Chris1Roll's return to 700 ownership

[Laird Scooby]

You'll still get some extra warmth as the front box is there on non-cat cars, surprising how much difference that pad makes!

When i had my carpets out (to fit lighter colour carpets) i also fitted some soundproofing roll in there as well, vast improvement, especially from the back where there isn't any OE soundproofing strangely!

[Chris1Roll]

On the subject of soundproofing etc, my wife and I were talking earlier and yes, the car is considerably noisier than the XC or, well, a lot of more modern cars, but we noted that there is not a single interior rattle or squeak from it.
I've been fighting rattly squeaky door cards and something behind the dash in the XC for ages.
I really do think the 7/900's were the pinnacle of Volvo build quality.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Chris1Roll

On the subject of soundproofing etc, my wife and I were talking earlier and yes, the car is considerably noisier than the XC or, well, a lot of more modern cars, but we noted that there is not a single interior rattle or squeak from it.
I've been fighting rattly squeaky door cards and something behind the dash in the XC for ages.
I really do think the 7/900's were the pinnacle of Volvo build quality.

I totally agree on the last bit, also it's surprising how much difference adding soundproofing makes and with the carpets out, you're halfway into doing the job. The trim and carpet goes back that little bit tighter as well, reducing any squeaks/rattles from it and generally makes the car feel (even) more solid.
In terms of how quiet it is, the soundproofing brings it much closer to modern levels although wind noise is something you can't get round.

[Chris1Roll]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

You'll still get some extra warmth as the front box is there on non-cat cars, surprising how much difference that pad makes!

Having driven it now - Blimey does it ever!
After 15 minutes I thought my feet were a bit warm, the metal there is borderline not possible to hold your hand on.
(It's actually the downpipe/front pipe there, the first box is under the seat)
Explains why it wasn't wet under the heater valve, just wet over to the right of the footwell.

Also a noticeable amount of vibration, of course with nothing to damp it you can feel all the steering and suspension movement through your feet.

Its only for a few days.

One of our cars the sound deadening was ruined ( bought the car from a scrapyard and found maggots in it!) So we just had the carpets straight in there and thought nothing of it. I think driving more modern things has made us all soft!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Chris1Roll

Having driven it now - Blimey does it ever!
After 15 minutes I thought my feet were a bit warm, the metal there is borderline not possible to hold your hand on.
(It's actually the downpipe/front pipe there, the first box is under the seat)
Explains why it wasn't wet under the heater valve, just wet over to the right of the footwell.

Also a noticeable amount of vibration, of course with nothing to damp it you can feel all the steering and suspension movement through your feet.

Its only for a few days.

One of our cars the sound deadening was ruined ( bought the car from a scrapyard and found maggots in it!) So we just had the carpets straight in there and thought nothing of it. I think driving more modern things has made us all soft!

On my 760, the front box was more or less where the cat would have been, hence my comment - entirely possible it's slightly different on the 4-pot models as the downpipes on the 760 were a weird animal - long on the left over the bellhousing, down alongside the right downpipe until they joined the front box which was a 2-in, 1-out box.

You'll get a lot of road noise as there is nothing to mask the tyre roar (common Honda/Rover problem from mid 80s to early 2000s) which seemed quite bad on my 760 although i didn't realise until after i fitted soundproofing!

[Chris1Roll]

With the MOT booked for next Thursday, it was time today to get underneath to give it a once over - probably would have been a good idea to do that before booking the test, but there we go.
I hadn't actually got under it since I bought it other than to change the oil and ATF, so it was good to get it up a bit higher and have a good look around with a torch.
The rain had eased off to intermittent drizzle, so lets get a bit damp!


Pleased to report corrosion wont' be an issue

The front ARB droplink bushes look ropey, but I had already spoken to my tester about that, if they aren't hanging off, he'll normally just advise.

I managed to create myself some more work by snapping the head off this rivet holding the heatshield on. I just pulled on the shield a touch to look at the seam it was covering and it came off in my hand!

There was no way I was dropping the exhaust to access that so with a bit of ingenuity I managed to drill the remnants out. Then I discovered that I didn't have any suitable sized rivets, and to be honest the likelyhood of getting the rivetgun to it was pretty slim. In the end a cut down roofing screw came to the rescue (don't judge me please!)


I was also able to investigate the sloppiness in the shifter, I assumed some bushings were worn.
They aren't just worn, they are non-existent!



I gave the prop a good wiggle.
No play or leaks from the tailshaft bushing, the centre mount has a little bit of droop to it I think, once I have the wheels all balanced I'll be able to tell if there is any vibration.

Finally for the rolling around on the floor, I established where the few drops of oil that were reaching the floor towards the back of the engine were coming from.
Pleased to say its not the rear main seal, looking through the plastic grilles at the torque converter and it is dry as a bone in there, its coming from the rear cam/distributor seal.

Interesting to note that this seal was replaced by a garage not that long ago according to the history (about 10k miles ago!); at the same time as they did the cam cover gasket. Call me cynical but I suspect this might also have involved the use of silicone .. Either way, I know it won't have been a volvo one, so if they are still available I'll get a genuine one.


Next up, was to deal with this; asking the tester to not use the headlights too long probably isn't conducive to getting a pass:

Originally Posted by Chris1Roll

Slightly alarmingly just now, while I had it facing the mirrors I use for parking it in the space at home I thought I'd check all the lights. When i flicked on the high beams, they worked, and then when I glanced down to check the tell-tale was lit there was just the faintest whisp of dissipating magic smoke from the area of the stalk

Since I had just washed it the hose was right there in case of disaster, so I perhaps foolhardily switched them back on again for a minute with no repeat. I expect it was just a dirty switch contact that hasn't been used for a long time burning off some gunk, but I'll be having that out to investigate the wiring and cover everything in contact cleaner before using them again.

Once I had the covers off, I think my previous estimation of it being gunk burning off was borne out. 34 years of fluff accumulation and something sticky (possibly related to the cigar cutter I found under the seat, although it doesn't smell of smoke in there)

When I flicked the high beams on again, a faint wisp again came out from where the stalk enters the switch, so its definitely the switch and not the wiring - great.

It was at this point I realised that in a slight failure of design, the wheel has to come off in order to get the unit out. A quick job, but I'm sure it could have been designed out.
17mm socket on a medium length extension bar to remove the bolt. I know people say don't use the steering lock to restrain it, but back when we were messing with scrap cars, my friend and I actively tried to break a volvo steering lock like they do in the movies, and failed miserably. we cut it open to investigate and found it to be quite a chunky rod in a substantial housing, so unless you are the terminator, I think it's fine.
Couple of dabs of tippex to aid getting the wheel back on in the right place, and just gently tap either side and it will come off nicely.

Mildly interesting, the wheel has a manufacture date of 1985, but the crashpad in the centre has a manufacture date of Feb 89. It seems volvo must have made 'too many' wheels in the early days?

The unit is 'riveted' together, I think attempting to dismantle it would probably result in lots of misplaced springs, and probably be overkill for this repair, so I filled it up with contact cleaner and worked all the functions multiple times.
I also squirted cleaner on the teminals in the car multiplug, and while I was there did the same job to the wiper stalk.
Then I took the opportunity to give it a decent clean in there and reassembled. Result - was able to use main beam without the car catching fire

Next up the rear lights that keep filling up with water. I knew we would need to get some new lights at some point before we even went to look at it, with all this rain they keep filling up to above the hole for the bulb and then making the boot wet. (and triggering the bulb failure lamp when cornering)

The crack luckily isn't showing any white to the rear, so should be fine for the test (as it has been for several years loking at the history)

Bodgetastic fix until I can justify new lights - a 3.5mm hole in the bottom corner to let the water back out again

Can only see it if you look for it.

My wife came home at the perfect time help me check all the lights: all good apart from one front fog/driving lamp (do I want to start that debate again?)

While not a MOT issue, I like things to work, so set about replacing the bulb.

It wasn't the bulb.

So a nice bit of simple automotive electrical diagnostics to finish off with.

12v was getting to the bulb, must be an earth fault.
Traced cable back to the earth point in the front wing and cleaned up the teminals - still no joy.
Checked resistance of earth point to battery - 0.4ohms (think thats fine?)
ended up pulling out the harness.

Cleaned up the terminals and played with the ohmeter again. Problem turned out to be a high resistance crimp. It looks like they actually crimped onto the insulation and eventually oxidation meant that the copper that was making contact, stopped.
That meant I got to play with my crimping tool I picked up in Aldi a couple of months ago

Strangely, neither of the terminals in the housing were insulated - I wasn't happy with that as the 12v feed could easily move and touch the earthed back of the lamp, so I covered the feed in some heat-shrink tubing:


On reassembly, we are back to full lighting



Not bad for an afternoons work.

[Moomoo]

Good lad! I can see your grin from here!🥳

[RollingThunder]

Great work Chris, and a good read too thanks

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Chris1Roll

My wife came home at the perfect time help me check all the lights: all good apart from one front fog/driving lamp (do I want to start that debate again?)

While not a MOT issue, I like things to work, so set about replacing the bulb.


On reassembly, we are back to full lighting



Not bad for an afternoons work.

Those are definitely fog lights Chris, you can tell by the lens and also the fact they are wired to come on when the fog lamp switch is operated.

Good work all round there and about your steering wheel, it's possible a previous owner repalced a knackered original wheel with an older good condition one.

[360beast]

Brilliant work Chris, good luck for the MOT but it sounds like it will be an easy pass!

The autotragic selectors don't have rubber bushes like the manuals, they have that clevis pin you've photographed and the one under the shifter that you've also photographed that appears to have adjustment up/down, if you do adjust it put a paint mark on the adjuster so if it doesn't work you can put it back to where it was.