Volvo 480 Club Europe

One week on and the question on everyones lips is: "is the tank removed?"



Come on people!

Instead I removed the upper arms - As previously mentioned, I'd see a horror post on Facebook, and true to form, Britney was no different.
N/S kinda played ball - And by that I mean the inner sleeve of the bush was seized to the pin, but thats nothing that a little heat won't fix.

The O/S side though? Well.... this happened:



Yup, the bolt sheared clean off. Oh and the bush sleeve was seized on for good measure!

Un-deterred, I cleaned up the arms, pressed out the bushes and brought this lot home:



For some lovely lashings of POR15:



Tonight's job is to find some suitable rear arm bushes without spending mega bucks.

Just remember people, if you ever remove something like this, a little bit of copper grease on reassembly can save many broken hearts later on!

looking good , but still putting off tank removal?

you could remove the pump and syphon the fuel out? or is fuel flow not about 200ml/min with no back pressure?

what are the plans for the snapped stud, drill our and insert a bolt/stud welded in from hub side?

are you planning poly bush or ??

if you have not changed the shocks at rear then the eye from those 'look' the same outer diameter, although the sleeve is too long.

I have a pair of jiggered shocks which might be used and I think i salvaged the bushes from the coil-overs from the SS1 , which leaked when attacked with the chipping hammer to remove the surface rust , so two possible versions / sources

Alan 480 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2020 9:58 pm

looking good , but still putting off tank removal?

you could remove the pump and syphon the fuel out? or is fuel flow not about 200ml/min with no back pressure?

what are the plans for the snapped stud, drill our and insert a bolt/stud welded in from hub side?

are you planning poly bush or ??

if you have not changed the shocks at rear then the eye from those 'look' the same outer diameter, although the sleeve is too long.

I have a pair of jiggered shocks which might be used and I think i salvaged the bushes from the coil-overs from the SS1 , which leaked when attacked with the chipping hammer to remove the surface rust , so two possible versions / sources

Tank removal..... yeah!

Have found the part number for the stud - 3122177 - As to whether there's any left in the world..... well...

I'll press out (with a BFH), hopefully without having to drop the beam.

My outbox currently has bush dimensions sent to pretty much everyone in the UK who does polybushes to see if there's an universal/easily obtainable bush (hopefully, they say "oh it's the same as an XYZ" and I could get those.... Dunno how I feel about polybushes. I've also got the rear shocks ready to swap, so again, a possibly there.

jifflemon wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 21, 2020 6:23 pm

One week on and the question on everyones lips is: "is the tank removed?"



Come on people!

Instead I removed the upper arms - As previously mentioned, I'd see a horror post on Facebook, and true to form, Britney was no different.
N/S kinda played ball - And by that I mean the inner sleeve of the bush was seized to the pin, but thats nothing that a little heat won't fix.

The O/S side though? Well.... this happened:



Yup, the bolt sheared clean off. Oh and the bush sleeve was seized on for good measure!

Un-deterred, I cleaned up the arms, pressed out the bushes and brought this lot home:



For some lovely lashings of POR15:



Tonight's job is to find some suitable rear arm bushes without spending mega bucks.

Just remember people, if you ever remove something like this, a little bit of copper grease on reassembly can save many broken hearts later on!

I think we are seeing the birth of the first Bionic Volvo 480! You will, of course, have to rename your car 'Steve Austin'



And I bet there's a few on here (James, Sylvia, David to name a few) who look at this and go, "Six Million dollars? Pah, pin money for what a 480 will take!'

I might be able to rescue a stud from my spares car, the rear axle isnt in too bad shape.

Depending how much fuel you have in the tank and the condition of the pipes you have a few options. I have pulled the pump out and used a pump to empty the tank, I did have about 5 litres in the tank which I drained using some 5l cans and took the pipe off at the filter.

I haven't read all of your post and don't have time right now. However, there are suspension poly bushes kits listed on eBay but they are only listed as Volvo 400. No I don't fancy stiffening up the ride and transmitting vibrations through the body either but I understand that needs must sometimes. 

arthuy wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2020 4:36 pm

I might be able to rescue a stud from my spares car, the rear axle isnt in too bad shape.

If you could have a look, that'd be fab - I'll be checking the dealers tomorrow - Lord only knows we need a laugh!

Did have a gander on the Bay, found the front arm bushes (yes, will possibly end up doing those!), but nothing for the rear yet...

They do look very similar to the panhard rod bushes (I really should go out and measure them), which I've found on the bay (12.50 each!), so that may also be a consideration....

Like you James, Ride quality is what concerns me with polybushes.

Miss Fox has found us a winner! (well, technically I did, but we'll give her some credit!)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Repair-kit-S ... SwSVRdAP01

Also worth checking out the shop!

not too bad price wise,

I might 'take the old ones off you' ? depends on how i get on removing mine!!!

genuinely surprised price wise - That's 2 new arms in the kit, with every bush required.

Volvo it turns out, never made a replacement bush - Only replacement arms - Pretty odd given that every other bush is replaceable!

Polybushers - 2 out of 6 have replied: 1 "no" and one "whats it off".

My obvious next dilema.... Do I order 1,2 or 3?

Technically I should be selling Henry, not adding things to the "to do list"
Whilst the Blue turbo will deffo be getting them, maybe that should go polybushed, given it's already lowered...

Oh and the stud? Yup, now unobtainium!

jifflemon wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 23, 2020 2:06 pm

Oh and the stud? Yup, now unobtainium!

aye but that's an easy fix, if push REALLY came to shove a high tensile bolt would easily do, and there is the option to add a thin lock nut (if you use a srud vs bolt) to trap the stud, as long as you do both sides then the geometry is unlikely to be affected . .. .

I'm sure you have overcome far more difficult bodges . . .

3 months later and we have an update!

As Britney lives at my workshop, its meant she's been off-limits thanks to Covid. However, I managed to sneak up there today to check she's still there (she is!), as well as drop off parts, so whilst I was there, I thought I'd have a little tinker...

If the tank is coming off, we'll need to remove the take wiring plug, so rear seat and centre console out... and..



and that's pretty much where it stopped - Well, I did lube the bejesus out of the tank strap retaining bolts and crack them off. I can’t figure out how the neck assembly comes off? There's a mounting bolt on the chassis rail, but nothing apparent or obvious around the neck/breather/cap area.

Anyhoo.... As that interior was out, I figured I may as well bring it home for a clean!





Oh yes, I did detailing stripes - Clearly that's going to make the car worth WAY more money.....

and the muck shot? Never one to dissapoint....

Need to do a update on the costs too....but also need to remember what I've bought!

Love the stripes - how long do they stay like that though ?

Months and months!







But only because they’ll not be used for months and months....

So, a couple of hours with Britney today....

First job was to drain as much fuel as I could - Disconnected the feed at the fuel rail, stuck it into jerry cans and powered the pump via the fuse box. Thankfully there was only around 12 litres in the tank!

Reading the book of lies, it said to remove the exhaust heatshield.

Well, that's not coming out without the exhaust coming out first....



We'll be having a new one of those.... Look how tiny the box is?!?

And then this (complete with every fastener!



Then off with the hand brake cables - Once again, think we'll be having new ones of those too!



Then undo with big (and it is BIG) tank nut thing, and cut the clips of the breather tube...



Undo the tank straps....



Whip off the fuel filter (but kept the filter connected) and then gentle lower the tank down using a trolley jack to take the weight.



Next job will be to refit the crossmember assembly so I can get the pipe run correct. I may pull the fuel neck assembly out too, because that'd ease access too, as well as allowing a good scrub in the arches.

jifflemon wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 13, 2020 5:16 pm

And then this (complete with every fastener!

In one piece!

Is it for sale?

Park brake cables seem to be one of the few 400 series part in oversupply when I checked the other day. Good news!

heat shield in one piece!!!! mine is in a number of sections with some thin galvanised to 'kinda' keep the shape/worst of the heat in/off and it was a ruddy difficult task getting at the heads of the phillips screws, front one(s) cam slack enough to wiggle heat shield off (I think)

I assume the brake lines was the 'real' reason to remove the tank?

you could have unscrewed the whole pump filter assembly if you had wanted to

I bottled it on unscrewing the 'big nut' and the horror of wriggling the breather pipe off, or breaking something

I just removed one strap at a time, made a new one using the front and back sections spot welded onto some 16 or 18 galvanized, only as I have some . . .

Alan 480 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 14, 2020 2:56 pm

I assume the brake lines was the 'real' reason to remove the tank?

exactly the reason - I tried threading the brake pipe though and along the chassis leg, but it was proving way too frustrating.

I'll give the heat shield a gentle blasting and several layers of nice aluminium paint (then hang it on a wall for future generations to come and marvel at! )

New handbrake cables bought, along with a new flexi hose. Shall find the "running total" and add those to the bill, along with the rear arms.