240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Very............interesting.........Mr...........B ond!

They were 3 times that price when they first came out, loked at one several times on recomendation from a fiend.

At the time, i still had the original head unti and 6 disc changer in my Rover and didn't have a decent radio in this 760 so i was still investigating various options.

I've recently changed the original stereo (inc 6 disc changer) on the Rover to a more modern JVC single shot CD/radio that has built-in BlueTooth and remote control via an app (that doesn't seem to work yet, finger trouble no doubt) so may use the internet radio in the phone to get DAB but i'm currently struggling to get music onto it from my own collection of CDs so i can play those.

Still interested in a DAB unit though but would prefer a permanent install - there's a redundant carphone aerial on the roof of the Volvo that i could easily repurpose into a DAB aerial (wavelengths are very similar), not sure on the Rover though.........

I was looking for a DAB radio replacement and found a similar (but DAB) Sony used for £50 that would have been a one for one replacement, but it didn't provide a hands free capability. I quite like the Sony that is fitted, and it does everything I need except receive DAB (my son like Capital Xtra), so a bit of lateral thinking got me to this little add on unit. The whole kit (including an antenna) was only £19.95 delivered (it should be here on Saturday).

I checked on CamelCamelCamel and saw this unit was £100 when it first came out in 2017:



... being a tightwad it always makes me feel good that I got a bargain.

I'm not sure many people use CDs in cars any more Dave, as long as your head unit has a USB socket (most do now) then it is generally easier to convert your CDs to MP3/4 format and play them from a USB stick. Apple iTunes is probably the easiest method of converting your CDs (and it is free, which is a big plus point). I think you could do the same with an iPhone or Android phone as well.

I'm looking forward to the Nextbase unit arriving: £20 for DAB is pretty cheap. I suppose I would have preferred to fit a DAB head unit, but I don't like wasting things unnecessarily.

I'll let you know how the Nextbase works out in a few days time.

If the weather turns out okay I might try to find that mouse today :-)

Alan

[john.wigley]

Ours was definitely real 'L.S.'. It didn't make a lot of noise, but it made a ruddy mess - and the smell! J.

[loki_the_glt]

Originally Posted by Othen

I'm not sure many people use CDs in cars any more Dave, as long as your head unit has a USB socket (most do now) then it is generally easier to convert your CDs to MP3/4 format and play them from a USB stick. Apple iTunes is probably the easiest method of converting your CDs (and it is free, which is a big plus point). I think you could do the same with an iPhone or Android phone as well.
Alan

I'm slowly trying to transcribe vinyl, almost all of which isn't available in any digital format ("Early Steppenwolf" for instance) into .wav formats as my red-blocks' cassette/cd-players don't support .mp3 and I also have a lot of cassette-based music that I enjoy.

That said, the daily driver has USB/SD card capability and DAB.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

I was looking for a DAB radio replacement and found a similar (but DAB) Sony used for £50 that would have been a one for one replacement, but it didn't provide a hands free capability. I quite like the Sony that is fitted, and it does everything I need except receive DAB (my son like Capital Xtra), so a bit of lateral thinking got me to this little add on unit. The whole kit (including an antenna) was only £19.95 delivered (it should be here on Saturday).

I checked on CamelCamelCamel and saw this unit was £100 when it first came out in 2017:



... being a tightwad it always makes me feel good that I got a bargain.

I'm not sure many people use CDs in cars any more Dave, as long as your head unit has a USB socket (most do now) then it is generally easier to convert your CDs to MP3/4 format and play them from a USB stick. Apple iTunes is probably the easiest method of converting your CDs (and it is free, which is a big plus point). I think you could do the same with an iPhone or Android phone as well.

I'm looking forward to the Nextbase unit arriving: £20 for DAB is pretty cheap. I suppose I would have preferred to fit a DAB head unit, but I don't like wasting things unnecessarily.

I'll let you know how the Nextbase works out in a few days time.

If the weather turns out okay I might try to find that mouse today :-)

Alan

Having had a teenage, apprentice-shaped paw in the development of the CD system as we know it today, the CD has been one of my favourite options for music for many years now Alan although vinyl still has the edge for reproduction IMHO - music by definition is analogue therefore digitising it is going to incur some loss somewhere.
Having the 6-disc changer as standard kit on the car was a big thing back in the early 90s and still is in many ways.

I don't (and won't ever) use Apple products, i've got many reasons for this but i've managed to find a computer in my posession that still recognises the optical drive on a Windows package. The one that i knew did (an old XP Viglen unit) had a dead monitor so got a replacement monitor, checked it out, plugged it in etc only to find the PC wouldn't start.
Going for the obvious, i plugged the monitor power lead into the back of the PC only to be met by a flash and a bang from the PSU so using the Windows Media Player to rip the music from CDs and transfer it to my phone on that was no longer an option.
The laptop i've got has Win 7 on it and still recognises the optical (CD) drive and Winows Media Player works so i'm able to do it. It's changed from XP but i'm getting my head round it slowly.
As for Win10, that no longer believes CDs exist so doesn't recognise the optical drive, however the Bionic Beaver version of Linux does. That said, i can't seem to get it to rip a CD and convert to mp3 so i can send it to my phone.

As you say, i could put them on a USB stick but................

............... that limits my use to one car.

Putting the CDs (in mp3 format) onto my phones memory card gives me all the options in both cars, i have a BlueTooth FM transmitter in the Volvo (had one in the Rover as well until the JVC arrived) so have the full handsfree music/sat-nag/phone options now.

No extra cables, USB sticks or whatever.

Originally Posted by john.wigley

Ours was definitely real 'L.S.'. It didn't make a lot of noise, but it made a ruddy mess - and the smell! J.

I'm sure the mouse didn't mind the smell John!

Mice can do a lot of damage to wiring, in fact there was a 940 in Denmark i think it was, recently on the forum that self-combusted due to a heretic mouse chomping through some cables.

For the record, if anyone is using a humane trap (or even an inhumane one) mice don't like cheese, they prefer ham, chocolate, bread - almost anything in fact except cheese!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Having had a teenage, apprentice-shaped paw in the development of the CD system as we know it today, the CD has been one of my favourite options for music for many years now Alan although vinyl still has the edge for reproduction IMHO - music by definition is analogue therefore digitising it is going to incur some loss somewhere.
Having the 6-disc changer as standard kit on the car was a big thing back in the early 90s and still is in many ways.

I don't (and won't ever) use Apple products, i've got many reasons for this but i've managed to find a computer in my posession that still recognises the optical drive on a Windows package. The one that i knew did (an old XP Viglen unit) had a dead monitor so got a replacement monitor, checked it out, plugged it in etc only to find the PC wouldn't start.
Going for the obvious, i plugged the monitor power lead into the back of the PC only to be met by a flash and a bang from the PSU so using the Windows Media Player to rip the music from CDs and transfer it to my phone on that was no longer an option.
The laptop i've got has Win 7 on it and still recognises the optical (CD) drive and Winows Media Player works so i'm able to do it. It's changed from XP but i'm getting my head round it slowly.
As for Win10, that no longer believes CDs exist so doesn't recognise the optical drive, however the Bionic Beaver version of Linux does. That said, i can't seem to get it to rip a CD and convert to mp3 so i can send it to my phone.

As you say, i could put them on a USB stick but................

............... that limits my use to one car.

Putting the CDs (in mp3 format) onto my phones memory card gives me all the options in both cars, i have a BlueTooth FM transmitter in the Volvo (had one in the Rover as well until the JVC arrived) so have the full handsfree music/sat-nag/phone options now.

No extra cables, USB sticks or whatever.

We are all so spoiled for choice these days. Back in the 80s when I bought my first new car (a 240 estate) car's didn't generally come with a radio as standard. I recall driving back to Germany and buying a Blue Spot in the NAAFI (tax free). I'm pretty sure it was just a radio (may have also had a casette player, but I think it was pre-CD (about 1986 I think)). I remember it being quite expensive and being very proud of it because it was much better than the radios I'd had previously in used cars.

I don't like Apple much either, but I'm pragmatic about some of its products (and slightly stuck on the iPhone/iPad line through great convenience). I slightly lost track of why a USB wouldn't play in both of your cars Dave, but it isn't important, we all find our own work arounds.

I do like DAB, particularly whilst driving around, I've become used to it in the Porsche and the Skoda and quite miss it in the Royal Barge (hence this latest plan).

It is quite remarkable how quickly modern electronics become very cheap indeed, this little DAB250 unit is now selling for only 20% of what it did (albeit briefly) 3 years ago. Everything changes so quickly now, when I look at the Royal Barge I see mostly technology that had been around for decades, and so it is still fairly easy to maintain - sometimes substituting more modern parts (like the voltage regulator) should allow me to keep it on the road for another 2 decades. I doubt very much that will be possible for any car made this year to be maintained on the road in 2060 at a sensible cost.

I'm suffering from a bit of CBA (can't be arsed) today, I really should get on with servicing my Triumph (bike), which has been up on the bike lift for 2 days waiting for me to start. It isn't a hard job, but I keep putting it off - now I'm waiting to see if the postie brings any parts I need for the Volvo instead :-)

Bis spaeter.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

As for Win10, that no longer believes CDs exist so doesn't recognise the optical drive, however the Bionic Beaver version of Linux does. That said, i can't seem to get it to rip a CD and convert to mp3 so i can send it to my phone.

... all out PCs are Win 10 now (after a while it isn't worth 'fighting the white' (military term used a lot at staff colleges)). I'm pretty sure the OS can read and write CDs to the DVD unit in all of them. As I write this I'm looking at a 25 pack of CD-Rs that I must have bought fairly recently for that reason - we only used a couple of them, and I can't remember why we needed CDs instead of DVDs, but we must have used Win 10 because that is all Dan and I have now. I suppose it must have been for some sort of audio CD player, I can't remember the details, but it was a faff and USB is much simpler (for us).

I'm not sure that will be of any use at all to you Dave.

I'm still struggling with CBA - hurry up postie so I can get on with the rest of my day!

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

We are all so spoiled for choice these days. Back in the 80s when I bought my first new car (a 240 estate) car's didn't generally come with a radio as standard. I recall driving back to Germany and buying a Blue Spot in the NAAFI (tax free). I'm pretty sure it was just a radio (may have also had a casette player, but I think it was pre-CD (about 1986 I think)). I remember it being quite expensive and being very proud of it because it was much better than the radios I'd had previously in used cars.

I don't like Apple much either, but I'm pragmatic about some of its products (and slightly stuck on the iPhone/iPad line through great convenience). I slightly lost track of why a USB wouldn't play in both of your cars Dave, but it isn't important, we all find our own work arounds.

I do like DAB, particularly whilst driving around, I've become used to it in the Porsche and the Skoda and quite miss it in the Royal Barge (hence this latest plan).

It is quite remarkable how quickly modern electronics become very cheap indeed, this little DAB250 unit is now selling for only 20% of what it did (albeit briefly) 3 years ago. Everything changes so quickly now, when I look at the Royal Barge I see mostly technology that had been around for decades, and so it is still fairly easy to maintain - sometimes substituting more modern parts (like the voltage regulator) should allow me to keep it on the road for another 2 decades. I doubt very much that will be possible for any car made this year to be maintained on the road in 2060 at a sensible cost.

I'm suffering from a bit of CBA (can't be arsed) today, I really should get on with servicing my Triumph (bike), which has been up on the bike lift for 2 days waiting for me to start. It isn't a hard job, but I keep putting it off - now I'm waiting to see if the postie brings any parts I need for the Volvo instead :-)

Bis spaeter.

The CD system (as we know it today) was launched in June 1986 and coincided with some event on MTV and also the release (on CD, vinyl & cassette had been out a while) of Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits and with an event at work, the commemorative goblet pertaining to which i still have. The date is on it as well but only the work event is listed.

Earlier than that, i had bought a CD midi system through the staff shop, unofficial pre-release version so to speak and i remember during the course of my duties at work, having to drill a 3/8" hole through a pre-release copy of Brothers in Arms. The boast was it would still play with a 1/4" hole drilled in it so to prove it, a 3/8" hole was used.
Me being me "volunteered" to prove the point on an "independent" CD player at home and my boss gave permission for me to take the CD home for "developmental testing".
Next morning, listened to it all the way through on cassette in the car going to work! No holes in the reproduction!

When i bought my midi system in the April, it was £400 (with a hefty staff discount) and in the shops in June, about double that.
By Xmas, it had dropped to less than i paid!

About the same time, a (mono) VHS recorder was about £400 in the shops. Going back a few years i remember Argos selling off the last of their mono VHS recorders for a fiver, just to get rid of them and soon after, most of their basic DVD players for not much more as the price of more sophisticated units had dropped so much, the basic units were seriously overpriced for what they did!

The reason i can only use a USB stick in one car is i only have a head unit capable of playing from a USB in one car. The other car (the 760) has an ex-Rover head unit and 6 disc changer in it at present. It also has a BlueTooth FM transmitter so if i can get the music from my CDs onto my phone in mp3 format, i can play all of it in both cars.

I very much doubt anything from todays new crop of cars will still be running in 40 years, most have built-in obsolescence so they give up the ghost soon after 100k miles.

Nothing like a late delivery from the "Messenger of Doom" when you're waiting for something to give you a dose of disenchantment, CBA or similar. Hopefully the postie brings you the necessary toys!

Originally Posted by Othen

... all out PCs are Win 10 now (after a while it isn't worth 'fighting the white' (military term used a lot at staff colleges)). I'm pretty sure the OS can read and write CDs to the DVD unit in all of them. As I write this I'm looking at a 25 pack of CD-Rs that I must have bought fairly recently for that reason - we only used a couple of them, and I can't remember why we needed CDs instead of DVDs, but we must have used Win 10 because that is all Dan and I have now. I suppose it must have been for some sort of audio CD player, I can't remember the details, but it was a faff and USB is much simpler (for us).

I'm not sure that will be of any use at all to you Dave.

I'm still struggling with CBA - hurry up postie so I can get on with the rest of my day!

Alan

I suspect mine must have missed the update that restored optical drive capability on mine, i know some optical drives aren't compatible with Win10 so could be why.
Know what you mean about getting to the point of just going with the flow as it were, hoiked out the HDD from my "old" PC this morning after failing to find a suitable replacement PSU on fleabay, going to look at installing it in my "new" PC which will then give me XP, Win10 and Linux all in one machine.

Struggling with CBA can be a real nuisance.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

The CD system (as we know it today) was launched in June 1986 and coincided with some event on MTV and also the release (on CD, vinyl & cassette had been out a while) of Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits and with an event at work, the commemorative goblet pertaining to which i still have. The date is on it as well but only the work event is listed.

Earlier than that, i had bought a CD midi system through the staff shop, unofficial pre-release version so to speak and i remember during the course of my duties at work, having to drill a 3/8" hole through a pre-release copy of Brothers in Arms. The boast was it would still play with a 1/4" hole drilled in it so to prove it, a 3/8" hole was used.
Me being me "volunteered" to prove the point on an "independent" CD player at home and my boss gave permission for me to take the CD home for "developmental testing".
Next morning, listened to it all the way through on cassette in the car going to work! No holes in the reproduction!

When i bought my midi system in the April, it was £400 (with a hefty staff discount) and in the shops in June, about double that.
By Xmas, it had dropped to less than i paid!

About the same time, a (mono) VHS recorder was about £400 in the shops. Going back a few years i remember Argos selling off the last of their mono VHS recorders for a fiver, just to get rid of them and soon after, most of their basic DVD players for not much more as the price of more sophisticated units had dropped so much, the basic units were seriously overpriced for what they did!

The reason i can only use a USB stick in one car is i only have a head unit capable of playing from a USB in one car. The other car (the 760) has an ex-Rover head unit and 6 disc changer in it at present. It also has a BlueTooth FM transmitter so if i can get the music from my CDs onto my phone in mp3 format, i can play all of it in both cars.

I very much doubt anything from todays new crop of cars will still be running in 40 years, most have built-in obsolescence so they give up the ghost soon after 100k miles.

Nothing like a late delivery from the "Messenger of Doom" when you're waiting for something to give you a dose of disenchantment, CBA or similar. Hopefully the postie brings you the necessary toys!

I suspect mine must have missed the update that restored optical drive capability on mine, i know some optical drives aren't compatible with Win10 so could be why.
Know what you mean about getting to the point of just going with the flow as it were, hoiked out the HDD from my "old" PC this morning after failing to find a suitable replacement PSU on fleabay, going to look at installing it in my "new" PC which will then give me XP, Win10 and Linux all in one machine.

Struggling with CBA can be a real nuisance.

What a marvellous story (about the commemorative goblet) Dave, that was fascinating (and the one about the 3/8" hole as well).

I think the reason I can't get going today is that I like to do things in order - and I had planned to fit the interior light delay relay on Wednesday (it was supposed to arrive Monday or Tuesday) and had prepped everything ready - I wasted the whole day sitting around (and it rained) but it still didn't show up in the mail. My neighbour (Clarkie) dropped round that afternoon and gave me a hand to get the Triumph up on the stand (I can do it on my own, but it is much safer with two people) as I'd meant that to be my next job. The relay still hasn't shown up in the post - maybe the Royal Mail has problems due to Corona virus? The supplying company has replied quickly and given me the tracking number, but that doesn't help much until the postie attempts a delivery (so, next to useless then). I think that is why I've got a bit of CBA, I didn't want to start the Triumph service and then be interrupted by another job.

I see your point about the lack of a USB socket in one radio - your best option does sound like bluetooth/cell phone.

The Royal Mail has sent me an email saying the DAB250 will be here tomorrow morn, it shouldn't take long to fit, and I'm quite looking forward to sorting that out in the RB. In that case I think I'll leave the Triumph until Sunday - the service itself won't take long, but if any of the valves need shimming it will be apart for the week while I measure and order the right sizes. That leaves this afternoon free; the weather has cheered up, so once I've taken Bob for his second walk I think I'll jack up the left side of the Royal Barge, see if I can find the mouse and I might as well change that drop link as well.

There - much more decisive now I have a plan, the CBA is swept away at a stroke.

Bis spaeter.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

The Royal Mail has sent me an email saying the DAB250 will be here tomorrow morn, it shouldn't take long to fit, and I'm quite looking forward to sorting that out in the RB. In that case I think I'll leave the Triumph until Sunday - the service itself won't take long, but if any of the valves need shimming it will be apart for the week while I measure and order the right sizes. That leaves this afternoon free; the weather has cheered up, so once I've taken Bob for his second walk I think I'll jack up the left side of the Royal Barge, see if I can find the mouse and I might as well change that drop link as well.

There - much more decisive now I have a plan, the CBA is swept away at a stroke.

Bis spaeter.

Alan

Check the people sending the relay have sent it to the correct address Alan - i had something recently where the despatch dept had mistyped the house number (my neighbour was away) and an item got sent to the wrong place. Eventually they sent a replacement to the correct address!

If you change the drop links, it's much easier with both wheels level - the ARB will fight you all the way if not! Likewise if you're doing one, makes sense to do the other.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Check the people sending the relay have sent it to the correct address Alan - i had something recently where the despatch dept had mistyped the house number (my neighbour was away) and an item got sent to the wrong place. Eventually they sent a replacement to the correct address!

If you change the drop links, it's much easier with both wheels level - the ARB will fight you all the way if not! Likewise if you're doing one, makes sense to do the other.

I thought the mouse had gone, but I gave the suspension a bounce as Bob walked past, it sounds like his rather quieter cousin has moved in. I changed both the drop links (as you say Dave, an easy enough job) and gave all the joints I could see a bit of lubrication - then had to drive over to the other side of town to find some sleeping policemen - and everything is much quieter. Many thanks.

While I had the car jacked up I took the wheel arch liner off and repaired the underside of the area where those awful mirrors were on the passenger side. I used a little GRP patch which should be fine. If I get time tomorrow I'll fill and sand the 4 holes and maybe even get some paint on (Poundland black gloss rattle cans are not a bad match).

I've got my mojo back after wasting a couple of days waiting for parts to arrive. I'll get the DAB adaptor fitted tomorrow, and my Triumph serviced on Sunday.

Time for Bob's last walk of the day.

Alan