash while I checked the nuts for tightness. In between that I checked another forum members car which had popup problems , its nice to meet other forum members again and catch up with things.

Oh I was asked about the blue 480 ( Biffo ) its a 1.7 ltr 48K miles with service history and has a full leather interior removed from an EOL celebration. I tend to have a few EOL 480's

[glasgowjim]

The first post of 2013

Peter and I fitted an almost new rear box on William's exhaust and I had fitted a drivers side window regulator a few weeks ago so he is now running well again . Just a replacement bulb to go into the revesing lights. When the weather improves in the spring I will sort out his rear wheel arch as its not too bad but will need to be sorted. He is due his mot in 2 or 3 weeks time so it should be interesting then