the making of my 480 passion

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:58 pm

Ever since i can remember ive been mad about cars, I think this has something to do with my dad who's been a car nut for for as long as i can remember and a bike nut before that .. ever since passing my test at the tender age of 17 ive always had a desire to get unsual and sporty cars
and modifie them to make them even more unusual.. not being one that accepts body kits ive always looked towards the more square shaped cars
my first encounter with a 480 was back in my pre-teens when a guy who lived up the road from us had a turbo and he and my dad were always having banter and traffic light duals my dad at the time had an alfa 33 veloce 133bhp

well last year i finally took the plunge after driving a frankley appauling honda accord auto

I found the green hornet on e-bay and beings as it was't too far away i took a trip and found the car. There was a small amount of body work needed no rust just dings, dents and fading of paint ( looked like the kid had washed it with petrol

)
it was the 2.0 es and i wasn't really expecting much in the way of performance--- But i was pleasently surprised with the pick up and amonut of grunt in higher gears.
A deal was struck and the car was brought

this is how she looked when i got her home

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:15 pm

then two weeks later i had the shock of my life upon starting the car the info center was on the blink--- heat up full, fuel empty and so on

So out with the tools and the info center was taken out and all the connections were cleaned both on switch and display, at this time i re-place the blown lamps in the dash,
Soon after the standard speakers decided to give up the ghost as did the rears. This then gave me the excuse to fit the stereo equipment i had lying around in the garage

A much nicer head unit than standard tape deck

J.B.L's with swivel tweeters also linked to the standard tweets much better being run off a front mounted amplifier

The custom rear shelf that houses the kenwood's within the honda accord speaker pods

and under that lies the thump of the system 2x rockford fosgate 12" punch subwoofers

and this is all run off an Alpine graphics equaliser

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:41 pm

upon getting this sorted joy'o'joy the fuel stopped being pumped, After three hours inside my fuse box and checking relays i found the fuel pump to have packed up. so the next day i ordered a new walbro unit it turned up a week later and the same day i fitted it the young guy in worcester that i got it off also had a nice camshaft that he said had been re-ground

i didnt quite believe this but i thought id give it a go any how .
after fitting the shaft with a new belt the engine felt really lumpy and it coughed and splutterd for a good few minutes on cold start

after a quick session at aldon they sorted the fuelingout and the tick over is now much better and the cam seems to have really affected the pick up for the better and the car now feels alot smoother and seems to have a bit more torque

next on the list was an air filter but i would need a nice peice of tube to allow the engineto grab cooler denser air, So back to the accord and the intake pipe was salvaged to make this

then came the lowering job to make it even better at going round corners

New and old !!!

half way through and new drop links fitted

note the beading on my roof !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and finally the new wheels

next on the list was a brighter set of head lamp bulbs

next hopefully I will be able to get my compressor working again and get the bodywork up to scratch

Thanks for reading
Adam

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:07 pm

a small update
i turned the lights on and they did a mad blink and then gave up the ghost

i later found out that if i shut the doors in a sequence then they would all light up for a short while until i hit a bump then no more illumination

the wiring has been checked and also the fuses and relays but now im told thereare more relays next to the washer bottle

this will be checked at the next possible time i have spare also the damn running lights on the front seem to be on bright constant so this will need sorting out as i believe this could also be a cause of non illumination problem

ive also started to hear a slight knock on the rear end when turning into a tight corner on over run

! It almost sounds like popping from the exhaust but its more metalic and the rear still feels as it should ive been all over the under side and just thought it was maybe a worn bush ..... wrong ... I checked the rear shocks and it seems there would be a little play before the gas comes into play, As i cant really be bothered to strip them again and re-gas them ive decided to get a nice set of koni top adjustables all round but that will have to wait untill ive sorted the window out that decided to hide in the door skin after a small amount of over zealous bass line

p.s theres a young lad thats moved into the village with a nice fiesta rs 1800

i like playing keep up with the old volvo

shame he cant keep up round the lanes tho

and i thought they were quick

im sure if i see him in the pub it'll be a case of my fezzie is much quicker i just let u get away

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:48 pm

JohnTurbo wrote:i have same jbl speakers...very good they are.

nice rims too.

thanks for the comment john the wheels seemed to make the car stand out ina sly looking kind of way

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 5:59 pm

now the lights are sorted

It seems that a wire on the drivers side pop up had come loose, Easy i hear you all shout

behind the rubber boot the wire had come off the connector but i managed to squeeze a female spade connector that had been stripped of all its outer plastic down and pushed the old one out
reconnected the wire and hey presto its as good as gold now even sorted the day running lights out aswell as i hadnt noticed or even knew they were ment to go from bright to soft

on a plus note ive found the clear lacquer i need and the gold pearl to mix it with

green with a hint of gold anyone ??? (would only be when the light hits it so a very subtle smooth mod

)

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:54 pm

just got in from lying under side of the 480 in my garage

bottom is all painted up now ready for a touch of clear coat ! photo's will be up tomorow when i get the last few taken

all together it looks good

not that anyone is ever going to look under there
but hey when it rains you maybe able to see the yellow glow from the rear axle and roll bars
maybe painting a few more bits tomorow depending on how active i feel
need to get the dents pulled out next and start on the body work

heres the pics

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:52 pm

today the window regulator arrived

many thanks to rohan

have to put it in on friday as i finish at 3 this will inturn give me the excuse i need to take the finall measurments of the speaker pods for the front

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:42 pm

its now done i can now wind my window up and down

it took me about half an hour to complete and i used fishing line lubricant on the runners to make sure they were nice and slippy, I would have used resin on the clip but it was metal so no need

cant wait to be able to open the window whilst driving but i doubt ill be winding it down again whilst the 33hz is pumping

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:29 pm

Alas the near side pop up finished working last night

upon returning home i turned the lights off after entering the garage the drivers side went down no problem but the passengers side decided to stay popped up

I left it for the night as i was beat

Upon returning to the garage this mornin and after doing a small spring clean and cleaning my tools i had another crack at the lights
After quarter of an hour the front nose cone was off and i could see that the top of the pop up light was hitting the bonnet

This was caused by the bracket coming loose upon coming loose it had caught the wire to my drl's - Hence no passenger side light ...
After a further half hour all the wires were reinstated and the bracket was now tight again ..... Maybe the stiffer suspension is now shaking everything loose !!!!!!!!!!!

Its m.o.t time soon but as ive had a pre-mot test done ive ordered the exhaust - sorted the rear middle brake light and re-wired the rear wiper next up is the hand brake

Ive heard there a pain in the ass but i'll try my best, Already had a good look in the haynes manual and it seems a little too easy from there description and also looking at the how to it seems it maybe a bit tricky to get it 100percent
so fingers crossed once the exhaust gets here she should fly through and have a new doctors note for 12months

Once thats done i can then concentrate on buying the spare engine to strip and tune

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:56 am

yehaa the new exhaust is now on it took me half an hour and I also tightened the handbrake cable so its now all ready for the MOT man tomoz

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 4:06 pm

well after getting my mot test certificate i got pulled into a vosa trap car failed on side of road due to emmisions on the exhaust so it seems i have to fork out more money to put this straight
Oh the joys of mioney slipping through youre hands

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:07 pm

spark plug change !!!!!!!!!!

I have quite a large spark plug spanner so off came the inlet manifold to get in there
took the spark plugs out and they were a terrible state cleaned the leads up whilst i was there aswell

snapped an old plug off whilst getting it out ( dont think they have been changed since new

)
The cat has been ordered and will be arriving tomorow morning so all is coming together nicely for the re-test so hopefully she should pass the emissions test this time round

not very impressed i have to pay for the ticket again though

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:25 am

o.k so i woke up this morning feeling happy in my self that the few jobs that needed doing were going to get done ........

Wrong .... The courier turned up with the cat at 9am so i went down into the garage to find my interior lights had been on all night !!!!!! strange as i hadnt moved the position to ON and none of the doors were open

so having removed the battery for charging i then decide ahhhh well ill just have roll it bk slightly then get under it to do the cat ....
A good squirt of WD40 followed by a touch of heat and i start to undo the first bolt ........... Snap - Half way out and the end completely brakes free sending me into a fit of complete rage
a cup of tea and a ciggie later im bk under to find the second wont budge an inch

so then i decide leave that and try the handbrake again that could do with tightening a little bit more

so i leave the cat bolts to soak in a bit more WD40 (ill eventually snap the other bolt and will end up drilling them out )
the hand brake now takes 1 click to operate fully

new tyres are going to be needed soon as the inner edge on both front rims are starting to shoiw signs of wear and rubbing

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:51 am

cutting isnt an option dude its a bolt that runs into a thread on the down pipe

luckily i havent got to remove the lambda sensor as thats in the down pipe aswell

if the other bolt snaps off then im going to have to drill both remaining bits out and put a nut and bolt set up on there

If i have any long enough to go through to the other side

EDIT:::::
Cats off just have to drill the small bit of bolt out and put a nice new set of nuts and bolts on there

New and old
just started her up with out the exhaust attached

neighbour over the way came over to see what the noise was hahahahaha

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 2:03 pm

huzzzzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
its now on its only took me 4hrs of soaking in WD40, heating with blow lamp and drillingh of old bolts

As with all things trivial i can now look back and have a little giggle
feeling proud that its all done

I suppose next on the list will be a damn down pipe

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 7:44 am

This morning just to make sure i put my old wheels back on they were intended for drag racing only but as the rubber on the gold rims is wearing a little thin on the inner edge i decidede to go black and gold

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 2:18 pm

a little update ! She has another 12months under her belt Again
Thanks to the copper that stopped me and made me have the re-test

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:07 pm

The black wheels were seriously doing my head in so ive changed them bk now
every bump or lump in the road was catching my new cat

so its time to get some nice toyo's

SMOOTH 480 · Post by **SMOOTH 480** » Mon May 05, 2008 9:58 am

Starter motor appears to be up the swannie now

Ive put the multi meter across the battery and also checked all the earth wires that run to the engine
wires that run to and from the starter and i can't seem to find a break or a weak point in them and the power going from the battery to the starter is sufficient to turn the motor over ... I tried hitting the solenoid last night whilst laura turned the key this seemed to work and she started but on the second attempt wasnt so lucky

luckily Esta has come to my aid and has come up top trumps with a spare starter so Many thanks goes out to Esta for keeping another 480 on the road

Long live the 480