Two years since my last update, about time for a new one. Progress on the car is slow. Lots of bodywork was neccessary because of some rust and many old poorly repaired damages covered under layers of filler. They all where redone in a proper way. Now the body is nearly finished and I hope I can drop it off at a paint shop within a few months.
I’m also busy rebuilding the front suspension and the rear suspension will be next. This so the car can get back on its wheels after painting.
So I´ve decided the color of the car will be red. Volvo used two kinds or red color on 1800´s, color code #70 on early P1800´s of 1961 – 1962 and code #46 on 1800’s from 1963 until 1973. As I would like to keep things fairly original, I should use #46 as this is the red which was used on a 1967 1800S.
For example, a car painted in #70 (above) and #46 (below):
Lots of info about the Volvo colors can be read at: http://www.volvotips.com/index.php/general/volvo-color-codes/.
Last moth I’ve did some work on the interior and as I decided the color of the car will be red, I am going with the red-black exterior-interior combination, like this:
http://volvo1800pictures.com/main/main_gallery_1800S_67_php.php
So, red exterior, black seats and panels and red carpet. Searching for a nice 2nd hand, not rotten away black 1800s interior would not going to be an easy find. Impossible I found out later on. I also checked out of curiosity what it would cost if you would buy it all new, this would be around €2500. Not an option for my financial situation. So, after some searching on the net I found some people who painted their seats with leatherpaint with pretty good results and a good price – quality. So I painted the interior black:
First some repairs and clean everything thoroughly. My seats are in good condition so no heavy tears or worn out cushions, perfect to be painted.
Then the paint. It dries pretty quickly.
The seat support and brackets are powedercoated and all nuts, bolts and seat rails are nickle-plated so all shiny. I’m assembling the seats now.
I had to tap the threads of the 5/16 nuts in the seat bottom base, which were accidentally powdercoated, and gluing the covers on the bum frame.
Next job will be to paint the interior panels, but first I have to replace the wooden panels with some waterproof ones and then I can paint the panels.
Also the dashboard is finished. I was a bit in doubt if I would repad the whole thing, but this was not necessary. There where only 2 small cracks which I repaired (stop-drilled, filled up and painted) so I decided not to repad it. A repaired and painted fresh almost new dash (the holes will be covered by the radio):
And cleaned up the rear axle and applied the first three layers of paint (1st & 2nd RX5, 3rd 50% RX5 – 50% RX10, next layer 5% RX5 – 95% RX10):
And cleaning out the interior radiator, lots of sludge came out. The thing looks overall very good, possibly I’ll send it to a radiator shop for a check up.
And after some polishing (still have to finish it)
Also all the bolts, nuts and brackets are re-plated. I made pictures of all assemblies previously so now sorting it all.
We repaired the subframe so it is ready for powder coating.
Cut out the damaged top parts of the shock towers
The welds of the lower braces are still ok, no repairing required.
Now that the subframe is ready I dropped off all the parts in need of new paint at the powdercoater (Waayenberg Coatings). Subframe will be coated RAL7040, pulley and cooling fan RAL1004 and the rest just normal black.
I also started sanding down the car, hopefully the painter will be coming over soon so we can discuss a plan of action.
As I am disassembling all parts of the suspension for cleaning and painting, the rear axle was next: removing the drums, brakes, bearings and check the spicer gears.
As the axle is loose from the car and sometimes extreme forces are necessary to remove the drums, it’s a bit difficult to counter the force to tighten the drum puller.
It was just too tight. I used a 1,5m long pipe on the wrench, and for several days, heated the drum, banged it with a hammer, but no help. At some time during the rampage the drum began to tear apart…
Then, as I allready wrecked the drum, I used a large Kukko puller and this did the trick. Installed the puller again, Heated it up again, and threw a bucket of cool water over the thing. A minute later there was a big BANG and finally it was gave way. The other side came of pretty easy.
Disassembled and cleaned rear axle
Also started with the fuel tank
And out comes an almost new fuel tank
Cleaning up the oil pressure transmitter
A piece of art
I disassembled the front suspension. It all looks structurally ok, no heavy corroded pieces, just some superficial corrosion here and there.
Shock towers where repaired in the past
You can see why they repaired it… I think I’m going to redo the repairs to make sure there no rusty stuff in between the shock tower and the repair plate.
Placed the car on the stand and removed the front suspension and rear axle, a pretty easy job like this. Next step is to get some chemical paint stripper that works on 2K paint or skip that and let the sand blaster do the rest.
The car on its stand.
Rear axle removed. It will need new paint, brake lines, handbrake cables, new bushings, new brake cilinders, brake shoes, new springs, new shock absorbers etc etc. I will get to this when the car is away for blasting and painting.
Front suspension removed.
The battered and dirty front suspension; needs new bushings, all needs to be painted or powdercoated, clean or replace brake calipers, replace brake discs and pads, new brake lines, new engine mounts, new springs & shock absorbers, weld on a tow eye on the subframe and possibly reweld the shock towers (check for cracking).
Volvo 1800S 1967 #23424 