Project Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - To gas or not to gas(less MIG) - 09/11/24

[High Jetter]

9 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Work out why the heater fan no longer runs at slow speed

I'd start at the rheostat which controls the motor speed, usually mounted most conveniently* on the heater box. Mudflaps were big accessory sales for the main dealers when they were new.

[Stanky]

Could you wrap some exhaust wrap around that very specific section to absorb any metal-on-metal vibration? Would likely only need a couple of layers just to pad out the gap between exhaust pipe and bracket?

[GingerNuttz]

1 hour ago, Talbot said:

Hasn't that just been done?

Problems with that paint not curing fully so I said to the captain we should redo it at some point.

We painted it a zero degrees and even with the space heater going full bore and extra long gas off times it's still a touch soft. You can't leave finger prints in it but can still dig a nail so a better quality paint and warmer weather should see it reet. 

[captain_70s]

16 minutes ago, Talbot said:

Hasn't that just been done?

If a job is worth doing it's worth doing twice, or something...

Essentially the paint hasn't hardened, and after several months of UV exposure and warm days it likely never will. The other day I leant on the bonnet while talking to somebody and left a faint corduroy pattern in the paint 🤣

Exact cause is unknown, spraying the car with an ambient temp of 0C and snow outside didn't help. The workshop was brought up to 16C for spraying but couldn't be maintained for any length of time.

The paint itself is also a direct gloss that @GingerNuttz hadn't worked with before and it wouldn't mix reliably. The roof and boot lid are a shade lighter than the rest of the car and there are a few thin areas that'd be impossible to blend in if resprayed. 

Really doing it again in summer with base and clear is the only solution.

[Fumbler]

6 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

Really doing it again in summer with base and clear is the only solution.

I'm sure using a more familiar 2K gloss in the summer would work a treat. Plus it gives you the opportunity to endlessly polish without burning through the lacquer coat.

[GingerNuttz]

The paint line is part of a commercial range they had just started selling and it's supposed to be baked, in hindsight I should have used a ton of rocket but with already using very fast hardener I didn't think it was necessary 😂

[captain_70s]

I've started a new job, life is busy. Car fuckery has been limited.

The Acclaim managed to gain a dent in the rear valance, fuck knows how. It's been pushed a good inch inwards. Also that bumper is fucking hideous, Jesus wept...

I also did a bit of stuff to the new Volvo. (collection thread here) Firstly I put some petrol in it and calculated the mpg for my collection it. 25.5mpg, quite respectable considering the speeds involved for most of the trip, I dare say the best part of 35 could be achieved on a 65mph motorway run. My 2.0 peaked at 26mpg doing a steady 55mph.

I then tried to get the radio working....

Firstly I phoned my local Volvo dealer and got the radio code, with the head unit unlocked it powered up but did nothing. I then found the fuse for the amp was blown, so replaced that. Now I had sound from the speakers, just nothing one might want to hear.

Pulled the unit apart, tried cleaning various connections etc and managed to get some genuine reception out of it. Sporadically. Kind of. Smacking the chassis of the radio with a screwdriver handle would cause the unit to work with violent stabs of interference and wavering volumes through various speakers but never consistently. I tried twiddling the pots and wiggling various boards to find no symptoms that could be replicated. Then I noticed it had gotten very hot around the back by the fuses.

I'm going to assume the capacitors aren't supposed to be leaking... Given the price of these units (£120+) I've ordered a soldering iron and shall attempt to repair it. I have a valve radio that needs the same work on a larger pre-circuit board scale, so I may practice with that...

I also loaded all my shit into the Volvo and returned the Saab to @blackboilersuit after having borrowed it for 6 months...

 

Also, if this doesn't sum up the whole car I don't know what does:

 

[somewhatfoolish]

Congrats on the new job. What is it?

[Heidel_Kakao]

2 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Congrats on the new job. What is it?

My accountant I believe 😀

[captain_70s]

4 hours ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

My accountant I believe 😀

Only on Saturdays.

6 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Congrats on the new job. What is it?

Field service engineer, clean air ventilation. Bit of a change of pace from factory floor production stuff...

 

I've been reliably informed the gunk on the capacitors is probably actually glue. Makes sense as I'd only ever seen capacitors burst from the top before, but I didn't see why they'd bother gluing soldered components. Seemingly it's 'cause they're heavy and it reduces stress on the joins, fair dos.

[Talbot]

8 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Also, if this doesn't sum up the whole car I don't know what does:

That was properly funny!  It wasn't clear if you knew that was going to happen, or if you were going to come back round to the front of the car and go "ah for fuckssssakes!"

 

[Supernaut]

I love the dedication shown with the radio.

If it were me, I'd have just whacked in a generic aftermarket unit by now. I can't remember the last time I had an OEM radio in a car, actually!

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, captain_70s said:

I've been reliably informed the gunk on the capacitors is probably actually glue. Makes sense as I'd only ever seen capacitors burst from the top before, but I didn't see why they'd bother gluing soldered components. Seemingly it's 'cause they're heavy and it reduces stress on the joins, fair dos.

Yeah it looks a lot like glue to me, and as you say its there to reduce stress on the solder joints

however going by how it reacts when you whack it with something I want to say there might still be some dry (broken) joints somewhere still

not surprising given all the vibrations and stuff a car radio has to go through in its life time

so it might be worth taking the board and just reflowing/touching up any suspicious looking joints and seeing if that fixes anything  

it might also be worth cleaning up the potentiometers with some contact cleaner or such

 

as a side note capacitors can still leak out of their arse, you mainly see it with surface mounted ones (many a vintage computer has sadly been ruined like this by leaking capacitor juice, which eats away at the copper traces and such)

so it is something I would still keep an eye out for just incase

[Talbot]

The flickering front lighting along with the variable sound when being "tapped" suggests that you might have a cracked PCB and/or a cracked ribbon cable between PCBs.  Fingers crossed it's actually nothing more than dry solder joints, but tapping like that doesn't often make solder joints work again like that.

What make is it?

 

[danthecapriman]

My 740’s factory radio fucked up too. It’d power on once the code was entered, electric aerial went up and the display would pick up and lock onto stations but all it would ever do was either stay silent, horrible interference noises or a constant ‘ticking’ sound. 
From what I gather the radios from this era Volvo tend to be a bit temperamental. I don’t know anything about electronics and radios so after testing the speakers etc I hooked up an aftermarket head unit and went with that since it all worked with that.

One other thing to consider, some 700’s have a separate amplifier which is hidden up under the dash which can also cause issues! Can’t remember the specifics but that was something I was told about on the Volvo oc forum.

[captain_70s]

Aye, it's the original Volvo CR 702 unit, which are known to fail. 

It seems to cut out various bits of the circuitry when prodded, but I've struggled to find of any particular movement changes things. It's a bitch to test too as the plugs and separate amp means it needs to be fucked about with while in the car.

Worst case I'll bypass the amp and wire in a conventional head unit, although the world's insistence on making them look gash doesn't help.

[davidfowler2000]

There's a place in Barrhead that may be able to refurb it. I'm thinking of taking mine down to them as it's getting a bit senile.

[captain_70s]

1 hour ago, davidfowler2000 said:

There's a place in Barrhead that may be able to refurb it. I'm thinking of taking mine down to them as it's getting a bit senile.

I think you should do that and then tell me how much it cost so I can opt to not bother use their no doubt well priced services.

[big_al_granvia]

aye lads but that means going to borrheid, i woul just chuck in a early 90's cd radio, make it look like a period upgrade.... if you can find 1 that works

[captain_70s]

Sitrep.

I transferred boot loads of shit and gave @blackboilersuit his Saab back. I realised it could be bump started if it wouldn't start with the key so strategically parked it facing downhill.

While it majorly saved my arse over winter I simply couldn't fix it. I did try and take the ignition barrel out but was utterly defeated and gave up before I ended up breaking it...

Volvo dash still looks like this:

@cms206 may have a spare head unit, I've bought a £8 adaptor so facilitate fitting a normal head unit and bypassing the factory amp without butchering the loom if required.

Then the windscreen washers stopped working, blocked.

0.8mm welding wire fits in one end, but then it closes up to 0.6mm and I was using a safety pin. Managed to get three jets out of four working.

 

I then started looking at cosmetics... Due to the car sitting under a tree for 16 years it had a fair amount of growth on it when recovered.

This seems to have been cleaned off with TFR which has stained all the rubbers, scrubbing brings them back mostly. I've lost my linseed oil so no blacking has occurred so I'm still rocking grey mirrors...

The trim has also gone cloudy and corroded in places. It's some sort of plated/varnished alloy and I couldn't get it to clean or polish.

So I bust out the sandpaper on the worse bit.

That's a quick going over with 800 grit, then 2000, then hand polished with Autosol. I reckon with a bit of effort it could come up fairly well, albeit a bit darker than the original finish.

For the gutter trims that were less corroded and just faded I went straight for 2000 grit and polish to finish.

The not blind amongst you may have noticed the paint is... Poor.

The car was originally metallic grey but was painted white for it's duties as a site security/first aid vehicle. It seems to have been painted once to some sort of standard but then yellowed really badly and been blown over in white again at some point.

The roof was the worst bit, where the lichen had essentially dug into the paint and left big stains in it. I went ham on the thing with 600 grit sandpaper and quickly came to the conclusion I'd run out of paint before I got rid of the marks...

It is mildly improved, but still massively shit. It looks alright from 20ft which is good enough. It could be painted, but It's the sort of car that is useful to double up as a workbench and can be used and parked around without worrying about damage...

I also lubricated all the hinges and locks with the help of @davidfowler2000

I also got the door/boot switches for the interior lights working, and discovered the ultimate in luxury:

I even got mega brave/stupid and got the sunroof working on tilt...

Mechanically there are murmurings that this might be the nicest driving 740 in the SVM, likely due to it's low mileage @ 124k and likely having led a fairly easy life. It drives so much better than my 2.0, the extra torque and ZF gearbox really make the car. Working PAS and all four brakes are also a nice improvement. 

Current issues are as thus:

Intermittent wiper relay is dodgy and need smacking with a screwdriver handle to inspire functionality.
Rear washer doesn't work.
Rear wiper comes on with the headlights, currently solved by pulling the fuse ( which also runs the radio and leccy mirrors).
The front passenger side wiring has a short. If the headlights are on the sidelight and headlight pulse with the indicator.
Aux belt squeals at low rpm because one of the tensioner bolts is AWOL.

Between my spares stash from the last car, @davidfowler2000, @cms206 and @rml2345 I think I have pretty much every part and bit of trim I might need to smarten it up/get it back to full functionality. Several neighbours think that its actually F940 SRT and not a completely different car...

Such style.

[Split_Pin]

This 740 really is an incredibly solid thing and very well bought. I can only dream of chassis rails so minty looking.

[Supernaut]

I know it's an odd thing to pick up on, the but appearance and disappearance of the stripes on the passenger side is confusing me.

Were they just two thin blue stripes that you peeled off?

 

 

Give it a month or so and I'll be poking and prodding this in reality. I have no friends down in the central belt besides AS people!

[big_al_granvia]

get it wrapped http://www.creative-vinyl.com/en/578-volvo-850-1994-btcc-rydell-full-rally-graphics-kit.html

[captain_70s]

On 6/12/2021 at 9:16 AM, Supernaut said:

I know it's an odd thing to pick up on, the but appearance and disappearance of the stripes on the passenger side is confusing me.

Were they just two thin blue stripes that you peeled off?

Give it a month or so and I'll be poking and prodding this in reality. I have no friends down in the central belt besides AS people!

So I think the stripes were just stickers, they were gone when I bought it. I think it's had a couple of liveries in the past, possibly a reflective strip between the blue stripes, as there are chunks of paint missing in that area.

You can take it for a spin if you'd like.

[greengartside]

Need any Ovlov spares, guvnor?

92k on the clock, a criminal waste but 100% complete. No radio though, soz.

[Supernaut]

Drive the white one over, swap the wheels, and drive the blue one back!

[big_al_granvia]

that blue estate still has mot, got a set of 17" ovlov wheels with legal ditchfinders if anyone needs to perform a rescue mission

[SiC]

Blue one has the scrap marker against it unfortunately.

[greengartside]

34 minutes ago, SiC said:

Blue one has the scrap marker against it unfortunately.

Yes, sorry it’s not to return to the road 😢😢😢

[captain_70s]

Shame, it looks properly clean. A good way to dump £1500-2000 in the bin... Odo hasn't worked since 2008 though, so mileage unknown really!

In terms of spares I could do with the rear lights, tailgate badges and all the metal shoulder trims below the windows off the top of my head... Give me a PM regards prices please!