1961 Volvo PV544 in Holland

[blueosprey90]

OK, Thank you. I want to install some taller gearing and I suppose it isn't going to be so easy.

I've been ruined by the MGA. I can swap out that differential in about 90 minutes. I run a 4.3 about 2/3 of the time and a 4.55 about 1/3 of the time. If I do an autocross, I might run a 4.85. And I also have a 4.1 that I rarely run, although once I get that one up to speed, I'm fast.


Pretty clever fabrication of the splitting tool. I'll need to learn to weld - apparently.

[Army]

Originally Posted by blueosprey90

OK, Thank you. I want to install some taller gearing and I suppose it isn't going to be so easy.

I've been ruined by the MGA. I can swap out that differential in about 90 minutes. I run a 4.3 about 2/3 of the time and a 4.55 about 1/3 of the time. If I do an autocross, I might run a 4.85. And I also have a 4.1 that I rarely run, although once I get that one up to speed, I'm fast.


Pretty clever fabrication of the splitting tool. I'll need to learn to weld - apparently.

Oh for that you need to change the pinion and the crown wheel as a set. In the next few days I hope to show the process of fitting the parts to the stripped outer casing - I think I've got the spares needed (but as always - in particular with shims - you just don't know until you get there)

The final drive ratio I've got is the "standard" 4.1:1 - I guess your's will be the same even for the B16 - but it is worth checking. I eventually found a stamping on the crown wheel on mine (this you can check with the rear cover removed and whole axle fitted to the car) so I guess that'll be the same for you. Otherwise you're left counting revolutions...

...in the spares book there's mention of a 3.9:1 (I think) but that seems to be the tallest gear that was factory availsble

[Army]

(I could complain some more about the cold workshop but I guess it is just as tedious for me as it is for you!)

Today I made a start on the next phase of the rear axle refurbishment.

Previously (on LA Law - remember that?) the axle was stripped and the little locating edges for the trailing arm connecting bushings were repaired (to a fashion) and the outside of the axle was de-rusted and painted. Since then of course I failed to put it up and out of the way so it has had expoy dripped on it by accident as well as other mishaps - lesson learned? Probably not. I plan to repaint once I've finished the rest of the planned work.

The green book shows a special tool for replacing the seals that are fitted in the axle tubes - these are the seals that hold the differential oil within the casing. When these leak you get a nasty slushy mix of oil and grease in your wheel bearing(s). Because the differential cage and crown wheel has been removed from the axle I don't need to have something complicated like that special tool (which essentially looks like a glorified Rawl bolt {i.e. an expanding type bolt used to fix things to concrete}): I can just use a long piece of metal to hammer out each of the seals =>



^^^^Before removing the seals I checked how far in the housing the old ones were sitting - 3cm ^^^^

Then using a suitably long bit of steel box section (as it happened to be) I threaded the box section onto the inner side of the lower seal...



...whilst holding the box section in place via the handy centre hole where the differential and crown wheel sits...



...'ammerin' it out was easy.



I imagine the expanding bolt special tool is a pain in the arse to use - I can imagine that slipping on the seal and causing frustration. But I can understand why people don't remove the differential just so they can do it this way!

Cleaning out the axle tubes with loads of brake cleaner and paper towel =>



Access to an industrial machine parts washing machine would be ideal. But hey ho - I'm DIY - so brake cleaner and paper towels it is.



^^^^New seals from the wheel bearing kit bought from VP^^^^



Only then did I realise that all of my large sockets / seal installation presses are not at the workshop. It is always best to (mis-)use a large socket or something similar when seating seals - don't be tempted to use a hammer and a punch - if the seal's metal surround is wobbly after installation the chances are that the seal will leak (and you'll be back to having sludgy wheel bearing grease - and in the worse case scenario lubricated brake linings)

[Army]

I'm not sure why I'm going into this in such detail - probably something to do with it being a distraction from the wiring (!)

Still here goes some alternatives for fitting flimsy seals into axle tubes:-

I found this bearing fitting kit (which is what I used in the end)



I did, however, notice that the outer metal tube of a Volvo M40/M41 gearbox mount is the perfect size to help fit an axle seal!



(I had previously cut out the rubber bushing to use the metal outer as a helper for fitting the new gearbox mount but didn't do so in the end - it has been kicking about waiting to be put in the scrap bin - but you know if you're a little like me these things can sometimes end up being used for something else - though this thing is going to have to wait another day for that)

I like to fit these metal outer seals into casing with a wipe of Hylomar



And there we have it - four pictures to show what takes a few seconds to do...



...

[Army]

There's been a fair amount of head scratching going on with this along with a few design decisions.

I have decided that I want there to be three places in the vehicle where connections for all of the wires are made. Obviously there are things distributed about the vehicle where they have to be...

...but I've decided that all of the wires are to be bound together as much as possible. I will be using more wire than needed but I reckon it will be nicer in the end. For example: the rear wings might need to be removed, which then means I want to remove the wiring for the lights. To allow for this there will be a junction box in the boot. The same thing might happen for the front wings and so there will be a junction box in the engine bay.

Everything in the engine bay (with the exception of the thick wires supplying the fuse box) is going to go through the one junction box. In principle it could be one great big multi-plug or a collection of multi-plugs but I'm not going to do that because modern multi-plugs don't fit through 1960s wiring holes.

So anyway the plan is junction box in engine bay (up front), junction box in boot (out back) and junction box next to fuse box and relay box in passenger foot well.

I hope this helps any future electrical tracing problems I may have - because the joints in the wires (on their way to their destinations) are only made in three locations in the vehicle.

I've made a start on a little information chart I'm going to leave inside the owners manual / next to the fuse box (?)



#########

The fuse box and relay box I ordered arrived



Talk about "the whole wide world in his hands"

[Army]

I thought I'd already done this - but it must have been a Land Rover differential or perhaps a Mercedes one I was fiddling about with in 2018 - can't remember.

Anyway the PV's pinion bearing was removed from the axle ages ago and now I want to replace the bearings so it will all be gucci gucci again. (If you remember there was more backlash than Brexit so something needed to be done)



The pinion shaft has a thin metal disc fitted between the pinion cog and the (large) bearing. I've seen this on old Land Rover differentials too - I'm not exactly sure why they bothered fitting it - it is definitely a 1960s (or perhaps earlier) thing - must be something to do with shielding the bearings from direct lumps of muck coming off the crown and pinion gears...

...anyway - what ever - it was there before it'll be there again when I'm done (if only to make sure the position of the bearing is "correct"). It does cause a bit of access trouble for removal of the bearing, however, but it isn't the end of the world.

In principle one may be able to get access to the under side of the bearing cage and use a puller. In the real world I've found this is more likely to break your bearing puller than it is to remove a bearing. The spinning metal disc on this pinion shaft is also in the way so a method of mass destruction has to ensue =>



Using snips to cut away the outer bearing cage



Whilst the transition / interference fit inner bearing race has a handy lip onto which a bearing puller may be attached; I have found it is best to weaken the inner bearing race to aid removal.



^^^^Note this is a potentially disastrous thing to do! It could go dreadfully wrong!^^^^

You need to have a steady hand and a good eye to make sure you just grind away the outer bearing race and not part of the pinion shaft.

Note the bluing on the right hand side of the grind marks - this can be done by forcing the grinding disc into one place - but if you've been carefully and consistently sweeping the disc along a big area I've noticed that this bluing can be a sign that the metal on the bearing race is getting thin. So it is then TIME TO STOP GRINDING!

My latest method of doing this job is to weaken diametrically opposed sides of the inner bearing race =>



Now it is time to break out the bearing puller



^^^^Note: Use a sacrificial washer to stop the end of the bearing puller threaded bar from damaging the end og the pinion shaft^^^^

In an ideal world you have managed to weaken the inner bearing to such an extent the bearing puller can now pull it off.

Fat chance today

Instead of going back to the grinding - and potentially causing damage to the shaft - I opted for fire.



I try to keep the heat as localised as possible by setting up a neutral flame (as though I'm welding) and heat one of the weakened sides of the inner bearing race. The diametrically opposed weakened side - the opposite side should have enough flex in it to help release the grip...

...once hot enough (I didn't even have to get the inner race to be cherry red today so there's minimal chance I've some how messed up the hardness of the pinion shaft - which is something to consider when playing about with oxy aided fire) you can then use the bearing puller as though you've been lucky with the grinding!

Here's a few shots of the inner bearing race where it has been heated =>



(So judge for yourselves)



No visible marks on the pinion shaft - once cooled (chilled) it'll be ready for the new bearing.

Here's a shot of the washer that died for the cause =>



Better to mash that up than the end of the pinion.

[Army]

I've been studying the original wiring diagram and it looks to me like the only "always live" parts of the circuit are the headlights and rear lights.

(When I say "always live" I mean not isolated by the ignition key like the rest of the electrical circuits)

Obviously you'd want to be able to put on the side lights as parking lights so I can see why the headlights etc are not isolated by the ignition switch.

But I was wondering about other things. I could have sworn that on most cars the horn always works with or with out the ignition being switched on and I thought the brake lights too but then again perhaps not.

In a normal world I'd have access to a working vehicle but at the moment all of mine are either in bits or in storage (!) Does anyone know for sure?

(I'd rather not have to approach people in car parks as they're getting out of their cars to find this out as I have a feeling this might attract some rude comments - whilst rude comments on the internet are more or less the norm...)

[Derek UK]

I think it's useful to have the horn and stop lights available with the ignition off.

[arcturus]

Originally Posted by Derek UK

I think it's useful to have the horn and stop lights available with the ignition off.

Isn't it illegal to use the horn in a stationary vehicle?
https://www.google.com/search?client...+vehicle+in+UK

[Army]

Originally Posted by Derek UK

I think it's useful to have the horn and stop lights available with the ignition off.

Originally Posted by arcturus

Isn't it illegal to use the horn in a stationary vehicle?
https://www.google.com/search?client...+vehicle+in+UK

Thanks for the response chaps. I realise use of the horn might not be permitted but I think they're normally always live regardless

After thinking about things a little more I've realised there are a few more considerations to be made - so I made a chart (!)



My idea about the use of the side lights being isolated from the main and full beams might turn out to be a bit trickier than I suspect at the moment. If I use the original switch I'm sure there will be some cross pollination as I suspect the first click goes to side lights but that contact stays in place for the next full beam click (which also allows the floor mounted dip switch to operate) - in other words I don't think there's isolation (in terms of being two separate circuits) between the two switch positions...

...I'm hoping that I can still use the original switch but use it to send signals to relays - but I have a bit of research and figuring out if I can do that safely with out getting things confused.