1974 Volvo 165

More progress to report:


The left rear chassis rail; I cut out a rusty section and fabricated and welded in the repair section. I reused the captive nuts from the old rail, cleaned up and welded to the repair piece before fitting




The right rear chassis rail, with some rusty areas which need to be cut out and replaced.




Some old repairs on the spare wheel well are sound, but need to be tidied up.




Cutting in progress




Here I have made a fitted three repair pieces. The front section (left of the photo) was most difficult to make because it curves in two planes near the front.




At the forward end of the right spare wheel well, the underseal looked suspect and I expected to see rust underneath. However, this old repair is completely solid, so no need to cut it out




Preparing to replace the lower wind section on the right. The new wheelarch fitted in the past is securely attached, with no evidence of welding over rust, but it's been welded too far in, necessitating a fairly thick layer of filler.




I wondered whether the deep filler was just at the bottom, but it seems to extend quite a way up the joint.




Having this depth of filler isn't ideal, but it's been on there 30 years with no sign of trouble, so I decided to leave the previous arch repairs in place. (Same story on the left rear arch).


Lower wind section removed, and a side by side comparison with the correct shape




In fitting the rear wing repair sections, I decided to make a subtle styling modification. To explain:

I love the 164's chrome trim on the wheelarches and sills, but to my eye it always looks as though the lower rear wing should have a piece as well, to complete the whole side of the car.



A couple of times, I have seen cars where an owner has added a rear wing chrome piece, but it doesn't look quite right because the bottom edge of the rear wing slopes up too much; the angle is too far different to the sill. Because I was replacing both sides, I had an opportunity to tweak this, so I have mounted my wing panels with the rear corner about 30mm lower than originally. So far I like how it looks, and I think it will suit a full length chrome trim.


Welding in progress. Working very slowly to reduce the risk of warping the panel.



Welded in, with fibreglass over the join




Filling to shape




I'm at the same stage with the left side wing bottom, no point in duplicating photos.


The boot floor is in good condition. I removed the bitumen sound pads to check, but there's only very superficial rust




I think that's it for today, more soon

Cheers

Hello again,


More rust repair work to update on:


A closer examination of the previous repair of the Panhard rod mounting. Looks reasonably solid on the outside...




... but inside shows several places where the metal would want to fatigue and eventually break. Glad I'm getting rid of this!




I fabricated the new Panhard rod mount from a piece of very sturdy box section. I made an accurate replica in cardboard for test fitting, to enable me to get the positional measurements exactly right.




Making a section of chassis rail for the left side, ahead of the axle. (The repair process here was very similar to the right side, documented previously, so I won't post repetitive photos).




The repair of the seat-pan/wheelarch area on the left was more involved than on the other side. A hole in the floor underneath the strengthener section meant I needed to remove it for a proper repair.






I also had to cut out the curved flange that joins wheelarch to floor. I am deleting the spot-welded flange and replacing it with a seam welded joint. It's quite a difficult repair section to make because of curves in two planes.




Here are all the pieces made ready to repair this area. (Re-using the original strengthener, with a repair to its lower section).




I didn't bother photographing the welding stages; very similar to the right side I showed before.


So - finally - all the welding under the rear of the car is finished! Here's how it looks now with the welds sealed with seam sealer and two coats of epoxy paint




For ease of future work, I made a bigger fuel tank access hole. I seam welded right across the original transverse box section immediately behind it, so that will more than compensate in terms of strength for the bigger access hatch.










This shows the left side strengthener refitted


























I have started work on restoring fittings.


Dismantling the axle




I wire brushed it clean. (The dust shields will be dealt with after the axle is refitted. They're very prone to damage when it's off the car).




The diff cover was very corroded, and started leaking oil after being attacked with the wire brush. I will fit a new cover. Temporary repair with fibreglass to avoid a mess in the workshop




Applying rust converter




To prolong the life of the new fuel tank, I sealed all edges and joints with seam sealer







And painted it with epoxy paint, half done here. Also painted the axle





I think that's all for today. More soon I hope

Cheers

John

I'm in, bookmarked

This is awesome x 10. I love it!! You are doing it 100% right I think!

I'm liking your approach.
Keep up the good work.

By the time it was polished, I was in.....

After all the work you did.....

Yup, in and massively impressed

Phenomenal. I can't think of anyone else that should be restoring this unicorn.

this is awesome, there can't be to many other 165's in the uk!

Hi,

Time for another update:



Fuel system


Fitting the new fuel sender unit. I have fitted the fuel injection type, because in the future I will be converting from carbs to EFI.
Until then, the pump wiring isn't used, and I'm using the return pipe as the fuel pick-up, extended slightly to it reaches the bottom of the tank.




I've had experience of new floats leaking so I reused the old one that's proved itself. I then fitted the sender unit and installed the new fuel tank.




I enlarged the fuel filler opening to allow me to use the 240-type spillage bib, which protects paintwork from fuel spills.




Fitting the fuel filler can be a pain, so I decided to paint the filler recess in wine red so I can permanently attach the filler.
I discovered some flaking paint around the lip, so bare-metaled that area




With their non-crossflow cylinder head design, and modern petrol being more prone to vapourisation, I like to run carburettor
100 series cars with an additional electric fuel pump in series with the original mechanical one.
This greatly helps with hot starting in the summer. It's mounted on rubber bobbins to reduce noise transmission.
The photos also shows the new cupro-nickel fuel and brake pipes I fitted, to replace rusty steel lines.







Exhaust system


Hilda will be having a new custom made stainless steel exhaust system by Tony Banks in Leeds.
However, I don't want to commission that until I have decided what exhaust manifold to fit.
I'd like to use a KG Trimning extractor manifold, but I'm not yet certain if they fit with right-hand-drive steering.
So, meanwhile, I have patched up and refitted the cheap-and-nasty old exhaust system as a temporary fitment.








Rear suspension


I am using an experimental rear spring & damper set-up. I'm expecting further tweaks to be needed after testing.

My objective is to have a soft comfortable ride under all load conditions, no rear-end sag when laden,
and approximately standard ride height (I don't mind if it ends up very slightly lower than a standard 100,
but I don't want it to look "lowered").

First job is sorting bump stops to allow maximum wheel travel, but not too much.

I refurbished the original bump stops. These are a nice, progressive design and the rubber is excellent condition - no need to replace them.
I had chopped out a large heavily corroded spacer and initially tested them without a spacer.



It turned out that I needed to add 30mm to give full wheel travel with no tyre rubbing and without the damper bottoming out.
I was testing here with axle, locating arms and dampers fitted, but no springs.



(This also shows the first bit of wine red on Hilda, around the fuel cap).




A lucky eBay find got me a pair of new-old-stock Volvo 240 Nivomat dampers at a cheap price.
These are high quality dampers with automatic internal self-leveling, and they're normally very expensive.



Here I modified the 100 type trailing arms to securely accept the slightly smaller metric bolt required by the 240 damper.
I tack-welded in a threaded insert. It will still be a nut and bolt fitment, the internal thread here is just for accurate
slop-free fitment and additional security.






I don't know whether these dampers are intended for a DL/GL/GLE 240, or a GLT/Turbo. The later have a 15mm lower ride height.
I'll see how they work when pumped up from driving. If needed, I have scope to move the lower mounting in the trailing arm
to raise the ride height by up to approx 30mm.

Compared with a 240, the 100 lower shock absorber mounting needs to be able to pivot more.
On a 100, the axle-to-trailing arm bush is small and has little scope for movement, so the trailing arms are forced to stay
pretty much parallel with the axle - hence they rotate slightly as the car body leans.

If necessary, I can convert the Nivomat dampers to accept 100 series lower bushes, but that might not be needed.
As an experiment I made recesses in the lower bush top and bottom, hoping to allow it to pivot without straining the rubber too much.
I will monitor this when the car is on the road.






Rear dampers fitted




Nivomat dampers have a springing function and they therefore need to be used with weaker springs than a non-Nivomat car.
The springs I'm using in my experimental set-up are from a Nivomat equipped 940 - not sure if it was saloon or estate.
Mounted upside-down, they fit well. The lower rubber seat from the 940 fits snugly over a 240 top mounting,
and the 940 insulated upper mount fits well onto the 100 trailing arm.

If the spring rate is good, but they're a bit too low, I can quite easily space out the top and/or bottom mounts to adjust that.






The rear suspension is now all fitted with the exception of the Panhard rod; I'm waiting for one of its new bushes to arrive.




Rear brakes


I am just starting work on the rear brakes. The calipers are fairly new. They have been ground down a little to clear the
incorrect 14 inch wheels the car had fitted when I bought it, so so some surface rust to deal with





That's all for today, thanks for reading!


John