The Silver Bullet: February 2005

Preliminary analysis

Volvo analysis thus far.

Must replace -Driver side rear floor panel
Cost: Minimal

Minimum replacement

Driver side rocker panels (Inner/Mid/Outer)
Driver side rail -Driver side rear floor panel
Passenger side rocker panel (outer)

Cost: About $350

Optimum replacement
-Driver side rocker panels (Inner/Mid/Outer)
-Driver side rail
-Driver side rear floor panel
-Passenger side rocker panel (Inner/Mid/Outer) -Rear passenger door

Cost: 350+

I haven't taken out carpeting yet, so this preliminary analysis is from the pictures ONLY. I probably won't get a chance to remove the carpeting until spring break, or just before.

From what we saw with that panel I think the replacement, either a genuine floor panel or just a piece of bent steel, should be welded in. Every extra hole that is put into the car and doesn't need to be there simply gives water another place to hide and corrode the car much faster.

I also discovered why 85 was the worst year for Volvo bodies. Apparently the Swedes in there eco friendly ways switched from the standard rust proofing to a water soluble more eco friendly rust proofing solution while keeping a standard steel frame. In 86 Volvo employed galvanized steel in their frames. This however isn't as bad as it seems. If you take a look at the pictures of the underside of the car you will notice there is some sort of coating that doesn't look like metal. That is the rust proofing! Apparently there was more to the system than just the water soluble compound. This would explain why as of now the worst parts aren't the floor panels, but the rocker panels. I have heard that you can still buy this rust proofing material because when it does come off it should be replaced. This is a very promising idea.

Very worried

Well I got underneath the car this weekend. As the title of this post hints, I'm very worried. I knew there was rust, but this is bad. I have the one floor panel about to fall off, which presents a major safety concern. I won't be having anyone sit behind me while driving anymore. When I get back to school and have some time I'm going to look at the situation from the interior. I'll also look at the other floor panels. I really don't think I'll continue with this project if all of the floor panels are rusted out. I will patch that panel out of concern for safety considering that the driver's seat is just in front of that section and I don't feel like falling through the floor. The major rust seems to be in a few key areas:

Both rocker panels
Floor pans
Leading edge of doors
Wheel wells.

This is not a complete list, but merely what I saw over the weekend. As previously mentioned I'll take apart the interior of the car and see how bad that is. I really hope it isn't as bad as the rest of the car.

My spare tire is just beyond that rust

Still more holes...

More holes

Passenger door is rusting

Yup that's what it is. The floor pan is shot.

That looks like a floor pan!

Another shot of the rocker panel. What that hanging down?

This is what is left of my the driver side rocker panel.

This weekend

Alright people this is the weekend that will either make or brake the project. I’m going to put the Silver Bullet up on the ramps this weekend and crawl around underneath to see how badly she has rusted. I’ll make the call as to whether it is too far gone or not. Now if I make the call to go ahead with the project that does not mean that the project will continue. I still need approval from the owners of the car (my parents). I’ll put plenty of pictures up when I’m finished with my examination.

New tach installed!

Well ladies and gents the first project is complete. I have posted several pictures below detailing the progress. Overall the installation went without a hitch. I did forget to hook the speedometer up, but that works now. I also swapped the face plates on the tachs because the faceplate for the original tach which had a broken needle was perfect, whereas the other one had a faded red line that didn’t look right. If you look at the pictures you will understand. I had no troubles with the hookup at all. This will be the last internal upgrade the car will get for awhile. From now on I will be concentrating on body work.