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Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite - Volvo gets a clean sheet MOT, now on to wheel trims, thermostat and brakes revisited


Shirley Knott

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16 minutes ago, bezzabsa said:

I'm sorry but there's way to much servicing, and Name brand parts ? !!!! being used on here....Very Un AS like...

You're right, bad form on my part.

I'm essentially the equivalent of one of those psychotic women that are attracted to wrongun's because they  think  they can 'change' them, only for me its with cars.  This lot get MANN and they probably deserve Crossland TBH.

24 minutes ago, bezzabsa said:

nice Volvo though 

Thanks, it's a definite ten footer though!

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On 11/16/2019 at 9:15 PM, Shirley Knott said:

It's been more than a month since I posted here, mostly because there's not been a huge amount going on car wise and also on the basis that I've been deeply busy if not almost entirely consumed by renovating our house, that's not to say that nothing at all has happened though.... A few weeks back a V70 of exactly the same ilk turned up in a local breakers yard...

 

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It's a perfect match. Same year (Y reg), and the same engine (2.5 140PS). Identical even down to the fact that it's manual. This is relevant because I wanted to liberate the often troublesome ETM from it as a spare get out of jail free card should mine ever go wrong, and whilst they're supposed to need coding to the car, anecdotal evidence suggests that if you pick the exact same model/year it often isn't necessary.

One cleaned ETM ready to be wrapped up and go into dry storage in the loft...

 

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Meanwhile, I'd managed to narrow down the engine warning message I'd been getting to a faulty clutch position sensor, it lives here under the clutch pedal (Obviously)...

 

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Needless to say the sensor from the breaker V70 was taken, and having tested the resistances with a multimeter was proven to be a gudun...

 

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Success! No codes, dire engine failure messages gone and as an added bonus now the cruise control now works too.

 

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This means the Volvo is pretty much running as it should, good news as it's very much been earning it's keep during our aforementioned house renovations. To be honest it's been a godsend, I'm about 2000 miles deep now with no major dramas and it's actually really liberating to have a car that's already a bit battered around the edges! There's no way I'd have subjected my old 940 to this kind of carry on...

 

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I see you've thrown you hat in

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6 minutes ago, Isaac Hunt said:

I see you've thrown you hat in

Both literally in that instance and also metaphorically in the sense that there will be no more home improvements until at least 2025,.

Renovation work on  a 1950's house makes maintaining old cars seem like a walk in the park.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The V70 showed a dash warning last week RE low beam being inop. Surprise surprise as Cilla used to say, the H7 connector was basically non-existent, what little there was left of it turned into wensleydale the moment it was touched leaving just the spades. Nice to see this trend RE fragile plastic was carried on from the old RWD redblock stuff, at least I know it's a 'proper' Volvo...

 

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Wires stripped...

 

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£2.99 Ebay ceramic H7 holder ready to be spliced in, this should be much tougher...

 

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And success...

 

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As a reward for complying with a cheap repair I rewarded it with a new £16 "Delux" velour carpet (Ebay again!) for the boot area on the basis the existing carpet/panels are badly worn and let it down. The breakers want circa £50 for hatch floor panels, on a £350 car- fuck that for a game of soldiers.

For £16 it doesn't look bad...

 

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I'm about 3000 miles deep into the car now, it's just clocked over 92K and I'm still waiting to find out what I'd missed/why it was so cheap. I'm sure there's something lurking that I haven't spotted yet...

 

 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Broadsword said:

This Volvo really has been a triumph in good, sound bangernomics!

Thanks chap,

I'd love to say I'd chosen it carefully (I do with most of my cars) but it would be a lie. Literally everything about it screamed walk away.

It turned up on Gumtree for £395, I had the money from the 940 I'd just sold burning a hole in my pocket and called within 20 minutes of the advert going up, The seller when asked how long he'd owned the car came up with a long story describing how he'd owned it before and bought it back from a friend (Thus not answering the question at all). When I got there it was on a dive estate in Sunderland, he was wearing a high-vis jacket with 'Noddy's Recovery' printed on the back.  He had literally five kids under 10 running round his front garden all of whom called him dad. There was no V5, He let me drive the car around the block, I bid him £350 which was accepted and the rest is history.

Interestingly the chap I bought it from swore blind he'd do the transfer of the V5 online and after a month without receiving it (Shock) I called the DVLA in Swansea who confirmed the online transfer had been done online as the seller suggested but there system had been upset by the fact the 'gentleman' had bought it and changed ownership to his name online 2 hours before selling it to me and swapping ownership into my name, ergo they thought it was an error and didn't post it.

It's HPI clear, drives well and doesn't overheat or really misbehave in any way. I can't really believe my luck but I was probably a bit daft buying it given the circumstances.

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Right, today was MOT day for the C1, imagine my joy yesterday when this light showed up again...

 

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A quick scan showed there's nothing actually wrong with the airbag system. My suspicions were that there's either a loose connection somewhere or perhaps a dying battery was to blame (The car's been struggling to start of late) . Yesterday afternoon a replacement battery was procured locally and I was out with the larks this morning ready to fit the battery and clear the code in time for test....

 

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Old battery looks old...

 

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Pretty much all of the nuts and bolts on this C1 shear as soon as you look at them, I've never know another car like it. It's worse than MX5's for rusty fasteners, that's quite an achievement. The bolt that holds the battery clamp down avoided this fate with the use of copious amounts of Plusgas and working in a turn and then out a turn until it came free.

It got a generous dose of copperslip before it went back in, as Luther Vandross used to say, never too much, never to much etc etc...

 

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After that the new battery went in and received the vaseline 'treatment' on the terminals to inhibit corrosion. Mmmm, soothing...

 

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Never too much, never too much, never too much, wait... That might actually be too much....

 

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After this the code was cleared and the car was taken for test achieving a clean sheet (Better than the V70 or the Golf managed) so all was well. The light hasn't returned but I'll be keeping an eye on it and at least I have the technology to read/clear it should it rear it's ugly head again.

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  • 1 month later...

This morning out of sheer boredom I changed the timing belt on the V70.

Old belt looks old...

 

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No turning back now...

 

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Old belt vs new...

 

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New serpentine belt ready too...

 

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And all done...

 

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Unbelievably it all works!

I was pretty daunted by this job as it's only the second timing belt I've done and the first on an interference engine with twin cams. Either way, the car runs well with no warning messages. The knowledge that it now boasts a new Gates timing belt kit and serp belt brings me a great deal of comfort and as a result I'll now have the confidence to take it out on longer journeys if/when this whole mess is over.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

A week on since the timing belt change on the Volvo, only 30 miles covered because lockdown but nothing has blown up yet! Buoyed by this success I got stuck in this afternoon and serviced the little C1 and the Golf.

C1 up first...

 

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Air filter was examined but having only covered about 4000 miles was found to be like new and was put back in, the replacement can go in the parts bin until next year...

 

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Oil filter access is nice and easy on these...

 

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After this brakes/bushes/boots etc were all inspected with no issues found, hinges greased etc then it was time to move on to the Golf....

 

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This one now has over 150k on the clocks but wears it pretty well. It genuinely feels like it would do the same again without much drama. Oil filter access is even better than the C1, it also allows access for the Pela to drain the oil cooler, actually getting more out than a traditional sump plug drain...

 

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Again, Mann oil filters and massively over spec PD oil despite the cars lowly SDI status, because I care...

 

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Again, after this brakes/bushes/boots etc were checked, there's a CV boot that wants changing but other than that all good. Air filter and fuel filter were changed last April and have only covered around 5000 miles since then so will be fine until next year. The cars won't be moving much in the coming days/weeks/months but all in all it feels good to know they've had a once over.

 

 

 

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As the covid lockdown continues and boredom/insanity creeps in I've been keeping myself busy by tearing into the ropey V70. The car is now where I'd like it to be mechanically having had the brakes overhauled, clutch position sensor replaced, a thorough clean out, a full service and a new timing belt kit fitted. It's now time to turn attention to the car's cosmetic woes.

One of the things that really pulls the car down is the wheels, they're shocking. See below for evidence...

 

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Yup, pretty bad eh? The whole premise behind the Volvo is to make a decent car out of it on a small budget. Given the car cost £350 to buy, spending £200 on having the wheels blasted and powder coated would be counter intuitive. A rough and ready DIY approach is the way forward here and today I decided to take action!

Wire wheels on a drill and some manual sanding got me here...

 

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Then the wheels were wiped over, masked up and given a blow over with some etch primer I had knocking about in the shed...

 

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Followed by several coats of 'Auto Extreme' silver wheel paint- 6 cans of this stuff cost me £12.99 from Ebay. I bought it mostly because it's cheap, but also because it claims not to require lacquer on the basis of having a natural satin finish. It actually went on quite well...

 

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And an example of one finished with masking removed...

 

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Not perfect but not a bad result either (I really could have done with spending more time sanding) This car's never going to be a show pony, getting things to a standard that's presentable/not an eyesore is the end game really. Wheels back on and looking smarter considering the total cost of this exercise was £13...

 

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Next steps are probably working the neglected paint with compound to remove as many scratches/swirls as possible and then potentially getting in touch with a paintless dent removal chap to work some magic on the bruised and battered panels.

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  • 3 months later...

Back after four months of radio silence with an un-remarkable update about fitting new brakes to the Golf over the weekend.

First rate tools assembled, and also Comline discs and pads for a bargain price of £40 delivered from Ebay! They're actually made in the UK and are decent quality IME, every bit as good as the Pagid set that ECP wanted £85 for... I fitted a set of their (Comline's) brakes to my brother's Corsa last year as an experiment- He's still alive and the brakes still work well and look good,  Comline braking equipment is now officially Shirley Knot approved.

 

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Up in the air and wheels off, looks like that brake change wasn't a minute too soon...

 

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All back together in a jiffy...

 

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I've got a bit of a fetish for new brake hardwear visible through an alloy (I should see/talk to someone about that) Also, behold what is perhaps one of the only Mk4 Golf's left in Britain without rusty front wings...

 

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All in all that's been it. No new cars and all of the existing fleet are pretty much plodding on and causing very little bother.

 

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  • 2 months later...

Another brief update to show what's been going down at Cassa Knott..

The V70 got an oil change...

 

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And then new handbrake shoes, it didn't need them but they're known for shitting themselves and destroying the hub if left to get dry/crumbly- I think these were original and likely 20 years old...

 

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Mintex shoes and even a new fitting kit because I care...

 

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Meanwhile Mrs Knot came home in her C1 complaining that it was noisy. A brief inspection showed the rear section of the silencer to be utterly fucked....

 

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I was recently waxing lyrical to DanTheCapriMan that fitting exhausts was something I would no longer do on my drive... As I called round local garages it became clear that I'd be waiting over a week to pay someone else £100 or so to fit a new one, this I believe is what is known as 'Hubris'.

Up on the ramps she went...

 

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And old vs new (Klarius- because I don't care)...

 

 

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All in all the new exhaust section took about 25 minutes to fit and cost £30, I'm actually pretty pleased I didn't pay someone else to do it TBH.

 

 

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  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- V70 Handbrake Shoes And C1 Exhaust
  • 5 weeks later...

Right- I've now had the V70 over a year and have decided it's a keeper....Despite only having covered 92k it's had a hard life and looks battered.

A couple of weekends ago I spotted someone breaking a minted car in the correct colour (Failed autobox).£150 and several trips later I had...

4 17 inch wheels, 2  wings, both front and rear bumpers, all boot carpets and speaker covers, 4 doors and various other sundries.

I've got a week off work and much enthusiasm. Lets see how far I can get with my £150 Ovlov Makeover.

Today was rear bumper day. My old bumper had this ugly cut-out for it's rusty towbar....

 

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And also some random holes, presumably from previous owners reversing into shit....

 

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Work underway....

 

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Towbar was removed and the new bumper fitted, but by the time this happened the light had gone so no before/after pics unfortunately. 

For the rest of the week-things are going to be busy with lots of updates as I change the majority of exterior panels on the car.

WCPGW!?

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  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- V70 Renovation Begins.

I doubt I'll ever manage to make this one a minter- But in short, yes, you've pretty much got my number.

I just start picking away at stuff thinking "Just this to do" and so on until I've totally ruined them by by making them nice, thus defeating the object of having cheap cars in the first place.

I really like the idea of bangernomics, and I try to be good at it, I really do, but basically I always end up getting it wrong and rather than running something into the ground, I find myself doing the opposite.

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Day 2 of the 1 week cosmetic Ovlov restoration project.

The four alloys I'd bought as part of the £150 job lot had great tyres (Ok, not brand wise, but plenty of tread) and were of the more sexy 17" variety, thus beating my 16" 'Metis' wheels hands down, but my gosh, they were in poor shape....

 

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I rose at 7AM and started sanding them using various grades of sandpaper, by 11AM they all pretty much looked like this...

 

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The next two hours or so were spent applying UPol etch primer...

 

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Followed by Upol 'Wheel Silver' and then Upol clear lacquer (Full house of Upol products)...

 

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By 2.30PM they were tacky enough to unveil the masking, revealing OMGULTIMATESPLENDOUR....

 

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Meanwhile I'd been busy removing both wings from the car in order to replace with the new ones I'd bought as part of the bundle (Both old wings were scratched and dented horribly- difficult to capture in photos)...

 

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The 'new' wings were given a good coat of Dynax UB around the lip before fitting...

 

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Again- no before/after pics as by that stage I'd lost all light. The wings took a shocking amount of time, rather than the usual impossible to extract rusted torx fitting that most manufacturers install, Volvo went a step further and used pop rivets, all of which need drilling out- Ultimate joy. In the end I got there and that's what matters.

I'll likely post a before/after pic of the whole car when all works *definitely finished at the end of the week so avid readers of this topic can recoil in shock at the gravity of transformation that's occurred.

 

 

 

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  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- Day 2 Of the 1 Week V70 Restoration Challenge.
12 hours ago, Jim Bell said:

Those wheels look like a £240 refurb job. Well done man. Stirling job. 

Kind of you to say fella, but refer to my earlier comments re imperfections being difficult to capture in photos!

An average DIY effort really but when shit comes to shovel they didn't cost much to do and hopefully they  should give the car a bit of a lift.

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Day 3 of my 1 week Volvo makeover is now complete.

Today was the day I'd been dreading- Changing all 4 doors. Getting the doors off was easy enough...

 

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Unfortunately this is where the problems began. Once I'd got the first rear door installed it was apparent that despite being connected properly neither the windows or the central locking worked... After some googling it became clear that all of the electronics in the doors are coded to each respective car.

At this point, I swapped the entire loom/lock/module across but decided that given one door had taken half the day and lifting them alone is such a miserable job, the other three can stay. I'll weigh in the remaining three doors at the end of the week- changing one was more than enough.

Then it was on to the boot interior. As the car had been used as a builders van for a portion of it's life, it was a world of ripped carpeting and broken speaker covers/handles...

 

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New boot interior at the ready...

 

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All fitted and looking much nicer...

 

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  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- Day 3 Of the 1 Week V70 Restoration Challenge.

Amazingly my week long V70 mini resto challenge is now complete, and on day 4!

Last steps today were to give the car a good wash and then spend four hours a brief period working the car with compound/polish before waxing.

After this, I cheated slightly and had the chap from 'Dent Devlis' round. Martin is a lovely bloke, I've used him before and for a fixed price agreed before hand he worked the whole car getting out everything and anything he could dent wise- the car was covered! He was on for about 3 hours, the price was more than reasonable and the result truly impressive.

Photo taken from indoors as I didn't feel comfortable going out and brazenly taking pictures of his van :)

 

 

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So in the space of 4 days the car has had 2X new bumpers, 2X new wings, a new rear door, a new boot interior, dent removal and a set of 17" alloys refurbished and fitted.

Here's how it looked just over a year ago after arriving battered and bruised at casa Knott as a £350 car...

 

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And a year on....

 

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It's difficult to show in pics just how much the car's come on, but suffice to say I'm very pleased with it. With a little elbow grease I've managed to cobble together a presentable V70 with fresh handbrakes/discs pads all round, overhauled mechanicals and fresh timing belt, and as an added bonus it's only got 92k on the clock, all for £NotMuch.

It can only go downhill from here- It's bound to shit itself any minute after all that work, the only question is how? PLACE BETS NOW!

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