My new life with a youngtimer

[ChrisDK]

I'm not a angry kind of guy, but sometimes is seems to help raising your voise

Finaly I got the keys to the garage, so here it is


and with the car nicely parked



due to the climat changes the garage is not compleatly dry, but almost and that is good enough for me.

[ChrisDK]

As I mentiond previously christmas came early this year. A set of rear clusters suddenly came My way They got some small craks that needs to be repaired and a polish, I will be tackling that job over the next week.

Cleaning, repairing and polishing rear clusters part one:

First thing to do was a good cleanning of the clusters to remove residue from the old seal. To do this I been using my cheap DIY steam cleaner that I picked up a couple of weeks ago for 15 £ in the local supermarked. It has allready proved it self in household cleaning, at a later point I will try it cleaning the car. But here are some pictures from the cleaing process

You need one of those






Sorry for the lack of pictures, but it turned out steam cleaning worked very well, unfortunately the residue was all over the kinchen. wasn't that popular with the girl freind and cleaning of the kitchen took longer than cleaning of the clusters but hey they looked good afterwards so who cares

Next project is repairing the craks to stop them from getting worse. I will post more pictures when I get around to the next stage.

[ChrisDK]

Stage two, repairing of cracks in the rear clusters.

I've finaly had time to repair one of clusters. Only got a few pictures but I reckon You will get the idea.

First a few pictures of the crack



These are my prefered weapons of choise, Acetone, cottonsticks and a surenge with a needle.


After applaying the acetone in the crack, ( the surenge and needle seemed to be a good plan but turned out to be rather difficult to work with ) gently apply presure on the crack and hold it for five to ten minutes. What happens is that the acetone melts together the edges of the crack. Leave it for 24 hours to harden before sanding or polishing it.



This is the result, sorry for the poor picture quality by that time I felt a little dissy and that's why I din't finish the other cluster. I hope you can see that the crack is now closed.


So what have I learned today ? always work with acetone in a well ventilated room or wear a protective mask, too many fumes makes you dissy But other than that i'm pleased with the result, hopefully I will have time to do the next cluster in a few days. Nice weekend to all

[ChrisDK]

I think it's time to a brief update Beginning af december I left the car in the garage with the intention to visit it regularly. December passed rapidly and just after new year I found the time to return to the garage, only to find three flat tires and a flat battery a freind came around a few days later with his compressor and a battery charger. The morale don't neglect Your car for to long or it will punish You

Freind with compressor


Today I returned with the fully charged battery and she fired up immediately I had made a promise not to drive the car on the salty roads, but ended up taking it for a good drive to top op the tires with air and charging the battery. As I were on My way in to the service station, I had to wait for a cyclist to pass before I could make the turn. The guy in the car behind me was sleeping or something and started breaking very late and only missed the read end of my car with a few centimeters LUCKY ME however a youngtimer Volvo 240 driving in third possition got hit in the rear end by a modern Renault, nothing serious but still Fu.... sleep driving Danish sunday drivers

Next project is still to fix the other rear light hopefully I will find time in the next few days to sort that out.

Nice sunday to all

[ChrisDK]

Repair of rear cluster part 2

Today I finaly had the time to repair the other rear cluster which I accidently broke.

A small crack was repaired


The more severe dammage was at the end here are a few pics. There were two pieces broken off, the first was already repaired when I took the photos.




And the result

From another angle, there is still a small piece missing


I repaired it the same way as earlier, with acetone and a cotton stick. It just needs to harden for 24 hours before I can polish it. Can't wait to see the result

[timrosser]

Great thread, going back to the picture of the waterleak into your boot- from the plastic panel above your rear boot ' side-pocket' next to the rear side window - did the "Germany window sealer" sort the leak? I have been pointlessly back to blacking the rear rubber seal in a desperate attempt to sole my rear puddle so any help much appreciated!

[ChrisDK]

Hi Tim
I havent got around to test the sealer yet. I have postpon it until it has to be dismatled at the body shop for fixing the rust and changing the rear clusters.
But I will post some sort of review and schare my experience with the product, hopefully within the next month or two.

[timrosser]

Ahh, ok Chris, so the window has to come out and then be sealed back in again? Do you think loads of back to black on the interior rubber may help it get back into shape? My 480 has had a pretty dry boot up until this winter! Horrified!

Love the lights tip I'm going to get some of that stuff!

[ChrisDK]

No No the plan is to apply the sealer from the inside with the window in place. Taking the window out and reseal it beyond My skills The thing is that You need to take out all the trim bits in the boot to get to the window and i don't want to do it twise therefor I will wait and do it at the same time when the real clusters is replaced.

[ChrisDK]

So ! it's time to polish the rear clusters. I guess you can call this a mini review of the cleaning set I bought. I know there is a guide in the how to section, but playing around with aerosol varnish is not an option for me at the moment.

This is the set I bought


And this is what You get


I took a before picture of the cluster, as You can see it is in realy good condition so is the other one. What i'm doing is giving it a light polish.


Apply some of the polishing compound to the drill bit


Work in progress Think I might have used to much water on this one, but I'm a newbee and is learning all the time


The cluster on top has been treated with the polishing compound and awaits the sealent compound, the bottom one has't had anny work done yet.


This is after the first treatment with the sealent and clearifying compound, looks realy nice don't it ?


Another picture after first treatment with the sealent and clearifying compound NICE


Does it work ? I believe so and this picture is the proof. This cluster had previously been polished and varnished. After My polish You can actualy see the finger print of the former restorer LOL LOL which You could not before.



All in all I'm very pleased with the result but bear in mind that the clusters were in good condition and could easily have gone straight on the car. I just did it to gain some experience, next task it to treat the front clusters as soon as I get a new steam cleaner, gave the other one to a freind.

[timrosser]

Oooh that's even more interesting- can you let me know the name of this German window sealing wonder? I would strip out my interior tomorrow if it meant my 480 could be a bit less like the Ark!

Lovely job on the lights!

[timrosser]

IS this the magic German product Chris??? Wurth rubber restorer?


http://www.performancemotorcare.com/aca ... _75ml.html

or the BMW version-

http://www.z3bimmer.com/OffTopic/E24Bimmer/Gummi/

[ChrisDK]

Hi Tim
Sorry but it took Me some time to remember where I bought the sealer, but this is the one
http://www.skandix.de/de/fahrzeug-teile ... l/1016561/
it is simply called window sealer

Good luck with the project. Like to hear your thoughts and how it is working if You get around to sealing the windows before me

[timrosser]

This looks like a real undertaking Chris- the sealer come in one of those big tubes that you pump out with one of those trigger things like pva glue? I think my rear window might look like a badly fitted shower if I tried that I'm looking forward to your how to guide but I'm Acetoneing my lights in the mean time.

Thanks again

[ChrisDK]

Hello All

Haven't been on the internet for a while now. Today I found some time to fire up the old girl (not the miss's ) I changed and adjustet the sprinkler nozzles, the car needs to be ready for next weekend. I'm making a small trip to the south of Denmark to visit a yearly classic car exhibition with some mates. First of march meens motorcycles and classic cars are allowed on the road and what better day to choose than today spring is in the air or atleast the sun is shining. I took the opportunity to take the car for a trip to the beach.




But before the trip to the beach I needed help from my good freind (again)


I bet some of You know the feeling, winter is almost gone, but only a few of the projects has been finished New tyres are needed on the next oppertunity so are the rear arch repair. But I will get to that

[ChrisDK]

Sunday Morning, freeking early


I'm on my way to classic car swap meet.

Does this look familiar? OH Yes I think I owe my freind a pint or two. It seems my battery is leaking power


Topped up with gasoline and air in the tyres i'm on My way


Not a car in sight at that hour of the day. I wonder why??


Cruising along E45, the engine temperature was stable all day. I'm very pleased, the car performed perfekt all day.


Fuel economy is realy good. Doing mostly motorway I think the average was 7.7 / 100 km not that bad


Once there I found a few older Volvo's


The ViaRetro Volvo is ovned by a guy from My town, he runs a very good blogg viaretro.com mostly is Danish but more and more is in English.


I believe I was in the only 480 there, no spare parts to be found but My mate found a new grille for his R4. Once again I was pleased with the car's performance. This was the longest trip I've made since I got the car, but not the last. It criuses nicely at 110 - 120 without to much noise and in comfort. But is does lack a cupholder for the coffee

[ChrisDK]

4 of a kind beats 2 pairs

I Had a little spare time to day and decided to tackle the most annoying problems. First off was the battery, it has been giving me a hard time the last couple of month even today it was a pain in the As....
I had to ask the girl freind to jump start me with the Hyundai before she was going to work, I did not dare take her picture First I had believed that there was some sort of electricity thief in the car, but the battery has been holding power for shorter and shorter periods of time, I last drove the car 3 days ago and it was stone dead which leeds me to believe that the battery was slowly dying.

Second issue was the tires, they were not the same kind or even same size but I have been posponing it until now, no point of having new tires when the car is parked in the garage. I went to the tire shop that provided me with 4 new tires and a new battery. Initially I was looking for some Apollo tires but aparently Denmark is a Michelin tyre country as only Michelin is ready awalible (and the most expensive) faced with the choise of having the more expensive Michelin tyres or waiting three weeks before My next oppertunity to get to the tyre shop I opted for the expensive choise.



At the tyre shop I had a sneak peek of the underside of the car and it looked to be in realy nice nick, no visible rust



It is now equiped with 4 brand new Michelin engergy saver something 185/60 R14 the tires are only T or H marked don't remember (I think up to 190 km/h) but that is the choise in my instruction manual as the car is a NA. In total I was set back 386 £ which kind of blew my budget. Better planning could have saved me 40% by going to Germany, it's only like 3 hours drive to Hamburg but that wasn't an option. So be it I only hope that the battery problem is over, cross your fingers.

[ChrisDK]

Of all the stupid thinks I done

This really takes it. The grilfreind is out of the house for a couple of days which leaves me the time to play with the car. My drivers side daylight bulb has been blown for a while so changing it, clean and polish was on today's menu. Unfortatenely the glass broke during My strugle to free it, good damn what a stupid thing to do

Will post pictures later of the progress, when My blood presure is normal again.

[ChrisDK]

As mentioned I took of the front clusters and every work starte with a good cleaning.


Left to dry the damage is obvious


I did try the trusted method of repairing with acetone, but this time i didn't do the job, the material must be some other kind of plastic. Left to soak in acetone did't help and I was forced to use super glue
and I was forced to use super glue

A picture af the hazeines before the polish, hope you can see it


And the broken cluster after repair, the super glue left a nasty trace


This is the cluster after treatment looks rather good


Spot the difference ?


Another picture of the result



All in all I'm satisfied with the result. Just need to pick up some new bulbs and look at the long range lamps to see if I can figure out why the don't work - but no more disasembly work to day

[ChrisDK]

A breif update on My life with a youngtimer

Not much has happend since My last post, the front clusters still sits on the dining table, haven't really had the time to fix it and it was pointet out to me that a cracked headlight is a MOT failure. So I guess I will be scouting for a new front cluster. I was inspired by AcidikDavey to change the DLR to LED, I've been reading and searching the internet and finaly found some 8 SMD can-bus led's in Germany, they should be here within a week. With the help of Malkontent I've got a new interior light, I'm planning to do a lot of work on the car, hopefully next weekend all depends on the supply of spares. Can't really say it's been good driving weather, the day after I got the new tires snow was poring down and salting of the roads has just stopped a few days ago. Does spring ever comes around this year ??