The Adventures of the White Rabbit

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ladyforatey
480 Newbie
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:00 pm
Location: Nottingham

The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by ladyforatey » Tue Mar 29, 2016 5:31 pm

10 years ago, when I was a mere 21 year old, I fulfilled my then life's ambition and made my very first car a 480. Having grown up with 340s, a 440 and a V70 I got the cool Volvo my parents never bought. She was called Baby, and she was flippin' fantastic.

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I loved my car, loved her. So when she went wrong (depressing frequently I seem to recall) I fixed her. Again and again. 'Til 2010, when I finally ran out of money, and patience, and I sold her - on this very forum. (To people who SORN-d her pretty quickly I'd like to add, grr.)

I regretted that decision ever since.

It was with that sentiment slowly boiling away in the intervening years that drove me to this - catching some trains up to Scotland to see and ultimately purchase, Captain Slow's prize possession Whitney. (Yes, that day I left home at 07:15 and got back at 00:10 - it was a long day)

Image

I must admit that as soon as I stopped for petrol on the long slog home, I put that photo on my facebook with only the description, 'Is anyone surprised?' Hah, not that my friends necessarily understand my obsession with these cars but that they knew me well enough that my eventually finding another one was more an inevitability than an optional outcome. When I first saw pictures of Whitney I genuinely did the real life equivalent of this - :o Everything I was after! Baby was a 94 2.0 ES and I always fancied a Celebration, and to my mind white is the only improvement on Paris Blue. Boom.

So here I am! Back in fold! Back loving driving again and (I fully expect) back to scrimping and saving and digging out the haynes manual. But can you blame me? She's so beautiful!
Look out world, Bunny (as I've renamed her, she's a white rabbit :wink: ) and me are soon to be an unstoppable team :hopping:

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jamescarruthers
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 2501
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2003 3:19 pm
Location: Cambridge

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by jamescarruthers » Tue Mar 29, 2016 5:54 pm

Welcome back!
1987 Volvo 480 ES, 507274, 217 - Red (Ness)
2006 Citroen C6 Exclusive 3.0 petrol/LPG
2008 Mini Cooper convertible (Mau)

Previous 480's:
J123 CFU -- ES
J449 MNL -- ES auto
D864 CPV -- ES
L691 JFC -- Turbo
F70 MNR -- ES
H858 FGV -- Turbo auto
E981 KHM -- ES (509849)

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Captain Slow
480 Expert
Posts: 686
Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:13 pm
Location: St Andrews

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by Captain Slow » Tue Mar 29, 2016 8:42 pm

You'd best look after her :angry: :kill:

(only joking....though I do hope it all goes well!)
Previously....
Whitney - 95 N White celebration No.449/480 now with Ladyforatey
Lula - 94 M Volvo 480GT Sold on...
Daphne - 95 M volvo 440si 1.8 73,000K (sold :()

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jamesy12345
480 Veteran
Posts: 753
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 5:49 am
Location: Durham, England

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by jamesy12345 » Tue Mar 29, 2016 9:49 pm

Glad to see the car will remain on the forum & in good hands
Current:
Volvo S60 '04
Renault 21 '91
Subaru Legacy '05
Mazda RX-7 '93
Renault 5 '84

Previous:
440 2 litre, 440 Turbo, 460 Turbo, 480 Turbo x2, 854 T-5R, S40 T4, V40 T4, S70 T5 & R, V70 R x2, S60 R

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doingitsideways
480 Expert
Posts: 659
Joined: Wed May 02, 2012 8:55 pm
Location: Manchester

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by doingitsideways » Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:08 am

Congratulations, it's a lovely example that one :)

Can't help but think that itch will never quite go away for me either, now I'm 480-less :(
"If you can't fix it with a hammer, it's an electrical fault!"
Hammers can't fix a 480!!!

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dcwalker
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 1522
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 12:30 pm
Location: York

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by dcwalker » Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:14 am

Good to see a nice 480 staying in good hands!

Having recently made the same return to 480 ownership, I hope you get masses of enjoyment from it!

David
Current: 1994 480 GT, 1996 460 CD & 1997 440 LE with lots of optional extras & 2007 V50 SE Sport
Previous: Celebration 331 (re-homed with Richard S), Celebration 467 (returned to Martin Mc); Celebration 346 (re-homed with Alan480); Celebration 269 (scrapped abandoned project), Celebration 73 (sold on after 6 years), 1992 ES, 1988 ES - and numerous other non-480 Volvos!

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ladyforatey
480 Newbie
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:00 pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by ladyforatey » Thu Mar 31, 2016 8:32 pm

Thank you for the good wishes everyone :D

Let's see shall we if this time next week I'm in this good a mood - Bunny is going in for her MOT... Dum dum dummm..

I'll let y'all know how it goes. For the time being I'm just enjoying driving around. On my second day of owning her a guy came over to me at the petrol station and told me I had a nice car, that he used to own one years ago and thanked me for keeping it on the road!

Also, here's what she looked like when I came home the other day - the only car on the street in the sunshine :D

Image

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jamesy12345
480 Veteran
Posts: 753
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 5:49 am
Location: Durham, England

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by jamesy12345 » Thu Mar 31, 2016 9:23 pm

do you pay more council tax or something...!
Current:
Volvo S60 '04
Renault 21 '91
Subaru Legacy '05
Mazda RX-7 '93
Renault 5 '84

Previous:
440 2 litre, 440 Turbo, 460 Turbo, 480 Turbo x2, 854 T-5R, S40 T4, V40 T4, S70 T5 & R, V70 R x2, S60 R

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doingitsideways
480 Expert
Posts: 659
Joined: Wed May 02, 2012 8:55 pm
Location: Manchester

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by doingitsideways » Thu Mar 31, 2016 10:08 pm

jamesy12345 wrote:do you pay more council tax or something...!
Damn.
No thanks button on here. :angry:
"If you can't fix it with a hammer, it's an electrical fault!"
Hammers can't fix a 480!!!

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Jay-Kay-Em
480 Rookie
Posts: 428
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:42 pm
Location: Huntingdon
Contact:

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by Jay-Kay-Em » Fri Apr 01, 2016 10:09 pm

Lookin' good.

Good luck with the Mot.
Jay-Kay-Em
-------------------------------------
Click here for My 480 Turbo Diary
Click here for My Cars

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ladyforatey
480 Newbie
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:00 pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by ladyforatey » Fri Apr 08, 2016 7:02 pm

Well the good news is that Bunny passed her MOT! After failing it of course.

I have also got a list of to do's from the garage - have a look and if anyone has any suggestions or thoughts about the work they think needs doing let me know!
Image

The garage I go to is run by a mechanic who used to work for Volvo, and worked there when the 480s were being sold. As such, he hates them! He told me he was forever having fix them as they went wrong in so many little ways (good to know some things never change). Drinking oil was one, the electrics was another and apparently no one could get the overtaking windscreen wiper thing to work. Can't say I've ever tried it. I countered these arguments by spreading my hands wide and saying, 'But they're beautiful!' He wasn't convinced.

Stll, he said she was a good example of a dying breed :D But then I already knew that :wink:

Incidentally, this was also at the garage that day - and looking very tidy indeed!
Image

Oh, and a friend of mine told me that she had the chance, way back when, to buy the 480 Celebration (that is the 480th one). It was very expensive and apparently gold. Can anyone else corroborate this? At the time she saw it it was at a dealer in West Bridgford.

Alan 480
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 1489
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:03 am
Location: Aberdeen

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by Alan 480 » Fri Apr 08, 2016 7:33 pm

2 is a pain and needs suspension taken apart, so keep an eye on it, but also maybe the clip is rotten , so worth replacing as only pennies, I bought a pack of ten for £3 ! NB motor factors don't do singles :wink:

3
front discs DO need caliper AND holder removed and trust me the bolts are awffy tight (that's scaff bar tight, and probably the heads of the bolts will be 'round' so leave well alone if only surface rust) I changed mine for allen headed variety and then put a dust cap over them for future removal.

4 to 7 are quite easy to do at home, not so at side of the road , BUT possible.

discs can be removed from the rears WITHOUT removing the caliper holders, just grind /file a tiny bit off the corner where they touch (after disc removal, so the new ones will go back on, the tiny bit thicker disc will stop them sliding in !)

8, depends on how much 'light rust' is 'light' the pipes are installed BEFORE the tank went in so you need to re-route the pipes, and they are BOTH one piece right from ABS to back!

9 save further rusting, as in MINI front subframes

10 , take inside and leave over night!
Last edited by Alan 480 on Sat Apr 09, 2016 10:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Alan

480 ES 2litre 'Celebration' ? , C30 1.8ES, SS1

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glasgowjim
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 4830
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:28 pm
Location: GLASGOW SCOTLAND

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by glasgowjim » Fri Apr 08, 2016 8:40 pm

When you do have to replace the cv boot get a kit which has the boot in 2 halves and you fit round glue together and the job is done have done a couple this way its is so easy just take your time when doing it. :D

oh and welcome to the forum :hopping:

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ladyforatey
480 Newbie
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:00 pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by ladyforatey » Mon May 16, 2016 9:12 pm

Thank you for the advice Alan and Jim! Sorry that's been a while coming. I haven't got around to doing anything yet I must admit.

We made it down to Suffolk and back though! The only new problem that seems to have arisen are the blowers - that is they don't really. Coming back up from Saxmundham the a/c was blowing a gale at my sisters legs (in the passenger seat) and nothing much was coming out the vents. I've tried all the other settings as well with no luck so I assume there's a baffle stuck somewhere or something.

And a dash bulb has gone. And a running light. And the handbrake doesn't hold much on my hill. (I walked out the house the other day paranoid I had locked her and as I walked towards her she CREAKED and moved a little - eep!!)

Despite all this, she's still the best looking car on the street :wink:

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

Re: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by Ade » Tue May 17, 2016 12:06 pm

Just my tuppence worth........

As regards CV boots....... I'm sure the glue together ones are ok if Jim reckons so but it is easy enough to remove the outer joint from the shaft on our cars. It's a circlip retained one, not a snap ring so you don't have to go mad with a copper drift to get them off, just release the clip and then a gentle tap should free it. I always do it this way as a proper OE type one has to be the best option. Gives you a chance to properly clean and service the joints as well.
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: The Adventures of the White Rabbit

Post by Ade » Tue May 17, 2016 12:10 pm

Additionally, if you have the whole shaft out and do the work in a vice, you can make a much better job of it, and, as previously mentioned, you can properly clean and re grease both inner and outer joints. They are worth taking care of as new outers are not cheap and as far as I'm aware, inners are completely unavailable.
O.C. 480 D.

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