Danish embassy 940

[RollingThunder]

Just had an email. The wheels have been dispatched already - due Thurs/Fri next week!!!

Thats one slick operation

[Forrest]

What tyres are you planning to fit? Volvo did do one 17x7 option for the 940 and a few more in FWD offset for the 960 and S/V90. I think they recommended a 205/50 R17 tyre which should give you a fair amount of choice.

[RollingThunder]

TBH I'm set on going down the fat tyre route - fitting 225/45x17s. They're pretty much the same price as 205/55x15s nowadays, presumably as its a popular size now.

I know thinner tyres are better on snow/mud - I know that first hand from my LandRover days, but I've always thought the 940 looked under tyred when viewed from behind. The wheels always looked lost in the arches. 225s will give it a more meaty look, if you know what I mean.

The Galaxy wheels were supplied with 205/55x16 from the factory, but Galaxies have a 20 offset, whereas the Barzettas have a 15 offset which pushes the wheel out slightly more, without going so far as to cause rubbing on the liners or arches. Hopefully! Seriously though, Peterssens said that 225s fit fine without any clearance issues. I've also asked on another, more performance/modification centred Volvo forum (TurboBricks), and they have also confirmed that 225s will be ok.

I won't be fitting the wheels until the spring, as I don't want to expose them to road salt. They'll be stored safely in the loft until then, so I won't have any pics of them fitted for a few months sorry. I'm buying some Adharas which will be fitted until then.

[baggy798]

225 is going to look chunky! Here's Galaxies with I believe 215/55 on front and 205/55 on back:



Although not all tyres are the same advertised width either. Some 205s are more like a 215:



The Cross Climate 2's on the back of mine are 205 but they look more like a 195! Not a fan of the look but maybe that narrowness help them be one of the best all seasons.

[RollingThunder]

Don't forget that by going to a 225/45 I'll also gain a bit of sidewall height = greater ride comfort. Its marginal I know

I'm also not sure that a 205 wouldn't look a bit silly on deep dish wheels? They'll need something chunky to look the part - even if the car is only cooking 180bhp

There is also quite a difference in prices for the various sizes, and not in the way you'd expect. (I was surprised anyway). Comparing Goodyear Asymmetric 6 in each size from Camskill -

205/45x17: £110.80
215/45x17: £97.70
225/45x17: £82.40

Thats a £113 difference per set of 4 between the 205s and 225s.

I've been looking at these and the Michelin PS5 as I've decided to fit summer tyres on the Barzettas, and use a set of Adharas with winter tyres for when it gets cold/icy and there is salt about.

Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted with my Goodyear 4 Seasons tyres on the 850R, but if I'm changing the wheels over for the winter it makes sense to make the tyres more seasonally appropriate too. When the winter tyres on the Adharas wear away, I'll replace them with all season tyres.

Anyway, back to the topic, I'm sticking with the chunky 225 tyres on the Barzettas...

Talking of chunky, thats what my wife called me this morning as I'm wearing a big thick cardi like Hutch in Starsky & Hutch





Just before I go, I've just had an email re the import duty etc on the Barzettas - it comes to just over £200 which is what I was expecting. Thats the import duty and VAT. So they're being delivered on Friday Getting excited now!

[RollingThunder]

I've not been too well for quite a while really, but following 3 visits to the Doctor in 7 days (the first was planned but the others were 'I want to see you tomorrow!' type appointments). I now have a new diagnosis and some new tablets, and I'm feeling much much better This is why I haven't been around for a while, and why I've messed a few people about when I did raise my head - I'm sorry about that, its out of character and won't happen again.

So on Sunday I finally replaced the timing belt tensioner pulley, which I found to be a bit noisy when I replaced the timing belt - way back in August of last year! Doesn't time fly etc etc

A few weeks ago I had tried to replace it, but having struggled to release the crank pulley, I decided to try a short cut and used some clamps to hold the timing belt in place on the cam sprocket while extricating the pulley. It was one of those days when your conscience keeps on saying "don't do it" but you plough on regardless... and utterly **** it up!

The timing belt stretched, so when I released the clamps it just fell off the cam and crank sprockets. Because I couldn't remove the crank pulley, the lower plastic shield was still in place, so I couldn't check the alignment of anything. It just went from bad to worse, so eventually I put my tools away and locked the car up. I'd been working for about 6 hours and everything I touched went catastrophically wrong - I was just so weak and working in a 'brain fog'.

With me thinking a lot more clearly this weekend, I proceeded to strip everything off and start from scratch. Thankfully, the job went smoothly and I got everything timed up perfectly. I even dug out my tap and die set to clean up the threads on the steering, alternator and aircon belt adjustment screws. That made life so much easier when adjusting the belts back up

The car started up the first time, and now runs so much quieter than before. It was such a relief to hear it running again !

With me now able to drive the car, I moved it down the driveway and gave it a good wash - embarrassingly it hasn't been washed since before the hosepipe ban last year, so there were the usual traits of an abandoned car - moss in the gutters, green slime on the window rubbers, dusty streaks down all the body... It has made me really sad as the car is right outside our front door, so I see it every day. The good news is that the car is now clean and shiny again, and all those sycamore seeds have been picked out of the gutters, door rubbers etc.

Next on the list of things to do is to get the front brake disc backing plates and aircon condenser replaced, and I'm going to ask the garage to MoT it while they have it. It isn't due until April, but the 850R's MoT is due shortly afterwards, as is the insurance for both cars, so I want to split the dates to spread the cost across a few months. Apart from a crusty front jacking point, I'm pretty confident it'll fly through... fingers crossed!

I've been asked by a few local friends if I'll be able to display the 940 in a few car shows they are going to, which is putting a bit of pressure on as I want to give the car a 'paint correction' before starting to 'show' it. The paint has some fantastic metal flakes in it, but its a bit dull still - a professional paint correction will make this look like a custom candy flake paint job!



And I still have boxes of parts to fit, but little time, so it may end up going on show as-is sadly. Hopefully by the summer it'll be show ready - but by then it'll be the daily driver

[RollingThunder]

I found something out about its diplomatic status too...

Its Danish Embassy registration was 142-D-291, as stated in some of the embassy paperwork I have. Now I've always wondered whether the 940 was really a Diplomatic car, or just a pool car used by the embassy for general utility. It turns out that it really was a full fat Diplomatic car

Quoting from https://www.ukregplates.co.uk/blog/d...ates-explained -

"In 1979 a format was introduced specially for diplomatic vehicles. This format consists of three numbers, followed by either X or D, followed by a further three numbers.

The first three numbers in the format represent the country or international organisation. In some cases, for larger countries, a range of numbers issued, for example Spain which has been issued the range 253 to 255.

The letter in the number plate represents the type of person the vehicle is allocated to, with D being used for diplomats and X for non-diplomatic accredited personnel.

The final three numbers in the number plate are identifiers, with the range 101 to 399 being used for diplomats, 400 to 699 for non-diplomatic staff, and 700 to 99 for consular staff.

The font used for diplomatic plates differs to the standard Charles Wright font used for plates issued in the United Kingdom, and is narrower than normal. This is to prevent people easily cloning diplomatic number plates."

So 142 is for Denmark, D indicates it was used by an accredited Diplomat, and 291 is the unique identifier which links the car to that Diplomat.

Pretty cool eh? I think I'll get some show plates made up with the original number

[RollingThunder]

Its been a while since I updated this thread, and to be honest not a lot has happened. But, I did put the car into my local garage to have the aircon radiator (condenser) replaced, and for them to replace the front brake disc backing plates - I didn't fancy doing that as the hubs have to come off, and if they don't go back on correctly, they'll wear the bearings out quickly. I also asked them to put it through its MoT which is due this week.

The good news is that the car passed with a clean sheet Thats a relief as I suspected that the emissions were a bit high - the exhaust smelt a bit 'rich' if you know what I mean. I needn't have worried though - all was absolutely fine. The car is still locked away in the garage however, as they gave me a call at 16:45 on Friday evening to tell me the car was ready for collection... I was 40 miles away in York, and they close at 17:00 So I'll pick the car up tomorrow lunchtime.

I celebrated the pass by buying a pair of genuine Volvo rear deck speakers which I've been watching on a certain auction site for many many months. I made an offer on them possibly 3 months ago which was rejected, but with them still being advertised I tried again this morning, and the offer was accepted. So I'll fit those and replace the front door speaker which isn't working in the next weekend or so. I need to remove the rear deck carpet panel to fit them (which involves removing the rear seat) which is why I haven't fitted the rear sunshade yet - but now I'll be able to do all the jobs at the same time

Staying on the audio theme, I have a new radio antenna shaft to fit as mine goes up two sections then jams - I've tried all sorts of penetrating fluid, but it absolutely won't extend further, so I bought a new shaft in the end. I also have the DAB antenna to fit so that the Blaupunkt radio can receive DAB...

And then I have the new Nissens radiator to fit - I'm just waiting on the coolant pipes that fit onto the oil filter housing to arrive - those are the ones that rot due to oil from oil changes being left on the hoses. They're expensive! I'm also considering replacing the heater valve as part of the preventative maintenance, but again, that is a really expensive part if you buy it from a dealer, so I'm pondering over fitting an aftermarket part or just biting the bullet and sticking with OEM - which is my preferred option.

So progress has been made, but there is still a lot to do. I need to crack on and get these jobs done so that the 940 can become the daily driver - the 850R is starting to become jealous of the attention (its been totally troublefree for 2 years) but it now has a coolant leak. The coolant reservoir level is dropping 1/2 inch every few days, and there is a trace of coolant at the seam of one of the side tanks of the radiator. Thats not good news as replacing those is a pig - the 850 radiator has a gearbox fluid cooler and an oil cooler built into it, so all systems need to be disconnected and kept clean during the job.

Finally, I have to make a decision on the wheels! I've halfheartedly advertised the 17" Barzetta alloys for sale, but there hasn't been any genuine interest, so they're staying in storage for now. I recently bought a set of Omega 15" alloys (normally fitted to 760s) for £50 (yes, £50 for a set of 4!) - they remind me of my first 940 and I loved them - still do, so they'll probably win the fight and get refurbished and fitted with some all season tyres. I suppose I've lived in Yorkshire for too long - I'm waiting for a good enough deal/discount before buying the tyres

[RollingThunder]

I collected the 940 yesterday lunchtime, along with the lovely MoT pass certificate. I hadn't been given a quote for the work, as I changed the list of jobs slightly, so I was expecting it to be somewhat cheaper than the amount I ended up paying... lesson learned there!

I was also more than slightly annoyed when I parked the car up at home - I had a quick walk around the car and I noticed some lacquer chips around the front wheel arches - ie where they were working - and where there was absolutely no damage before. The car was absolutely MINT before, with only a crease in the front bumper, a tiny tiny dint in one door, and a tiny dint alongside the rear number plate - apart from that the car is pristine. I also noticed a few liquid drops and runs on the bonnet - which looks like engine oil and coolant? How that got on the bonnet I do not know, but the car will now get a thorough wash and examination...

So I'm going to have someone like chips-away look at it and give me a quote to repair this new damage. No point arguing with the garage, I know I'll get no recompense from them as I can't prove anything. What did infuriate me, was that they allowed a 12 year old to work on my car! The owners daughter wants to be a mechanic, and he allowed her to do some of the work on the car - he showed me a video he took of her pulling the brakes off...! So I suspect she caught the arches with a breaker bar (?), which also makes me suspect something else - he said that he had some underseal over from a job he was doing the same morning, so had his mechanic clean up the arches of my 940 and put a coat of underseal on it. Is it only me that suspects that this was to cover up more scratches/damage???

So, I'm not at all amused, and the car won't be going back there for any work to be undertaken - he'll just get the MoT tests from now on

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by RollingThunder

I collected the 940 yesterday lunchtime, along with the lovely MoT pass certificate.

So I'm going to have someone like chips-away look at it and give me a quote to repair this new damage. No point arguing with the garage, I know I'll get no recompense from them as I can't prove anything. What did infuriate me, was that they allowed a 12 year old to work on my car! The owners daughter wants to be a mechanic, and he allowed her to do some of the work on the car - he showed me a video he took of her pulling the brakes off...! So I suspect she caught the arches with a breaker bar (?), which also makes me suspect something else - he said that he had some underseal over from a job he was doing the same morning, so had his mechanic clean up the arches of my 940 and put a coat of underseal on it. Is it only me that suspects that this was to cover up more scratches/damage???

So, I'm not at all amused, and the car won't be going back there for any work to be undertaken - he'll just get the MoT tests from now on

Congrats on the pass Sam, no such things as a free lunch though! I'd strongly suspect the underseal covered a few more sins as well.

Are we talking about the front arches etc? If so, does yours not have the plastic arch liners?