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Stanton27's 244 LS swap.

Good find, and nice work. I might suggest checking out Eastwood rust encapsulator for those deep corners of the car, we use that when repairing frames. Also they make an internal frame coating which is handy for painting the inside of repairs like that.
 
Thanks! This kind of stuff is not my forte. Anything mechanical, electrical, etc I'm on top of (I work full time as a foreman/shop manager at a heavy truck shop) fab/welding is fairly easy to me, but I've never done real bodywork before in my life. I'm reading a lot, taking my time, and gonna give it my best. I think it will turn out okay. Always open to criticism. How else are you supposed to improve?? Thanks for the tip on Eastwood stuff. I wanted to shoot something into the frame sections/rockers etc, and their stuff seems pretty legit. Im gonna need to get a bigger welder. My harbor freight unit is barely cutting it haha.
 
I wasn't trying to be critical in any way, I just had a car with a frame repair that rotted out from the inside. I learned a lot at my current job about frame repairs because we do Jeeps, which are notorious for rotten frames. I can't do any kind of bodywork, if the customer cares what it looks like lol. I can slap something over a rust hole if needed for inspection, that is about it.

I dread those kind of rust issues because I can't fix them by myself. Once again, nice job.
 
Stanton27 said:
Thanks! This kind of stuff is not my forte. Anything mechanical, electrical, etc I'm on top of (I work full time as a foreman/shop manager at a heavy truck shop) fab/welding is fairly easy to me, but I've never done real bodywork before in my life. I'm reading a lot, taking my time, and gonna give it my best. I think it will turn out okay. Always open to criticism. How else are you supposed to improve?? Thanks for the tip on Eastwood stuff. I wanted to shoot something into the frame sections/rockers etc, and their stuff seems pretty legit. Im gonna need to get a bigger welder. My harbor freight unit is barely cutting it haha.
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I can't say I did better! That looks like a very solid repair. +1 for Eastwood rust encapsulator. That stuff is really good and pretty cheap.
 
fortbrick said:
We all met at the meet down by new castle years ago!
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I almost forgot about that! I didn't know OP was there. There were a couple people from that meet who I used to talk to on and off, but don't seem to come to the site anymore. It would be cool to meet up again some time.
 
I was driving a gold 850 turbo on pegs lol. Not sure if fortbrick had the wagon yet, maybe the sedan? Heck that was like 7 years ago. I agree a future meet should be in the works. Maybe get some more people involved. Hopefully I have this thing finished by mid spring!
 
11/14
Buttcheeks are gone. Steel is welded in. Spent a little more time on the right side prepping the replacement panel to fit better. (peep my self motivating inscriptions) welded it all up and primed, gonna hit the edges with some seam sealer and hopefully weld in the trim holes on the left side later this evening.
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Vol242vo said:
Looks great! What gauge steel are you welding in?
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16 gauge. Kinda an afterthought. It works well though. The only issue is forcing myself to keep my bead more into the replacement panel and let it roll on its own into the factory steel. I keep blowing through lol. Also using the "nice" harbor freight flux welder. It does the job, but being flux it is hot for the thin metal, even turned all the way down. I've found that bumping my wire speed up helps quite a bit.
 
I need to get a better MIG. I have a 20 year old Campbell Hausfeld MIG - sort of Harbor Freight before Harbor Freight was a thing. I've become increasingly aware how crappy it is. I'm not a great welder, but it makes me worse.
 
Its really making filling these trim mounting holes a PITA. If I really take my time, and prep everything perfectly, I can lay down some decent welds with a good machine. Not amazing, but they look decent and most importantly hold well. I would love to learn to TIG. Fortunately, a buddy at work can, and he also knows how to setup and run cnc stuff. He is in the process of buying a mill, hopefully we can make some pretty cool custom pieces for the car.
 
11/16
Cut out floorboard rust, new metal. (This is getting old) Welded up some more trim holes, pulled all my door handles and locks. I spent a lot of time hammering out little dents around the car. Im trying to only use body filler if I absolutely have to. The worst part was the front left fender. I pulled it off and hammered on it for a solid 2 hours. That said, I'm happy I did. Got it 90% back to normal.

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Stanton27 said:
I was driving a gold 850 turbo on pegs lol. Not sure if fortbrick had the wagon yet, maybe the sedan? Heck that was like 7 years ago. I agree a future meet should be in the works. Maybe get some more people involved. Hopefully I have this thing finished by mid spring!
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Ahhh yes, the only other white block to arrive IIRC. I showed up with a donut on my C30 since I had a blow out on the way. :lol: That car has over 180k on it now. Time flies.

Nice work. I'll be replacing a wheel arch on the wagon this winter. You're posts are motivational, but I'm not looking forward to cutting up another car!
 
volvowagoon said:
Ahhh yes, the only other white block to arrive IIRC. I showed up with a donut on my C30 since I had a blow out on the way. :lol: That car has over 180k on it now. Time flies.

Nice work. I'll be replacing a wheel arch on the wagon this winter. You're posts are motivational, but I'm not looking forward to cutting up another car!
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I think this is my 8th(?) Volvo since the gold 850. I had another green 5 speed, two clean m66 s60r's, a super clean 744 turbo 5speed that I basically gave away. Still regret that one. I'll attach a pic. A few 740s, a 940, an absolute dumpster fire 240. I have a problem lol.
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Ordered some summit single stage paint that pretty well matches factory color. This is gonna be the real turning point for me. I've never painted a whole car. I have zero expectations. We will see what happens.
 
Thanks guys. Its a huge pain, but now that its done, I'm glad I did it. Now I can start on the stuff I actually like to do. The paint was still curing in the pics, and not leveled out yet so looks kinda peely. Looked so much better this morning. Threw the tails in last night and snagged a pic. I really dig this color
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