1975 Volvo 244 Mustard Yellow crash rebuild thread.

Rory

(looking for parts for the repair, mentioned below)
Hello,
Recently bought a 244 with crash damage from auction, since people seems to appreciate my last build thread, figured I'd post this car, as I think it's a pretty special car.
The car is a absolutely brilliant barn find, 0 rust, it has 400k klms and patina, but had a owner who was padantic about maintainence. Not looking to restore it, just to make it nice enough. It's a base model, 400k klms, no air con, no radio, no tachometer, no power steering, a true Volvo brick.

Looking for the shock absorbers for the bumper, I have attached a photo below.
I am also looking for a bumper, and a LHS fender for this car, if anyone knows someone who might have some 244 pieces hidden in storage that would be perfect.
Thanks

Rory

Bought the car from auction in Wagga Wagga, I drove it from Wagga to Bathurst under its own power, drove like a beauty. Unfortunately in the last klm on the drive I hit a kangaroo, luckily I managed to only hit it on the already damaged area, but ended up breaking the perfect condition indicator lense which was still undamaged previously (shown in photos).
Once I got the car back, I started to pull it apart, the right side fender was also damaged, due to the bumper twisting and pushing it inwards, but hopefully I can get it repaired at a smash repairer.
After removing the fender it was pretty clear the car was a farm car, mud pushed incredibly deep into behind the fenders, amazingly still no rust to be found, damage is minimal, will be treating all areas with damaged paint to ensure there will be no rust forming.

Rory

Note for admin:
Would appear I put this thread in the wrong category, meant to put it in with all the rebuild threads, and I'm not sure how to change it.

Ex850R

It looks to me that the bumper absorbers are just bent on front plate or are they damaged inside?
Heating and bashing will fix the front plate.
Buy a MAP gas unit and a good hammer.

Rory

Ex850R yeah definitely doable, be a big pain in the ass though.
Maybe I can take it into my uni and see if they have the gear I can dude to smack it back in place, very thick piece of steel.

Rory

Ex850R also been considering using my unis 3d scanner to make 3d scans of some of the plastic pieces, good thing to have circulating on the internet for such a old car.

Ex850R

Rory
Yep , we have a thread on here for 2r40 bits 3D printed , I'm buying a printer once I look at what and where.
I'm a boilermaker so it's almost sheetmetal to me ha! Easy fix.

Rory

Ex850R haha nice, I'd love to learn fabrication, currently my skills are limited to electronics work, woodworking, and 3d printing

Rory

Ex850R Hey, just following up, you said your a boilermaker? Do you reckon i could get your advice?

I attached a photo of the right side fender in the chat, the lower part has been pushed in by the bumper in the crash. Was wondering if it would be even possible to pull out, doesnt have to be perfect, just good enough to match the overall condition of the rest of the car. I could give it a yank with my hands and bend it back, but i think that'll create another new bend ontop of the first bend already.

Any tips for what tools or processes i should try? or should i take it to a shop? Have absolutely no metalworking expirience, not even welded before, my uni has a pretty good metal working department i could probably use. Id also have to be pretty careful not to let the paint flake off or crack, defeats the whole point of repairing it, since i already have a spare i could get painted

Image description

Ex850R

Rory
That's a good raft of know how!
You can do anything, give it a try just don't hurt yourself 😉

jamesinc

I'll move the thread for you.

I can also hook you up with some bumper shock absorbers. I'm in Sydney, where are you?

Rory

jamesinc Great! I'm in Sydney aswell.
Thanks heaps for that diagram, very useful, could do with one for my 850 actually, similar damage but worse.

jamesinc

You might also find this handy if you want to verify the crash didn't bend anything

Ex850R

Mate , thanks for the vote of confidence . Im not good with panels , I had a mate who's two sons were a painter and a mechanic and George was a master panel guy , could massage the bad panels to perfection!

GET a strong blow up thing behind it and see how that goes?

Others here can help better I feel.

Keep us informed and lots of pix please!?

jamesinc

You can get that guard most of the way there on the car with just bare hands, but you'll need hammer and dollies to get it perfect.

Honestly for a dent like this, where it's not creased and the paint is unbroken, I would talk to a paintless dent removal person first. Once you take to it with the hammer and dolly you'll need to paint it and the new paint won't match perfectly, plus time and money.

VolvoHordz

Yeah definitely second the idea of getting a paintless dent repairer to look at it before you touch it. Easy for unskilled hands to make it quickly look somewhat straighter but actually make it harder to reach a perfect repair in the long run.

Rory

Yeah ok, will take it to a guy, dont really wanna take it off the car though, none of the body repairs wanna come to me either, but i will see what i can do.

Also not terribly worried about getting the car perfect, its a very good rust free example, but its got pleanty of patina, a slightly out of shape pannel would be not a problem.

jamesinc

I don't think they remove the panel for the paintless process fwiw