Project Robinmasters' French Fancies - Now featuring HOT SWEDISH ACTION

[robinmasters]

In other news, the Berlingo van is for sale. Thread in the appropriate forum. 

[robinmasters]

I was a bit concerned that LED sidelights might look a bit Halfords, but the 'candles in a jam jar' sidelights had to go, especially next to the projector headlights. 

Gave it a good hoover and glued up the flappy grill bit too. Little wins. 

[robinmasters]

This car came with rear discs and pads, the previous owner hasn't had time to fit. When the MOT rolled around last November, I had a go at fitting them; turns out someone had rounded off the bolts holding the rear calipers, so I gave up rather than making them worse as access was terrible-i couldn't have done it myself in the road. 

Funds etc being in a before Christmas state meant I only took it for an MOT today; obviously it failed (there were also ABS and airbag lights on, the seller had told me about these). 

In addition to these known faults, it turns out someone has "repaired" the rest suspension mounts at some point, but the repair wasn't even MOT standard, and the garage quoted me £1,500 in total. I had expected £500-£600 for the bits I knew about but couldn't or hadn't fixed myself, but the additional £1k for the welding (obviously subject to further issues being discovered when the previous patches came off) means this just isn't viable for me. Is be lucky to get £1,200 for the car, once repaired. 

So I've taken James Brown's advice. 

[robinmasters]

Collection collected. 

[stuboy]

6 hours ago, robinmasters said:

Collection collected. 

not seen 1 in years,,,

[robinmasters]

On 18/03/2024 at 13:24, Six-cylinder said:

Volvo 480ES Automatic 1989

Usual 480 stuff including, speedo, info centre, central locking, daylight running lights not working. Rear wiper only worked with wash. Battery drain if left more than a couple of days. Rain water leaks. Driver’s seat does not tip for rear access but unfitted replacement included. 67,504 mileage has not shown increase since Sep 2023

After collecting the car from the lovely Mr & Mrs C, I soon discovered that a number of the 'known faults', weren't.  The info centre does work, partially; the average speed and fuel consumption don't work, but the rest of it does (aside from a few dead sections of the display)-I'm assuming that this is linked to the speedo not working, ie. the info centre needs the speedo input to work out consumption and speed.  The range, oil, coolant and outdoor temp all work, and the display shows 'OK' immediately after starting as well as 'FUEL' when the tank is nearly empty.  You can see in the picture that the fuel gauge is missing a couple of stripes, there are also one or two sections missing in the numeric display below.  The only other issue is that the illumination is awful-the picture makes it look far brighter than it is in person.  

The rear wiper works fine; the switch was quite stiff at first, so I wonder if it just needed working back and forth a few times.  

The battery does drain fairly quickly if not driven; I've been through all the fuses today, and there is a 0.01 amp drain from the HRW, not sure if that is enough to flatten the battery as quickly as it is, but I've taken that fuse out to see if things improve.  It is a secondhand battery (scrappy white pen on the top states 'Renault Safrane', but it appears to charge fully and my battery tester says it's ok, so I'll not change it yet.  The fanbelt is also squeaky, so it's probably not charging properly.  

Most importantly, bangin' tunes.  I think what has happened is that at some point someone has fitted an aftermarket stereo, with all the usual attendant butchery-especially when you consider that Volvos of this era appear to have had a propriety flat connector and a DIN connector, not standard euro connectors.  At a later date, someone has re-fitted a Volvo stereo, just using crimp connectors.  This lot came out:

I should probably go and get it out of the bin, in case I or a future owner want to put an original stereo back in.  I don't at the moment, I'd rather be able to listen to music as is the current preference, ie. off of bluetooth and that.  

As Chris said, the daylight running lights don't work (the rear running lights are fine), so I've just been leaving the front fogs on.  They're not dazzling to oncoming traffic.  The long distance driving lights don't work either (the lights on the inside of the front cluster) - these should come on with main beam when you have the headlights on.  

There is a leak somewhere; Chris hadn't checked the usual culprit, the rear light clusters because he wasn't planning on keeping it long term, but, I was driving in the rain the other day and got a drop of cold water on my ankle.  It does need a new screen at some point, so hopefully it's just going to be a leak around the screen.  

The driver's seat does tilt, but it's missing the handle and surround, so operating the tilting seat causes hurty finger.  Passengers can get in the other side, not that there will be many it's not very big back there.  

I was actually quite surprised how little the interior rattles, and how quick it is.  Obviously it's not fast by anyone's standards, but if you put your foot down, it goes.  And, due to the partially-functioning info centre, I can entertain myself by watching my range gradually drop off. 

I have also been surprised by the handling and braking, I was expecting a wallowly old thing, but it's pretty happy to be thrown around.  All round discs too, a fact I'm sure I already knew, but from 1989 it's still quite impressive. 

Next job, fix the speedo.  It's normally a connector from the speed sensor going bad apparently, and the slight increase in resistance throws the info centre out-bypass the connector, problem solved, hopefully.  

Really, the whole dash needs to come out.  It's obviously been out before, it's very loose where trims clips and screws are missing.  As I said, the info centre illumination is poor, and some of the illumination bulbs elsewhere have gone. 

[Six-cylinder]

1 hour ago, robinmasters said:

  It is a secondhand battery (scrappy white pen on the top states 'Renault Safrane', but it appears to charge fully and my battery tester says it's ok, so I'll not change it yet. 

It is a very good battery from our (Andyrew & I) Renault Safrane which is not being used at the moment and I used to replace the bad one on the 480.

[robinmasters]

BIG NEWS

Good news, and bad news. 

The good news is that I may have found a culprit for the battery drain when the car isn't being used. The glovebox is quite broken, more so on the passenger side which is where the switch for the light is. It's not shutting, so the light is permanently on. 

Another positive (pun intended) is that I've put in a shiny new alternator. 

The bad news is that it's crispy. Really, really crispy. 

So that's it for me. I can't weld and have no off street parking, so it'll have to go. No idea how to price it as it is, it must be worth something for parts given how rare they are now, but having said that values aren't high. 

The Xantia needs a bit of work too, but it's mainly routine maintenance, which I had been putting off until the Volvo was useable so can now take priority. 

[Split_Pin]

Sad news 😞

TBF even an experienced home- restorer might think twice about digging into the welding on that.

[Surface Rust]

That seems a fairly disastrous failure considering there were no previous advisories. Do you think it's over zealous? Have you got any pics of the yellow chalk? 

Might help others work out how save-able it is.

[robinmasters]

Here we go. Pictures of the terminal rust. 

How the fuck did this get through an MOT last year??