My 480 Turbo saga.........

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Ade
Can tell where the 480 was built
Posts: 337
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:25 pm
Location: Northants

My 480 Turbo saga.........

Post by Ade » Thu Jul 19, 2012 9:19 am

So, a few months ago I decided that my peugeot was as good as dead (many potential MOT failures) and i started searching for a 'new' car. I happened upon a 480 Turbo on autotrader, full volvo service history, 70,000 on the clock, one owner (now dead, I bought it from his daughter). This looks good i thought to myself...........

I promptly pulled a sickie and drove over to wales in the 'running on borrowed time' 306 DTurbo to have a look at this magnificent machine. Noticed some lovely rusty arches but other than that the car seemed good. Started right up after having been sat up a corner for god knows how long and (nearly) everything worked. Took it for a drive (not far due to lack of road tax and insurance!), give her the once over under the business end and all seemed well. Promising...... The deal was done and I went and collected it the following weekend after transfering my insurance.

Went to the nearest petrol station to fill her up for the drive back and check the vital signs, oil was good, coolant a little low so topped her up and away I went. It was at this point that the infocentre decided it no longer liked working and went dead. Shite........... The fuel guage is on that thing.......... Good job I put a full tank in her! Not the end of the world I thought to myself, should be able to fix that. Lo and behold it sprang back to life! No such thing as a car that fixes itself, so...... dodgy connections somewhere, should be an easy fix.

Coming up to the M50, my first bit of motorway in my new toy. What happens next i wonder?? I'll tell you, the bloody glass drops out of the wing mirror and is held on only by the wires for the heating element, flapping around wildly. Luckily I had not yet joined the motorway and pulled into a layby to remove it and chuck it in the back until i got back to birmingham.

What else could possibly go wrong? Should count myself lucky that it's still going really! (my thoughts at that particular moment)

So, i'm going down the motorway slip road, first time i've had it above 40-50 mph and I notice a humming noise...... The bar-steward sold me a car with a duff wheel bearing! (think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts....... positivity and all that bollocks......)

Now surely nothing else can go wrong within my first day of 480 ownership :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

Finally got it back to the homeland with no more 'issues' apart from what appeared to be a blown indicator bulb (which susequently turned out to be a corroded contact, nice easy one, can't complain at that, she is twenty one years old.) Managed to re-fit the mirror glass without any hassle, it had obviously been out for some reason and not clipped back in properly, all it needed was a good squeeze onto the fittings and voila! CLICK! Nice and solid sounding and it hasn't come off since. Bloody amateurs......... Checked all the fluids again after its 150 mile drive, coolant down a little again. Possible radiator (later confirmed) I thought to myself. Oh well, keep some water in the boot for a little while till I sort it out. (later discovered that 480's have their own water reservior in the boot anyway so the empty antifreeze bottle really was not necessary) :lol: :lol:

There are many more chapters in this saga to come, that was only the first six hours! Did I regret buying it???

Without a moments hesitation, absolutely not, what a wonderful (all be it slightly rough round the edges) car! :hopping: :hopping:

Just a wheel bearing and a radiator to do on it then...... Should be fun....
O.C. 480 D.

strongtom
Started learning about 480
Posts: 71
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2010 7:43 pm
Location: Leeds

Re: My 480 Turbo saga.........

Post by strongtom » Thu Jul 19, 2012 10:44 am

was this the light blue one in Aberystwyth? I think I nearly went to Wales for that one, glad your enjoying it.
Had a Turbo, then got a celebration, then had to go back to Turbo!!!

Ade
Can tell where the 480 was built
Posts: 337
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:25 pm
Location: Northants

Re: My 480 Turbo saga.........

Post by Ade » Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:16 pm

Didn't get it from aberystwyth, it was from ross on wye. (or near to anyway)

The infocentre was finally sorted only for the rev counter to die on me, so after much soldering and cleaning, it all had to come to bits again, glasgowjim kindly supplied me a rev counter for a very modest fourteen quid (inc p and p), so after a bit more soldering and cleaning everything finally worked :D :D

Did the rad (+new g48 antifreeze) and the bearing a few weeks ago (spoke nicely to my boss and asked if i could book a days holiday but still come to work to do the bearing so i could use the press), put it through its MOT, passed first time would you believe!!

decided that i would treat it to a full service/tlc on saturday just gone. Changed the engine oil, gear oil (bloody expensive from volvo), cambelt, dizzy cap, leads, rotor arm, plugs, jr airfilter from PFV (dear but actually worth it IMO) and also fitted a more manly ignition coil from a 740 turbo. Also had some mintex redbox pads and discs all round and a set of HEL made-to-order braided hoses with cnc'd stainless fittings. :D :D :D
Was going to do these this sat but instead entrusted it to the garage over the road from work, quoted me £100 to do the lot and pressure bleed it, thought can't be bad, so dropped it in yesterday hoping i'd saved myself some work for a reasonable price. NOT SO. :badmood: :badmood: :badmood:

Turns out that 'apparently' (I, being a professional engineer, have very little faith in some of these so called 'mechanics' that simply know how to bolt things together and do not understand the intricacies and the mechanical dynamics of many things found on vehicle systems. They can fit it, but do they understand why it's designed so? The answer is no and that was a rhetorical question btw!!) i need a load of new pipework (remember that recent MOT that it sailed through? Couldn't have been that bad could it?) and a new rear caliper as the handbrake cable bracket is bent (i could have repaired it or made a new one had they informed me of this before ordering a whole new caliper on my behalf and sending my old one off as an exchanged unit).

They also fucked up one of the unions causing a leak when attempting to fit the HEL hose so now i have to pay for that extra work as well (can't prove it was their negligence but have no doubt in my own mind).

So the new caliper arrived about two hours ago. Went over there during my lunchbreak to see how the neanderthals were progressing with my beloved rustbucket, the caliper was removed from the box and fitted with the aid of some grunting and a big wooden club. I then noticed that although principally the same caliper, it was originally a saab one as it was on the casting and the handbrake mechanism is completely different. Instead of noticing this before fitting it, he wasted the time to fit it only to have to remove it again and go and try to source the correct item. I was told they may have to keep it overnight again and that the bill SO FAR is £320!! The robbing bar-stewards :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

good job I have a friendly employer with spare vehicles that I can borrow when needed. I'm having withdrawal symptoms from the 480 turbs, a Vwag caddy TDI is just not the same!!

I always swore to myself (having had bad experiences with certain garages in the past) that the only time my cars will go near the buggers is for an MOT or new tyres and that's it. Wish i'd have stuck to my bloody word now and done it myself.
Please not another day with the van, i miss the volvo already like you wouldn't believe, and also i feel uncomfortable with it left in the hands of people who may well have come from the shallow end of the gene pool.

wish me luck people!! :cryhard: :cryhard:
O.C. 480 D.

Ade
Can tell where the 480 was built
Posts: 337
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:25 pm
Location: Northants

Re: My 480 Turbo saga.........

Post by Ade » Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:49 pm

Looks like i'm taking the van again this evening. The new (correct) caliper arrived, however upon fitting it they realised that the rewind mechanism was knackered. How likely is this to be the truth i wonder, surely the remanfacturing company would have fully tested it before shipping?? Unless some cave man bought it, bolloxed it by trying to rewind it with a g clamp (unknowledgable about the screw in the back) and then took it back under some pretence??

Who knows.....

I'm getting very bloody annoyed by this whole affair, it should not be a three day job to fit pads, discs and brake hoses. I'd be well fooked if i didn't have access to the vans to get home!

I am ready to commit GBH on these bloody idiots. :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill: :kill:
O.C. 480 D.

Ade
Can tell where the 480 was built
Posts: 337
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:25 pm
Location: Northants

Re: My 480 Turbo saga.........

Post by Ade » Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:55 pm

why oh why oh why did I entrust work to someone else. if you want something done right, do it yourself. I'd have had no problems with leaks on the unions because i understand the value of not being brutal with things that are stuck. Plenty of wd40 and some loctite freeze&release go a hell of a long way! And as for the bent bracket, easily repairable. Heat it up, bend it back, stress relieve it. Bead of weld along the bends to act as a gusset just in case and job done.
Lesson learned i guess.
O.C. 480 D.

Ade
Can tell where the 480 was built
Posts: 337
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:25 pm
Location: Northants

Re: My 480 Turbo saga.........

Post by Ade » Mon May 27, 2013 6:28 pm

So, I haven't been on here for ages and unfortunately my beloved rust bucket has not moved since the starter motor decided to retire a few months ago.
I have been in camp Ford for a little while, first my dads Granada, then a focus which my wife decide to write off :badmood: and finally an escort 1.6 flight with added rust which I have been driving around for a while.
As is evident this really will not do so given a sunny bank holiday weekend I decided to embark upon the seemingly impossible task of de rusting and repairing my turbo.
Nothing could have prepared me for the horror revealed when the rear end was stripped down;
There was (on top of the already rusty wheel arches) a hole straight through the boot floor on the drivers side. Once all the rust was removed I was left with a gaping hole the size of Wales in the rear quarter. :wall: :wall:

I do believe that taking on the task of repairing this 480 is not for the faint hearted however after much soul searching I have decided to have a go at restoring her to former glory.
Will keep you updated and already have some good pics of the early stages of the work. Will
post soon. Wish me luck!!
O.C. 480 D.

Ade
Can tell where the 480 was built
Posts: 337
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:25 pm
Location: Northants

Re: My 480 Turbo saga.........

Post by Ade » Wed May 29, 2013 4:52 pm

I miss the 480 turbo so bad...... :cry:


Having accomplished some decent metalwork on the old girl over the bank holiday weekend I'm all too eager to see her back on the road. There's still a long way to go; a whole wheel arch on the drivers side (inner and outer), the rear ends of the sills and a patch on the drivers door ( which I'm not too worried about for now as its not part of the monocoque). The large metal part of the back bumper I estimate to be around 3-4 kg lighter than 22 years ago (can you guess where the weight's gone :?

That's about it for metalwork but she still needs a starter motor to live again and really and truly would like to change the clutch and skim and balance the flywheel.

I'm actually sat in it while writing this smoking a Jamaican woodbine and wishing I could drive it............ Share my moment!

Oh and obviously it needs taxing and an MOT too.....




Might do it sometime in the next year hopefully.
O.C. 480 D.

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