welding project Juular's Scandi Noir. Volvo C70, 240 &122. Dodgy rear end.

[big_al_granvia]

1 hour ago, juular said:

She has (finally) agreed to give it a rest for a wee while until I get the timing belt done. That or she has run out of petrol money..

However I do recommend the Clyde Tunnel as a little trip in a v8. Take it slow until right at the bottom, knock it into 2nd and pull up the hill. Windies down of course. Then round for another go. 👍

aye if your going through the sally in anything loud thats the way, think a lot of performance cars live in it

[juular]

Status update:

I started rebuilding the front suspension.

New Inner tie rods going on.

Then onto the crossmember.

Then onto the car.

The new tin of Bilt Hamber epoxy mastic is suffering the same problem as the first one. It's chipping off quite badly - and the part was nursed into place on a foam mat and rubber jack pads.

 

Not feeling good about the longevity of that but I'll tidy it up once on the car.

The brake fittings are gubbed.

Everything had to be separated by Grindr.

I made new hardware for the door hinge and brake line brackets.

Y tho?

 

Started replacing the unions. These are the first flares I've ever done and they look pretty good. I recommend the more expensive flaring tool over the claw type. It just works.

 

Since I needed brake line clips for the crossmember I abandoned the front for the time being.

@Lacquer Peelwas an absolute legend and helped me dismantle the rear axle.

Which we slid out on wheel dollies.

That makes it look easy, in reality it was a full day's swearing and elbow grease.

No broken parts though, everything came apart in one piece. 

The back end looks largely ok.

The bits at the shock mounts are notorious, but here they're fine. Just surface rust.

 

Boot floor is fine also. Just a tickle round the fuel filler neck hole required.

This is by far the worst bit, where one fuel tank bolt goes in.

Chop.

Make stuff. 

 

Weld.

It looks like I need to also do the adjacent bit of rail too. I'll come back to it.

Calipers needed cut off at the pipes.

Fluted socket pulled the unions off.

Bleed nipples broke, as expected. 

Used the same technique as the fronts. Welded on a blob, hammered on a fluted socket, and pulled them out with the impact gun.

 

 

Inner wheel arches need a lot of work, but that was on my list.

All in, a few things ticked off, nothing really added to the list.  On a car like this, that's a victory.

[juular]

2 hours ago, Saabnut said:

@juularWhere do you source your Volvo repair panels? I had planned on patching the sills on my GLE estate but a closer look shows small holes along the length so now thinking of replacing the outer sills and risk opening the can of worms that is no doubt hiding behind the existing sills.

There's a seller on eBay doing the offside full sill panels for £40 including postage but they don't seem to have nearsides. Will see if I can find the seller I used and get back to you.

The nearsides I patched up myself mostly but I bought the rear section from nordicar which cost more than the full sill!

[juular]

@Saabnut the seller is https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/truecarparts

Out of stock currently but worth contacting as they were less than half the price of anyone else.

[juular]

I might have got away with leaving the rest of the chassis rail alone but I decided it would be best to fix it while I have the axle off.

Reassuring to see it is pretty clean inside.

 

There are captive nuts on this bit that I'm pretty sure have never seen a bolt and I have no idea what purpose they serve.

You can also see where I ended up filling an area with weld from the adjacent repair because it kept blowing through, the metal has become very thin in places.

Repaired area. I deleted the bolt holes.

A bit of zinc then the next layer goes on.

 

All done. There's no other rust holes in the rails thankfully.

 

Started dealing with the rear arches by taking a slitting disc to the lip / flange. The outer body area is largely ok.

Underneath the trim at the back is bad.

Duct tape.

Onto steel, made a repair section by roughly bending with pliers and then smashing it in place with the palm of my hand.

 

Very close. It doesn't have to be pretty as it will be hidden.

Need more inspiration as I've had a sudden can't be arsed wave come over me!

[GMcD]

Your can't be arsed efforts put my work to shame. 

Keep it up man! 

[bunglebus]

Yeah I'm impressed with your progress. Sometimes you just need to have a break for a few days so it doesn't start to wear you down

[bunglebus]

Inspiration for you

 

[juular]

16 hours ago, bunglebus said:

you just need to have a break for a few days so it doesn't start to wear you down

You're probably right, I've been off work on leave and been on the car almost every day trying to make use of the good weather. It's raining today and I feel a strange sense of relief. Might go a drive now that Nicola is allowing us out 😁

[big_al_granvia]

go for a bit of v8 thrash mate, you have earned it

[juular]

Hm, V8 thrash or 5 pot warble? (Counts pennies out)

[juular]

Took the C70 and went with @Lacquer Peelto check out a mystery world of intrigue.

I think I have found the source of the stealthy coolant leak. Isn't the 70 series notorious for leaky expansion tank caps?

And the very random ABS light was diagnosed by LP as ABS fault code 141 EBD pressure switch.

Answers on a postcard!

[big_al_granvia]

think i know where you have been

[jamescarruthers]

1 hour ago, big_al_granvia said:

think i know where you have been

Me too! Is this Jim’s place?

[juular]

It's a nice feeling actually putting clean parts back on this car.

Brake line clips salvaged from Volvo land meant I could secure the lines.

Reassembling the brakes.

New wishbone and bush.

Starting to look almost car like.

Got a bit angry with constantly looking at this.

Using bits off a repair panel to save time.

Floor and inner sill repaired.

Once the primer dries I'll finish rebuilding that. 

In the meantime I'm off to do a random point-at-the-map-and-go-there type of drive in the working ovlov while the weather is still nice. 

[juular]

I don't mention the C70 much now as it largely just gets on with it. Managed to fix a clonking noise by tightening up the cross shaped nut on top of the spring seat.  It then got soundly thrashed around some largely undriven roads. Still enjoying the grumpy T5 warble. I'll probably keep it in the fleet for a while longer.

The 240 is in the process of getting treated to genuine parts.

And one side is now attached.

Braided lines cos it's a GLT m9.

Connecting the caliper hard lines was a fight, as they are bent to fit a very precise angle and I mixed them up.  

I like the grey finish, but I don't like the way the epoxy mastic is continuing to basically fall off. I suspect household gloss paint would have been more durable. I truly have no idea what is going wrong here, as I have followed the instructions to the letter. I compromised finish for durability, and yet...

That part was shiny steel when painted, why has it rusted under the supposedly rust-smothering mastic?

Any flexible areas are splitting.

Random chunks falling off.

Shrug. The stuff ain't cheap. I have no inclination to strip it all back and use something else. I will touch it up, and it will have to last a while. No doubt it'll all get pretty dirty before long anyway. 

[danthecapriman]

That’s weird how the epoxy mastic is just peeling like that. I wonder if there’s traces of some other older wax or underseal or something still on the parts and it’s maybe reacting with or stopping the epoxy mastic from sticking properly? 
Ive had similar with a few things before, even after bare metalling a part the new top coat just peeled straight off. It was some sort of contamination from a previous coating causing it but it was a devil to actually get rid of it.

[Minimad5]

I'd stop using that Easy-Peel paint, and start using something a tad un-peely, as it would be a massive shame for all your hard work to be crusty in a wee few months.

Top progress with this, well done

[Rocket88]

Ref random bolt holes...tow bar fixing ?

[warch]

Weirdly the half dried up old tin of Hammerite I used to coat the grading bucket on my digger proved surprisingly durable, despite me cutting it with something I found in a jar, despite being used for digger shizzle. Hammerite is absolute shit though so please don't take that as a recommendation. 

Top work Juular this is looking ace. 

[juular]

On 4/26/2021 at 1:17 PM, juular said:

I don't mention the C70 much now as it largely just gets on with it.

As I typed that I knew I was asking for it. Last week the coolant leak got a little worse and to top it off the brake pedal starting going randomly hard as if the booster was failing.

As a result I haven't done a lot on the 240. I need the C70 to be dependable for a while as I'm going to be doing some work on the Trafic which is my daily. (Timing chain.. yes I am a masochist.)

For a while I've had some random behaviour, such as a stumble at idle when you press the brakes, a loud whoosh from the turbo, and the brakes have been pretty shit from the beginning. I should have twigged at all the signs of a vacuum leak.

And right enough, this looks a bit shit.

 

Replaced with some fuel hose and good clips.

Next problem. The top engine mount has been rattling for a while. I replaced the bush last year but I was a bit surprised that I didn't have to press it in - it slid in without resistance. I assumed this was normal but obviously it isn't.  It looks like the bracket has been enlarged by someone's attempt at fitting a bush in the past.

@Lacquer Peel kindly donated a poly bush that would solve my problem. I pressed it in using a woodworking vice.

Annoyingly the bracket doesn't fit over the new bush.

I had to remove the scuttle tray, undo the bulkhead mount and remove the frame in order to trim it a little.

 

 

Next. The coolant leak - it was fairly minimal for a while and I attributed it to the dodgy looking header tank cap, but there's no evidence of that. It then became a lot worse. With a bit of poking I found this.

That's the turbo coolant line. The residue on the pipe and the puddle on the heat shield pretty much confirms it as the suspect.

Not much of a gap to replace the hose!

 

I tried to replace it with fuel hose but the metal lines are far too close together and the fuel hose too rigid to bend into place. The original hose looks ok so I just replaced the clamps.

Getting there. Next on the list was a lazy / non existent kickdown behaviour.

The kickdown switch looks fine so I tightened the throttle cable around half a turn, after measuring it's position as a baseline.

Final tinker.. I have an ABS and TRACS OFF light appearing when giving it hard acceleration. Reading the codes gives an ABS 141 EBD pressure switch fault, but my gut feeling is this is a red herring.  The ABS modules degrade on these and cause this kind of error.

The common bodge is to wedge half a peg into it.

I then took it a drive.

Firstly, it sounds epic in the cabin with that new engine mount. It's quiet at idle and when cruising, but when giving it some right foot the sound resonates beautifully. The T5 sounds damn good, but this is addictive.

Handling has also vastly improved, obviously the engine was moving way more than it should.

Brakes feel much more positive, with a firmer pedal and more braking effort higher up. No more stumble from the engine.

Turbo seems to have more punch, and less noise. Scary speeds arrive quicker than ever. The kickdown seems to be much more sensitive.

Coolant leak seems to have gone. Will measure over a few weeks.

The ABS light is still coming on sadly. The peg was a long shot. I think I will have to remove the module and give it a check over next.

That's currently the only issue with the car, which is otherwise an absolute joy, even if it does like a drink.

 

[SRi05]

Nice to see that Ovlov getting some love, beast of a car. Still miss that sound system 😂

[juular]

@Saabnut I'm fairly sure the 140/145 sills are the same as the 240?

£40 posted:

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?p=2739027#post2739027

 

[juular]

I haven't been welding much, strangely I felt more motivated to do it when the weather was freezing. I hate wearing PPE and two jumpers when it's warm outside!

Anyway been getting on slowly with other stuff.

A massive shout out to @rob88h who posted me some brake pads and steering rack gaiters for the 240.

 

The pads may also fit my C70 which has a pressing need for brake work so either way they're very welcome.

The rear axle of the 240 has been sitting looking a bit forlorn so I've made a start on stripping it down and cleaning it up.

Made a million times easier with the gun.

 

I was budgeting for new trailing arms but these are actually alright.

As you can see one of the lower spring seats will need a tickle but it's quite minor.

 

The spring retaining plates basically turned to dust. They're just flat plates of 1mm steel so they'll be cheap right?

Aye alright then. I'll be making my own!

Brake plates are crispy but I might be able to graft some new metal in.

Diff oil drained, why not since it's off.

As mentioned in the ask a shiter bush thread, a hole saw makes an excellent bush removing tool.

The remainder is chiselled out.

Next all the suspension arms will be getting a blast of the wire wheel then dipped in acid and repainted with new bushes fitted.

Had a look at the fuel tank. It's a bit crispy round the edges but it's not leaking.

The worst bit is here where the rust extends to where the two halves are welded together.

I am thinking of bodging this into a decent state with rust converter, a few patches and some paint until I can stomach the £200 for a new tank.

Inside is remarkably clean.

 

A few taps with the hammer on the locking ring gets the sender out.

Which looks ok but is strangely covered in lots of crystal deposits. Anyone know what this is?

Testing the float. The fuel gauge was dead when I got the car so a good time to diagnose why.

That's not good.

I gave the float arm some pressure.

Better. And at the top.

Promising. I think it just needs a good clean around the wiper, as you can see it's pretty gunky.

 

Fed some volts to the lift pump.

 

Didn't budge. One click and nothing. 

The impeller moves freely when poked so presumably the motor is gubbed.

Tried hooking it up to my camper fuse box as it belts out 14v with the solar panel.

No joy.. totally dead.

The inline pump is working great thankfully.

So far the parts bill  for the rear is limited to some bushes, a pair of shocks, brake discs and a lift pump which I'm quite happy about.

[juular]

Summary of C70 ownership lately:

What started as a mild bit of tinkering has escalated into a major project. 

Back discs and pads were swapped. I mean look at the state of it.

Shiny mintex newness. No photos of the job as it's a very straightforward car to work on. Except when you fit the retaining springs upside down like I did.

Mrs Juular upgraded the car's horsepower at least 10% with new ovlov centre caps and valve caps. 

The ungrateful bastard (the car not the Mrs) then started misfiring under high load and generally driving like it was stuck in treacle.

This is a view of number 5 HT lead, which obviously isn't helping.

 

Box of goodies was sent for.

 

New dizzy and HT leads.

This helped the misfire but it's still holding back as if the turbo isn't waking up.

I waved an unlit blowtorch around all the air and vacuum hoses to check for leaks, based on the premise that any gas being sucked in through a leak will get burned and the revs will rise.

 

No rise in revs, so all good. Time to test the turbo and boost hoses.

I decided to be very very naughty and unplug the wastegate actuator hose.

This basically eliminates huge amounts of testing. If I get boost with this off then the turbo and hoses are sound. But the boost will be unregulated and climb to scary levels / mince the engine.

Fuck me. A tiny bit of throttle and it's off like a scalded cat. Whiplash inducing! 

This narrows it down to the turbo control valve, which regulates the pressure to the wastegate. When it fails the wastegate basically stays open and the charge never builds.

I took it off and fed the pins 12v to see if the solenoid moved, and right enough, it's stuck solid. Blowing through it, air comes out of both ports which means it's totally goosed.

The plan of attack is to go full boy racer on this. I've ordered a manual boost controller and a boost gauge. 

Also coming soon, the ABS module is being ripped out and resoldered by Mrs Juular, I'm replacing the front brakes, all the vacuum hoses and a CV joint.

I'll get back on the 240 one of these days.

[somewhatfoolish]

On 6/11/2021 at 11:11 PM, juular said:

Which looks ok but is strangely covered in lots of crystal deposits. Anyone know what this is?

 

Probably zinc oxide.

[juular]

Since I have pretty much every hose out of the way, I pulled the ABS module, in an attempt to trace down the ABS / TRACS fault.

No need to seal anything up, the solenoid grid just pulls off.

On opening it up it's clear someone has been here before.

The case is a bit chewed and the potting compound has been scraped off all the solder joints.

At this point I'm out of my depth so I handed it to Mrs Juular who somehow spotted all the dry joints and set about sorting it.

Sealed, clamped and left to dry.

The other possible cause of the warning lights is the driver's side reluctor ring which looks like it has been left in the sea. The CV boot is also torn and chucking grease all over the car so I'll just swap the complete joint over.

As much as it goes against my best judgement I ordered a cheap joint on eBay from J&R parts. I've been informed they're actually pretty good, which if true is a total bargain as the whole kit was cheaper than buying just the boot and reluctor ring.

It looks alright to be fair.

 

[juular]

Mmmmmmmmm nice.

£13, arrived 18 hours after order placed. 2 year warranty. Seems too good to be true?

Will it fall to bits?

[juular]

One side was so easy.

The other side? Fucked.

Fucked.

Caliper fucked also and wouldn't retract.

Out with the piston. Then my grease gun ended up bursting.

Verdict : fucked.

@Lacquer Peel donated a caliper from his 850 to see if I could make one good one between them, but it is humped also.

Ho hum.

[Shirley Knott]

I can attest to the J&R stuff being ok, I fitted a reluctor ring and boot from them to my P2 V70 and was suspicious of the low prices too- The ring was £2.50 IIRC. A year or so on though and no issues thus far.

Thoroughly enjoying the Volvo centric approach here BTW, this thread makes for some cracking reading!