Slowly but surely...
Yet another weekend spent doing everything else but playing with the Volvo, which I don't suppose I should complain about, but will anyway. "Go with your strengths," you know.
ANYway, not a lot of time to do anything, but as I was in the process of changing out the battery in my wife's Focus, I figured I would swap out the battery tray in the Volvo while I was already dirty and covered with powdery acidic residue. The existing tray had rusted through, but it didn't appear anything down below it was damaged or corroded, and the inner fender panel was clean and rustfree. So, got out the speed handle, zipped the four bolts out, cleaned everything out, and popped the new old plastic tray back in place and wrenched it back down. Battery in, terminals attached, and--oh. Hmm. Seems the previous owner installed a slightly different sized battery, and the little hold-down clip won't hold anything down. This means a quick trip to the autoparts store for a nylon hold down strap to go over the battery and under the tray. Not the optimal solution, but it will work well enough for now, and doesn't look so out of place as zip ties, as some intrepid shade-tree mechanics have suggested in other forums that shall remain nameless. ::cough::Brickboard::cough::
Second thing to fix was actually a refix of something I had fixed before. In my various junkyard excursions, I have made a habit of picking up all the small windshield washer splitter valves I could find from any stray 7- or 9-series cars. They have a little diaphragm inside that keep the windshield washer fluid from draining back down into the resevoir, which is kinda nice. The 2-series didn't have them that I know of, so it's a nice convenience item. I got the idea to use the from the IPD catalog, where replacement valves sell for $5.50. Not including shipping. I figure pennies beats dollars any day of the week. Anyway, I had picked up a handful and put one of them on several weeks back when I was giving myself a heatstroke with the headrests. I inadvertantly let the supply hose scoot back into the hood space, and in my depleted mental state couldn't quite get it back through the holes, so I had just removed it and let it hang. Which is terrible looking. So Saturday before I got too dain bramaged with lawn-mowing chores, I reran the hose and pulled it through, and installed another valve I'd found. All the others I'd found were tee-shaped, but I found another one the other day that is lower-case-h-shaped like the one in the catalog. This is a better fit because the supply leg can fit up into the hood recess better and keep more slack in the rubber hose.
So, a couple more things off the list for now. Lights should be next, when I get a spare moment to mess with them. I doubt it will be this upcoming weekend, though.
Drat.
ANYway, not a lot of time to do anything, but as I was in the process of changing out the battery in my wife's Focus, I figured I would swap out the battery tray in the Volvo while I was already dirty and covered with powdery acidic residue. The existing tray had rusted through, but it didn't appear anything down below it was damaged or corroded, and the inner fender panel was clean and rustfree. So, got out the speed handle, zipped the four bolts out, cleaned everything out, and popped the new old plastic tray back in place and wrenched it back down. Battery in, terminals attached, and--oh. Hmm. Seems the previous owner installed a slightly different sized battery, and the little hold-down clip won't hold anything down. This means a quick trip to the autoparts store for a nylon hold down strap to go over the battery and under the tray. Not the optimal solution, but it will work well enough for now, and doesn't look so out of place as zip ties, as some intrepid shade-tree mechanics have suggested in other forums that shall remain nameless. ::cough::Brickboard::cough::
Second thing to fix was actually a refix of something I had fixed before. In my various junkyard excursions, I have made a habit of picking up all the small windshield washer splitter valves I could find from any stray 7- or 9-series cars. They have a little diaphragm inside that keep the windshield washer fluid from draining back down into the resevoir, which is kinda nice. The 2-series didn't have them that I know of, so it's a nice convenience item. I got the idea to use the from the IPD catalog, where replacement valves sell for $5.50. Not including shipping. I figure pennies beats dollars any day of the week. Anyway, I had picked up a handful and put one of them on several weeks back when I was giving myself a heatstroke with the headrests. I inadvertantly let the supply hose scoot back into the hood space, and in my depleted mental state couldn't quite get it back through the holes, so I had just removed it and let it hang. Which is terrible looking. So Saturday before I got too dain bramaged with lawn-mowing chores, I reran the hose and pulled it through, and installed another valve I'd found. All the others I'd found were tee-shaped, but I found another one the other day that is lower-case-h-shaped like the one in the catalog. This is a better fit because the supply leg can fit up into the hood recess better and keep more slack in the rubber hose.
So, a couple more things off the list for now. Lights should be next, when I get a spare moment to mess with them. I doubt it will be this upcoming weekend, though.
Drat.
posted by Terry at 9/12/2005 02:13:00 PM
2 Comments:
Hey - Nice blog. I have an 89 240 wagon that I have decided to keep and "resuscitate". I'll be checking here frquently.
Hey back--thanks for dropping by, and I hope you do come back often. DESPITE my rather spotty record at posting new information. Life and all, you know.
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