The PV I bought last summer looks good, but the care given too the looks didn't carry over to the mechanical's very much. I got the car into a shop (exclusively Volvo) with experienced people who know the old breeds and the evaluation is not pretty. I am having a B20 put in as well as some linkage work done but the other work needed on the suspension is where I could use some collective advice from the "experienced ones" out there.

I found an article in the VClaccics archive that explains how to replace bushings and ball joints that is suppose to be possible for the shade tree mechanic. Unfortunately these instructions are for most Amazon and 1800S models and is says, PV's are quite different.

Are there similar articles with procedures for the PV that would include the total front end and the rear end?

I was not planning on the expense of replacing the engine, so I would like to do as much suspension work myself otherwise that car won't be road worthy for anything other than the short trips to get bread and milk a long time. Very humiliating for a PV to be a "bread and milk" car.

Any help, as always is really appreciated.
Dennis

Well, This spring I will to begin the Virgilthevolvo 2.0 restoration and am gathering information about how to make the best ---most roadworthy---finest looking PV544. I have determined that this time I will be "Bolting" on a full 140 front member to the frame horns. This gives me disc brakes, sway bars, ball joints, and Turbo wheels!

Christopher "virgilthevolvo" Georger

Try IPD. They have a lot of neopreme bushings not listed in their catalog and it really tightens up the fron and rear suspension along with their sway bars makes the old girl handle much, much better. Bite the bullet and get KONI shocks for the front from IPD and KYB shocks for the rear (available at ADVANCE AUTO PARTS).
www.IPDUSA.COM
Best
RayJ.

I completed a total suspension rework on my 61 P210 about a year ago. I had the old king pins pressed out and had the new bushings pressed in and reamed by a machinest. I also had him remove a inner upper a arm bushing that I broke off while trying to remove. He also pressed and reamed my idler arm bushes. In my opinion the upper inner a-arm bushings were the hardest part of the job. These bushings are sort of threaded into the sheetmetal arms. I say sort of because the threads on the bush are very shallow and wide and there are no well marked threads on the piece that it mates with. The fit ends up being a cross between pressed and threaded. Anyhow, while you are doing this operation the bushes are also being threaded onto the pivot pin and if the bushes aren't "threading" (really cutting) into the arm, the will just bend the arm ends. This is really hard to explain unless you are actually doing it, but I suggest you find the thread in the archive when I was trying to get help with all of this work. (oops, I can't find that thread with search must be in limbo) In order to not damage your upper a-arms when installing the bushes you must create a supporting jig that will hold the arm ends in place. Besides the pressing and reaming of the kingpin bushes it is a total do it yourself job, but you will need the manual. I purchased an old aftermarket kingpin kit off of ebay. It must have been at least twenty years old (it wasn't volvo brand) but it had all of the kingpin parts plus a nice assortment of shims. The rest of the suspension components I bought from GCP but that was back when the doller was much higher. The only other hangup I had was when the machinest installed the kingpin bushes incorrectly even though I had provided him with a clear diagram and explanation. Since I did this all pretty recently I could help explain all of the steps of the operation if you decide to do it yourself.

I also had all of my parts media blasted (partly payback for the bad bushing install) and I put on a nice coat of Eastwood chasis black, and it looks and rides great.

You might want to check on eBay as they have a Volvo bushing kit listed on there with quite a few of the rubber bushings listed. Or you might want to check on neoprine bushings as they will last longer and take some of the sway out better. I was able to find a pair of air shocks at a swap meet and installed them. Now I can compensate for additional weight of passengers in the back and it realy makes a difference in handling. Unfortunatly I have no idea what the y fit originaly but they bolted right in and all I had to do was run the air line to some where i could reach easy like inside the trunk. Check eBay under Volvo 444 and you can find the bushings. If your kingpins are still tight you might not have tomess with them but check to see if they are getting good flow of grease to them and are free and not binding. Make sure you check the grease level in the steering gear and take up the play according to the manual. Radials will go a long way tward handling on this car also but you might have to change the rims to get a good fit between the tires and rims as the old ones were not designed for the radial tire bead.
Good luck,
Dennis

Once you get all the info on how to do it, do not take anything apart until you have the replacement parts in your hand. I have been waiting for two months for new kingpins as they are currently back ordered at GCP. The other thing I found is that when you order they want to know what size shims you need, which you cannot measure unless you take it apart...I just spent the extra 10 bucks and will give the shims that don't fit to someone else who needs them so the car could stay on the road.

Good luck.
-Erik

Dennis,
I got your e-mail and replied that I'll wait till I hear from you. My reply bounced back with a message that it can't be delivered unless I'm in your address book, and instructing me to click on a link to accomplish that. With the monkey business going on on the internet with address books at the moment I decided to err on the side of caution and deleted the whole thing.
Bob S.

With all the junk email out there, I have set the spam blocker to let email through for those in my address book only but others are still visible on the ISP server so I read your email anyway.

Dennis,
The hardest and big $ part of rebuilding the 544s suspension will be the king pins. You'll have to have them pressed out and the new ones refitted by a mechine shop. I have a loner 544 factory manual and will send you the sections covering the front and rear suspension if you like.

Cheers,
Jim

Jim,

Greetings from Florida. I'm getting ready to start on a '58-444. I too would love to have that information. I'll update my profile info to make sure my address is correct. Let me know what I owe you for your trouble.

Many thanks,

Wayne

Jim,
That would be great. I will make a copy and send your loaner manual back right away. Address is in my profile.
Dennis

Dennis,
My PV Shop Manual is pretty detailed on the subject. If no one else comes up with a better solution, I'd be glad to xerox the pertinent portions and send them to you snail-mail. If you want to go that route, contact me off-line.
Bob S