Jump to content

Volvo 940 Torslanda - dampness investigations etc


Marm Toastsmith

Recommended Posts

Looks lovely. I think this green and the blue like @Shirley Knott‘s old one are my favourite colours on these.

 

Those new mirrors, the three bolt holes on new ones often don’t have any threads in them! I bought a pair of the older flat bottom mirrors for my 700 and had to wind a bolt into them off the car first to cut a thread into all the holes. Plenty of grease and go easy when you do it though! God knows why they didn’t tap threads for you!?

Ive actually got a brand new one of those mirrors in my shed, still boxed, you could of had for nowt... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Looks lovely. I think this green and the blue like @Shirley Knott‘s old one are my favourite colours on these.

I totally agree. 700s and 900s look great in various shades of metallic green, blue and turquoise. They look pretty good in solid red as well, but I might be biased *wag*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Shep Shepherd said:

I totally agree. 700s and 900s look great in various shades of metallic green, blue and turquoise. They look pretty good in solid red as well, but I might be biased *wag*

Solid red really suits old Volvo’s I think. There’s a couple of red 740 estates on eBay at the moment and I always think they look great. My old 340 was red, when polished up it looked stunning with its black trims. But, it was a bastard to keep looking bright and nice! The red seemed to fade and turn pink really quickly!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I concur with your experience of red Volvo paint. The paint on The Volvo is pretty oxidised (albeit still shiny), but I'm afraid to polish it, as it's worn down to the primer in several places. I'd love to give it a respray, but short of a lottery win or a successful crowdfunding campaign, it won't happen. I wish that low cost paint shops such as MAACO and Earl Scheib existed in the UK.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep. Colour was definitely a factor in purchase decision. Almost makes up for the lack of towbar. Anyone got a spare?

Red would be my second choice, although it would be tough to decide whether to keep the faded look or polish it. I like both. Would definitely recommend Mer for the job though, it’s only very mildly abrasive and quite effective even with just a quick going over. I’m sure better modern stuff exists but it’s kinder and more effective than t-cut.

White can be nice too. I’m thinking of my aunt’s 340 GLT with black stripes. Sporty.

Am pleased to report I have finally made a support frame for the raspberry canes. I used some Ikea clothes rails which I needed to get shot of anyway. Always satisfying to make something useful out of junk. I’m actually finding uses for all sorts of tat now the council tip has closed...

I think I’m allowed to pull one of the mirrors off and have a look now... @danthecapriman thanks for offering a spare - I have a wish list of parts - might post it up here at some point...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, marm said:

Yep. Colour was definitely a factor in purchase decision. Almost makes up for the lack of towbar. Anyone got a spare?

Red would be my second choice, although it would be tough to decide whether to keep the faded look or polish it. I like both. Would definitely recommend Mer for the job though, it’s only very mildly abrasive and quite effective even with just a quick going over. I’m sure better modern stuff exists but it’s kinder and more effective than t-cut.

White can be nice too. I’m thinking of my aunt’s 340 GLT with black stripes. Sporty.

Am pleased to report I have finally made a support frame for the raspberry canes. I used some Ikea clothes rails which I needed to get shot of anyway. Always satisfying to make something useful out of junk. I’m actually finding uses for all sorts of tat now the council tip has closed...

I think I’m allowed to pull one of the mirrors off and have a look now... @danthecapriman thanks for offering a spare - I have a wish list of parts - might post it up here at some point...

You can have it if you want it. It’s no good to me as it’s for the later 700 and 900 which have a slightly different shape to the early type my car has. I bought it, then when I came to actually fit it realised it was wrong!

PM me your address if you want it and I’ll (try!) to post it for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Replaced a broken rear seat belt socket. The two over the rear arches for the dicky seat are all smashed up too but at least they still work.

Started taking the mirror off. Broke one of the plastic tabs on the back of the trim panel and cut my hand. Only a little bit but still.

Looks like I need to take the door card off to access the connecting plug. Unless I am being stupid or there's another way to access it? I pulled the speaker grille off - the speaker seems to be pop riveted in place (!) Also noted that the speaker has a foam surround which will likely disintegrate as soon as I get the stereo working - spending ahoy.

Haven't checked yet whether the replacement mirror will fit or has threads - am cooking dinner now. Expecting serious brownie points.

Any tips re removing the door card (assuming it is required)?

DSCF4569.JPG

DSCF4570.JPG

DSCF4572.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To get the door card off is just the usual screws and clips dotted about affair, I’m going from memory here, but there’s 3 little clip things along the bottom of the door under the door pocket that just pull out (you can see them if you lay under the open door and look up). Take off the speaker cover which I’m pretty sure my 700 has a screw under the cover, unscrew and remove the interior door lock pin, undo and remove the plastic screw in the plastic trim surrounding the interior door handle then carefully lift the trim panel & power window switch unit and slide off the trim panel leaving the switch unit behind, pull the door card away from the door. It’s secured by push on clips so might take some jiggling. You’ll need to get it off starting from the bottom, once it’s free-ish lift it up over the door lock pin metal rod.

When the door card comes off be aware there are speaker wires and the wires for the red lights on the end of the door!

Word of caution though! Be extremely careful with the door pocket - it’s plastic but they’re usually extremely brittle and can shatter and break even if you look at them funny! And the same goes for that removable trim around the interior door handle - they can break very easily. I had to replace both of my front door ones as they were smashed and at the time the only ones in the right tan colour had to come from America!

 

Also, give the mirror fixing bolts a squirt of WD40 as they can seize and then snap off. When you put the new mirror on, put a dab of grease in the bolt holes/threads before winding the bolts in. Might help stop it happening again!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brilliant, thanks. I’ll probably have a go tomorrow. You’re right about the new mirrors having no threads, I guess being alloy the idea is the steel screw will just cut it’s own thread. A bit crap though. I think I’ve got a tap in the right size (M5?) though so I maybe I’ll give that a go with that before installing.  Will use a dab of grease on the bolts as you suggest. They came out alright but were pretty stiff...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RE doorcards, @danthecapriman has summed it up perfectly. There are also a couple of decent videos on YouTube showing how it's done that might be worth a look. The first time I took mine off to replace them due to peeling (All 95 on cars do that IIRC) it took about an hour, by the time I was moving the car on I could remove all 4 in just under 10 minutes.

RE the seatbelt buttons, they pretty much all shatter due to the Volvos patented exploding plastics. If you can find any replacements, it's possible just to replace the red push button rather than the full thing so worth bearing that in mind.

Frustratingly I actually had a decent cache of spares built up for my 940 including seatbelt clips/buttons but I sent them with the car when it went on the basis that it seemed like the right thing to do. In reality I doubt the bloke who bought it will ever use them, the car's pretty much a trailer queen now from what I see on Instagram 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your pretty well prepared for the impending apocalypse anyway but I think this lift kit would be the icing on the cake 

https://lucacarmods.com/en/shop/suspension/off-road-lift-kit-en/lucacarmods-volvo-740-940-lift-kit-xc940/

image.thumb.jpeg.8135290e58df9049e330f839d8a40e08.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a joy to read. Congratulations indeed. Keep us posted.
 

Before everything went nuts, I picked up 'The Golden Moth'. It is my second 940. I have dreams of stuffing a 1uz into it but before that, I will just use the thing. I bought it 90% for the plate as I like moths.

 

Did a video of cleaning it and getting it through MOT.

 

https://youtu.be/gadQT1UY66w

https://youtu.be/aeNStBPEILs

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Your pretty well prepared for the impending apocalypse anyway but I think this lift kit would be the icing on the cake 

https://lucacarmods.com/en/shop/suspension/off-road-lift-kit-en/lucacarmods-volvo-740-940-lift-kit-xc940/

image.thumb.jpeg.8135290e58df9049e330f839d8a40e08.jpeg

It’s a good job they’re out of stock. That looks brilliant. I wonder how terrible it would make the car to drive?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wrote a huge long post and then my laptop crashed. Here are the bullet points.

  • Polishing: Done*
  • Mileage completed: 20
  • Major fault: Pops out of 5th gear
  • Noises: PAS pump whine, sometimes crunching gears (see above)
  • Smells: oil / petrol (mild, occasional under acceleration?)
  • Fluids: PAS
  • Water in car: 0
  • Rainfall: None
  • Boot: 10/10
  • Driving experience: Very Good
  • Performance: No
  • Family acceptance: Yes
  • Pride of ownership: Smug

DSCF4588.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Ok... 

The more eagle eyed may have noticed I’ve advertised this for sale. But every time I drive it I want to keep it.

The main issue that made me decide to get shot is that it seems that the dampness is probably coolant after all. Appears to be coming from the air vents in the drivers footwell, and the voice of doom,is telling me it’s probably from the heater matrix as I think the valve is in the engine bay?

I noticed it in completely  dry weather while running about locally, so I’m fairly sure it’s not rain. Leaves white deposits when dried.

It’s not losing gallons of the stuff though, nor is it overheating or anything.

What about some k-seal or radweld or something?

 

C5376E75-23DD-4EDB-B06C-721F8D575E44.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, marm said:

Ok... 

The more eagle eyed may have noticed I’ve advertised this for sale. But every time I drive it I want to keep it.

The main issue that made me decide to get shot is that it seems that the dampness is probably coolant after all. Appears to be coming from the air vents in the drivers footwell, and the voice of doom,is telling me it’s probably from the heater matrix as I think the valve is in the engine bay?

I noticed it in completely  dry weather while running about locally, so I’m fairly sure it’s not rain. Leaves white deposits when dried.

It’s not losing gallons of the stuff though, nor is it overheating or anything.

What about some k-seal or radweld or something?

 

 

That does sound like it's coming from the heater. My old one suffered from it very slightly in normal use. After 5 runs up Shelsley Walsh with the boost turned up it turned into a fine jet of boiling coolant aimed at my left foot

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, 2MB said:

That does sound like it's coming from the heater. My old one suffered from it very slightly in normal use. After 5 runs up Shelsley Walsh with the boost turned up it turned into a fine jet of boiling coolant aimed at my left foot

Did you manage to ignore it? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/5/2020 at 6:09 PM, marm said:

Did you manage to ignore it? 

It was uncomfortable at the time but in normal use I just had a bit of dampness. The tailgate got oily driving in the rain as well, but apart from being less than fluid-tight it was a lovely car that took a lot of abuse. Always have an eye out for another

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...