1973 142 - The Stepchild of a Stepchild!

[sksmith]

Differential is coming along.
The beginning:


After several hours of cleaning with a heat gun, putty knife & final cleaning with the needle scaler:


A coat of Rust Encapsulator:


And a coat of 2K epoxy primer:

[slow240]

If you're not careful you're gonna wind up with a museum quality restoration.....

Do it lol

[2turbotoys]

Nice work! That is going to be a really nice car. The problem is that we can't see what the overall car looks like! All the PhotoSuckIt links in the beginning of the thread are broken. Fix them, would like to see the car!

[sksmith]

Since all of the original links are gone, here is the car in 2016 when we still lived in Everett, WA.
Prior to moving to St. Louis, I was trying to sell it. Once I got it here and my garage is very large, I decided to start restoring it.

[vwbusman66]

mmmmmmm


Makes everything I own look dirty

[2turbotoys]

Very cool car! Thanks for the pics.

[sksmith]

It has it's bumps & bruises which will "hopefully" be taken care of later this year.
My plan is to have the undercarriage, interior & engine bay completed this summer, put back together & running / driving.
Then the bodywork & glass over the winter / spring.
Thanks!
Steve

[sksmith]

Not too much to report. The rear axle has been painted, the poly torque rod, lower rear control arm & Panhard bar bushings are installed. The axle is sitting on me workbench waiting for me to go out to the garage, but I haven't felt too great today.
I may get out there this evening for a couple of hours. I need to remove the pinion flange and replace the front seal, and clean the flange. If I get out there, I'll add some pics.
Steve

[sksmith]

And I thought it was the gearbox that was loud...…
Pulled the driveshaft flange from the pinion to clean & change the seal. The pinion is loose. And I mean really loose.
Going to OKC for work tomorrow for a few days, so will take this to the a nearby shop for a rebuild when I return. This isn't something I want to try at home!
These guys did my Wildcat limited - slip a few years back, so I trust them. I was planning on taking the axles to them anyway to replace the bearings, so they might as well put it back together.
Need to get the rear brake shields cleaned, sandblasted & painted as soon as I get back. I'm hoping to have everything ready to take them the rear end on Monday.
Steve

[hiperfauto]

Was there play in the pinion before you removed the flange? The flange is what holds the pinion in the bearings. Without it the pinion will flop around.

[sksmith]

Originally Posted by hiperfauto

Was there play in the pinion before you removed the flange? The flange is what holds the pinion in the bearings. Without it the pinion will flop around.

I'll have to put it on when I get back Friday and check, but I don't recall it moving. That would be good news!
I was going off of the Haynes manual states, but it kind of implies that if there is movement after the flange is removed.
Thanks!
Steve

[sksmith]

No pics of progress, but there is slow progress.
Removing 46 year old undercoating is a chore. Air scrapper is almost worthless unless I heat it first. Then I can only get about a 2" X 2" area to my liking at a time.
Can't find my damn angle grinder wrench to remove the cutting wheel so I can install a cup wire wheel. I know that will knock it down to where I can spray it with lacquer thinner, then heat, then air scrapper, & more lacquer thinner.
A pain in the ass when it's only on jackstands.
My goal is to clean it all off, fix the surface rust that I find, patch the hole that I did find, sand it & coat it with some 2K epoxy primer, a coat of 2K high build primer, then truck bed liner.
Guess I'll be off to Lowe's shortly for another grinder..... And lumber to build a rear axle stand so I can finish install the axle shafts, backing plates, etc.
Steve

[sksmith]

Some rust around the rear driver's side wheel opening at the front of the fender lip. I need to see what is involved with cutting it out & order the correct section. Looks like the rocker panel is good, but you never know.
Both sides have some are the rear of the fender lip, already have those sections.





Still working on undercoating removal, kerosene method starts tomorrow. I'm ready to make these minor rust repairs and get the engine, gearbox, & rearend back in!

Steve

[matt b]

The undercoating will hold up to sand blasting. But I have had good luck removing it with this attachment on a Dewalt angle grinder:



A face shield is a must.

Hard to tell from your pics, but depending on the depth of the rust, you might be able to clean it up, treat it with acid and then paint it.

[sksmith]

Mattb,
The rust is pinholed thru the metal. It will need surgery.
VP shows a couple of different patches, but I think this one has enough "meat" to cover the whole area:
http://212.247.61.152/US/main.aspx?p...&artno=9025591
I'll have quite a bit extra, oh well.....
For the undercoating, my son (recent college grad, still looking for work) went out a couple of mornings last week and worked on it with a grinder/wire wheel. And it does work. And no, he did not volunteer!
But...… It creates such a huge mess! We park our daily drivers in there, as well as my 1966 Wildcat convertible (it's a 40X30 CMU shop). I have no problem with spraying kerosene, let it sit, spray more, and scraping. And it saves the errant wire bristle in the arm, or behind my mask (which still happens).
For the pinchwelds around the bottoms of the rockers and other really tight spot, I will still hit it with the wire wheel.
Now that summer in STL is in full swing, and it's 98 deg. out, work will be slowing. The cinderblock construction is like an oven. 98 deg. outside is 110 deg. in the garage by the time I get home from work. Early mornings on weekends is about the only time I'll be able to get out there!
Steve
Steve

[didenpx]

Steve,

When you get access to the sill it will be a great opportunity to hit it with the Eastwood internal frame coating. It comes with a long hose with a multi-direction spray nozzle and does an excellent job of coating areas you couldn't otherwise get to. I used it in the rockers, sills, and also snaked it into all of the weep holes for the unibody frame sections: https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-in...z-aerosol.html

Also FWIW in case you haven't used their rust repair sections before: I had excellent experience with VP on the 1800 stuff. Fit was exceptionally good.

Post more photos! And stay cool!

[sksmith]

Originally Posted by didenpx

Steve,

When you get access to the sill it will be a great opportunity to hit it with the Eastwood internal frame coating. It comes with a long hose with a multi-direction spray nozzle and does an excellent job of coating areas you couldn't otherwise get to. I used it in the rockers, sills, and also snaked it into all of the weep holes for the unibody frame sections: https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-in...z-aerosol.html

Also FWIW in case you haven't used their rust repair sections before: I had excellent experience with VP on the 1800 stuff. Fit was exceptionally good.

Post more photos! And stay cool!

Yes sir, used that Eastwood product on my Buick Wildcat frame & plan on using it on this car.
I have the rear quarter repair pieces from VP, but didn't order the front. The passenger side is good, I just noticed the driver side while I was messing with that godforsaken undercoating! Figured I'd hit it with a sander to see the extent, and it doesn't appear too bad. But, welding is NOT my strong suit.
I also have the obligatory bubbles around base on each side of the windshield that will need to be dealt with.....
VP came thru for me bigtime - These will be here tomorrow, along with the door cards!





Lennart (and Mattias before him) was a huge help, and very patient with me making sure that the vinyl is a match.
This is not the original "blue" of my car. I went with seat covers from a 74 that are stripped & the blue vinyl is more "teal". It is a 70's car, after all!
Steve

[didenpx]

Agree on VP as a resource; very nice people all around, not crazy prices, and good product. I've been surprised at how much of the stuff they're selling is new production Volvo too. I recently bought a 1970 1800E grill from them assuming it would be aftermarket made in China; it was bagged and tagged Volvo and made in Poland.

[sksmith]

They have a ton of NOS Volvo parts. A lot of the trim & upholstery is just that, they supposedly bought it from Volvo. (What I recall I've heard, anyway).
So China Freight for the win!!!
Like probably everyone on this site, I get the weekly China Freight discount emails, this week's was for 25% off.
So as I mentioned, I soaked the undercoat with kerosene early this morning & let it cook for about 8 hrs. In the meantime, I ran to China Freight & picked up a multi-tool with some scrapper blades. I decided instead of waiting until the morning, I'd go give the multi-tool a shot.
That thing works like a stripper for tips!! I can't believe how easily the undercoat is coming off. I will still need to hit it with lacquer thinner & Scotchbrite pads, but wow! In about an hour, I was able to finish the driver side floorpan & driveshaft tunnel back to the rear wheels. I can't recommend this method enough. I did put down plastic & protective construction paper (big roll from Lowe's) before the kerosene soak. I didn't want to stain my floor any worse than it is.
I'm done for the evening (Yankees are on....) but will hit it around 5am tomorrow and should be ready for primer as soon as Sunday. Unfortunately, my 2K primer won't be here until Monday.
I promise pics, probably a before primer & after, as soon as it's in primer.
Steve

[vwbusman66]

Originally Posted by didenpx

Agree on VP as a resource; very nice people all around, not crazy prices, and good product. I've been surprised at how much of the stuff they're selling is new production Volvo too. I recently bought a 1970 1800E grill from them assuming it would be aftermarket made in China; it was bagged and tagged Volvo and made in Poland.

I do know they regularly partner with Volvo to reproduce numerous real, Volvo-made and Volvo-labeled parts for Amazons and 1800's.

[vwbusman66]

Also, Steve, those panels look slick! I need to see if somebody local can patch my worn seat cover.

[sksmith]

Here are the matching seat covers. 70's baby!!!
I'll need to buy another seat bottom so I can have an upholstery shop make a rear armrest cover to match. I lucked into a pair of headrests on ebay a while back.
Steve

[Vol242vo]

Those look great!

[didenpx]

I'm having flashbacks to my childhood. They could only be more iconic if they had some goldenrod and avocado in them.

[sksmith]

Originally Posted by didenpx

I'm having flashbacks to my childhood. They could only be more iconic if they had some goldenrod and avocado in them.

They had an orange, red, yellow & black that looks like what I have.
Great progress this morning. I'll go back out after the sun goes down & hit it some more.
Both floor plans & trans/driveshaft tunnel done, the trunk pan is about 95% done. I went to Lowes to get a longer scrapper attachment but there isn't one, so I got a long wood cutting blade. I need it to get into some tight areas. Also picked up a couple of wire wheels for my angle grinder.
In the short time I was gone, the temp in the garage went up to 105, so.... Breaktime!!
Pic of the oven, um, shop.


Steve