Shep's Swedes and Stuff

[Shep Shepherd]

Discovered today that Euro Car Parts was running a 30% off everything promotion.  As I want to build reliability into The Aero, I took advantage of this and bought a new Bosch battery for £74 with a three year guarantee, as the one fitted to the car (also Bosch) was around eight years old and showing signs of weakness:

 

 

Replacing the battery was a straightforward ten minute job which only needed a 13mm ratchet spanner and a smear of copper grease to achieve. The car now turns over faster than Robert Maxwell's bank accounts ^^

[Shep Shepherd]

Gave The Volvo a going-over with a clay bar this afternoon, as the paintwork was looking (and feeling) pretty grotty, particularly on the bonnet and roof. The car looks quite good now - from a distance and in photos!

 

 

In reality, the paint has seen better days, but short of a full respray, there's not much I can do to greatly improve matters. At least the car's paintwork isn't as far gone as that of the red F-reg 740 estate I see pottering around locally from time to time. As Angrydicky can attest, that car really is a case of Fifty Shades of Red 

 

I still need to give The Aero a good polish, as apart from normal washing, removing the most obvious scratches and marks with T-Cut and touching in stone chips, I haven't really done much to the bodywork since I've owned it. Hopefully, I'll have some time to give it a bit of attention next week, weather depending.

[Shep Shepherd]

Over the course of yesterday and today, I attacked The Aero with some T-Cut, Mer, Color Magic and Autoglym Bumper and Trim Gel, which resulted in this:

 

 

 

Although its bodywork is nowhere near perfect, the car scrubs up quite well for a well-used, sub-£1000 16 year old car

[Shep Shepherd]

Drove The Aero to southwest of the Netherlands at the weekend, an almost 500 mile-round trip during which the car was faultless, which is just as well, as I have no European breakdown cover:

 

 

 

In particular, it cruises really well at 85 mph and is capable of giving drivers of brand new Audis a little something to think about 

 

I really like driving in mainland northern Europe, as apart from the ones on the outskirts of the cities (the traffic around Antwerp is always hatefully bad), the main roads and motorways invariably don't have a lot of traffic, which enables me to get to where I need to be quickly and without undue hassle.

[mrbenn]

Saab looks amazing. Still looks such a good design, even years later.

 

Man points for heading off to Europe with no breakdown cover too!

[Shep Shepherd]

^

I couldn't justify paying the AA a one-off fee of £50 for four days of very basic European breakdown cover when I was confident that the car wouldn't break down, and if it did, I could fix it myself. In any case, it wasn't used for two out of the four days I was away. 

 

Does anyone know of a company which offers up to a week's worth of European breakdown cover at a realistic price i.e. around £20?

[SiC]

Nationwide Flex Plus offers European Breakdown cover (as a driver or passenger in a car), worldwide family travel insurance, worldwide family mobile phone insurance and 12 months extra warranty on kitchen appliances for £10 per month (so £120 per year). If you set it up as a joint account, then it covers for both people too. So effectively £5 per month each.

 

I haven't found anything that is as good value as that for all those insurance products. Half decent breakdown cover is usually around 60quid each per person alone.

[Shep Shepherd]

Just ordered a set of Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tyres from Blackcircles.com for The Aero, in order to replace the car's existing Michelins, which are now all worn close to the tread wear indicators, which isn't a great state of affairs with such a powerful car at this time of year:

 

 

I get them fitted on Wednesday at a certain well-known local 'motor engineers'

 

 

[Shep Shepherd]

Had the new tyres fitted to The Aero this morning. The difference they have made to the way the car drives is phenomenal. 

 

Full marks go to M.J. Steptoe Motor Engineers in Shoebury who fitted them in a timely fashion without causing injury to the alloys, for saying nice things about The Aero, and for letting me have a look at the various old cars they had on the premises while I waited, as they immediately realised I was a car person. I was particularly taken by the shabby but sound L-reg Dolomite 1850 which had been owned by a local gent since new and had been fitted with a brand new engine - it would make a perfect everyday classic 

 

Next job is to fit a new coolant expansion tank to The Volvo, as the threads on the filler neck of the existing (aftermarket) one have gone bad and won't allow the cap to seal properly, leading to coolant escaping when the engine warms up. A nice job for Saturday morning, I think.

[Dirty Rooster]

The Aero might be a fab car, but its size and shape means it's bordering on being a 'lifestyle' estate car, so there's no way that you'd be able to get a tip-bound double mattress in the back of it without a huge struggle, which is where The Volvo comes in:

 

CtBm0P7XgAAk3oT.jpg

 

IMG_20160923_100358.jpg

 

Despite having owned it for almost 13 years, the car's load carrying capacity never ceases to amaze me 

Hey that's my camping style.

[Parky]

Have to admit the Aero does still look like a quality piece of kit. Ex bro in law had a flat face 9000 and we did a tour of Northern France in it back in 1996. Thought that was a great car and always fancied a Saab.

 

(Opens extra tab and types eb before operating system immediately brings up eBay motors)

[Shep Shepherd]

I really wanted to buy a 1980s 9000 about 15 years ago, but I was quoted £1500 to insure the £1500 example I was interested in. I'd still like one, but there are hardly any worthwhile 9000s of any type left nowadays. I did see this late model in Folkestone last week, though:

 

 

All things considered, the 9-5 is a pretty good substitute, especially in Aero Hot guise

[SiC]

Yeah I've fancied one in recent years. However in the last 5 years they have pretty much suffered extinction. A combination of owners scrapping instead of repairing, thanks to high scrap prices and just general wearing out of examples.

[Vantman]

I really wanted to buy a 1980s 9000 about 15 years ago, but I was quoted £1500 to insure the £1500 example I was interested in. I'd still like one, but there are hardly any worthwhile 9000s of any type left nowadays. I did see this late model in Folkestone last week, though:

 

Cvry5HfWcAAsSsL.jpg

 

 

 

That's my old 9000,i sold it to the lads at my local garage who look after it really well.

[Shep Shepherd]

Small world!

 

It really is excellent

[SiC]

If he ever wants to sell it, make sure he lists it here. There would be plenty of interest

[Shep Shepherd]

In Volvo news:

 

I fitted The Volvo's new coolant expansion tank and cap (genuine Volvo) this morning:

 

 

A nice and easy job which cured the car's tendency to chuck out coolant when warm, which was down to the existing (aftermarket) tank suffering from damaged threads on its 'neck' due to my accidentally cross-threading of the cap at some point in the past, meaning that the cap was unable to seal properly:

 

 

Hopefully the new tank will be more durable, as it's made from tougher plastic than the one I took off. As long as I don't cross thread the cap again, of course 

[danthecapriman]

Great stuff Shep, both your cars are looking lovely.

 

I was really admiring your Volvo though, it looks superb in your pic above. I really really do want another one!

Does your Volvo fade to pink very much? I had a similar aged 340 in red which was a nightmare to keep the paint bright and red. It'd fade back to pink very quickly, bonnet and roof mainly.

[Shep Shepherd]

Thanks

 

The Volvo's paintwork looks really good from a distance for about a week after it's polished, but soon begins to oxidise. It doesn't fade to cherry pink, though, which is good as the paint is now very thin in many places, meaning that polishing it more than two or three times a year would lead to me removing quite a bit of it, especially on the panel edges.

 

Sadly, I am unable to afford a professional respray and don't know how to spray paint myself, so the car is destined to remain a 'ten yard car' for the foreseeable future

[Shep Shepherd]

Yeah I've fancied one in recent years. However in the last 5 years they have pretty much suffered extinction. A combination of owners scrapping instead of repairing, thanks to high scrap prices and just general wearing out of examples.

 

Many a Volvo 740 and 760 has died in similar circumstances. A sad end, indeed 

[Shep Shepherd]

Discovered this afternoon that The Aero's bonnet support struts are weak and don't like doing their job in cold weather, a discovery I made when the bonnet lowered itself onto me heavily and without warning while I was fiddling around in the engine bay. Thankfully, they are readily available, cheap (£20 from eBay) and easy to fit, as I don't want to use a broom handle or similar to keep the bonnet up for for any longer that I have to.

 

A job for next Saturday morning, I think

[Shep Shepherd]

Fitted a new pair of bonnet support struts to The Aero today. They took five minutes to fit and make a huge difference:

 

 

 

 

The third picture shows the new struts holding the bonnet half open, which is something that the old struts were incapable of doing. Hopefully, being bashed on the head by a suddenly and unexpectedly descending Saab 9-5 bonnet will now be a thing of the past. No worries about The Volvo's bonnet doing the same, as it's held open by massive springs situated on the inner wings, which is a far better system in my opinion. I wouldn't want to be around if one of the springs broke or came adrift, though, as they look like they are under quite a lot of tension. 

 

I also cleaned both The Aero and The Volvo, just in time for it to start to rain...

[rantingYoof]

Late to the party, but I like how a 500 mile round trip for you took you to The Netherlands and back, whereas an 840 mile round trip for Supernaut an 17-Coffees took them to.....Birmingham and back.

 

 

YAY GEOGRAPHY!

[Shep Shepherd]

Update time!

 

Took The Aero in for an MOT today, as the old one was only valid until tomorrow. The car passed the test with only two advisories: slightly worn front brake discs and an illuminated check engine light, which came on during the test and is a recurring problem caused by a duff coolant temperature sender. I have a new one ready to fit, but I have no time or motivation to fit it...

 

Just as well that the car passed, as if it hadn't, I wouldn't be able to get it fixed/retested until next Wednesday at the earliest, which would force me to use The Volvo to get to and from work, something I don't really want to do at this time of year, due to the roads being so filthy.