Volvo 480 Club Europe

Yep took me ages to get a steering rod out of it the mice and spiders were not amused

Spent last night and half of today removing the cruise control from Kermit
Was a far easier job than I thought Someone up there must like me . The complete kit is boxed ready for posting but it gobbled up all of my bubble wrap

The sun shone and I put Kermit back together again. Up here in Scotland there are very few roads that you could safely use cruise control on I maybe only use them once or twice a year so what is the point of having a rare feature that you dont use ?

All in All its been a good day

Beenbusy at work but on Friday night as daughter was about to come home from work the car wouldnt start . Luckily she works close to home . So off I went torch in habd and tried the few quick fixes I have learned over the years to no avail. So on Saturday morning went through the ignition circuit no faults fuses then back to the fuel pump multimeter indicated power to the pump but no priming sound heard . So back to the shed of maximum density and after a quick root around I found a fuel pump without the fuel sender unit so replaced and the car started first time but no fuel gauge ! Still I had to pick up relatives arriving in from Australia that night so pressure off

Today swapped the good fuel pump over to the defective ones plastic mounting as that had a fuel sender unit attached. Hey presto a fully functioning car again

Wow the longest period without a post ! Well Kermit is dead was only going to run him for until the mot ran out but I guess everything happens for a reason ...
the car had been driving a little wonky the past few weeks suspected that it was the tracking as the car was fine the daughter "borrowed "it one night the next day the steering felt a bit weird. So now holiday and put it in for the tracking to be done and damn me the rear half of the subframe had sheared in two the engine was now sitting back towards the bulkhead bad news. I guess I was lucky a it could have gone anytime and anywhere! I do have a spare subframe but it is not worth sorting up as the OSF jacking point is gubbed with rust the rear arches are faked up and now the worst for wear. So it is now an end of life Volvo. Amazing the insanity of Volvo owners this car should of been scrapped years ago but the money poured into it to keep it on the road was ridiculous. So the good parts from Kermit are going across to biffo today its getting fixed up and moted ready for work on Monday .So much for a peaceful holiday break

glasgowjim wrote:..Amazing the insanity of Volvo owners this car should of been scrapped years ago but the money poured into it to keep it on the road was ridiculous...

I think I've had a few Volvos like that, Jim

Well got biffo through its mot and it only cost me all in £230 and was for 2 tests + 1 retest , 2 new front to back brake pipes 2 part worns tyres and a rear brake cylinder strip down and rebuild.
So all in all not bad for a 22 year old car.

The down side was I had to cycle in heavy rain for 2 days

Still on the road now and petrol is only 104.9 a litre woo hoo

Spent today out in the cold and ice/snow getting some parts off of kermit before he goes to the knackers yard.

Just waiting for daughter to return and I will swop over the locks . Its pitch black outside and the temperature is plumetting still needs must.

Well Kermit went to become a giant metal cube. Biffo is back as my daily driver and the wife is in self destruct mode , as she tried to open the heavy door so used her foot to help and smashed the doorpocket to smithereens. Not bad going she is slowly wrecking the car having earlier snapped the seatbelt arm as well. Car needs a good service and new dizzy cap and rotor but it will have to wait until the easter holidays. I put the height adjustable passenger seat in Biffo so the wife can look out the window (she is a bit close to the ground - wife not car ) Need to get rid of a lot of stuff thats not useful. as the shed is beginning to head for terminal collapse soon as its literally bulging with stuff . Then I will have to reinforce it.

When Biffo went through the mot I had to replace the steering rod knucle , removing it from Kermit and puting it in Biffo. hadnt done this before so it was quite a job. as was swopping over interiors. I am getting very good at removing/replacing interiors these days. . The little 480 even towed my son's renault scenic fior a 2.5 miles when his clutch died. Biffo is now 23 years old this month and is my daily driver once again and is 70 k miles on the clock. Has a new exhaust and brake pipes from front to back. It really is a great little car.

Going on a raid south of hadrians wall tomorrow

So be afraid very afraid

lock up your 480's dont need to bother about your womenfolk as I am well past that now

just getting my kit together and sorting out spares etc ready to post tomorrow morning.

Just got back from england with a 480.

Pollution has just his scots passport and has moved into 480 central these little turbos are well powered for their size . Its so easy to get carried away the power.

Many thanks to James. As promised there will be a for sale thread put up soon with proceeds going to Daniel to defray the costs of running the forum.

Great Jim, glad you got back OK!

Pollution is rapidly turning into the Forum "Bike!"

Pollution is now my sons daily driver never thought he would have "converted " to an auto. Funnily enough he was out with one of his friends when his friend spotted me in the biffo (its the same colour) and shouted hey Pete someones stole your car . They chased after me in the car park before Pete realised it was me

met another forum member recently sevenpiglets who picked up some stuff + an armful of free stuff as well. Need to get rid of more parts as it is getting beyond a joke

the SMD is now beginning to bulge so much that 2 sides are giving way

spent a while partly emptying the shed of maximum density ready to repair it , now have a pile of parts ready to be taken to the civic amenity dump. The amount of rubbish bits that no one wants has gradually accumulated until I cant store it anymore. I still an adding to my collection though.

air filter boxes have to be dumped as well as rear hatches and windscrreen washer tanks they just take up so much room.

Have a pile of floor trays as well but wont throw them out a front bumper metal bump bar and foam filler is going though and more will be dumped tomorrow.

Got a phone call late last night from son saying parked up on hard shoulder of M8 with a totally flat battery. So top up charges the spare and went off to rescue. changed battery and found the engine splattered with a lot of engine oil there was a giant patchon the ground underneath the washer bottle area. and the oil dipstick was stick way up. Swopped over batteries and we drove off home , the second battery was flat in about 10 minutes and the car had to be towed the mile and a half home to his flat. Too late and dark to do anything else . There goes the holiday weekend ! Suspect the oil has gubbed the alternator to

Guess what the cars called pollution

Hmm... Don't forget, Jim that Pollution was overboosting when he left my possession.

Don't know if that was ever sorted, but if he's been driving it hard it could have done something nasty to cause the oil in the engine bay.

oh dear hope it can be sorted easily...!

will know soon enough when i can get the car back to 480 central

Well got the car back to 480 central and with a day of good weather managed to do some checks , alternator not gubbed just loose connection.

Bad news did a compression test ......

compession test on all cylinders starting with the one furthest away from distributor....

8bar 0bar (not a typo) 10bar 10bar

plus huge clouds of blue smoke from exhaust and from the oil separator (?) , the dip stick is being pushed up its tube as well.

So deffo the engine has blown looks like news piston rings and a big job on a turbo . (havent done this before.)