I've been tinkering with the Volvo a little bit. I got the turn signals working. Drove it to town today to get a new battery for the Corvette, and it did fine, until right before I turned into my driveway, and the clutch pedal stayed on the floor. The engine swap necessitated some modification to the linkage apparently, also they were not very good to start with. I think I see the problem.
A number of weeks ago, it was that rally video of that incredible driver and the PV-544 Volvo, that got me to thinking that I might be interested in getting another PV-544. With out getting into the details. A car collector friend of mine, who is shutting down his business and is selling off a lot of his cars, has offered to sell me this mint condition ( one of his favorite ) PV-544 Volvo's. It has been inside of a temperature controlled ware house, on that lift for the past 20 years, so I will be going through the systems to make sure its all functional and safe. It will be picked up by my friend, that has a roll back car carrier, and it will be taken to a friends shop that is equipped with a lift and we will drain all of the fluids and freshen up what ever needs to be freshened up, and get it back on the road! Thanks for the update on your cool Volvo @squirrel !
wow, that's neat! I would rather have the cream color car next to it I welded another inch of steel shaft to the end of the cross shaft, so it won't fall out again.
I flushed the cooling system again, and removed the heater hoses so I could flush the heater, and byp*** the water valve. The fitting at the back of the head that supplies water to the heater was plugged up, now it's open. Went for a little drive, the heater works! but now I need to figure out how to make it so I can control airflow, for when it's warm out. I also looked at the temp history of Texas, where we're planning to go in early December, and it looks like it is not likely to be hot enough to overheat, and there aren't really any mountains, so I probably will be OK just flushing it a few more times, and adding some antifreeze. The carbs seem to be quite rich, I need to remember how to adjust the jets and check that they are working right. I seem to recall it involves unbolting the air cleaners. also need to look at the points and check dwell and timing. And get a tach in it so I can see what's happening.
The SU carbs are easy to adjust, really important to make sure the metering rod is centered in the jet. A link to a good tuning guide https://www.mgexp.com/phile/1/492119/SU_idiot_guide.PDF A decent SU carb tool kit from Moss Motors for a decent price however it’s on back order. If you need one I have one I can mail to you, I won’t need it back anytime soon. PM me if interested. https://mossmotors.com/386-300-carburetor-tool-kit-su Happy motoring Dan
Thanks, I think I still have the wrench from when I had the MG, so that's probably all I really need. I just need to dive in and do it. oh...I looked on my computer, I have another more detailed (but probably less helpful) SU manual in my MG folder!
I’ve found that SU guide to be very good, touches all the bases except the effects of dash pot oil viscosity My understanding is lighter oil tends to make engine run leaner, heavier make engine run richer. Joe Curto (SU carb guru” recommends 20 wt but says 10w40 or 20w50 is ok also. Dan
I drained the cooling system again, and added a quart of flush to the water I refilled it with. Today I went to Bisbee again, it's 60 miles round trip, decent elevation change down to the San Pedro river, then up to Bisbee itself. The temperature got up to 190, before the road leveled off. I was going about 60 most of the time. I filled up with gas before I left, it took 6 gallons, so I guess I've driven the car somewhere around 200 miles altogether, maybe a little more. The speedo/odo is dead, but today I also downloaded a speedometer app to the $30 phone I bought for Cheep. It said I was going about 60 mph most of the trip today. I checked the oil when I got back. I had changed it soon after I got the car running, up to the MAX mark. I checked it when I got back from my trip, it used almost a quart with all the driving I've done. Not surprising, I do see a little blue cloud in the rear view mirror occasionally.
I got the car in the air and looked at a few things. I adjusted the parking brake a little tighter, it didn't work very well on slopes. I looked at the rear control arm bushings, they were bad on my brother's car, but these look ok. There's something kind of loose in the suspension somewhere, still need to find it, the car wanders a little bit. I looked at the exhaust, it was pretty rough. The tail pipe is the original 1.5" for the original B16 engine. The front pipe is 1.75" for the "new" B18 engine. They had a tin can clamped around it to try to make it seal, that didn't work. The pipes are very thin now from 60 years of rusting away, but didn't see any holes in them. I tried to weld it, with the torch, but it's too thin and hard to get positioned well. So I decided to just clamp the big pipe onto the small one and see what happens. I need to replace it all, of course, but that costs money that this car is not worth. At least it's a little quieter now. for a little while. And since we're planning on taking the two Volvos to Texas for the LeMons rally, look what showed up on fb marketplace today, to try to tempt me...
Fortunately someone else bought the cow limo, so I didn't have to. I got a new thermostat for the Volvo, installed it, and drove a few miles, the car overheated. Turns out the new one only opens a little bit, but the old Robertshaw 330 thermostat that was in it appears to be working, when boiled. It closes, but the engine runs cold when lightly loaded or it's cold out. The temp sender is at the back of the head, maybe it's just cool back there at times? I guess I won't worry about it. Drove to the cars n coffee this morning, my brother's old wagon was there as well. Got a picture for him, he drove his 544 and the wagon as his only transportation for a while.
ME TOO. I still remember the first on I ever saw! To a 16 year old poor boy that thing was EXOTIC looking. Ben
lots of work to build a fast car out of one of these! have fun I might head up to Tucson today just to see if I can make it that far. I installed the tach that was in the other Volvo for a while, before David put the Nixie gauges in it. Here's a little info about how I made the modern cheap tach work with points....it needed some help filtering the noisy signal... https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/problems-with-sw-tach-needle-shakes.945607/ scroll down a couple posts
HAH! Don't give Jim any ideas, he's done Wild Things before! There is a G***er build thread on here that he responded to. Then there is just plain crazy.
Back to the Volvo...our trip is getting close, we leave Wednesday for Texas. I've started working on a few things, to get ready. Installing a stereo right now. Yesterday I replaced the pinion seal, which was leaking rather ferociously. I also put some new bushings in the front end of the rear suspension trailing arms. And we're working on costumes, Thing 1 and Thing 2. The blue wigs might show up tomorrow, and I got some long sleeve red shirts that I need to put some big round labels on, so folks can tell us apart, since we're identical twins. one of the pivot bolts was really tight, I had to use the floor jack to break it loose.
The blue wigs might show up tomorrow, and I got some long sleeve red shirts that I need to put some big round labels on, so folks can tell us apart, since we're identical twins. So how do we know your Squirrel and not David? Lol Sounds like a fun adventure Have fun kids Dan
The Jalopy Journal
