Practically Classics Forum

Hi LB, I bought mine online from http://www.superflex.co.uk I think it was about £30 or so delivered to France. I have loads more pics of the full procedure, I just put a few on the thread

Onto those drop-links then. I took a gamble on these. Volvo OE retail at around £40 each. GSF supply them for about £9! Vetech is the make & we shall see if they last......

They certainly looked okay to my untrained eye

Fitting was fairly straight forward. One nut & bolt as ever decided to be a PITA, but I nipped out & bought a nut splitter. The splitter actually sheared it's own thread at the same time as the nut gave out. So wasn't really up to the job. I took it back & got a refund

The old one, looking a bit cruddy:


And the shiney new in place:


The only thing to remember with these is to leave tightening up until you have lowered the car to the ground, just so that with the load on, the links will settle naturally into the correct place.

Once both sides were done, I went for a spin & enjoyed gliding silently along the bumpy lane

Another oil change at 163,300 & also treated him to a new set of OE wipers
Next I decided to clean the idle control valve. Idle was rock solid, but mpg had dropped from 28.4 running around & 29.8 on a run to a solid 26.4!
On taking the throttle body cover off I found the cable like This:



I have no idea why, or for how long it had been this way, but it was easily rectified.

I took the idle control off, it wasn't too mucky but the bit inside that is supposed to move when you tilt the valve was a bit slow. So a spray through with carb' cleaner sorted that out, infect it was soon gleaming! It was re-fitted. Sadly the mpg has remained at 26.4.

He is really just about due for a new set of plugs & probably rotor cap & dizzy....... Add that to fact that smoke is puffing out of the dipstick tube telling me that the flame trap/ PCV stuff needs replacing...... It is probably no surprise that mpg has dropped

Another Controle Technique was looming. The day before, whilst giving him his 'pre-mot wash and check over, I noticed the the front door stay did not work, swmbo said, "oh yeh it's been that way for a while' In fact it was making a loud 'crack' noise when opened and closed. Oh well, no time to do anything at this late stage. I took him in, as was the next day. 50 minutes of testing and the chap said, " oui c'est Bon pour vous monsieur " . Woohoo, he passed. We had advisories of two very minor leaks within the steering pipes, the drivers door stay being u/s & the rusty exhaust pipe got a mench' as usual

I decided that the drivers door stay hinge bit needed looking into. The door was going to get damaged if taken by the wind, or worse could blow shut on someones shins
I took the interior trim off & removed the door stay:

Yes the back plate. had completely snapped through, one of the bolts had bent as well. Must have been loose for sometime. This is quite a common fail, well usually it is the spring part that breaks..........

I decided to go for one from the scrappy, thoughts being that one from a 'left hooker' would be passenger side, so not as used as one from a drivers door.

The donor car (what was left of it):


And the piece removed:


Back home & onto fitting:



And finally all trim replaced & a door that opens & stay open when it is 'told too'

I like this sort of 'repair', easy to do & less than 5€

An average week for Zeb

Last Saturday saw Zeb loaded with 'top box' , kit for weekend & trailer tent hitched up. Zeb had to tow for about 150 miles to our campsite. Then out again to check our venue, a dog agility competition.
Next morning off bright and early for the comp. Return in the evening. Monday saw Zeb cruising home, minus the trailer.
Tuesday, early off to the vets, a 25 minute run to drop Gracie off to have tooth removed. then home again. Mid afternoon return to the vet to collect Gracie, she is fine
Later, Elaine is off to work, another 15 minute each way job .
Wednesday, Elaine is off to Vannes, 35 miles away, then drives on to meet up with our daughter for coffee at her work place, then the return.
Thursday will see a trip to work, 20, miles return.
Friday we will be off to the trailer tent again, so another 150 miler run. Sat & Sun Elaine will be running to a course from the campsite.
Finally, Monday will see a return trip of 150 miles with the trailer tent attached .
So far, not a sniff of complaint from Zeb..... These cars are fabulously reliable

Needless to say, the rest of Zebs week went without a glitch, trailer tent is back home

I decided to get on with replacing the positive crankcase ventilation stuff. Zeb has been puffing smoke out of his dipstick tube for a while. Leave it and he rear oil seal will blow. that equals big bucks!

I got the full kit from FRF Volvo in Wales. This includes the oil separator, flame trap and all the needed pipes. The flame trap is one bit not needed, bin it!


Ready to go....


A little progress.

How many attachments? 9 I think it was lol.
I am on the downhill stretch now, have a few more pics, but bed is calling lol. Will update though

Ooh! I'm liking the look of that ratchet. Very tasty, though the name on the handle worries me slightly and I hope that they don't make these from the same kind of cheese that they use for their crankshafts.

JPB wrote:Ooh! I'm liking the look of that ratchet. Very tasty, though the name on the handle worries me slightly and I hope that they don't make these from the same kind of cheese that they use for their crankshafts.

I have a set of Hyundai rachet spanner too.... So far the tools seem more solid than than cheese.....

Whats that? A modernish car that goes straight onto the ramps? We've had to make some wooden extensions to get the Megane and Picasso on.

Oh and a tidy Volvo BTW