Tomcat's V70R resurrection thread.

[Tomcat]

I finally returned to Volvo ownership earlier this year (after a year of driving a borrowed BMW 1.6....eewwww) when I bought a UK forum members rather tatty V70R, it's a manual car in silver with the dark interior. Picked the car up from Marc's in Kettering on Sunday at lunch time and then drove it the 200 odd miles home again, aside from a little pull to the right the car drove great. Once home I decided I wanted to clean the interior up a little and also do something about the leather as it had a few marks and some wear, out came the leather kit I've owned for forever. Sadly in the hurry to get it cleaned up I forgot to take any before shots but here's a couple of after shots along with a lovely view of the battered steering wheel which needs replacing.






The to do list :-

Electric windows dont work
Rear wiper doesnt work
Slight pull to the right
blocked cat
Wheels BADLY need refurbing
Front and rear bumpers need re spraying, along with two splits to repair in the front bumper
Bonnet needs repainting to rectify stone chips
small patch of bubbled paint to re paint on front edge of rear wheel arch
Various bits of trim broken that need replacing/repairing.
Tailgate trim needs 'Fix' kit
Central locking on front doors intermitant
Front mudguard missing
Recirc needs re fitting
Boost guage needs moving(keeps wobbling and it's really annoying)
Headlights look very flat inside, will need replacing sooner or later.
Possible warped discs.
Handbrakes a little high.
Door straps are broken on both front doors.
Various small dents all over.


I know this looks like a rather extensive list and well to be fair it is, but a lot of this is cosmetic and I'm more than capable of repairing it myself, Marc thankfully gave me a shed load of spares to go with the car so hopefull I will be able to rectify some of the faults without having to spend any money. Plans at the moment intail repairing the esentials such as the windows,rear wiper,pull to the right,blocked cat and central locking and then the rest I will do as and when I have the funds availble. Not quite sure what to do about the wheels as they're really quite bad, the kerbing is simply shocking, I may just wait till I dont need it too much over summer and refurb them properly.

Here's a couple of pics that I took not longer after getting back but sadly before I cleaned it. After cleaning I polished off some of the black marks off the front bumper so it wont look as bad until I get time to fix it, I also removed the black strip from under the back window as it was starting to rust and was jutting out quite a bit on both ends. Also greased the rear door straps as they where making that lovely groaning noise that they do when they're dry.

[Tomcat]

Spent a good two hours on the car tonight trying to work out what was up with the windows, passenger front window was not quite shut and wouldn't move, took it all apart and couldn't find anything wrong with it. The motor works out of the car, the motor works in the car without the window attached, the window moves up and down ok, put the two together and ummm....nothing. I've managed to get the window shut by pushing it while pressing the button, when you press the button you can here the motor trying to move. After some playing with a couple of spare switchpacks (none of them where particularly good) I'm starting to think that either they all have the same fault or the fault lies elsewhere, the two passenger windows I can here trying to move, the two drivers side ones do nothing (other than the switch clicking when you press the drivers window).


Oh....Also acquired a replacement steering wheel that is a quantum leap better than the old one, I'll be trying to fit that tomorrow...hopefully.

[Tomcat]

Spent another couple of hours on the car today and actualy got a few jobs done,lol. Steering wheel is now replaced, the old one put up a valiant amount of resistance but sadly it wasn't a match for my hacksaw. I got the interior lights working again (only noticed they weren't working last night), thankfully it was nothing but a blown fuse. Drivers side front muflap has been replaced, it was missing before along with the rivets that hold it in place so the bottom of the wing could move around a little, I also noticed that none of the rivets in the wheel arches are the proper Volvo plastic ones, these will all have to be swapped out, my OCD wont allow them to stay,lol. I've removed the boost gauge, it wasn't to my taste and as it was only stuck on the dash top it was wobbling around looking cheap and boy racerish, haven't decided wether to just sell it on or keep it for checking boost issues later on. Also found today that one of the footwell lights (drivers side) was in the door pocket, upon fishing under the dash for the wiring I've found it but the positive has broken off the spade connector, have to re solder it when I get a minute. After some advice on ..Ahem...another volvo site (Volvospeed...sorry guys), I'm going to try putting twelve volts to each of the window motors to see if they're all working ok, if they are then it can only really be the drivers switch pack thats faulty...


New Wheel


New next to Ewwwww...Old.


Fitted.


Oh dear..... lol..it got on my nerves and this was the result on the old one...

I was going to do the downpipe and cat today but I just couldn't sum up the correct amount of interest, tomorrow it is then....maybe...if the wethers good....and I'm not busy finishing my coursework,lol..

[Tomcat]

Oh I'm now thinking that the flat headlights may just be something sprayed onto the glass, gonna attack it tomorrow with some thinners and see what happens..... BMW got sent back today as well.....good ridance!!!!

Checked the lights, if they've been sprayed then it's on the inside as there's nothing on the lenses. While waiting for some Uni stuff to render on the pc today I thought I'd nip out and swap the rear wiper mech for the spare one that was in the box of bits that came with the car...took me all of about ten seconds to remove the rear trim from the tailgate...here's why


Yup, it was only held in place by two wood screws...WTF?..Seriously?... After getting over that shock I pulled the old mech out to confirm my suspicion that...yep...it was seized solid...



After dumping that one I went to get the replacement out of the spares box...Ahhh...crap..... its a front wiper mech not a rear... how did I not notice that sooner?.... Never the less I carried on, I've managed to free one of these off before....I then spent the next ten minutes with a very large lump hammer, some WD40 and various other tools removing the shaft from the brace. I eventually got it out and cleaned it up, greased it and re fitted it. Once back in the car it functioned....sort of, apparently it's been seized for a long time and it's basically worn the ridges off one of the brackets in the linkage so it works, but it doesn't always park where it should. I've removed the wiper for now as I dont want it flopping around at the back looking stupid. After that fiasco I fitted the tailgate repair kit that I had bought, it went on but it just didn't really fit as well as the last one I got, not sure if it was the new clips (they seemed a bit 'chunky') or if it was the brackets?.. either way it's better than the two bloody wood screws for the time being..

Oh I bid on a set of Pegs on Ebay the other day, came so close..missed em by a tenner....Doh...oh well, the crumy Comets will have to stay on for now.

[mrstfu]

Nice! Quite a list you have there, is that from before you started the ressurection? The few photos I've seen in your 960 thresd doesn't match up with that list of faults.

Keep it coming, loving it!

[Tomcat]

Cleaned the engine bay up a little today with some de-greaser, whoever sprayed that black oily crap all over everything wants shooting, everything you touch is covered in it. I found a lead off the drivers side front wiper mech, plugged it in and the bloody washers came on and started squirting water out of a busted valve in the system...Wonder why it was disconnected?...I'll post pics tomorrow...

[Tomcat]

Nice! Quite a list you have there, is that from before you started the ressurection? The few photos I've seen in your 960 thresd doesn't match up with that list of faults.

Keep it coming, loving it!

Thanks!.. this is from when I first bought the car earlier this year. Some of this may not make much sense as there's lots of replies that I'm editing out as I go but you'll get the picture.. hopefully,lol.

[Tomcat]

Pics of said engine bay clean, sadly I got carried away and forgot to take any before pics, believe me it was filthy (not that it's that much better,lol). Still loads to do but at least it's looking a little tidier...

[Tomcat]

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon doing a few jobs, rear wiper now works again, sadly though the wash part of the wash wipe doesnt work, I've checked the pump and there's no noise coming from it at all so as it's definatley getting 12 volts I'd say it's dead. Pulled the drivers side headlight out while I was near the pump and while I had it off I pulled the lens off to see why they looked dark, still no idea however there's a lot of the silver paint missing off the reflector and what is there is not in good condition. Even after a good clean inside and out the light looks no different to the other one, time for new headlights I think. Oh I also noticed (while I had the headlight apart) that it's had HID's at some point and it's melted the reflector a little.Had another bash at the widows today, still sod all, tried replacing the other widow switches just in case one had a short but it had no effect at all. I also tried swapping the breaker over in the fuse box for the one for the drivers seat, sadly that did sod all as well.
While I was playing with the relays in the fuse box I noticed that part of the fusebox looks a little melted, it's not hear any of the connections so it's not been caused by over heating electricals but it makes me wonder if there's something seriously wrong with the wiring in or around the fuse box?.

Re adjusted the door catches as well today as one of the doors wasn't shutting flush, not a big job but it all add's up I suppose.

[Tomcat]

Crap....

Just went outside for a mooch around the car (as you do) and noticed that when I re fitted the headlight the indicator wasn't sitting properly, dawned on me that the clips on the indicator need to slide into the headlight... Ok, remove indicator...Nope..its stuck....come on......Ahh....Fek....


Ah, so this is what standard of maintenance the car has had eh?, bloody hell what a joke that is.....Needed to try and find a temporary repair as I'm buggered if I'm gluing it back on..





Found an old 960 indicator that I was going to sell...ah well tough poo.... Cut the mounting tags off it and plastic welded them onto the V70 one..




Doesnt look very pretty but it's a hell of a lot better than GLUE!!!..(FFS..), Once done it clicked into place nicely... I'd taken the other side off as a reference, put that back on an 'Snap'... one of the mounting lugs broke off....(FFS...)... Oh well its staying in place for now so sod it.... time to look for replacements...

[Tomcat]

After spending the past couple of days working on an Alfa Mito for a neighbour I finally found time to give the car a little wash today, still lots and lots and lots to do to it but at least it looks semi decent after a wash. I was hoping to get some paintwork done over the next few weeks but sadly my compressor has let go (spat oi into the air pipe while spraying the Alfa's bumper)..

[Tomcat]

Had a little care package arrive yesterday from a forum member with some various odd's and sod's I was missing, I manged to fit a couple of the bits but I had problem with installing the 3 disc cd changer cartridge. After trying several times I just couldn't persuade it to go in, upon closer inspection I found that something had been shoved inside it!, after a little wrestling I managed to pull out a rather large bag of plastic scented beads...( I presume that this was inserted by a small child). Sadly even once I'd removed said item the cdchanger still refuses to work, think it may have broken or bent something inside, this means I now have yet another job to add to the list....FFS...

Electric windows dont work (Various switchpacks tried with no success at all)
Rear wiper doesnt work (Fixed...No Wash wipe yet though)
Slight pull to the right (Fixed...Tyre pressures sorted...Duh)
Steering wheel needs replacing (Bought and replaced)
blocked cat
Wheels BADLY need refurbing (Bought one Wheel which is being refurbed...4 more to go)
Front and rear bumpers need re spraying, along with two splits to repair in the front bumper
Both rear quarters need respraying
Boot outer grab handle needs re spraying
Bonnet needs repainting to rectify stone chips
small patch of bubbled paint to re paint on front edge of rear wheel arch
Various bits of trim broken that need replacing/repairing.
Tailgate trim needs 'Fix' kit (Fix kit bought and fitted)
Central locking on front doors intermitant
Front mudguard missing (Replaced)
Recirc needs re fitting
Boost guage needs moving(keeps wobbling and it's really annoying) (Removed)
Headlights look very flat inside, will need replacing sooner or later.
Possible warped discs.
Handbrakes a little high.
Door straps are broken on both front doors.
Various small dents all over.
3 Disc cd changer not accepting cartridge
Indicators mounting clips broken (Temporarily repaired, new set needs sourcing)
Cd Changer lid hinges in pieces (Repaired)
OS Mirror inner trim cover needs new mountings

[Tomcat]

Had a good day today, as some of you may know my compressor died the other day, a friend gave me a new but broken compressor yesterday (One of the air fittings had snapped off), when I checked it was exactly the same make and model as my old one so after a morning of swapping some parts around I have a brand new compressor!..

After such a success this morning I decided to have a look at the cabin filter as I'd noticed yesterday that there wasn't exactly a lot of air being blown through the heater even on full. To say it was filthy would be the understatement of the year, I don't think this thing has been changed in years!..



I've left it off for now and the fan's much more usefull now, though I will have to order a replacement for it.

While I had the trim off under the windscreen I had a proper look at the fuse box to see if I could trace the window fault, sadly couldn't see anything wrong there. I then proceeded to remove the kick panel under the dash to examine the underside of the fusebox, still couldn't see anything wrong. I then decided that I'd checked everything else so I'd check the wiring multiplug on the door (as it was the only thing I hadn't checked)... This is what I found..



Don't know about you guys but to me that just doesnt look right. Upon closer inspection there was 6 wires that where obviously not making any sort of contact as they'd been pushed back into the plastic housing. I pulled a couple of the wires but there was no way of re inserting them and having them stay in place, as a temporary fix I've hot glues all the wires that where loose to the rest of the wires that are firmly seated. Lo and behold...I HAVE WORKING WINDOWS!!!!... BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. Really made my day this did, the only minor problem I have now is that I'm now in the land of dubious switchpacks.. the one I have now is ok but it's not brilliant, time to start saving for a new one.

On a side note, who was it that offered me a replacement drivers door in Silver?...(this one has a big dent at the bottom..and the knackered multiplug)

[Tomcat]

Electric windows dont work (FIXED!!!!)
Rear wiper doesnt work (Fixed...No Wash wipe yet though)
Slight pull to the right (Fixed...Tyre pressures sorted...Duh)
Steering wheel needs replacing (Bought and replaced)
blocked cat
Wheels BADLY need refurbing (Bought one Wheel which is being refurbed...4 more to go)
Front and rear bumpers need re spraying, along with two splits to repair in the front bumper
Both rear quarters need respraying
Boot outer grab handle needs re spraying
Bonnet needs repainting to rectify stone chips
small patch of bubbled paint to re paint on front edge of rear wheel arch
Various bits of trim broken that need replacing/repairing.
Tailgate trim needs 'Fix' kit (Fix kit bought and fitted)
Central locking on front doors intermitant
Front mudguard missing (Replaced)
Recirc needs re fitting (Maybe)
Boost guage needs moving(keeps wobbling and it's really annoying) (Removed)
Headlights look very flat inside, will need replacing sooner or later.
Possible warped discs.
Handbrakes a little high.
Door strap broken on Drivers door
New Drivers door needed (Multi plug damaged, bottom edge of door damaged and mounting for door strap cracked and pulled in)
Various small dents all over.
3 Disc cd changer not accepting cartridge
Indicators mounting clips broken (Temporarily repaired, new set needs sourcing)
Cd Changer lid hinges in pieces (Repaired)
OS Mirror inner trim cover needs new mountings

[Tomcat]

Spent a couple of hours today getting another few jobs done, I didn't have long due to the weather but I decided to get something done during a break in the rain. I managed to get the rear blinds removed off the rear doors today, I had no need for them and didn't particularly like them so they're getting filed in the bin (unless someone wants them). I also noticed the other day that the front two tie down points were missing, it was only once I removed some of the boot floor that I realised they were not even bolted in. I forgot that Marc removed the rear brace when he sold me the car and that probably got in the way of the rear tie down points. Thankfully the previous owner had thrown them into one of the many spared boxes that he'd given me so they're now re attached.
The floor mats are currently doing a couple of laps in the washing machine, juydging by the amount of soap suds coming out of the powder draw I put too much washing up liquid in with them (oops..) After a good luck at them the mats have never been out the car as the carpet underneath is immaculate, that said the drivers mat has a hole in in so I could probably do with another.

I got excited today because I thought I'd found the cause of the central locking problem, I took the wiring multiplug off the passenger door and realised it too had about 6 wires missing....then I realised that as a PASSENGER door it wont have as much wiring going to it...

[Tomcat]

OK. One wheel done, 4 to go. This one isn't perfect (as I haven't done the back yet) but it's 500% better than the ones on the car and how it was when I first got it (sorry Frankie, but it was rough)..

No before photo as I forgot to take one (Just picture LOTS of kerbing and Lots of corrosion)

During:


Base coat:

Clear Coat:

Paint needs to set for the rest of the day so maybe later on today I can pull the masking tape off and tomorrow (Hopefully) fit it to the car. Lets hope the tyre that's on it stays inflated as I have a slow flat already on the car, it's taking about a day to go completley flat (and no, it's not worth getting it fixed)

[Tomcat]

While waiting for something better to do I found the remains of an old R bumper and started to make these...

[Tomcat]

Decided to put the freshly painted wheel on the car today, as the back tyres are good and the fronts are shagged I thought I'd put the new one on the back and swap on of the backs to the front (still with me?), all went well until I got to the front wheel, all the bolts where stuck solid, after bashing them all with a large lump hammer to try and break their death grip I managed to undo thee (including the locking nut...which thankfully wasnt tight) the other two snapped...FFFFFFFFFF...etc.. Thankfully I managed to twist out the broken bits and fit new bolts. The wheel I removed has sadly a big dent in the back edge..this could be why it's got a slow leak (not sure as it's not a massive dent)... Not sure what to do now, is it worth repainting it or should I just get a replacement wheel?...

Pics to follow..

[Tomcat]

Pics as Promised...

Well that aint good..

Neither is that...

Pulled a small piece of the clearcoat off the wheel, starting to think these where poweder coated..
The car rocking one good wheel,lol..

[Tomcat]

Well not done much this week...upto today, today I finally picked up the remaining plastic rivets for the bumper so tonight I've finally gotten around to removing the damn thing so I can repair it and repaint it (Sooo been wanting to do this since I got the car).



A quick before shot showing some of the crap on the front of the bumper, apparently someone reversed into the front of it at some point, hence the big split in the front edge and the scuffed paint.

Took me about 15 minutes to remove the bumper as someone had used the wrong rivets to attach the wheel arch liners (metal ones are sooo ugly), once I finally got it off and stripped it down I found this on the back of one of the corners... (I knew it was full of filler anyway)


You can also see that the corner had split as at some point someones hit something really low and it stuffed all the bottom corner in.

[Tomcat]

[Tomcat]

Well I got pretty far with it but sadly someone decided that I should be taking her to a party rather than painting my bumper so after priming it I had to put it back on the car. I thought it would stick out like a sore thumb having the front bumper in primer but tbh it doesnt look too bad, not as good as paint mind you but none the less, not bad..


Primed..


Test fitting the wiper blanks.

Temporarily re fitted for taxi duties, gonna be Monday before I can get it done now..

[Tomcat]

Gawd I'm knackered, had a really busy day today. As I was up early I pulled the front bumper off and prepped it for paint, didn't take too long as I'd already done most of the groundwork last week. After about an hours work I managed to get it basecoated and laquered. Just as I was finished that my care package a forum member arrived, a replacement rad, intercooler,fan and aircon rad, also a replacement

MAF

, the rest of the day has been taken up with swapping bits over, had a major problem swapping the rad as the two mounting bolts that hold it in place got so far and then the captive nuts started to spin, I really struggled to get anything on them, finally managed to get the passenger side to snap off, the drivers side I had to break the radiator bracket off to give me enough room get at the captive nut. While the rad's where out I gave the chassis a clean up and then moved the horns, they now live under the N/s front wing. Not had chance to try it yet but it certainly sounds a lot healthier, just got to wait until tomorrow now to refit the front bumper as the paints still soft.

[Tomcat]

Bumper is now done and back on the car!!, I've still to get a new reg plate (old one looks scruffy). While getting stuff done yesterday I decided that as one of them wasnt working I was going to ditch the headlight wipers all together so I've pulled the motors, I've already made some blanks for the bumper so I'll try and get these painted today while I do the fibreglassing on the splitters. Car sounds really good now, lets hope it drives that way and that nothing falls off when I go out in it.


As the cars now running like it should I've started to get a few more costmetic jobs out the of the way. Managed to get the front bumper wiper blanks painted and then fitted today, these turned out ok. I've also given in and painted the front grill, I've never been a fan of the all silver grills on Volvo's, I wanted to remove the slash off the grill but couldn't get the damn clips on the back of it to move at all, so I've masked it up and just sprayed around it, scuffed up the plastic, wiped with pre paint and then painted with black etch primer and finally some satin black, looks a lot nicer and now I've also fitted the two grills Pete sent me (ta bud) the front actualy looks quite decent. Still got to make myself a front splitter as I've started it but I was too tired to finish the laminating last night, may get it done in a couple of weeks..

Front with bumper (now painted) and lower grills replaced..


Wiper blanks.

Front grill after painting.

And the whole lot on the car, not the best of pics as the sun was in an odd position (hence the shadows all over the car)

[Tomcat]

Pic of bumper drying in the garage.I'm especially please with how this bumper turned out, being as it was split in at least three places and also stuffed in the bottom edge, the whole N/s corner was totaly out of shape. I just need to get the wheels sorted now and then the rest of the paintwork.