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Volvo PV544
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norustplease



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
Posts: 779
Location: Lancashire

PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 11:53 am    Post subject: Brakes Reply with quote

The brakes on the Volvo have played up slightly over the last few weeks. After a week or so in the garage, the first application would almost fire me through the windscreen, the first few applications would create a loud squawk from the front nearside, and there would also occasionally be a slight pull towards the offside when braking. Once on the move and everything warmed up, then no further issues.
I have to confess that I have never looked at the brakes on this car since buying it, however long ago that now is and so I felt that it was high time that I had a look, certainly at the front brakes.


Pulling the drums however, showed only a build up of dust. There was no evidence of fluid leaks, rusty patches on the insides of the drums, or anything that might cause a problem. I checked that the adjusters were not seized, cleaned everything up and after a lick of paint on the drums, put it all back together again.
Test driving suggests that normal service has been resumed, but I have subsequently stripped down the car heater, to fix a leak (I will post separately on this) and the car has been sat around for a week or so, waiting for a new heater core from Sweden. It will be interesting to see how it behaves when I take it out again.
Rear brakes are still to do. I noticed that the drum on one side was damaged around its outer flange. This appears to be because someone has pulled it off using the wrong kind of extractor tool. It does not seem to be impairing the brakes, but I have a spare axle complete with its brake assemblies and will cannibalise that.

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1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
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norustplease



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
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Location: Lancashire

PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 9:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There has always been the occasional puff of vapour from the vents of this car, usually on a winters morning as the thermostat opens. I have toyed several times with the idea of investigating further, but the phenomena was relatively infrequent and so I convinced myself that it was just condensation flashing off the radiator core as it warmed.
However, a few days ago, whilst out and about I found myself with a fairly strong stream of steam vapour emitting from both the screen and the footwell vents. After the initial panic that it might be smoke, I finally came to terms with the fact that it must mean that a leak had been ongoing and had finally got to the point whereby it produced this spectacular emission, that flowed in front of my face and out of the quarter lights.

So, out with the spanners.
Most of the heater assembly is under the bonnet and is released by 4 nuts accessible alongside the steering column. Disconnecting the wires to the fan and two hoses means that you can withdraw the whole lot out and put it on the bench.



Scruffy heater housing.



Heater removed, state of member alongside looks pretty horrific, but is mainly dirt and old flaky paint.



Old core...yukk!


Bulkhead cleaned up and painted.



Out on the bench.

The problem became immediately obvious, the core was leaking, mainly at one corner, given away by a massive build up of green deposits. The inside of the housing was rusty, but had only a couple of pinhole penetrations under the leak.
New cores can be had from Sweden, but first I trotted it down to my local radiator man, who shook his head and said that he wasn't confident of a decent affordable repair without replacing virtually everything, and so I went to CVI, a classic Volvo spares outfit near Stockholm, who did me a replacement, plus a couple of new foam gaskets for the bulkhead penetration and a moulded hose for one of the rather tortuous connections with the heater valve, also on the bulkhead.
Whilst waiting for this, I stripped the tinware associated with the heater assembly, right back to bare metal and painted it again. The new core arrived after only a few days and went back in without any undue problems. The fan, however, made the most awful noise when switched on, like someone gargling gravel. I took it off and ran it outside the casing, virtual silence. After several experiments, I deduce that it isn't catching on the casing and that there must be some resonance from the motor bearings that uses the main housing like a sounding board. I have improved it with a rubber washer under the mounting flange, but it needs stripping down and investigating further....another day.



Refurbished installation.

A refill and a quick run around the village today seems to have cleared the airlock in the heater (which is higher than the radiator header tank!) and the car is topped up with coolant and awaits another trip out to make sure that everything is hunky dory.
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Penman



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
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Location: Swindon, Wilts.

PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 11:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi
When you ran it off the bulkhead, did you hold it at the same angle?
The angle could cause the spindle to "wobble if there is any play in the bearings which the first removal for the repair might have disturbed.
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Rick
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The bulkhead looks so much nicer without that coat of Waxoyl all over it Smile

RJ
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norustplease



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
Posts: 779
Location: Lancashire

PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2016 11:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Penman wrote:
Hi
When you ran it off the bulkhead, did you hold it at the same angle?
The angle could cause the spindle to "wobble if there is any play in the bearings which the first removal for the repair might have disturbed.

It has always been noisy and scared me to death when I first used it. I think that it must be bearings, I will have to strip it down at some point, but I am not sure how repairable it might ultimately be. I will keep my eye open on Ebay for another one.
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norustplease



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
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Location: Lancashire

PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2016 11:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rick wrote:
The bulkhead looks so much nicer without that coat of Waxoyl all over it Smile

RJ


Yes, the engine bay is gradually looking much tidier.
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norustplease



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
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Location: Lancashire

PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Had a nice drive in the sun today and did my errands in the Volvo, however, I also experienced more braking anomalies.
The car, after about half an hour's drive, started pulling quite severely to the left when I braked hard. Fortunately it was a dry day and controllable, once expected.
There is obviously something wrong here, I suspect either a sticky wheel cylinder or a collapsed pipe on the offside, reducing braking effort.

Probably time for a hydraulics overhaul at the front end.
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MVPeters



Joined: 28 Aug 2008
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Location: Northern MA, USA

PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2017 1:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just came across this PV544 on Google Earth Street View. Co-ordinates below - Bishops Lydeard centre in Somerset.


51°03'20.77" N 3°11'19.15" W
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norustplease



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
Posts: 779
Location: Lancashire

PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 12:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good spot.
Its actually a late PV 444, post 1954 with the larger rear window, but still with a split screen and a B16 engine.


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norustplease



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
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Location: Lancashire

PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't driven the cars much this last few weeks. The weather alternates between freezing cold and dry and slightly milder and wet. The council sprays everything in salt and grit as soon as the temperature approaches zero, so there have been few opportunities to go anywhere.
However, there are a few jobs on the Volvo pending. When last driven, a week or so ago, the brakes behaved perfectly and I wonder if the problem is condensation arising from some of the sharp temperature changes that we have experienced, leaving me with a patch of rust in the drums that grabs. MOT comes up in March, so I may leave it and see how it goes by then.
The second job is paintwork. The Volvo appears to have had four new wings at some point, probably as a result of an earlier part restoration (there was also some work revealed in one rear corner when I had the boot floor and spare wheel well replaced a couple of Christmases ago) and in order to conceal the new paint, the side panels have been blown in to blend in with the wings themselves. On the offside most of the rear quarter panel right up to the roof gutter has been painted, on the nearside, the blending is more localised. Not a real problem, you have to look fairly closely to see the join....but, there is some quite extensive micro blistering that has developed over the last two summers. This must be poor paint prep, or someone spraying without a moisture trap. There is no sign of any rust staining, and although not evident from a distance, it is starting to annoy me more and more and in strong sunshine, this and a couple of my own touch in patches, are starting to detract from the overall impression.
So, my plan is to rub down the affected areas until I am through the blistered layer , and then probably repaint both sides of the car, matching the wing paintwork which is undoubtedly less faded than that on the roof and bonnet lid, and shows no sign of blistering.
At the moment I am just accumulating the necessary bits and pieces, having bought a new compressor at the end of last year and as soon as the weather warms up a little, I will get cracking. I may also remove the wings as part of the process.
I will post photos as soon as I get started.
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norustplease



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
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Location: Lancashire

PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 1:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It has been a while since I last posted, so here is the plot thus far with the Volvo.

The car , as suspected, failed its MOT last March on uneven braking, plus a couple of minor items, involving deteriorating rubber gaiters on the track rods. With a bit of help from the MOT garage (thanks chaps) we diagnosed that there was a sticky wheel cylinder, which we replaced, and I had already a pair of track rods bought as NOS spares a couple of years ago, which I just substituted for the affected items. I now see that I can buy the rubber gaiters separately, and since the old trackrods appear to be otherwise okay, I may refurbish them for a rainy day. So off we went with a new MOT for the file.

Slightly more sinister was an advisory pointing towards some looseness in the offside front suspension swinging arm and kingpin.
The front suspension does rattle a little on rough surfaces and so I resolved to sort things out with a suspension refresh for the next MOT. Coincidentally, but unfortunately just too late to bid, I spotted on eBay a gentleman up in the hills near Milnrow who had a stockpile of PV544 parts, some refurbished, and part of this stash was an almost complete front suspension, including two re bushed king pins. Needless to say I made contact, and perhaps unsurprisingly he had no luck in selling, so I drove over and relieved him of all his suspension parts, a new heater assembly, an armoured cable ignition/coil assembly (almost unobtainable) plus a few other obscure bits all for a very modest sum, which would only just have covered the kingpin reconditioning set if bought retail.
So, my plan is to run the car as is, through the Summer and then in late September/ October, strip down the front end for a full rebuild with new rubber bushes, springs and shocks, and also replace the rear springs which have settled somewhat over the years. It wont be cheap but will get rid of the slight sag to the nearside that the car has acquired over 54 years of motoring with (I suspect) only the driver in position.

Paintwork previously mentioned was done, the offside was rubbed down and repainted by me, and generally looks good, the paint match was excellent, although I may give the door another coat, since the sunshine shows up a couple of minor flaws that I would like to get rid of.
The microblisters that I was trying to get rid off were fairly superficial and were mainly in the areas where the old and new paint had been blended in when the car had new wings fitted in its distant past.
The fan motor I have fitted already and this has eliminated the screech. I will strip down the original motor and see if it is redeemable.

IMG_20170402_190001993 by bryan pullan, on Flickr
Initial primer coats.
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1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV


Last edited by norustplease on Sat Oct 21, 2017 3:54 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Rick
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 6:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

She's looking great, still look back at the PV with a lot of fondness.

RJ
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norustplease



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
Posts: 779
Location: Lancashire

PostPosted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 3:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote [i]'I will post pictures as soon as I start this marathon, probably in late November (unless it gets too cold).'


Well November, my self imposed start date, passed me by for various reasons and December has certainly been way too cold, well below zero recently, so with Christmas only just over a week and a half away, it looks as if matters will be delayed until the New Year.
I have all of the parts, as far as I can tell at this stage, (but who knows what will be revealed when I start to dig deeper). Alas the garage heating system is rudimentary (3kW electric radiator)and what usually happens is that I get everything to a suitable working temperature, and then someone comes and opens the garage door to get to the freezer and lets it all out again!!!!
We will see what January brings.
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1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV


Last edited by norustplease on Mon Mar 11, 2019 4:45 pm; edited 1 time in total
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norustplease



Joined: 11 Apr 2011
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Location: Lancashire

PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 11:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well it did get too cold and I put off the suspension rebuild until the end of April. The MOT had run out and I SORN'd the car when the MOT ran out in March and began the work. Everything went quite well, no rusted up nuts, etc. and everything went back together as intended.
The new springs and bushes have firmed things up quite a bit, but rather show up the rear suspension now. I have new springs and a few other bits so will aim to do that sometime over the remainder of the year.
I realised when it came to putting the Volvo back on the road, that I didn't need an MOT, so was able to simply tax it as soon as I was ready. A few pounds saved and the hassle of MOT'ing a classic car at a modern garage averted.

volvo mawdesley

On Monday 28th, I took the Volvo to a local show at Mawdesley. Mediterranean temperatures and weather, very enjoyable.
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kevin2306



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Location: nr Llangollen, north wales

PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Volvo is looking mighty fine there.
it was cold old winter tho eh!

Kevin
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