Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[mickthemaverick]

When my Dad died at home the undertaker collected him in a Ford Escort van, the perfectly named vehicle for the job I thought!!

[MattBLancs]

Errrrm, isn't there a whole segment of, admittedly custom built and I guess expensive, vehicles specifically designed for such cargo!?

Well yes and they do have such carriages but these are supposedly discreet for transporting coffins from the coffin factory and bodies from hospitals. They don't like to use the hearses for that duty.
Her former employers had a transity van that was ideal.

Ah, understood. Think transit type answer fits the bill well, other than an estate, an SUV thing isn't the right answer is it!

[myglaren]

Not really no but it may be that they bought hybrids to make a saving on the road tax, or something of that nature.
A dedicated van would make a lot more sense.

[CitroJim]

I went for a short ride in the Volvo today What a car!!!

Thanks Zel, I really did enjoy the experience

[Zelandeth]

I went for a short ride in the Volvo today What a car!!!

Thanks Zel, I really did enjoy the experience

My brain still hasn't quite got used to this not being something I've rented or borrowed.

The first thing I need to try to get done is to get the wheels balanced as the slight vibration at motorway speeds does detract from the otherwise almost complete serenity.

Finally got the obligatory dash at night photos this evening. As you'd expect from Volvo, a textbook example of carefully considered illumination decisions and chromatic consistency.









Did notice that we had lighting when opening the doors in the passenger footwell but not the driver's side. Looks like I've a lamp here needing replacement tomorrow.



Just to the right of that is the OBD socket, with it's own little covered socket, rather than having it crammed in half buried by the fuse box or nonsense like that.



Did find the cause of one knock from the rear end which seemed to come and go. Turned out to be a 19mm socket rolling around in the spare wheel well.



Nice and tidy in here.



Quite glad to hear that battery was recently replaced as it doesn't look like that would be a cheap one to change!

I found a folded up bit of fabric which took me a second to fathom the function of. Then I realised that it goes with the factory dog guard - it's a curtain for if you want to separate the boot from the cabin - for instance if you don't want a dog in the boot breathing in the ear of your rear seat passengers.



Nice touch.

[CitroJim]

That's superb Zel

[MattBLancs]

Does it have a "night panel mode" like Saabs (cough and also Peugeot, Citroen too often) ?

[Zelandeth]

Does it have a "night panel mode" like Saabs (cough and also Peugeot, Citroen too often) ?

Not that I've seen. Though I wouldn't be surprised if there was and I just don't know how to activate it. One feature Saab had adopted around this time that I kind of wish Volvo had adopted was having the speedometer scale compressed above 100mph, so the bit you actually use was clearer. This one isn't too bad as it's pretty clear - but you're never going to get to the halfway mark legally anywhere other than on a track or the Autobahn.

-- -- --

So begin the little fixes.

One broken electric seat switch.



You could still move it by manipulating the little stub in there, but it was really fiddly. Also drew my eye every time I opened the door.

Not a difficult fix.

Step 1, locate a suitable parts donor. This was grabbed from a local Volvo breaker for less than I could get one from eBay.



Even if I did swear a *lot* attempting to get one of those plugs out. This isn't actually a direct fit for mine, the plugs are totally different - but all I actually need is one little bit of black plastic, for which it will do just fine.

It goes without saying that before doing ANY work involving electrics on a car this modern and complex, the battery should be isolated. One slip of the screwdriver or dropped screw in the wrong place could result in a short that wipes out very expensive to replace ECUs. It's *unlikely* but for the sake of ten minutes work, do you really want to take that risk?

One screw holds the trim on, then it can be lifted up at the front and unclipped at the back.

There's no need to actually disconnect the electrical connector for this job, the wiring is plenty long enough.



Removal of three screws then allows the switch module itself to be withdrawn from the trim.



Then 9 small Philips screws need to come out to allow the PCB to be released - do this with it board side up or you'll end up with all the switch sliders falling out.



Yes, I learned that the hard way and had to pick all but one of them up out of the grass.

Here's what was actually broken.



Reassembly as the Hayne's manual loves to say is the reverse of disassembly.

Worth checking that everything is properly lined up before adding any screws.



Then the switch caps can be clipped back on.



Reconnect the battery and we're done!

Looks much better without something obviously broken visible once you open the door.



The driver's footwell lighting was restored with a new bulb.



That did cause a bit of initial head scratching though until I realised that the car only turns the interior lights on when you unlock/open the doors when it's relatively dark outside.

Gave the exterior a quick clean today. It's astonishing how much difference the wheels being clean makes.





She's a long old bus that's for sure, really obvious when you see the car fully side on.



Pointless but satisfying job was attacking this with the metal polish.





Much better.



Might need to try some of this new fangled ceramic coating stuff to protect the paint, see if it lasts any longer than a good quality traditional wax.

Somehow I've already managed to do nearly 500 miles in the car. Probably because I've been coming up with excuses to take the long way round getting to places as it's such a nice place to be.

[NewcastleFalcon]

I like a dash at night photo, I'll put a link on the "Dashboards and Interiors Interesting and Awful thread" to your post Definitely on the interesting side of course....

viewtopic.php?p=807232#p807232

Neil

[MattBLancs]

Good bits of progress - I'd go against calling them pointless fixes exhaust, seat switch= they catch your eye and annoy every time you see them, well worth sorting!

Footwell lightning only switched on when it's dark - that'd definitely have fooled me, too clever!

[Zelandeth]

First of the things I've ordered for the Volvo arrived today.



Properly matched touch up paint. Mainly to touch in the couple of nicks on the trailing edge of one or two doors.



This actually turned out to be significantly cheaper direct from Volvo than the offerings from Halfords which I'm sure wouldn't be even close to the right colour.

Guy on the parts desk was really enthusiastic and helpful though, even if they couldn't find my suspension bushes as they're no longer made so I'll need to go aftermarket for those. Not really a surprise at this age, but it was worth a shot. Given how extensive the history of this car is and that it's clearly been looked after I'd like to stick with OEM parts wherever I do have that option. Though obviously after 17 years that's just not going to be possible sometimes.

[Zelandeth]

Finally got this little rattle box out for a run today.







Can't believe it's been nine months since she last left the drive. Still makes me smile to drive though.



Given the issues I've had with those fuel filters on the Rover that one will be getting binned and replaced with a better quality one shortly.

Just five miles or so running about locally with no real destination in mine, just enough to blow the cobwebs out and get things properly warmed through.



Brakes are a lot better than I remember, and while still unavoidably bouncy given the small wheels and light weight the ride is surprisingly compliant. The Trabant definitely shakes you around a lot more as a passenger.

I'm holding off making direct performance comparisons yet given I now know how many issues that engine had so it wouldn't really be fair. Once there's a healthy unit installed I'll be able to make more meaningful comparisons there I think.

The Trabant definitely feels orders of magnitude more solidly put together though. The fact the Invacar's body is just an unstressed fibreglass box on top of an (admittedly quite sturdy) platform chassis rather than part of a body frame which encompasses the whole cabin is very much obvious when driving. The impression I get as well is that while they're both fibre reinforced plastics, Duroplast has quite different characteristics to fibreglass in some ways - I reckon it's a good bit less flexible for one. Skinny, bendy indicator stalk aside it's surprised me from square one how fragile the Trabant *doesn't* feel. Especially given the reputation they seem to have.

I do try not to end up making too many direct comparisons between the Invacar and Trabant given that they're really very different cars, made for very different purposes, with very different price tags.  However both being lightweight, plastic bodied, air cooled two cylinder cars it's a bit hard not to.

Still want to give TPA a proper end-to-end inspection and a service before going too much further, but glad she's made it out of the garage at least!

[CitroJim]

Great to see TPA out and about Zel and yes, definitely more gauges than my new AX!

[Zelandeth]

Great to see TPA out and about Zel and yes, definitely more gauges than my new AX!

Does it count when I added three of the instruments? Speed, odometer, fuel gauge and four warning lights were all you got as standard!

[CitroJim]

Does it count when I added three of the instruments? Speed, odometer, fuel gauge and four warning lights were all you got as standard!

Yes, it does! And what TPA has as standard is all you get with a poverty-spec. AX!