Volvo PV444 wins 1957 Petit Lemans at Lime Rock!

[Derek UK]

Now days the wisdom is to change your tyres before 10 years or even less, even if they still look good. A new set will transform the comfort, handling and grip. A tyre failure on these might kill you, your car and anyone who happens to be in the way. I suspect that the tyres that you race on have a bit more attention paid on them if you are trying to win.

[blueosprey90]

I agree that my tires are past their "use by" date. They probably have less than 10,000 miles on them. But they are whitewalls and, as such, relatively expensive to replace.

But before replacing, I'm still trying to figure out why the car wasn't driven that much. I have some past service records that seem to point to suspension concerns; and from my own driving experience, I thought the differential might be the issue. But more recently, I'm thinking maybe the driveshaft needs to be balanced. I hope to test the driveshaft for balance in the spring.

[Derek UK]

Your white walls may well be cross plies and not radials. Cross plies aren't the most confidence making tyres when you are used to radials. Have you had a critical alignment done recently? How are the king pins? Regular greasing of these are critical. Various Volvo maintenance notes say every 750 or 1000miles. That's along with 20 + others at the same intervals. How many owners stick to that schedule!

[blueosprey90]

I've spent considerable time under the car.

The underside of car, especially the differential casing in the rear axle, and the inside surfaces of the wheels were covered with a thick layer of something - it wasn't exactly mud - I'm thinking it was some sort of mud and volcanic ash mixture (maybe forest fire ash) that had hardened up like concrete. (The car came to me from the west coast of the United States via Detroit) Of course, the mud encapsulating the rear axle had oil and differential fluids mixed in.

When I scraped this stuff off of the front wheels, they were no longer balanced, and the wheels need to be repainted due to a chemical reaction that ruined the surface of the paint.

But I pretty much greased everything that gets it.

I have some service records on the car for the last 20 years (10,000 miles) and the owner was pretty good about taking it in for oil changes and the like. Why they never cleaned the underside of the car, however, is unknown.

[blueosprey90]

My fix for the so called “Gorilla Spring” Ignition switch:

The very first issue that I had with my “new” PV444 in 2016 was a stuck ignition switch. If I turned the key two clicks to the right, the key would be stuck and I could not turn off the car without risk of breaking the key. I would resort to “stalling” the car and then disconnecting the battery if I inadvertently turned the key two clicks to the right. Then I had to remove the switch from the dash to remove the key and then with a screwdriver, to turn back the switch.

The prior owner had fitted the car with a bypass start button, so that the key only needed to be turned one click to the right. But I often overlooked this nuance in my ham fisted efforts to start the car.

This weekend, I addressed the problem once and for all by installing a new Bosch ignition switch. I used switch # 0 342 309 006 with numbered screw terminals.



The first order of business was to determine if I could use the switch by removing a small trim ring on the dashboard. Otherwise the new switch would not fit. This trim ring was just held in place with 4 tabs and fairly easily removed.






The second order of business was to understand how the switch was wired. I took a photo of the wiring at the back of the switch, and with a wiring diagram identified the various wires. I had an extra red wire, however, that I think was supposed to wire the supplemental electric fuel pump - but this wire went to the fuse box and was redundant to the green wires as near as I could determine, so I ultimately deleted this extra red wire.



Initially I planned to just replace the switch, but in the end, I sacrificed the coil as well.




I first cut the old switch off at the armored cable.



Then, to expose the ignition wire, I cut the armored cable off at the coil. This revealed the ignition coil wire, which unfortunately had become very brittle with age with the insulation cracking in several places. I attempted to re-assemble using the original coil, but I felt that I had a continuity problem with the wire and eventually I abandoned this plan.

Instead, I gutted the coil and used the coil housing to host a new 6 volt coil.




The original internal coil wires were packed in a plastic insulation material, not oil as I expected. After cutting off the top of the coil, I resorted to heating and burning this plastic with a propane torch, melting the plastic in the process. This was dirty, outdoor work but it allowed me to dig out the old coil wiring and the plastic. Internally, there were two sets of outside shims. I separated these and would use two of the pieces to shim in the new coil assembly.



I wired the new switch as follows: Terminal #30 – red, power in, hot; Terminal #50 – Grey – Starter solenoid; Terminal #75 – Green, accessories; Terminal #15 coil (black) and fuel pump (brown).

The supplemental electric fuel pump was tied in at the fuse box (was fused) and would pump if the key was turned left for accessories or turned right for the coil. I didn’t like this. I just wanted the fuel pump to be activated when the car was powered up for driving. So I tied the fuel pump into Terminal #15 with the coil.

I test fit the new coil in the car, shot the carbs full of starter fluid and with my fingers crossed, I turned it over with the starter button that I have left in place for now. The engine quickly (and happily for me) caught fire.



Tonight I’m painting the external casing and I will likely use a dab of epoxy or a spot weld to make sure the coil is firmly held within the casing. But I was pretty happy with the result and the fact that this annoying problem will be a thing of the past.

[blueosprey90]

It's April, the salt is washed off the roads and this fine morning was my day to drive the Volvo to work. Have my nice new ignition switch installed early February. But the car won't start.


Went to fix it this evening. Pulled the switch and was looking for a ground for the test light under the dash. Saw the push button. DUH!
.

[blueosprey90]

Turn Signal Malfunction. After the winter, the turn signals did not work on either side. Although I thought it might be related to the electrical work I had done installing the new ignition switch (February), I was unable to trace an electrical fault. (And I think I might have the wrong wiring diagram.) Ultimately, by accident and just when I was ready to give up, I applied inward pressure on the blinker stalk, and the turn signals began to work. The contacts must need to be cleaned.

[Army]

Old cars eh?

I would first check the operation of the indicators by by-passing / hot wiring the connections before attempting to clean the switch. If you've been scrabbling under the dash there is a chance that something has been knocked.

[blueosprey90]

Army, I was trying to verify power to the turn signal stalk with a test light, but was unsuccessful. Nor could I find the relay shown on the wiring diagram and perhaps it is built into the turn signal stalk apparatus.

Tonight, I pulled off the passenger door. I started making a new door card, but the whole door needs to be upgraded. New window felts and door seals. A fair amount of internal rust that I also need to address.

Signed up for a drive out of Satratoga Springs, NY on May 22nd. The grandkids (age 9 and 11) are planning to navigate.

https://youtu.be/zzw8sgojkM4

[Army]

Originally Posted by blueosprey90

Army, I was trying to verify power to the turn signal stalk with a test light, but was unsuccessful. Nor could I find the relay shown on the wiring diagram and perhaps it is built into the turn signal stalk apparatus.

Tonight, I pulled off the passenger door. I started making a new door card, but the whole door needs to be upgraded. New window felts and door seals. A fair amount of internal rust that I also need to address.

Signed up for a drive out of Satratoga Springs, NY on May 22nd. The grandkids (age 9 and 11) are planning to navigate.

https://youtu.be/zzw8sgojkM4

The indicator flasher on my car is a little silver cap like thing that was attached to the internal dash bracing near to the steering wheel. The indicator stalk on my car is just a switch (nothing fancy / special there)...

...the internal door rust can be a bit of a problem on any car. Mine were surprisingly good but the lower internal seals that fit in a spot welded bent piece of steel were looking a bit sorry for themselves. My Volvo club shop here in the Netherlands was able to supply the bent steel "extrusion" (it isn't really an extrusion but when you see it you'll know what I mean) pieces but bending them to the curves at either end of the doors would be a challenge (!)

Door seal kits are available from Sweden including the window winder chains and the glass supporting channel / gutter / clamp piece.