welding project Juular's Scandi Noir. Volvo C70, 240 &122. Worst job ever.

[juular]

First time I've owned a Volvo, let's see how this goes.

I'd write about the collection, but as @SRi05 is about 20 minutes from here on the M80, I would've had to swim or paraglide to make the journey interesting. I didn't go to the toilet either. I didn't shirk my duties entirely though (once I'd embarassed myself finding the fuel cap lever).

Next to the daily modern.

First impressions.

- Goes like fuck

- Burbly, grumpy 5 cylinder pleasantness, but not loud.

- I could open and shut the doors all day. What a sound.

- It's heavy. It might be heavier than the van above. I might have made some potholes worse.

- Thor himself appears to have hand crafted this from a solid block of unobtanium.

- Wafty. In fact, it's quite floaty for a coupe and takes a little bit of getting used to after lighter, stiffer cars. It may need bushes, though.

- Turning circle can be measured in miles.

- It has a CD milky changer with the chunky cartridges. Lovely.

I was a little concerned about this emptying my bank account quicker than a night in vegas, but after a few nips to Glasgow and back it has returned low 30s muggings per gallon, which I can probably live with.

As many have mentioned the sound system in these is quite something. Even scabby old tapes sound rather decent. Swedish power metal was created for this car, though, and I think I've worn this CD out.

That is all for now.

 

[SRi05]

A fine big tub this. Ain't no SPROTS car, but my what a waft. 

[Supernaut]

I saw Sabaton live at the Aberdeen Music Hall a few years back.

I wasn't interested. I was there to watch Alestorm, who were supporting them.

[juular]

56 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

I saw Sabaton live at the Aberdeen Music Hall a few years back.

I wasn't interested. I was there to watch Alestorm, who were supporting them.

Interestingly I'd never heard of them until I went to see Alestorm at the Barrowlands in Glasgow .

[juular]

Fettlage begins.

I've done a little bit of poking around to find the source of a toe curling clonk from the front on uneven roads.

The difference between this 23 year old car which seems to have spent it's life in the south east, versus any of ours from central Scotland, is pretty astounding. This is cleaner than our 09 and 13 plate cars. There's barely a spot of rust on the chassis.

Well hello.

Clonk found. The ARB can be pulled back and forward freely so I think those bushes will be getting changed.

But wait.

On the left are the ones that definitely should fit based on the car's VIN, but that obviously isn't going to happen.

Something else is odd. As far as I'm aware the OEM bars had the bushes bonded on and had no collar to prevent sideways movement, yet this one does.

 

PartsForVolvos were pretty helpful at helping me identify the correct bushes and arranging a swap, so those will be turning up soon hopefully.

Also, their repair kit contains powerflex bushes, which was a surprise.

 

As well as the bushes, I found the driver's side inner tie rod has a minor click, so it will be getting swapped sooner rather than later. The tracking is miles out anyway so I'll do both TREs while I'm on it.

I've tracked a mild rattle at certain RPMs down to the top engine mount, so for a ten quid bush that will be going on too.

What else?

The coolant looks a bit cloudy which can be a trait of non OEM coolant apparently. It's probably fine but for £20 I will flush it and replace with the right stuff.

Finally the timing belt was done in 2009 so definitely spinning the roulette wheel a bit now. They look simple to do so that will be getting changed at the weekend.

[Spiny Norman]

That looks smart, I really hope you have better luck with yours than I had with mine, though the presence of a good old fashioned throttle cable is reassuring and these top engine bushes always go.
They're fantastic GT cars but they're no more sporty to drive than a V70. The seats and stereo are some of the best factory fits I've ever encountered in any car regardless of age or price.
The turning circle and long doors mean stay out of multi storey car parks but as a mile muncher they're nice when they work.

[big_al_granvia]

Top chod sir, agree your average ferry is more maneuverable than a big ovlov, you get used to it

[juular]

1 hour ago, Spiny Norman said:

Though the presence of a good old fashioned throttle cable is reassuring and these top engine bushes always go.

It's been a while since I drove a cable throttle and it's quite a pleasant thing. The pedal moving up and down by itself with the cruise control really freaked me out the first time I used it ?

[inconsistant]

Ooh that's nice. I'm getting used to our V70 convincing me 5 point turns are the new 3 point turns.

 

Who doesn't like a bit of Swedish metal though eh?

 

[stuboy]

looks good

[juular]

Stuff came yesterday.



Inner tie rods surprisingly OK so the click must be from the ends or the rack itself. 

TREs due for replacement anyway so glad I bought some.

New ARB bushes fit perfectly and mega tight now.

Existing Droplink studs seem a bit small for the holes, we'll see how that goes.

Old ones were toast.

Engine mount bush replaced. Not much to see here, 30 second job.

On to the timing. Whipped the arch cover off. Spotted some more work to do. I'm fairly sure the lower engine mount is not meant to come in three parts.

I considered gluing this back together with sikaflex in true shiter fashion, however the bit was sourced from Germany and on its way for 20 notes so not a big deal. The engine will just have to live on a jack for a wee while.

Nice easy timing marks to follow. However, before anything else happens the crankshaft aux belt pulley has to come off.

The 4 small bolts are no problem using a two wrench method to jam the pulley.

However, it wouldn't work for the central nut. In fact, because the lower engine mount is fucked, the block was simply rising up out of the engine bay with no progress on the nut at all.

I employed Shonkarse fabrications limited (TM) to make a thing.

It was really helpful*

That was me standing bouncing on my ratchet bar and still no movement.

It appears that all marvel superheroes have been called upon to join forces to tighten the crank nut. I'll be buggered if I can get anywhere with hand tools, so I'm having a sit down and a curry to contemplate further.

[Tickman]

52 minutes ago, juular said:

It was really helpful*

That was me standing bouncing on my ratchet bar and still no movement

If you put the two holes in the other end then as you apply the force it will compress your angle iron rather than tearing it apart.

Doing loads to this already.

[juular]

10 minutes ago, Tickman said:

If you put the two holes in the other end then as you apply the force it will compress your angle iron rather than tearing it apart.

Doing loads to this already.

I'm considering making another bit up out of 40mm angle in the way you mentioned. I'm also considering wedging the wrench in the subframe and blipping the starter. Can't say I look forward to trying that but it does sound like an accepted method. WCPGW.

[Tickman]

That is exactly how a mechanic did the belt on an auto zx I had a long time ago.

Quick flick of the starter and it was loose. 

[big_al_granvia]

@Flat4 shouldd be passing falkirk tomorrow, i might be too, can chuck the 700nm mains ugga dugga in the car, 2 seconds with that should shift it... half inch drive, if it fucks your extesion bars tough titties

[juular]

Up for that. PM inbound.

[Crackers]

Oooh. Nice car that.

[SRi05]

I tip my hat to your tinkering skillz

[juular]

Found a very mild drip of oil on the subframe. I cleaned and degreased the area in the hope of taking a look next week to see how bad it got, but I think I've found the culprit.

That is going into the back of the radiator area. Maybe some Volvo lickers can help me out here as I'm unfamiliar with the setup, but I'm assuming this is an oil cooler line? Following it down it looks to go into the side of the crankcase under the crank pulley.

It's not leaking at the connector which seems to be the usual culprit, but at the union between the metal and rubber pipe. It's been wrapped in duct tape.

Not a lot of leakage but any oil escaping is a Bad Thing.

[Volksy]

IIRC on my old 850 2.0 20v It's possible to slip the timing belt past the bottom pulley without removing it. 

[big_al_granvia]

sorry i didnt get to you today, was feeling a bit meh when the boss was getting up to go dog trailing so i went back to my pit, well tbh i didnt get up, try popping along to burgoynes in airth, they will have heavy duty impact gear

[juular]

It's cool, had much the same kind of day myself. I've bitten the bullet and ordered a noisy gun as I could've used one loads of times up until now, plus undoing 20 wheel nuts the slow way before starting a job always kills my mojo.

Not on the best terms with Burgoyne's at the moment after a few incidents of them screwing me over.

I've decided I'm not blipping the starter with the engine on 2 mounts. Killjoy, that's me.

 

[scdan4]

On my diesel that’s an air con line...

 

[big_al_granvia]

best investment you can make, had a clarke 12v one that works off car batteries for a few years, great bit of kit then just got the big mains one from broadsword on here that i havent used yet...some of the burgoynes are okay, know chris and robbie through racing but they are geezers of the arfur daley mould, ddont forget big gunnar is one of them too, he is married to one of the sisters

[juular]

6 hours ago, scdan4 said:

On my diesel that’s an air con line...

 

My thought at first but I'm pretty sure it's this, 3528207

 

These must be repairable surely.

[juular]

Options for the oil cooler line so far.

- New one is upwards of 100 quid. Definitely last resort. Aftermarket ones are shite apparently.

- Oil cooler delete. Cheapest option. The Volvo folks seems split in two by this so I'm not convinced yet.

- Get a hydraulics place to rebuild the hose. So far I've been ignored by 3 local places I asked nicely about this. I suppose this is too small for them to be bothered with especially given C19 situation.

- Rebuild myself. I'm thinking about cutting the union off, flaring the end of the metal pipe and reattaching the rubber hose with a pair of strong hose clamps. I don't know enough about the subject to say if this will be adequate. Open to opinions?

Another option is attaching a barbed compression fitting to the metal section. Introduces another leak point though.

[Mr Pastry]

http://www.mocal.co.uk/   Will make hoses to order, usually helpful.  

[dome]

Worth trying Pirtek if you've got a branch local to you. Geyer plant services in Kincardine also do that kind of work. 

[juular]

Good shout about Geyer, will try them. Thanks.

[juular]

Small progress