1961 Volvo PV544 in Holland

[Army]

Well the inside of the roof is getting close to getting some new paint



Just a bit more treatment with Rustyco rust killer and a good sand with the orbital sander and it should be OK. I was planning to put Hammerite No1 rust beater on the bare metal but the tin says it is only good for a maximum 80 degrees C service life - whilst this isn't the South of France I feel this limit is a bit close to a possible maximum temperature in the sun (hottest day of the year etc). So I'm probably going to go for Ferpox 1K instead.

I've also got a load of Epifanes 2K zinc impregnated stuff to try out. It might get that instead - indecision indecision

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In other news - looking closely at the fitment of the rear wing : body interface I've stumbled upon a bit of a difference of position of the edges. From the centre of the car: The LHS of the body edge the distance is 48cm. From the centre of the car to the RHS of the body edge the distance is 50cm



Today I'm too tired to figure it out - but I suspect this has something to do with fuel tank filler pipes on the LHS

(Need to measure the rear wing widths)

[old fart]

Are you sure you've got the centre in the same place both times? Mine are 49cm each side.

[Army]

Originally Posted by old fart

Are you sure you've got the centre in the same place both times? Mine are 49cm each side.

I spent a long time checking and double checking the centre of the car position. The underside is quite easy to suss out - the transmission tunnel - the middle of the bar runs behind the hole for the fuel tank - the pressing of the boot floor with its central stiffening designer dent.

Up top I measured the rear window at the top and bottom and then transposed that position to the rear valance under the boot opening. Despite being totally knackered I'm sure I've got the centre marked in the right place.

It is weird I was expecting it to be symmetrical - at least now I have most of the paint off I can see there isn't any accident damage / serious repairs so what ever I have got is how it left the factory...

...still weird though - more investigations to come (!)

[Army]

The "chassis rails" (for want of a better expression) and the position of the panels is as I'd expect - well they are symmetrical =>



It is harder to see on the RHS because of the spare wheel well but if the chassis rail were to be extended it would end up at the same place and the LHS =>



So this means the rear panels fit between the rails in a symmetrical manner

Hmmm

Tomorrow if I get the time I'm going to measure some more

[Army]

Whilst the derusting and under seal stripping continues I've been obsessing about the straightness of the sheet metal joint under the sills =>



Here I'm just using the flat part of the joggler pliers (not putting in a step!)

This kind of thing is one of those jobs where being critical can take over - be warned.

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I've also sourced some nearly new springs for the front and also a hub for the rear



I might have managed to save a bit of dosh for the paint job

[Derek UK]

A hammer and dolly is more satisfying for doing those edges.

[Army]

Originally Posted by Derek UK

A hammer and dolly is more satisfying for doing those edges.

I'm not sure if I'd classify a hammer and dolly as satisfying - on the whole that is my last resort option. The process of bashing (in my experience) often causes dents or localised stretching which is, more often than not, not what I want (!)

The benefit to clamping and firmly squashing is that you are less likely to make more of a mess than what you started out with. I reckon this is particularly the case for someone who may not have much panel beating experience. Two blocks of hard wood / two short lengths of angle iron and a couple of G-clamps would probably be quite successful for something like this too (thinking of a solution for someone with the most basic of basic tool kits)

[Army]

Today I righted the car body back onto its jacking points and then flipped it back over onto its other side =>



Whilst it isn't as convenient as a proper rotisserie / spit doing it this way has saved a whole heap of cash.

[Army]

To cheer myself up a bit I've been messing about with making an axle case expander instead of just rubbing wire brushes over the underside of the car.

[
Aside: An axle case expander is needed to allow safe removal of the crown wheel assembly / differential and also to make sure when you put it back in the axial bearings are pre-loaded to the correct amount. The pre-load comes from expanding the axle case so it presses up against the bearings.

In the US of A these things are easily bought on the bay of E, as over there solid back axles and cart horse sprung suspension systems are de rigueur. I too could have bought one for about 150 USD and then waited a few months for some chap in a canoe to paddle it over to Holland for me and then make the Dutch tax man very very wealthy - I imagine this tool sent from the US of A would cost from about 250 euros - so making one myself quickly became the plan (!)
]

I started by going to my local friendly fabrication shop where they let me buy small quantities of steel {instead of having to deal with steel handlers and their minimum quantities and delivery).

One design limit was that I needed to cycle back home with what ever I bought and I needed about 2 meters of solid rectangular bar. They had some 50mm X 20 (ish)mm stock I could have with a bit of round solid bar (diameter 22mm) for 20 euros. Bargain. It wasn't too heavy and I only scratched three cars cycling back...

...so that was nice...

...the rectangular bar got chopped up into the lengths shown below



The long lengths are 35 cm

The short lengths are 14 cm

I also invested in a bit of M12 coarse threaded rod and a few M8 bolts. The M8 bolts needed to have a nice bit of shank on them (so threads don't dig in and wear holes / shanks bigger than planned)



Drilling holes in the ends of the rectangular stock on the pillar drill =>



I think it is relatively important to drill these holes on a pillar drill - not only because a hand held drill would mean it would take ages unless you have the weight of Geoff Capes behind you - but also drilling straight is pretty hard to do!

Straight - orthogonal - holes in a pinned structure like this are pretty important for an aligned end product (!)

Here's a trial fit =>



^^^^^^^I'm also working out the positions of these small pieces of the puzzle and some end caps (made from the same rectangular stock) to make sure there is enough room for an M12 washer to spin between the sides of the structure.

{As you will see in a bit} One end of the expanding part needs to spin whilst the other end needs to have a tapped M12 hole =>



Here's a shot of the first of the end pieces welded into place =>



(Note: I'm not being overly fussy with the welding! I'm just stick welding with 6013 farmers' welding rods - got enough penetration despite only having smaller 3.2mm rods - I would have preferred 4.0)

Finished (for now) expanding part =>



The double nuts on the threaded bar are locked together.

The threaded bar can rotate / spin on the RHS part of the expander /clamp

Whilst on the LHS part (as shown in the picture above) the threaded bar can go in and out of the newly tapped M12 hole =>




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Right: The other side of the "square" will remain rigid - all of the adjustment of the expander is done of one side.



^^^^^So after all that - I finally show a picture of what I am approximately making!

{I bet for some it has been "WTF is he doing now"}




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It still isn't done yet however - the round bar needs to be fitted to the side of the square expander (as shown in the picture above). The round bar(s) locate in special locating holes in the axle casing - from where the 'ole will be stretched

Here I'm making several vertical holes in an almost semi-circular shape so I can weld the rods nicely to the rectangular stock =>



And then slicing out the waste bits with an angle grinder



I made sure there was quite an OK gap so I could get good weld penetration between the rectangular stock and the round bar. Mounted in a corner clamp before the buzz box treatment =>



Again despite the use of farmers welding rods (I don't care what you say I love welding MMA!) I got the round bar to be nice and orthogonal to the rectangular bar



And there we have it =>





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How to use it

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Fitted to the axle case =>



And with a DTI =>



Today I only had a few minutes to play with the new toy. I get the feeling the DTI set up isn't going to be reliable enough (as shown in the last picture) to get an accurate reading of the distance of which the case gets expanded.

I reckon I'm going to have to come up with a different measurement position - so - to be continued (I'll let you all know how I get on with it)

[Army]

I forgot to say the tool in the post above is meant to do the same job as SVO 2394 (a circular affair shown in chapter 04.6 in the workshop manual)

The distance that the case needs to be stretched is between 0.13 and 0.2mm

I'm hopeful that the hardware I've chosen to use is going to be up to the job

I've just got to find a way of squashing the DTI further into the casing to make a direct measurement of the stretching - this is very important to get right because if you go past the 0.2mm there is a chance that you exceed the elastic limit of the casting and deform it