Project Volvo 740, interior headlining finished! Pg 23.

[Ghosty]

What sadarse codger binned the plates and put a badge bar on it?

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, greengartside said:

In other news, the local classic car garage near me has something very familiar coming up for sale soon.

It’s the Wolseley that shared driveway space with Pig Iron (and HubNut’s Omega) many moons ago.

Door mirrors tho?

[captain_70s]

9 hours ago, greengartside said:

In other news, the local classic car garage near me has something very familiar coming up for sale soon.

It’s the Wolseley that shared driveway space with Pig Iron (and HubNut’s Omega) many moons ago.

Shame that somebody decided it'd be better with a badge bar and modern number plates...

[danthecapriman]

Just had a look on dvla vehicle check & MOT history sites, and unfortunately it actually looks like the Omega has now bitten the dust!😭 

Shame if it has, but at least it got a few more years beyond when it was laid up with the other two. Both it, and the Volvo might have been going for scrap back then when the estate was cleared. 
Plus, @dollywobbler got some fun* with its revival too!

[greengartside]

21 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Bloody hell!! Isn’t that a little beauty now!

You got any more info on it? I’ll send the photo to my now brother in law’s dad who I got the Volvo off. I bet he’ll be well pleased to see his dad’s old car now!

It will be for sale at South Norfolk Classics at Diss in Norfolk in the next few days. I’m sure they’ve got a website and a faceache page 😁

[danthecapriman]

Managed to get out this morning and got both the remaining door handles changed for the new chrome ones. Just about finished in time when the heavens opened! Fucking useless weather reports said it was supposed to be dry today, lying pricks! 
Literally got the last door card back on as the rain started so I just managed to get it done without being caught with a door that wouldn’t close! 
No pics unfortunately because of the shit weather but it was exactly the same as the other two. Doors have also been sprayed out inside with cavity wax, all mechanisms cleaned and greased and door handle retaining bolds threads greased to stop them seizing. The usual!

I found a couple of patches of rust starting in the engine bay while I was doing the alternator too, up under the steering UJ on the bulkhead. All solid but I’ve cleaned it back and coated it with Dynax clear wax to stop it getting worse.
 

I’ve also just got some more bits. A pair of radiator hoses as the current ones are now quite old and have a few chafed bits and splits on the ends.

[danthecapriman]

Forgot to mention earlier…

Does anyone have any knowledge or ideas about headlining for this?

At the moment it’s got the original board backing, onto which is glued some thin foam padding then over the top of that is cream/beige headlining fabric. Since the sunroof leakage this has completely finished it off! The foam is all rotting from old age/heat and the fabric is all wrinkled and falling down in typical Volvo 700 style!

My plan is to remove the headlining board (via the boot opening), rip off the old fabric and bin it, then scrape off the old foam. Once the board is clean I’ll fix it where/if necessary and recover it. 
Question is though, what in?

Do I get thin foam for padding as it had originally with some sort of fabric over that? 
Or don’t bother, and just put fabric straight onto the board?   
I’ve considered using appropriately coloured vehicle trim carpet (that fluffy stretchy stuff for trimming camper van interiors etc), vinyl?, or just some generic material?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Fumbler]

50 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Forgot to mention earlier…

Does anyone have any knowledge or ideas about headlining for this?

At the moment it’s got the original board backing, onto which is glued some thin foam padding then over the top of that is cream/beige headlining fabric. Since the sunroof leakage this has completely finished it off! The foam is all rotting from old age/heat and the fabric is all wrinkled and falling down in typical Volvo 700 style!

My plan is to remove the headlining board (via the boot opening), rip off the old fabric and bin it, then scrape off the old foam. Once the board is clean I’ll fix it where/if necessary and recover it. 
Question is though, what in?

Do I get thin foam for padding as it had originally with some sort of fabric over that? 
Or don’t bother, and just put fabric straight onto the board?   
I’ve considered using appropriately coloured vehicle trim carpet (that fluffy stretchy stuff for trimming camper van interiors etc), vinyl?, or just some generic material?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

You should be able to get a roll of headlining fabric - fabric with the foam already bonded to it. I stumbled across it when I was looking at headlining solutions for my 850.

[danthecapriman]

11 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

You should be able to get a roll of headlining fabric - fabric with the foam already bonded to it. I stumbled across it when I was looking at headlining solutions for my 850.

I’ve just had a look on eBay after you mentioned it, apparently it’s called scrim foam, or scrim foam backed material. Specifically designed for vehicle interior trimming! Looking at it, it’s exactly the same as what my dad’s Mondeo estate headlining is made from. 
More investigation needed on that I think, there’s all sorts of finishes and outer materials/patterns available too. 
It looks expensive though…

[EyesWeldedShut]

The stretchy fluffy fabric stuff you mentioned is a doddle to use but would not look too authentic in a 740?
Costwise it is as cheap as chips though - couple of cans of spray glue stuff and you're off - I've used it in a Moggie to replace headlining (no way that car was any sort of 'classic' though) and it was OK. Used it on thin ply boards for our caravan and it was even better there - I reckon the old headlining board and a warm day it'd be easy for the 740.

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

The stretchy fluffy fabric stuff you mentioned is a doddle to use but would not look too authentic in a 740?
Costwise it is as cheap as chips though - couple of cans of spray glue stuff and you're off - I've used it in a Moggie to replace headlining (no way that car was any sort of 'classic' though) and it was OK. Used it on thin ply boards for our caravan and it was even better there - I reckon the old headlining board and a warm day it'd be easy for the 740.

Yeah I’ve used that carpet stuff to do the interior of a camper, it was dead easy with spray glue. I’m just not sure if it’d look much good in a 740 though? Might look a bit out of place? It’s pretty cheap though, and you can get bundle deals on eBay with carpet material and cans of spray glue.

I did see some leatherette type stuff in very pale beige/cream with that diamond shape quilting effect embossed into it! Was not cheap. That might be a bit too far the other way though than the carpet! It’d look like an old smoking room or something!

[greengartside]

OMG ORIGINAL PL8S ARE ON THE CAR AGEN

South Norfolk Classics on Facebook.

[danthecapriman]

36 minutes ago, greengartside said:

OMG ORIGINAL PL8S ARE ON THE CAR AGEN

South Norfolk Classics on Facebook.

I’m not on Facebook.

Certainly looks better with those plates on it. Really nice little car that.

[EyesWeldedShut]

10 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I’m not on Facebook.

Certainly looks better with those plates on it. Really nice little car that.

needs a night photoshoot so we can see the radiator badge glowing?

 

12 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Yeah I’ve used that carpet stuff to do the interior of a camper, it was dead easy with spray glue. I’m just not sure if it’d look much good in a 740 though? Might look a bit out of place? It’s pretty cheap though, and you can get bundle deals on eBay with carpet material and cans of spray glue.

I did see some leatherette type stuff in very pale beige/cream with that diamond shape quilting effect embossed into it! Was not cheap. That might be a bit too far the other way though than the carpet! It’d look like an old smoking room or something!

Our Moggie was a rat look thing that somebody had built and the fuzzy headlining looked, well, ratty in it - it's great in the caravan but,  to my mind, not that great for a 740 - I'd use it if cost was an issue, otherwise - Gentleman's Club sounds better - couple of chesterfields in the front and you'd be well away?
These guys do LR kits but sell the stuff by the yard too (and they do samples)
https://www.martrim.co.uk/car-trimming-supplies/headlining-kit-tutorial.php

 

[mat_the_cat]

I used Martrim for the headlining in my Stellar.

[danthecapriman]

15 minutes ago, mat_the_cat said:

I used Martrim for the headlining in my Stellar.

 

1 hour ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

needs a night photoshoot so we can see the radiator badge glowing?

 

Our Moggie was a rat look thing that somebody had built and the fuzzy headlining looked, well, ratty in it - it's great in the caravan but,  to my mind, not that great for a 740 - I'd use it if cost was an issue, otherwise - Gentleman's Club sounds better - couple of chesterfields in the front and you'd be well away?
These guys do LR kits but sell the stuff by the yard too (and they do samples)
https://www.martrim.co.uk/car-trimming-supplies/headlining-kit-tutorial.php

 

That stuff looks just the job I think. Colour and fabric style look about spot on for something that’s not over the top, looks nice and fresh, clean and tidy. Just what I’m after!

Cheers fella’s, I’ll certainly have a look at that site later. maybe get something ordered. 
Weather is meant to improve this weekend and into next week so I might start stripping the old stuff out. Then try to find and fix the leak. 
I’ve got an idea the leak might well be that little rust hole that appeared a few years ago (it’s covered in this thread somewhere…) because access to the back was poor and the flammable headlining was in the way I opted to used chemical metal to fix it, but I think it’s actually cracked around the edges and sunk in slightly so that could be where water is seeping in. If it is that, it’s an easy fix with the headlining out… I’ll weld it up this time and make it a permanent repair!

I’ll double check though, once the headlining is out of the car I’ll sit inside it while someone else sprays the roof with a hose. Should be able to see exactly where it’s getting in that way.
 

[danthecapriman]

Had a day at it again today, and much has been done!

Headlining removal. This wasn’t a job I was looking forward to. At all tbh. 
I knew it’d be a messy job and it also meant taking off loads of plastic interior trims made from the most brittle plastic known to man. 
Pretty much all the plastic trim around the roof lining board, interior lights & bezels, sun visors, rear view mirror etc etc all need removing. Fortunately most of it came off complete, only a couple of attachments on the backs broke which I should be able to glue.

 

After that the old fabric went very baggy and loose so I just grabbed it at one end and pulled it all off. No resistance whatsoever so it had well and truly rotted and the glue was doing nothing anymore. 
With that out and in the bin the back board can be pulled loose and fed out through the boot opening. Very easy on the estates but a bit more of a pig on saloons.

Predictably, it did make a hell of a mess! Once you start messing with it all the old dry rotten foam just turns to dust and falls off everywhere. Not much you can do about it unfortunately. I’ve hoovered the worst of it out but once everything is finished I’ll have to thoroughly clean out the cabin. 
There’s a few bits of sound deadening matting that have come loose, which I’ll either replace or glue back up.

Here’s the board, ready to be scraped clean of all the old foam & glue.

Very obvious this has been getting wet!

[danthecapriman]

Next job was find out how & why it was leaking!

This took absolutely ages!! Inside you can see where it’d all got wet but it had dried out now leaving little trace of the exact source of the leak. I sat in the car while someone else sprayed it down with a hose… still no sign of leaks. I even used bits of dry tissue shoved up into the roof and sunroof tray to try to find any wet spots… bugger all! 
Then after a few minutes a tiny drip appeared from the very front corner of the sunroof opening. After a while this became a steady drip, which landed directly onto the front seat. Which is exactly where it was getting wet before.

Leak definitely found. Now, why the hell is it getting in there!? 
I opened the sunroof fully and had a look inside the top of the frame. All drain holes were clear and the water had all drained out of the outer channels where it’s supposed to go. But, somehow some water had managed to get through the frame between the outer drain channels and then into the inside section of the sunroof frame. It then filled up a strengthening rib pressing before overflowing out into the interior.

I didn’t know this, I just found out by looking online, but it seems these sunroof’s have a removable cover along the front edge. If you remove this it reveals the two cables for opening/closing the sunroof lid and the back of the winder handle mechanism. Along the top edges of this Volvo put a big strip of weatherproof caulking type stuff to seal the two sections together. On the front corners there’s a particularly thick lump of it. Over time this stuff seems to dry up and fall out. Obviously by this point it’s not doing much good as a seal. 
The picture below shows all this better than words!

The top cover section is here. Just held on with a few screws.

At this point it was blatantly obvious what had happened and where the water was getting through.

[danthecapriman]

Fixing this is (I hope!) easy. I’ve scraped off all the old caulking, then hoovered out all the dust and crap then wiped it down with white spirit. 
Once clean I’ve used proper rubberised automotive seam sealer to do the same job as the caulking. Only this time I’ve gone to town with it! Once the front cover was screwed back on, I went around it again and sealed the joint all along the edge. In theory this shouldn’t be able to leak ever again! At least not for many many years.

For now I’ve left it alone to dry, but tomorrow I’ll test it again. I’m 99% sure I’ve sorted it though. 
It’d have looked better if I used black sealer but grey was all I had! If it works ok I might give it a quick spray over in black to tidy it up a bit. There’s a few rust blebs around the edge I want to address too. 
This can easily be fixed without removing the headlining btw, I just want to replace my headliner regardless so it makes sense to do it all in one hit.

The headlining board has been scraped clean of all the old foam and glue now too ready for the new material. Which I’ve ordered and should arrive mid week. 
All that left to do now is a few repairs to the board where water damage has allowed it to break and go a bit floppy. I’ll probably cut some sections of thin ply and glue these on the back to strengthen it where needed, then I might paint the back (non material side) with varnish to help stop moisture soaking into it.

Not a job I was looking forward to, but glad it’s mostly done now. The worst of it is done anyway!  
You can certainly see why Volvo changed the headlining on these cars on later models to plastic trims instead of these hardboard sections with material over the top. It looks better the original way - if it’s all clean, dry and not hanging down! But it just doesn’t work very well or last very well either. Another one of those things that got improved over time between these early cars and the later 900’s.

[mat_the_cat]

One thing I've learnt with water leaks is to never assume it's only coming in at one place! But it sounds like you are sure...just I've been caught out before, drying everything out and putting it back only to find water still.coming in

[danthecapriman]

1 minute ago, mat_the_cat said:

One thing I've learnt with water leaks is to never assume it's only coming in at one place! But it sounds like you are sure...just I've been caught out before, drying everything out and putting it back only to find water still.coming in

Yeah, I thought I’d cured it before back in March, but no! 
I’ll let the sealer go off over night then tomorrow I’ll give it another water test while someone sits inside the car and see what happens. I’m almost certain this is the issue though. It’s pretty much the only way water can get inside like it has been if the drains are ok.

I will make absolutely sure before the new headlining goes back in the car though. 
And I want to do a better repair on that little rusty bit that was leaking a few years back. It wants welding up really, so I might do that this time.

[danthecapriman]

Just strengthened a few areas of the back board with fibreglass. 
I’ve cut some strips and layered them with the resin across the back of the board either side of the sunroof opening where it was really weak, and the same around the front edge. Made sure to lay the matting in different directions to help add strength, then chopped up the off cuts into small patches for strengthening some corners and edges.

I hope it’s going to be ok! I didn’t want to add too much in case it stops the thing fitting properly afterwards!

Once it’s dry I’ll see how it feels, if it’s still a bit flimsy I’ll do the same on the other side. Headlining material will cover it over anyway.

[danthecapriman]

It’s drying already!

It’d be fair to say I won’t be getting a job as a fibreglass-er anytime soon!😆  

But it’s better than it was, and there’s no weight or load going onto this so as long as it goes back in and stays in that shape I don’t care. 
There’s a few bits where the hardboard stuff is peeling and separating so I’ll soak a bit of watered down glue into those bits later.

[danthecapriman]

After the first layer of fibreglass dried I felt it still didn’t have much strength or rigidity. Definitely an improvement but not good enough really. 
So I’ve added a couple more layers of coarser fibreglass mat over the back side (non fabric covered) then a single layer of coarse mat over the crack/bend on the fabric covered side to reinforce the thin weak bits. Then wrapped around both sides with another layer of fine mat. I’ve also beefed up the rear view mirror hole and some corners that were weak with resin and coarse mat. 
The result now is a significant improvement! It’s very rigid now and doesn’t bend anywhere near as easily. Perfect!

Ive gone around some of the remaining splits and separating board with wood glue and clamps to finish up. Then all around the edges of the board, sunroof hole, interior light, sunroof winder hole, rear view mirror hole etc etc I’ve gone around with a stapler and stapled the layers of the board together with a bit of glue added into the layers where it’d separated badly. I think it’s now about as good as it’s ever going to be!

As it was before, you couldn’t have stood it up like this. The end beyond the sunroof hole would just flop around! It’s rock solid now.

 

The new material has arrived too.

It’s proper headlining material with a scrim foam backing. Loads of colours available, but being the conservative boring type I am I went for ‘Ivory’ which is a pale beige/off white. It’s not too dissimilar to the original colour so I thought it best to stick to that. The other colours were too dark imho, or you get pure white, but that was extremely bright and would get dirty easily. 
The adhesive hasn’t arrived yet, so I’ve opened the material out over the dining room table to stretch out and try to get rid of any creases.

With the foam backing I’m sure it’ll cover any imperfections in the old back board, and my fibreglass repairs. Hopefully!

[danthecapriman]

Decided today to fix the rusty bleb on the roof next to the sunroof. 
Id had a go at this a few years ago and skimmed off the rust and then shied away from welding the roof skin last time so plugged it with some chemical metal instead. This seems to have worked, to a point. 
Having ground into it today with a finger sander it’s definitely not been leaking. It seems to have sealed around the metal hole edges ok, but you can see where moisture has been getting in to the metal surface at the edges and started rusting it again. 
So, I’ve ground the whole bit down, to bare shiny steel and made a small metal disk to fit into the hole. Then welded that in with the usual overlapping spots of weld. 
It was a bit shit for the first couple of spots as the end of the welding wire had gone rusty into the gun and just splattered! I should have let a few inches out of the gun and cut it off really!   
First time I’ve welded for a while now, and I’d half expected the welder to play up but it was fine. Instead the auto darkening welding visor played up, which I can’t get working again so I had to this job without a visor! Aim the torch, close eyes as you weld, and so on! Not ideal so I’m going buy myself a new visor I think.
 

You can see the top few welds weren’t great! Don’t use rusty wire kids! 
It’s a very small repair too so didn’t take much welding.

 

Once it’s cooled off a bit I’ll grind the weld’s down and skim it with filler, rub that down and put a coat of paint on. It’s now seam welded metal so shouldn’t cause leaks anymore and it shouldn’t be able to move/expand/contract in the heat etc either, so I’m calling that fixed!

After I’m done with this the headlining material needs gluing to the board and putting back into the car.

 

Raining now so that’s that done for today!🤬

Managed to grind it smooth and get a skim of filler on so I’ve covered the car over and hopefully it’ll be able to go off. Hopefully I can sand it down & paint tomorrow.

[danthecapriman]

Dry day today. Allegedly!

Got the first skim of filler wet sanded down. It did reveal a small low spot right in the middle though, so I’ve just mixed a tiny bit more filler and slapped it on.

You can just about see the low spot with the little rough dimples. Where the paper & block didn’t touch it.

Ill give it time to dry then start sanding again!

 

[danthecapriman]

Also a top tip from me!

If your welding. Do not, ever, carry this out while wearing flip flops!

I got a blob of weld splatter drop in between my toes, which I then struggled to get out quickly enough. It hurt!😆

[danthecapriman]

Second rub down.

Seems fine to me. No more low spots and it feels smooth and the right shape. 
Just giving it a while for the water from wet sanding it to dry, then I’ll wipe it down with panel wipe and prime it. Etch primer first to help protect the bare steel.

[danthecapriman]

First coat of colour is now on.

Obviously it’s a bit more patchy in real life as it’s only the first thin coat, but it’s not looking too bad at all.   
After the filler was rubbed down, it got a good wipe down with panel wipe to degrease and clean it, then a quick blast of acid etch primer, then a coat of ordinary grey primer, then a quick flat off with mega fine wet & dry (done wet!) then another wipe off with panel wipe, then colour - Volvo green blue metallic.

You can see in the pic the original paint on the roof is far from perfect. The lacquer has all started to lift and peel which is oxidising the paint underneath it. The sunroof lid is corroded (ally) and the paint is flaking on that too. But, the rust hole is gone, replaced by welded steel and it’s now looking 100% better than before and it’s definitely weather proof now too. 
Hopefully at some point I’ll get a body shop to completely respray the roof and bonnet, as that’s what it really needs but for now it’ll be fine.

 

[Ghosty]

That headliner looks good - my Civic hatch has a knackered headlining, the vinyl has been battered to fuck, so I might have to add some of that.