Roffle Volvo - ROFFLE! - What next?

[cort1977]

Most enjoyable fred.   Sounds like a basically sound car which will benefit from a bit of use to free off the brakes, flush through the fuel and generally get things moving again.

 

You know your life is in weird shape when you start planning it out based on what a bunch of randoms on the internet think is heroic.

 

Not as weird shape as planning it out based on keeping up with the neighbours in their financed Audis.  

[purplebargeken]

St. Albans. Meh. Not that far away.

 

Bugger

[beko1987]

I have a vax with a broken wheel you could have for the price of postage when you can afford the postage/I find a box?

 

Then do what Im doing with the zx and just keep it in the boot at all times

[dollywobbler]

It smells disgusting in there at the moment. Perhaps it's growing mushrooms. Just made the mistake of attempting a drive. Torrential rain AND fog. Sod that. Came home again. Frustrating.

[Matt]

It smells disgusting in there at the moment. Perhaps it's growing mushrooms. Just made the mistake of attempting a drive. Torrential rain AND fog. Sod that. Came home again. Frustrating.

 

How dry is your garage? Sounds like pulling the carpets out to have a proper investigation/go at them/let them dry out might be a good idea.

 

If it's any consolation a month or so ago my mum had the rear seat bottoms of her modern V50 estate folded forward  and a bottle of milk burst open spilling near enough every last drop of it's contents into the seat foam, carpet and sound dampening material under the carpet. At least that hasn't happened to yours. I wouldn't wish that on Hitler.

[dollywobbler]

Garage is currently full of Dyane. I'm not sure the Volvo (or XM for that matter) would actually fit through the door. They certainly wouldn't fit in the Dyane-shaped hole in the mess in there...

 

And pulling the carpets out of something like this does not look at all easy. I might drill holes in the floor instead.

[dollywobbler]

Hoorah! It has stopped raining. Almost. A chance to explore my new car!

 

First, I had to go for a drive.

 

Then I decided to let it dry out a bit.

 

Hmmm. Wonder why this isn't attached.

 

Oh shit.

 

Had a rummage in the opposite cubby hole, which is thankfully still solid. WINNING.

 

Bonus multitool! This looks fantastic.

 

Quality* timber headliner.

 

I'm pretty sure the roof rails are leaking, though not from the middle posts, as they're not actually attached to the car. I reckon this wooden board is then helping water end up in the nearside rear footwell. It is properly soaked. I may have to bite the bullet and pull all of the carpets out. Ugh!

 

In other news, the idle seems a little low and it makes that horrible noise of an engine about to stall. The idle screw looks suspicously wound out already though. I have now replaced the broken sidelight bulb, but wonder how you turn the DRLs on. It doesn't look like a proper Volvo without them!

[Junkman]

Noli equi dentes inspicere donati.

 

Apart from a bit of H2O and a slightly crusty boot floor cavity, this seems to be an overall success?

Why was the car dry inside when you picked it up?

Can you park it on a slope so the water accumulates in one area?

[beko1987]

Park the front up on ramps and leave the boot open? Would self drain then...

[Tickman]

 but wonder how you turn the DRLs on. It doesn't look like a proper Volvo without them!

Is there a little screwdriver head, flat head, at the light switch. This is supposed to switch the DRL's on/off.

 

Not sure if it is on this one.

[dollywobbler]

Noli equi dentes inspicere donati.

 

Apart from a bit of H2O and a slightly crusty boot floor cavity, this seems to be an overall success?

Why was the car dry inside when you picked it up?

Can you park it on a slope so the water accumulates in one area?

 

I can't remember if it was dry when I picked it up. It was very, very dark! It did steam up very promptly when I had my breakdown, so perhaps it was already soggy.

[Junkman]

I once bought a 4L on the grounds that there were 2 inches of water in it. My deductive reasoning was that the floor must be good.

Applying the same logic to your OVLOV, it must be fairly solid.

Drilling holes in the floor alleviated the problem in said 4L as well as a '68 Mustang convertible I had parked with the roof down

overnight in Berlin when there were thunderstorms.

[dollywobbler]

Ah. The fuse has blown for the DRLs. In quite a big way. It's brown around the fuse (or what's left of it) in the fusebox and the bit of fuse that's left seems to be welded in place. Perhaps I don't care about DRLs after all...

 

Hole drilling certainly one option. Possibly my favourite at the moment.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Was going to suggest fuse for DRLs, was sure that that was the 'switch' for them on my dad's 244.

[dollywobbler]

Meh. They're not that important. I'll just turn the sidelights on instead. Frankly, the DRLs pale into insignificance after the might My Little Pony discovery. I do like car-based archaeology.

[Six-cylinder]

Meh. They're not that important. I'll just turn the sidelights on instead. Frankly, the DRLs pale into insignificance after the might My Little Pony discovery. I do like car-based archaeology.

How can you do it, keep some little girls My Little Pony case, she has been crying for years over the loss of that case!

 

And maybe now she is a good looking young lady!

[barefoot]

Only just spotted this, well done.

Although I think you're being just a little optomistic about the power of captain tolley's when it looks like your roof rails are probably bolted to that plank.

[dollywobbler]

Only just spotted this, well done.

Although I think you're being just a little optomistic about the power of captain tolley's when it looks like your roof rails are probably bolted to that plank.

 

Pretty sure that's not the case. Hope not anyway as I have plans* for a laminate ceiling. 

[Sloth in a bowl]

Pretty sure that's not the case. Hope not anyway as I have plans* for a laminate mirrored ceiling. 

 

FIFY

 

p.s. what the chuff colour is the car, it looks different in every picture.

[Tayne]

I think Vulgalour or MikeKnight be after the lunchbox.

[rml2345]

You could always carpet the ceilling and put laminate in the footwells...

Removing the carpet itself is laborious as it'll only come apart one way but would give a chance to make sure the sodden sound deadening hasn't started eating the floor.

[binhoker668]

Dammit, i've wanted an old Volvo estate for over 30 years.  I'm seriously gonna have to scratch this itch.  My MOT occurs in January.  Once done, I may have to look for SWAPPAGES.

[dollywobbler]

FIFY

 

p.s. what the chuff colour is the car, it looks different in every picture.

 

It does seem a little chameleon-like. Depends how wet it is. 

[dollywobbler]

27mpg. Ouch. I may have to accept that this car is not likely to linger on my fleet. Loved the adventure, but adding to the already enormous To Do list I have may not have been wise.

[Lukas]

I would say 27mpg (10,5 litres on 100km for me  ) is absolutely normal and fine for this kind of car. 

 

A big estate without any aerodynamics and a proper petrol-engine from the 1980s. To believe one can drive

this kind of car with 35mpg is a bit naive. 

 

 

 

adding to the already enormous To Do list I have may not have been wise

 

 

Junkman said it absolutely right -> Noli equi dentes inspicere donati. Or -> What did you expect? A perfectly fine car in tip-top-condition with 40mpg for no money? 

[dollywobbler]

I blinded myself with Man Sense. A free Volvo is FUN right? And fetching it certainly was an amusing adventure. Meh. I'll keep using it over the winter and will see what will be.

 

27mpg isn't too bad, but I'm quite good at getting better-than-expected MPG. On a similar to drive to here from Northants (when we lived there) I achieved 26mpg in a sodding Rover P6 V8! My 2-litre Renault 21 did 35mpg without me really even trying, and the Saab 9000 averaged 34. Pretty good for a 2.3. I reckon the engine is quite badly out of tune though - it's still pinking at times and struggling to idle. Something is amiss - perhaps an air leak, though I haven't identified one yet. 

[richardmorris]

Denial ain't just a river in Africa!

[dave21478]

Yeah, I know we are all about the unloved, and free car etc but I would weigh that straight in. It looks grim as hell, and not in the good way.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Do it while its soaking wet, probably worth an extra fiver!

[dollywobbler]

Yeah, I know we are all about the unloved, and free car etc but I would weigh that straight in. It looks grim as hell, and not in the good way.

 

Steady now! As a form of transport, it still works well enough. I fetched some potatoes in it today and everything. Still got MOT until March.