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1967 Volvo 1800s - The Second Time Around

Hey, Thanks to all of you for you approval of the 1800s and the way I'm setting it up. More coverage of progress on the project soon - have been concentrating on getting the car ready for the road this Springtime instead of posting about what has been accomplished.

Photo below taken on the coast of Maine in Camden last fall on a nice 1000-mile weekend fall foliage run. As you all know a 1800 is a perfect GT car for covering miles on the Interstate highways quickly in overdrive, while also having great handling characteristics on winding two-lane country roads.

Wow, love this one
 
Thanks for asking, it is a reproduction badge in very good condition that needs to have the black paint on it redone.

Thanks; do you think there's a significant difference in the quality of the retros vs the OEM? The price difference is pretty significant and I'm pondering options.
 
Wow, love this one

Thanks!

Thanks; do you think there's a significant difference in the quality of the retros vs the OEM? The price difference is pretty significant and I'm pondering options.

The badge I recently purchased is NOS Volvo and the difference is like night and day. The plating is flawless and the black is finished in real cloisonne fired enamel.
 
Very much appreciate this information; I'll probably stick with my slightly pitted OEM badge for the time being and eventually spring for NOS replacement.

Thanks!



The badge I recently purchased is NOS Volvo and the difference is like night and day. The plating is flawless and the black is finished in real cloisonne fired enamel.
 


After the paint was stripped off of all of the control arms and other associated parts of the front end that were being rebuilt the parts were then soaked in a liquid rust remover. We don't sand blast suspension parts here in the shop as the surface of the metal gets hardened during the process and could contribute to cracks forming in the future.

Following priming, new OEM lower control bushings are pressed into place. The top photo shows one side of a control arm supported by a 1-9/16" socket than is larger than the OD of the bushing, and longer than it so as not to bottom out while the bushing being pressed into place.

The press is a sixty-plus year old arbor press attached to the side of our hydraulic press. It has a 2.5-inch dia. ram and the 2.5' handle has been replaced by a 5' long heat treated solid steel cheater handle. This heavy-duty press will exert about a maximum of ten tons of force and all of it was needed to push these bushings into place. The bushings were removed with the hydraulic press because more force was needed to get them out.





Preparing to make a new wooden package tray for the car and looking for someone who may have an original or a reproduced tray of the correct sizes for dimensions. I need the exact length and width of the two wooden pieces and the thickness of #59 in the drawing.

Also looking for one bracket with caged nuts as shown in the photo below of a 1800E coupe showing one on both sides. These pieces appear to be the same from the beginning of the 1800s production run and up on thru to the last 1800E coupes.

 
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Are you referring to these parts:

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/exim-cars/41347727241/in/datetaken-public/" title="3LQQLi0GR1W4iIpk9BtbfQ"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/891/41347727241_440809f120.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="3LQQLi0GR1W4iIpk9BtbfQ"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The missing screw can be sourced locally, a local Ace Hardware carries all of these pitches and screw size.
 
The plywood is ?" thick.

The top piece is 39 5/8" X 8 7/8".

The back piece is 39 5/8" X 10 3/16".

I should have one of the brackets. I just need to find it.
 
Looking good! My 220 also had a massive rats nest in the cross member. I'm assuming this is common at this point.
 
From what I was told by a old Volvo parts rep these cars had a very high production cost. The steel was sourced from West Germany. Sent to Plate Steel Stamping in England were the body was made. It was then sent to Sweden for fitting out.
 
thanks for sharing the update, I could read and look at your photos all day long. Great work!

Thanks, I enjoy looking at what you are doing on your 142.

Are you referring to these parts:

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/exim-cars/41347727241/in/datetaken-public/" title="3LQQLi0GR1W4iIpk9BtbfQ"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/891/41347727241_440809f120.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="3LQQLi0GR1W4iIpk9BtbfQ"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The missing screw can be sourced locally, a local Ace Hardware carries all of these pitches and screw size.

Close, but these appear to be the hinges at the bottom of the two pieces of wood.

The plywood is ?" thick.

The top piece is 39 5/8" X 8 7/8".

The back piece is 39 5/8" X 10 3/16".

I should have one of the brackets. I just need to find it.

Ian, Thanks I have been trying to find the dimensions for quite a while.
 
Looking good! My 220 also had a massive rats nest in the cross member. I'm assuming this is common at this point.

I have heard of several cars that had been stored for a long period having this issue.

From what I was told by a old Volvo parts rep these cars had a very high production cost. The steel was sourced from West Germany. Sent to Plate Steel Stamping in England were the body was made. It was then sent to Sweden for fitting out.

The parts rep is correct. Volvo did use durable materials in the construction of the 1800 and 120 series cars that accounts for their long term durability.

Only the 1961 to '63 P1000 bodies were built and cars were assembled in England by Pressed Steel. The build quality was not up to Volvo's standards and was moved to Sweden and the 1964 1800s and later cars were produced in Sweden.
 
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Thanks to Ian at Hi-Performance Auto Service the measurements of the two wooden pieces that make up the package tray behind the rear seat over the rear axle are now known. A friend from the mid-west is sending along the two brackets in the photo above that locate and secure the top piece of the tray.

Cutting the new wooden pieces will be done later in the month when another friend, an ex Volvo mechanic I used to work with at an independent Volvo repair shop, now a cabinet maker will be here to do some work on the shop building.



The new original size shelf will take the place of the taller than original existing one. This 1800S amazing has all of its original carpets that are in very good condition and have been re-dyed in the past. That includes the carpet that covers the tray but was mounted upside down on the replacement tray that is in the car now. The gray section of it visible thru the rear window will be dyed to match, and the original edge binding will be sewn back onto it.

The original optional AM-FM radio below was installed by the Volvo dealer or at the port of entry. I had the buttons and the sliding bar above it re-plated, and then the radio was cleaned, rebuilt, re-wired, and aligned by an old car radio restorer. The radio will be connected to either the original speaker and the grille seen on the shelf in the middle, or the rare, German Blaupunkt speaker and enclosure on the left will make up a nice period sound system.

 
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In the fall of 2017 I found a the set of 40 DCOE and 45 DCOEs vintage Weber side draft carburetors that when were taken apart, cleaned and inspected to see if rebuilding them was an option. The progression holes are the same on both carbs, there is no warpage anywhere so rebuilding them should be easy.

Also mocked up the Webers on one of two sets of Volvo Competition Department manifolds with a set of Swedish rubber mount/gaskets and Cosworth rubber vibration damping donuts and washers to see if the VCS air cleaner will clear the wheel well. It just clears, but it is too close so I will either fabricate a narrower filter element or have one made. The combo will however will fit a 122s as is. A brace to the engine needs to be fabricated to position the rubber soft mount on the outside of the inner air cleaner half. The mount is visible between the carb throats and is inside of a clamp riveted to the inner housing.

Was pleased to find out after contacting the Volvo Historic Archive to get a copy of the information on file for this car that it still has both its original engine and gearbox/OD which means this is a matching number 1800s. This information is important to serious collectors, and purists.

 
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Question on the matching numbers; aside from consulting Historic Archive is there any way of determining if numbers match? Can you do so by consulting any stamping/casting numbers or is it only recorded on the build sheets?
 
Question on the matching numbers; aside from consulting Historic Archive is there any way of determining if numbers match? Can you do so by consulting any stamping/casting numbers or is it only recorded on the build sheets?

Don't believe there is any other source to find the original engine # for a car other than through the Archive. With the chassis # Lars Gerdin at the Volvo Museum and Historical Archive can give you all of the info including the engine serial # as in the chart I posted earlier.

On a B18 the first of the two milled pads on the LH side of the engine below the head is stamped with the engine type # (the tune). The engine # is on the second milled pad. If I remember correctly the B20 numbers are in the same place.

You probably know, but many people new to old cars don't know exactly what a numbers matching car means. In this case all the #s on the chart including the engine # match the plate on the pedal box and the engine and transmission.

If all of the #s are the same it is a numbers matching car as it left the factory, which is rare. Many of the B18 powered cars that survive have had a B20 engine swap.

It is easy to contact Lars Gerdin @ the Archives: lars.gerdin@consultant.volvo.com
 
Thanks!

Don't believe there is any other source to find the original engine # for a car other than through the Archive. With the chassis # Lars Gerdin at the Volvo Museum and Historical Archive can give you all of the info including the engine serial # as in the chart I posted earlier.

On a B18 the first of the two milled pads on the LH side of the engine below the head is stamped with the engine type # (the tune). The engine # is on the second milled pad. If I remember correctly the B20 numbers are in the same place.

You probably know, but many people new to old cars don't know exactly what a numbers matching car means. In this case all the #s on the chart including the engine # match the plate on the pedal box and the engine and transmission.

If all of the #s are the same it is a numbers matching car as it left the factory, which is rare. Many of the B18 powered cars that survive have had a B20 engine swap.

It is easy to contact Lars Gerdin @ the Archives: lars.gerdin@consultant.volvo.com
 


Spring has finally arrived here this week and this is a quick update for today: The upper and lower control arms and all of the re-used front suspension pieces have had the original paint removed in the shop 5-gallon Safety-Kleen carburetor cleaner machine powered by an agitator.

Following the stripping the very small amount surface rust on the pieces was removed with chemical rust removers. Suspension pieces, coil springs or any highly stressed components should not be abrasive-blasted as the process surface-hardens the metal which can cause cracks to form in the future.

All of the pieces were painted here in the shop spray booth with an epoxy primer and a two-part urethane satin-finish similar to the original coating. The car is used often in the good weather months, and no effort was made to have a perfect finish, only to preserve the parts as the car has to be driven on gravel roads every time it goes out.

The lower control arms have already been painted, re-bushed, and installed, most of the rest of the parts and new ball joints, steering arms, and tie rod ends will be assembled this weekend.
 
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