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Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 10:28 pm
by jifflemon
shows "DHL Package United Kingdom [carbon-neutral*] @ £14.14" for me?

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 10:21 am
by 100
jifflemon wrote:
Mon Jan 10, 2022 10:28 pm
shows "DHL Package United Kingdom [carbon-neutral*] @ £14.14" for me?
You are quite right, I was looking for 'United Kingdom' as opposed to 'Great Britain'. I'll speak to William.

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 12:05 pm
by WRDendy
100 wrote:
Tue Jan 11, 2022 10:21 am
I'll speak to William.
Spoken to. Car looks banging, shame about the atrocious fitment of the battery terminal. Whoever fitted it is clearly a real moron :lol:

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 12:41 pm
by 100
Jaster wrote:
Tue Jan 11, 2022 12:05 pm
Whoever fitted it is clearly a real moron :lol:
Can't get the skivvies these days

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:06 am
by 100
So... I've wimped out and changed my springs again.

I live in rural Hertfordshire with very poor quality roads and since fitting the sports springs, the ride has been abysmal. I'm fairly well versed with high spring rates and sports damping and my (amateur) conclusion was that whilst the front dampers are able to sufficiently 'damp' the front springs, the rears aren't. In addition, and probably more importantly, I don't think the rear had enough travel to deal with the roads round here (especially at the speed I drive them).

On this basis, I replaced the rear sports springs with the standard items:

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This has completely transformed the car into what I think will be a good compromise of sports handling and comfort, particularly once I've changed all the rear arms. On the sports springs, the rear of the car was slightly lower than the front whereas now I'm running some postitive 'rake' which I think looks pretty good!

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2022 11:24 am
by 100
So, following my moaning about the stainless exhaust I had made for the car it's time to change it back to off-the-shelf mild-steel that won't ruin my ear holes on the motorway.

All looks pretty tired (the dodgy jubilee clips were a temporary attempt to mitigate exhaust to body contact):

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Always nice to have a look underneath to see if anything weird is going on (fairly free of rust thankfully):

'Shagging Bangers' handiwork:
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Is it normal to have a piece of weird heat shield here?
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I reckon this brake line is supposed to be in that clip you can see above it:
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Anyway, as far the removal:

This is the clamp that connects the back box to the exhaust:
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After snapping one of the bolts, I realised that if I wiggled it enough then it would just slide apart... nice!
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Hanging low, note the lack of rubber mounts as they've broken or dropped off:
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These crusty chaps were next:
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Annoyingly, I've managed to get them mostly undone but they are so buggered I'm going to whizz them off with an angle grinder and use new high temp items for the replacement exhaust.

I have Covid at the moment so this is my only excuse to leave the house, work will continue this evening to get the remainder off!

I would be in a position to refit the new exhaust if the backbox hadn't been shipped to me in this state:

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Yes, that's a postage label applied directly to the backbox. Needless to say I'm in the long and painful process of arranging a collection and replacement. I bought it from Online Automotive's ebay and it was shipped directly from Euroflo, so beware.

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:59 am
by 100
The remainder of the old exhaust came off last night:

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£400 of sculpture:

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Ready for connections:

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Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2022 6:14 pm
by 100
Et voila:
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Two is better than one?
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Road testing will be completed when there aren't trampolines hanging over the road in a trees...!

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 9:58 am
by 100
Quick splitter update:

In my spray booth:
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Primed:
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Painted:
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Before:
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After:
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So much better...!

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2022 4:19 pm
by jifflemon
such a subtle mod.... Definitely improves the front end of a 480!

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2022 10:14 am
by 100
jifflemon wrote:
Mon Mar 21, 2022 4:19 pm
such a subtle mod.... Definitely improves the front end of a 480!
So good to have a splitter back on, just didn't look right without it!

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2022 6:57 pm
by WillC9303
looks fantastic!

I'll be doing the exact same thing to the spoiler on my own TT in the summer. Might have to use a bit of filler/fibreglass to fix mine as it's not in as good condition as yours is.

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:47 am
by 100
WillC9303 wrote:
Tue Mar 22, 2022 6:57 pm
looks fantastic!

I'll be doing the exact same thing to the spoiler on my own TT in the summer. Might have to use a bit of filler/fibreglass to fix mine as it's not in as good condition as yours is.
I bought mine new from WR Composites and my original was buggered having already been repaired several times.

Given I had the spray cans out, I thought I'd have a go at sorting some of the scuffs on the front bumper. The paint isn't very good as it is so even if I do an average job it'll be better than the existing. That being said, as you will see from the results below, painting in patches isn't really going to work so I will likely paint the whole bumper (as we all know is the correct way to handle painting!).

Excuse my 6 month old 'temporary' fence:

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ARGH!

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Turns out the green is a better match:

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If/when I paint it in it's entirety I will be sure to sand it back thoroughly to remove all the stone chips etc that can still be seen in the new paint. This was very much an experimental process on the basis it couldn't get much worse!

I still need to wet sand it back and lacquer so this may improve things.

Spotlights are also out for painting and resealing:

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Whilst chrome paint will never be as good as the original mirror finish it's better than the crusty yellow that's showing through.

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:55 am
by 100
Prior to this painting nonsense I got the car cleaning kit out and gave the car a clay/cut/polish. I tried a clay mitt for the first time and I was quite surprised how easy and effective it was to use.

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Annoyingly I haven't managed to take a decent picture it when finished.
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Supervisor:
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Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2022 11:44 am
by jifflemon
100 wrote:
Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:47 am
Spotlights are also out for painting and resealing:

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Whilst chrome paint will never be as good as the original mirror finish it's better than the crusty yellow that's showing through.
You'd have been quicker removing the lenses than masking them off! :rofl:

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 4:40 pm
by 100
jifflemon wrote:
Fri Mar 25, 2022 11:44 am

You'd have been quicker removing the lenses than masking them off! :rofl:
I didn't want to mess with the adjustment on the off chance someone actually bothered to set the height at some point in the past!

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If only my indicator/DRL cluster wasn't so wonky!

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 7:31 pm
by jifflemon
100 wrote:
Sat Mar 26, 2022 4:40 pm
I didn't want to mess with the adjustment on the off chance someone actually bothered to set the height at some point in the past!
I was going more with the approach of “make sure the adjusters are free, then align them”

Admittedly, that’s also one of my “must get round to it” jobs too! :lol:

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 12:15 pm
by 100
It's been a while since an update and I'm procrastinating at work so why not...

Since my last update:
  • Broke my new splitter
  • Broke my rear light lense
  • Broke a mudflap
  • Broke a driving light
  • Broke my number plate mount
  • 'Broke' my wheel bearings
  • Broke my new suspension
  • Broke my spirit
The solution to this is obviously to scrap the car and buy a 2022 Nissan Micra. So I proceeded as follows:
  • Ordered a new splitter
  • Ordered new rear light lenses
  • Replacement driving light has arrived
  • Replaced wheel bearings
Aside from the suspension, the problem being deficient aftermarket top mounts, the rest of the list is predominantly aesthetic and minor.

All sounds fairly miserable, but on the upside, the car took us to Devon for 2 weeks and behaved perfectly whilst also smashing all the lanes and country roads when not stuck behind a bloated SUV or £80ks worth of £40k lifestyle transporter.

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My issue with the suspension is the centre sleeve protruding out of the top mounts resulting in the front looking a little bit high even with the Turbo springs kindly supplied by Jeff:

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I am now on the hunt for some OEMs in good condition.

I have a friend who works in a CNC workshop who was able to assist with my wheel bearing issues:

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These were then coated before being reinstalled.

The aforementioned rear light breakage:

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A visit to Jeff's confirmed that some of the remanufactured French lights would be well worth the €:

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Personally, I think they looking eff'ing fantastic and will transform the car.

I've also replaced the distributor rotor and cap as I missed it off my service list and it was pretty mucky(!):

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As mentioned, the front plate mount needs some attention; I think the car looks rather good with no front plate. If you are a clean freak then make sure to take your mount off to clean behind as clearly it gets full of crap:

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To finish, some random photos:

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"No wonder he broke his light lens" I hear you saying... It was actually an empty cool box being loaded into the boot that broke the UV damaged brittle lens with a light tap

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Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:43 pm
by WillC9303
Sorry to hear that so many things have broken on your 480, Oli. Glad to hear you are getting it fixed, as it looks to good to scrap. Not to mention being a Two-Tone, which would be even more sad :(
In regards to the front splitter, I'm told that the remanufactured ones from WR Composites are tougher than the factory fit spoilers, so I'd maybe look into that.
I wasn't originally going to lower my own TT, but I have to say yours looks very nice with a set of Turbo springs. What's the ride like with them?

Re: Oli's 1992 Volvo 480ES Limited Edition

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:13 pm
by 100
Don't worry I was just being grumpy and commenting on the state of the modern car; there's no way this car is going anywhere!

Unfortunately, I'll be on to my second WR splitter now... Not because of their quality but because I gave mine a considerable whack!

I think the springs the car came to me on were generic 400 series springs which weren't correct for the car and raised the front end. I then changed to the Lesjofors/Klein springs which is what the car sits on in most of the photos. They look excellent but aren't practical for the roads around me which are in fairly poor condition. They were lovely on the smooth undulating Devonshire roads! I've now changed to the Turbo springs but the final height is yet unknown as I'm having this top mount issue. From what I've seen of other Turbos, it'll be a sensible height when sorted.