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Field Find: 1963 544 Sport

Also has a 444 steering wheel swap. I did that on mine as well - it's a much nicer looking 'vintage' wheel vs. the 544's more plasticky looking wheel.

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Possibly less safe, but the steering column is a bigger issue than the steering wheel.
 
Could be worse, I guess. The come-along could be holding the shock mount in place...
Bumper mounts (front and rear) are early casualties of rust on a PV.

The rear bumper, especially with the US market overrider bar, is so bulky. Makes the rear of the car look clunky. I got a rear bumper from some 1930's (???) car and narrowed it by about a foot for mine.

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Going through the distributor, points and alternator

Back in the engine compartment the distributor cap is taken off and the engine turned to top dead center (TDC.) While first rotating the engine, there is a quiet pop sound followed by muffled gurgling of liquid migrating from inside the engine. Removing the rotor, the point gap is checked and the .018 feeler gauge does not slide into the gap. The points are detached and upon inspection find there is a significant burnt area on both of the point surfaces so a new one is needed. While the rotor is out, place a few drops of oil on the center pad of the distributor to lube it. The valve cover is taken off to ensure all of the valves are moving properly and as expected.

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The next job is to remove the alternator, which there are two reasons behind. The alternator is held in place with a tangle of bailing wire, electrical tape and a rubber strap because the mounting/adjuster bolt has been sheared off. Second, since the space is limited for turning the engine with a socket wrench, it will be easier with the alternator out of the way. The wiring on the back is undone and the alternator is soon sitting on the on the front fender. All looks and feels normal while rotating the engine watching the valves open and close to the periodic sound of air whooshing out of the cylinders. What is a bit alarming is noticing some wetness at the junction of the block and oil pan at the front of the engine. Coolant is slowly leaking from the front of the engine so a catch pan is placed under the engine. The valve cover is put back into place and the hood is closed as work concludes for the day.

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The next day at home, work on the alternator begins by cutting a groove into the little nub sticking proud out of back side of the casing before going down the avenue of drilling it out. Using a cutting wheel on a Dremel, a channel is created to fit a bladed bit. Two bits end up breaking in my first attempt to muscle the broken bolt out. Due to the ongoing bad air quality from the California wildfires (this was on the day on the Bay Area's infamous orange sky) I was for the most part self-confined to my living room and kitchen. Knowing the mounting ear needed to be heated and quenched with penetrating oil, I turned to my gas stove. For about 15 minutes the ear containing the broken bold was situated over and next to the burner. Every couple minutes the alternator was rotated around to get both sides of the ear heated. After quenching and letting it cool down a bit, the largest screwdriver was located. After a bit of effort, the bolt began to turn while emitting a small squeak of defeat. Work subsided on the 544 for the next several day due to the toxic air hanging over California and all of the West Coast.

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The alternator certainly isn't original. Is it a later Volvo setup or something random stuck on there?

My PV came to me with a huge Dodge alternator of some sort stuck on it. Threaded rod through e Volvo block mount, with nuts just run along it to wherever they needed to go to sort of align the pulley.
 
The alternator certainly isn't original. Is it a later Volvo setup or something random stuck on there?

My PV came to me with a huge Dodge alternator of some sort stuck on it. Threaded rod through e Volvo block mount, with nuts just run along it to wherever they needed to go to sort of align the pulley.

It looks like the alternator that came on my '67 122. I am thinking it is a later Volvo setup.
 
When the B20 alternator died on my PV (it came along with the B20), it was in the middle of a road trip (driving back from MM). I decided to improve on it a bit. instead of getting another rare, low amp vintage Volvo alternator, I'd just get a SWEM bracket and got a cheap, super commonly available GM alternator. 100 amps, I paid $70 for it brand new on eBay (I'm sure it's Chinese repro junk), and now I have bright lights. If it ever goes out again I can get a replacement at pretty much every parts store in the US. Odds of finding a compatible old Volvo alternator on a weekend in Tennessee? Pretty much rounds to zero.

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Off topic, but John have you thought about taller stacks for your Webers ? Just so you're not pulling air quite as close to the headers as you are now ? I doubt it would make a big difference, but I'm curious to see if it would matter or not.
 
There's not a lot of room in the PV engine bay. It narrows toward the front. There's about 3 inches of room between the front stack and the inner fender.
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Just before work started on the alternator, make the decision to discard the armored cable set up and order a four position ignition switch and dig up a spare Bosch coil. Work resumes on the 544 a couple days later when the Air Quality Index returns to below 50. Digging in a box of spare fasteners, a replacement bolt is located and the alternator is remounted to the engine block. The v-belt is routed around the pulleys and use a pry bar to pivot the alternator and secure into place. The wiring is reattached and the alternator is ready to provide electricity.

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Located a used but not worn out set of points in my parts box and those are installed onto the distributor. Turn the engine to TDC and then gap the points to .018 with a feeler gauge. Apply some grease to the point cam and turn the engine the spread the grease as well as make sure the points are opening and closing Scrape and clean off the posts on the distributor cap as well as the end of the rotor. As I am about reinstall those is when I realize the distributor is 180 Deg out of its normal position. The mark on the top edge of the distributor is not pointing to #1 cylinder but rather towards the left back corner of the engine compartment. Looking at the ignition wires, those have been rearranged for this positioning so they are left as is for the time being.

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The AC-Delco fuel pump features an integrated fuel filter under a glass dome. After trying several times to turn the wheel securing the dome down, hit it with a small blast of lubricant. Use a set of pliers to start to turn the securing wheel and while stiff at first it becomes easy to twist after a couple of turn. Removing the dome reveals a sizeable amount of varnish and gunk in the filter area. With the help of some brake cleaner, the debris is quickly vanquished and exorcised from the fuel filter and pump. After cleaning the glass dome, it is secured back into place.

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Push the 544 to the garage entrance for its second date with the pressure washer. Decades of grease and grime are quickly stripped out of the engine bay and from the various parts on and under the engine. Only now can the cream color of the cross member becomes apparent. From several places, the original light brown color if the car reemerges on the firewall and the inner fender walls.

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The pump should have two small rubber diaphragms that suck and push the fuel through the filter and onto the carbs. They're a b*tch to replace but I would expect them to be shot if the car sat for any length of time. Might be worthwhile to grab a $40 later style pump and run that instead. Moss Motors and a couple of other suppliers have good repair kits for the glass dome fuel pumps.
 
And I'd expect the tank to have LOTS more rust waiting to go to a filter. Probably well worth the effort of removing it and cleaning it out.
 
And I'd expect the tank to have LOTS more rust waiting to go to a filter. Probably well worth the effort of removing it and cleaning it out.

Bill Hirsch makes an excellent chemical for that. I don't like the POR-15 stuff, lots of stories of it coming off within 1-2 years of being applied.
 
Wiring, Ignition & Lights

With the fuel path in the engine bay cleaned out, it was back to the electrical system. One of the obvious red flags with the car was the small 25 amp fuse wrapped in aluminum foil. This was first addressed by bending the long tab and folding it over, allowing for normal-sized fuses to be utilized. Disconnecting the wires and taping them together, removed the fuse panel off the firewall and hit it with a metal brush to clean the connectors and fuse tabs. The ends of the fuses were cleaned to ensure removal any built-up oxidation as well. The fuse panel was reattached to the car and all of the wiring reconnected.

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The new ignition switch arrived in meantime, work commenced removing the armored cable set up and rebuilding the ignition wiring. From my parts cache came a 1980s 240 Bosch coil & bracket and constructed a positive wire to go to the ignition switch which is normally protected by the armored cable. Going under the dash, the wires were transferred onto the back of the new switch. The positive coil wire was snaked through the firewall and secured to the ignition switch. Unscrewed the bolts holding the coil into the firewall and extracted the broken ignition assembly out. Connected the positive wire and the wires on the negative post to the coil and tachometer.

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A charged battery was lifted into the engine bay and performed a preliminary check of the electricals began. Since this is a 4-position switch turned the key to the left, the accessory position to see what would occur. The red oil warning light flickered on as did the illumination light to the add-on tachometer. Checked the wire going to the oil pressure sender ensuring it was connected though the oil light still did not illuminate at all. Pulling the headlight switch the headlights illuminated though the dash lights stayed dark. Twisted the headlight switch back and forth to see if the dash light would come to life but that was not to be. Throwing the turn signal switch up, a "click - click - click" could be heard, and a faint flashing light could be seen from under the dash, but nothing illuminated from the dash indicator. That made me wonder how many of the other lights were not properly connected into the instrument cluster.

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While under the dash working on the wiring I noticed the speedometer cable had been unhooked. Began the process to remove the instrument cluster, by loosening the nuts on the back side of the unit. Once those were off twisted the cluster to get it out of the dash. Using small screwdriver, removed the water temperature and gas gauges then unhooked the oil warning and illumination lights. With the cluster now out, tried rotating the speedometer input and found it completely stuck.

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I can donate a spare cluster to your endeavor if you just cover shipping. I have 3-4 sitting on a shelf and could part with one if you want to yank parts out of it. All of them have a functioning speedo input.
 
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