welding project Juular's Scandi Noir. Volvo C70, 240 &122. Fleet status: pickled.

[Tickman]

I can recommend getting a shrinker/stretcher, makes some impossible bits quite easy to make.

[juular]

Appreciating the encouragement 👍

Not great weather this weekend. I'm looking into building a shonky garage or carport of some kind. Nothing permanent but just enough to make life easier.

The C70 hadn't turned a wheel in a couple of weeks because it started giving some rough shifts and I wanted to avoid breaking the magic gearbox. Then it started flaring into 2nd and I knew I had to get the fluid out.

Yum.

No doubt that isn't helping!

This car has the 4 speed Aisin Warner box but I wasn't sure whether to refill with Dexron 3 or 3309 fluid. The 3309 is higher grade stuff and apparently backwards compatible so when I found it online much cheaper than I can get the Dexron locally I just went with that.

This was just a simple drain and fill using the dipstick tube for minimum faff. Then run the engine and cycle P,D,R a few times, topping up the fluid until it reached the dipstick mark. It drained 4.2 litres and took exactly the same. 

This leaves a fair bit of fluid sitting in the torque converter but a couple of dump and fills should see the fluid significantly improved. Total cost around £26 so viable to do along with every engine oil change.

First impressions, after a couple of gnarly bumpy shifts it seems a lot smoother. The 1st-2nd-3rd upshift was feather light, almost not noticeable. I'm going to call that a huge win and I can go back to enjoying throwing all my money into the wind in the form of petrol fumes.

Back to the 240, @Lacquer Peel once again helped out and we got cracking on dismantling yet more panels and got the seats and stinky carpet out. I kind of like the mad Max look and would happily roll in this.

 

The soundproof mats under the carpets weighed a ton, mostly thanks to water!

Amazingly the floor is not bad at all and will only need a mild tickle around the drain plugs.

This is by far the worst bit. I'm not sure whether this edge needs replaced. I will attack it with a wire wheel and see how far the rot goes. The floor is fairly thick and passes the screwdriver test, it may just need cleaned and treated. 

Given how bad the nearside A-pillar is I was dreading getting here but someone has been here already, and things are good.

Might need a panel at the bottom but otherwise happy with that.

Inside looks good also, maybe a bit of tidying up but no major surgery needed here. I note the footwell vent has been removed and it's letting in water from the scuttle.

Back to making bits, I welded and smoothed out the replacement passenger side pillar bottom. Not perfect but it'll do, pig. 

It doesn't lay flush as there's weld beads on the back, but I think it'll fit well enough once the rotten bit is gone.

Duct tape template for the adjoining section. This is a fairly mild curve so I'm going to attempt bending a single piece here.

As for the sills, I'm weighing up buying a single full replacement side and chopping out the bits I need, versus making a potentially shonky homemade part.

[Lacquer Peel]

The doors of the 240 are really impressive, I'm sure there are lighter doors for nuclear bunkers. 

Again it was good to get stuck into the 240. We were lucky in that the OSF wing had been removed before so it was easy to take off. 

I don't know much about welding but @juular kindly let me have a shot on some scrap steel. 

[big_al_granvia]

@Flat4 read the bit about changing auto box fluid and get gary to do the same

[juular]

Found the sills at Brookhouse. Total bargain that.

Wonder if that's what I get for being in 'zone B' postage within the misty barbarian filled wilderness of Falkirk.

[big_al_granvia]

falkirk isnt that wild, airth, south alloa, bonnybridge perhaps...

[Flat4]

On 11/15/2020 at 6:38 PM, juular said:

Appreciating the encouragement 👍

Not great weather this weekend. I'm looking into building a shonky garage or carport of some kind. Nothing permanent but just enough to make life easier.

The C70 hadn't turned a wheel in a couple of weeks because it started giving some rough shifts and I wanted to avoid breaking the magic gearbox. Then it started flaring into 2nd and I knew I had to get the fluid out.

Yum.

No doubt that isn't helping!

This car has the 4 speed Aisin Warner box but I wasn't sure whether to refill with Dexron 3 or 3309 fluid. The 3309 is higher grade stuff and apparently backwards compatible so when I found it online much cheaper than I can get the Dexron locally I just went with that.

This was just a simple drain and fill using the dipstick tube for minimum faff. Then run the engine and cycle P,D,R a few times, topping up the fluid until it reached the dipstick mark. It drained 4.2 litres and took exactly the same. 

This leaves a fair bit of fluid sitting in the torque converter but a couple of dump and fills should see the fluid significantly improved. Total cost around £26 so viable to do along with every engine oil change.

First impressions, after a couple of gnarly bumpy shifts it seems a lot smoother. The 1st-2nd-3rd upshift was feather light, almost not noticeable. I'm going to call that a huge win and I can go back to enjoying throwing all my money into the wind in the form of petrol fumes.

Have you got a link to the gear box fluid please? We've got the same box in the V70 and it's flaring as well.

[juular]

1 hour ago, Flat4 said:

Have you got a link to the gear box fluid please? We've got the same box in the V70 and it's flaring as well.

 

https://www.smithandallan.com/products/transport-gear-and-transmission/4476-smith-and-allan-atf-3309-synthetic-automatic-transmission-fluid--jws-3309-toyota-atf-t-iv-t1v-aisin-warner/

That, a 24mm spanner, drain pan and a funnel is all you need.

[juular]

Awful weekend, doing my best in between the squalls. Started rebuilding the inside of the A-pillar.

I can haz garridge? 

Chop

Sill fruit machine jackpot, payout in iron 

Started making new parts based on rusty offcuts.

 

Metal bender got some use.

 

 

Test fitting

On to the part above that. I have to do a bit of extrapolation from a small rusted fragment here.

Pretty damn close!

A little touch up and holes for the plug welds.

Tacked in.

Earlier lower bit added in

Pillar starting to look right again. Next big job is to replicate that rusty hinge reinforcement bracket above the new bit.

Wee chunk of inner sill replaced as a spot weld had rusted here and eaten right through.

There was a funny little bracket /plate layered in here that had rotted away entirely. I had to guess what shape it was as there's literally nothing left but the flanges.. I guess as long as it performs the same function then it will be fine.

That's all for now. I have a question though.. 

Does anyone know if BOR-8 is any good to stop flash rusting? I'm always going to have this problem as I don't want to paint anything until I'm closer to completion of a section.

https://www.rust.co.uk/product/bor-8-rust-inhibitor-29

[KitKat]

This is progressing at a rate of knots and looking fab!! Big respect for doing this outside in November in East Scotland too 

I’d suggest weld-through primer on any of those overlapping seams where you’re plug welding. It’s also good in the short term to stop  flash rusting too, with the advantage that you won’t have to grind it off later on before welding a bit more 🙂

[scdan4]

Good work.

I love a welding thread me. 😁

[Mrs6C]

There is something very satisfying about knitting a car back together out of thin air!

Looks great. Well done!

[Tamworthbay]

It’s looking good! For the rust prevention I used Bilthamber weld through primer extensively on the Capri. Some sections were left for several months in just primer and were perfect underneath when I cleaned it back.

[juular]

11 minutes ago, Tamworthbay said:

It’s looking good! For the rust prevention I used Bilthamber weld through primer extensively on the Capri. Some sections were left for several months in just primer and were perfect underneath when I cleaned it back.

I have some weld through zinc primer but I'm concerned about getting the shakes as I don't have a respirator. The etchweld doesn't mention having zinc, I might drop them a line as the BH stuff I've used before has been very good.

[Tamworthbay]

38 minutes ago, juular said:

I have some weld through zinc primer but I'm concerned about getting the shakes as I don't have a respirator. The etchweld doesn't mention having zinc, I might drop them a line as the BH stuff I've used before has been very good.

I used it outside without a mask with no issues. The guy who runs it, Peter Hamber, is an incredibly helpful bloke so I am sure he will able to advise.

[sloth]

under that black metal panel in the pass footwell is a relay. they fit them upside down so they fill with water. pop it out, pop the cover off and check for water ingress. then seal it and fit the right way up . caused shit loads of dramas on mine

[juular]

6 hours ago, sloth said:

under that black metal panel in the pass footwell is a relay. they fit them upside down so they fill with water. pop it out, pop the cover off and check for water ingress. then seal it and fit the right way up . caused shit loads of dramas on mine

Good tip thank you. This one?

Seemed ok thankfully.

[juular]

New hinge reinforcing bracket.

In situ. Old one above, new one below.

Chopped out. Not too bad a match.

Last bit of new inner pillar.

Took ages to get a tight fit but got there in the end. I'd be stuck without the power file. Also, neodymium magnets out of old hard drives are brilliant.

Cleaned a little bit of surface ginge off a bit of pillar I really didn't want to get stuck into. The metal is sound but pitted. Treated with hydrate 80 just to be sure. Goes nice and blue.

Another bit made from a rusty cutout.

In situ.

Managed to pigeon shit it all together before the darkness and wind killed progress. Thankfully done in time for a quick bit of primer as well. So that's the inner pillar done.

Didn't have time to finish this. But it's starting to take shape.

Next job.. If all goes to plan I'll be able to start gluing on the outer panels I made earlier and if really lucky I might be able to test fit the door.

[juular]

A wee bit fresh this morning.

Finished last week's welding off and started on the hinge panel.

Missed a bit of grot and had to make an extra bit.

Tidied up a couple of bad welds on the inner pillar.

Strengthening bracket in place so I could drill bolt holes in it.

Had to get a more manly drill to open those up.

Couple of strengthening plates too.

Bit of bird shit.

Making sure this bit still fits.

It's slow going. I don't mind the cold at all but the darkness at 3pm can FRO.

Need a unit.

[danthecapriman]

Lovely work going on here, looks spot on!👍

Whats yours like around the arse end? My old saloon rotted on the panel below the rear number plate/behind rear bumper/boot floor area and the two boot wells at each side. They can rot badly under the rear seat base area too. Plaster it in wax or something similar if it’s still good!

[320touring]

Holy fuck man, epic work!

[Ian_Fearn]

Absolutely brilliant. 11.5/10.

[juular]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Lovely work going on here, looks spot on!👍

Whats yours like around the arse end? My old saloon rotted on the panel below the rear number plate/behind rear bumper/boot floor area and the two boot wells at each side. They can rot badly under the rear seat base area too. Plaster it in wax or something similar if it’s still good!

Thanks. There's a bit of rot on the end of the chassis rails at the fuel tank but I'm hoping it doesn't go too much beyond that. I hear they can rot badly through the chassis rail where the shocks go in under the rear seats.

The bits I've found so far seem quite localised, it seems to be on the lowest points where water has drained / dripped for some time. This is consistent with storage rot rather than road salt. Fingers crossed!

[juular]

Mrs Juular hasn't been particularly well the last week or so, as you can imagine the 240 dropped quite far down the priority list. My mood levels haven't been great anyway so when it comes to projects I am having a tendency to just stare at jobs blankly hoping that some energy or inspiration will come my way (spoiler - it didn't, I just beat myself up instead).

The C70 had it's MOT due and I'd planned to do all sorts of things to it, such as cleaning up the mess the oil cooler had spewed all over the subframe and taking the questionable front lights off and giving them a good clean.  None of that happened and it ended up being dumped outside the testing station with crossed fingers instead.

I needn't have worried as apparently this car just thumps out clean MOTs repeatedly. Not bad for a shed money 24 year old car.

Have a bonus photo of inside when the sun came out. It doesn't feel that age at all.

 

That all cheered me up a little and I decided to do some epic work to it.

 

This was limited to putting this tiny bit of foam padding on a brake pipe at the bulkhead as it likes to rattle away to itself which gives me homicidal rage.

In a shocking development an Arnold Clark provided actual service and didn't lie, overcharge me, or break anything. I ordered a blanking plate for the C70's oil thermostat so that I could rip out the whole oil cooler system. £13 from the Volvo dealer in Stirling. The parts guy was actually quite interested and chatted to me about the C70 and 240. Must've been a full moon or something.

On the 240 front, I had grand plans that never materialised. I welded the hinge bracket in place, and ran out of welding gas just as I did the last plug-weld, which sizzled up like a soufflé. Didn't take photos because grumpy.

I pickled the hinge bits in citric acid overnight with a scheme of getting the passenger door trial fitted.

 

The hinge came up OK but the back plate lost more metal than rust and I'll probably just make another one.

@Lacquer Peel came over, mostly to provide effective moral support, but also helped me remove the brake pads from the car as they were seized on, meaning I couldn't roll the car to access the bits I was working on. This took the majority of the remaining daylight hours as they were pretty stuck in place after years of sitting. Being a GLT the brakes are pretty meaty too.

 

The next job was to take the fuel tank and lines out as I have much welding and blowtorching underneath the car to do.  We removed piles of trim and boxes from the rear into the boot to get the seat out, then realised that the access to the tank connections are in the boot. It was that kind of weekend.

It was getting dark so we trial fitted the passenger door instead. Unfortunately there's still not enough metal in place to stop it sagging. I'm in a chicken and egg situation as I need the old sill in place to line up the door, but I need the new sill on to give strength to the lower door pillar.  I'm going to weld in an extra support bracket for the hinge so that I can get the door lined up before lopping off the whole sill and fitting a new single part. I can then align the new sill to the door to get the shut lines correct.

To cheer myself up I started poking at the bitumen floor deadening and found some holes in the floor. Yay.

You know when you look at a project in a particularly difficult mental state and ask yourself 'why the fuck am I doing this?'.  Yep, that.  It'll pass.

In an attempt to fend off the black dog I decided to organise my shit a little and make a list of what needs doing to make the car structurally sound. This kind of thing will either make you have a strop and give up or make you feel a bit better.  Thankfully it did the latter.

I did however have a moment of panic realising that at some point this car is going to need quite a lot of paint, and I have a) no budget for that, and b) no idea what I'm doing with that.  

I'm currently envisaging going down the whole $50 paintjob approach by rollering the car in coach enamel, which led me to do a bit of dreaming about doing it in my very favourite colour : RAL 5020 Ocean Blue.

 

 

It's not actually too far off it's current colour, and the idea of using up 6 months of my life sanding and rollering instead of spending actual cash is right up my street.

 

 

[volvoman]

Good to see the old C70 GT T5 pass another no hassle MOT... A car i knew i would miss, the day i stood at the top of my drive, an waved goodbye to it.

 

Some serious welding wizardry going on here too, keep up the fine work. That 240 GLT is going to be a great Volvo edition. Theres no going back for you now, you have been bitten by the Volvo Bug.

I have a real soft spot for the 240 series, i reckon i owned approx ten 240's over the years, but never a saloon, they were all estates/wagons. I have a load of old photos of most of em somewhere, i will try an dig them out. I was spoilt back then though(in the late 80's/90's) because i didnt have to worry about any of my 240's showing any signs of rust!

[juular]

Progress on the unshiny Volvo has been slow but steady as I'm only getting a few hours a week to work on it and the weather hasn't been helpful.

First job was to get the tank of explodium away from areas where I'd be blowtorching and welding.

As mentioned I'd moved loads of boxes of parts into the boot to access the fuel tank hatch under the rear seats.. only to realise it was in the boot under all the boxes. I eventually got there to detach the fuel lines and sender cable.

Hopefully that grot will respond to a wire brush and some hydrate 80.

Tank oot.

I mistakenly thought it was going to be empty but it was about half full.

Check out the colour of that.

I decided to play it safe and take out the fuel lines as well as I wanted to check them over and possibly replace any old rubber bits. I'm going to be tickling the bulkhead, floor and chassis outriggers right next to where the lines run so safety first.

The pump and filter housing has seen better days so it's a good chance to clean that up while off when motivation allows.

Fuel lines and filler neck out.

 

With the fuel no longer a concern I set about some of the chassis with a blowtorch and scraper to get the underseal off.

The outriggers are not very nice at either end.

They are however a really simple bit to make so will come back to that.

I'm going to first of all deal with the floor above that. More scraping of bitumen ensued.

Not too bad. A flat panel here will sort this.

 

More scraping and poking.

 

Chop

Underneath is the flange of the chassis rail which has broken off where it was spot-welded to the floor. So I welded in a new bit and tidied that up first.

Then a patch

Some more poking.

That bit attaches to the jacking point.

Ground a bit too deep getting the spotwelds out so blobbed some new weld in.

First bit welded in

Jack point tided up

Bits made

All welded in.

Made a reinforcer for under the door hinge.

 

Makes the hinge area a million times stronger.

That's all for now. Outriggers and the rest of the floor probably next.

[big_al_granvia]

great work mate

[Shirley Knott]

^Agreed

Amazing amount/quality of work going into this, I'm genuinely taken aback. Welding isn't something I'm very good at or ever really get involved with, looking at this I can see why (And also why most garages don't want to do it)

Hat well and truly doffed

[jonathan_dyane]

You’re doing a cracking job here mind

[juular]

Thank you all for the positive comments. 

I'm pretty new to this whole thing so the encouragement is useful.  I find the work therapeutic, seeing rust disappear and new metal go in, like redecorating an old house.

It's slow but so far I'm enjoying it because I don't have any pressure to get it done. Which is good because none of this makes any financial sense at all.  Saying that, this car hasn't cost me much. I've probably spent about £150 on steel, abrasives, paint and consumables and that should see me through to the end of the welding. 

I have to admit defeat at the cold wind this week (-3 earlier)  so didn't get welding done, but ripped out most of the interior instead.

I don't think there's any more rust in the back.

The soundproof mats were dripping wet.

I'm going to have to fix the wiper linkages, screen surround and bulkhead plus I need access to the top door hinges so the dash had to come out next.

This is a really excellent guide that covers dismantling and reassembly.

http://cleanflametrap.com/dash.html

The 88 dash is marginally different (easier) to get out but it's pretty similar to the guide.

Didn't break anything! All in it's a surprisingly straightforward job. 

With access to the top door hinge bolts it was a good time to try hanging the door and see if I could get a good shut line without sagging.

@Lacquer Peel helped out as the door is fucking heavy™. We have decided that Volvo Doors should be a new internationally agreed unit of measurement somewhere above the Metric Fuck-ton. As in, "this aircraft carrier weighs a total of 1.3 Volvo Doors."

Success!

There is zero sag, even though the A-pillar is incomplete. The new bracket saved the day.

It took a lot of adjustment including shimming the door and moving the striker plate tiny bits at a time, but I'd say it's about 95% right and closes with that nice Volvo vault shutting sound.

I think this is ok?

The door will have to come off again at some point so I marked the final hinge adjustment with a Sharpie.

The spiders should be nice and dry this Christmas.