It's a Clarke, however did you guess Dai. These things are sent to try us!

Had an odd problem anyway - wanted to butt weld in patches to preserve original wing, very thin metal etc. to give best chance I was using argon/CO2 mix - results utter crap - nope wasn't empty cyl. Changed back to CO only - much much better. Perhaps I've forgotten how to weld. In the end the only way to stop blowing through was to clamp a "backing" piece behind each run to control the heat (which worked quite well actually).

Mac, on his iPad, in a hotel at Wetherby, looking forward to go play trains with the 300 gang!

PS get ready, run out about 8" of wire, snip off and start welding quickly before gas wafts off!. Very wasteful of wire but gets over time for gas to get through "issue".

This thread a while ago gives some advice on what machines are best
http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... lit=welder

It was the porous welds in the original photos that gave me the clue! How they get away with selling them I've no idea!

I have found that using argon mix on thin metal does not work so great. On my own welder with .8 wire CO2 is best and the argon mix either burns through or does not bite. With my works welder the argon mix is ok but with 1mm wire.

When welding thin metal using a series of tacks is the best way but looks like you were doing that anyway. With the series of tacks pulling rather than pushing the weld is the way to go. Perhaps a body work section might not be a bad idea

Welding thicker plate 2mm+ argon does give better results.

I thought I would give this thread a little bit of an update. As I have no indoor working space, I haven't been able to do anything in the winter, apart from a couple of jobs.

Firstly, the welded passenger wing has had several skims of filler and rub-downs, and I think it is ready to paint shortly. Does anyone know of anywhere where one can get paint mixed up online? I can get it done at Halfrauds, but it's expensive for a fairly small quantity.


The most exciting thing is that my friend Oliver managed to source some correct 1978-1979 MY door mirrors from a certain Belgian, and I have spent the afternoon fitting these:





I am very happy with them, as they make the car look a lot more as it should, being a '79. However, I can see why they were replaced by the plastic ones, as they offer a fairly pathetic view and are very difficult to adjust. They also have a reputation for being weak and breaking, so I will only use them on special occasions.

Very nice pics The mirrors and wheels really make it look more like a Daf than a Volvo.

What's the colour code of the car? The colour may be available "off the shelf" (or even from Volvo themselves), you may not have to have it made up at all. The 155 red on my '80 vario is pretty readily available, but yours looks like it's a different shade.

Cheers

Tom

Yes, mine is a different red, it's 129-5, which I think was 1978-79 only. I'll have a search around the net, and as you suggest, maybe ask Volvo themselves.

Glad to see that you installed the mirrors.
A tiny bit of white grease / petroleum jelly on the joints should make things move more freely.
But then one doesn't want the mirrors to flop around while driving does one?

As colours change over the years (sunlight,...) perhaps you can take one of the panels (e.g. the wing) to a decent panelbeater and have him mix you up some paint? That is a possibility if you have a spraygun.
If you can only use cans you have to go in to a shop with a panel to get the correct shade of 129-5.

Hi mate.
Love those mirrors. I have been after a set of chrome ones for mine for ages
but they are hard to find. There was a set for sale in Germany a while back
but was way too expensive.
Cheers Mark.

volvomania wrote:If you can only use cans you have to go in to a shop with a panel to get the correct shade of 129-5.

Find a good paint place and they'll mix it AND stick it in a spray can.

macplaxton wrote:Find a good paint place and they'll mix it AND stick it in a spray can.

This what my local paint place does

Sion, don't get paint from Halfords, I've never seen them be able to mix up a batch correctly! There must be a good paint shop round by you somewhere.

Bring on the good weather

Cars coming on now, mirrors look great!

Turning this thread back to the radio section a few pages back, I put in a cheeky low bid on this radio on ebay, and was rather astonished to win it for £1.45:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-VOLVO ... 7675.l2557





I much prefer the look of the ones without a cassete deck, which I now have, but the new one has FM which may be useful on long journeys.

However, I think I have narrowed it down to be for a 240 model years 1983 and 1984. Does anyone (I'm looking at you Rich!) know if it's compatible with my 343? From memory, I'm sure the wiring on the 343 is much simpler, although I suspect that at least 2 of the extra wires on this radio will be for rear speakers.

I have also been priming the wing, but unfortunately it has revealed a few imperfections in the filler, so I am going to have to attack it again.

Yes it's compatible.
Any low mount 200 series radio will fit in a dash up to MY82. Any 700 series slopey fascia radio will fit in a MY83 onwards dash.

The plugs can be sorted, I've been asked about them already

Hi Sion.
Thats some deal you got there. A bloke in Germany sales those for a few hundred quid
Cheers Mark.

Sion, I sent a pm to Suffolk recently with 3 suppliers of those 9 pin plugs and pins if you need them, I'll forward the info to you.

I'm not sure if I ever posted a pic of the stereo I got in similar circumstances, for my mk1 if and when I get it

Funny that, I had a PM from Suffolkcestershire yesterday