91 White Turbo Spanish

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Aram
480 Newbie
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2018 6:05 pm

91 White Turbo Spanish

Post by Aram » Wed May 06, 2020 10:04 pm

Hello!

First of all, long time lurker around here. Started shortly after coming across a white 480ES for sale in someone’s front yard, 999€. I needed to know more. Your posts, your stories, the issues you’ve had and how you’ve sorted out things have become tremendously useful over time and I’m incredibly thankful you guys took (and take) the time to share it. Back to the car.

I’d already seen it as a young kid (born in 87), I remember seeing a white Turbo in Menorca and being amazed at all the gauges and general sleekness. One of my father’s cousins had a red Turbo in the 90s which I also had some memories of. Then it slipped out of my mind until I saw this one parked there. It just drew my attention like a house on fire. The general design (I studied product design), with all its quirks, the 2+2 seating, the rear hatch, the gauge clusters, on board computer? What was this thing? Early nineties? Went for a test drive and man, with a 1.7 NA engine that thing pulled. It had a weird exhaust manifold that looked custom. It also stuck to the ground like glue. Then I learnt Lotus laid out the suspension. I loved it, but I didn’t buy that one.

I'd heard about the Turbo version, how Volvo told Porsche they were being overly enthusiastic and un-Swedish about the intercooler.

It just felt like a personal statement no other car matched. A friend of mine put it perfectly: Instead of doing like other car companies, Volvo just made the concept car and stuck it in there with the sensible rest of the 400 series. Golf, yeah... They’re great cars but very common (in spite of the snobby name) and for a sporty hatchback, your man de Vries knocked it out of the park, like the Americans say. In the meantime, I drove an 89 Corsa GSI in white (Nova GTE in the UK, I think, 1.6 NA) which is a VERY fun little car, but very basic.

I kept searching for quite a long time, looking for a white Turbo. And then exactly the one I had in mind was in there with the rest of the bunch, a 91. And it was an hour’s drive from my father’s house, which I’d be visiting soon.

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I just liked everything about it. It was white (I live in the Costa Blanca, very sunny here), it had a moonroof, the steering wheel was changed to a sportier one, but they'd kept the original centre for the horn. Someone had loved this car very much and taken good care of it.

But not as much as I would. My father and I went to Bilbao, where 2 brothers had bought it from the original owner, they had it in an underground car park in a city suburb. First impression was “Fuck that’s low.” They’d changed the springs, put some Direnza ones that lowered it 3cm. The place was old and not very well lit. I checked the ignition and saw the ECU was off, completely dark. I told the guy and he acted surprised. I started it and it idled very roughly, shook the whole car. I asked the guy to take it out of that old, damp and cramped place, into the sunlight.

So, my view was pretty skewed into the negative by the general state of neglect the car was in, they hadn't cleaned it or made it presentable in any way. I didn’t take it well. He let me drive and first thing I did was check if wipers on and reverse would start the rear wiper, which I knew (thanks to you guys) was a surefire way to check the car computer’s sanity. It passed the test. Moonroof went up, but not down. Kilometre counter wasn’t working either, hadn’t been for years apparently, before these guys bought it.

The car shook like crazy until it warmed up. After a while the ECU sort of woke up and the LCD started showing some figures, but only if you caught the light right. It seemed to work fine apart from that. How it drove? You could hear the turbo spooling like it was a jet engine, it was pretty radical. Not having anything to compare it to was not good in hindsight, as it had a manual boost control that hadn’t been done properly. It had no rust though.

I couldn’t help myself. I just wanted it. They asked 3500€ for it in the advert. I told him I considered it a stretch at 2000. He said he’d drive us back to our car. I asked him what his lowest would be and he said 2700. And I went for it. And it was mine.

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Tanking up outside Bilbao.

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In my dad’s garage.

I cleaned the interior, surprised at how good it looked after just a thorough vacuum, some scrubbing and some spray for vinyl. No cracks in the dash! Then took it for an oil change and a good look at the underside. All I saw was in great condition, someone had really looked after the drivetrain. Must have been the original owner, there were lots of invoices of part changes from him (many done at a Ford dealership). Brakes were almost new. The brothers had just changed the springs, spray painted them black to get past ITV (Spanish MOT), which they did surprisingly enough, and had done 6000km on it by their count.

I kept the visit short as a friend of mine and mechanic would be the one handling things. It drove the 850km back home like a champ, did two stages in order to not overstress it and bump into gremlins.

Back home, rear shocks were leaking so he changed those, spark plug cables, spark plugs, dizzy, belts, took out the half-assedly installed MBC. New set of 185/60 14” tires, it had been on 65 for some reason, and the gearbox hadn’t enjoyed that, it started shifting properly. eBay screwed me over a couple of times trying to get the halogen lightbulb for the dash computer, but I managed and got a whole lot more, everything lit up. Cleaned the idle valve and installed the 710N recirc valve (oh, it’s coming, rest assured). After all this, it just came back alive. I feed it 98 only, because it’s my precious. And the change it’s been through... It might be just 122hp, but every now and then they pull like they’re on crack.

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Yep. Lost the cracked-on-both-sides front spoiler crossing a flash puddle on one of the mad rainy days we get here.

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Computer working like a charm, so rewarding. Still hard to see with sunglasses on but you get what you can. Yeah, I put it all back together to realize I’d missed the green tinted plastic on the bottom counter. It's back on now, counting KMs as it should (thanks to you guys and shapeways).

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Looks sick with the roof open.

What’s coming to this car? Many things. I intend on keeping it running for as long as I can. Current plans involve putting it on 16 inch OZ Crono wheels with 195 (it sure is a drinker so no more) and a set of spacers from H&R, although I’m not sure I’ll need them, depends how much the OZs push the tires out.

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After getting it modded it’ll need the wider shoes, 185 probably isn’t enough for such boooosssst.

Aesthetically, I won’t touch it beyond this. No need, as I see it. I’m willing to go as far as buying a period-correct Philips stereo, I’ve got my eye on one in eBay. Later I’ve thought of adding a Raspberry Pi (computer) and a small touch screen in the top cubby hole in front of the gear lever, connect it to the stereo and run it through the car’s speaker system. Links to your phone, gets you some measure of call handling and navigation that doesn’t involve having your phone covering air vents or being a general nuisance. The bottom cubby fits my wallet, phone and garage remote too well to get rid of it, so the screen will be small. With a couple of USB ports on either side to mix music with pen drives. Can add cameras too, on the sides of the front number plate holder, it is a long bonnet.

Lately I got the LesJöfors springs. Mainly because they’re black and ITV guys won’t give me any heat. Soldered a contact on the VEM to get it working again and next up is fixing the a/c for this summer, I seem to have a broken compressor... Also, a K&N filter is on its way, if any of you are using it'd be good to know how much of a difference you experienced.

Sort out the kinks, improve it and keep it on the streets, for people to see what sensible Volvo went ahead and did during the 80s. That’s my goal.

Turning the engine around 90 degrees and mating it to a diff from an old 360 in the rear is something else that screams to be done, make it what they should’ve gone for in a 2+2 in spite of the 400 series layout. But that’ll be years from now, hopefully it’ll get that far.

Thanks and kind regards to all of you! You've made my experience much more easily digestible.

Martin Mc
480 Rookie
Posts: 457
Joined: Tue May 29, 2012 11:57 am

Re: 91 White Turbo Spanish

Post by Martin Mc » Thu May 07, 2020 9:25 pm

Hello Aram,

Awsome account of your journey (literally!) into 480 ownership. I particularly liked your turn of phrase- "It might be just 122hp, but every now and then they pull like they’re on crack." :lol:

Love the colour! My first 480 (a '91 ES 1.7 non-turbo) was also all white, so I have a soft-spot for that look too. Your paintwork looks a bit flat, but it looks in decent shape overall, and will come up brilliantly with a machine polish. The interior looks great too- many cars are beginning to look a little rough now, simply due to the age of the model (i.e. at least 23 years old!), so yours is excellent!

Do keep posting updates as you get to know your car - I'm also jealous of your number plate, which is my initials (MJ) :)

All the best!

Martin
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My current pride and joy :)
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1991 ES White / 1995 ES Red / 1995 ES Red / 1994 S Black / 1995 Celebration Red / 1994 S Paris Blue / 1995 Celebration (again!) Red - Currently free of all extramarital cars, wrench-loose and fancy free :)

balto8
Knows an Aerodeck isn't a 480
Posts: 239
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:02 pm

Re: 91 White Turbo Spanish

Post by balto8 » Fri May 08, 2020 7:15 am

Veeery nice catch ! I had a eye on that one while its was for sale.
So good to see the car has now a proper loving owner.
The moonroof going up but not down is a classic issue. Get the lin k rods in brass made by Rudiguer, they will last forever. The pics shown at his Shapeways site are of my own sunroof.
https://www.shapeways.com/product/479CF ... arketplace

I wouldn't go for the K&N filter and would stick to original stuff. Just an opinion. You might be also getting a new "turbolip" ( the front lower spoiler) somewhere here, I think, though it's not cheap at all.

Greetings from Valencia.

Ying and Yang, my June 1991 Turbo, also with Madrid plates.

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Change that awful steering wheel. Gerard, from Lleida, has one for sale right now at the Facebook group for 10e. Good guy.
1991 480 Black Turbo
2012 Seat Exeo ST
2013 VW Polo TSI DSG

jifflemon
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 2464
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:03 am

Re: 91 White Turbo Spanish

Post by jifflemon » Fri May 08, 2020 7:39 am

That steering wheel is from a Renault 5 GT turbo.

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

Re: 91 White Turbo Spanish

Post by jamescarruthers » Fri May 08, 2020 10:36 am

jifflemon wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 7:39 am
That steering wheel is from a Renault 5 GT turbo.
A small victory there for Volvo owners!
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)

Aram
480 Newbie
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2018 6:05 pm

Re: 91 White Turbo Spanish

Post by Aram » Fri May 08, 2020 11:00 am

Thanks for the support, people!

The steering wheel I find works pretty good with the car, not willing to part with it. The square one looks fine I guess, but frankly, I prefer this one. The picture doesn't do it justice and the position is a bit further out, which is more comfortable to me.

@balto8 maaaan those rear light clusters look mint... Wish I could get my hands on some as neat. Your paint looks incredible too. Ying&Yang for sure, man. Enhorabuena paisano, espero dejarlo igual.I'm talking to a Wayne Hancox to get a turbo-lip made. Living so close we might bump into each other one day heehehe.

Just to add to the account, I went to my local garage to test the aircon pressure and it was flat. Mechanic put in some of the new eco-friendly gas (neither R12 nor R134a) and the compressor started right up, so I'm through the roof. Now I just have to check why it is that blower positions 1/2/3 don't work (not a fuse, not the VEM, resoldered that) and sort out the volt drop, which is terrible and has the car stalling almost every time I change gears. I've heard about an earth point behind the glovebox but I'm not sure where. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks again!

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Jay-Kay-Em
480 Rookie
Posts: 428
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:42 pm
Location: Huntingdon
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Re: 91 White Turbo Spanish

Post by Jay-Kay-Em » Fri May 08, 2020 3:14 pm

jamescarruthers wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 10:36 am
jifflemon wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 7:39 am
That steering wheel is from a Renault 5 GT turbo.
A small victory there for Volvo owners!
:rofl:

Genuinely 'laughed out loud'.

Hi Aram; good to see another Turbo .

Funny how most of these introductions are the same - long time lurker and some kind of younger 'wow' experience.

Your desired wheel choice reminds me of that used on the Lotus Esprit Sport 350.

If modification runs hand in hand with preservation then we are in for a treat.

Personally it would be a shame to see a running/driving Turbo having a rear-wheel drive conversion. Plenty of dead cars out there for that and an interesting build it would be. There are a couple on YouTube already.

I can't believe how perfectly flat your rear bumper top is when it has been in Spanish sun all its life. How comes mine is so wobbly having spent most its life in Wales :lol:

Best Wishes and I look forward to future updates.
Jay-Kay-Em
-------------------------------------
Click here for My 480 Turbo Diary
Click here for My Cars

Aram
480 Newbie
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2018 6:05 pm

Re: 91 White Turbo Spanish

Post by Aram » Fri May 08, 2020 5:33 pm

Jay-Kay-Em wrote:
Fri May 08, 2020 3:14 pm
Your desired wheel choice reminds me of that used on the Lotus Esprit Sport 350.
If modification runs hand in hand with preservation then we are in for a treat.
Yet another stylish wedge from yesteryear! Wouldn't mind getting my hands on one of those too, I'd forego any idea of RWD conversions (which I'm only considering when the car eventually goes bust in mechanical terms).

Regarding preservation, I have a sporty image of the car in mind. Don't get me wrong, it already is and I don't plan on changing anything body-wise (apart from getting the front spoiler but that's canon so to speak), but I find the wheels do a lot for a car and I feel that set would suit it admirably, with just the right amount of offset pushing them outward (I feel they're sunken in now) and wider tracks, low profile tyres (45 for a 16" wheel)... Plus, it's kinda period correct so two birds with one stone.

Matt Columbo
480 Newbie
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2020 7:07 am

Re: 91 White Turbo Spanish

Post by Matt Columbo » Fri May 08, 2020 6:51 pm

Hi, I love the story and your car looks great.

I like the steering wheel, it's a bit of a design classic in my opinion. Instantly recognisable.

Everyone's tastes are slightly different aren't they. It's great to get opinions of other people and bounce ideas off people here but ultimately the only person's opinion that really matters is the owner. As long as you're keeping a wedge going I love it.

Reading K&N, my cars got one, I haven't owned it long but it seemed to run great with it. It definitely sounded better (in my opinion of course!) but I prefer an OEM filter so I've put that back on.

Keep up the good work.
Matt

'93 Black Turbo

balto8
Knows an Aerodeck isn't a 480
Posts: 239
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:02 pm

Re: 91 White Turbo Spanish

Post by balto8 » Wed May 13, 2020 9:14 am

Aram. Check your PMs
1991 480 Black Turbo
2012 Seat Exeo ST
2013 VW Polo TSI DSG

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Van
480 Connoisseur
Posts: 833
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:27 am
Location: Ich bin ein Berliner!

Re: 91 White Turbo Spanish

Post by Van » Sat May 16, 2020 7:39 pm

Aram wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 10:04 pm
Hello!
...
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Judging by those pictures the brothers must be true connoisseurs.

I think I see a Lancia Delta, an Alfa Giulia Bertone, a 2nd generation Ford Escort and a nineties VW Passat.
after over 10 years parted with the 1995 Volvo 480 ES 2.0

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