Restoration of 1987 Volvo 480ES *The Happy End*

[DaKyy]

Sabotage

Them kids

Well, It was just a door handle. But a door handle that could've been left alone. The fittings were screwed and the mechanism was a bit bent. I attached it back and seems to stay on.

[DaKyy]

i did some work today with the 480.


Yes. It is there. Behind the 607
It is currently very very dusty



The foglights got their place today. Big thanks to missus that had tiny enough fingers to fit them. Total pain fitting them with the bumper attached.



I re-sealed the rear lights with my own style


But hey, it seems to work!



Yes, still, It is very dusty.

[DaKyy]

So, I washed it up today. Lady of the house was helping ofcourse.





Also the rear end seems to be exact match with the dark lights and the glass boot.


Waxing it tomorrow!

[DaKyy]

I managed to get the armrest/cupholder thingie for not so stupid price from ebay. Even though it was silly money, but still not as much they usually go for...

Also I happened to notice a H&R set of spacers @ebay, they widen the axle a total of 20mm (10mm/rim). Hopefully they'll bring the rims to the arches nicely.

[DaKyy]

I took the car to a workshop about 40km from here. About 10km from the destination the accelerator cable snapped and the revs got stuck to about 6krpm. It was pure luck it happened about 100m away from my parents house so I turned it off and rolled to their yard. Then towed the last 10km to the workshop. It will get a new front pipe, bumpers straightened, new tail pipe and probably the center muffler. New and ported head and head gasket will also be installed.

[DaKyy]

Fair warning to you all! Please, BACKUP your DIARY THREADS!

[DaKyy]

I bought the Palm Beach steering wheel from chris1roll and it looks absolutely gorgeous. It is like new!




I also have couple of meters of fake leather for the doorcards I plan to... Lady of the house plans to recondition.

[DaKyy]

Well the lady of the house indeed fixed them up quite good! Here are the results:






The little decorative plates on the dash shall get the same treatment. She did the shifter bag from the same material, but it seems quite stiff. I'll try it on though and see how it is...

Edit: oh, the engine got a new head today, though I wasn't there to see it. It'll be running again next week hopefully!

[DaKyy]

Little things done by me, more serious by the mechanic.

I installed few little niggles today:

- The doorcards are now on their place - looks ace



- Palm Beach finally installed
- Headunit now on its place



- Numberplates fixed on
- Changed normal bulbs for DRL's for the MOT



- Electric antenna now functional
- The boot got the plastic parts back




Things done by the mechanic:
- Bumpers straightened
- New head installed and now working (injectors leaking)



- All brakes adjusted
- Emissions adjusted
- Brakelines from front to back renewed
- New brake pressure regulator installed (the early models adjust the brake pressure by weight, and the regulator gets stuck)


Current problems:

- Something is blocking the bonnet so it seems it doesn't go all the way down -> the microswitch doesn't short -> the popups won't work. This may be some adjustment also...

- Steeringwheel lock stopped working. I remember it has worked but now it doesn't. Hopefully I don't have to change the pilar or the lock because of this. MOT will fail if the lock doesn't work.

ToDo list:

- Install the roof lining.
- Get the foglights wired and working
- Little trim panels on the dash gets the same fake leather on them

[DaKyy]

MOT-time is nearing. The ToDo list is still the same, however the emissions were checked and the 4-wheel alignment (or whatever you call it in english) has been done. Konis are probably being dispatched today. By the way, I bought them from a old member of our forum, Bakke.

And also, the original bodykit I mentioned earlier sold on the eBay. It went for 610 euros. I bought mine with 350e and compared to the one sold now (which was quite shitty) my bumpers looked like they were mint even before they got the paint on them. Though this kit had the sideskirts too.

[DaKyy]

[DaKyy]

More teasy pics in low-res. The arty pictures are coming later.

[DaKyy]

So I did a little fieldtrip with my fiancée, and here is some pics...

[DaKyy]

Just the final touches on the car...



I also installed drivers side door pocket which martinholmes once sold me. The original was cracked.

Currently the rear wiper doesn't work at all. If I turn it on the car horn starts to honk I sprayed little contact cleaner to CEM but couldn't get it quite in there because lack of space around it. Its either CEM or the relay box. What do you think?

[DaKyy]

[DaKyy]

[DaKyy]

The rear roller cover reconditioned to a somewhat better state than it was before.

[DaKyy]

The spring is here and so are the new modifications for the ES! Next week the car will go to the painter who will install the original sideskirts that I got last fall.

After that is the MOT time, and before I do that - the inner track rods have to be replaced, and my steering wheel lock has been acting up (read: doesn't work at all) so that has to be working as well for the MOT.

[DaKyy]

Went to visit the paintshop where the 480 is at the moment to have the skirts fitted. There were some problems with fitting the kit.

The dude that did the work on the rear arches few years back didn't do too good of a job with them. The other rear arch is 5mm too far from the wheel and the other is 5mm too close to the wheel.
Well they fixed the arches and fitted the skirts on. Then they noticed that the door comes too close to the door sill. When painted, the underside of the door will wipe the sill so that the paint will come off -> they have to grind the door a bit to get it to fit correctly. Otherwise the door is aligned correctly so it cannot be raised.

Other than that the progress so far seems quite well.

[DaKyy]

More pics in few weeks... Something is still missing from the exterior...