welding project Juular's Scandi Noir. Volvo C70, 240 &122. Earth day.

[Tickman]

3 minutes ago, juular said:

Thank you all for the positive comments

Not really anything we can criticise especially when you add in the working outside factor cap well and truly doffed.

[KitKat]

Brilliant progress, especially given your outdoor circumstances and sub zero temperatures!! 

That door pillar looks brilliant, and the fact the swages line up,  and there’s zero sag from that bank vault of a door - even before the pillar is complete - deserves a medal on its own.

[dome]

Excellent work! Top marks for getting stuck in to learning something new, especially outside in Scotland at this time of year!

[Ian_Fearn]

Brilliant job! No other words required.

[Low Horatio gearbox]

Superb fabrication and welding , top project and my hats off to you moreso the level of progress outside , in Scotland  in winter.

[juular]

It's going to be a common theme that I wish I'd got more done but the weather (and other things) have got in the way. Nevertheless here's an update.

It was cold.

Can't remember the last time I saw the canal frozen over.

Temperatures here were in the region of -5 most days I had free. As much as I said I don't mind the cold, when the tarp is stuck solid to the car I make an exception.

Still got a few bits and bobs done over the holidays. I long wanted to make a start on the inner sill bit that's gone, but connected to that is the chassis outrigger which is buggered on the nearside.

First the tranny mount has to come off. It's foosty but solid.

The thick underseal is impervious to most methods of removal and even a blowtorch and scraper only got some of it off. So it's out with the big gun.

Finished that off with the small wire wheel on the drill, then a coat of hydrate 80.

Then epoxy mastic.

I'll probably leave it grey.

Now time to butcher some Volvo.

Here is the rotten floor with outrigger underneath.

Cleaning back to find spotwelds.

 

I decided to make my life easy and buy a set of these mini holesaw spotweld removers.

They are really good. Some quick zaps with the drill and the panels are separated.

A quick chap with a chisel..

And off it comes.

This is the replacement panel. They are £50 a side so I will be making it/them myself.

Thankfully a pre lockdown steel delivery arrived.

Scratched out the shape.

Snip.

Into the metal basher.

Fits ok. The gap at the front is the missing floor 

Tidied it up, then Made up some bits for the floor, inner and outer sill.

Cleaned and prepped.

This is where things went wrong. I decided to try painting these parts in zinga to protect the internal faces after welding. But no matter what i couldn't get it to stick. It just scratches and flakes off with no effort. I think I will have to abandon that plan.

So currently I will be returning to Screwfix zinc galv spray which is cheap, weldable, sticks well and seems to be doing a very good job so far.

Floor on its way in.

Floor and inner sill welded in.

As you can see this job is 99% faffing around with metal, 1% actual welding. 

Too cold to finish off the welding at the moment, will update when I can feel my toes!

 

[junkyarddog]

Nice work!

Lovely job on the outrigger  fabrication 

Spot weld cutters are great.

 

[dave j]

Excellent work! Those repair panels looks brilliant. Too bloody cold to be working outside though

[Tepper]

Cracking job! Especially in -5, this car clearly found the right owner.

[Tickman]

Your set of the mini holesaw spot weld drills is making me envious.

I had a couple, only have one now.

[juular]

Not much 240 content in this update due to my welder packing in. It's currently with r-tech getting fixed who to their credit uplifted it the day after I contacted them. 

I got a few bits done before that.

The outrigger area got thoroughly de-rusted in preparation for the new part going on.

New metal was cut and shaped for the sills complete with drainage channel.

Welded in.

New step metal was shaped.

 

Found a couple of unnoticed grot blobs on the floor edge so I didn't hang about and just chopped the whole strip out.

Pulled out the round plug that is held in with sealant. I might just weld this back on to avoid an overlapping seam.

Getting annoyed at having comparatively decent weather recently but no welder, I got stuck in to servicing the C70.

Combined this with one major job I wanted to do at the same time - ditching the leaky oil cooler system. It made sense to do this while dumping the oil. 

The system is connected to the engine block by a thermostat under the crank pulley, it's the cylindrical bit below. As you can see oil pisses everywhere when loosened.

The hoses then run to the front radiator but they are almost guaranteed to leak at the joins between the metal and rubber. Mine are dripping oil all over the engine and subframe and are a pain as I have to keep topping up the oil. There's also the obvious problem that if they let go while driving you can say goodbye to 6 litres of Dino juice and an engine.

Pattern replacements are rubbish, OEM ones require making a sacrifice to Norse gods just to find them, then they cost at least a kidney. And they still leak.

The oil cooler part of the radiator can also leak internally and cause oil and coolant to mix. Not great!

It has become a common x70 mod to just delete the cooler lines. RobertDIY on YouTube has a great video showing oil analysis before and after the delete. It basically makes no difference to the oil quality but totally removes a major headache.

Thankfully there's an OEM blanking plate from the non turbot engines that can still be got from the dealers for about £13.

Taking a gamble by transferring the old gasket over as for some reason a new one will set you back £20 extra.

The hoses are a bastarding nightmare to remove as it's very difficult to access the bolt holding the clamp to the engine. This single 6mm bolt took an hour and very cut hands. If I had bolt cutters I'd just have chopped the pipes in half.

 Blanking plate and new oil filter.

Gave the underside a quick degrease. Check out the white stuff.. that's road salt, I need it to rain so I can give this car a good bath! Have to love being in Scotland.

I then went to start it up and.. nothing! Feared I'd screwed something up badly until I checked the battery and was only getting 10v across the terminals. Thankfully the 240 came with a very decent battery that's a straight swap and was sitting at 12.6v despite being left out unused since October.

Last couple of jobs.. I pulled off the airbox and greased up the mounting points. These rubber mounts dry out and squeak like knackered bushes constantly.

Nice new cabin filter and it should be good for another year hopefully.

 

[juular]

Thankfully the snow kindly coincided with me having no welder to play with.

Stupidly I tucked a tarp into one of the rear doors and the snow just dripped through leaving me a small lagoon to deal with in the back.

Welder returned. I made upgrades.

Patched up a bit more of the outer and inner sill.

Finished off the floor.

Been waiting a while to glue the home made outrigger on. Here it is finished and zinga'd up ready.

Plug welded from above.

Fits like a glove. Pleased with that. Went a bit over the top with the plug welds so have some grinding to do.. or might not bother!

The factory part has an inner flange spotwelded to the chassis rail. Replicating that design is impossible without removing the floor to gain access so I just ran a weld up the outside.

A coat of zinc paint, then when dry, probably a bit of sealant down the flanges, a coat of epoxy mastic and a blow through with some cavity sealer stuff. Should make a long lasting repair.

The final section of the sill at the front was welded in and then the seams along the sill plug welded together.

Lots of grinding and finishing to do. I hate grinding, it takes forever so I'll leave it all for a day when I'm feeling masochistic and really want to annoy my neighbours.

The passenger floor is the first part of this car I can call "done"! Apart from paint, the sound deadening and the grommets / plugs, carpets and seats 😅

 

[bunglebus]

Really enjoying your updates, very satisfying seeing rust removed and fresh steel in its place.

How did an Essex registered Volvo end up in Scotland? 

[juular]

18 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Really enjoying your updates, very satisfying seeing rust removed and fresh steel in its place.

How did an Essex registered Volvo end up in Scotland? 

Thanks. Sometimes when it's lots of small patches it takes forever and feels like nothing is happening. Welding on a big bit takes less time and as you say really satisfying.

Not sure about its origins. I bought it from Arbroath where it had been sitting off road for 11 years or so. @Saabnut may know?

[bunglebus]

Just curious. Not familiar with the post 2001 area identifiers but whenever I see an OO EV VX etc reg I know it's from my patch

[Amishtat]

It's all part of the natural migration process isn't it? 

[DSdriver]

On 2/21/2021 at 10:34 AM, Amishtat said:

It's all part of the natural migration process isn't it? 

I was just about to type the same thing as my old 940 was bought by a chap who  flew down from Scotland. 

[Amishtat]

There'll be two more old Volvos coming up to Scotland in the next month or two, ironically though not my 164 originally sold new in Perth. 

[Saabnut]

On 21/02/2021 at 10:00, juular said:

Thanks. Sometimes when it's lots of small patches it takes forever and feels like nothing is happening. Welding on a big bit takes less time and as you say really satisfying.

Not sure about its origins. I bought it from Arbroath where it had been sitting off road for 11 years or so. @Saabnut may know?

The PO always tried to buy from down south as less salt in use. Both that and my red estate came from the southern hemisphere (of the UK)  

[juular]

A week later and it's like spring outside which is good for the mojo. 

@Lacquer Peel helped massively by assisting me taking the front end running gear off. It's actually quite nice to work on a car where you can access pretty much everything without being a contortionist or taking off eleventy hundred unrelated parts to get to a bolt.

Compleat with spiders.

The right wishbone is brand new and looks unused. A new left one also came with the car so I'll swap it, even though the old one looks ok.

The subframe is gubbed though.

The ok side for comparison of all the missing metal.

Turns out these are like unicorn tears and I'm struggling to find another one. If you know of anyone who might have one please get in touch.

On the weldathon front, with the floor and inner sill done I started on this grot hole.

The curvature of a calor gas bottle is about right for smacking a panel over.

The trim clips have made nice rust holes. Chop chop.

Bits made 

Jigsaw going together

It seems like years since I fabricated the piece for the bottom of the pillar, it's good to finally get to glue it on.

Just a final section to bend to shape to finish this off and this whole area is done.

Bit of zinc primer till then..

 

[Lacquer Peel]

It was a pleasure to work on such a simple car, and most of the bolts came out easily. 

We did fight with the engine cross member for a while before realising it was still loosely bolted in. 😅

[juular]

Looks... Interesting.. on C70 alloys!

[captain_70s]

Blimey, that's a bit crustier than I thought it was!

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

Great welding , wish i had 10% of those skills. The only thing we have in common is the colour of our welders. He is mine taking all weekend to replace 2 simple gate bottom bars.

[binhoker668]

Amazing work and amazing thread!  Loving the progress...

 

[juular]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

Blimey, that's a bit crustier than I thought it was!

Perpetual warcry of anyone attempting to fix old cars from Scotland!

And it's not the worst of it. This one won't see a road for a wee while yet.

At some point I'm going to sweep all the bits of orange Volvo into a pile just for effect.

Is it wrong / insane that I'm kinda enjoying it though? 

[juular]

1 hour ago, Sir Chocolate Teapot said:

Great welding , wish i had 10% of those skills. The only thing we have in common is the colour of our welders. He is mine taking all weekend to replace 2 simple gate bottom bars.

Thanks! Be under no illusions though it's taken me 6 months to do this tiny corner of car and I've had to rip out and redo many of my awful welds on occasion!

Metalworking and welding can be painfully slow.

The gates look excellent by the way.

[Minimad5]

Good work that man !

Many other folks would have sadly binned it off. Well done for not doing that.

[juular]

Sneaking in smoll update.

As you can see I need a small patch to finish this off. It's a bit awkward and frankly I have no idea how to bend complex shapes correctly so I'm just going to bash things till they fit.

I'm not normally a user of CAD and prefer using duct tape over old rusty shapes and sticking it to new steel. But since I have no old steel to work with it comes in quite useful.

Shape drawn on to 0.8mm as it's a lot easier to bend than 1.0mm.

Snippity.

Hit with hammers. Bend with pliers.

 

Getting closer.

Close enough.

It's ugly though thanks to the bashing and bending. I find following the curves with the power file and giving it a good clean up helps.

That'll get welded in when the primer dries and I can celebrate the completion of 0.293% of this car.

I think some of the joins might be visible but 1: Meh. And 2: Body filler. 

[danthecapriman]

Lovely work, as usual. 
There’s no shame in using filler. So long as it’s not used for filling big dents or holes! Even the most immaculately restored cars will have filler on them.

It sure does make me glad for living down south though. The Scottish climate really doesn’t like old chod does it!😀