The Story of the 480R

[98kellrs]

Hi, my name is Ryan, I come from the Isle of Man originally, but I'm currently spending 6 months of every year in Southampton at university. My current 480 is my second and I've had her just over 2 years now. She's a 1992 Paris Blue ES and wasn't best looked after by her previous owner.

Her paintwork is covered in scrapes, and scratches, and small rust patches which I'm slowly eliminating one by one and she had a few mechanical and electrical problems.

I'd never really thought about modifying cars until one day the backbox needed replacing, I jacked the car up and had a look underneath, and was surprised at how complex and bendy the exhaust system looked. Next day I took her to an exhaust garage and instructed the guy as to what I wanted him to do. He thought I was nuts, that the system would never work, and it's be too loud, but I asked him to do what he could, and boy was I impressed!

He removed the backbox and bent the exhaust out of the side of the car, just in front of the rear wheels. Next he slotted a silencer behind the cat, and hey presto, custom side-exit exhaust was born!

The result was amazing, she sounded sweet and low, but not too loud. A completely different tone to all the boy-racers in their corsa's and massive exhausts.

And that was the first modification i did...one of many..

[98kellrs]

The next modification I did was to cure the damn squeaks and rattles in those door cards. Rather than doing this simply with blu-tac, I removed the door cards entirely, and bolted a sheet of aluminium tread plate, secured with several thousand screws! That sorted the bugger!

That was really the start of a lot of weight, and squeak reducing measures I implimented over the next year..by Christmas 2006 I had removed the two back seats, and all the plastic trimming from the A-frame backwards. I then painted the entire interior in a lush Hammerite Slate Black which looked pretty sexy.

Next I fabricated a fiberglass front spoiler with the help of my dad, this was done over the period of a few days, and was moulded onto a spare bumper we had lying around, to get the shape etc that I wanted. I'm currently unsure about it as it grounds far too often on these crappy english roads So i may re-model it one day!

Seeing this was going to be a track day car, I decided to remove the driver's seat, and replaced it with a Cobra Imola S bucket seat matched with 3inch wide Ricco 4 point harnesses. However ran out of cash before I could do the same to the passenger side!

The next thing I did was to de-cat the car, primarily because the cat itself was bust, and partly because I wanted to gain as many extra ponies as possible.

The final modification to date was to replace the stock ignition cables with some Magnecor KV85 competition leads. Which will be transfered onto the turbo engine over summer

That leaves me with a 480 that looks something like this:

[98kellrs]

For those who were wondering about the random decals, they were from last September when I did the Student Gumball rally. We drove 3500 miles to Croatia and back and got sponsors from local companies, bands, and a decal making company

The flag on the roof is the Manx flag and will NEVER be removed! However I am trying to slowly remove the others as they attract a lil bit too much attention...

I think that's about all the mods covered, now the actual diary can begin!

[98kellrs]

The Plan

- Purchase a 480 turbo complete car, ensuring all necessary mechanics are in good working order.
-Take both my car, and the new turbo back home to the parent's house.
-Remove the engine from the turbo and place on suitable worksurface.
-Remove engine from the ES and transfer any new or better condition parts across onto the turbo engine.
-Work on the Turbo engine whilst out of car, fitting new parts, upgrading clutch, general cleaning, maintenance and painting.
-Clean up the engine bay and subframe of the ES ready for installation of the turbo engine.
-Install the new engine and connect up all the pipes/wires
-Jump for joy as the thing starts!

Shopping List

-Suitable Volvo 480 turbo
-Black Diamond R5 200mm Clutch
-Richmod for the ecu
-Fuel, oil and air filter
-Denso Iridium Plugs
-All new fluids (Oils, coolant, brake etc)

So that's the plan so far, i'm sure i've probably missed off many vital elements but i'll no doubt find them out at some point. I'm anticipating that the project will be finished around Christmas 2007 (given that i'm only around for 6 weeks this summer, and 4 weeks over christmas, with dad doing most of the prep work)

So far I've got my eye on a donor car, which i'll hopefully be looking at in the next few weeks (after exams) and i'm trying to craftily start buying some of the cheaper parts whithout the 'rents noticing!

[98kellrs]

Finally located myself a decent turbo and for a fair price! Absolutely chuffed to bits!

Groomus has kindly sold me the engine along with exhaust manifold, intercooler and turbocharger from the Charger to aid my turbo conversion project. It's a real big load off my mind as the porject was due to start in little over a month and I still hadn't sourced the key components!

I still need to hire a free-standing engine hoist, somehow get the engine in the boot (along with everything else I need to take home from uni) and then take it all 400 miles up to motorway to get it home! This poor engine is going to find it's last 500 or so miles some of the most challenging yet I think!

Oh and I also need a blue (richmodded or not) ECU in case anyone has one lying around?

At the moment I'm just so frustrated with all the revision I have to do for my 2nd year exams ( I really shouldn't have been so hungover for so many lectures!). Especailly as my desk looks out of my bedroom window, and directly in front of that window on the road is my lovely 480 just dying to be driven again! I haven't paid her nearly enough attention at the moment besides mopping up the ocean of water in the spare wheel hole every time it rains! (I really must get fixing that sometime!)

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be able to post some pictures of the new engine on collection

Ryan

[98kellrs]

Well good news! I *think* I've managed to source all the parts I need!

So here's my shopping basket:

B18ft engine
Turbocharger
Intercooler
Infocenter
Fuel Pump
M59 Gearbox
Flywheel
Blue ECU
Boost Gauges
a borrowed engine hoist to collect the engine

A pretty impressive shopping list I think! God knows what my mother's going to say when I bring this lot home!

I'd just like to say thanks in advance to Steve, John and Dan for all the parts you've sold/lent me and everyone else who's helped me so far, you've really helped this project keep on track, and I thank you for that.

[98kellrs]

Bad news. After being away on a field trip for a week in Wales I've returned to find that my donor engine (along with the turbo and every other essential part) has been sold off. Having spent the last few weeks giggling with excitement and getting everything organised, I'm quite frankly absolutely gutted. I knew things were going too smoothly...

The project is now looking very uncertain. With no engine and no time to find a new one this project can't go forward. I've created a highly impractical stripped out car that needed to be turbocharged this summer. This is a very large blow to a young 480 enthusiast who just wanted to learn more about the cars.

"Why do we fall? To learn to pick ourselves up again" - I couldn't agree more, but whether I pick myself up in a 480 or not is a different question.

I think I'll need to sleep on this and decide what to do next.

Yours disparingly,

[98kellrs]

Still not 100% sure about the future of the project, but for now the car is back on the island, and I'm preparing for an up coming track day on the 21st.

Everything seems to be working well currently, I found 4 spare tyres all with good tread so I'll take them up to the track and see how many I can turn into slicks!

Next week i'm gunna give her an oil and filter change in prep for the track, and I'm also considering cutting the dashboad in half to save a few extra pounds!

Main concern at the moment is the weather the last time I did a track day it was a bit greasy and resulted in me spinning out at ~100mph trying to find the latest possible braking point into a corner. Don't particularly want to repeat that!

I'm also going to try and build some sort of mounting point for a video camera to show ya'll how appaulingly slow i am!

[98kellrs]

With the track day now just two days away, i've suffered a major setback. It appears both rear brake calipers are shot, both just bind on and overheat. Got them checked out by a mechanic and it appears the sliders are completely siezed and nothing they tried could free them.

Quoting me £200 for a pair of new calipers I got them to put the old ones back together and will now be doing the track day with the rear brake lines clamped and just using the fronts, should be interesting under braking!!!

Also been sorting through 6 spare wheels & tires to find the best ones as well as mounting a digital camera on the dash so I can get some sexy video footage

All that remains is an oil & filter change tomorrow and then i'm set! That will have to wait until tomorrow as the Manx International Rally starts tonight, so i'm going to be huddled in a hedge watching it for the next 6 or so hours

[98kellrs]

WELL! The track day was a massive success! Managed to get the brakes to work which was a bonus. The weather was amazing, bone dry track for once!

Some pretty impressive cars turned up, the usual Lotus Seven's (and similar copies), Imprezza's, and BMW's. Then a Nova Rally Car, a Clio Diesel ( ), a Noble M400 and a Corvette Z06!

Through the high(ish) speed "S" bends she was stable and responsive, and rarely locked up, or snaked when braking into the tight chicanes from 100mph+.

Surprised the Nova rally car by sticking on it's ass in the complex corners and then storming past it down the straights! Although that may have been partly down to the driver as he was even younger than me and had no idea where the racing line was WHATSOEVER!

Acceleration was nice too, lacked the grunt down the back and home straights however

Also the exhaust gave a statisfactory BANG when changing gear, which pleased me greatly!

The result of a years worth of modifcations, was 3 hours of absolute bliss, and over 9 seconds knocked off my previous best lap time. A job well done I think!

The plan now is to upgrade the brakes, get some track tyres, and try to get hold of that turbo engine i've been after for so long! It's safe to say the project isn't over yet!

[98kellrs]

Watching Roo's diary posts..sorry, "the secret life of a 480 owner" posts have inspired me to get to work on my own car. Just spend an hour or so removing yet more nasty bits of plastic that I really do hate. This includes the center consol, handbrake surround, and front cubbyholes.

Pleased with my work, however now I have a tonne of loose wiring that needs labelling and taping up! Oopsy!



Still trying to find a way to get the gear stick gaitor off without using the trusty stanley knife though!

Also I've been trying to find a way of extracting hot air from the engine compartment, via some form of venting. Initially i was planning some form of fluting on the side panels of the bonnet lid, but this didnt seem a good idea given the location of the dissy and other electricals which would have drowned in the first rainshower. Now I'm planning something similar to this:



A kind of reverse air scoop I guess! Should be easy to do, especially given that I've got a spare bonnet to experiment on! Maybe I'm thinking too much again?

[98kellrs]

Weeell! Yesterday I had one of the best day's I've had in a while, and for several reasons. The first reason was this:

Hi!

Thanks for your comments, there very well received. I must admit, I did feel quite guilty when I found out parts of the charger were bound for your 480 and i'd said to Groom I would buy it. I hadn't really followed steves post on it as he was always saying his car was for sale. However, i'm glad your ok with it and appreciate the fact that you've pm'd to say so.
In my opinion, your 480 is one of the most original and inspiring on here. Its just so different! in a good way of course, sometimes seeing standard 480 after standard 480 can get a bit tedious. (unless there white ) so its good to see something different.

Theres a long way to go on the charger and once i get my garage cleared there'll be two 480's asking for attention so although the chargers getting it all now it will have to learn to share.

Anyway, thanks again for the pm dude, keep up the good work and get some more pics on your thread.

Andrew

It's really good to hear some encouraging words as I quite often ask myself what the hell I'm doing, and get slightly demoralised, so this meant a lot to me.

The second was a rather unusual surprise from my Dad. Whilst out on one of his regular cycle rides he bumped into no other than THE STIG! It appears Top Gear were doing some filming on the Island (which the very regularly do, due to the lack of speed limits on some roads, and the fact that Jeremy Clarkson lives here). unfortunately dad didn't get to meet the Stig but did talk to one of the crew who allowed me to come down and have a gander at the cars they were testing. unfortunately by the time I got there there was only two cars left; a brand new Jag, and this....


Absolutely made my day! A truely awesome machine! Giddy with excitement I got some nice photos (overlooked by a rather large security guy!) and generally had a good gander around on the proviso that I didn't tell ANYONE where I saw them!

Slightly less exciting, but I have also managed to dig out the spare bonnet, which looked a little worse for wear...

but after a good wash she came up a lot better (although not to Dan or Roo's standards ).

Now i'm just off into the shed, armed with an angle grinder to cut her up and start work. The plan so far is to cut a large amount of the weight out of it and use her as a lightweight track day bonnet that will vent hot air out of the engine bay to aid with cooling, and also it should be marginally more aerodynamic as it's going to sweep back over the wipers to stop them causing turbulence (and vibrating!) at high speeds!

[98kellrs]

Err, less of a good day today. Whilst cutting the bonnet to start lightening it, the blade of the angle grinder I was using shattered, leaving me with a rather deep, rather sore gouge in my finger. It is at least a very nice smiley face shape, so will at least be an interesting scar!

I'll spare you the gore of my finger, but here's the grinder..


Me thinks I'll be using a diamond blade next time!

[98kellrs]

Another good day!

Started proper work on lightening the spare bonnet I have. This was done by cutting out (with a diamond blade this time ) all the interior structure, stregthening beams, and the catch. This was all sanded down to a fairly smooth finish, although still more to be done tomorrow! She now looks like thus:




The cuts down the sides still needs to come down an extra 6 inches or so and the grill in the center section will be removed and filled in. Some other areas will need shaping, but by the end of the week she should look something like this:



Appologies for the poor effort in Paint, I'm not so good with photoshop. So all in all I'm please how things are going, the filling in pieces will not be verticle as shown in the pic but will slant in towards the center of the bonnet hopefully giving it a more professional look. Now she just needs the final sanding down, and then fiberglassing! . I'll also need to find a way of attaching it to the car, I'm thinking of using the rally style pins, so will need to fabricate something for them to pin into.

Also, I'm trying to decide what kind of paint job I'm going to do (both interior and exterior). I'm thinking something fairly loud and snazzy as it will only be used as a track day bonnet after all! (answers on a postcard! )

All in all, I'm a happy bunny!

[98kellrs]

Weeeell I have been a busy boy this weekend!

All started on thursday night where I got the new bonnet fiberglassed with the help of me dad. Took fooking ages to set up and get stable but eventually we got it set up like this:

Took a good 4 hours on thursday night, but was pleased with the results.

Then spent Friday afternoon filling and sanding the sides until she looked vaguely like this:

All good so far! Then spent a good 6 hours of saturday finishing off the filling and sanding, and prepping her for the test coat of paint. Eventually got her sprayed very quickly (and badly) with some cheap cans from a local garage so she NOW looks like this:

I'm really happy with the results, the finish needs improving, some more sanding and filling needs to take place but we had to rush finish the job as I'm leaving for uni tomorrow until XMAS!

Managed to get it fitted on to the car today and I'm pleased to say it's a resounding success! After a good long and hard drive the infocenter indicated that engine temperatures were down by around 2-3 degrees to 79 from 82. This pleased me greatly! Also I can tell that the venting is working a charm as when stationary hot air is litterally blowing out the vent

Not only that! But i managed to weigh both my normal and lightened bonnet today. The original weighs 17kg's (according to some dodgey bathroom scales) and the new version weighs only 10kg's! So all round I'm a happy bunny!!







I will however say that the aesthetics aren't quite right. I think the raised area needs to start from much lower down, somewhere on the nosecose I think would be best, but this was a rushed job in the end and there are still many new features i'm going to add to it at xmas (a decent paint job for a start! )

So yes, i'm now very . A few degrees lost on the engine temp, a few kilo's lost, and a damn sexy looking bonnet! Not a bad weeks work!

[98kellrs]

Bit of a while since my last post. So thought an update was needed! The new bonnet is good, slight sagging problems in the middle which is making it catch on the windscreen wipers but that will be corrected when I next see the car over Christmas.

Also, annoyingly the exhaust is blowing AGAIN. If i send it in for repairs this will be the 9th time in 2 years! That's what I get for having a custom setup I guess. So i've decided that over Christmas I'll have a one-piece stainless steel pipe fabricated, and will move the silencer closer to the axles to avoid it scraping over every single speedbump or hump in the road! Hopefully this single pipe will not flex as much as the current setup and as there will only be two welds (and even they will be in a low stress position) then there won't be any way it can break itself!

But for now my plane back to uni leaves in a couple of hours, I've gotta get her tucked away in the garage so she can have a nice long snooze whilst winter draws near.