My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

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Optimistic
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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Optimistic » Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:40 pm

so this week went really great, I have now gotten all the parts, just waiting for the poly bushings.
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First thing I did was to replace the rear shocks and springs, but I need to get the shorter bump stops for them, also the lower rear spring holder, some of the plastic holding bits broke, if anyone has any recommendations I would be grateful
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Also the rear sway bar lings are shot, so they went
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And searching the forum I found some posts about the MAF adjustment, mine ends with serial 029, so the outermost plugs were the only ones changing, 2 and 6 weren't, so I adjusted it accordingly
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The water hose above the water pump was really bad, so I got a new one
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Along with a new turbo return line, and some new sealant on the block/oil drain part, so it wont leak, hopefully
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Well the previous water pump bearing was el, loud to say the least, even though it was looking good, I just got a new one
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Along with the complete reseal of the engine I was a bit fascinated how you could see new vs old rubber gaskets

Also the engine has now been timed correctly, but sadly i got a 124tooth belt instead of a 125 tooth one, so I need to get the correct one, and the split intake gasket is also on the list, otherwise the engine will soon be ready to go in.
92' TT-T

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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Optimistic » Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:22 am

Soo the engine being ready to go in soon yeah, mi name says it all…
There was quite some other things to do, before I wanted to put in the engine, but the motivation and will to complete the car just kept rising.
First thing though was the rust under the battery tray and frame rail and on the LHD driver side fame rail, I don’t know if this Is a common issue but mine had quite some of it.
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There is also some similar surface rust on the inside bottom part, but I couldn’t get to it completely, and I didn’t really feel like doing that, as I don’t know if it’s worth it now. I used a drill and a wire brush to strip it down to the bare metal, then applied some Wurth rust converter which was lent to me by a body shop friend, and I was surprised at how good it was.
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Then I left it on for 48 hours before painting over with a metal priming paint which he also recommended as it has some anti rust properties. And after 24hours I spraypainted it black so it didn’t stand out so much.

Next was the thermostat. The previous shop used a lot of RTV, and here it was no exception.
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I just cleaned it off the head and the housing, added an rubber O ring and sealed it up to the head.
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The air intake gasket was also looking bad after I removed it, luckily I found the part no. and bought 2 new. So now its as it needs to be.
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Here I am showing that the front end end links 😉 were all new along with the lower ball joint.
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And also on the rear, showing all new items.
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Finally the correct timing belt was also acquired, and installed along with all of the auxiliaries, I have refurbished the alternator, the Ac compressor was left untouched, as I don’t know it the ac system even works.
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Uu the cargo roller cover was also a really great acquirement, but the mounts weren’t included, so I did some 3d modeling, send to a friend who is into 3d printing and wola, there they were. I know they are not the correct size and color, but for a fast prototype they work great, will do a mk2 version somewhere in the future and also if someone else will need them.
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Heatshield also got new aluminum foil, but as one friend had some leftover gold foil left over from his project on putting it on the underside of the hood, he gave it to me, so I didn’t need to go and buy more of it. I also might attempt that, but I would prefer to do it with normal silver aluminum foil.
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The leaky oil plug was also sealed up and got a new O ring as Jay-Kay-Em shown in his posts ( I took a lot of inspiration from him, thanks for documenting everything. When I was putting the engine back in, I didn’t know where some screws go back and how things are positioned, I went to his posts and knew exactly how to do it after 😊)
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Well this ting gave me some troubles, but at the time of installing it I wouldn’t know that. It was an eBay short shifter mod, aimed at Renault Clio-s. it is installed on the transmission where the gear selector fork it located, it just replaces the OEM one.
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Last thing up were the brakes, the biggest pain in the *** I had with this car along with all of the incorrect parts…
So I ended up fitting a Hoda Civic 6gen VTI vacuum booster and master cylinder. I had to drill 2 ne holes in the firewall and shorten the studs on the booster itself, so it cleared the clutch pedal wire stopper? Anyway don’t want to talk about it as it makes me mad.. on the pis is an adapter from the stud on the master cylinder to the pedal. I also then forgot to adjust the braklight switch so the lights were on, to maybe save someone some time, its located almost at the top of the pedal. If you twist it it unlocks, and the twist it back to lock it. It needs to be pushed in, in order for the lights to not be on- normally closed switch. I took vacuum of the plug on the intake that is well used for the vacuum to the booster on non ABS models, along with a one way valve.
Will post more pics but I didn’t have time to take them, at the time of install, just blood sweat and swearing. But hay at least its on and it works.
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the car also got new brake calipers, pads and disks. If I replaced almost halph of the car, why not do this now as well.
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So this now comes to an end, 4 months and 5 days of “yea imma buy a car that I don’t need to work on”, I know It will need more attention, but most of the big things have been done, so I’m happy for now.
Don’t worry, I will upload more of the progress and pics of the car how it looks, but I need to take some proper pics with a camera for that.
92' TT-T

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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Optimistic » Wed Oct 26, 2022 11:38 pm

First a few beauty shots then the stuff that happened
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So the glory of the car being assembled was short lived. On my maiden journey the “short shifter” came out of the transmission because the bushing was toast. Luckily, I found jay-key-em’s forum post on the OEM part number and I got one 2 months later, because I just installed the previous shifter linkage and the car just worked. Also, since I changed the brake booster the brake light switched needed to be adjusted.
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Also, I wanted to see how fast the car was from 0-100, well to my disappointment the time I got was 8.7s. What a letdown. At least it drives well in the corners, I guess. I have Michelin ps3 tires but it still spun them so I will be looking for semi-slick tires next season.
Next was time to drive it, and I drove it a lot, around 1.5k km in a couple of weeks. Just testing the car if it works and learning how it drives. Also, I found out If I am in low revs high load the fuel pump 10A would blow, so after 3 blown fuses and 1 trailer ride later I used a 15A fuse, which is still holding on soo
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Also, what happened is the rims I wanted to put on the car were bent so much that even with 160g of weights they were undrivable, so I got wider steel rims 15inch 8j et18, so a bit of fender rolling was necessary to not shredded the tire. I know the car has original rear arches, but if hey rather to roll them to crash a car over a blown tire.
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After more driving I installed a sports air filter so I could hear all the good turbo noises. Verry happy with that. Anyone that drives the car or rides passenger always mentions the surge sound and they start laughing from joy.
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Judge me all you want but if it works it works, but I am now in progress of making a custom aluminum intake pipe and relocating the battery to the trunk
Also I installed an aftermarket rear muffler, its straight trough soo the car is a bit loud but it maches the surge intensity.
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Next was interior rust well I guess fix, the car was, well is still leaking, so I just accepted that I wont drive it in the rain and park it under a roof at all times, so when I removed the whole interior for it to dry I found rust patches everywhere witch I brushed, applied rust converter, and after that reaction was completed I painted over with rust converting paint. And after that I insulated the entire interior with car audio insulation plates as the road noise was getting annoying.
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Lastly what I did was to get a Bluetooth adapter for my radio and an alpine subwoofer. The sound in the car is on par with new cars. Well, the road and wind noise is worse but the sound quality and clarity is great, new tweeters and woofers with a quality head unit and a sub is where to be. I might make custom panels and fit 2 speakers per door, like an old forum post.
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I was also a part of a music video as a background car
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And I met up with the new owner from my previous Volvo If I can I’m going to buy it back.
The duct tape on the window well, the cable snapped so I had it fixed. So that was the solution to the window not falling.
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92' TT-T

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Jay-Kay-Em
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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Jay-Kay-Em » Thu Oct 27, 2022 2:47 pm

Optimistic wrote:
Wed Oct 26, 2022 11:38 pm

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Cool car in a beautiful part of the world.

Keep the updates coming.
Jay-Kay-Em
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Themasteryeti
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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Themasteryeti » Mon Feb 13, 2023 9:52 pm

Hey! Wanted to ask how is your aftermarket exhaust fitted? Been looking at one similar and wondered if I had to take it to a exhaust place to weld some new pipe at a different angle to get it to come out the back of if you found something that goes straight on :o
1973 vw beetle
1993 480s

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Optimistic
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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Optimistic » Mon Mar 13, 2023 2:37 am

Hi, sorry for the late answer I'm currently on a ship :roll:
To be honest I just took the car and the muffler to my local exhaust shop and told them to do it.
They cut off the oem muffler when it comes over the frame part?, and when it goes down and curves to the muffler it now has a larger curve downward and up to the aftermarket muffler. I had to cut a bit of the bumper. If you get a smaller one you probably won't have to. Also the length is important, if too long you will scrape on speedboats. I can have 4ppl inside and it clears without a problem, only on steep ones could cant go to fast, but I always slow down to walking speed, old habits hah.
When I coma back I will need to fix it as it has broken from the mounts they have made and will post the pics.
92' TT-T

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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Optimistic » Mon Mar 13, 2023 2:46 am

Current updates on the car.
The bigger battery fix well, I am an idiot. It cought on some wires and destroyed the insulation and shorted them out.
The car went to its storage place
And I finally got the silicon coolant and intake hoses.
Plan for this year is to fix the burned up wires and drive it.
I have too many parts now waiting on the shelves to be installed.
Also i need to do look up and research bigger power goals, the car as it sits could handle 200hp and more, and that is just with sport springs and shocks. To no offense, but all people who say this is a cruising car, you are really wrong. Yes it does cruise nicel if driven slow,, when you really push it the response and dynamics of driving it is giving back is incredible.
92' TT-T

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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Optimistic » Sun Aug 20, 2023 8:28 pm

An update to what happened again, but now in more detail.

The battery was somewhat the problem for the rubbing, but I found out that since my car was in an accident, the wires that were there were repaired and the routing was changed. Instead of going at the edge of the hood they wend down to the battery holder. I’m still the responsible idiot in the situation, but if the wires were going the factory rout, it wouldn’t have ended as it did
Pic of the wire mess
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The situation with the routing of the wires
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And the fixing of it in the garage the car was stored for winter
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Then it was MOT time, it needed some work, as some of the bulbs were dead and or uncooperative-like the front right blinker, all 3 bulbs are ok, but after 3 blinks they start going as if one is dead,
And then it was just driving, and some upgrades. I sold the wider steel wheels and got new ones.
JR 19 15x8 with Split ET front are 0 rears are +20, but since I still haven’t made an adjustable panhard bar the drivers side tyre rubs a bit ☹. I got them colour matched to the car, but the green/blue is a bit too dark. I’m still happy with the result.
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Next on the line was installing the silicone intake pipes, as the pipe for idle air was broken, and that just install process became a bit more involving that I would like.
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The lower hose that is connected to the turbo was good, a moulded in vacuum hose for the turbo controller was of good length, the PCV hole and blowoff hole were also on the correct spots and dimensions were tight.
And that’s where it ended ant the real **** began. The hose that connect the MAF and the lower turbo hose didn’t come wit the plastic ring that the original car has-the ring allows the hose clap to squeeze the two parts together, not only that, the OEM parts have a notch and a ring that connects them tightly. The hoses I got have none of that, and they are not the same diameter, so an aluminium coupling hose would not work. The hardware store was closed so a reducing connector was not an option, and I decided to try with the original plastic part, it was too big as seen in the pic
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It stretched the hose so much you couldn’t insert it into the other one, even with lube and a lot of swearing. So I decided to cut it in one place to shorten the diameter which ended up working in the end, but that was also a PITA.
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Either the hose clamp or the plastic part wanted to rotate. So it became a 2 person job, one to hold everything in place while the other tightens.
Next problem was that the upper hose didn’t have the hole for the idle air valve. After a bit of research and with the help pf Jay-Kay-Em and jifflemon i found out that i needed a different hose witch connects the intercooler and intake.
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With the hose found at a fellow 480 owners attic I was back in business.
The kit also came with the hose from the intake to the idle air valve and the hose from the intake to the pcv valve. The Idle air hose was too short so I had to drill in the bracket in order to change its location. That or a different holder for the valve would be needed, or a longer hose :/.
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And as a final cherry in top of the cake the recirc valve, I replaced with the Audi TT one was positioned wrong. And the hose that connects it I hadn’t tightend enough so on the test drive my car became NA
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So those are all of the important parts. Now I still have to install all of the water silicone hoses that I have, an AFR sensor, re do some of the wiring, get better seats and maybe a half cage. We will se where the road takes us, but until then I am driving the car as much as possible.
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Jay-Kay-Em
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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Jay-Kay-Em » Sat Aug 26, 2023 4:20 pm

Great to see updates.

Even from factory, the wiring around the battery and across/under the bonnet closure panel (aka "slam panel") is utter rubbish.
Jay-Kay-Em
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Optimistic
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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Optimistic » Thu Sep 14, 2023 8:50 pm

I got the AFR installed but there is some problems with the lambda, so I will post about that when I finish it.

The water lines were almost all replaced by the silicone ones, the one that connects the water pump to the metal pipe at the front of the motor was inaccessible and not worth to change as its less then a year old. All other pipes were replaced. In the pic below is a “rough” guide on which one goes where, as I had some problems with them. Also found out why the cars heater was blowing cold ha ha, the heater core was so much clogged up that I blew an oem rubber hose trying to blow It out with a garden hose… so I just bypassed it for now.
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Next on the line was the relocation of the battery. I fitted it in the spare wheel hole, as it fit perfectly. It also leaves enough room for the other necessary items for the road and safety like a tire repair kit, first aid etc.. 4m of 30mm2 wire from the front to the back and a distributor box at the front for the alternator starter and a subwoofer.
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As I was getting all of the wires at the place I usually buy them- a car audio shop I asked if they happened to have any tweeters and I ended up getting these for a good price as they had them laying on a shelf. They also fitted in the holes in the grill perfectly, I don’t know I the previous owner had enlarged them.
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And the last thing was a fuel pump, I had suspicion that it was slowly coming to meet its demise, as the car, under full boost was sometimes a bit choppy, and the lack of gasoline smell at the exhaust was also a bit questionable. I bought a Warlbro 255lph pump(WALBRO_GSS340), as I plan to upgrade the Fuel pressure regulator and the injectors in the near future. I also bought a new sock filter Dimensions: 97mm x 55mm Outlet: 22,5mm withc fit the pump and the tank perfectly.
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92' TT-T

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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Optimistic » Sun Nov 19, 2023 3:39 pm

The rush to install all of the parts was not for nothing. The next weekend I was participating in a “tourist” Hillclimb. There were around 80 cars in total competing on a 1,6km (1 mile) long closed public road. It was great fun, I learned that up to second gear the car is fun to drive, but when boost hits in third it becomes a bit too much for me. My driver excuse is soft suspension no alignment and old suspension rubbers, I should change them to poly asap.
Here is a link to one of the runs I did.
https://youtu.be/HHPeezcMSk4
https://youtu.be/H6eQfiO0SMM
pic of how I went there. I removed the rear seats and centre console (it had been missing since I changed the fuel pump), and installed a bucket seat for me, as the stock seats were not going to cut it. A bit of food, a gopro and quick detailer with rags
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and on the way back the car started having issues when it got on boost, little rubber the hose from the fuel supply had failed, yay petrol above the exhaust manifold
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I also made a metal holder for the pod filter instead of zip ties.. it was about time to do the old girl a bit better
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After that, all of the amber plastic were changed to the clear ones. There were some difficulties removing the rear side reflectors a s someone previously had glued them in, so one of the back holders broke, witch I then designed and 3d printed, but I still glued it back on, as I don’t want to loose it while driving.
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The front side markers got off with a bit of scalpel delicacy, and gluing the new ones on with epoxy.
The front corner marks were a bit of a weird situation, I guess there are 2 styles of bulb sockets and the clear ones are different to the amber ones, as mine didn’t fit into the clears. So I had to cut the holders a bit to be able to insert them inside.
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Then I was able to get the window visors of an older gentlemen selling his 480 es.
And that is pretty much everything that happened. The car wil slowly go to storage now because winter
Also a video my friend did about the 480 and my car, but its in Slovenian
https://youtu.be/_U3IN5hXxNk?si=YmYaq3GzWwtDK8ir
92' TT-T

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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Optimistic » Wed Feb 07, 2024 8:32 pm

No upgrades have been made since the last time of posting. The only thing I struggled with was the interior heater core.
When I was replacing the coolant hoses to silicon ones, I saw that the heater core was really clogged and dirty, so I tried to clean it while in the car, and it didn’t work. So, I just bypassed it and called it done.
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But the weather was getting colder and the windshield getting fogged up quicker and quicker, so I decided that that was enough, so I pulled out the heater core and washed it. If only that was so easy. Getting it out was relatively easy the centre console and trim along with a few screws removed and it was out. To clean it, not exaggerating, I spent about 4-5 hours, slowly filling it up with boiling water and a bit of vinegar, shaking it around and letting the dirt out, and there was a lot of it. By the end I helped myself with the shower, I partially disassembled it and used it to blow out the remaining crap.
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So now my heater core is clean. Time to install it? Well yes but the inlet hose kept leaking so I had to wrestle with tightening it and putting it more on the core for 2 weeks while having a heater in the car drying up the spill, because it was all leaking into my drives side footwell…
But before all of that I forgot to add enough antifreeze to the cooling system and when I went to check the car I found a bit of ice in the expansion box. I genuiliny tought that I have **** it all up. I was checking the hoses and luckily, there was some antifreeze inside just not enough so they were all like a frape hardness, a bit crunchy but not hard. And the plan was to take a nice roadtrip with my significant other to the coast to catch some sun on the Sunday. So natturaly all of the parts stores were closed and I had to get the rediculasly expensive antfreeze at the gas station…
When I got home I started the car up. And watched the guage slowly climbing to 90c and then stopping it. I did that a few times, and luclky a friend who has a closed garage nearby anwserd his phone, so I drove the car to him, put up a few electric heaters into the engine bay and one under the grill so it blew hot air to the radiator and left it for a couple of hours. With all of my luck being there the car had no leaks and its running as it was before.
Well the only “upgrade” or downgrade depending on how you look at it, were the three spoke wheels I got for it. 15x7.5 et32 something. I think they fit the car but it would help if they were more “flush” with the fenders like the other set I have.
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Also did a bit of tidying up in the engine bay. A bit of Tessa tape around some wires and re routing makes it nicer to look at. Also I am searching for a pollen filter housing original or a 3d print.
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And that is my “hibernation” of the car
PS. The car badly needs a front lip and a rear spoiler
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Jay-Kay-Em
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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Jay-Kay-Em » Wed Feb 07, 2024 10:28 pm

Great work!

Sometimes the garage has to overspill into the house... some people don't understand... the other half for example! :rofl:

Spat my tea out when I saw three-spokes but i'm actually reminiscing about them now.

We had a magazine in the UK called "Max Power" and it aligned perfectly with me at 17 years old. I remember "Project Thunder" when the three spoke design was at the height of cool...

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The Antera Type 109 was top dog.

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Sadly, what comes into fashion quickly, also goes out of fashion quickly, and by 2006 three spokes were deeply uncool.

Everything goes full circle and it's now nice to see them again. Reminds me of the mid nineties, Max Power and most importantly, youth.
Jay-Kay-Em
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Optimistic
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Re: My First 480, a Two Tone 1.7 Turbo

Post by Optimistic » Wed Feb 07, 2024 10:58 pm

Id love to see more photos from that magazine :hopping:

Yes I know of antera's,I'd love to have them but only ones I know for sale are 17, without centercaps and 700eur, a bit too much, as I got these for just 100 with perfect centercaps.
92' TT-T

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