Volvo 960 Project Pt. 6 - Still Alive

As usually, my writings tend to drop off during the spring into the early summer. The weather is nicer, things are happening and with the full removal of any travel and event restrictions, my time on weekends isnt spent sitting at a desk all day. Actually, that’s a lie but I am still busy! God knows how much Volvo stuff has been going on since my last post back in March, but it has been a lot. Progress on the 780 has been slow / stalled out. I have lost a lot of motivation in working on it, and just have been waiting for a few small pieces to tie it all together and get it ready for sale. In the mean time, I have started a project on the 960 that I never thought I would have the ability to do… fully deleting the sunroof.

This topic has been, shall we say sensitive, to many of my European friends across the internet as they believe that a sunroof is the peak of luxury. “How could you do this, and why?!” they say. I said, with an angle grinder.

But all joking aside this was a project a long time coming, as the sunroof in my 960 had been leaking for some time. Even after resealing the glass and the drains, I was still getting significant water intrusion into the car. The roof and headliner were a few things I never really showed off in the car, or always tried to hide in photos. Much of the panels were either damaged, peeling, ripped, etc. I wanted to redo the interior, but it would have been a moot point if it was just going to get damaged by water again.

The headliner was severely damaged from water, and had warped entirely.

Like anything, the best way to start was jumping right in. I started by removing almost all the interior panels from the door panels up. Much of the tan fabric interior had signs of water damage as it was peeling away from the brittle plastic backing. The headliner, which had been sagging for some time, was in a state when removed. The cardboard like material was falling apart, and signs of mold were beginning to show.

I also collected all the pieces I was going to need for the interior. Thankfully, a 940 wagon interior was just what I needed. The panels are identical to the 960, but lack the fabric covering, make them very easy to work with and paint. I was also able to get the new headliner from said 940, which did not have the hole from the sunroof. Lets just say, driving with a spare headliner inside a car of the same size, isnt very fun.

The panels laid out in the sun for drying.

For this project I grabbed the A, B, and C pillar panels, all of which were painted with a coat of Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric Coating, gloss black. This was also used on the headliner as well. it adhered very well to the panels after they were quickly wiped down and cleaned before paint. Using the sun, they dried almost instantly. All of the small interior pieces also received a quick spray like the mirror cover trim, grab handles, and screw covers.

After removing the interior assembly of the sunroof, it was time to sink the teeth in. This was easily the hardest part of the process, not because of the very slow grinding, but also because I wasnt quite sure how I should be doing it. The sunroof is supported inside the roof by an extra cage that is welded into the roof structure and has the roof skin folded down into it. The metal would need to be removed to make room for the new headliner, so cutting was a must. The first corner was rough, however I slowly started to get a feel for how the metal was shaped and where to cut to make pulling the supports out easy.

DONT BE LIKE ME, COVER YOUR WINDOWS AND PANELS BEFORE GRINDING OR WELDING!

With the supports out, I had reached the first ‘checkpoint’ of the project. However, seeing the big hole in the roof was certainly not very fun. It looked awful, all jagged and bent up. I wondered to myself if it was ever going to turn out the way I wanted.

With the roof out it was time to start devising the plan on how it would all go back together. The sunroof support cage also functioned as the cross member support for the roof skin. Without it the roof is very flexible and tends to bend and distort with any sort of pressure or high winds. A new cross support was needed.

Reusing the old metal seemed to be the best method as the bracket had already been designed to follow the curve of the roof, and sit exactly on the inner roof rails.

With the cross rigidity solved, next was getting a roof panel and designing that to work. However, with how long this post has already become. I will be saving the rest of the write up for part 2. There is a lot more done over what has been pictured, and 90% of what will be in part 2 I already have done. But for my sake, lets keep this one under 2 pages.

A Very Volvo September

As usual, i have neglected to post on here for a long while. When this happens, it usually means that thing have been going on in the background and recording my endeavors gets sort of pushed to the wayside. Recently though I have acquired a new car, one that I think a lot of people will enjoy reading about. Before I show it off, lets recap what has happened over the summer since my last update!

2012 Volvo S60

Almost nothing happened with this car over the summer. In fact it spent most of its time in the garage. It was sold to its new owner in Montana in early September. I wish I had more of a final celebration for it given the fact that it was my first Volvo, and the one that helped launch this blog, but its departure is nothing note worthy. I think I had been mentally over the car for some time, and other cars and projects in my life have taken over.

The final shoot i did with the car. Photo by @itsmackeever

1997 Volvo 960

Its no shock to anyone that this car has taken the place of the S60 for me. I haven’t had to do a ton of work to it, however it has definitely changed in appearance. Early in May I recieved the set of Ocean Mk18 wheels I ordered back in the winter, and ignorant of the fitment for the 960 I attempted to mount them on the car. What I learned was that the track width of a 960 is actually different than the 940. The Mk1 960s, the ones that look more like a 740/760 use the same solid rear axle as a 940. However, the Mk2. 960s (which mine is) use a Independent Rear Suspension (IRS) giving the 960 a FWD type offset instead of RWD. As such, the room to fit a higher offset wheel is lowered.

Using 235/40/18 tires, these wheels still had over an inch of poke. Wasnt the look or functionality I wanted.

After spending the money I did to import these wheels from Sweden just to not be able to use them took the wind out of my sails for a few days. I started doing a lot of searching for 5x108 wheels I could run on the wagon, and finally came to a realization. I still had the set of Ocean Storm wheels from my S60 R Design. I had been planning on selling them, but I found that with some work I would be able to fit them up to the 960. The Ocean Storms have a fairly aggressive positive offset to clear the suspension on the S60 so a 1” (25mm) spacer was going to be needed. With that spacer I would have an 18x8 wheel with a ~30mm offset. With a 215 width tire, the fitment was good enough that it didnt poke and rub was minimal.

Having spent the past few months slowly refining the 960, it was finally time for its ultimate test. A round trip from Greensboro, NC all the way to Daytona Beach, FL and back. I only had 4 days to get there and back, so the 960 was going to be rolling at least 5-6 hours a day in the summer heat. As such, more preventative maintenance was needed. The last thing from my original list of items from back in Sept. of 2019 was to do the timing belt. I had no records of when it was last done, and with the motor in the 960 being an interference design, it was better to be safe than sorry. The engine recieved a whole front end refresh kit with new idler bearing, pulley, water pump, tensioner, and belt. This way I could feel confident the car wouldnt have any cooling issues on its trip.

The straight 6 configuration makes it very easy to access everything for the service.

The trip did go off without a hitch, with one tiny asterisk. On my return trip, only about 20 miles from the NC border, the car did through a Bank 1 Lean code. However, after I cleared the code twice it has yet to return after hundreds more miles of driving. This car does have some weird quirks when it has been running in hot temps for a while. I suspect that high pressure in the fuel rail combined with the heat and a leaky injector contribute to the stumble it sometimes suffers from after doing long highway drives in the southern summer heat. New injectors and possibly a purge valve on the schrader valve of the fuel rail may help alleviate this issue.

Raceday at Daytona!

1987 Volvo 780 Bertone

Well it finally happened, I finally bought a Volvo coupe. While I dont plan on giving too many details here (working on the first installment of this cars blog posts as I write this one!), I can say that this car is an absolute gem. I definitely have a lot of work cut out for me, the interior of this Bertone is in dire need of some TLC, and with the production numbers being so low, replacing panels isnt a cheap or easy option. This may be my first experience with recarpeting and reupholstering a car, as the tan interior has been badly sunburnt from its time in the south east. This car will be my winter project, and hopefully a good flip! No doubt working on this car will be a major learning experience for me, as information on repairs is much more scarce compared to your average 740. Stay tuned, this is going to get interesting.

960 Project Pt. 4 - End of Spring Almost Summer Updates

Since my last update back in February, I have had a lot of changes happen in my life. I went from an office job, to working full time for a local Volvo shop. I now do the marketing and classic car & car parts sales for Hailey Import Service. Due to this, I have been busy but lots of mods have been happening to my 960. My last update I had done a few comfort modifications, but I have upgraded the car even further. The car got a new dash carpet, full steam clean (again), and some much better air fresheners to remove the old musty smell. Using the ozone generator followed by an order remover disk I was able to neutralize the mold smell caused by the water leaks in the car. A re-sealed sunroof has also helped reduce water entry into the car.

Over the past few months, I have been driving the car on an almost daily basis, slowly building up a trust in its reliability. I have been able to do 2 round trips to visit my family in Charleston, SC and the car had no hiccups from the 4 hour drive each way.

Safety has also been improved with new lighting and taillights. I used LED upgrades in the lights and the difference was significant. Fahren LEDs were used for the headlights, and SNGL LEDs were used for the fog lights. Both kits were ordered with a 6600k color tone to give the car a clean white look up front.

One of the major issues I have had with this car have been the abused cosmetics. The paint is in rough shape in a lot of locations around the car, and does show signs of a respray at some point. During a washing session, the power washer took the paint on the rear drivers door clean off revealing a white door underneath. Since then I have begun the process of using vinyl wrap to cover the worst affected panels on the car. Avery gloss black has been used due to its cheap price, as well as its very close color match to Volvo 019 black color code.

Side shot showing the painted drivers door vs. the wrapped rear door.

The hood before. Note the clear coat spots and “crows feet” marks.

After, not 100% color accurate but much better.

Other additions to the car have mostly been cosmetic. A set of used corner lights from the UK were imported. I have always liked the clean look of clear lights up front. The set cost me about $80 when all said and done. Expensive, but around the going rate for a set in the US. A bonus was that they came with the sockets for a single filament bulb instead of dual like ours require.

960 Project Pt. 3 - Always Remember Your Oil

Its the new year, and progress has finally been made in the drive-ability of the 960. Over the past few months I have been slowly accumulating parts to fix all the small issues with the car. I was finally able to take a whole day and get the car up on a lift. I want to make a special thank you to Haileys Import Service in Greensboro, NC, who I have been going to for a while with my Volvos. They let me have access to their shop, tools, and a lift to get everything done on the 960 sand saved me likely days of work. They also helped me procure a new 960 seat from an S90 which fits perfectly in the car (well its the wrong color, but hey its not ripped, and actually moves!)

Let start off with the seat, this was a whole process, but surprisingly cheap to do. I saw my local LKQ had a nice Volvo S90 in the yard, and I was able to get to it very quickly to aquire a new seat. The removal process was fairly standard, and only takes 4 bolts and a few electrical connectors to remove. I found the hardest part was lining the “plugs” up to take the seat out of the rails. The seat uses a similar system to what you would see on an old hotel door lock chain, where it slides into a hole then down the rail where it is locked into place. Getting the seat in the right place to get it out of these holes is a painful experience and requires a lot of pushing and pulling on the seat.

For an LKQ car I was genuinely surprised at the quality of the interior. Usually these cars are absolutely wrecked, then again this one did have a pretty serious water leak beginning to develop unfortunately. Once I was able to get it back to the shop, installation was very easy, and I am disapointed I didnt get a picture of my old drivers seat since it was in quite the state.

A rogue golf tee, some candy wrappers, and a quarter. My “bounty” found under the seat.

After removing the seat, it made more sense to me why mold had begun to grow on the center console. I was able to take care of the mold with a bleached cloth, as well as a slew of degreasers and cleaners. An ozone generator is going to be used in the car for good measure.

The next steps were mostly mechanical fixes. For a long time, the car has been leaking power steering fluid. I was able to track this back to a leaking return line (non pressurized). You will see in the picture that the hose I removed was original and even had the late 1996 printing date on it. Volvo sells OEM replacement hose, and other than the mess that the fluid made coming out, the replacement process is as easy as undoing 2 hose clamps and taking off the hold hose. I found removing the bottom first was easier due to being able to pull up on it, but removing the hose from the reservoir require some special tools that could pry the hose away from the flange.

The ends of the old hose were super tight from 23 years of being installed.

Keep in mind the hose is cut to fit, so some trimming will be needed. Some new ATF was poured into the system, and the bubbles burped out by giving the rack a few back and forth movements with the steering wheel.

The last handful of fixes were around the front suspension area. New Lemforder end links were installed with ease, and helped the handling of the car significantly. The old end links had insane amounts of play, and I do not doubt that they were original 1997 equipment. They were work enough that they had almost 0 resistance and could be freely moved around in their joints. Additionally, new brake rotors were installed, and the old pads were sanded down to give them a fresh face.

960 Project Pt. 2 - I built it one piece at a time...

Section 1 - Repairs

Its almost the end of November and we are swiftly approaching the holidays. As such, my work on the 960 has slowed down a bit in relation to the cold weather. I still wanted to give an update and also talk about some of the things I have learned along the way working on this car.

I have done a lot of maintenance work on the 960, and acquired quite a few junkyard parts and spares to keep it going. One of the biggest fixes was solving the misfiring issue. I ended up taking the car to my local shop here in Greensboro for some more expert diagnostics. They found that the intake manifold gasket had gone bad, and that the wiring to many of the coils was severely damaged from the heat and wear of 22 years of driving. That little repair cost me close to $400 when all said and done, but I am glad I didnt have to pull the entire intake system myself.

The first shipment from IPD was a pretty small, basic order with a few easy to replace parts like a new intake filter, as well as a new gasket for the oil cap. Both of these were very easy to install and cost less than $20 in total. The gasket on the oil cap, as I may have previously mentioned in another write up, slowly hardens due to the engine heat and allows oil to escape out onto the top of the engine. After replacing the gasket I did not see any more oil in or around the oil cap or on the top of the block.

Previous filter, vs a brand new one.

The serpentine belt was a major replacement that needed to be done. I ordered a new belt, shifter bushings, and new front rotors from FCP Euro, all which made a considerable difference on the car. My first attempt at replacing the serpentine did not go as planned. The socket size used on the tensioner for the belt is a non, standard size and requires some creative tool usage to turn. The first step was removing the fan, this step is easy on the 960 since it uses an electronic fan which can be easily unscrewed and moved out of the way. The harder part is finding the right drive socket to physically move the tensioner to release pressure on the belt. For this I ended up using a 1/2 in. to 3/4 in from this harbor freight socket adapter set this allowed me to easily use a standard wrench to turn the tensioner and slide a small screwdriver into the locking hole.

The tensioner doesn’t take to much force to move, just remember to take a picture of your belt before it comes off to help you properly feed the new belt on. This was definitely an intimidating job for someone who has never done belts before, but it was surprisingly very easy!

As previously mentioned, I also bought new shifter bushings from FCP Euro. For two, I think I paid a whole 90c. These small rubber O shaped bushings go into each end of the short linkage connecting the shifter inside the car to the transmission. The original bushings had fallen out long ago, meaning there was a large amount of forward and backward play in the shifter even when in gear. It also had the side effect of making a nasty clanking sound when shifting out of park. The bushings are very simple to install, and you will only need a 13mm wrench, a 15mm wrench and a pair of needle nose pliers. I didnt take many pictures, but the process of locating and installing these new bushings is extremely straight forward and took maybe 15 minutes total to do. The pay off however, well worth the time and money. The car now shifts into gear like its brand new, and drastically changed the feeling on the shifter in operation. It also completely eliminated any play that it previously had.

Section 2 - Cosmetics

In addition to the many small mechanical repairs I have made on the car, I was able to recruit my long time friend, and former 850R co-owner Steve to help me with really giving the car a good cosmetic make over. If I am being honest, the car will never be perfect, because at the end of the day its still a 22 year old Volvo that I bought for $800. We were able to rent a wet vacuum from Home Depot, as well as pick up a few heavy duty cleaners and de-greasers to really give the interior of the car a good makeover. Most of the work was done at night, but I can attest to the fact that Steves elbow grease on the door cars and carpet made a huge difference in removing the smokey, stale smell from the car.

A mixture of Simple Green and a Magic Eraser being used to remove the built up tar and grime from each door card. Note all the cigarette burn holes…

Now this may controversial, but here it goes:

I.

HATE.

PINSTRIPING.

The 960 was no exception. It had to go. Using a rubber wheel on a drill, I slowly worked down one side of the car removing the painted on pinstripe. It must have been originally installed by the first owner since it was severely faded and chipping away in some places. I feel like that stripe gone it gives the side profile of the car a much cleaner appearance. Unfortunately the paint still need a lot of attention at the moment so its not perfect, but from afar (or when wet) it really brings out the clean lines of the wagon.

Drivers side after pinstripe removal and a quick 2 bucket wash.

That’s it for this installment. There is still a lot that needs to be done to the 960 before its really ready to be a daily driver in any sort of way. I have yet to tackle the brakes, or suspension. It also has a mysterious fluid leak near the front wheels I have yet to diagnose, as well as a new fuel rail that needs to be installed. I hope to start working on it a bit in my local shop where I can get it up on a lift, but as it sits currently, I am happy with the progress. As usual, feel free to drop a comment or suggestion for the project, there is not much information out there on the 960 series cars so I am always looking for any information I can get my hands on!

As a bonus, I have a picture of the final missing trim piece installed. The owner I bought it from finally found it after 2 months of searching!

This photo really shows the true damage to the paint, hoping a wet sand, buff, and polish may be able to bring back that original shine!