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Mike K? ruin another volvo. 945 pickup build

Love this build. One question though. Why lead over a modern 2 part polyester body filler?

Well, we're using both. Partially, we just wanted to try lead work. But beyond that, we are filling a lot of seams and building some areas up to get things flat. We felt like lead gives us a nice solid base to build up which has some flex properties which are good for the areas where we are using it. Then we can skim it with good filler to get it perfectly flat.
 
Looking good. :cheers:

That flame is a little hot and focused for leading though, you will have better luck with this, new version of the old standby:

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http://www.ebay.com/itm/SALE-NEW-BL...3cb4bb3&pid=100005&rk=1&rkt=6&sd=132118757542

mmm, i don't think so.
Let's see, put some gas in the container, pump it up, and light it? - not feeling that at all.

We weren't using oxy-acetylene, that's an acetylene air torch, a plumber torch, but actually the same principal that Eastwood sells as an attachment to use a regular oxy-acetylene setup.

the flame is actually quite soft and low, which you can't tell from a picture.
 
Well, we're using both. Partially, we just wanted to try lead work. But beyond that, we are filling a lot of seams and building some areas up to get things flat. We felt like lead gives us a nice solid base to build up which has some flex properties which are good for the areas where we are using it. Then we can skim it with good filler to get it perfectly flat.

What he said, and I'll add that in some places the weld sucked the material in to the limit of even the short strand filler we used for a base coat. Without the lead we would have been pushing 3/8 inch, now we're more in the 1/8 or less range.

We tried pretty hard to work the roof seam up where it had shrunk from welding.
We tried heating it and hitting it with a cold cloth - no luck.
We put a slap hammer on it and beat it to death - no love.
no where to get in and work/pry it up, so out of ideas.

I think when we welded the "frame" under the sheet metal, we left no give, and no matter what we did, we weren't pulling it up.
 
Got back at this thing last night. Time to work on finishing off the cab and hatch door area. First step was to create the first part of the bed floor.

We got an approximate shape of the side of the car using cardboard, then transferred it onto a piece of Masonite.

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Then laid the Masonite on a piece of steel to transfer. This is part of the order of steel we got when we had the bed rail made. It's a 14gauge sheet with a bend at the front edge. Basically it's made to run from the rear wagon floor, over the valley where the rear seats were, then the bent edge sits right on the edge of the hump at the rear of the passenger footwell area.

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Fit in pretty damn well. Some minor kisses to optimize fitment and I need to notch out around the fuel pump access door.

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With the hatch closed. This piece will also give us something to build a hatch catch/latch on.

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It's good heavy material and the bend makes it nice and stiff. Once it's all tied in to the car it will do a lot to start tying the side of the car back together. It will also be a nice little shelf area in the back of the cab!

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Love the project. It would be cool to have the rear glass roll down like in a Toyota tundra or something.
 
Don't forget to leave a flap for the gas tank access panel!

Yeah I cut a notch in that panel before we tacked it into place. Were talking tonight about how to do the floor of the bed from there back. We could reuse the factory wood floors and seal them in fiberglass resin like a boat floor. Or do it in steel all the way back and make some kind of hinged door over the spare tire.

Started making the 'door panels'

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We ended up cutting them from the roof of the silver car.

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This was Senior's excellent idea. I was going to make them out of a piece of flat, but instead we cut them from the edge of the roof. This allows for the roll in the roof to serve as a nice break over the top of the door and blend into the window. Slick!

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and the other side

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next is to finish off the hatch/d-pillar area then weld the bed rails on.
 
It'll be interested to see stiff (or not) the unibody ends up being with all these bits (including rear doors) welded into place. Those old guys come up with an idea every now and again.
 
It'll be interested to see stiff (or not) the unibody ends up being with all these bits (including rear doors) welded into place. Those old guys come up with an idea every now and again.

Yes it's been interesting to watch the body react step-by-step using the scientific 'bounce on the corner of the bumper' test. When we cut the roof off there was a considerable amount of twist bouncing on the car. Welding the doors shut reduced that a bit, then tying the d-pillar sections to the top of the doors made a big difference. Adding the big box section for that front piece of the bed floor has made it so the twisting is now down to very very little. I think when we finish tying in the side of the bed to the floor, and add the big box sections running down the top in the form of the bed rails it will be fairly stiff. Planning on using the 1" square tube to add support structure to the 'posts' where the taillights are as well since the tailgate will hinge from there and have a 220lb motorcycle sitting on it.
 
Tacked the door panels in.

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then notched the 'd-pillar' and started fitting the first bed rail.

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contrary to popular belief Volvos are not perfectly straight, so we had to put some shape into the rail. Madd a few slices which allowed us to give the outside face of the rail a curve in at the tail to match the shape of the quarter panel.

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adding the rail is my favorite thing we are doing for the car visually, the extra height on the side of the car makes all the difference

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Mike Sr spent some time experimenting with positioning the hatch section on the tailgate frame and adding steel bushings for the pivots on the drawer slides. The guide pieces from the stock hatch worked out perfect for still locating the tailgate.

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We're making a play at driving it to a car show at Lime Rock on Saturday. Ambitious but possible.
 
Actually had a local guy ask me if I was going to put airbags in it, which had never even crossed my mind but makes some sense for hauling stuff around!
 
If they still make them, a simple set of the IPD overload/wagon springs would probably work just fine. Used 'em on a 940 wagon with Bilstein/Touring shocks to replace the busted Nivomats. Very happy with result.
 
With the side rails, do you plan on welding the seam and smoothing out the transition above the door and quarter panel? Love where it's going! I vote for bagging it.
 
With the side rails, do you plan on welding the seam and smoothing out the transition above the door and quarter panel? Love where it's going! I vote for bagging it.

Welding the seam - yes. We had a return bent under to sit on the top of the quarter panel that gives us a nice place to lay the weld. If by smoothing out the transition you mean blend the rail totally into the panel - no we actually have made a specific effort to avoid this. That would create a big slab side for most of the car which I don't think would flow with the rest of the body. If you look at the front fender there is that body line where the fender rolls in, has a ~.25" "shoulder" then continues up. On the doors that same radius is present and the window moulding creates the break. So the sides of the bed will maintain that radius from the door/quarter panel, the rail is set about a quarter inch inward. So we'll weld, grind flat, and do some body work on the weld line while maintaining that radius so the transition from quarter panel/door to bed rail is similar to what you see at the front of the car on the front fender. (and flow back from the window areas as well). Kind of hard to write out but it makes a lot of sense when you're looking at the car.

Kind of laughing at myself because in December I said yeah lets just buy a car and cut the roof off weld that thing back together and chuck a bike in the back of it. Now it's June and we're carefully measuring the set-back on the bed rail as to not to interrupt the artful flow of body lines on a 940 :lol:

We actually got the first rail tacked into place tonight.

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good pic to show the set-in of the rail

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Really liking the way it's going. I think this shaping of the bed is really going to set the car apart and make it look finished and thought out. Also we're continually pleased that things are basically working out as planned. We're not that far from getting back into body work!
 
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