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Volvo 740, interior headlining finished! Pg 23.


danthecapriman

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Blue

 

37666396486_d475bb6cec_o.jpgIMG_0739 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Colour is on. It's had two coats for now. Annoyingly the shade of blue is slightly off but it's supposed to be the right colour.

It's a bit rough at the moment as I had to brush it on! I'll leave it to harden for a few days then try flatting it back with some super fine wet & dry before trying to polish it up and lacquer.

I think it'll look ok after that, though it's likely to always be visible. It's the best I could do in the time and conditions.

The good thing is that there's no longer a hole in the roof to let the inside get damp or rot the floor again! Once the roof gets resprayed you'll never know.

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^^

Hmmm, I wonder!

I've never seen a vinyl roof on a 700, or a 200 until now for that matter.

 

The Italian market 'Super Polar' special edition 240 estate which was made in the early 1990s came with a vinyl roof as standard. I believe that the red car in above photo is such a car. I used to regularly see a well-used white example on UK plates in Deal a few years ago :)

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New tyres are fitted. I mean tires, since this is now a yankee spec!

 

37098536504_6d2607c255_o.jpgIMG_0748 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Goodyear's all round, full set of 5. Not the cheapest but a good tyre and they look great too.

I'll get them all fitted today and then drop the car back onto its wheels again.

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All on, car back on its wheels.

 

37811477141_aecf17a5e3_o.jpgIMG_0750 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

37811490951_189781bd79_o.jpgIMG_0749 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

37141162703_4fe442a968_o.jpgIMG_0751 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

37779881202_4bd85de3f2_o.jpgIMG_0752 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Don't they look a whole load better than before!

 

Fitting them wasn't completely without issue though as the powder coat is much thicker than the old paint which meant they were all extremely tight fit around the hub. I had to carefully scrape the powder coat down with a sharp stanly knife blade in the end.

You can't see it of course as it's inside the hub section of the wheel but I've put a thin coat of copper grease around it too just to help it slip on and not seize.

I've also made sure all four wheels were tightened properly and that they're all tight up against the brake disc/hub underneath.

I've also cleaned the original stainless centre discs as they were caked in dirt and brake dust.

 

 

It's looking great in my opinion! I really like this car!!

 

Once this incoming crappy weather has passed I need to give the car a thorough Hoover out and wash as it's not been done in a while and is looking a bit dirty now. I'll treat it to a coat of Autoglym resin polish then too. Ready for winter.

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Do you know what? That actually doesn't offend my eyes!

 

 

Looks good. Very good.

Carry a brace, and recheck after a few miles.

Powder coating under the nuts may crack/ flake , leaving the nuts slightly loose

That's a very good idea.

When I tightened them up I undid them again afterwards just to see if any powder coat had come off under the nuts tapered face. A few had scratched the powder coat away, some hadn't.

 

Is it likely they will loosen off?

I'll drive it around a bit locally when I can then try the nuts with a brace.

Currently they're tight to 85Nm and I've also marked every nut and stud top with a chalk line just so I can see if any move.

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Those look really nice Dan - in fact the whole car looks really good. You were right about the centre bores though - I shall bear that in mind when I get some boots for my Saab at the end of the month.

I had a feeling they'd be tight on their centres. It's not by a huge amount but it makes tightening them down hard work! You might get away with it but a new sharp Stanley blade around the bore soon cuts off enough of the powder if not.

Well worth the cost getting them done I think!

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This came out for a drive today aswell as the Mercury.

I ran it around the block quick then stopped and checked the wheel nuts. All ok, none had come loose. It did feel a bit 'off' somehow though!

I went back home and checked the tyre pressures, you'd think since the tyres were brand new they'd be spot on wouldn't you? Well, they were all way too high! One was nearly 40psi!!

I think the tyre fitter needs his pressure gauge calibrating.

 

I've backed them all off to the correct pressures. Then went out again.

 

Much better!

Drove it for a good 80 odd miles and it's bloody lovely to drive now. So smooth and quiet. Just goes to show how bad the old tyres were. The rears mainly I suspect as they were ancient and in poor condition. Really happy with it now. Looks good and drives great! Amazing the difference some new rubber can make.

 

Got home again so popped off the centre caps and checked the wheel nuts again with the torque wrench.

There were a few on each wheel that had slackened off a tiny bit, not much but they had come slightly loose, so I've re-torqued every nut on all wheels to 85Nm again then popped the caps back on again.

They should be fine now I think but I'll check them again in a few months time or something, just to be safe.

 

37803985266_44ff69b190_o.jpgIMG_0758 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Look how wide the Mercury is compared to the Volvo!

They're offsides are parked level. The Volvo's not exactly a small car but I've never noticed quite how fat the Mercury is!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just finished giving this a good wash and clean out.

Pics will have to wait sadly as it's dark now.

It needed doing as it was rather dirty and I really hate dirty cars! Plus, where it's getting damp and shitty outside now there was little bits of moss starting to grow on the door glass weatherstrips and sunroof seal so I've gone around the whole car first and scrubbed every seal, weatherstrip and even all the plastic trim and chrome/ally trims to get rid of it all. Then a good wash. It's looking really nice now.

Also the roof liner has remained perfectly bone dry despite my hosing the roof and sunroof lid during washing so I think it's safe to say that tiny rust bleb was the sole cause of my damp issues.

 

Speaking of which, I've since given that a light rub down with 1200 grit wet and dry, with loads of water, to flat it down and put a coat of lacquer on. It's looking much much better now. Not perfect still but it's good enough and doesn't stand out anymore.

 

The other day while checking which fuse was for the day running lights I discovered why mine have never worked.

 

38086342942_27f5732234_o.jpgIMG_0760 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Fuse 23, which is the utterly fucked one bottom left!

That 15A fuse is for the DRL's and it's popped and also melted to buggery. It's so bad that the melted fuse plastic has now become one with the melted side of the fuse box!

No amount of pulling on it or wiggling will release it. The fuse has blown however and it's dead on the outgoing side so there's no damage that can be done by it anymore so it'll just have to stay like that, at least for now.

The DRL's not working doesn't actually bother me anyway tbh.

 

Finally, I've sourced a matching pair of tan plastic trims for the front doors. The ones for around the interior door release and power window/mirror switches.

The current ones are in a bad way with lots of chunks broken off of them and they look a right mess. The new ones are as good as new and are on their way over from California!

I couldn't honestly find any good ones anywhere else! The postage cost more than the parts btw. Bollocks to it though, I want it looking right!!

 

 

And also, not really related to the car but I've managed to get hold of a Stahlberg 1:20 scale Volvo 760GLE estate model. Those ones you used to be able to buy from Volvo dealers back when these cars were new! Nice to have and coming from the Netherlands.

I've also got a Polistil Volvo 740 estate on its way over from Germany too! As new in its original box!

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Is it possible to move the wires from the buggered fuse bay into one of the unused fuse bays?

You could do, but the two wires for DRL's are tight so I'd have to remove the whole fuse box to do it. The alternative would be to simply snip the DRL wires off the fuse box completely, strip the ends and attach them to an inline style blade fuse holder. Again though, the two wires are very tight into the box so I'd probably need to take the box out.

Also, believe it or not on such an old car, there's also a diagnostic socket on that fuse box! God knows what it actually does as these old ones are mechanical injection and there's no real computer or anything on it.

 

Also I suffer from shuffling bum syndrome these days - fooked back n hip mean ANY vehicle is uncomfortable after about 5 mins/

These are good for bad backs! I crushed a disc in mine and get bad aching and sciatica but these cars are amongst very few I can drive and never get pain or aches.

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dtcm

"I couldn't honestly find any good ones anywhere else! The postage cost more than the parts btw. Bollocks to it though, I want it looking right!!"

 

My Carina grille is coming across the water [irish sea] and courier rate is almost the purchase price!!

 

That said... Travelling to North Wales, to get some bit of 'unobtanium' would likely cost the earth :(

 

California, eh... Beats me Top Trumps ;)

 

 

TS

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Volvo is really looking brilliant Dan. Excellent work and dedication to the tasks.

 

With the fuse issue, couldn't you just cut and then extend the DRL wiring to the next vacant fuse in the box (24)?

 

Andy

I could do I think, but, thinking about this I don't know if I even can use DRL's anymore anyway because of the US lights!

On US cars the sidelight and combined DRL is on the outer most light units. In the US these are amber of course having an amber filter inside the light units.

So, here in the U.K. I can only use these as indicators as amber sidelights/DRL's are not legal.

 

So my sidelights are in the big long strip light unit below the two headlights. These have no filter inside them so shine whatever colour bulb is inside them. These were the indicators in the US with an amber bulb inside. But on mine are wired as sidelights using a white bulb.

 

The issue is that the electric plugs for them are not able to accept the additional wires etc for DRL's! If you follow me!?

 

This is a US 740 with its lights on as per US market. Amber sidelights!

https://goo.gl/images/mgHk9Y

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dtcm

"I couldn't honestly find any good ones anywhere else! The postage cost more than the parts btw. Bollocks to it though, I want it looking right!!"

My Carina grille is coming across the water [irish sea] and courier rate is almost the purchase price!!

That said... Travelling to North Wales, to get some bit of 'unobtanium' would likely cost the earth :(

California, eh... Beats me Top Trumps ;)TS

Tbh, I really don't mind sourcing and paying for stuff from anywhere on the planet! If it's what I want and need and in good nik, and not available to me here I'll just get it!!

So far this U.K. Car has parts on it from the US and a few places across Europe. Nowhere is too far or too costly in my pursuit of my perfect 740!

I don't plan on selling this one so it's worth doing to me.

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I could do I think, but, thinking about this I don't know if I even can use DRL's anymore anyway because of the US lights!

On US cars the sidelight and combined DRL is on the outer most light units. In the US these are amber of course having an amber filter inside the light units.

So, here in the U.K. I can only use these as indicators as amber sidelights/DRL's are not legal.

 

So my sidelights are in the big long strip light unit below the two headlights. These have no filter inside them so shine whatever colour bulb is inside them. These were the indicators in the US with an amber bulb inside. But on mine are wired as sidelights using a white bulb.

 

The issue is that the electric plugs for them are not able to accept the additional wires etc for DRL's! If you follow me!?

 

This is a US 740 with its lights on as per US market. Amber sidelights!

https://goo.gl/images/mgHk9Y

 

Still sounds like there might be a way of making it work the way you want it to if the long strips were to have white bulbs it is just fathoming out a way of making the right connections.

 

Any lateral thinking auto electricians that can help Dan out here?   :?

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Still sounds like there might be a way of making it work the way you want it to if the long strips were to have white bulbs it is just fathoming out a way of making the right connections.

 

Any lateral thinking auto electricians that can help Dan out here?   :?

I think the problem lies with the bulb holders.

The European holders are different sizes to the US ones so you can't reuse them. If you do a US conversion as I have, you absolutely must make sure you get wiring pig tails and bulb holders from the US with them!

Because I've swapped indicators and sidelights around the US bulb holders can't take the DRL's, as I'm using the US indicators bulb holders as sidelights connected to the original European wiring.

Christ, I'm confusing myself now!

 

Going by the photos, your car's sunroof is an aftermarket/accessory fitment, whereas Dan's is a factory fitted one :)

This! Mines an original sunroof. I'm still a peasant though as I have to manually wind it open. A true lord would have a power sunroof like 760's have.

I wonder if a 760 one would fit?

 

It's crossed my mind to buy a dead 760 with a nice interior and strip the plusher interior bits I want to go in my 740!

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