Recommended Garage (East London)
Hi all,
Reluctantly, I am thinking of taking my 240GL Estate to the garage. I've was very keen to get all the work done on the car myself and had started to (with the help from some on this forum) nail down some of what ailed it. Recently I've done my back in and it's not really getting better at pace. That coupled with the fact that the car is now salvaged (repairable) due to being hit by a lorry whilst parked, a visit to a garage now seems inevitable. It may be a lost cause and I may have to break it up (would be sad), but wanted to ask first if there were any community recommended garages in or close to East London that others have used. I have a garage about 5 houses down from me, but he has already told me he doesn't know much about the older Volvos and I would rather really go to someone who has experience with them. Anyone have any suggestions? I've been combing the stickies and searching the threads, but haven't come up with any preexisting thread, so apologies if I missed it. Best, Joel |
Hello and welcome.
I do not know the answer. It does seem you have two problems. Mechanical maintenance, and bodywork. They may need separate garages? Surely East London still has "small workshops"? Ask around. More knowledgeable members might be better able to advise re the bodywork if you tell us what the damage is to the bodywork and perhaps post some pictures? I hope you do not have to break the car. And above all, all the best re your health. |
recommended garage
Hello
i do remember reading somewhere about this welder called weld-rite in east london i have not experience or knowledge of this company might be worth a ring visit however as stephen said not sure of your issues with the car would be a shame to let it die try also braydons for secondhand panels steve in parts dept always helpful anyway best of luck ----- louise |
Thanks for your replies, very much appreciated.
Sorry I should have clarified what is actually wrong! The lorry, despite its size did little damage to the body. Effectively it just cracked a headlight and potentially did something to the transmission, but I have driven it since so it’s not fully gone yet. I know there are some other bits (preaccident) I need to sorting like an electrical gremlin and some new engine and trans mounts. |
Hi,
Replacing the engine and transmission mounts is a simple job- any garage will be able to do that for you, or you could with pretty basic tools- socket set, jack, stands etc. Cracked headlight is also a pretty simple job, you can buy replacement glass- and reflectors which could be changed at the same time if yours are in need of it. Did you get to the bottom of the battery drain issue? What makes you think there’s something wrong with the transmission? Is it auto or manual? Where in east London are you? Cheers |
Hi @Bugjam – thanks for the reply.
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A few extra's to Bugjams comments. Braydons as such doesn't exist any more. Steve has moved to a different place near Seven Sisters but for the life of me can't remember its name! However I found it last autumn by googling.... and he is just as helpful and knowledgable.
Those 240 headlamps are one of Mr Volvo's rubbish designs. We all know headlamp bulbs get hot so over the years those white plastic pivot mounts disintegrate as plastic always does. So why did they do it - idiots! And as for those pivot bolts, the nuts securing the reflectors from the back ALWAYS seize if not assembled with a bit of grease: result the hex bolt head rips the plastic housing thus wrecking that too. As said replacement assemblies aint cheap.... headlamp glasses can be removed with care by opening those securing clips around the perimeter, by taking the grill off and removing yet more plastic surrounding the unit. Give me round headlamps like on my '76 244 any day! Battery drain: I had similar on my Volvo 145 - it flattened a battery when parked up for just a day. I swapped the regulator - no difference so swapped alternator. Result - no problems now. I know naff-all about electrics but the answer in my case was a fault in the Alternator but dunno what. P |
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Cheers Edit- hmmm, formatting isn’t great on my phone. I’ve responded to most of your paragraphs above, but it looks like I just added the end note. |
Ok, how I fixed my headlights after stripping the plastic and then cutting out the seized bolts - the pictures tell the story but the assembly is:
an m6 bolt (same size as original, but longer) a butterfly nut on the bolthead end followed by a normal nut The normal nut fits into the remains of the stripped hole in the headlight bucket where the original volvo bolthead was, the butterfly nut is held in place with epoxy putty meaning there's no way the bolt can spin. There is loads of space for the new bolt heads with the butterfly nuts etc attached. I put the new bolts in place with epoxy putty then bolted the headlight buckets to the car with nothing else in them until the putty set so that the bolts were definitely straight and in the right places. Then I took out the headlights, installed the reflectors with new clips (still available from volvo or there's a place on ebay that sells them) and then installed the glass before reinstalling. Hope that helps. Cheers https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...921/DoB3D0.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...921/qsltDZ.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/zGh4Q7.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/Dxo28U.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/UPzAGm.jpg |
Hi @Bugjam – thanks again for the reply! Sorry for the delay coming back, for some reason I wasn't getting notifications.
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