Volvo 1800ES: Engineering a Resurrection

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Unfortunately they won't sell whole cars once they hit the yard.

EvanB said:

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Unfortunately they won't sell whole cars once they hit the yard.

I figured...my reply was more or less tongue in cheek.  Shame though, looks complete.  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Yea, if they would sell them it would already be in my driveway. 

In reply to EvanB :

I would go and get as much as you can off it.  The complete A/C system is worth $$$ as are any good D-Jet parts.  A B20E was the most powerful of the B20 variants.  The M41 transmission is worth a few bills as well.  Get the clutch and brake pedals assemblies (easiest/best if you can cut out the entire pedal box as it keeps the small bits intact).

Buy a “front cut” like people buy from Japan.

In reply to Ian F :

What this guys says.  The gauges can bring a few bucks, too, even if they aren't working, and it's reasonably eay to pull the whole dash out.  The little windscreen washer nozzles, if they're in tact, are worth grabbing, too.  There's a guy who overhauls the rear view mirrors, and will pay for old ones.  Any little knob, button, switch, etc.  Make sure if you grab the trans you get the OD switch, too- IIRC it's on the column on these.  

I might go this Saturday to check it out. I already have a room in my basement dedicated to Volvo parts...and it is full. 

In reply to EvanB :

You're going to need a bigger room.  

I was out of town all last week, and spent this past weekend playing catchup, but last night I did get out to the garage hole and did move the needle into positive territory.  I did not, though, remember to bring my camera out with me, so you'll just have to take my written word for it.  

Here it is, hanging off the unibody frame supports of its own volition!

The four rear cross bolts were the only things holding it in position here; the front two bolts that screw upwards are there, as are the mounting plates I cut out for them, but they're not welded to the cross piece yet.  Even still, I did a few pull-ups on the thing and it felt nice and solid.  

The crossmember I cut up has these nice, solid UCA attachment plates.  Last night I cut them out and prepped them for welding onto the modified crossmember.  By using these, the spacing between the UCA mounting bolts will be guaranteed to be correct.  

After tacking the front mounting plates into place, I dropped the whole front crossmember and set it up on my workbench.  The UCA mounting plates will be welded in tonight, and then I'll go over the whole piece and finish welding it up so it'll be solid.  I also want to add reinforcement over the upper shock mounts, which is a known weak point in these things.  

Nice.  That extra room should definitely increase your engine options.

Last night was....illuminating.  It started off as planned, cutting and fitting the UCA mounts to the X-member.  When I started welding them in, something just felt...off.  Now, you all are a very polite bunch, to be sure, and so far I've not heard any critiques of my welding in the above pictures.  I appreciate your discretion, and assuming that I sort of know what I'm doing.  But let's be honest, they look pretty terrible.  

Well, last night I really just couldn't find any sort of a zone.  I wasn't tired, and my mind was sharp, but I was becoming increasingly frustrated with my bead.  Finally, after some particularly nasty welds that I just need to grind off and do over, I shut the machine off and opened the cover.  I'd been fiddling with the power and speed set knobs and could not find "the sweet spot".  My Lincoln is over 20 years old, so I began to wonder if it just wasn't time to get a new one.  

Well, no.  You see, my unit has the capability to run gas shielded, or flux core "gasless" wire.  Since my garage is so cramped, and my experience with gas in the past is that I always run out right in the middle of a big project, I've been going flux-core for a few years now.  Inside the unit, there's 2 hefty wires, one to the ground and the other to the trigger.  If the unit is to be used gasless, they connect one way (positive and negative), and for gas welding they connect the opposite way.

Guess which way they were connected?  

After switching them, I ran a quick test bead and the results were...astoundingly better.  I'm not sure why, but apparently I'd been welding like this for....some time.  Like, I probably did the whole Plymford project with the polarity reversed.  Yikes.  I guess the upside of this was, I became really good at welding with a terrible setup.  

Looking forward to redoing all the welds I've done up to this point, now...

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

my mama told me if you got nothing nice to say...  :-)

I was quietly feeling good aboutthe looks of my welds....

But, glad you found the issue! After working with dads miller for a while, my flux core feels off. Dunno why, ither than flux/gas difference. Youve given me reasin to open it and look around though!

We routinely hire guys to do welds out in the field, and due to environment and conditions, gas shielding is impractical, so they do flux. I've seen some pretty nice looking flux core work, so it -can- be done.

I mean, stick welding is basically flux core, too.

Sorry about the 3 week lapse since the last update.  Half of that time was spent 3 states away visiting family for Christmas, and the other half I've been recuperating from a bit of a headcold and tossing out my back.  Last night I did get out into the shop again, and laying down beads with the now-fixed welder.  Progress!  

To illustrate the difference polarity can make...

Here's some welding I did before Christmas, when the welder's polarity was reversed:

Last night, I ground the worst of the slag off this weld, wire brushed it, and went at it again.  The results:

Much better penetration, cleaner welds, better coverage, less spattering, etc etc etc.  I'm still getting some weld spatter; my understanding is that too high of a current setting can cause this.  My Lincoln has 4 discrete settings, A, B, C and D, with a maximum material thickness (single pass) of about 1/8" or so.  The 'C' setting is what I use most of the time, and is what I used here.  'B' just didn't seem to give enough penetration.  So I'll deal with a little spatter.  

They make an anti spatter spray that you can douse the area with and then nearly all (if not all) of the spatter will brush off with a wire wheel when you clean the slag off the welds. When I took my stick welding class that was part of the required equipment. Knock that slag back with a wire brush/wheel and I think you'll see some decent looking welds. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Thanks for the tips!  The spatter knocks off pretty easily with the angle grinder; I've never heard of this spray you mentioned but I might try it out sometime.  

Last night I went over the whole cross member, re-did some welds that didn't pass my visual inspection, and knocked off the worst of the slag.  I'm pretty happy with it.  I welded some reinforcements on the upper shock mounts (known weak point on these cars) and seam-welded some stuff that the factory just tacked.

I don't think I'm going to paint it.  Paint hides cracks, and makes repairs more difficult.  Plus this is just going to get all greasy and dirty anyway.  Next step: fitting it back into the car and overhauling the front suspension.  

I've read the opposite - a light color paint can make cracks more obvious.  

In reply to Ian F :

In the railroad industry, some critical items are left unpainted specifically to enable early crack detection.  There's Dye Penetrant testing, but again, that usually works best with bare metal.  

Before the crossmember gets bolted in, there are a few other areas on the front structure of the car that needed to be addressed.  Under the radiator there is a square section that ties the front of the unibody frame horns together, and it had gotten pretty crusty along the front bottom edge.  Cutting out the entire section and fabricating a new one would be the "correct" way to do it, but also time consuming and fraught with the peril of screwing up the alignment of the frame.  Alternatively, I decided to clean off the existing metal and weld on a piece of 2 x 2 x 0.125 angle iron, sistered up against it.  The angle iron would double as the lower radiator support, so the existing radiator support got ground off before fitting the angle.  

As you can see, the piece isn't a straight shot across the car laterally- it has a kink about 2 inches from each end.  Some pie cuts and a little persuasion got the angle into the right shape, and I managed to get it tacked in place last night before Led Zeppelin came on, signaling it was time to head in.  

Last night I unbolted a bunch of trashy rusty scrap from the bottom of the ES.  The recycle pile embiggens.  

I also removed a very big chunk of the very well oxidized firewall...stay tuned.  

Unfortunately my cell phone battery went out so no pictures.  Yet.  

Last week, a fellow I sold some 1800ES parts a number of years ago (and haven't spoken to since) messaged me out of the blue...he was clearing out his limited work space and wanted to make me a gift of vintage Volvo parts.  While I wasn't able to take all of it (the B18 block was of particular disinterest to me, as it was both heavy and large, and I already have around a dozen B18 cores) I did "re-home" most of the rest.  He gave me a beer as thanks for lightening his load, and the gift of good conversation.  

Some of the various odd bits I acquired were a pair of Volvo 240 front brake discs and calipers, which could well find use on this very project.  

Resuming the normal sequence of events....here's some pictographic evidence of the current progress.

And what was removed

Some views of interest for the impending fabrication

Lots of rust, lots of metal to be made.  The front crossmember sistering is complete, now, too.

Last night I cleaned up the proposed powertrain and got it all set up on the engine hoist.  The first attempt at fitment rendered the revelation that the car was sitting up to high on jack stands to clear the engine over the nose, given the limited headroom in my current garage setup.  I got the car lowered a half a foot, and will shoot for attempt #2 tonight...

I know that feeling when staring at a  big hole in what used to be a firewall.

I note that you left the mounts for the gearbox cross member.  Indicative or speculative of what is going to be used for a gearbox?

Pete