Last week I posted a quick heads up on the modern quarter-window trim on the 240s being aluminum rather than stainless steel as is the rest of it. Which, for those of us undertaking various degrees of retro-ation projects, means that to remove the paint and polish the underlying metal will leave us with poorly matched window trim. I came up with a few solutions - Rob, maybe your dealer-buddy could get some ideas.

As I see it, there are two main, practical ways to make the window trim match along the entire length of the 240 - 1) make the aluminum look like stainless or 2) make stainless pieces to replace the aluminum.

1) Making the aluminum merely look like stainless steel, practically, affordably, could be accomplished in a couple ways. The best ideas I had were to either use thin stainless flashing epoxied to the surface of the aluminum or with nickel plating. The flashing idea, while feasable, would not look very good in my opinion so I did not even entertain the idea for long and instead thought about the plating.

Nickel plating can be accomplished on aluminum once the oxide layer is gone and the best way to do that is with a zincate coating. The zincate solution will eat off the Al oxide and leave a Zn-based protective coating. Immersion in a plating bath will then quickly dissolve the zinc, leaving only pure Al exposed.

Further, electroless nickel plating - on a polished part - is said to produce a coating of nickel thicker, harder, and smoother than electro-plating can accomplish, with little to no finishing required. www.caswellplating.com sells some small electroless nickel kits for reasonable prices (about $100 for everything you'd need) and they also sell the zincate coating ($10-$20).

Why nickel? Because real chrome plating is out of the question - due to EPA regulations of the industry and the labor involved, chrome plating is exremely expensive, dangerous, and just down-right hard to source. Nickel however is relatively cheap, easy to do and should match the stainless fairly well once polished - stainless steels usually have a slightly "warm" tone to them anyway, given that most of them contain a good deal of nickel.

So if I were to use the original trim pieces, I would invest in an electroless nickel plating kit and plate them to closely match.

2) Making stainless pieces to replace the aluminum is at the same time the cheaper and more labor intensive solution, but possibly the better. Using a piece of stainless steel - especially of a similar alloy - will have the best chances of matching the look of the rest of the window trim and requires only a little metal shaping and finishing skill.

I thought about this one the hardest. I sourced a piece of 304 stainless from McMaster-Carr for the job at about $12. But that would mean lots of careful grinding followed by the long and painfull process of polishing.

But a little inspiration hit me and I realized where I had a piece of stainless steel in the exact dimensions I desired, of the exact same alloy - I have a dozen or so window scrapers I got from the junk yard to steal their good rubber.

So what I ended up doing was taking spare window scrapers, cutting them down to size and attaching to the quarter-window trim. The exact process was lengthier - and I will detail it in minutia to anyone who wants to try it theirself - but here's a couple scaled-down, 56k friendly pics to show you how "stock" it looks:





Now, with the final piece of window trim matching the window scrapers exactly - heck, it is one - I'm satisfied. Never have to worry about polising the aluminum when it gets cloudy white, never have to worry about plating wearing off and I'll never have to worry about it rusting. Plus, I think it looks better than the original piece of trim that was there, even supposing that piece was the same metal. The original kinda bulged out and never really matched too closely. Maybe I'm just anal.

Well, thoughts? I will get some better pictures once the car is actually clean, and will post in 56k-friendly format as well as links to the pics in their full-size glory, I just don't like to crowd people's screens and bog down their modems - I recognize that not everyone yet has a 17" screen and high-speed internet.

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Sean Corron

First of all, GREAT job doing it up right with the correct
material. I use 304 SS deck screws exclusively in my
Redwood Chairs,and even 2 feet from the Ocean on
a dock in Tiburon they stay bright.
Bending that stuff acccurately is difficult to say
the least,I can't believe how good it looks!

I saw a black 92-244 at my friends shop,and
it had the grill,side trim,and the drip rail all
blacked out. He said it came that way from
the factory. I think Volvo was going for the
Batmobile-stealth-cool look but it looked
cheap to me.

One of my professions envolved a bit of jewlers
saw work,making cut-coin jewlery. I have found
the saw to be very useful for stainless with a
4-0 blade as it is designed for hard metals.

Sent the renovation pix,did you get them?

Ken
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69-145-S ; 71-145-S ; 72-145-E ; 72-1800-ES ; 87-245-DL

Thanks Ken! I told you - the black-on-black looks cheap. I assume it was considered modernization because people were not using chrome anymore in the early 90's.

"Great minds...," Ken, guess what I used to cut the stainless? Jewelers saw. In addition to knifemaking I've dabbled in jewelry making as well. I used the biggest blade I had, I think it was a 1. Still broke a couple, just because of the unusual shape of the steel, it kept catching. Beeswax helps a lot for that, but I was too impatient to trank mine down.

Nope, pictures still haven't shown - I don't know what's up, because other e-mails are going through just fine. You can try again if it's no trouble: seancorron@hughes.net
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Sean Corron

Check this out;
I converted a jewelers ring clamp/vise with a
threaded down Bicycle Quick Release
{5x0.8m} shaft,and a wing nut on the bottom.
Then I cut off one of the back 'wings' and thru
bolted it to the edge of the workbench.
You may be breaking blades because your
workpiece moves or the blade is a little course.
We used to use alot of 3/0,4/0 for dimes and
fine work,and an 8/0 ! for 'In God We Trust'
on the Morgan reverse.
PS;
Find the wax and stick it on a 1" paint brush
to sweep the filings in the line of sight.
I will send her pix again.
Ken
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69-145-S ; 71-145-S ; 72-145-E ; 72-1800-ES ; 87-245-DL

Very nice work - and write-up.

Is that a new word you just coined, "retro-ation"? I like it. Interesting to see you're going for a look of the 83-85's (or earlier?). I like that look myself but then I'm biased!

Again, nice work.
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84 244GL and 85 245DL

Thanks! Yeah, I figured it's not really a restoration, it's a retro-ation.

I am going for the older look, Clive, the whole point in my driving a 240 vs. a 900 or 700 series car is the classic look. Why Volvo tried to modernize a car styled out of the 60's, I'll never know. Plus, painted stainless - silly idea. I have a lot of respect for the severely tough powder coat or epoxy paint that Volvo used, but it's still over polished stainless steel. I had several ugly chips in mine, plus the flat black collected wax and looked awful. Problem solved.

If I ever find a good set of commando bumpers in the junk yard I'm afraid of what I might do...
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Sean Corron

Sean,

What are "Commando bumpers"? Are they a cool, extra-rare option?


Lanval

Wow. that looks really good! I guess I have a goal for this summer now! I should really wash my car first. Its been about a month or so....poor college student...oh well. it had a crappy repaint by the PO, so the sooner that comes off the sooner the body work and new paint can get done! Have fun with your classic looks! Wanna know something sad? My Aunt referred to my Volvo as a "hippie car"....sad day... Happy Bricking!
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1987 244DL Auto, new rear main seal! Back to the stock air box:(

"Hippie car," haha! I guess it depends on where you live. 'Round here it's a "Yuppie car."

It's certainly a dramatic change in the looks of the car, Andrew, I'll be happy to help with endless details should you take on the project. Keep in mind though, that years of experience in homebrew finishing/refinishing of metals was invaluable to me during this project - I can walk you through it, but if you're new to metal working you'll be picking up some skills on the fly. Of course the mistakes I made during the project can also save you a lot of pain, so maybe it'll even out.
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Sean Corron

Wells thanks a lot! I would really appreciate that! But I do know that test pieces of scrap metal will come in handy so as to deter me from jumping the gun! My car just looks like a raccoon with a bad eye day or something...it really is too dark around the windows! Thanks again! I don't know when i am gonna start this thing. i guess when spring break rolls around...weee!
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1987 244DL Auto, new rear main seal! Back to the stock air box:(