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

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...

Progress Report: Rear Window Removal and More

It has been a while since my last post, but I haven't been entirely idle. After my initial investigations into the state of the boot floor (see previous post) I have removed more from the car in preparation for repairs, including the rear window. This was the last piece of glass still fitted to the car and I was concerned about damage from grinding sparks. The stainless trim that surrounds the glass is extremely delicate and really expensive to replace, so needs to be removed and stored carefully. I used a couple of old plastic spatulas and they seemed to work pretty well although in hindsight, I think it might have been worth investing in some proper trim removal tools. One important thing to note is that the chrome finishers that sit on the C pillars are actually held in place with bolts, so if you are attempting this yourself, do not try and prise them off! They will break! Instead, you will need to get at the retaining nuts from inside the car by ...

Removing the Headliner - Volvo 120

Removing the headliner in my Volvo 120 is a job that I have been meaning to tackle for a while and with an enforced hiatus in the boot floor fabrications (awaiting delivery of a sheet of 19 gauge steel), today seemed as good a time as any. My plan was to try and rescue it. It is not that I think it is in the best condition, obvious it has discoloured, but it isn't ripped. It is an item that I think I might need to have in the car to meet the 'road going saloon' class spec, but not something that I am particularly bothered about aesthetically. At £100 for a new headliner, I though it might be worth go at saving. However the Volvo service/workshop manual suggests that is not the norm, simply instructing to cut away the old lining. After removal of sun visors, grab handles and the interior light, I started on the headliner at the rear of the car. I had already removed the parcel shelf trim some time ago and so the lower corners were already revealed. There is a small fibre ...

PROJECT VOLVO

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