Nina's 1981 244 GL - "Billie"

Philia_Bear

jamesinc
It's comparatively expensive, and tbh I don't think it's necessary, the paint should last a very long time now that I've keyed the surface.

that does not seam like nearly enough scope creep....

jamesinc

More sills cut out and coated the members with weld-thru primer and drilled out the spot welds for the old ones. The rest of the repairs I had planned for this weekend have had to be pushed back due to Buttercup being stuck in my driveway awaiting a replacement shock.

Major Ledfoot

@jamesinc writes:

Speaking of scope-creep, these door trims were all flaking. I painted them years ago with an acrylic satin black and that just doesn't bond well to the polished brightwork underneath, so I stipped all the paint off and scuffed them up to get better adhesion. This time I've used a satin black enamel paint, as I've had good results with enamels in the past. Only downside is you have to give them a day or two to cure.

Seems you've got good results. I need to do this sort of thing for Big Red and others.

What brand of paint did you use? Did you use a primer and if so, which?

jamesinc

Just Dulux MetalShield or whatever it's called. Only because the Rustoleum was sold out in satin black.

I didn't use a primer (paint tin said it shouldn't be necessary for bare metal) but I did scuff up the brightwork.

jamesinc

I bought a small sand blaster. My god it's messy, next time I do that I'm gonna wear a jump suit and full face mask.

Anyway, I have welded in the new braces, the rust is all blasted off and POR15 has been applied everywhere I can reach, ESPECIALLY along the seams at the bottom of the sill.

Hopefully I'll get to welding in new panels tomorrow, though there's a couple other rust spots that didn't look like much from the outside, but looking at them from inside the sill with a borescope the exterior is just the tip of the iceberg. Depending on energy levels I may or may not sort them out. The car just needs to be sorted out for rego, I think long-term it's going to need the entire outer sills replaced with new ones.

Once it's all buttoned up, I've got some cavity wax that I'll spray in, and that should take care of any spots I couldn't get to with the paintbrush.

carnut222

Big job - looking good! When I was doing my yellow 245 project, I pulled all the sill plugs out and vacuumed out the sills. The RHS outer sill and doors have been replaced at some stage and I noticed that the rear internal baffle wasn’t reinstalled. I guess they may be there for side impact protection or just to maintain the shape of the sill for structural purposes?

jamesinc

One of the power mirror switches was blowing the fuse, so I tore the switch down and rebuilt it. Very intricate piece! Must have cost a pretty penny to manufacture.

Switch now performs very well ?

I also cut the first patch panel but stopped after that due to rain.

carnut222

jamesinc
One of the power mirror switches was blowing the fuse, so I tore the switch down and rebuilt it. Very intricate piece! Must have cost a pretty penny to manufacture.
https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/757/6WMW16KNZ8CS.png
Switch now performs very well ?
I also cut the first patch panel but stopped after that due to rain.
https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/597/HSD8ATOVTMD5.png

Wow nice to know they can be disassembled and cleaned. I usually just spray some electronics cleaner in them but not a lasting solution. IIRC I pulled one apart once - those things that look like screws don’t have a screwdriver head on them, do they? Just pushed in? I can’t recall how I got them out.

Roinik

They look just the same as the Raleigh head badge rivets.

past_the_moon

jamesinc
What do you reckon about that last photo? As you can see there's a lot of surface rust on the inner sill. It's not great but the metal isn't totally compromised, so I think if I approach this right I can probably stop it from getting any worse. I know it looks bad but some of that stuff at the bottom isn't rot, it's just wet dirt from when I was flushing the sills out.
To that end I was thinking of getting a sandblasting kit and trying to get the surfaces clear of any rust so I can repaint the internal spaces.

hi James

if ya got the time and like truly clean steel like me then get some Deox Gel from PPCCO - have u used it before? (im new here, sorry) you spread it on like 3-5mm thick if possible then cover it in glad w rap . take the gw off every 12hrs or so and stir / scratch the goo up and recover. do that couuple of times then wash it off. that stuff REMOVES the rust entirely and is safe to use - no stinging on skin and it doesnt affect rubber or glass either. great for vertical surfaces even upside down. fantastic on delicatre parts too. works best when warmed up a bit - sunlight, heat lamps.

the other thing i use is W U R TH paint on rust convertor that you can paint over within 4-5 hrs or so. I spray that stuff into all sorts of cavities and then spray paint inside then do some waxing.

anyway goodonya for keepin the old rocket rolling. best thing for the environment is buy a car and keep it on the road for life.

Philia_Bear

Just had an idea....

Take the vent hose from the pcv and put a T into it... the run each side of the T into one side of the car directly into the sills

jamesinc

@past_the_moon thanks for the tips, I have never been happy with the rust converters you get at Bunnings, I will check those products out.

For the inner sills this time as I had so much of the outer sill removed, I was able to sandblast the inners back to clean metal and then paint over them. However this whole thing is really only supposed to be temporary, eventually I will get around to organising a group buy of new sill pressings.

@Philia_Bear I don't think that would do anything other than create gross oil/water puddles under your car.

past_the_moon

hi james

they also make a powder formula for immersing items into a bucket of liquid. it doesn't smell or sting but it is best to not put your hand into it anyway. no horrid fumes either.

http://www.ppcco.com.au/bilt01.html

Just a bit of scrubbing after a few hours soak using another bucket or hose with clean water takes the black coating off the metal, then back in again if any remains to be dissolved away. Beautifully etched metal is all that remains, then rinse it off well and dry with compressed air / towel / a heat gun ASAP and paint away :) It is excellent for any steel items. I have immersed some tools with an alloy handle on the end and that goes a bit soft on the surface but all good once it dries. All items must be perfectly clean of grease or oils which is ideally done with Marine Clean but normal hot soapy water after a degrease is OK. any oily spots simply won't be cleaned.

You can scrub some items with plastic brush if you want, but i find a brass brush is pretty good. It pays to wear gloves as the black substance that you scrub off stains your skin. It is a nice silent process that wont upset the neighbours like blasting can.

i buy it off ppcco in Sydney by mail but i believe you can get it at the odd genuinely professional paint supply shop elsewhere.

jamesinc

Made a little bit of progress yesterday. It's cold and I'm busy with work so having to spend time where I can.

Getting the rear part contoured correctly was difficult, as it stands it's good at the top but a little bit low below the bend, I will fix this with filler (edit: it didn't help that the sill was dented here before I started). It's a very annoying repair, access is poor, my 125mm grinder is too large, and you basically have to lie on the ground to see what you're cutting, which means you end up getting peppered with metal filings.

My advice to anyone reading this, thinking about sill repairs, just buy new sills.

Philia_Bear

If you had a forklift its an easy job

jamesinc

Pretty sure forklift is how the sill got deformed in the first place XD but I take your point, yes it would make life MUCH easier.

I think once I am actually past buying my first home I will spring for a pair of these badboys (unless I can fit a hoist ofc). Between my Volvos and the other Volvos I look after, I'm putting cars up on the stands every few days and it's getting old!

https://www.costco.com.au/Automotive/Car-Accessories/Trolley-Jacks-Axle-Stands/QuickJack-Car-Lift/p/8513217

Ex850R

jamesinc
Pretty sure forklift is how the sill got deformed in the first place XD but I take your point, yes it would make life MUCH easier.
I think once I am actually past buying my first home I will spring for a pair of these badboys (unless I can fit a hoist ofc). Between my Volvos and the other Volvos I look after, I'm putting cars up on the stands every few days and it's getting old!
https://www.costco.com.au/Automotive/Car-Accessories/Trolley-Jacks-Axle-Stands/QuickJack-Car-Lift/p/8513217

Probably good for lowered cars too. Ramps were good but even the 855R hit the front lip on mine and any tyre joint that wasn't set up properly.

jamesinc

I think the nicest thing about the quicklift is that when I'm not using it, I can store it out of the way under the car.

carnut222

jamesinc
I think the nicest thing about the quicklift is that when I'm not using it, I can store it out of the way under the car.

A mate bought one of those and ended up selling it. Was difficult to find a spot to lift on and also very heavy so moving them around and storing them isn’t a trivial task...just FYI. He ended up getting a 4-post hoist instead. I recommend 2-post hoist...has been fantastic so far. Of course depends on space available.

jamesinc

Alrighty, driver's side welding is complete. Tore down the intake side to get to the freeze plugs which were all leaking. The shop that installed them didn't put any sealant on, no wonder they leaked ?‍♂️

May have forgotten to drain the coolant ?

I think more commonly people drill these out but I didn't want to deal with swarf so I just caved them in with this chisel

2 and 3 installed, I need to pull the distributor to get good enough access for 1, and I need to drain a bit more coolant to do 4 as it was wicking up and getting into my sealant which is probably a bad thing. The engine is slanted backwards a bit so 1/2/3 don't have that problem.

I'm driving these in with a 19mm deep socket and a 1.8kg mini sledge hammer (free plug for RS Components, their own-brand stuff is good quality)

I'll get the others installed tonight and clean up the block and apply some fresh paint tomorrow.

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