Right, well today I have made a bit more progress.

Firstly, I fitted the speakers. Although they are the correct size, they are in fact a little bit too deep for the aperture available to them - they rub against the inner wing. I think that's why the speaker covers on my MY80 car in the picture above sit about 15mm proud of the A-pillar trim.

So anyway, the best I could do was about 2-3mm of a gap, but it's not noticeable unless you look hard at it.



Happily, the radio now works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mde7ZyjS ... e=youtu.be The gear selector decided not to go into park in the video, but it normally works. Unfortunately, my phone battery died before I could re-shoot it.

I also replaced the old faulty clutch disengage servo (this one):


I am happy to report that the new one (thanks by the way to the combined efforts of Macplaxton and MCHUDD) is working as it should. There is no longer a vacuum leak when it's connected, and I can only assume that if the engine speed is too high, it allows me to change gear without crunching. If you listen carefully to the video above though, you can hear a hissing sound in neutral, which disappears in drive and reverse. I don't know whether there is a split in one of the hoses to the servo somewhere maybe, or if its supposed to do that.

The only big HOWEVER is, I can't get the bloody rubber bungs back on!!!!! Does anyone have any tips? All three popped clean out of the car body when pulling the old servo off. I spent a good half hour fiddling trying to get them back into the three little holes on the wheelarch, but decided life was too short to carry on, and the quiche warming in the oven was calling me. I resorted therefore to a couple of cable ties to hold it in place. It looks suitably shite:


I took it for a little drive, and all was well. Here are a few more hub-capped pictures and a little video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrsljY_mxVI :






I am ridiculously happy with the hubcaps - they make me smile every time I see them, as they finish off the car to make it look exactly as it should.

mac wrote:Hope those hubcap mounting rivets are well peened over on the inside of the wheel!

Mac.

Don't worry - they are welded on, so won't be going anywhere!

I still need to sort out the leaky radiator, which I will do over winter when the car isn't going to be used.

Hi mate.
Glad the part arrived ok. Think i might sneak over to the mainland and nick your door mirorrs for mine.

Cheers Mark.

Thanks for the update. I'll be back with top tips later when the main pc decides it wants to boot

Ok, not fixed the PC, but coaxed it into booting.

Top tip (except for getting someone else to do it):

Those rubber things are best dealt with as follows.

1) take one loose rubber wotsit and insert rounded end into bodywork hole, get one side of grove into the hole and work round, using a tiny screwdriver to help feed it in. It'll go in with a bit of patience and bite-size feeding.
2) repeat for other two.
3) offer up valve and insert the three rubber tips through the holes in the valve. Using pliers or similar, pull rubber tips to extend the wotsit while pushing back on the valve/valve hole.
4) repeat for other two.

If the rubber wotsits are attached to the valve, remove them to insert into the body first.

Had a look at the speakers in the BB, on the NS, there is a wafery thing black grille like you ones. On the OS, there is something you'll want - if only because it's MATCHING BROWN! I've got a pic on the phone, but it's crap. I'll get a better one later. It's getting the chop here, as to have a BROWN piece of plastic in a BLACK beauty is just a travesty!

Right for those who consider "brown" as the new "black"


vlcsnap-2013-12-01-15h04m50s195 by macplaxton, on Flickr

One brown Volvo Sound 6x4 speaker grille.

<anorak on>
Now something new has caught my eye about your number plates Sion, The letter "J". It doesn't look like (could be the pics) the same font set as the U and the R as I would expect the bottom of the J to have the same roundness as the bottom of the U.
<anorak off>



Some squared-off and roundy raised digits...

Coming along really nicely! Still love the colour!

Brown is indeed the new black, at least when it comes to my brown car.

Your anorak moment is forgiven - because I think you are right. I noticed it myself when I got them, but decided to ignore it. I also think that the gap between the 4 and the 7 is slightly too much. It is technically the right gap, but they could have been moved slightly closer. Hey-ho, can't have everything!

S10NPH wrote:Your anorak moment is forgiven - because I think you are right.

The maker is only excused if they'd run out of roundy J's

I wanted a round, straight 6 on the DAF, rather than a round, round 6 is you know what I mean, the round, straight six looks sort of older stylee.

Front & rear old Irish plates 3 by macplaxton, on Flickr

On the GS, they're are squared off 9's, in this case ACE peak digits.

Plates front and rear by macplaxton, on Flickr

The BB got roundy, roundy semi-peak (flatter tops):

DSCF4135.JPG by macplaxton, on Flickr

Siön I'm pretty sure your speaker covers are rear covers for the "C" panel trim.
All the fronts I've seen have the speaker mounted in a plastic frame mounted On the "interior" face of the panel - the cover snaps in place on the frame not screwed on. MP's brown version shows how it looks. My rear speaker set grilles however look exactly like your "fronts".

I suspect that they may have been fitted to disguise the lack of speakers - the correct grilles simply would not fit without the speakers in place.

mac wrote:Siön I'm pretty sure your speaker covers are rear covers for the "C" panel trim.

Odd though Mac, as I have one of "those" fitted to the nearside of the BB. However it most definitely fits flush. It's most likely a slimmer speaker (and not a bloody big hole in the inner wing!)

And if they are rear covers, then please do go on and continue to explain the recessed trims and thick grilled speakers in the rear of John's '78?

Oh well that's me being totally wrong again.

With my failing memory and limited contact with 300s I can only remember about 6 different versions of the footwell speakers (more if you count browns and blacks), 2 different front door speaker types and 4 different "C" pillar types (including Marilyn's recessed ones which from my dreadful recollection we're only for up to '79')

However - I have not seen a footwell speaker cover like those Siön has fitted. The usual version for that age Is like MP brown, and Siôns later black ones. (granted the early parts catalogue pictures only one speaker (several different types dependant on ch.no.though - and that looks like the disputed type.)

But then what do I know?

Mac.

Ps - Siôn - don't throw the old clutch servo valve away - would quite like to have that apart at some stage to see what goes wrong.

Pps - valve mounting grommets into wing - washing up liquid!

mac wrote:Oh well that's me being totally wrong again...But then what do I know?

I know nothing...I'm from Barcelona.

You probably know a lot more than the dealers who were flogging/fitting any old stuff that fit in the available hole.

Anyway, you'll need to tell me all this properly so I can jot it down for future generations

mac wrote:.

Pps - valve mounting grommets into wing - washing up liquid!

Washing up liquid has a lot of salt in it so not a good idea.

Something like silicon grease will do the job or even a little oil. (oil does over time attach rubber but rubber is a lot less work to replace than metal)

I'll go without anything on the rubber.

Patience is the key.

Take yer pick Sion!

Thanks for the tips guys, I will have another go maybe next weekend and see how I get on. It's in a really awkward location which doesn't help!

I have a feeling that the speaker grilles I have are not Volvo ones at all - as the brown one on Macplaxton's car has 'Volvo Radio' on it and sticks out proud of the A-pillar, and must be the earliest type available. I think the ones I have are just a coincidental fit.

In fact, here is the definitive answer from the 1977 accessories brochure, printed in November 1976 (although helpfully there is an inset of a HT lead set over most of the speaker in the picture, but the view is good enough to confirm):


Closer-up:


Don't worry Mac, I would never throw anything out. You are welcome to have a play around with the old servo, you can have it next time I see you.