240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Laird Scooby]

Excellent news Alan! Always good when older beasties prove they're still as reliable as new stuff.

I take it a smoke round the countryside is on the cards for the Bloop and you today then?

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I take it a smoke round the countryside is on the cards for the Bloop and you today then?

... if it stops raining Dave.

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

... if it stops raining Dave.

:-)

Been stopped here for quite a while now Alan, hopefully it has also stopped in your neck of the woods?

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Been stopped here for quite a while now Alan, hopefully it has also stopped in your neck of the woods?

There was a brief interlude when the sun almost came out, but now it is raining again and the same is forecast all day. Unless it clears up I think the Bloop and I will leave making blue smoke trails until tomorrow.

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

There was a brief interlude when the sun almost came out, but now it is raining again and the same is forecast all day. Unless it clears up I think the Bloop and I will leave making blue smoke trails until tomorrow.

:-)

As a weather forecaster tried to say once when i was a kid (i think it was Bill Giles but may have been Michael Fish) "The rain will continue to persist down" except he somehow lost the "ers" sound from "persist" on national TV at a time when any language other than "dash it all" and similar was considered heresy, a hanging offence and could land the broadcaster in serious hot water with the broadcasting authorities.

Sadly that forecast is still true today and for the weekend although i've heard a rumour it's going to dry up for a couple of days before the next monsoon and series of thunderstorms arrive.

It could be worse though, we could be in Australia dealing with snow drifts!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

As a weather forecaster tried to say once when i was a kid (i think it was Bill Giles but may have been Michael Fish) "The rain will continue to persist down" except he somehow lost the "ers" sound from "persist" on national TV at a time when any language other than "dash it all" and similar was considered heresy, a hanging offence and could land the broadcaster in serious hot water with the broadcasting authorities.

Sadly that forecast is still true today and for the weekend although i've heard a rumour it's going to dry up for a couple of days before the next monsoon and series of thunderstorms arrive.

It could be worse though, we could be in Australia dealing with snow drifts!

It has been a washout here Dave, and the forecast for tomorrow is much the same. Things should be better on Sunday - I hope so as my brother and nephew (same age as Dan and they get on really well) will be driving up from Kent. It will be nice to have a barbecue and a beer in the garden if it is dry.

:-)

[Othen]

This morn has been the first dry day we have had for a week, so I got round to sorting that little bit of rust I found in the RB a while ago. What started out as a little lump (of filler it turned out) was a bit bigger when I cut it back to shiny metal (I did this about a week ago, hence the silver Hammerite paint:



... no great problem thought I - nothing structural but we had better stop the rain coming in, so I'd made a template and cut out a patch slightly too big so I could overlap the edges with my new joddler. Once I had a look inside the wheel arch there was (of course, there always is) a bit more to deal with. I ended up making up a total of 3 patches: a triangular one to close the end of the sill and a piece about 6"x1" where the tinworm had taken its toll on the inner wheel arch.

I did think about getting a complete replacement inner wheel arch (cost about €100) but the rotten bit was pretty small and would not justified a complete new panel - plus I'd probably have ended up changing the outer as well (about €60) and redecorating.

So, I fixed the little hole at the back of the sill, here it is after a tidy up and a coat of really gloopy green Hammerite:



... It still needs a smear of filler and some black paint to redecorate, but as the moment I'm more concerned with the environmental protection, so that will wait.

The inside patches were a bit trickier due to limited access, so the seam welds became a linked up tack welds, but they won't show and I'm more worried about longevity than looks. Here you can see the triangular closing panel at the bottom and perhaps the bottom of the wheel arch inner. I sealed up anything that looked like it might let the weather in and then gave it an even thicker coat of gloopy green Hammerite.



I also trimmed off about 5mm of the metal from the wheel arch rim (where the two layers are spot welded) to give a good edge and sealed it up. It struck me that the inner wheel arch might have been replaced with a repair panel, you may be able to see a few gaps around the lip that I filled with weld through to the repair patch. The previous repair (more than a decade ago I should think) seems to have been done well except along the seam with the outer wheel arch - which is what seems to have let the tinworm in.

I'm fairly happy with things now - the repair is in keeping with the Royal Barge and should last well. I'll monitor it to make sure I've got rid of all the bad stuff (I think I caught it just in time).

:-)

[CosmicBike]

Nice job. Mines a little younger but still has a fair bit of corrosion on the rear arches, something that will need looking at in a few years time.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by CosmicBike

Nice job. Mines a little younger but still has a fair bit of corrosion on the rear arches, something that will need looking at in a few years time.

Just a thought - does anyone (maybe even Volvo) make plastic wheel arch liners like the RB has at the front? They would stop this problem happening.
Alan

PS. I have just found a supplier called Volvogue:

http://www.volvogue.com/Volvogue_Rea..._Mudguards.php

... and have sent an email to see if these are in stock and what would be the price.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

This morn has been the first dry day we have had for a week, so I got round to sorting that little bit of rust I found in the RB a while ago. What started out as a little lump (of filler it turned out) was a bit bigger when I cut it back to shiny metal (I did this about a week ago, hence the silver Hammerite paint:



... no great problem thought I - nothing structural but we had better stop the rain coming in, so I'd made a template and cut out a patch slightly too big so I could overlap the edges with my new joddler. Once I had a look inside the wheel arch there was (of course, there always is) a bit more to deal with. I ended up making up a total of 3 patches: a triangular one to close the end of the sill and a piece about 6"x1" where the tinworm had taken its toll on the inner wheel arch.

I did think about getting a complete replacement inner wheel arch (cost about €100) but the rotten bit was pretty small and would not justified a complete new panel - plus I'd probably have ended up changing the outer as well (about €60) and redecorating.

So, I fixed the little hole at the back of the sill, here it is after a tidy up and a coat of really gloopy green Hammerite:



... It still needs a smear of filler and some black paint to redecorate, but as the moment I'm more concerned with the environmental protection, so that will wait.

The inside patches were a bit trickier due to limited access, so the seam welds became a linked up tack welds, but they won't show and I'm more worried about longevity than looks. Here you can see the triangular closing panel at the bottom and perhaps the bottom of the wheel arch inner. I sealed up anything that looked like it might let the weather in and then gave it an even thicker coat of gloopy green Hammerite.



I also trimmed off about 5mm of the metal from the wheel arch rim (where the two layers are spot welded) to give a good edge and sealed it up. It struck me that the inner wheel arch might have been replaced with a repair panel, you may be able to see a few gaps around the lip that I filled with weld through to the repair patch. The previous repair (more than a decade ago I should think) seems to have been done well except along the seam with the outer wheel arch - which is what seems to have let the tinworm in.

I'm fairly happy with things now - the repair is in keeping with the Royal Barge and should last well. I'll monitor it to make sure I've got rid of all the bad stuff (I think I caught it just in time).

:-)

Nice work there Alan!

Seems like i've had your share of the wet stuff today, it's not piggin' well stopped! The hound is disappointed as no walkies again this evening because of the weather but she doesn't seem to mind.

I have an idea for electrically treating rust spots before they get bad, got a few on the Rover to try it on, once i've rigged something up i'll report back on its efficacy. Still working on the design though................