Right, I've done my homework. I have found an exploded view diagram of the late amazon steering column and I have figured out the steering lock removal. The bolts do have to be drilled out, but I felt that doing this in the car with a cordless was a risk I couldn't afford to take as damaging the threads in the lower half of the ignition block would be disastrous. (As I mentioned in the previous post, replacement units are simply not available).
I read on a forum (non Volvo) that one method was to slacken off the bolts by working them round with a punch. I considered this for a while and after weighing up all my options I finally summoned up the courage to give it a go... It worked! I managed to turn the bolts enough to loosen the lock and slide it off the column.
I then moved over to the bench drill and carefully drilled into the centre of each of the two security bolts.
Finally, I used a reverse screw extracted to draw out the bolts.
Flushed with success, I then tackled the bolts holding the column to the dash. There was no way that the drifting method was going to work though, they were really tight, and so I had to resort to drilling. My method was to effectively mill off the heads of by shallow drilling with increasingly larger drill bits.
Once both bolt heads had been dealt with, the bracket came away easily and I was also able to extract the remains of the bolts with the screw extractor.
I removed the last of the screws holding the dash to the A pillars (3 each side) and finally, the dash could be removed.
With the windshield frame now full exposed I got stuck in with the wire cup brush on the angle grinder to reveal the fiull extent of the corrosion. Of course it is a little worse that I first thought (isn't it always), but I am confident that it is manageable. The worst area is actually on the n/s, where some of the bulkhead is actually missing, but I am ignoring that for now. as I can't really get at that properly without moving turning the car round. For the time being I will be concentrating on the o/s repairs.
Here is the o/s lower screen edge as seen from the outside. Some holes and lip damage.
From the inside it looks worse. There is a section of around 6-8 inches long by 2-3 inches deep that is completely rotten.
Moving up thes ide of the windscreen frame, there is another longish segment that will need to be cut out; a tricky shape...
...with another small section a little higher up that also needs replacing...
Apart from that (and still ignoring the n/s lower corner) the frame is looking sound with the exception of a small couple of holes the the lower centre.
Lots to do then, but it is no great surprise. I always new that this was going to be the case.
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