Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.
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Bitumen Boy
Joined: 26 Jan 2012 Posts: 1737 Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire
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norustplease
Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 782 Location: Lancashire
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 11:22 am Post subject: |
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More on the replacement seats.
I bought some Ford Ka seats, in a sort of blue fabric that although obviously not a match, are good enough and have the advantage of having a tilt mechanism, and headrests.
The driving experience is much improved and has lost that sensation on a winding road, of one being likely to fall off the original low backed seats, or ending up leaning on the door. I will look into either getting them reupholstered in a blue vinyl that will be a closer match to the original seats, or at having a bash with upholstery dye (I have the unused back seats to experiment on).
The seats were fitted by unscrewing the original runners which are on a set of cantilevered brackets off the cross member and transmission tunnel, and bridging across it with a plate drilled to take the original mountings and the new mountings for the Ka seats. This gives the full range of movement and is easily reversible back to original spec if required. The seats themselves have short legs on the base of the original runners which need to be taken off by grinding the heads off the mounting rivets.
I understand that Ford Ka seats are a common upgrade in a few classic cars, in particular Morris 1000 two door cars, where the tilt mechanism is useful and also offers the extra safety of a headrest to reduce the likelihood of severe whiplash in a rear end shunt.
I have also had a session with the grease gun and Waxoyl/Dinitrol, particularly in the box sections and cills and have had a go at cleaning up the engine bay, which as Rick will probably recall, was covered in a thick layer of old black underbody wax.
The main recipient of some treatment is the upper bulkhead, which I always felt somewhat let the car down as a scruffy contrast to its smart external appearance, and always made me a little ashamed on the odd occasion when someone at a show or meet asks to have a look under the bonnet. I also wanted to inspect the battery carrier, which can be prone to corrosion on this model, but looked fine, again under various coats of protection.
A bit labour intensive stripping the upper section back to its original paint and the necessary masking/dismantling to prepare it for paint, but the finished product was well worth it. No significant corrosion was in evidence and whatever the previous owners had used on it, has certainly preserved things nicely. javascript:emoticon('')
_________________ 1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV |
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kevin2306
Joined: 01 Jul 2013 Posts: 1359 Location: nr Llangollen, north wales
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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Great job, daughter has a ford KA with those seats and I can confirm that even after a few hours of sitting in them (whilst we were out and about getting pre test practise) they are very comfy and supportive.
How available are the rear benches for the Volvo? Just thinking if one was available for the right price you could recover both front and rear to match, would look quite smart and OEM that way?
Nice motor
Kev |
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Rick Site Admin
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22464 Location: UK
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norustplease
Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 782 Location: Lancashire
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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 10:29 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, the seats are not that bad a colour/pattern for the car. I may look into getting some more matching material and running up some loose covers for the back seat. _________________ 1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV |
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norustplease
Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 782 Location: Lancashire
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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Pleased to report that after a day's fettling with various minor bits and pieces, the car sailed through another MOT.
I have also had a minor purge on things that don't quite work and have ended up with an interior light that works, have hopefully cured the heater fan's inclination to make a noise like someone gargling with rusty nails and also reinstated the headlamp flasher that works off the indicator stalk. I also stripped down the horn ring assembly and managed the elevate the performance of the horns from a pathetic squeak, to something more appropriate. I think that the horns need a bit of a fettle too, but they sit between the grille and the radiator core and are rather inaccessible without taking out the radiator core itself. The only thing that has beaten me is why the indicators on the offside blink significantly slower than those on the other side. In spite of my cleaning everything up in the bulb sockets, etc. things still remain unchanged. Fortunately the tester didn't seem bothered. I may go for LED's before too long and that will need a new flasher unit anyway.
_________________ 1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV |
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norustplease
Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 782 Location: Lancashire
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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Whoops.
Spoke too soon about having sorted out all the various minor foibles.
Having been let down by the Citroen with a blocked fuel filter (again), I pressed the Volvo into last minute service for the regular Thursday evening meeting of the local car club.
Leaving the pub at closing time, I noticed as I set off down the hill that the instrument lights did not appear to be responding to the rheostat control and thought it prudent to stop at the first opportunity to check that the sidelights were actually working (the headlights were fine).
Of course they weren't, but a quick waddle of fuses produced the desired result and we were legal again.
I cleaned the whole lot up the following day with a mild abrasive scuff pad and also discovered that the (ceramic) fuse for the headlamp flashers had a fatigue crack at one end and fell to pieces when inspected closely. This probably explains the intermittent behaviour of the flash control! If your classic is a foreign car, check your ceramic fuses if they are elderly, is the motto here.
Everything behaved perfectly on Drive it Day (see elsewhere) and we tackled a 50 mile round trip in soaking wet weather without any undue problems.
_________________ 1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV |
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norustplease
Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 782 Location: Lancashire
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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Haven't posted on the 544 for a while, and the Volvo has, since DID, taken a bit of a back seat. So I have, over the last few days, given the bodywork a bit of a smarten up, touching in some minor bits and pieces that I have been ignoring for quite a while and now she looks quite smart again.
There are some paintwork blemishes in the form of some microblistering on the rear quarter panels that are only visible from certain angles and these will have to be the subject of a more extensive respray at some point, and I may dust off my spraygun and compressor and have a go later in the Summer. However, for now, the car is back to being its old presentable self and all being well, we will be going out on Thursday evening to the local car club meet at the Robin Hood near Mawdesley. _________________ 1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV |
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jp928
Joined: 07 Jun 2016 Posts: 249 Location: Australia
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2016 8:46 am Post subject: |
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Was visiting UK last year and stayed in a flat in Acton area. On the way to the tube we passed a perfume factory - made stuff to order for name bands apparently - main claim to fame was Elvis Costello once worked there. Anyway, one day going past there is a 122 parked inside - looked very clean, straight, original paint colour. Next day there is a P1800, also very nice condition. Somebody in there is into Volvo!
Near us here in Oz there is somebody who objects to the common view of Volvo drivers - his 144 is registered NOHAT.
jp |
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norustplease
Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 782 Location: Lancashire
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2016 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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Nice one.
Volvo drivers used to have a bit of a reputation over here as well, particularly in the '145/245 with two black Labrador Retrievers in the back' era of the eighties.
My 544 is still capable of honouring its sporting heritage however, and can show a clean pair of heels to quite a few cars on the local roads.
99% of the modern motoring community in the Uk, of course, have never seen a PV and consequently, don't have the faintest idea what it is! _________________ 1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV |
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norustplease
Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 782 Location: Lancashire
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:27 am Post subject: |
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Alas, it looks like curtains for the whitewalls!
I have been having a bit of a purge on ancient tyres recently, having discovered that the rear pair on one of my other cars is 16 years old!
The Volvo whitewalls have always been a bit of a love /hate thing for me, and recently, they have been degrading, leaving the car out in the rain has resulted in white chalky stains down the tyre walls and onto the drive. It seemed sensible to take them off, and so I decided to take a closer look at the tyres themselves. The whitewalls, being essentially flaps trapped against the rim. The whitewalls appear to have worn away a lot of the embossed lettering on the sidewalls, and now that I investigate further on various forums, it appears that the sidewalls under the whitewalls, should be regularly greased with red rubber grease to prevent abrasion and overheating.
The tyres themselves do not appear to be in bad nick cosmetically , plenty of tread, etc, but the DOT mark that allows dating is nowhere to be seen, presumably worn away, and a couple of the tyres have some strange, albeit small (at the moment) radial ridges forming on the sidewalls.
This is not good news, the tyres are the ones on the car when the previous owner purchased it in April 2013, and since the previous owner to him, hadn't used it a deal in the preceding years, I would guess that the original Firestone tyres on the road wheels are quite old and the spare could be positively ancient.
So, today, I have ordered a new set which should arrive for fitting in the next few days, and I will post a picture of the car in its new (black) shoes as soon as the deed is done. _________________ 1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV |
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norustplease
Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 782 Location: Lancashire
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 10:31 am Post subject: A Gong |
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The Volvo received an award at the weekend, at a small pub meet/show in Bispham, West Lancs for 'Most Interesting Motor Vehicle'!
The benefits of having a model of car that nobody else has ever seen before!
_________________ 1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV |
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norustplease
Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 782 Location: Lancashire
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 12:19 am Post subject: |
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....and here we are with a new set of tyres....non whitewall.
_________________ 1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV |
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kevin2306
Joined: 01 Jul 2013 Posts: 1359 Location: nr Llangollen, north wales
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 8:46 am Post subject: |
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Thats a very handsome motorcar and looks lovely on its new boots.
how is the driving and handling since swapping to new tyres?
Kev |
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norustplease
Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 782 Location: Lancashire
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2016 9:16 am Post subject: |
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Thank you.
I have only had a short trip out and after adjusting the pressures from a standard tyre centre 30psi down to 25 (at the front) found everything quieter and more supple on some of the rather rough and ready back roads.
Driving the first couple of miles on 30psi up front gave wonderfully lightened steering, but rather a tendency to tramline when braking hard on some surfaces.
Interestingly, the original 1964 handbook recommends about 20 psi on the front. However, I am not absolutely sure what kind of tyre was original equipment in 1964. _________________ 1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV |
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