Amazon: My Amazon project - an attempt towards a reliable car

[morwenna240]

Sounds a poss. Apparently the PV courtesy light was also fitted to Aston DB4's, so makers were getting in kit from propiety suppliers. The background point i was making was that the tech at the time would be in all cars. 240's had/have an all electic clock, so presumably all previous models, all makers, clocks had the same tech, clocks merely differing in their faces. My clock is by Kienzle, prob yours is too; they are still a major maker of quartz movements, may be worth belling them, ask if they can help. Some of these long standing firms are delighted to help with a piece of their history.
An aside, heartwarmer: Yrs ago in the 70's i bought 2 gansey jumpers from a firm on channel isles. 4 yrs ago, needing a new one, i looked them up, still there. I rung them, asking if i could have one in green. " Oh yes, we have that yarn. Er, hang on, is that Mark from Birmingham ( where we then lived)? Didn't you have a 44" chest? Right, no prob." 40 yrs later, they still had my records. Proper service, " real good, for free". Give Kienzle a bell, u never know.

[morwenna240]

Clock update: I saw a volvo clock at car show, grabbed it. It is the 2 1/2" dial one, same as yours, Samaron? Stripped it, it has the same mechanism as i described before, with one difference; one can't readily get at the thermo fuse, so yours an mine will have to go to instrument restorers, alas. Again, the mechanical movement works fine. You can check yours by taking off back (one nut is enclosed in a plastic seal, warranty thing. Just twist that off, to get at nut); look closely at movement, u will see a set of points, they will be closed. Attached to one side of points is the "winder", with clicker acting on a little wheel. Move this round a few mill, give clock a shake an it should start up an run for 20 secs or so.

[morwenna240]

Further update: Classic Spares Engineering will completely refurb one's clock for, sob, £130. That's everything, movement an electric bits.

[Derek UK]

Thermal fuses readily available. They are used in ovens. Pick one about 100º. Well under £5. Buy2. For the clocks that have a fused link made by low temp solder holding 2 tabs together, you can often hold the tabs together with tweezers and carefully reflow the solder. Free fix but if the clock is dirty and gummed up inside it may blow the fuse again after a short while due to the extra electrical load.

[samaron]

Pardon the late reply. Got a bit distracted the last couple of days troubleshooting the fuel injection system on my 740. Found one of the coils in the fuel pump relay to be open circuit.

Anyway, attatched a couple of pictures of my clock. Haven't removed it for inspection, yet.

[Derek UK]

Those early 6 volt clocks are rare. I think they only fitted them for a couple years when the heater controls were on the end of the dash. My '61 was 6 volt but had the heater controls in the centre and no clock. Clock position was taken over by the grab handle. I don't know who made these clocks. It might say on the case.

740 relay might have a cold solder joint on the pcb. You might be able to reflow it.
https://www.classicvolvoparts.co.uk/...e=B_Fuel_Pumps

[samaron]

Originally Posted by Derek UK

Those early 6 volt clocks are rare. I think they only fitted them for a couple years when the heater controls were on the end of the dash. My '61 was 6 volt but had the heater controls in the centre and no clock. Clock position was taken over by the grab handle. I don't know who made these clocks. It might say on the case.

Wasn't aware they're rare. Could explain why I had a bloke drooling over it at a car meet I went to. Asked me to sell it to him. But why would I want a hole in my dashboard?

My instruction booklet says the clock is standard equipment, so I just assumed it was common. I've seen cars with or without handles, making me think the clock was omitted if other interior configurations were ordered.

I would assume it is VDO or some other common instrument manufacturer. Shouldn't be too hard to identify.

Originally Posted by Derek UK

740 relay might have a cold solder joint on the pcb. You might be able to reflow it.
https://www.classicvolvoparts.co.uk/...e=B_Fuel_Pumps

It wasn't a cracked solder joint. I removed the housing and inspected it under a microscope. No signs of cracked solder joints. When I measured the resistance of the coils inside (the relay has two coils), one had 80 ohms which seem to be a normal number. The other one had 450k and rising, indicating it is faulty.

If I had another defective relay, I could probably desolder and replace the defective coil with a good one, but ordered a new relay at the dealer. The person there said they last about 10 years. Mine were date coded 30.11.2011.

[samaron]

Got a "new" manifold delivered yesterday! Mine were cracked almost all the way around the exhaust pipe flange and have been welded. The welds seem to hold, but it is leaking exhaust at the port furthest to the rear.

Prior to the welding, I did experience a lot of ticking sounds and was in general a very noisy above 60 km/h. After welding, the noise improved. Still, above 2000 RPM or under load there still is quite a bit of ticking sounds.

I were told these engines are in general fairly noisy due to the push rod design. Still, I find it a bit hard to believe it should be extremely noticable under normal driving. I've heard some describe these cars as very quiet, but mine certainly isn't above 60 km/h. But hey, at least it feels fast.

Spotting the black area at the rear most exhaust port, despite me installing new gaskets, I decided I should get a new manifold. Had to pay about 100 quid for it. It arrived showing signs of being stored for 40 years, but does clean up. The intake had a thick layer of black soot along the bottom, and the exhaust had some white/tan crust.

After cleaning it ut, my plan is to have the flange surfaces redone to be 100% sure it is flat and good. The challenge again is to find someone to take the job. Most likely I need to ship it elsewhere. I asked a couple of places locally, but the response was something like: "yes, we have the ability to perform the task, but we're not taking the job."

[c1800]

After cleaning it up you can check for flatness on a sheet of glass or a marble countertop.

[samaron]

It has been tossed around on a shelf for decades and has some scuffs and surface rust. Probably best to have the flanges machined regardless.

The intake turned out to be much harder to clean than anticipated. Used some oven cleaner, but it couldn't dissolve the carbon build-up. The top layer could be scraped off, but the bottom was very hard. Had to grab a hammer and chisel it out with a flathead screwdriver. I think I got most of it out now.

Attatched a picture. Those pieces are just the tip of the iceberg that I dug out. I wonder what could have caused this build-up considering there are no emissions exhaust recirculation systems on these old cars? Hopefully this isn't a sign of an internal crack between the exhaust and intake.