Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Wonderful stuff. Well done.

Rad.

Or you going to be Jason Statham or Stephen Graham?

Or that one from Layer Cake?

If you're going to take your parents 4x4 off roading through a unique and very sensitive environment.
It's probably best to
a, not be a fuckwit with no driving ability
and
b, get your parents to buy a real 4x4.
WAC, Get in the sea etc.

The Police man on the scene, several hours did well to not slap the smug grin of this little cunts face.

Saw a lovely MGB GT Sebring conversion yesterday.
I've always thought they were a bit meh, especially with the rubber bumpers. Talked to the owner, who had had it practically from new, originally as an ordinary one with rubber bumpers and a chronic rust problem. He had it covered under a tarpaulin for years, gradually rusting away, covered in moss, and finally decided he'd better do something about it.
Lots of work, but it ended up looking like this one.

Been after a burgundy or that dark green met v90 for donkeys, want to put in a d5 or 2.5tdi + modern ish 6s auto and soke minor cosmetics and have super comfy cruiser.
The 2.5 and 3.0 6 cylinder 960/v90 cars were arguably the most refined things they ever made.

My sister had a late 960 for a while. Beautiful to drive but a proper money pit. They had engine issues non stop for over a year until they gave up and sold it for peanuts. 20 mpg didn't help either

With a D5 in there though you'd have a sweet setup

Yep and fitted to some TVR's

My sister had a late 960 for a while. Beautiful to drive but a proper money pit. They had engine issues non stop for over a year until they gave up and sold it for peanuts. 20 mpg didn't help either

With a D5 in there though you'd have a sweet setup

The alloy block castings were porous for a certain period - caused no end of issues but should have been picked up by the dealer really, and a replacement engine fitted. If that hadn't happened then the owner would be constantly chasing issues.

These cars (S/V90) are the very last of the RWD Volvo's - they're actually a 960 in a fresh set of panels that matched the then current V70, so a slightly strange mix of OG Volvo and the Ford global parts bin.

The limiting factor in terms of power is the auto-box, but there are a very few manuals out there (the M90) which can live with a lot of abuse.

If you are that way inclined it's fairly straightforward* to put something else in there. I'd want to keep it Volvo, or at least Volvo-Yamaha and put the V8 from the XC90/S80 in there, but the LS1 is favoured by our American cousins.

I thought it might be quite entertaining to get a Cerbera with chronic chassis rot and steal the drivetrain. Other ways to annihilate large sums of money are available.

*Insofar as an engine swap is ever simple.

Love these, any more pictures?

Happy to oblige. A couple from the advert:

Good points

• Not too rusty
  
• Electrical things work (windows, electric leather seats, sunroof, original stereo, air conditioning etc).
  
• Engine and drivetrain (3.9 V8 and auto box) are smooth and powerful despite 202,000 miles showing on the clocks.
  
• Headlining does not resemble a collapsed tent.
  
• FSH to 160k and generally decent condition inside and out.
  
• New tyres all round.
  
  

Work done so far:
-PAS fixed (new lower steering shaft and universal joints fitted). Steering was dangerously stiff/notchy.

• Missing bumper corners replaced.
  
• Oil and filter change.
  
• Carpets shampoo'd.
  
• Expansion tank and cap replaced to ditch aftermarket rubbish.
  
  

To do:

• Heater matrix replacement (dash out fun!).
  
• Replace front driving lamps.
  
• Possibly ditch clear headlamp lenses for period correct originals.
  
• Feed leather.
  
  

I could be tempted to go for a simpler backdated look with silver rostyle steel wheels, an early metal grille and no front spoiler. Thoughts?

Marina door handles?

Yes, Marina door handles! As also seen on the Lotus Esprit and Reliant Scimitar.

Ask Minkfarmer. His was marvelous.

I wonder what became of pigfarmer and his Range?

Rad.
Or you going to be Jason Statham or Stephen Graham?
Or that one from Layer Cake?

Out of those three

Although I don't think we could be much more different in reality.

Layer Cake featured a P38 rather than a 'classic' Range Rover I think?

I like the look of this. Tell me, is the expansion tank £400+VAT?

Undoubtedly a nice thing but makes mine look a bit of a bargain at £2.5k. That said I'm sure it would cost more than £12.5k to rectify the effects of another 140,000 miles of wear and tear it has been subjected to.

I think less is more with these cars. The later models were a bit over endowed with grilles, trims spoilers, stripes and rubbing strips which detracts a little from the clean lines of the original design.

I like the look of this. Tell me, is the expansion tank £400+VAT?

£30 for OEM quality disappointingly. In fairness most parts are fairly affordable. It is the labour time to fit them that would be crippling should I not be handy with spanners. Heater matrix is £30 whilst the book time for fitting is 10 hours for example. There are some scary exceptions to this though. Should a new ABS pump and modulator be needed, £2k+ for parts alone.

If it makes you feel any better, a new expansion tank for my last V8 folley set me back £260.

Another car I should never have sold. Try finding a decent Silver Shadow for £3.5k now!

Try finding a decent Silver Shadow for £3.5k now!

Try finding a buyer though. Always an issue with some cars.

Interesting. Not sure they know about that. I know they had the head gasket changed a few times as it was busted, but it never solved anything. Sounds like that could've been the culprit

They imported it from Belgium I think, so might've been complicated to fix stuff on warranty due to that

@Fixedwheelnut

A friend is looking to pick up an E87 118d SE as a cheap runaround. He's found a nice looking example albeit with 90k already on the clock.

Two questions:

1. Anything that he should be worried about or check in the service history?
   
2. It's missing its engine cover - why would it be missing? Here's a shot of the engine bay in case you can spot anything out of the ordinary:
   
   

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.

Previous owner ran the local chapter of the HRGiger fanclub?

Didn't know that about the motors! Guess those that remain have those issues fixed by now otherwise they'd be dead/financially crippled owners by now.
The northern US centric forum turbobricks is a wealth of knowledge of all kinds of swaps into RWD volvo, many things are possible, most of the leg work is done for most swaps just a case of reading up on them and hoping they posted the right part numbers/references.

F10 5 series are starting to get down to my £££ territory now, though heart is in an E39 3.0/3.5 wagon on lpg, saw an absolutely mint Alpina version the other day and it reminded me how much I should probably get one (not an alpina! not on my £££) before they start getting out of reach.

Rostyles would be win on this.

The northern US centric forum turbobricks is a wealth of knowledge of all kinds of swaps into RWD volvo, many things are possible, most of the leg work is done for most swaps just a case of reading up on them and hoping they posted the right part numbers/references.

I had enough of them when the majority of the frequent posters started agreeing with one another that Malala Yousafzai had made up it all up/shot herself in the head for attention, and that Assad's slaughter of civilians was "fake news", amidst other Trumpian bollocks.

Remarkable moment when an entire community whom I had thought were generally ok revealed themselves to be credulous, evil cunts.

This is what puts me off going to car meets, should see some of the shit said in the landrover owners FB page...

Today is new Aston Martin day.
I am so happy I could pop.

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Congrats!

R U doing a Mcgregor?

Awesome.