Volvo Community Forum. The Forums of the Volvo Owners Club

Forum Rules Volvo Owners Club About VOC Volvo Gallery Links Volvo History Volvo Press
Go Back   Volvo Owners Club Forum > "Technical Topics" > PV, 120 (Amazon), 1800 General

Notices

PV, 120 (Amazon), 1800 General Forum for the Volvo PV, 120 and 1800 cars

Information
  • VOC Members: There is no login facility using your VOC membership number or the details from page 3 of the club magazine. You need to register in the normal way
  • AOL Customers: Make sure you check the 'Remember me' check box otherwise the AOL system may log you out during the session. This is a known issue with AOL.
  • AOL, Yahoo and Plus.net users. Forum owners such as us are finding that AOL, Yahoo and Plus.net are blocking a lot of email generated from forums. This may mean your registration activation and other emails will not get to you, or they may appear in your spam mailbox

Thread Informations

Reviving a barn find P1800ES

Views : 7145

Replies : 66

Users Viewing This Thread :  

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old Sep 22nd, 2020, 10:02   #1
P1800 ES
Junior Member
 

Last Online: Mar 17th, 2023 07:04
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: St Albans
Default Reviving a barn find P1800ES

Thought I'd start a thread on here to document my latest project. The car is a 1972 P1800ES that's been sat untouched in a garage for 20+ years.

It belonged to an old friend who realised he's never going to do anything with it and after some gentle persuasion passed the baton on to me.

This car is 100% complete and the bodywork and interior (albeit filthy dirty) is in fantastic shape. However, mechanically it needs A LOT of work. I plan to take my time over this project and I'll use this thread to post updates as they happen.

This weekend we managed to roll it and inspect it further. Even though it was left with the parking brake off it took 4 of us to rock it about and crack it free so that we could roll it out into the daylight.

I have never seen one on the metal before, in fact, I never knew these existed until now so I am completely naive to these cars. I have totally fallen for it's glorious looks, it's super retro styling and interior, the hefty 50 year old Swedish engineering and the wafty soft suspension that should make for a hilarious driving experience.

Here it is as we found it.



And after we managed to roll it out of the garage.







So, there are plenty of good points about this car....

The bodywork is in top shape and should clean up very well. I have had a good look around and underneath and there's no rust other than some very minor surface blemishes on the front wings. The interior is also in very good order, totally complete and with a little love should look fantastic.

The car also comes with lots of spares including a new rear boot glass and even a genuine Volvo workshop manual.

However, there's a lot that's not good and largely a consequence of being parked and untouched for 20+ years, so essentially this is a recommissioning project rather than a restoration.

The brakes are seriously pitted and need a complete overhaul. I got a borescope in the petrol tank and the fuel is jellied and the tank rusted from the inside out, so it's going to need an entirely new fuel system.

It has the Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection system. Whilst that's a good thing, I'm slightly dreading having to diagnose this if it's at fault.

I plan to be methodical and steady about recommissioning the old beast, so the first thing we did was pull the plugs and spray some Marvel Mystery Oil into the cylinders.

Next plan is to give it a proper clean up and then we'll move on to the fuel system, working our way forward to the ignition system and eventually attempting to fire it up.

After that it'll need tyres, shocks, coolant system overhaul and who knows what else?

There's plenty to do, but Autumn is fast approaching so I won't be able to do much mechanical work this year, but I'll be sure to update this as I go.
P1800 ES is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following 10 Users Say Thank You to P1800 ES For This Useful Post:
Old Sep 22nd, 2020, 19:12   #2
P1800 ES
Junior Member
 

Last Online: Mar 17th, 2023 07:04
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: St Albans
Default

Quick question to follow up on this. Does anyone know of the correct battery I need for this car? I can't find anything definitive online.
P1800 ES is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 22nd, 2020, 21:40   #3
Volvo_133
VOC member
 

Last Online: Yesterday 20:16
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Sheffield
Default

I am presuming this car will have leather seats. If so, and they are good refrain from sitting and kneeling on them as the leather will be dry and will easily tear and split.Remove them from the car asap, clean and dry them then give them a good covering with hide food.
When you have done the other resto work you will have soft supple seats to refit.
Sorry I cannot advise you re battery.
Chris
Volvo_133 is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Volvo_133 For This Useful Post:
Old Sep 22nd, 2020, 21:43   #4
c1800
Master Member
 

Last Online: Mar 26th, 2024 23:41
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Alberta
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by P1800 ES View Post
Quick question to follow up on this. Does anyone know of the correct battery I need for this car? I can't find anything definitive online.
For some reason online catalogs don't go back to the 1800 models. Its a group 24 battery, not sure if that system is used in the UK.

Probably have to drop in to a place like Halfords and have them look it up.

Just pay attention to the location of the terminals and size measurements to confirm.
c1800 is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to c1800 For This Useful Post:
Old Sep 23rd, 2020, 09:14   #5
P1800 ES
Junior Member
 

Last Online: Mar 17th, 2023 07:04
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: St Albans
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Volvo_133 View Post
I am presuming this car will have leather seats. If so, and they are good refrain from sitting and kneeling on them as the leather will be dry and will easily tear and split.Remove them from the car asap, clean and dry them then give them a good covering with hide food.
When you have done the other resto work you will have soft supple seats to refit.
Sorry I cannot advise you re battery.
Chris
Thanks... I had the same thoughts on this. The seats are indeed looking very dry and brittle and we have refrained from sitting in them. I'm not sure they're leather and suspect they're vinyl up front. I think the rears are leather on these though?!

Either way, when I clean the car the seats will get a liberal dose of reviver to get some moisture back into them.
P1800 ES is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 23rd, 2020, 09:17   #6
P1800 ES
Junior Member
 

Last Online: Mar 17th, 2023 07:04
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: St Albans
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by c1800 View Post
For some reason online catalogs don't go back to the 1800 models. Its a group 24 battery, not sure if that system is used in the UK.

Probably have to drop in to a place like Halfords and have them look it up.

Just pay attention to the location of the terminals and size measurements to confirm.
Odd isn't it. There's nothing definitive online about this. The workshop manual states 95ah, and that's it.

Closest match I can see is the Bosch S04 028, but I need to double check the dimensions before I make a purchase
P1800 ES is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 23rd, 2020, 11:19   #7
volvobysea
Junior Member
 

Last Online: Feb 29th, 2024 16:08
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: St Agnes,Cornwall
Default

Hi

Good luck with the restoration.
The Bosch S4 battery will fit as I had one in my ES the only issue will be the orientation of the terminals. I bought a new battery Positive lead because it was too short to accomadate the S4. The leads are quite cheap and you can buy them at diffent lenghts. Also I thought the original orientation of the battery was a bit strange as the battery clampling bar was close to the terminals and it made much more sense(to me) to have the terminals to the rear of the car.
The other issue I found with the original batteries on sale was that they had no carrying handle which makes removal more of a challenge.

Gavin

Last edited by volvobysea; Sep 23rd, 2020 at 11:22. Reason: correction to text
volvobysea is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to volvobysea For This Useful Post:
Old Sep 23rd, 2020, 13:23   #8
VolvoFan
Master Member
 

Last Online: Mar 26th, 2024 22:24
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Alton
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by P1800 ES View Post
Quick question to follow up on this. Does anyone know of the correct battery I need for this car? I can't find anything definitive online.
I fitted an EXIDE 031 (formerly 069) battery to my '72 1800E back in Feb. 2014. It came with a 3-year guarantee and cost £70.80 inclusive of VAT. I believe it has a 72Ah rating. This has front-facing terminals (negative on the right, closest to nearside front wing). Still going strong.

Hope this is of help. Happy hunting.
VolvoFan is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to VolvoFan For This Useful Post:
Old Sep 23rd, 2020, 15:44   #9
Ron Kwas
Premier Member
 
Ron Kwas's Avatar
 

Last Online: Today 09:52
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Connecticut, USA
Default

P; (a name would be nice!)

I don't have time right now to help with pointers, so will leave it up to others...but wanted to welcome you to the forum!

Cheers from Connecticut!
Ron Kwas is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Ron Kwas For This Useful Post:
Old Sep 23rd, 2020, 17:56   #10
c1800
Master Member
 

Last Online: Mar 26th, 2024 23:41
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Alberta
Default

Group 24 was a very popular size in the 60's.

"it made much more sense(to me) to have the terminals to the rear of the car."

That's the proper original configuration.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_0354.JPG (76.2 KB, 37 views)
c1800 is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to c1800 For This Useful Post:
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:26.


Powered by vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.