Realistic expectations.

After rebushing the carbs, I'd gotten to a point where the Amazon was in pretty good order mechanically. The body on the other hand... well, a trailer queen she is not.



For a variety of reasons, I've been putting off body work for a while. First off, body work involves a lot of dusty sanding, noisy grinding and banging, and spraying of smelly, noxious chemicals. Work that isn't terribly conducive to being performed in a backyard.

Windshield Washer.

My Amazon didn't have a windshield washer installed when I got it. (I'm not sure if US-market Amazons didn't come equipped with washers, or if it was removed by the previous owner?) Being cheap, I wasn't about to pay a hundred odd dollars for a genuine Volvo setup.

During my last trip to the wrecking yard, I picked a $10 washer reservoir and pump out of a 70's era Toyota pickup. (Side note: it's surprisingly difficult to find a simple, no-frills washer tank and pump. Vehicles made after 1980 seem to employ incredibly labyrinthine washer tank designs.)

I made a bracket for the washer tank out of some 1/16" steel bar and fixed it to the driver's side radiator mounting.



The wiring harness already had a lead for the washer pump located near the voltage regulator on the passenger side. It supplies +12 volts to the pump when the wiper switch is pulled fully out. I connected the other lead of the pump motor to a good chassis ground.



I ran about 6' of new 9/32" tubing from the pump through an opening in the firewall (I used the temperature gauge sender opening), into a 3/16"x1/8" x 1/8" tee, and then into the nozzles via two shorter (about 3' total) lengths of 3/32" tubing.

I used zip-ties to secure snug down the hoses around the nozzles. (Unfortunately, I managed to flood my stereo before realizing this was necessary.)

I can see clearly now, the grime is gone!

Badges.

OK. I had a moment of weakness. I admit it.

I've been intending to save some of the "fun" parts of the restoration for last. For example, polishing and repainting the "122S" insignia badges. But... I just couldn't resist and I pulled the badges off the car yesterday.


looking kind of rough.

The badges were in pretty rough shape, but being actual metal (not plastic like the brightwork of today's cars), I figured they could be restored.

They had a film of white paint on them - left over from a pretty shoddy paint job which afflicts the rest of the car as well. In addition, they had some pretty deep gouges in them.

I started by cleaning them up with lacquer thinner to remove dirt and all the old paint. Because of the extent of the gouges, I decided to even out the surface by sanding, even though it'd mean having to sand through the chrome plating. Because areas of the chrome had already been worn away, I figured I might as well.


notice different sheen where chrome is worn away at bottom of the "S"

I wet sanded, starting with 320 grit, up to 800 grit, and finally 2000 grit sandpaper. I finished with polishing compound. Because the soft aluminum is now exposed, I'll probably end up re-plating the badges at some point.

I used Testors model paint to color the badges red and black as they were originally. (The smell of the Testors paint reminded me of childhood the entire time I was painting.)


completed badges

I'll probably still wait until the car's painted to put them back on.

Tail Lights.

Although the Volvo is rarely on the road, much less on the road at night, I thought it'd be wise to improve the anemic tail lights. I'd considered installing some LED bulbs, but after reading more about the pros and cons of LED conversion (unidirectional, current matching issues), I decided instead to improve the stock incandescent setup.

Upon removing the tail light lenses, it was immediately evident that a large part of the problem was simply corrosion rendering the reflector basically useless.


before cleaning. gross.

I started by cleaning off as much oxidation and rust as possible with a wire wheel, and then steel wool. I also used a battery terminal brush to clean out oxidation from the bulb sockets, and gave all the contacts a light sanding.


mostly cleaned and looking much better.

I was originally planning on wet sanding and polishing the reflector to a mirror finish from there, but realized a few minutes into polishing that rust would very quickly render my efforts futile. So I changed courses and "resurfaced" the reflector with aluminum duct tape. After sticking and trimming the tape, I burnished it down with a soft plastic spatula, and then polished it with polishing compound, leaving a pretty satisfactorily reflective finish.



not the Hubble Telescope, but it's acceptably shiny.

Next, I cleaned the lenses (which had been caked with grime) with Simple Green and a soft toothbrush, then used polishing compound to bring it up to a shine.



I was actually somewhat surprised by the efficacy of this approach. I'd say that perceived brightness was improved by about 50%.


dirty on left, cleaned and polished on right

Rust, Part II.

Wowsers. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but while doing some other work today, I removed the battery and discovered this:



Yeah, those are gaping rust holes in the battery box. Going straight through to the passenger compartment.

Guess I'll add that to my list of "stuff I need to weld someday..."

argh.

Coil Plate.

The original coil with armored cable had been replaced at some point with a Bosch blue coil. The previous owner left the old coil (not connected) in place simply to plug the hole in the firewall. I found this an inelegant solution, so I crafted a blanking plate from some aluminum and chucked the old coil.



Cage nuts are used to secure the coil to the firewall. I'm missing one, and I've had a terribly difficult time locating a spare. I finally realized that they're used in rackmount equipment; unfortunately, they're typically sold in bags of 100, so now I have to find a way to get just two. In the meanwhile, I'm using some 3/8" nylon body nuts.

Coil wire was rerouted (for now, through the temp sender grommet).

Gas Cap.

Even though it's low on the priority list, it's been bugging me that the locking gas cap doesn't lock. (Then again, considering current gas prices, maybe it's not such a low priority.)

First off, I set out to make a key for the cap. Although still in business, the manufacturer of the cap, Waso, is based in Sweden, and locating a correct key blank (WS-3) proved difficult. Luckily, the folks on Brickboard listed a few compatible blanks including the Ilco YU1-X153 blank (intended for Yugo!). The Yugo blank is a little longer, but fit just fine after filing about a millimeter off the tip. After filing and fitting and filing and fitting, I had myself a usable key!



At some point, someone removed the guts of the lock, so I had to manufacture a new "bolt" from scratch.


something missing here...

The hardest part was figuring out what the missing part was supposed to look like.



FYI, 70's-era SAABs appear to use the same five-sided Waso caps.

Motor mounts.

iPd and Shamir to the rescue! I placed an order for the mounts from iPd last Sunday night (along with a valve cover hold-down kit and some POR-15) and I got the order on Wednesday!

Shamir kindly agreed to lend his knowledge and expertise (not to mention his floor jack, after he cautioned me against using the "widowmaker" from Jenn's Jetta).

Aside from being dumbfounded by Volvo's use of SAE fasteners, swapping out the motor mounts was a relatively painless process (in no small part thanks to Shamir's guidance on the matter), and the 122 is a lot happier now. Being short on time, we decided to postpone the tranny mount swap for another weekend.


all better.


well, that would explain a thing or two. new mount on the left.

Rust, Part I.

Oh, did I mention that last weekend, while cleaning the car, I inadvertently poked my finger through a rusty spot in the rear driver's side floorpan? uhh... yeah. My finger went right through the bottom of the car.

My fingers are crossed and I'm desperately hoping it's not the tip of the iceberg... (I'm stocking up on POR-15 in case it is.)


yes. those are gaping holes in the car.

Learning to drive stick.

Last weekend, Jenn decided it was time to learn how to drive a stick-shift, and our new Volvo seemed like the perfect car to learn on.

The Good News: Jenn did great! After only 30 minutes in the Best Buy parking lot, she got the basics of a manual transmission!

The Bad News: I hadn't anticipated that the abuse inherent in learning to drive stick would result in the untimely demise of our poor 122's tired, 43 year old motor and tranny mounts.

Before buying the car, I noticed the motor mounts needed to be replaced. I just hadn't anticipated it'd happen so soon. A cringe-worthy metal-on-metal thudding now beckons replacement of the mounts ASAP. (Hopefully the tires won't fail quite so catastrophically.)


bulging rubber and cracked metal. yikes.

Under lock and key.

Evidently, Willie got locked out of his Amazon at 2am after what sounded like a memorable party one evening in 1982. Rather than hire a locksmith, he and his buddies forced their way in, and the driver's side doors were never the same again.

Since I've been unable to undo so much of the other damage done during the Regan era, I thought I'd at least try to repair the locks in our 122.

I had a frustrating time trying to remove the window crank and door latch handle. Turns out they are secured using "omega" shaped circlips. Here's the technique I discovered (which does not require a special tool): while pressing the door panel inward, locate the free end of the circlip between the plastic spacer and handle with a dental probe or other thin, rigid instrument, and pop out the clip. The crank/handle can be replaced by putting the circlip back in the handle first, and then pressing the handle- together with the plastic spacer- back on the shaft. More info here and here.



The door handle assembly can be removed without removing the door glass. Lower the window, remove the glass guide channels, carefully push the glass clear of the stop, and then roll down another 1/2 inch. Carefully! This will permit access to the screws securing the door handle.

With everything apart, I found that the die cast "pot metal" lock cylinder had broken in half. (update: I purchased a replacement lock, only to find that the cylinder had broken in exactly the same manner, so I'm guessing this is a common mode of failure.)



I tried JB Welding the pieces together, but the strain of locking/unlocking was too great for JB Weld alone, so I reinforced the repair by cutting a slot with a Dremel tool, inserting some scraps of brass, and JB Welding the whole thing together. I also used a wire brush on the Dremel to clean the surfaces before JB Welding (since pot metal is porous and absorbs oils, making for a weak bond).


slot cut in both parts with a Dremel cut off wheel, and a reinforcing "key" made out of brass


attack of the JB Weld


rough filing


finish filing and sanding - needle files came in handy for this

So far, so good!

While I was at it, I tried renewing one of the lower window guide channels. First, I scraped out what was left of the rubber and felt. Then I used contact cement to glue in a new strip of weatherstripping felt sourced from my local hardware store. It seemed to work well, so I'll probably be renewing all of the window channels at some point.



Locking/unlocking the door now brings me great joy.