1969 Volvo 133 restoration

[JP 1800]

Hi, as mentioned in a previous for sale thread, I purchased a 1969 Volvo 133 in red with cream interior. The car was in rough shape and needed new floors, sills, inner wings, rear arches etc. Essentially the lower half of the car needed work. I have been working on the car in pieces over the years since 2014. In that time I was working on 2 1800S, another 1966 Amazon and a 1967 123GT, all sadly gone now. I was also restoring a 1987 Porsche 944, an original Irish triumph spitfire, and a 1971 Rover P6 (still in progress). Last year I put the 133 up for sale as a project with a ton of nerw parts in boxes including new interior and all new glass, trim etc. After many enquireries and a lot of time wasting I decided to keep the car as at this stage it was rot free and just needed a decent paint job and putting together. I will share some pictures I have as I find them of the progress. I am not great at documenting the progress as I just get on with jobs. As can be seen from the picture the entire floor and under the dash had to be removed

[JP 1800]

Arount the lover window frame was gone and needed to be replaced. Thankfully the outer was intact enough to act as a guide.

[JP 1800]

As with all Amazons at some stage the inner wings needed attention including the kick panels.The bottoms of the A posts also needed attention, however these are simple to repair

[JP 1800]

The car sat for some time and I had finished cleaning the engine bay, ground down the inner wing repair welds and gave the engine bay a coat of paint. I noticed the radiator support rail was not ideal and the radiator support panels were toast. These are imposible to find for a B20 amason so I had to repair my O/S panel and I was extremely lucky to find a new old stock N/S panel.

[JP 1800]

I had already welded in the lower radiator cross member and placed in both rad support panels.

[JP 1800]

Buttoned up and seam sealed to protect against future corrosion.

[Othen]

Excellent: an 8 year project in one evening.

This is a really interesting project thread, I'm looking forward to a few dozen more instalments to bring us up to date over the next few days.

Well done

Alan

[JP 1800]

Both rear arches, fletch panels and sills were replaced. There were a lot of patches on top of patches on the rears. Once these were removed it was easier to set in the repair panels. A previous repair applied a skim of filler. This was removed and the panel was fettled back into shape prior to painting. A couple of coats of red oxide primer is what I use on repairs outside prior to paint. I also use 3M Zinc weld through II for difficult to reach or panels that are to be closed in. These primers last years on the car and have never flash rusted in the 15 years I have been using them.

[JP 1800]

The spare wheel well was also a patchwork quilt of repairs. I cut out a lot of the material and the complete wheel well. It is satisfying to remove the bodges that some people consider acceptable.

[JP 1800]

I started to let in the new panel, I cannot find the rest of the pictures for the finished job. I can go out to the car and take some as I need to seam seal the boot floor. Also before anyone mentions, The tank has been empty for years and I cleaned it out with diesel years ago. I have ordered a new tank as this one is full of dings and I susspect pinholes.