About Project Volvo

Hello and welcome to 'Project Volvo'. By way of introduction I thought I should give some background regarding the car, its history and my intentions. Here goes...

The Car

My car is a 1970 Volvo 122s 2door saloon powered by a B20 2 litre, four cylinder engine. I have owned the car since 1983 and it was my daily transport up until the mid 1990s when engine issues combined with some quite frankly appallingly badly botched bodywork repairs by a couple of chancers/cowboys/idiots (yes, I am still bitter) along with lack of funds forced me to take the car off the road. The Volvo has covered almost a quarter of a million miles and I have personally driven more than 100,000 of them, including a tour around Scandinavia in 1985.

The Restoration

I have always intended to restore the car, in fact I began working on it shortly after taking it off the road. It was partially stripped and after learning to MIG weld I tackled the near side 'A' pillar and footwell, and replaced the front offside outrigger. Then 'stuff' got in the way.

After a hiatus of more than twenty years I have finally exhumed the car and resumed the restoration. I have a limited budget, limited knowledge and limited skills, but I don't see why that should stop me.

The Blog

I started this blog to record and illustrate my progress in undertaking what many of my friends consider to be a near impossible task. I don't claim to be an expert, I'm not suggesting that my way is the right way and I am certainly not offering instruction. I have no doubt that some of you will find much to criticise in my methods; if so, tell me, I'm not precious. I would be very pleased to receive your advice/wisdom. I simply wish to share my experiences and I hope that this blog offers something of interest and encouragement to anyone else out there thinking of attempting a similarly ambitious restoration.

If you find this site to be of interest or value, please spread the word and subscribe via email/RSS to be notified of future posts as they are published. If at any point you have any views, feedback or questions please add a comment, I would be very happy to here from you.

Comments

Boot (Trunk) Excavation

As I suspect you are aware, issues with rot in the boot (trunk) of the Volvo 120 series are common and my Amazon is no exception. Over the years it has been 'repaired' a number of times and not always sympathetically. I have made a start removing the filler and the patchwork of metal plates that make up the n/s and the floor next to the spare wheel well. I've ground off some of the welds, chiselled and bent back the non-original metal. As I have already reported the lower rear quarter replacement panels are definitely not correctly positioned but I have successfully managed to uncover the original boot floor which although is in a very poor condition, does give me some points of reference for the rebuild. Incidentally, a word of warning. I had to remove a lot of seam sealer and I really should have been wearing gloves. A slip with the scraper brought the session to a rapid conclusion. I was lucky not to end up in A&E. Now that I have investigated more tho...

Tooling Up: DIY Sheet Metal Brake

My new 1mm sheet steel has arrived, along with some additional angle and flat bar... but more of that in a moment. Using the refined ply forms , I have now made the boot floor rear edge piece again and I am much happier with it. Going for the extra gauge steel was definitely the right decision and this new panel feels much more substantial. I have had a full test fitting with all panels, which is looking pretty good. The next issue concerns the rear inner arch to which spare wheel well side and floor is to be attached. There is some rust here and so this will need to be repaired before the really serious welding/reconstruction of the boot floor can begin. Although only a relatively small area, complex curves and profiles need to be created. I realised then that I had need of more fabrication tools. Here then is a description of how I fashioned a DIY sheet metal brake; a means by which I can easily and precisely create folds in sheet metal of up to around 90˚or so. This constructio...

Volvo Amazon Chassis Repairs

As suggested in my recent post, the job I originally planned at this point was to repair the battery tray which is in a bit of a state. However, even after an extensive staring, prodding and rumination, I still haven't come up with a strategy. The curves and swaging in this pressing are really quite complex, I am simply not ready to tackle this. "Does it really matter what it looks like?" I hear you cry, "Won't it be hidden?" Well, actually I think it does, not least of all as I am planning to relocate the battery to the boot (trunk) and utilise the tray in some other way (the current thinking is to locate an oil catcher here, which is required for competition). If so, the repairs will indeed be visible. I've decided to ignore it for the time being and come back to it later. Instead I have turned my attention to the rear arches, starting with the offside. I knew that there are some repairs required to the chassis and the area above the spring locator. I...

PROJECT VOLVO

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