Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Mon Mar 06, 2017 9:40 pm

Nurses and warty curds! Despite replacing a very definitely FUBAR wheel bearing, it still bangs like the product of a breeding program between a woodpecker and a pile driver! :evil:

With the amount of play in the wheel bearing i expect all the free movement available was enveloped by this, however getting my mate to rock the wheel, bounce the suspension and a few other "diagnostic movements" revealed the ball joint taper pin is actually moving side to side in the eye it sits in! :o

That suggests the BJ has either collapsed internally or the taper pin has sheared - tomorrow is another day so it will once again be on the jack (weather permitting!) and more investigation carried out. With luck i should now be able to change the BJ and hopefully normal service will be resumed! ;) :D
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by traineefarmer » Tue Mar 07, 2017 8:31 am

Is that the lower ball on the lower wishbone? On the 850/V70 this was a post with a clamp and was prone to the same problem.
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Mar 07, 2017 9:25 am

Sort of but not quite. It's a different set-up on the 7/9xx series to the 850/V70 ranges not least because the 7/9xx are Right Wheel Drive so no driveshafts to worry about.
Second, there's only the one ball joint each side (excluding the Track Rod End) and it sits on the bottom of the McPherson strut then through the control arm.

This might explain it better :

Image

Going left to right, the bush fits into the front sub-frame, the middle hole has the "spaceship bushes" on the end of the radius arm and the ball joint sits in the eye at the end, pin downwards.

I had a look on ebay at the 850 ball joint - very similar to the upper ball joints on the 800 - the track rod ends look very interesting as well! :wink: :D
Cheers,
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Mar 07, 2017 7:45 pm

Here's the new bearing (one of them) when it arrived :

Image

Stub axle cleaned and grease ready for the new bearing/hub.

Image

All fitted and torqued up to 74 lb/ft, i'll add the 45 degrees once it's on the ground.

Image

Image

Now for todays efforts! only one pic i'm afraid, was doing it against the clock as i had a medical appointment this afternoon.

Image

Gives a vague idea of what i had to do!

In addition to the wheel bearing, the ball joint was gone although only showing a problem under load. Also somehow the locking collar that holds the shock insert in the McPherson strut had come loose.

Short version of it all - remove strut, compress spring, remove strut top, refit shock as it should be, rebuild strut. While doing this soaked the ball joint in ATF/acetone mix and used the big ball joint splitter on it. A few turns and "POP"!!! Off it came! Ironic bit here - where it previously tried "percussive maintenance" on the end of the taper pin, i had belled the end so the nut wouldn't come off! Disc cutter to the rescue! :lol:

I then "Haynesed it" - refitting is the reversal etc. Just in time for a celebratory coffee and to get to my appointment. :wink: :D

Nice to drive a quiet car again! Tracking is ever so slightly off, think that is down to the new ball joint being slightly different but it still feels safe to drive.

Another little improvement is that i recently removed the viscous fan - it's much smoother, quieter and quicker to pick up now.
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Sat Mar 11, 2017 9:43 pm

All has been good for the last few days except i thought my washer bottle needed filling and the warning bulb had blown..............

.............then i decided to see if the rear screen wash worked and it did.

Checking the hose from the washer pump to the bonnet, there was an excessively big loop to allow the bonnet to open so i amputated about 3/4" from it to bring it back into something a bit more normal. The loop was getting caught between bonnet and body when the bonnet was shut so i thought i had it sussed! ;) :D

WRONG!!!!

Still not working so had a fiddle and pulled one of the turn-rivets out of the bonnet where it holds the insulation up in the middle. This revealed the T-piece/non-return valve or at least some yellow insulting tape covering a wadge of self-amalgamating tape wrapped round said T-piece/non-return valve.

These little blighters have a design feature whereby when they fail, they deliberately leak out of a hole, presumably designed for pressure relief so it doesn't send all the pressure to the headlamp washers.

Obviously it had failed some time ago, probably nearly a decade judging by the state of the insulating tape! Somehow the washers managed to work still - amazingly! Until now anyway.

Having uncovered the hole, it now merrily sprays all over numbers 1 and 4 plugs (at the rear of the V) whenever i operate the screenwash. Annoyingly the self-amalgamating (now called self-fusing tape in many places) and the insulating tape probably cost about a fiver (most of that on the self-amalgamating) and the valve itself? See here :

http://www.partsforvolvosonline.com/pro ... d8c78006fd

Image

With P&P it came to £5.48 - now wouldn't that have been simpler, easier and cheaper in the first place? :roll:
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:14 pm

The new valve landed today, fitting and testing took a few minutes, job done! Except...........


...................... the passenger side jet is now partly blocked! :twisted:

I'm hoping it's just a little something that will dissolve and clear in a day or so, if not i'll disconnect the pipe where it meets the new valve and put the blow-gun on the jet from the outside and hopefully shift whatever detritus there is in there that way. :idea:

Meanwhile the drivers side jet now fans across further up the screen than it ever has done, further improving the enhanced cleaning of the mist/fan jets.
I daresay this will drop down slightly once the passenger side jet is working as it should but it should still be higher than it previously was. :wink: :D
Cheers,
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue May 16, 2017 10:03 pm

Time for more of an update! The front end knocking returned but slightly different - anti-roll bar drop links! Considering i'd renewed them before the MoT i didn't expect to have to touch them again for a good while! The rubbers were shredded on them, possibly fake components as i've heard the brand i fitted (Meyle) has several fake components being made in its name! :roll:

I've also had some fuel leaks to deal with - 16 of them and maybe even 17 - the first 16 were either the banjo washers on the fuel filter or the rubber hoses connecting various feed and return lines to/from the tank, underslung pump and filter etc and the last one is the tank.

After much blood, sweat, tears, swearing, caffeine, nicotine and various prescription drugs also ending in or containing "ine", cogitation and machinations and other stuff too, with the help of my mate i eventually got the fuel tank swapped for the new one today. While it was (eventually) out, i renewed the two hoses i suspected of leaking and sure enough, they were perished/cracked on the ends i couldn't see. In fact on the rigid pipes you can see where the underseal has been washed slowly but surely away by escaping 98 octane! :o

Anyway, the new tank is now in and after much fighting with the in-tank pump/sender unit i finally managed to ram it all the way in and screw up the locking ring. There is evidence on the tank to show petrol has been leaking in that general area as well from above the point where it would have been if it was leaking from the hoses that attach to the pump/sender unit so either there is a hairline fracture around the mounting collar the locking ring screws onto or the ring wasn't tight enough beforehand.

Rain and bad light stopped play quite late in the evening, still got the hoses to reconnect and also the electrical connections. I'm confident it's fixed the leaks and the "petrol pong" though!

I swear the fuel tank and it's mountings, level sender/in-tank pump unit etc was designed by a mushroom growing gynaecologist!

Half the time you're in the dark getting covered in sh!t, the rest you're through a small hole feeling your way to the right spot!

I did manage a couple of pics, still got to upload them so watch this space! ;) :D

In other news, i eventually tracked down the "Holy Grail" of B280E owners, a brand new front pipe! That will be fitted in the near future with either a new front box or i'll weld the flange back on the old one - not sure yet.
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by zcar12 » Wed May 17, 2017 10:19 am

Good news Dave, you may have averted a situation where you lost all the fuel or worse, a fire. I have come across several cars lately that were on fire, some were burning very fiercely. I owned an CVH engined Escort prior to the Rover and sometimes, I could definitely smell petrol but failed to track down the cause. At MoT time, it was discovered that the mechanical fuel pump was leaking. I was lucky there!

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Wed May 17, 2017 1:15 pm

You're not wrong Nick! Only needed the wind to be blowing the wrong way and the fuel could easily have got onto the exhaust, especially if i was moving at the time as the propshaft would have "redistributed" it! :shock:
Not to mention the crippling fuel economy of course! I'm sure at times it was down to single figures and although having fixed most of the leaks it was back up to the late teens/low 20s it was still bad.
Hopefully now it should be leak-free and i can get some sensible figures out of it again. When i picked it up, it averaged about 17-19mpg for the first couple of weeks. A bit of TLC including an oil/filter change, ATF part-change, new plugs, fixing the brakes, new 'stat and coolant and resetting the throttle pot switch so it actually registered the fact it was idling when it was and it climbed to about 22-23mpg, with 27mpg on a fast motorway run.
On a sensible A-road run just before xmas, i did in fact see 35mpg out of it.

Then i started getting the whiff of petrol. Must have been about March time when i got round to changing the fuel filter which i used to give the fuel lines a good inspection. I found several leaks at the time, including a pin-hole leak from the link pipe between the main pressure pump and the filter which although not visible made a hole in my nitrile gloves! :shock:
Sorted those and thought i'd cracked it. Still getting the high octane pong i investigated where the pipes connect to the tank on the in-tank pump/sender unit. More perished pipes on the ends which i cut back and remade and also refitted the sender/pump unit as the locking ring wasn't tight. :roll:
The economy improved a bit and then i noticed the last two pipes that i renewed while the tank was out yesterday. No other way to get to them or even see them really but now all the rubber pipework has either been repaired or renewed, the only bit left is a short length under the bonnet which had a slight leak on one end but i repaired so isn't leaking.

Hopefully now it's completely leak-free and i don't have to live with the "petrol-pong" anymore! :wink: :D
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by Alucard7002 » Wed May 17, 2017 4:49 pm

Well done mate, you timed it right looking at the weather this week!
scoobyh123 wrote: I swear the fuel tank and it's mountings, level sender/in-tank pump unit etc was designed by a mushroom growing gynaecologist! Half the time you're in the dark getting covered in sh!t, the rest you're through a small hole feeling your way to the right spot!
That made me laugh harder than it should have, thanks for that :lol:
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Wed May 17, 2017 6:21 pm

Glad to help! :wink: :lol:

After rain etc stopping play last night (and the fact it was pretty late too) the plan was to attack it again today.

Well it sort of stayed dry - to a point! Just about long enough to refit the hoses, wiring etc and trim then started raining again when i put the weaponry away.

Still had to torque the wheel nuts up and put petrol in at that point though!

When it dried up again, i did those bits and turned the key, expecting it to chrun over a few times before dragging the fuel through. Fired first touch of the starter, kept running and never a hint of a splutter, cough or anything.

Anyway, the pretty (or not so pretty!) pictures! First, the hole from above to work through :

Image

The two hoses still connected are the feed and return, large and small respectively. What can't be seen there is the diff is directly under the panelwork to the right of the hole! :o

You can guess where those two rubber pipes go!

The old and the new :

Image

You can see the threaded collar on the old one (it's covered by that yellow cap on the new one) which is where the sender/in-tank pump unit fits and the hoses attach to..

Not easy to see but that's the feed hose from the tank - note the underseal is missing from the rigid pipe it connects to! ;)

Image

Better in this shot, the feed and return and the shininess of the underseal near them

Image

The end of the return hose :

Image

.......and the feed hose :

Image

Perishing evident on both although difficult to see.

The road test was a bit odd though. I didn't expect the engine to feel and sound smoother but it did. That aside it was really nice to not breathe air with a higher octane rating than the pits at Silverstone!

I also put some petrol in (don't trust it with a full tank just yet!) and it still remained pong-free! I'm hoping it's sorted once and for all this time, it's looking promising anyway! ;) :D
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:13 pm

Things have been rather quiet on the Volvo (and other car) fronts lately but on wednesday this week i accepted Dusans offer of help and trundled off to his place armed with the front pipes, front box, gearbox mount and propshaft centre bearing. I also took along one of my "Poly-Zaust" back boxes i rescued from my custom-built system i had on the Sterling for a while. Oh yeah, took a few other bits too but more of those later!

Anyway, some (not so) pretty pictures for you all to look at!

Some of you may remember me cursing ATS for catching the exhaust system on their ramp while trying to back it off after doing the tracking and not having the ramp completely on the ground. This is the result :

Image

Image

No wonder i couldn't find the blow! :o :shock:

Here's the new one, almost ready to go on :

Image

Spot the difference :

Image

Amputated the heatshield brackets and use heat wrap instead (thanks for the heat wrap mate!). Two reasons, one it's an absolute pig to feed into place with the heatshields and brackets on and two, the heatshields weren't coming off the original!

While the downpipes were off, i started it up, just to know what it sounded like - lurvely! :lol:

Anyway, front pipes fitted, front box was next :

Image

Just bolts in, nothing exciting to tell about that really!

Fired it up to check for leaks and found one - where the over axle pipe joins the middle box!

To get the O/A pipe off to clean it up and re-seal it, the back box had to come off. While it was off, i discovered it rattled and lots of rusty soot (or should that be sooty rust?) was falling out. As such it would be rude not to fit the Poly-Zaust back box!

Image

Re-purposed one of the service sleeve-joints to connect it and the Volvos own back box mounting strap to mount it. Reckon it does the job nicely :

https://youtu.be/WIXdqf1GHaU

After that, the propshaft centre bearing - caught in the nick of time as it kept going solid and spinning in its rubber mount! :o :o :o

Noticed the gearbox extension housing shaft seal and bush was FUBAR so those bits have been ordered for more sub-UAV play!

In other news.............. had a good poke around under the bonnet and found a suitable place to hide the LPG reducer and ECU, the tank is currently sitting in the spare wheel well held in place by the OE spare wheel strap (not legal for use but stops it going anywhere!) and waiting on a few other bits and pieces for the LPG conversion.

While generally groveling about underneath, found a couple of small places that need the "electric glue gun" treatment before the next MoT - nothing scary or untoward and all fairly common places for the animal in question.

On the fuel consumption, i did brim the tank about a month ago. Ran out yesterday with a slightly scary 232 miles on the trip meter. That means on 13 gallons it's done about 18mpg.

Pretty grim until you consider that 99% of my running is short runs at the moment, cold starts and not really getting above 30mph. That makes the LPG conversion even more urgent! :lol:

Joking aside it should be a bit better now the exhaust no longer resembles a colander, the car is certainly livelier and quieter! Also when i give it some beans, particularly uphill in a narrow street, that V6 growl comes nicely through that back box! ;) :D
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by CHR15E » Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:30 pm

Certainly been busy. Must make you feel a lot happier now it's getting there?

That's not the scariest consumption I've seen. My old Explorer use to do less that that on a tank round town. Circa 12 MPG, so at one point it was costing me £50 to do 100 miles. :D And that didn't have a leaking exhaust or anything else wrong with it. lol.

Don't miss those days but I do miss 'proper' engines. Nothing like a V6 or bigger howling foot to the floor. :D
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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:46 pm

Definitely a lot happier Chris! Just the extension housing bearing & seal, the small bits of welding mentioned above and a new set of tyres then the LPG conversion and after that it should just be routine maintenance really.
The headlining wants sorting (like most this age) and a couple of other bits of interior trim but on the mechaincal front that's about it thankfully.

When it was leaking fuel, i was lucky to see 8mpg out of it most of the time, i'll let you do the maths on the cost of that, too scary for me! :shock: :lol:

Get it on the open road though and it happily does 30mpg, even hoofing it a bit (motorway speeds +++ :wink: ) and on one trip driving sort of sensibly i actually got 37mpg out of it!
Other scary economy figures i've had in recent years are 11mpg out of my Jeep before i got the LPG running right.

Couldn't have put it better myself Chris - "Nothing like a V6 or bigger howling foot to the floor" :wink: :D :D
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Scoobys Dogmobile - Take 2!

Post by scoobyh123 » Mon Apr 09, 2018 10:14 am

Been quite a while since i posted on here! Apart from a minor mishap on the MoT where the fuel tank dribbled on the MoT testers head (my fault, had intended to re-tighten the sender/in-tank pump lock ring months ago!) it passed with flying colours and is now doing a minimum of about 25mpg even on my short running about trips.

On a longer run, i managed about 30mpg but that included 2 hours of sitting on the worlds biggest car park in traffic. Factor that out of the equation and more like 33-34mpg.

On a more cosmetic note, some of the leather had got a bit dry and split, not to mention my hound taking a bite out of one of the rear headrests! Managed to pick up some replacement rear seats including headrests and a later (960) headlining that's much thicker and is now fitted. I also managed to source some replacement front seat covers - bit more of an involved repair admittedly but should get the interior looking as nice, if not nicer than when i got it. :wink: :D
Cheers,
Dave

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'94 827 Sterling saloon
'88 Volvo 760 V6 Estate
'95 827 Coupé LPG gone but not forgotten!

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