Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Bitumen Boy]

Progress has been made, thatś the main thing. Maybe not as quickly as planned, but in my experience those sorts of plans are rarely achieved on time... At least you have a recognisable car rather than a heap of bits and it only needs finishing off

[norustplease]

Well, I think that we are there, after some acrobatics to fix the brake light switch, which has been amended to be a pedal position sensor type switch rather than a Chinese replica hydraulic switch! I then found out that the bonnet hinges had not been fully tightened post reassembly by the body shop and the bonnet had crept whilst open so much that it was about 15 mm too far forward and about 5 mm up in the air at the front. It is a front hinged configuration, so this also meant that the bonnet latch would not engage at the bulkhead end, as well as it looking a bit odd. An evening spent fiddling wih the slotted hinge mountings left me no better off, but a further session on Sunday afternoon (after a refreshing trip out to a breakfast meet in the Citroen) got it back to where it should be.
I still have a few modifications to do here and there but they can be 'over the winter' projects. I intend to fit a high level brake light, a replacement temperature gauge (the original has never worked) and need to replace the fog warning and reversing lights which are after market and are starting to corrode internally.
However, the car is now roadworthy again and looks terrific, so tomorrow I will,(weather permitting) go out for a shakedown run, and hopefully polish off the surface rust that must have accumulated inside the brake drums and get everything bedded back in again, for another 50 years. I will take a photo if it is a decent day, and post it.
_________________
1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[norustplease]

Managed to get a Black Friday deal on some new door cards today. The old ones were fairly battered and warped and I managed to get two new ones of the right colour from Sweden, for ?80 the pair. Not cheap, but at a cost that was probably less than having an upholster manufacture some replacements, and in theory, being made from the original Volvo patterns, they should fit without any fettling.
Just need to find someone to either reupholster the existing back seat to match the ex Ford fronts, or vice versa. Any suggestions for the Central Lancashire area?
_________________
1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[norustplease]

I note that I havent confirmed that we are back on the road again.
We have been out for a couple of short shakedown drives. The brakes squeal abominably when reversing down the slope of the drive, but are silent going forwards, but with new linings fitted just before it came off the road for its refurb, I am hoping that things will bed in with a bit of mileage in the Spring. We need a new pedal return spring, the old one not quite strong enough to always shut off the new mechanical switch, so that needs attention, but will have to wait until Spring when i can get the use of a lift. In the meantime, if the lights stay on (and I can see from the high level light fitted recently), a quick lift of the pedal with the toe corrects things. Weather really precludes much classic car driving at the moment anyway, when the sun shines and it is cold, the gritters come out. When it warms up, it showers with rain and liquifies the salt!!! A couple of opportunities arise in the next few weeks so, assuming a dry road day, I will try and photograph our progress.
_________________
1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[norustplease]

Fitted new door cards today. The old ones rather let the side down now, one had warped, and both had stains and puncture marks. Previous attempts several years ago to strip the covers and put back onto a new board were partially succesful, but the cover on the drivers door had been cut at some point for a speaker and the 'chrome' strip on both was in poor condition.

I have fashioned some waterproof membranes since the ones fitted years ago were destroyed when the doors were stripped down for the restoration. I have some left over garden pond liner which should be the ideal material. I have also refreshed the rust proofing whilst I can get into the doors.
_________________
1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[norustplease]

The Volvo is in regular use now. The front nearside brakes squealed horribly when in reverse, so I dismantled and reassembled. Not sure what the problem was, but it seems cured now. Lots of small bits and pieces done now to finally finish the job off. Sudden misfire cured by tightening up the LT lead on the coil (had a look under the bonnet whilst investigating and spotted a spark at the terminal which was almost unscrewed....not sure how come, but a fix nevertheless.)
Waiting for some new carpets and some millboard to remake the scruffy footwell side panels.
_________________
1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[Rick]

I saw photos on FB yesterday of a morning meet with the PV in the line of parked cars, looked very well indeed.

RJ
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop

[norustplease]

[norustplease]

[norustplease]

Odd fault with the Volvo the other day. Whilst filling up I realised that there was a spreading puddle of fuel under the wing that was also tracking along the bottom of the tank and dripping off the other end. I hastily stopped filling, paid and drove gingerly home.
It looks as if when the wing was refitted during its respray, the linking rubber pipe on the filler was only just lapped onto the stub on the tank and had also delaminated slightly so that what grip the jubilee clip had on the pipe was further compromised. The fuel filler pipe fixed onto the tank is not a brilliant piece of design and rather than being a sweeping curve up from the horizontal, has a mitred joint of about 100 or so degrees. So a fast fill inevitably leads to the fuel backing up to the nozzle. and in this case was enough to allow it to seep rapidly past the clip and back down the outside of the pipe. If it had been shoved on further, it would probably have been okay.
Replacement with a new flexible pipe and clips was fairly straightforwards, and cheap enough, but required removal of the wheel and Lokari, plus splashguard and mudflap, to get access.
_________________
1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[norustplease]

Seats out from the Volvo and off to a local upholsterer with them this week.
Front seats are, as you may remember, ex Ford Ka due to the lack of support in the originals. The rear (original Volvo) seat fabric is now getting fragile, and recent efforts to move a small mark demonstrated that the fabric was perished. The fronts, still in the Ford fabric, are okay but look a bit tired. Although original seat covers are available, they are not suitable for the non standard front seats. Enquiries, however, don't show a supplier for the original pattern material supplied by the yard. The makers of the replacement covers are in Sweden and appear reluctant to divulge the name of their supplier. so I have agreed to have all the seats redone in a similar but later Volvo patterned fabric. It won't be authentic, but it has a similar blue colourway, and lets face it, 99.9 percent of the UK population has never seen a PV544 close up, so few will be any the wiser in authenticity terms.
I will post some images when the job is done.
This will more or less bring to a close the rolling restoration that the Volvo has been through in the last couple of years, although there will no doubt be a few odd jobs to do here and there. I have probably spent way more than the car is worth, but that is how it goes, I am afraid.
_________________
1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV