Thanks for the measurements and the photos Army.

Do you think both driver's and passenger's side seat belts mount at that hole in the driveshaft tunnel?

I gather that your 3rd mounting point was where your rear cross-member was cut out at the bottom outside corners.

Your floorboards look pretty good. I have a lot more rust in mine, all from the top.

You´re very welcome

I added a picture earlier (asking about the seat mounting hardware) here =>

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1520263327

You can see the standard type flexible socket ends for the seat belts in that picture. The original seat belts in the parts book look very different.

As for the lower mounts - yep - they are positioned in the crudely cut out areas at the bottom of the B pillar (also shown earlier in the thread).

#####

As for the rust - yeah - it is there but on the whole it is a solid car. I´m going to treat it and hope for the best

I agree but I have found in my old age I´m getting more and more fussy about nasty burning smells...

...kind of a rock and a hard place situation => paint stripper smelly but soothingly nose reamingly chemical vs burning rubber

I´ve chosen to whack on paint stripper and leg it out side for a bit of fresh air (!)

Here is a not terribly good photo, but it gives an idea. Also a picture of the car overall.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4779/...6cf3a9cb_z.jpgIMG_1307 by bryan pullan, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4369/...3237771b_c.jpgIMG_20170507_113055384(1) by bryan pullan, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4399/...d909dc0a_c.jpgprize by bryan pullan, on Flickr

Wow - they fit really well.

Nice looking car - 1965 going by the number plate - one of the very last ones I guess

(And spy I with my little eye an old Ford or perhaps an Austin in the background?)

Marchal fog lamps
 

Far far too cold to cycle down to the workshop today so I had a bash at one of these...

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521297534

^^^ Easy enough to get that far ^^^^

But getting the reflector out without causing carnage might prove to be more difficult.

There´s a wire clip that holds it in place that seems to not want to come out.

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521297534

I was tempted to cut the wire but replacement parts don´t seem to be available - pinging / levering looks like it will cause damage to the outer casing...

...anyone here ever taken them to bits before?

There are 6 single wire clips. Easy done. Pick up one end with a plier and bent it slowly sideways. Can't be more easy
Good luck, snow storm here too, go onto the cycle is no chance, workshop is frozen because I run out of gas, Kay

Ah! You beat me to it!

I just figured out the clips =>

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521300563

The next bit looks like what I read on the interweb needs to happen next...

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521300563

...time to put the sealed unit in the oven?

If so - what´s a good temperature?

Gas mark 4?

####

Weather is meant to get a bit better tomorrow - I´ll venture out then. As for heating - gas? Blinking heck that´s a luxury. I just have thermal overalls!

Link for thermal overalls

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Castle-377-...ermal+overalls

Kind of OK - not best quality but worth getting if you don´t want to end up like those poor brass monkeys

Sometimes I got the glue soft with acetone. I picked up a syringe from the doc. Be carefully. Too much and the s h i t will cover the reflector. Never ever touch the silver on the reflector with anything. There are companies out there which are able to add silver onto rhe reflector again. Expensive stuff. Chrome isn't good enough.

I own a thermal overall from the military made for the crew of a tank. Really good warm inside this. My problem are the fingers. They get frozen on the metal and tools and get stiff too. No sensibility anymore, and pain when they get warm again. I'm old. Good luck, Kay

Floor fun continues...
 

...I´ve got these flappy things in the way.

What are they for?

I can´t find them in the spares book

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521386796

Strange construction - they appear to be welded to the floor pan but have been fixed to the cross member (on to which the front seats are mounted) with self tapping screws.

(Could this be an Amazon seat thing?)

Nope, one of these:

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/797/4...ea2f16100e.jpg[

Citroen Light 15, 1953.

Not sure but mine has them too, so they must be standard.
My 544 is actually a 1964 with a B18, not sure why it has a '65 plate. It came into the UK in the 80's and lived in a Volvo main dealer's window for some time. I acquired it back in 2014. Always wanted one ever since I came across them in Denmark and Norway in the late 1980's.
I am about to pull the front suspension to pieces for an overhaul and have a stash of new springs, bushes, shock absorbers, etc. Her springs have settled a bit over the years and she sits a bit low on the driver's side when I am driving solo, especially with the road camber in the UK, although she goes like a rocket and handles quite passably too.

Nice - one of those has been a consideration a few times over the years but then I´ve been distracted by Riley RMs and Sunbeam Talbots and then Jowett Javelins (which is kind of why the PV has happened - to me it is a bit like a poor man´s Javelin)

Hmm OK - thanks - that´s a puzzler then as they don´t seem to be in the parts book

They are growing on me too!

I´m sorry but I have to warn you - once you´ve done the front you´ll notice how much the rear needs to be done too...

...it is a very simple set up - but those combined threaded parts with end caps going into control arms and also threading onto ¨bolts¨ is a bit strange design choice - cross threading nightmare in the making if you ask me.

Where did you get your springs? I´ve measured mine and they seem to be in spec when uncompressed but the outer surfaces are pitted which kind of makes my chequebook itch (which isn´t a good thing)

The springs came from Brookhouse in Ipswich. I have bought a lot of my parts over the years from there, also Scandix in Germany, although they tend to pile on the carriage costs if posting to the UK.
Brookhouse probably buy from one of the Swedish suppliers such as CVI Automotive. They all have good webshops and are almost as fast delivering stuff to the UK as Brookhouse.
I have rear springs as well, so will probably do the front first and then move on to the rears.

Slow going with the bitumastic goo...
 

...but I´m getting there (!)

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521472313

I´ve resorted to using thinner on the stuff as paint stripper these days is so effing expensive (and even thinner isn´t as ¨voordelig¨ as it used to be)

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521472313

Welding tomorrow with any luck and then when the weather starts to get warmer - paint!

Try using paraffin on the black under-seal, much cheaper. Might be called petroleum in Holland.

Petrol is good, I had a 444 a few years ago and the fuel line split underneath the car. Neatly stripped all the underseal in the area....expensive though.....not to mention dangerous.

At 1.70 euro a litre Euro95 is actually a lot cheaper than the other options mentioned so far!

(But I don´t fancy doing that)

Bit of an undercoating removal update
 

(Taking longer than I hoped - but doesn´t it always?)

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521744441

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521744441

More original paint =>

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521744441

Unfortunately similar bitumen based undercoating has been used on the inside of the boot as well...

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521744441

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521744441

Pain in the backside (if you ask me)

####

A few more rust holes have been found but all things considered it is in pretty good condition - some rectification work is needed but that´ll be done in a jiffy (yeah right)

Looks pretty good. Mine needed a replacement rear boot floor and some work to the spare wheel well.

Incidentally, the inside of my boot is also black. Perhaps that was the original colour that all boot interiors were painted?

I´ve done a bit of asking about for that and all of the period advertising stuff shows the inside boot colour to be the same as the exterior.

I´m expecting to find the original beige under the black goo (that most certainly isn´t original) when I start the wire brushing - if I don´t I´ll report back (!)

:hidesbehindsofa:

Oh My! See, that's the sort of thing I'm trying to avoid on mine. But in the process, I'm likely to be applying rather than removing the "black goo".

Trying to avoid knowing about it?

Put it this way: What was it like the first time you needed to adjust valves? What was it like the first time you changed a timing chain / timing belt? What was it like the first time you dealt with a broken crankshaft?

Dealing with rust is much like any other automotive problem - it is dealt with by many many mechanics - so how hard can it be?

#####

I´m actually really impressed with the purchase I made - it is 99% solid - the car is older than me - I need more help than that car!

Quick quick!
 

It is warm enough for paint!

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1521894793

Bit by bit - de-rusted - treated - epoxied - Eastwoods chassis black

I wanna get this done and dusted so I get the chance to do the same to my series 2a Land Rover before the cold weather turns up again

After a bit of wire brushing I can confirm that my car´s boot was definitely painted in the body colour.

I was at the PC Restoration show at the weekend, several PV's on display, although none being reconstructed. I should have had a look in the boot of one of them.
Nice beige one on one stand, (same colour as your original?) 1964 it claimed, although the badging was slightly different to mine.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/803/2...05973d85_z.jpgIMG_20180324_134358834 by bryan pullan, on Flickr

'Tis a '64, I know that, cos it's mine!

Well I guess the next question is - is that colour code 72?

##########

As for colour - blinking heck I can see which way this is probably going to go => After welding the holes in the lower A pillar it was easy to pick off the paint and filler...

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1522157642

...not a massive massive surprise but nevertheless a bit of a bummer

Colour code 84, golden yellow or light yellow.

Very nice. Mine has rectangular 544 badges on the A post and no paint on the hubcaps.

I've seen those badges, possibly on the later cars, but I've never seen one without red hubcap centres, unless they've been rechromed and not been painted or had decals applied.

I was trying to find out when the square badges were introduced - no luck yet. It could have been along with the introduction of the wheels with slits in them in 1964 but that´s just a guess from me...

That's what I thought, too.

#72 - Fallow Deer Brown sometimes called Antelope
#72 - DOVHJORTSBRUN 1961-1962

http://pv-klubben.org/en/teknik/fargblandning/

A rare colour, also used on Amazons, same years.

It isn´t to my taste. I´m also not so impressed with the colour of the car as it is now (either). I think it is meant to be 155 Signal Red - to my MK1 eye ball it looks too modern for the PV...

...if I find another big lump of peeling paint I fear it might be enough for me to go for a full repaint. Problem is the car is registered as red: To change the colour I´d have to deal with Dutch civil servants. I avoid doing that as much as possible because they are with out doubt the biggest bunch of institutionally lazy, contrary, inbred bunch of ham shankers on the planet...

Showing the fun so far
 

The de-rusting continues

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1522249779

Tie rods finally in Hammerite mat black =>

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1522249779

My method for dealing with tie rods is to wire brush as close as possible to the rubber boots but to leave them in place. If you remove the boots I find you end up with crap in the joints. I have to change at least one boot on these tie rods before they go back on - they might treated to a full set - depends on my good humour at the point of ordering...

...slight problem with the clutch lever => Oval ´ole

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1522249779

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1522249779

I think it might be cast iron - will have to check tomorrow - which means if it is it will be a bit of a bugger to weld up and re-drill the hole. (I haven´t mastered the art of cast iron repairs just yet)

I think that later PV cars had the same hubcap as the Amazon.