We’ve made some more progress lately so thought I'd post an update.
Next tasks on our list were to fit a thermostat, fill it with coolant and fit a new rad cap for good measure.
Whilst under the hood we also fitted a new braided oil line that feeds the pressure gauge as it was leaking pretty bad and looks like it has been for some time as it’s a bit of a mess down there.
Now that we have everything sorted under the hood and the car is running well, we plan to give the engine bay a proper detailing and restoration in the near future. More on that to come.
Here’s a quick pic of the oil pressure after warming up the car. Pretty good I say!
For some reason the previous owner dismantled parts of the car before laying it up and we were given buckets of parts and spares. All the chrome trim on the passenger side was missing, but after rummaging through the boxes we found everything, and the hardware needed to fit it all.
It was bugging me every time we went to the car that this was all missing and I was dreading having to source these as they so rare, so I’m pleased we found everything and got it all fitted correctly.
Whilst rummaging in the parts buckets we also found a brand-new genuine Volvo taillight to replace the cracked one on the car.
We then turned our attention to the interior.
The clock was the only gauge on the dash that didn’t work, so I decided to investigate what was happening.
It’s a wonderfully archaic blend of a mechanical wind up mechanism with an electronic solenoid winder that triggers every 2 minutes to keep it wound up.
I blasted some compressed air and lots of crud came out. I then gently lubed everything with silicone spray and to my surprise it kicked back into life. When I added power to the solenoid it all worked, triggering the winder every 2 minutes.
I didn’t get many pics of this, but it keeps good time and it’s back in the car functioning well.
Next task was to clean the grime that had collected around all the gauges. I have no idea what this was, but it was another thing that bugged me every time I looked at them.
Whatever it was came off with a new sharp blade and they’re much more pleasing to the eye. At some point I’ll address the pitted matt black gauge surrounds.
The carpets in the front had already been pulled out by the previous owner so we decided to pull all the carpets and give them a shampoo.
We used a good carpet cleaner combined with a drill brush attachment and they all came up looking great! There are some minor stains we couldn’t shift, but they are largely covered by the seats.
Here’s a couple of before shots.
And a few shots of the cleaned carpets.
With all the carpets and trim stripped out, we gave the interior a thorough clean and we just can’t believe how solid this car is.
We then fitted all the carpet back into the car. I didn't have any contact adhesive, so we'll install the piece by the boot latch next time and also the door finishing strips before we put the seats back in.
For now though, this is how it sits. We just need to finish installing the rest of the interior and fit the new wheels and tyres before we can take it on its maiden voyage!
