1800: 1972 pv1800es

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

That lot sounds quite ambitious Alan although most of it can be accomplished with one descent to the deck and meticulous planning of what tools/parts you need to complete all the underbody jobs. That way you only have to get vertical again once at the end.

Do you have an old "office chair" on wheels? Handy for scooting between headlamps as you adjust their aim without having to bend over too much to tweak the adjuster screws.

Exactly Dave - you see my line of thinking. I can get 'Janet' to reverse Delores up onto some ramps and do all the jobs at the back, then she can swap the car round with the front on ramps to do the speedo drive and oil change. Just as you suggest Dave, I've worked out which tools I need and the spares are all available. 'Janet' is going to lend a hand also - so she may have to get some oil-proof nail polish and make-up!

It will do me good on my road to recovery - I'm getting stronger by the day and this will be a good target for Thursday. It is important to set aims and tick them off, not just for the body's recovery, but the mind as well.

A few days ago I undertook my first small job - fitting these engine bars that needed a little modification:



... to the Royal Enfield motorcycle - it was so satisfying to complete a little task like that unaided.

By the time we get to adjusting the headlamps I'm hoping I'd have taught 'Janet' how, and she will be able to do that bit herself with a little guidance.

I was annoyed with myself that I didn't quite have time to do those half-a-dozen little jobs on Delores previously. It will be satisfying to finish the re-commissioning, and good for my self-esteem.

:-)

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

I'm sure Janet will look fine with 20W50 eyeshadow and LM Grease blusher!

Planning ahead with tools/parts is pretty much essential for me these days and it often pays to add a couple of extra tools you're not sure if you need just in case. It's much easier to retrieve them after the operation than it is to have to get up and go and get them halfway thhrough.

With the headlamps, it might be just as easy to ensure the adjusters are free to move, remove the trim rings and drive to your friendly local MoT station and offer them a donation to their tea boat to set the alignment up correctly. Could save a lot of frustration!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

With the headlamps, it might be just as easy to ensure the adjusters are free to move, remove the trim rings and drive to your friendly local MoT station and offer them a donation to their tea boat to set the alignment up correctly. Could save a lot of frustration!

That is not a bad idea Dave. I may send ‘Janet’ off to F1 Autocentre (very helpful chaps).

[Othen]

After quite a long lay off, I'm recovered enough to continue with some of the little jobs that Delores needs to have fixed. 'Janet' bought her over today, and as always Delores is such a nice motor car to work on.

First the exhaust hanger, regular readers may remember one of the hangers was missing, so I had to fabricate a solid one back in the spring. The proper hanger, rubber bushes and bolt had showed up in the mail and were pretty easy to fit:



... everything is much quieter at the back of the car now.

Next that fuel pump mounting; you may recall I was not too happy with what was holding the electric fuel pump on, when I took it apart it turned out to be a length of old seat belt wrapped round the pump, and the whole thing secured with an exhaust clamp:



... my guess is it had been like that for some time, ho hum. Now it is secured with clamp from a 244 ignition coil and two rubber bobbins from (I think) a Mini:



... actually that is much less Heath Robinson than it sounds, and very like the original installation. Having disturbed the pump (for perhaps the first time in 20 years) one of the rubber hoses leaked petrol profusely. It was held on only by this chap:



... I have no idea whether that is an original part fitted by Mr Volvo or not, but it seemed far from sufficient to me. I replaced it with a small Jubilee clip and the problem evaporated (excuse the pun):



I was on a roll by this point, so I decided to swap the fuel sender gasket and the 6 screws that hold it on with the new ones that had arrived since June. I'd had to remove the originals with an impact driver when I fixed the sender in the spring, and had to make a gasket at the time. I was pleased to change everything for new parts just in case it ever has to come apart again.

Finally I returned the speedo drive back to its original state by re-fitting the right angle drive, this time with the 2" long piece of Bowden cable that had previously sheared, applying some grease and routing the cable correctly.



... the speedo is a bit smoother now, and should improve at the grease migrates along the cable.

Half hour jobs always take 2 hours on nearly 50 year old car - so that lot took me until 2:30 this afternoon. 'Janet' had taken Bob for his midday walk, so we had time for a quick test drive in Delores. I'm really pleased to say it is a lovely motor car to drive, and I'm pleased we are working our way through the list of little jobs.

A good day :-)

Alan

[Snow White]

Originally Posted by Othen

After quite a long lay off, I'm recovered enough to continue with some of the little jobs that Delores needs to have fixed. 'Janet' bought her over today, and as always Delores is such a nice motor car to work on.

First the exhaust hanger, regular readers may remember one of the hangers was missing, so I had to fabricate a solid one back in the spring. The proper hanger, rubber bushes and bolt had showed up in the mail and were pretty easy to fit:



... everything is much quieter at the back of the car now.

Next that fuel pump mounting; you may recall I was not too happy with what was holding the electric fuel pump on, when I took it apart it turned out to be a length of old seat belt wrapped round the pump, and the whole thing secured with an exhaust clamp:



... my guess is it had been like that for some time, ho hum. Now it is secured with clamp from a 244 ignition coil and two rubber bobbins from (I think) a Mini:



... actually that is much less Heath Robinson than it sounds, and very like the original installation. Having disturbed the pump (for perhaps the first time in 20 years) one of the rubber hoses leaked petrol profusely. It was held on only by this chap:



... I have no idea whether that is an original part fitted by Mr Volvo or not, but it seemed far from sufficient to me. I replaced it with a small Jubilee clip and the problem evaporated (excuse the pun):



I was on a roll by this point, so I decided to swap the fuel sender gasket and the 6 screws that hold it on with the new ones that had arrived since June. I'd had to remove the originals with an impact driver when I fixed the sender in the spring, and had to make a gasket at the time. I was pleased to change everything for new parts just in case it ever has to come apart again.

Finally I returned the speedo drive back to its original state by re-fitting the right angle drive, this time with the 2" long piece of Bowden cable that had previously sheared, applying some grease and routing the cable correctly.



... the speedo is a bit smoother now, and should improve at the grease migrates along the cable.

Half hour jobs always take 2 hours on nearly 50 year old car - so that lot took me until 2:30 this afternoon. 'Janet' had taken Bob for his midday walk, so we had time for a quick test drive in Delores. I'm really pleased to say it is a lovely motor car to drive, and I'm pleased we are working our way through the list of little jobs.

A good day :-)

Alan

Really appreciated your work Alan, thank you

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

After quite a long lay off, I'm recovered enough to continue with some of the little jobs that Delores needs to have fixed. 'Janet' bought her over today, and as always Delores is such a nice motor car to work on.

First the exhaust hanger, regular readers may remember one of the hangers was missing, so I had to fabricate a solid one back in the spring. The proper hanger, rubber bushes and bolt had showed up in the mail and were pretty easy to fit:



... everything is much quieter at the back of the car now.

Next that fuel pump mounting; you may recall I was not too happy with what was holding the electric fuel pump on, when I took it apart it turned out to be a length of old seat belt wrapped round the pump, and the whole thing secured with an exhaust clamp:



... my guess is it had been like that for some time, ho hum. Now it is secured with clamp from a 244 ignition coil and two rubber bobbins from (I think) a Mini:



... actually that is much less Heath Robinson than it sounds, and very like the original installation. Having disturbed the pump (for perhaps the first time in 20 years) one of the rubber hoses leaked petrol profusely. It was held on only by this chap:



... I have no idea whether that is an original part fitted by Mr Volvo or not, but it seemed far from sufficient to me. I replaced it with a small Jubilee clip and the problem evaporated (excuse the pun):



I was on a roll by this point, so I decided to swap the fuel sender gasket and the 6 screws that hold it on with the new ones that had arrived since June. I'd had to remove the originals with an impact driver when I fixed the sender in the spring, and had to make a gasket at the time. I was pleased to change everything for new parts just in case it ever has to come apart again.

Finally I returned the speedo drive back to its original state by re-fitting the right angle drive, this time with the 2" long piece of Bowden cable that had previously sheared, applying some grease and routing the cable correctly.



... the speedo is a bit smoother now, and should improve at the grease migrates along the cable.

Half hour jobs always take 2 hours on nearly 50 year old car - so that lot took me until 2:30 this afternoon. 'Janet' had taken Bob for his midday walk, so we had time for a quick test drive in Delores. I'm really pleased to say it is a lovely motor car to drive, and I'm pleased we are working our way through the list of little jobs.

A good day :-)

Alan

Some excellent work and progress there Alan! As for half hour jobs turning into 2 hour jobs, not just on 50 year old cars!

This afternoon i had to change the fusebox on my non-Volvo beast as there was a fault where it would drop the right side/tail light circuit, instrument lighting and feed to the front fog switch.
Going quite well at the halfway point, should have been 20-30 minutes all in but i spent some time trying to find the correct mounting place for the PGM-Fi relay, couldn't so put it back in the wrong place where someone else put it for some odd reason and then reverted to the fusebox. Couldn't work out why i couldn't refit the second plug, turned out the fusebox i'd checked over was a pre-airbag type so didn't have the correct socket in the bottom right corner (near impossible to remove/refit the plug there because of the dash) so i quickly whipped the cover off the outcoming fuse box to see the problem staring me in the face! Dry joints and some previous "repair" work that wasn't up to standard.
Only had one option then, repair that one and then refit it.

Just under 3 hours later it was all done but i need to replace a fuse i broke - long story, don't ask!

With the exception of your fuel leak, your work sounds a lot more straightforward than mine was!

Originally Posted by Snow White

Really appreciated your work Alan, thank you

I'm guessing you're the elusive "Janet" we've all heard so much about?
Wlecome abord the forum anyway!

[c1800]

That spring clip does look the bodge. That jubilee clamp is an appropriate temporary measure, however they are known to degrade the fuel line prematurely.

Recommend you get the appropriate fuel line clamps (and high pressure fuel line) to secure the fuel lines for the long term.

Heres an example:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stainless-6...xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Great work you've been doing to get the old girl running.

And welcome to Snow White!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by c1800

That spring clip does look the bodge. That jubilee clamp is an appropriate temporary measure, however they are known to degrade the fuel line prematurely.

Recommend you get the appropriate fuel line clamps (and high pressure fuel line) to secure the fuel lines for the long term.

Heres an example:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stainless-6...xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Great work you've been doing to get the old girl running.

And welcome to Snow White!

Thank you - I was pretty sure that bit of wire didn't belong on a P1800 (perhaps on a barbed wire fence?). The rubber pipe probably isn't right either, I'll pass on the details to 'Janet' and in slow time get the right fuel lines and clamps fitted.

Many thanks,

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Some excellent work and progress there Alan! As for half hour jobs turning into 2 hour jobs, not just on 50 year old cars!

Just under 3 hours later it was all done but i need to replace a fuse i broke - long story, don't ask!

With the exception of your fuel leak, your work sounds a lot more straightforward than mine was!

I'm guessing you're the elusive "Janet" we've all heard so much about?
Wlecome abord the forum anyway!

I agree Dave... we have all had jobs like that. Half way through the fuel pump bracket job I thought I'd end up re-fitting the piece of seat belt and the exhaust clamp (the coil bracket was a fraction to small and had to be persuaded to fit).

C1800 confirms that bit of wire that had been holding the fuel line on for the past couple of years certainly didn't belong on a P1800. I'll add sorting that out to the Delores list.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

I agree Dave... we have all had jobs like that. Half way through the fuel pump bracket job I thought I'd end up re-fitting the piece of seat belt and the exhaust clamp (the coil bracket was a fraction to small and had to be persuaded to fit).

C1800 confirms that bit of wire that had been holding the fuel line on for the past couple of years certainly didn't belong on a P1800. I'll add sorting that out to the Delores list.

Alan

There's a range of adjustment on coil brackets so opening it up is a good idea.

The fuel line spring clip/bit of wire was at one point an acceptable method of clamping fuel lines. Now they have to be the correct fuel line hose clamps (not Jubilee clips) like these :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284306919661

Apparently the tang on the end of Jubilee clips can dig into the outer of the hose and compromise the integrity. To my mind, if the integrity is compromised, the hose is useless to begin with and needs replacing but that's another story as the rubber hose should deform enough to accept a Jubilee clip without a problem.

There's always something to sort on older cars, keeps us busy!