1961 Volvo PV544 in Holland

[Army]

Originally Posted by arcturus

Mine arn't ! Just paint

Originally Posted by old fart

My car's never been messed with, and they are black.

Fantastic! That's nice and easy - just a quick coat of Eastwoods chassis black and I'm done

Thanks folks

[Army]

I've been cleaning windows (with out the Ukulele and the singing of course)

I've discovered the rear windscreen isn't laminated glass!

Is that a common thing?

(Kind of makes me think a replacement laminated version with a defroster would be best)

Anyway =>



I've been using the degreaser you are meant to use before spraying epoxy (it is OK I won't be spraying the windows after) which seems to be about the right balance between being able to remove old sealant and not stripping off the sun shading on the top of the screen

I also found a date stamp - smack bang in the middle of the upper edge of the screen



August 1986

(Those were the days)

A little bit easier than trying to figure out the age of the screen from the normal bunk next to the kite mark - I thought I'd add this info just in case it becomes useful for others in the future...

[Army]

Polite bump for the rear windscreen question

I kind of expected it to be laminated glass by the 1960s especially from a pioneering safety conscious brand like Volvo

[Ron Kwas]

Army;

I can't help with the question, but just wanted to make the comment that if rear glass is not laminated, then it is surely tempered and "safe" (that is, it will not break into sword-like shards, but the typical, zillions of tiny cubes...).

Cheers

[Army]

Originally Posted by Ron Kwas

Army;

I can't help with the question, but just wanted to make the comment that if rear glass is not laminated, then it is surely tempered and "safe" (that is, it will not break into sword-like shards, but the typical, zillions of tiny cubes...).

Cheers

Thanks Ron,

I can't see any markings on the window though - makes me a bit nervous.

If I've understood the time line correctly (of this 544 and 444 body shape) the one piece rear window was introduced in 1954 with the 444 body shell - so I could in principle have a really old bit of glass that might not be tempered...

...perhaps? I dunno - there's only one way I know to check - which would leave a little more ventilation at the back than planned!

[Ron Kwas]

...I'd prefer some research to the ventilation test...!

[Derek UK]

Later PV's got a larger rear screen. 1958? From a safety point of view, I would guess that a tempered rear screen is safe enough, as the chance of it being impacted by anything that would smash it while driving was small. I don't even know if rears are laminated now as the heating elements are applied to the outside of the glass and inside the car rather than being between laminations. I stand to be corrected on that.

[Army]

The interweb to the rescue =>

https://economyglass.com.au/how-do-i...-safety-glass/

A few tests listed in the above link that I'll do - if only I can find my sun glasses and the clouds part...

[Army]

...for the tempered glass checks so in the meantime I've been scraping away at muck as usual.

At least the parts are getting smaller - this means at least there is less muck to scrape away.

The headlight bowls have been a bit of a mixed bag.

I did have to weld up some holes in one of them - the one with the heaviest rust pock marks



^^^^ That one has been in the sand blaster three times - has had rustyco soaked into it - wire brushed - abused and sworn at ^^^^

The rust pitting remains.

Two (reasonable) options:-

1) Sand away shed loads of healthy metal to reach the pitting - dangerous - probably end up with a knackered headlight bowl
2) Rust treat with Eastwood rust encapsulator and hope for the best.







As you can see I've gone for option two listed above.

Cos of the colder weather (it is after all the North Hemisphere and November!) it takes about two days for the Rust Encapsulator to dry. It will be sanded back and then treated to the laborious process of epoxy primer then the tie coat pantsercoating (blah blah blah)

[Army]

Whilst trying to find pictures I may have taken of M40 gearbox ID numbers I stumbled across a picture of the headlight bowls as they came out =>





I some times wonder why I bother!