1961 Volvo PV544 in Holland

[old fart]

Here you are, these may help, if you can see past the mud!

[Army]

Originally Posted by old fart

Here you are, these may help, if you can see past the mud!

Oh right you are then - now I see - I bet I ain´t got the right brackets for the sides either...

...umm off to find that spares book I go...

...there´s also more modern aluminium inner wheel arch kits available that seem to cover most of the wheel (a bit like the plastic wheel arch inserts found on modern cars)



However at about 150 euros a pop for the set I reckon I can make something a bit cheaper than that.

[Army]

A few days back I cleaned up the underside of the chassis rails and coated this area in cold galvanising Zinga stuff - I learnt about Zinga via Land Rovers where lots of stuff is galvanised...



...much like normal (hot) galvanised parts you need to be very careful when welding it - the fumes can kill ya deed. Still Zinga reckon it is something you can weld through if you´re careful with PP.

Jigging up the position =>



Trouble at mill =>



Welding with TIG proved to be pretty inappropriate - too much of the rust proofing gunk kept coming out of the joints from the chassis rails - making the welding area way way too dirty for TIG

I resorted to welding with farm yard arc welding rods - say what you like about stick welding on cars but it has gotten me out of many a tight spot before when things are just too grotty to get decent penetration.



I´ve finished the front bits but as I´m taking out the engine to reseal all the leaks I figured I might as well remove the subframe and get better (welding) position for the harder to reach parts on this front cross member.

So to be continued

[Army]

...I figured I might as well give the front suspension a bit of a refresh


(This is how it usually goes - I´m one of those ¨well as I´m there I might as well do that as well¨ mechanics - this often ends in disaster with too many parts in jam jars and bits spread all over the place - so this could be fun!)


I must say it is just as well I didn´t bother test driving the car before I bought it - I´d never have taken it on - it must have handled like the Good Ship Venus in a swell.

Anti-roll bar rubbers are a bit done in



Springs out!

Nice and easy to do on this car - no effing expensive spring compressors needed



^^^^^

Uncompressed length = 25cm - I have to look up that spec - will report back (!)

Seems like a grease gun hasn´t been used for a while

Bushings need replacing

[Army]

Anyone here gone through a process of checking suspension springs?

Book says

Unloaded length ~ (approximately) 255mm

[So my springs seem to fit that specification]

Length when loaded with 435 +/- 12 kg => 177mm

[Why 435kg? I guess that must be the expected weight of the front end of the car?]

Length when fully compressed => max 113mm

[I´ve got an expensive internal spring compressor for a Mercedes that would enable me to do this but really it seems a bit OTT even for me]

Loading required for compression of 1cm Measured within spring range 155 - 200mm => 59 +/- 2kg

[Hmmmm - how would I...]

Useful information that is quite hard to use in practice...



#########


So the point of this post - is there an official ride height specification for the PV?

I can´t find that even in the section for tracking adjustments - many vehicle manufacturers specify ride height before you start messing about with castor camber and toe...

[Army]

...

Front suspension is now almost down to component parts (I´m really happy when they´re in bits)



Slight problem with the upper control arms - what do Volvo chaps call them - wishbones isn´t it?



Anyway - strange design trying to get four threads to match up - not surprising there´s a cross threaded nightmare...

...that needs to be fixed I guess.

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Share your experiences with this please!

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Ahhh look at that - little beach buggy in the sand




Meanwhile the idler arm was waggling about so much I thought it was taking the **** - so I whipped that apart only to find the internal shaft and bore to be in really good condition! I was shocked - I was expecting the worse.



Looks like I´ll get away with new plastic washers and shims



Caught in the nick of time I say - kind of justifies the mass disassembly which to many might seem like madness...

[Army]

First downer on the car

This might sound like a good old whinge but this really is the first thing I´ve found on the car that I´m not happy about.

I don´t like botch jobs



I can fix this of course but I don´t like the thought of figure of eight holes on brake parts.

[Army]

Can anyone help with this upper control arm cross threading trouble?



The upper control arms themselves seem to be in good nick apart from a bit of the threads for this inner side mounting

I´m thinking I´ll get new insert threaded nuts and loctite them in place on the upper control arm...

...the outer nuts will hold the axle bar in position...

{Perhaps I need to show this pictorially?}

[Derek UK]

Your "botch job" on the brake parts is the result of fitting the disc brake conversion. I don't think it is anything to worry about.

[Austinvolvo]

Check the inner corners of the lower spring seat. There are sometimes stress cracks there.