Next up: Floor boards and engine compartment.
Scraping insulation off floor boards is NOT the most glorious task but I wanted to make sure the sheet metal is all good and start fresh with new paint and noise insulation. I will use vibration sound deadening as well as MLV (Mass Loaded Vinyl) for sound insulation. More on this later…
Turns out there is zero rust in the floor boards, just surface rust at the driver’s area. This will be cleaned up, then primer and finally a gloss white coat. This will offer excellent protection and adhesion for the sound deadening material.
The engine was recently rebuilt and nicely painted so I will leave it in place. I am sure I will replace the motor mounts but that can be done with engine in place.
Cover up job! I covered all of the car except the work area while wire brushing the battery box as it is a messy business. In the end, the decision was made to replace the battery box. I will cover this in a later article.
So I don’t drive myself crazy scraping and prepping floor boards, I rotate my work by cleaning and detailing components, it is just a little more rewarding. This heater box can certainly use some attention.
The heater core have insulation around it to secure it.
I found a Rust-oleum enamel that matches the original Volvo heater box color very well. It is called gloss Winter Gray.
When did you wet sand and polish your heater box last?? The factory paint was very smooth and without any orange peel so I cut and polished the paint were it will be visible.
With actuator arms detailed in gloss black, the unit looks pretty snazzy!
The heater vent doors got new seals.
Same for the front door.
Most automotive caulk that I have found is black in color. Volvo used gray caulk between the halves so I found this product at the local hardware store.
I duplicated the insulation around the core. We don’t want that thing rattling around in there.
The factory used black caulk to seal around the hose inlets so I did the same.
There we are: All assembled with the original screws and hardware that was all plated.
This is part of the choke assembly in the engine compartment.
After painting and all hardware zink plated.
Like it was 1963 again!
This is the console that holds the above choke assemble and also the brake booster.
This is the throttle linkage on the firewall. It is amazing how many components “one” item actually contains.
The linkage was all semi gloss black so I duplicated this.
This is the windshield washer motor. I bead blasted the body and polished the housing.
The early Volvo 1800 cars had pretty lousy ventilation so they tend to get hot inside on warm days. The engine and exhaust heat will radiate heat via the firewall and heat up the interior. I had the exhaust manifold thermally coated and that will prevent the manifold from radiate heat.
Also, it should keep the carburetors a bit cooler as well, not a bad thing. I elected a cast iron gray finish for the manifold and it looks great.
I also had the new stainless down pipe coated so most of the heat should find itself under the car and “in the wind”. For this part I opted for a silver finish for an OE look.
More later…