1994 940GLE. The future daily

Ex850R

Some dry grease spray on the door spring and hhinge is a good thing.

Yep, it's all greased up ?

Hmm, been nearly a month since I updated this. Despite the quietness on my part things have been happening. The most notable (and biggest) job has been done - the bodywork. I had the local shop do the work and it came up better than I had hoped. All the corrosion issues have been repaired and the little holes in the boot lid welded up and the boot lid resprayed. The rear bumper was also refurbished and looks brand new.

Some before photos on the day I dropped it off:

Boot lid with peeling clear coat

Rear bumper - missing paint and holes from the trailer plug

About a week later I picked it up and these are the results:

The front passenger door had corrosion along the bottom from a previous botched repair. They cut out the bad part and welded in a new section. From the outside you wouldn't know anything had been done.

Inside the door:

The rear bumper looks incredible:

Little holes (where someone lazy person screwed the rego plate straight onto the panel) were welded closed.

New shiny paint on the boot lid. It looks better in real life.

Battery tray after corrosion repair. As with the door they cut away the rusted section, welded in a new piece and sealed it with a rubber-type coating. I would have preferred it be painted in body colour but the battery will hide pretty much all of this anyway.

I haven't reattached the Volvo and 940GLE badges yet. One thing I learned is that this car has plastic badges instead of the metal badges that are on my 1991 940. While the metal badges still look almost new the plastic ones look pretty daggy as a lot of the "chrome" finish has worn off. I have a spare set of metal badges I might put on it.

Last thing to do before roadworthy is the shock absorbers which will hopefully arrive early next week. I hope that will be it then and I can have it on the road before the middle of March.

carnut222

Looks great! I'd say it's the same colour as my wagon...code 400 [edited] if I remember correctly.

https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/806/L956YE154ILX.jpeg

The code on this 940 is 411 but looks to be similar to yours, maybe a little darker. That's a beaut wagon, very clean.

Well, she's booked in for a roadworthy inspection tomorrow morning. I am a little unsure if she'll pass or not but I'd say there is pretty good chance. There are a couple of things I'm concerned about:

Shockies are a little soft but they might be okay (or maybe I'm trying to convince myself of that). I ordered a full set of shockies in mid-January from Automotive Superstore. I will NEVER use them again. Talk about being fucked around. They advertise parts on their site as being available for dispatch in 1-3 days. But, of course, the shockies I ordered weren't in stock and had to be ordered in from the supplier. It was going to be 2-3 weeks. This stretched out to 2 months. Only after I kept hounding them did they claim the supplier didn't tell them they were on backorder. Anyway, I got the shits with them and cancelled the order. I'll get them from somewhere else.

There is a small crack on the far left side of the windscreen at the bottom so, depending on the inspector, it may or may not get through.

I'll see what happens. I should know this time tomorrow.

carnut222

If you're just after basic shocks, RockAuto.com...in fact they're great for everything. Cheap FedEx shipping from USA.

Thanks Greg, I want to get Sachs shockies since they're pretty close to OEM. I have Bilsteins on my other 940 and I don't like them - too harsh.

She passed roadworthy ?

I'll get the rego sorted on Monday morning.

The inspector noted a couple of minor issues. First the shockies which I was concerned would cause the car to fail. He noted they were very soft but actually still okay but only just.

The RH inner tie rod/rack end is worn. I am embarrased to admit that I missed this. I replaced the LH one because it was pretty worn but I thought the RH one was okay but it has some noticeable movement.

So a couple of issues still to fix but she is good to go. All the work, cost and occasional frustration has been worth it.

Well she's finally registered ?

I missed getting it done on Monday as I didn't realise I had to phone up for a CTP insurance certificate before driving the car to get rego. I couldn't sort it online as the car was unregistered. So I sorted that on Monday afternoon and got the rego on Tuesday.

I've since driven it to work a couple of times and this has revealed a few more issues needing attention. None of these desperately need to be done but it would be nice to have them sorted. In addition to the shockies and RH rack end already mentioned above (and for which replacements have been ordered) these are the other issues:

Front brake discs are definitely warped. The car jerks rhythmically as it slows down and is particularly noticeable below about 40km/h. The pads are also some cheap shit so I'll replace both pads and discs.

The idle problem it had a few weeks ago is still there. Cold idle in neutral is around 700rpm while at operating temp idle in neutral is about 1100-1200rpm. I've checked at re-checked the throttle body adjustment so I'm starting to suspect a vacuum leak somewhere. I'll have a good look over the weekend.

The trans is too eager to change up gears and get into OD as quick as possible and not so keen on kicking down. I need to manually shift to get it to change down. Kickdown cable probably needs adjustment. Fluid level is fine and the fluid is still pink.

This morning I filled it with fuel and discovered the fuel gauge is not accurate. It indicated just under half a tank so I figured that, in theory, it should have taken around 35-40 litres (it has the 75 litre tank). It only took about 22 litres and I couldn't get any more into it without fuel spilling out. Upon starting the car the gauge read 3/4 of a tank. Over the next few minutes it very slowly crept up to about 7/8 full but never went to the full mark. Something dicky there methinks.

Air conditioning needs a service. It's operating but the air is only barely cool. I can also hear the compressor kicking on and off pretty quickly. Hopefully that's just a service & re-gas.

So a few more things to do but that's what makes driving these classic old Volvos fun. She drives beautifully and the leather seats are very comfortable

Anthony

When it’s time for 940 Rear brake Pads - its worth mentioning they’re the same as 850 pads being readily available even from the dealer.

Whereas if you you seek 940 pads - NLA.

That's interesting, I didn't know that. Thanks for the tip.