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700/900 Series General Forum for the Volvo 740, 760, 780, 940, 960 & S/V90 cars

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My new 740!

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Old Apr 11th, 2017, 23:46   #81
swedish brick
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I'll whip it out (so to speak!!) this weekend I think and see what I can find. If it's fixable I'll be sticking with the original, purely for look and cost reasons.
I can't see it being expensive to repair this one or pick up a working replacement. Hopefully.
__________________
1988 Volvo 740GLE estate
1985 Ford Granada 2.8 ghia X estate
1984 Ford Transit 100L LWB high top
1974 Ford Capri 1.6L
1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 429 V8
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Old Oct 15th, 2017, 22:42   #82
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Crikey, I've not updated this in a while!
Photobucket screwed up the pics here too so I'll update those in a min too.

Work has been going well with this old tank. Some good stuff, some more unexpected annoying things!

Firstly, a big cosmetic change. US lights.

I've had these a while but been getting the car working and being reliable before worrying about cosmetics.
Obviously these lights are US market only, therefore are LHD and old sealed beam units. First job then is to convert to RHD and as part of doing so means getting normal H4 bulbs at the same time.

IMG_0632 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

These are the new RHD lamp units I used. I got them cheap enough on eBay.
IMG_0634 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

The biggest issue here is with the headlight backing plate. The original sealed beams have small wiring connections on the backs. The new ones obviously need a much bigger opening for the new H4 bulbs and wiring. This means you've got to open out the holes in the back plates.

This shows how big the opening needs to be.

IMG_0636 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0637 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

Cut carefully with a dremmel.

IMG_0638 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0639 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

Job jobbed!

IMG_0641 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

A bit of black paint seals the bare steel cut areas, stops rust.

IMG_0642 by Dan Clark, on Flickr
__________________
1988 Volvo 740GLE estate
1985 Ford Granada 2.8 ghia X estate
1984 Ford Transit 100L LWB high top
1974 Ford Capri 1.6L
1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 429 V8

Last edited by swedish brick; Oct 15th, 2017 at 22:46.
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Old Oct 15th, 2017, 22:51   #83
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Next up is fitting them to the car.

Removal of the Euro style headlights and sidelight/indicators is easy enough. I've been extremely careful doing it though as I don't want them damaging just in case I ever convert back again.
Also, the old headlight wiper mechanisms etc need to go too. Again, kept safe just in case.

First light fitted.
IMG_0650 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0649 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

The only complication was with the alignment of the new indicator unit as the old rubber seal behind it (seal to the front wing) was moulded with age to the original larger Euro style indicator unit. It took a fair bit of adjusting and messing to make it flex and seal up properly but got it in the end.
__________________
1988 Volvo 740GLE estate
1985 Ford Granada 2.8 ghia X estate
1984 Ford Transit 100L LWB high top
1974 Ford Capri 1.6L
1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 429 V8

Last edited by swedish brick; Oct 15th, 2017 at 23:55.
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Old Oct 15th, 2017, 23:02   #84
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The wiring for this wasn't as obvious as it would first seem!

With my US sourced lights came cut off wiring for them fortunately. You must get this if your considering doing the same conversion as the bulbholders etc are not the same as the Euro ones and can't be used in the US lights.

IMG_0651 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

Here you can see another unexpected issue!
The original wiring loom and US loom use the exact same coloured wires for everything. That must mean they should connect like for like and work right? No!

IMG_0654 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

I did just that and my headlight was doing all sorts of weird things! The fix was to 'roll' all the connections around until the headlight matched what position the switch was in!

Got it in the end.
The indicators have got to go in the outer most light unit as the US lights have an amber plastic filter inside which isn't removable. In the U.K. Your not allowed amber sidelights so the decision is made for you I'm afraid.

IMG_0655 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0657 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0658 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0660 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

Ignore some of my lights btw! I only had a few spare suitable bulbs to hand and a few were in a bad way. One of the sidelights is just about to fail in the last pic!

IMG_0661 by Dan Clark, on Flickr
__________________
1988 Volvo 740GLE estate
1985 Ford Granada 2.8 ghia X estate
1984 Ford Transit 100L LWB high top
1974 Ford Capri 1.6L
1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 429 V8

Last edited by swedish brick; Oct 15th, 2017 at 23:06.
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Old Oct 15th, 2017, 23:08   #85
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Night time!

IMG_0662 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0663 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0664 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0666 by Dan Clark, on Flickr
__________________
1988 Volvo 740GLE estate
1985 Ford Granada 2.8 ghia X estate
1984 Ford Transit 100L LWB high top
1974 Ford Capri 1.6L
1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 429 V8
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Old Oct 15th, 2017, 23:19   #86
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Next up. Wheels.

I love the GLE alloys on these cars but mine were looking a bit of a state. Filthy with ingrained brake dust and grime and the paint was starting to flake and corrode.
Time for some tlc.

I have two old Volvo steels with tyres on so jacked the car up, removed the rear alloys then fitted the steels. Dropped the car down and jacked up the front, removed the alloys and sat that on a pair of axle stands. The spare is out aswell to complete the set of 5.
My tyres are largely crap. Both rears were very old and perished, the spare was even worse so they were stripped off and thrown in the bin. Both fronts are almost new and in great shape. But, they're budget tyres and therefore not for me! So I'll be getting a matched set of 5 new decent brand tyres.

The alloys themselves have been sent to a local firm to be blasted, baked, then powder coated in as close to standard silver as possible.

IMG_0713 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0712 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0711 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

Don't they look just delightful!!
For the set of 5 and removal of the old tyres it only cost £180.
__________________
1988 Volvo 740GLE estate
1985 Ford Granada 2.8 ghia X estate
1984 Ford Transit 100L LWB high top
1974 Ford Capri 1.6L
1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 429 V8
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Old Oct 15th, 2017, 23:28   #87
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At the same time, since the car was up on stands immobilised I decided to tackle a few other little jobs.

One being this.

IMG_0715 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

I hate damage like that! It doesn't stop the car being used but looks awful.

Cured by these from a chance find on eBay.

IMG_0714 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

The drivers one should have two blanking plates but I can't find any replacements so I'll go with a fourth grab handle instead. It doesn't interfere at all with anything having it and it looks like it's always been there.
One other grab handle was also replaced as it was damaged too, and the other two received their missing centre covers.

IMG_0735 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

Better!

I also had noticed an irritating leak...
It can't be the sunroof as that's fixed now.
Firstly, I repaired the damp headlining by stripping the fabric down and reattaching it to the foam and back board with trim fix spay glue.

IMG_0734 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

Now to find that leak...
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1988 Volvo 740GLE estate
1985 Ford Granada 2.8 ghia X estate
1984 Ford Transit 100L LWB high top
1974 Ford Capri 1.6L
1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 429 V8
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Old Oct 15th, 2017, 23:32   #88
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IMG_0730 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0731 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

Oh dear!
I knew there was a rusted stone chip here but didn't expect it to have done this. Explains the leak though.
This had clearly been there for many many years without being fixed to get like that. To think all it would have taken to fix would have been a blob of paint!

The fix, I didn't want to weld the roof just in case of distortion to that big flat panel. So I've ground away all traces of rust and thin metal then used some chemical metal putty to plug the hole, then JB weld metal adhesive to bond the lot together and act like a filler.

IMG_0732 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

With that rubbed down and keyed a couple of coats of filler primer went on then top coat.

IMG_0738 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

IMG_0739 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

The top coat isn't quite the same despite being the same paint code. It's also been brushed on so looks a bit rough at the moment.
Once it's hardened in a couple of days time I'll try flatting it back with super fine wet & dry, then cutting compound, polish and finally lacquer.
It'll likely never fully blend in unfortunately but it's better than a rusty hole!

I also used the same paint to touch up the battle scars on the rear arch.

IMG_0737 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

The previous owner must have clipped his gate at some point which has bent the arch in and deeply scratched the paint, down to metal in places.
I'm not going to even try fixing the dents but with winter about here I don't want rust setting in so touched it all in for now.

Long term, I'll get the dent pulled out and painted professionally. I'll also have the whole roof, sunroof lid and bonnet repainted as the lacquer is cracking and starting to peel and the ally sunroof lid is blistered and peeling quite badly. For now though it's fine.
__________________
1988 Volvo 740GLE estate
1985 Ford Granada 2.8 ghia X estate
1984 Ford Transit 100L LWB high top
1974 Ford Capri 1.6L
1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 429 V8

Last edited by swedish brick; Oct 15th, 2017 at 23:45.
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Old Oct 16th, 2017, 00:04   #89
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That pretty much brings us up to now.

Tomorrow I'll update the pics from early in the thread thanks to Photobucket.
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1988 Volvo 740GLE estate
1985 Ford Granada 2.8 ghia X estate
1984 Ford Transit 100L LWB high top
1974 Ford Capri 1.6L
1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 429 V8
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