1961 Volvo PV544 in Holland

[Army]

...two of the three parcels from VP automotive turned up!

I've spent most of this morning going through the order and checking things off the packing list.

I must say I am impressed with what I've got so far. The bearings are all good quality products Koyo or NTN. Nice stuff - in keeping with what was there originally.

(Some other sellers for other brands such as Land Rover sell a load of crap these days for the prices you'd expect to pay for the decent stuff - not all bearings are equal! It seems as though the bastard bean counters have not weedled their way into Volvo suppliers just yet)

I've got a whole load of stuff for the interior.

The door cards are to die for! They are so nice. And the windlace - oh yes! When they get fitted the car is going to be far too posh for me to drive...

[Army]

That was a bit of a worry the internet tracking said it was delivered yesterday - I got a bit jumpy about it cos there was probably about 500 quids worth of kit in it: Not that you'd think that when you opened the box =>



The boxes in the bottom held a lot of the value



Everything I ordered has arrived. We'll see if I've done a good job at remembering what was needed in the next few weeks when I start to rebuild bits. I've already noticed I ordered two water pump sealing kits by accident - oh dear - never mind - something to trade later on eh?

[Army]

...for those who have had their B18 / B20 engines converted to have modern seals on the crankshaft. The rear seal part number is 430118





I struggled to find the number as it (obviously) isn't in the parts book

[Army]

Originally Posted by 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...

Quick update about the Sikkens AK primer

Strange stuff - more like house paint than the metal / car paint I'm used to. Is thinned with white spirit. It gets absolutely every where and sticks to absolutely everything. I thought KBS Black top was bad but this stuff is worse. I'm covered in white primer (!)

Anyway - I know it will stick and stay there. Tomorrow I'm going to coat the underside of the roof in rattle can Rally gloss white so that I can then stick some sound insulation on it before I refit the headlining.

Only down side to the Sikkens AK is that it takes a lot longer to get touch dry so dust accumulation is more likely than the other paints I'm using.

[Army]

First bit of colour and clear coat has been applied =>





It would have been a lot easier to spray the underside of the vehicle in body colour - however - in the future I reckon the Eastwood chassis black will be easier to repair in the event of gravel road rash etc...

...I also estimate it is a bit tougher than the colour and clear coat.

At the moment the change back to original factory colour is done with Lesonal base coat (Akzo-Nobel again - resistance is futile you will be assimilated) with a Car System 2K scratch resistant low VOC clear coat. The colour parts on the underside and wheel wells are going to be coated with a POR15 urethane clear coat - that hasn't been done yet

Tomorrow I plan to tip the car back upright and start getting the engine bay ready for colour. It'll be a good test of just how scratch resistant this 2K clear coat is...

[Army]

I got the rear seal on the engine fitted...



I used Hylomar to help the seal fit in the modified holder. The machining work done on these bits does make them feel a bit flimsy - still I have high hopes that the modern seal will do a better job than the old felt version (otherwise why would anyone bother with the modification)



I used RTV for the holder : block interface



Cleaned up the screw threads too so the =>



Loctite would stick (!)

Cleaned the end of the crankshaft and fitted the controversially clear coated replacement flywheel



I eventually found the specs in the workshop manual for the maximum amount of wobble allowed and checked with ye olde DTI(e)

I should have fitted the clutch but got distracted by the broken TIG torch problem I've got at the moment

[Army]

The front bulkhead has now been utterly de-bitumin-ised and has been sprayed with Brunox to tackle any rust lurking in the rough parts.

The chassis number I found between the cabin air intake and the hole for the wiring loom has not been treated to Brunox. It will get a light coating of etch primer before the base coat goes on - anything thicker and the stampings won't be legible.



After drying the final third coat of Brunox for about 24 hours I lightly sanded and then applied a layer of ferpox for over kill purposes



Next up will be a bit of spray primer - will probably get done next week some time - even in warm Norther European summer weather it is best to let these coats really dry before you start to sand and re-coat

#########

Other painting today - masking is time intensive but considering how much these front discs cost I reckon a bit of preventative anti-rust treatment is in order (I've done this to all new discs on all of my cars for years now and it really does help)



That VHT caliper paint is the dog's doo daars

[Army]

...the obligatory one step back (!)

The engine bay / front bulkhead epoxy I applied two days ago needed a bit of a sand to get ready for the spray filler (and in some places some more heavy duty filler). I sanded and then wiped down with a bit of panel wipe and then sprayed a little bit too quickly another coat of epoxy and it reacted in one spot.

Bugger

Oh well - nothing to be done about it now - best to leave it to dry and sand it back again tomorrow and then recoat with epoxy. Drat that's a delay I didn't want. But tis me own fault.

There's a nasty bit of "rust rash" on the left hand side of the bulkhead where brake fluid had been dripping from the poorly fitted master cylinder pipework. The metal is actually (luckily) really thick there so I felt I didn't need to cut it out and weld in a new bit. The plan is to smooth over with about half a mm worth of fine filler (once I get this flipping epoxy sorted)



If you look closely in the picture above you can also see just how uneven the surface of the metal is on this bulkhead (as well as a bit of a drip in either the Brunox or the Ferpox which will be fixed).

The spray filler will certainly help smooth out this surface but ideally I want to try and keep the spot weld shapes in the panel joins to try and keep the car looking straight but with a hint of originality. I'm not aiming for a full on custom paint job. I don't have the patience for anything even remotely approaching that.

#####

At the back of the car - well away from the slightly wet front bulkhead I've gone for Eastwood rust encapsulator for part of the boot floor.



Note the nice masking paper that came as packing paper with my VP automotive order - cheap cheap! No "bleed through" and no news print transfer".

This rust encapsulator stuff is pretty nice - it stuck well to both the original metal and the repairs. Here's what it looked like after a bit of sanding / trying to get it off (!)



It is slightly tougher than the Hammerite rust beater stuff - harder crust which (so the can says) does not need to be repainted. But it isn't in the same league as the Epifanes 2K boat epoxy I've been playing with. Cos I've now got an intermediate coat solution (binder between the 2K epoxy and conventional car paint) I'm now thinking I might carry on with the Epifanes on the rest of the inside...

...this is part of the reason why I've just masked a part of the boot inside for the Eastwood rust encapsulator (the other reason is that the Eastwood stuff is blinking expensive and so will be used sparingly)

[Army]

Putting the propshaft back together

Started with a little bit of RTFM



The position of the grease nipples is important. (Obviously) They need to be where you can reach them so they point away from the end flanges towards the shaft

The end flanges have tapered eye lugs which makes fitting the caps for the UJs a bit fiddly



EDIT - Oh no! I didn't take a picture of the slopy flange being fitted! It was fiddly...

The shaft eye lugs are nice and parallel so that helps (at least!)



The rear propshaft should ideally have diametrically opposed grease nipples (mmmmm!)

Tip for fitting the caps - if you struggle to fit the circlips the chances are high that one or more the pesky needle rollers has fallen out of the cap and is trapped under the cross piece. In this situation you need to take the joint apart.

This is a pain in the arse and will invariably scratch your new propshaft paint job. ****. Anyway to help push the UJ caps out of the lug eyes - to push them as far out as possible - you can insert small washers into the joint (say M5 washers) to help pad out the position of the cross piece so the end caps will pop out. You can then refit the needle roller bearings and try again.

The GKN grease nipples are monsters



They just clear the sides of the joint when bent to maximum bend (a situation that won't ever happen in service unless something has really gone tits up)

#######

Propshaft centre bearing isn't as stubborn as the UJs can be



Only really light pressure is needed to push the bearing home into its (outer) housing



(If you have to "hammer" here you need to stop and think - the outer housing isn't HD)

Note position of the deep sockets only pushing on the outer edge of the bearing (!)

Bit of a dark picture here =>



But it is meant to show how the bolt holes of the splined flange end of the centre bearing are meant to be aligned with the flange with the UJ (screwdriver and punch are pointing at holes)

Well - that's kinda finished



Just a light sand and a quick touch up of the scratches and (Fanny's me aunt)

[arcturus]

How much trouble did you have getting the old UJs out? I had quite a problem with mine. Did you photo it? Can't be bad having a workshop or access to, with all the gear! Looks like a good resto'.