Looking for information about the PV's sill construction.
 

Hi there,

I'm Rutger from The Netherlands. I am currently restoring my 1962 PV544 sport. The car is in a genuinely sorry state, but I'm soldiering my way through the rust, slowly replacing anything that needs replacing. I have quite high standards and I'm pretty much trying to keep it as original as possible. I keep a restoration diary on the Dutch volvo classics club forums. Those interested in some the pictures (sorry, the thread itself is in Dutch) might wanna take a look here.

Since no-one on the Dutch forums seems to be able to help me out, I resorted to you English chaps to see if anyone has an answer to my question!

So, I am currently fixing up my car's floor and sills and I'm running into a great many old repairs. It seems both sills have been replaced at some point over the course of this car's life and new patches of steel have been added over and onto the rusty original (?) pieces.The floor has been patched up and welded straight onto the sill on the left hand side of the car. On the right hand side of the car this is not the case and it seems much more original, but here the inner sill (the vertical piece that connects to the floor) has rusted away and a repair has been added over the original half-gone piece (is what I can see after opening up the sills). I have a very hard time understanding the original construction and no original example to check my suspicions against.

My question: I was wondering if there is anyone here who has a picture of a section cut of the PV's sill, or a schematic or whether anyone here is able to say whether the schematic representation I drew in the picture below is accurate? Any information is helpful!

https://i.postimg.cc/s2fzBwRh/CCI25032024.jpg

I am particularly wondering if I got the part that I named 'vertical inner sill' right? In my car this part has rusted away until about the level of the floor and then parts have been added over the rust. I'm also unsure about the piece that I named 'Angle iron'. I also wonder if it's correct that these three pieces all end up going all the way down and whether originally the ridge that runs all the way from the cowl to the rear wheel just underneath the sill is a three-layered combination of all these three pieces joining together.

Basically, any help is apreciated. I understand I can make it into whatever I want, but I would just like to have a better understanding of how it's supposed to be.

Here a few more pictures of the project:

https://www.volvokv.nl/media/kunena/...008-WA0012.jpg
The car as aqcuired

https://www.volvokv.nl/media/kunena/...508_HDR_AE.jpg
Some work on the left hand front chassis member

https://www.volvokv.nl/media/kunena/...553_HDR_AE.jpg
Some welding work...

https://www.volvokv.nl/media/kunena/...5909427_AE.jpg
Some panel fabrication with my newest self-made pneumatic tool

https://www.volvokv.nl/media/kunena/...424_HDR_AE.jpg
About where I am now.

There's much more on the Dutch website. It's accessible without membership if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks for any help!

Best,

Rutger.

From the PV Parts Book. Looks like your drawing is more or less correct. I expect you have replacement outer sill covers. They are readily available.
Your website entries show you have a lot of talent. Windows will auto translate.

Thanks so much for the kind words and for thinking along with me Derek! Nice you had a look at my thread at the Dutch forums. Yes, I can't be too far off with my schematic I would say, but I'm still not entirely sure. Some things don't entirely add up when I look up close at the construction in my car.

And yes, I do have the outer sill replacement part, even the part with the cowl attached!

Anybody else got any information that might be helpful for me?

From memory your sketch looks spot on. I did hours and hours of welding on my 1960 PV 544, luckily only the inner sills needed patching and the jacking points re strengthening. Like your home made press for floor ribs - I made a motorised bead roller todo the same job, but found the plates buckled after rolling ribs so gave up! Ended up welding shallow ‘D’ shaped strips to floor plates instead of pressed ribs. Intend putting photos on when I master the technology!!

Would it not be possible to contact Volvo themselves, an ask if they have the original schematics?

Amazon Cars may be able to help, as they rally them, an must have done some proper repairs.
Good luck, Rutger, an keep us informed of progress. Cheers, Mark.