Dendy's 480 Diary

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Alan 480
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by Alan 480 » Wed May 02, 2018 6:35 pm

IMHO the front engine steady needs oil, the gas is not going to slow the fore & aft movement!

so small drill and top it up, start with auto trans fluid, working up to EP 90, if really worn
self tapper to seal

what can go wrong :-)

PS seen this dodge done 40 years ago and made a massive difference to front end of a Wolsley 444 :D
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by eye of ra » Wed May 02, 2018 7:39 pm

Sorry not up on shock absorbers said gas as it doesn’t have a spring, how do you tell gas or oil I would like to know?
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by 89of480 » Wed May 02, 2018 11:14 pm

Jaster wrote:
Sun Apr 08, 2018 11:18 am

Here we have the elusive rear engine mount, or at least a compatible one. The base on it is forged from the finest Chineseum alloy
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

You got me there, that was hilarious!

Still, it can’t be worse than the original engine mount removed off of my engine - it had failed at some point in its life - and the rubber had all been stuck back together with mastic :shock:

I was very lucky to source one from Scandix before they ran dry, but at least the whole car doesn’t clonk when I change between drive and park and especially reverse now! :wink:
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by Alan 480 » Thu May 03, 2018 11:37 am

eye of ra wrote:
Wed May 02, 2018 7:39 pm
Sorry not up on shock absorbers said gas as it doesn’t have a spring, how do you tell gas or oil I would like to know?
the basic principle of the telescopic shock absorber is that it has a piston with small holes in it and some valves, on suspension there will be two, one for bounce & one for rebound.

in this case not sure if there would be a difference, probably needs to be able to resist the torque when you dump the clutch?
Alan

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WRDendy
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by WRDendy » Tue May 08, 2018 9:00 am

Got a fair amount done this weekend, will do a full write-up when time allows. The main priority now is getting everything up and running for the meet.

Here's a picture of my pair of rolling Scandinavian money pits yesterday evening after a pleasant day of sunshine:

Image
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jamescarruthers
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by jamescarruthers » Tue May 08, 2018 9:09 am

jamescarruthers wrote:
Wed May 02, 2018 1:34 pm
Maybe send it to SGS Engineering so they can asses it then we could all follow your lead!‎
SGS say no!
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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WRDendy
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by WRDendy » Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:58 pm

I've finally got round to replacing my windscreen, and it wasn't a quick process. As of a week ago I had cracks starting in the top passenger corner extended pretty much the entire way across the car, so not much driving was taking place. Several of you saw them in their early stages at the recent meets and the general consensus was that the aftermarket DAB antenna forced through the seal was the source of the problems, possibly with a bit of rust thrown in for good measure. I was hopeful that any rust would be minimal as there were no signs of bubbling anywhere, and rust anywhere on a 480 is never good news.

Anyway, the Autoglass technician arrived at about midday last Wednesday and got to work removing the cracked glass. He'd done some research ahead of time and was aware that the seals are now unavailable, and thus took care to remove everything without any damage (except for the windscreen itself, which was pretty far-gone and didn't quite make it out in one go). Apparently it was the original glass from the factory, so not a bad innings.

Anyway, having removed the glass we were presented with this:

Image

I'm sure the antenna wasn't helping (and I made short work of it with the side cutters out of spite), but clearly there were bigger problems. The metal in that corner was pretty deformed, and there were other rust spots and patches of surface rust all the way around. The technician said that he couldn't fit the new windscreen in good faith with the metalwork in that condition, and I agreed to sort out the rust before we moved forward. I can now join James in the exclusive club of people who have driven 480s without windscreens, although I only made it up to about 10mph going round a farm yard to a nearby barn where I left it for the night, having taken another photo to remind myself what I was dealing with:

Image
(believe me, it looked a lot worse in real life!)

As I calmly walked away, I felt much like this relaxed chap:
Image

The next morning, I set off to get some new grinding wheels. As I partook in the timeless Oxford tradition of sitting in stationary traffic, I felt glad that I was not repairing the bumper on the van in front of me:
Image
Always important to look on the bright side.

Anyway, I eventually made it to the car and got to work. Fortunately, I find doing bodywork quite therapeutic, and, spurred on by the ancient tales passed down by the old ones about how there is actually some metal underneath the layers of rust and grime that make up most of a 480, I fired up the dremel (the angle grinder was tempting, but I was concerned that there wouldn't be much car left once I'd finished with it). Soon enough, I found some shiny stuff:
Image

I repeated that process all the way around the edge, most was just surface rust but there was a patch in the middle that just kept going until I ended up with a hole straight through into the roof. Such is life though - better to cut it all out while I have access to it than pretend it's not there and paint over it. I switched to a wire brush and finally a sanding block and then covered everything in rust converter just to make sure, had a cup of tea, and then started building everything back up with fibreglass followed by P38 and then some primer:
Image
Image
Image
(work in progress shots I hasten to add)

...And a quick touch-up on the bits that can be seen:
Image
Always worth having a rattle can made up from your colour code, never know when it might come in handy.

While I was waiting for things to dry, I upgraded the steering on the Saab:
Image
Note the beer in the footwell - remember kids, never work on dangerous SRS components without first ensuring a basic level of mild inebriation.

The technician managed to fit me in on his way home the next day (Friday), and arrived at about 8pm. Having inspected and been satisfied with the quality of my workmanship, he primed up the rest of the metalwork and slotted the screen back in. I say that, but it was about 10pm when he finally left. I must say that I was very impressed with his both his skill and dedication - not many people would want to be changing windscreens on an obscure 90's Volvo on a farm in the middle of nowhere at 10pm on a Friday night, but he did, and he did a fantastic job. Absolutely top marks to him and Autoglass for a job well done.

I didn't take any more pictures that day, but finally taking it for a drive on Saturday was fantastic. The windscreen had seen better days when I originally bought the car - I think someone had polished it with a dirty cloth or something, big swirls and scratch marks all across it and right in the driver's eyeline, so I felt like I was driving in HD!
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Former: '89 ES

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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by 89of480 » Wed Jun 13, 2018 11:25 pm

Fair play to the Autoglass man!! :hopping:

A well done on your repair!! You’ve done a cracking job of that, although I am deeply concerned as this is one of my next jobs to tackle! The windscreen is cracked, unrelated to rusting at least, it cracked when I pushed the mirror back on recently......
But it was all chipped anyway, and there are a couple of bubbles above the screen anyways, so it would of had to come out at some point; this just accelerated the process ;) There is also a rust patch you can see inside the passenger door shut adjacent to the windscreen, so god only knows what is lurking... :eek:
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jamescarruthers
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by jamescarruthers » Thu Jun 14, 2018 5:38 am

Excellent work and I can thoroughly relate to it! 
Agree with your HD comment: I cannot believe how much clearer a new screen is!‎
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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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by frenchfries » Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:19 am

Hello

Is the spray can color code 319? Is it close to a match?
1993 Turbo auto called Skip for the important stuff
2011 Juke 190 for everything else

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WRDendy
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by WRDendy » Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:39 am

89of480 wrote:
Wed Jun 13, 2018 11:25 pm
...The windscreen is cracked, unrelated to rusting at least, it cracked when I pushed the mirror back on recently......
But it was all chipped anyway, and there are a couple of bubbles above the screen anyways...
There'll be rust under there, I'd put money on it. Guess how I know :lol:. Having read through your thread it looks like doing bodywork isn't an issue for you though so I wouldn't worry too much about it. My main advice would be to invest in some dremel grinding wheels if you don't already have some as it makes getting into the small spaces and contours much easier than a big grinder, and not to worry about priming all the bare metal/filler that you'll be left with as Autoglass will make short work of that when they fit the new one. I really have to say again how impressed I was by the Autoglass tech - it feels like it's rare these days to find true artisans, but this guy really knew what he was doing and went above and beyond to get it done to the highest possible standard.
frenchfries wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:19 am
Is the spray can color code 319? Is it close to a match?
Yes, I entered the code on this page and had the can on my desk the next day. So far I've completely re-sprayed the splitter and done a few touch-ups here and there and it's as close to a perfect match as one is likely to get. Obviously the usual caveats apply when it comes to blending it into existing paintwork if you're doing a big panel, but that's the case however you approach it.
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Current: '94 GT & '88 ES
Former: '89 ES

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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by frenchfries » Thu Jun 14, 2018 7:51 pm

Will have a better look, not sure what to go for :)
1993 Turbo auto called Skip for the important stuff
2011 Juke 190 for everything else

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89of480
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by 89of480 » Fri Jun 15, 2018 1:02 am

Jaster wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:39 am
89of480 wrote:
Wed Jun 13, 2018 11:25 pm
...The windscreen is cracked, unrelated to rusting at least, it cracked when I pushed the mirror back on recently......
But it was all chipped anyway, and there are a couple of bubbles above the screen anyways...
There'll be rust under there, I'd put money on it. Guess how I know :lol:. Having read through your thread it looks like doing bodywork isn't an issue for you though so I wouldn't worry too much about it. My main advice would be to invest in some dremel grinding wheels if you don't already have some as it makes getting into the small spaces and contours much easier than a big grinder, and not to worry about priming all the bare metal/filler that you'll be left with as Autoglass will make short work of that when they fit the new one. I really have to say again how impressed I was by the Autoglass tech - it feels like it's rare these days to find true artisans, but this guy really knew what he was doing and went above and beyond to get it done to the highest possible standard.
Well, this is what’s visible with the windscreen in place!!

Image

Image

Image

So I am not doubting something is going on under there, but after seeing pictures of your car and considering the lack of delamination on my screen, I’m hoping there won’t be anything too serious under there! :D

Thank you, I appreciate your kind words! :D the Dremel sounds like a good idea though, and thanks for the heads up about ht3 prepping! I need to get the ball rolling on this body work so I can take care of this rust and the dodgy paint! Hopefully I’ll be able to get this done soon! :hopping:
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by WRDendy » Sat Jun 30, 2018 3:34 pm

Oli turned up a couple of weeks ago complaining that the sound in his car was awful. No surprises there, it's got the standard head unit and the original Volvo paper cones, so we got to work:

Image

Didn't take many pictures as the process is already well-documented, but we put a healthy amount of sound deadening in both doors and sealed all the holes (not the drains of course!) and then put as much sound deadening in the rear quarters as we could fit through the speaker holes. The Volvo speakers were in pretty bad condition (were they ever good?) - the foam rings around the woofers were in various stages of disintegration and the connectors had detached themselves from the passenger door speakers completely so no sound at all from that side.

I've had various different speakers in my car and I think I've come up with the optimum setup that balances price and performance nicely, and most importantly doesn't require any hacking of the car itself. I've had more expensive JBLs in my car in the past, but the increase in sound quality wasn't noticeable given how loud the car is to begin with and you have to modify both the doors and the rear speaker holders to make them work. Accordingly, I prescribe the following:

Front: Pioneer TS-A133Ci (link). These sound incredible for the price and fit with no modifications required beyond popping the front off the tweeters. The negative difference in sound quality is noticeable on cheaper versions, but inversely the perceptible increase in quality with more expensive speakers in a 480 is negligible (in my experience), so these seem to be the sweet spot.

Rear: Any of the TS-G series on this page. The important thing with the rears is finding speakers that fit beneath the rather shallow grills, which the TS-G series are specifically designed to do. They don't sound particularly special in isolation, but they're coax (or triax if you get the 3-way version I suppose) so cone surface area is limited, and the rear speakers are really just there to 'fill in' the sound - 90% of what you hear comes from the front speakers, and who cares about passengers in the back? :lol:

We wanted to keep the original head unit (VC601) for the sake of aesthetics, and impressively it was able to drive the speakers fairly loudly before breaking up, easily loud enough to hear while driving at speed. Finally, we added a Bluetooth adapter with hands-free and an FM transmitter to allow music playback from a phone. Technology has come on a long way with those things, I'd say you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between it and a direct cable in when the car is moving.

I'm never one to miss an opportunity to photograph more than one 480 at once, so here's the pair of them in the evening once everything was back together and working:

Image
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by WRDendy » Sat Jun 30, 2018 8:12 pm

My instrument cluster has been on the blink for some time - the rev counter is intermittent and a few weeks ago the speedo gave up completely. Today I took the dash apart and repaired it...

Teaser photo:
Image

The full write-up is in the how-to section here.
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WRDendy
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by WRDendy » Wed Aug 01, 2018 10:43 am

Oli turned up on Sunday with more problems. Perhaps I should become a full-time 480 mechanic... This time it was the passenger pop-up which was not doing much. Since I had a spare motor to hand, we decided to just swap it and then figure out what was going wrong later.

Off comes the nose cone:

Image

Oli learns how to remove a pop-up motor from a donor headlight:

Image

Getting the motor off is a real bastard of a job. My preference is to detach the entire headlight mechanism from the car and then tap it loose with a hammer, then bolt the new one in place, then re-attach the whole thing to the car. Make sure to work out whether the motor thinks that it is 'up' or 'down', and then fit the headlight arm as appropriate. Don't be stupid and fit it half-way open. Ask me how I know.

Image

The gas struts were completely gone, which probably hastened the demise of the motor. I got a couple from Dylan on here a few months ago for my car, so need to investigate what the likelihood or sourcing them locally is or whether it's easier to get them from the continent.

Also did a quick repair to a boot release catch. If yours feels a bit loose, chances are it looks something like this underneath:

Image

The plastic has broken. I'm not surprised, it is a 480 after all. Not to worry - just get some bolts and washers and see if they fit into the catch:

Image

They do. Then simply re-assemble:

Image

Rock-solid industrial-style boot release!
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Current: '94 GT & '88 ES
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jamescarruthers
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by jamescarruthers » Wed Aug 01, 2018 11:38 am

SGS Engineering recharged my pop-up gas struts. If they fail pressure test they supply new ones.
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)

zapcity
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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by zapcity » Wed Aug 01, 2018 1:41 pm

Thanks for the speaker upgrade advice.

As the experience of others is usually the best advice, I'm now armed with the following: -

Pioneer TS-A133Ci speakers for the front doors
Pioneer TS-G1320F speakers for the rear
a box of PeaceMAT XR Car Sound Deadening sheets (weights more that the car!!)


£100 all in for the above from ebay. Very reasonable.

I will connect to the standard VC802 head unit for now. Will probably swap out for a Pioneer unit over the winter once I've exhausted my supply of cassettes from the loft.

One question. What did you seal the door holes with? Mine had some thin plastic stuck over the holes before it was removed to 'fix' the window regulators.
1994 480GT - arrived!!
XC60 and XC70 for the daily grind.
C70 Coupé Convertible for the sunny days. Should sell it but can't!

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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by WRDendy » Wed Aug 01, 2018 3:51 pm

I used transparent Fablon, available on Amazon here, or alternatively at your local hobby/crafts shop or builder's merchant, as it is also used to cover windows. I made rough templates on paper and then trimmed as necessary.

Looks like you've got everything you need for now - the VC802 should drive the speakers no problem and you may wish to keep it for the sake of originality. Oli wanted to keep his for that reason so I fitted one of these, mounted on the dash, which gives him music from a bluetooth device, e.g. phone, as well as hands-free phone calls if he so desires. An audiophile would correctly point out that it won't be as good as a direct line-in (theoretically), but I would defy anyone to tell the difference in a car. You could also get a version with a 3.5mm connector rather than bluetooth, depending on your use case.

As far as the sound deadening goes, just try to get a reasonable coverage on as much of the metalwork as possible. Here's what my door looked like when I'd finished with it:

Image

Most of the outer skin is covered in big sheets, and the inner skin has it on the inside (which you can't see), and a few bits here and there on the outside for good measure, although not so much that it makes getting the door card back on a hassle. The overall goal of this exercise is to make the door resemble a speaker cabinet as much as possible, so make sure that the fablon covers as many of the holes on the inside skin as possible so the space is sealed. I ended covering a few of them with gaffa tape at the last minute!
Formerly known as 'Jaster'
Current: '94 GT & '88 ES
Former: '89 ES

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Re: Dendy's 480 Diary

Post by zapcity » Wed Aug 01, 2018 6:54 pm

Thanks for this. Most helpful. :D :D :D

I had some fablon saved in my ebay watch list, so I was on the mark. Good to know.

Bluetooth idea sounds good. For a tenner you can't go wrong!

Will post some pics of my efforts.
1994 480GT - arrived!!
XC60 and XC70 for the daily grind.
C70 Coupé Convertible for the sunny days. Should sell it but can't!

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