Turbodave
Wednesday 30th May 2012, 10:49
Given I've finally re-entered the world of 'R' ownership, I figured it makes sense to start a wee project thread. I say 're-entered' as I had an automatic S70R a few years back followed by a rather abused 850 T5 estate before going back to my Vauxhall roots for the past couple of years. On the note, I'm a Vauxhall man at heart though have always liked Volvo's too. Probably blame early 90's BTCC for that. Along with the Volvo's, I also have a Cavalier Turbo which I've had for nearly 10 years and is undergoing a bare shell rebuild and also one of the Cavalier SRi 16v's made, which is currently residing in the garage in case it gets wet. Sad? Probably... Bothered? Not really...
So, Volvo wise... always had a soft spot for the quick stuff and always found myself browsing the classifieds, window shopping. I re-entered Volvo ownership last May after my daily driver Cavalier Turbo (another one) was written off and after several failed attempts to buy a V70R, I gave up and decided to buy an old workhorse as a stop gap. Nothing with a GM badge floated my boat so cut a long story short, I ended up buying a 1999 V70 TDi in red. Well, several shades of red with added dents which I like to think makes it cut through the air better, like a golf ball. It was also the 'Popular Plus' model... I've been in better eqipped cardboard boxes but it didn't matter, it was cheap, local and was only a temporary measure and to use for lifting, shifting and towing plus the good lady had an 2003 A4 TDi V6.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/160520111018.jpg
It arrived and was named Helga. It immediately threw up an issue with the ABS and after a £2.50 second hand sensor failed to sort it, I decided that really... ABS is over-rated and opted to ignore the warning light. Sorted. Many abusive miles followed with minimal fuss and it earned a special place in my heart with it's ability to drag heavy stuff, carry big stuff, return 50mpg and also provide a platform for standing on to see over things. Like walls. It also travelled the length and width of the country numerous times and never put a foot wrong and within a month, quickly replaced the Audi as the 'main' car. Probably as the Audi was utter toss.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/Billing294.jpg
In February this year, I decided the Audi was so toss... it was getting sold. Tears and snotters followed as the good lady, who thinks of herself as a cross between Paris Hilton and Jordan realised her tinted window'd, 18 inch wheel'd pile of German bile was going. Or perhaps it was because it left Helga on the drive... de-valuing the local house prices and upsetting our neighbours witht heir BMW's and Audi's in 'oh-so'cool' Ibis White. It was suggested it could perhaps wash the Volvo. I declined. I pandered to her whining and on a whim, flew to London and bought a Vectra GSi estate in a vain effort to return some bling to the drive.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/IMG_4441.jpg
I drove it 500 miles home, spent 2 days solid trying to sort several issues and then decided it was quite possibly the worst car ever to grace the roads and sold it 3 weeks later. There were more tears and snotters. We made do with the old red Volvo for another few months, generally abusing it so badly that it made those Indian donkeys look like pampered pets and it still refused to give up. Annoyingly I had to spend £7 on a track rod end and had to put four tyres on it. I even had to replace the filters. Bah! With the warmer weather here and the need for two cars increasing, I re-taxed the Cavalier SRi and drafted it into highday and holiday service.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/IMG_4924.jpg
That arrangement lasted for a few weeks then the Cavalier decided it wanted to do it's best Puff the magic Dragon routine and started blowing blue smoke on start up and generally not driving that well. I decided the engine had seen better days and opted to reitre back to the garage whilst plotting it's future. Turbo power makes sense in my head. Along with that, the red Volvo had been on fleet for 12 months and a slightly scary 30,000 miles and was due an Mot... given my total neglect and the fact in 30,000 miles I'd spent a total of £28 on repairs, yes... £28... I decided it was going to fail miserably and thus, started looking for a replacement.
Having looked at R's on and off for ages and explored several possibilities and hit several brick walls, I lost heart and started looking at the alternatives plus she seemed adament that there would be a divorce on the cards should I buy another Volvo once the red one had gone to the scrapyard in the sky. So, keen to keep the peace I went off and bought this...
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/3895152-3.jpg
... and then really upset her buy sticking the red one in for a pre-Mot and getting a rather insignificant list back. A sidelight bulb, rear number plate bulb, two ABS rings, adjust the handbrake and a balljoint. I wept. She meanwhile grabbed the kids, packed her suitcase and threatened to leave if there were two Volvo's on the drive. So, two Volvo's on the drive and a double bed to myself... I set to work on the new one.
So far, it seems to be a good one. A 1997 855R Auto in Olive Green with 140,000k and a couple of owners. Last year it had extensive works with all the suspension being replaced, water pump, cambelt, tyres, wheels redone and then the chaps father used it for a year and racked up 1,600 miles. Being rather surplus to requirements, it was put up for sale with a fresh Mot and well, here we are. Since arriving it's done minimal miles as the red Volvo remains the main car which gave me a chance to get the R sorted out. 3 days cleaning and machine polishing, a thermostat, one track rod end (it was advised at the Mot) and that's about it so far.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/850R3.jpg
The red one meanwhile, it retaliated by throwing a hissy fit and seizing its auxiliary fan belt pulley. Faced with the prospect of a £180 repair bill, which is totally unacceptable given the fact I refuse to spend more than a tenner fixing this thing... I went off to explore other options. Ie, how could I bodge it. Simple... one BMW Z3 pulley later and it was back on the road. Total cost £11.50. Dammit.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/Tensioner2.jpg
R wise... I cleaned removed and cleaned the edges of the indicators along with all the door shut lines, removed the rear lights and cleaned under there and generally got all OCD whilst also getting serious sunburn. I added clear repeaters, removed the dog gaurd as it seems you're not allowd to leave the kids in there whilst you nip to Tesco and finally popped over to see Yosser who kindly read my fault codes and cleared my lambda light after it came on. Disconnecting the ECT loom with the car running probably had something to do with that. My bad.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/IMG_1307.jpg
And so that's where I'm up to with the fleet. The red one's Mot expires on the 31st so I really should disappear up the workshop and start fixing it plus I need to see my local paint throwing expert about sorting the o/s/f wing on the R and also make a wee list of things I need to do to make it as mint as possible. Brakes stripped, cleaned and painted is the next step once the red one is sorted and legal for another year of abuse.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/850R2.jpg
Oh and she came back. Still hates them both... I'll win her round. Maybe.
Cheers
So, Volvo wise... always had a soft spot for the quick stuff and always found myself browsing the classifieds, window shopping. I re-entered Volvo ownership last May after my daily driver Cavalier Turbo (another one) was written off and after several failed attempts to buy a V70R, I gave up and decided to buy an old workhorse as a stop gap. Nothing with a GM badge floated my boat so cut a long story short, I ended up buying a 1999 V70 TDi in red. Well, several shades of red with added dents which I like to think makes it cut through the air better, like a golf ball. It was also the 'Popular Plus' model... I've been in better eqipped cardboard boxes but it didn't matter, it was cheap, local and was only a temporary measure and to use for lifting, shifting and towing plus the good lady had an 2003 A4 TDi V6.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/160520111018.jpg
It arrived and was named Helga. It immediately threw up an issue with the ABS and after a £2.50 second hand sensor failed to sort it, I decided that really... ABS is over-rated and opted to ignore the warning light. Sorted. Many abusive miles followed with minimal fuss and it earned a special place in my heart with it's ability to drag heavy stuff, carry big stuff, return 50mpg and also provide a platform for standing on to see over things. Like walls. It also travelled the length and width of the country numerous times and never put a foot wrong and within a month, quickly replaced the Audi as the 'main' car. Probably as the Audi was utter toss.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/Billing294.jpg
In February this year, I decided the Audi was so toss... it was getting sold. Tears and snotters followed as the good lady, who thinks of herself as a cross between Paris Hilton and Jordan realised her tinted window'd, 18 inch wheel'd pile of German bile was going. Or perhaps it was because it left Helga on the drive... de-valuing the local house prices and upsetting our neighbours witht heir BMW's and Audi's in 'oh-so'cool' Ibis White. It was suggested it could perhaps wash the Volvo. I declined. I pandered to her whining and on a whim, flew to London and bought a Vectra GSi estate in a vain effort to return some bling to the drive.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/IMG_4441.jpg
I drove it 500 miles home, spent 2 days solid trying to sort several issues and then decided it was quite possibly the worst car ever to grace the roads and sold it 3 weeks later. There were more tears and snotters. We made do with the old red Volvo for another few months, generally abusing it so badly that it made those Indian donkeys look like pampered pets and it still refused to give up. Annoyingly I had to spend £7 on a track rod end and had to put four tyres on it. I even had to replace the filters. Bah! With the warmer weather here and the need for two cars increasing, I re-taxed the Cavalier SRi and drafted it into highday and holiday service.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/IMG_4924.jpg
That arrangement lasted for a few weeks then the Cavalier decided it wanted to do it's best Puff the magic Dragon routine and started blowing blue smoke on start up and generally not driving that well. I decided the engine had seen better days and opted to reitre back to the garage whilst plotting it's future. Turbo power makes sense in my head. Along with that, the red Volvo had been on fleet for 12 months and a slightly scary 30,000 miles and was due an Mot... given my total neglect and the fact in 30,000 miles I'd spent a total of £28 on repairs, yes... £28... I decided it was going to fail miserably and thus, started looking for a replacement.
Having looked at R's on and off for ages and explored several possibilities and hit several brick walls, I lost heart and started looking at the alternatives plus she seemed adament that there would be a divorce on the cards should I buy another Volvo once the red one had gone to the scrapyard in the sky. So, keen to keep the peace I went off and bought this...
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/3895152-3.jpg
... and then really upset her buy sticking the red one in for a pre-Mot and getting a rather insignificant list back. A sidelight bulb, rear number plate bulb, two ABS rings, adjust the handbrake and a balljoint. I wept. She meanwhile grabbed the kids, packed her suitcase and threatened to leave if there were two Volvo's on the drive. So, two Volvo's on the drive and a double bed to myself... I set to work on the new one.
So far, it seems to be a good one. A 1997 855R Auto in Olive Green with 140,000k and a couple of owners. Last year it had extensive works with all the suspension being replaced, water pump, cambelt, tyres, wheels redone and then the chaps father used it for a year and racked up 1,600 miles. Being rather surplus to requirements, it was put up for sale with a fresh Mot and well, here we are. Since arriving it's done minimal miles as the red Volvo remains the main car which gave me a chance to get the R sorted out. 3 days cleaning and machine polishing, a thermostat, one track rod end (it was advised at the Mot) and that's about it so far.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/850R3.jpg
The red one meanwhile, it retaliated by throwing a hissy fit and seizing its auxiliary fan belt pulley. Faced with the prospect of a £180 repair bill, which is totally unacceptable given the fact I refuse to spend more than a tenner fixing this thing... I went off to explore other options. Ie, how could I bodge it. Simple... one BMW Z3 pulley later and it was back on the road. Total cost £11.50. Dammit.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/Tensioner2.jpg
R wise... I cleaned removed and cleaned the edges of the indicators along with all the door shut lines, removed the rear lights and cleaned under there and generally got all OCD whilst also getting serious sunburn. I added clear repeaters, removed the dog gaurd as it seems you're not allowd to leave the kids in there whilst you nip to Tesco and finally popped over to see Yosser who kindly read my fault codes and cleared my lambda light after it came on. Disconnecting the ECT loom with the car running probably had something to do with that. My bad.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/IMG_1307.jpg
And so that's where I'm up to with the fleet. The red one's Mot expires on the 31st so I really should disappear up the workshop and start fixing it plus I need to see my local paint throwing expert about sorting the o/s/f wing on the R and also make a wee list of things I need to do to make it as mint as possible. Brakes stripped, cleaned and painted is the next step once the red one is sorted and legal for another year of abuse.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u268/bigoof2/850R2.jpg
Oh and she came back. Still hates them both... I'll win her round. Maybe.
Cheers