1961 Volvo PV544 in Holland

[Coach39]

Best of luck with that 1961 as it seems to be in fair condition. I bought me a 1960 same model here in USA and have invested in new exhaust, carbs and fuel pumps and running great with 54,000 one owner, no rust, great body. Needs struts for trunk. Trim all needs repair. It's the popular grey color. Driving great after difficulties in starting. Amazing that it's a california original owner that I bought it from who spent $2,300 in 1959. I'm holding the original Bill of sale. Hopefully, i wend pictures when I get around to it. Frank M

[Army]

Originally Posted by Coach39

Best of luck with that 1961 as it seems to be in fair condition. I bought me a 1960 same model here in USA and have invested in new exhaust, carbs and fuel pumps and running great with 54,000 one owner, no rust, great body. Needs struts for trunk. Trim all needs repair. It's the popular grey color. Driving great after difficulties in starting. Amazing that it's a california original owner that I bought it from who spent $2,300 in 1959. I'm holding the original Bill of sale. Hopefully, i wend pictures when I get around to it. Frank M

There used to be a chap who went by the name of coach on the Mercedes Shop / Peach Parts forum - you're not the same one are you?

It sounds like you've got yourself a real corker of a PV. I for one will be interested to see pictures if you are willing / able. Your car sounds like a real time warp - are there any gucci little stickers remaining in the engine bay?

(Series Land Rover chaps go nuts for things like that - I suspect Volvo owners would be interested in that kind of thing too)

[Army]

...at long last. I was hoping to have reached this stage two months ago,

Oh well

After the No1 rust beater stuff and making sure it had stuck nicely to the underside of the car (I can't stress how important this is!) I applied a couple of coats of Ferpox epoxy. This is a single component epoxy that I've used for years now. It holds up really well so long as you re-coat it with decent paint.

Note the colour changes (see pictures at the bottom of the previous page) =>



Whilst it wasn't necessarily planned this way the "red oxide like" colour of the rust treatment paint and the grey RAL whatever it is from the epoxy does help you see if you've missed bits.



The epoxy has been sprayed to the outer extremes of the underside of the car. The next layer Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black is being sprayed slightly within this area - so another layer of masking was applied



The underside and outer parts of the sills are going to be body colour (whatever that turns out to be - still having trouble getting the colour I want in the product I want to use) as will the spare wheel well and the chassis like rails under the rear wheel arches (they will also be body colour)

Three coats of the chassis black =>





I really like this Eastwood satin chassis black it dries to a real solid feeling paint that looks like an old car paint

[Army]

I wasn't sure if I had the time to get to see the Volvo today - I'm glad I did - because I really wanted to remove the masking tape from the underside as soon as possible.

(Well I could have risked pulling it away yesterday whilst the paint was still wet but that usually goes wrong for me)

The masking tape I'm using here isn't like the gucci stuff I was using at the beginning of this thread for the paint buffing / polishing this is pretty basic stuff that's way cheaper. It does its job but you can get a bit of seepage along the edge if you're a bit unlucky,



I don't want to leave masking tape for too long on the car as it has a tendency to bake itself on especially in the summer months when it is warm. So semi-brisk removal is better.

I'm quite happy with my masking - I did miss one bit (doh) so that needs to be sanded and there was one other place where the paint seeped under. But on the whole I'm a happy camper today...

...one other thing I wanted to do was to put the car cover over the body to help protect the epoxy from direct sunlight. Epoxy (most epoxies) tend not to be UV resistant so even under a glass roof like in my workshop it needs a bit of covering.

#####

Further in the news:-

Fingers crossed but after months of cocking about it looks like I might be able to buy some paint that I'm going to be happy to spray myself.

I'm pretty concerned about conventional 2 pack for health reasons (not only myself but other people in my building), so I've looking for an alternative that's not quite so dodgy to apply.

The Epifanes epoxy with the zinc looks like it will be removed from the inside of the roof. I've decided that poly-whatever system isn't going to be easy to combine with car paints. A tie coat primer needs to be used to combine with conventional car paints. Epifanes themselves say their intermediate coat is a "bit rough" so using this on a more flexible steel body (rather than a hulking big bit on the a boat) seems less feasible. The Epifanes stuff seems to be really nice quality - it does have a good reputation but I get the feeling it is just a little bit too left field for cars...

[old fart]

Looking good, you can do mine when you've finished!

[Army]

Originally Posted by old fart

Looking good, you can do mine when you've finished!

Why would I need to do yours when it is the car to which this one has been compared the most?

I want mine to be as good as yours!

[old fart]

I think yours will be a touch better than mine when you've done, but mines been easier!

[Army]

Originally Posted by old fart

I think yours will be a touch better than mine when you've done, but mines been easier!

Well that remains to be seen!

To be fair to the car the only real gripe that sticks in my mind is that effing bitumastic goo someone smeared all over it - inside and out - really come on! Whilst it has delayed the rust it is a pig to get off

(OK I'll try and make that the last time I mention it)

[Army]

...so I 'ad a go at the differential.

Using the special tool I made (see here) together with special tool 2337 (which happens to be a crow bar!) the differential popped out nicely once I was sure I had expanded the casing to the correct amount.

(Sorry I forgot to take a picture of me new mega deep jawed vernier caliper)



The axial bearings (the ones that hold the differential + crown wheel in position) are showing signs of over heating - well just. It didn't come out too well in the picture below but there is a slight hint of blue / purple.



This isn't surprising as judging by the discolouration I hazard a guess the differential oil has been ignored for a few services. Also not surprising for a car that is older than me.

The pinion cog shows the level of discolouration more clearly =>



Whilst it isn't quite the same as engineers' blue the "tide lines" show that the position of the pinion cog to crown wheel is probably a little bit out of whack. I've added some lines to the picture to try and demonstrate the difference in outer edges on the driven and coast side of the cog. This agrees with the "too much backlash" observation I made before I started all of this.

The big pinion bearing also shows a bit of discolouration like the axial bearings but this time with little signs of overheating.



The smaller pinion bearing looks like it is the "best condition" bearing - I assume this bearing was replaced at some time with an input seal at some point or other as usually the smaller pinion bearing is the first to suffer.

To be continued

[Army]

...today I had a few spare minutes to sand off the 2K epifanes epoxy I'd applied to the inside of the roof.

Blinkin' BEEP-er-be-BLEEP that stuff is tough. Amazing tough stuff - way tougher than any car paint I've come across before

You can sand your way through it eventually =>



But it'll take ages to get it off the underside of the roof. Goodness knows what it would be like if it was the correct thickness - I had only applied a 25% thinned coat on the bare metal as per instructions.

So I've decided to not fight the forces of 2K epoxy just yet and see if I can get a smooth enough finish with an interim sealing coat. The Epifanes intermediate coat is "known" to be a rough finish so I'm trying a product from the competitors - Sikkens (Akzo-Nobel again) - to see if their interim coat primer will do the job.

(EDIT: just in case you've missed the faff the problem with the Epifanes 2K epoxy is that it isn't directly compatible with car paints with out an interim coat - I have now discovered)

I've ordered a can of Sikken AK primer

I figured I might as well turn this faffing about into a learning exercise and try out some products. It is after all just on the underside of the roof (headliner will be going in!) so it strikes me as an ideal place to give this stuff a whirl. Very much of the old "if you don't try - you won't know - but hide it away just in case" adage...