Front Suspension Assembly

The engine work we were doing got to a point where it didn't make sense to have 3 different people working on it all at once. So me and Adam decided to switch to a new job and let Jakob take on the engine for himself. Me and Adam started work on the front suspension assembly.

 The front assembly came off in one big piece. It still had some of the steering linkages attached to it when it was removed from the body of the car, so the first thing we did was remove those attached links. The bolts of those links were extremely rusted being that they are very exposed to weather and also on the bottom of the car. They were a struggle to get off.

 Once we got the steering linkages off we started working on removing the break callipers. The break callipers were attached to the main hub by two large bolts, which were also very hard to get off because of rust. The left brake pictured above was the brake that me and my dad had to drill the pads out of because they were seized. Unfortunately when we were trying to remove the brake line bolts that connect the lines to the callipers, it snapped the brake line right where it attached to the calliper. So we will have to find a way to get the rest of the bolt out of the calliper.

Pictured above are the two brake callipers and the steering linkages

Body Appearance Changing

  I am one of the member in the Volvo P1800 project, and my job areas are the body, interior and electrical works, working with Noel. It is a great job that I can renew and give the car a new appearance.

  

  In the first few days, there were lots of problems that we had no idea how to solve it, especially when we can't take off the screw by using screwdriver, we had no idea what to do next. Luckily, Mr. Steinmann and Konrad helped us a lot. So we finally finished removing the fuel tank.

  As we gained more experience, we took off the doors quickly and started getting off the seat belts. We had the same problem that we can't took off the screw with screwdriver, we finally decided to cut the screw off. That's a really good experience for me that I can't learn the knowledge from the academic classes.

☝We took off the doors with this tools.

☝We did took off the fuel tank.

☝Here's the doors that we took off.

☝The connector of the doors.

Stripping the Engine of External Components

Since taking out the engine it was time to strip the engine of its external components such as the manifolds, carburettors, coolant pipes and hoses, clutch assembly, timing cover and the flywheel. Many of these nuts and bolts were rusted on after 50 years. It took a lot of elbow grease in order to get these to be able to turn and come loose again. After we finished taking the large components of the engine off we were able to move on to pulling the cylinder head and removing the oil pan.

Engine as it was when pulled from the car

 

 

Fiddling with the carburettor nuts prior to removal

Removing the carburettor was increasingly difficult to the fact that the nuts were severely corroded and were not that large so it was difficult to remove them without damaging the nuts. We used a half inch socket with a pipe on the end to increase the leverage and sure enough it did the job.



Removing timing cover

 

 



Engine block without manifolds

The engine manifolds were an interesting part to work on because of the fact that both the exhaust and intake manifolds were one part rather than the usual two. These bolts were extremely tight and did not like to come loose. In one case we needed to use the flame torch to heat it up and loosen it off.

 One of the many coolant pipes on the engine

Transmission Removal

To remove the transmission, I started by holding the transmission up with a transmission jack that held the transmission from the top. I then proceeded to remove the clutch line from the clutch. I then removed for bolts that were connected to a metal plate that were holding the transmission to the frame of the car, by removing these bolts it free'd the transmission from the car and the only thing I had to do then is cut three wires connected to the transmission and labeled them Trans Wire A,B, and C I then used a transmission jack to stabilize the transmission, so that I could remove the transmission bar that was holding the transmission up. After taking the transmission bar I lowered the transmission to the ground. That was the process of removing the transmission.

Front Cross Member and Suspension

On Friday we removed the front wheels and then reacher how to remove the Front Cross Member, and sprayed the bolts with brake away. I was so exited for today because me and class mate got ready to drop the Front Cross Member. Big Ave started on the brakes while I started to take apart the Steering linkage arm, I had trouble getting the pins out of the bolts after a lot of struggling I final got both pins out, now it was going to be nice and easy next I needed to take off two bolts which were on the driver side of the car to get it disconnected, and then I hammered on the arm to get it to drop. After that we took apart the Steering pivot box on the right that was so easy the bolt where all ready loss and came of easy. And then we started to take apart the sway bar. Tomorrow we are hoping to drop the Front Cross Member.

Where the Steering pivot box sits

The Steering Licagig arm and the sway bar

Volvo Engine Removal

One of the biggest parts of the entire restoration was the engine removal. Removing the engine includes, taking off every fastener and pipe that connects the engine to the body. This was time consuming and tedious work due to how rusted the bolts and nuts where, it could take us up to half an hour just to get a nut and bolt out that was deep into the transmission and not easy to access. Then came the problem of bolts being so tight that our socket wrenches would strip the top of the bolt and cause even bigger issues
.
In this image you can see all the things holding the engine in and the rust basically covering everything.

Eventually, throughout a few classes, we where able to get all the fasteners out and get the engine chained up for removal.


Slowly we began to raise the crane and free the engine, until the engine was hanging over the car. 
The engine being lifted out of the Volvo

After combating, rust, smelly engine fluids, stripped bolts, and tedious cleaning of parts we where finally able to get the engine freed. I'm proud to say we are a one step closer to fully restoring the 1968 Volvo P1800.

Chassis and brakes

I was working on the chassis and frame of the car. for the first week we worked on removing the rear end of the car. we first removed the drum brake on both sides. Those were so stuck on that heating it for almost 5 minutes strait while using a air tool with a pulling device didn't even allow it to come off. we got off eventually by Mr Ds destroying it with a hammer 20 times.

we then removed the brake lines and almost ripped the hook it threaded onto due to lots off rust. The screw holding it in place just broke off from the brake line due to excessive rust. this one bolt actually took almost 20 to 30 minutes to get off.

we also removed the 2 coil springs on both sides. there was a bolt that had to be removed from inside the car and then we compressed the spring to slide it out of place. (the picture is where the 2 coil springs were located)






we then worked on getting the entire back assembly off. there were 5 bolts in total attached to the frame. all connected by control arms to the base of the car. then there were 4 bolts that had to be removed from the axle. these required lots of work again almost taking a whole class. The bolts were extremely rusted and Ben and I were only able to get 2 loose and required Mr Ds's assistance for the other 2.

After those nuts were removed, the assembly was loose and we were able to lower the assembly down with jacks, onto the floor and slide it out from underneath the car.

Beginning of Body Work

     I am part of the group working on body, interior, and electrical. So far I have worked on taking apart different parts of the body. The first few days I worked on removing the gas tank by unscrewing it and pulling it out through the trunk. The screws were pretty rusted which made them hard to get out.

     The next thing I worked on was taking out the rear taillights. They came out easily. After that, I worked on taking off the trunk and hinges. All the small parts are being kept in labeled plastic bags so that they don't get lost. Another thing that needs to get done is scraping off rubbery parts on the interior.

     Here are some pictures I took of places on the body that need to get patched up.

Where it all started

Were it all started,

Me, my Dad and his old business partner Joe left for Washington D.C. We had rented a car hauling trailer and were using Joe's truck to pull it. The Volvo was located on a large farm property just outside of Washington, it was stored in an old barn so it was somewhat well protected from the elements.

Pictured above was the car as soon as we got it out of the barn which is shown behind.

The cars owner before us was a well known American furniture restorer named Don Williams. He worked at the Smithsonian museum for a long time and is now retired. This Volvo P1800 was his second P1800 that he had owned in his lifetime, he originally had the intention to restore it himself but he never got around to actually starting the project. Some of the stuff he had done before we got the car was remove all the chrome off the body to preserve it from damage. 

Pictured above is the cars original interior

The cars interior was in fairly rough shape, it had acted as a house for many small animals over the years that it had been stored for. (Me and my dad ended up tearing the whole interior of the car out soon after we got the car home.)

Pictured above, the car is now on the trailer. 

People from left to right (Me, My Dad, Don Williams, Joe)

It was pretty hard to get the car on the trailer since it didn't run and also had a seized wheel. We ended up getting another truck and creating a pulley system, using the extra truck to pull the car onto the trailer. Once we got the car onto the trailer we secured it with a mix of chains and axel straps.

Pictured above. We stopped on the way home to check that the car was secure

On our way back we stopped in many places for food. Wherever we stopped there were always people commenting on the car and guessing what kind of car it was. Many guesses were that the car was either an old Aston Martin or a Ferrari, all of those people were very surprised to know that it was a Volvo. Only one person guessed Volvo. 

Once we got to the boarder everything went smoothly until the boarder agent needed to see the sticker on the car that proved that it was older than 15 years. The car has been repainted twice now and that sticker was buried under 2 layers of paint. Eventually the agent just let us go because it was fairly obvious the car was older than 15 years.

Getting the car home we had to find a new home for the car until we could move it into the shop at school. My Grandpa ended up taking the car in his garage until the winter when he needed to put his car in his garage. During the winter we needed yet another new home for the car, so we moved it into a big storage facility owned my a friend of my teacher. During the time that the car was at my Grandpas house me and my dad tore the interior out and also freed up the stuck wheel. 

Now the car is in the shop at school and we have started working.

The Grade 12 Transportation Technology class at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate is taking on the restoration of a 1968 Volvo P1800 car as the main class project.  The team consists of 8 students, their teacher, Don and the owner of the car, Konrad.  

Follow our progress as we post to the blog and keep the project updated!