Volvo C304 (4x4) Restore and fitout - WR7002

[geckoadventure]

28 October 2018

They took pics on Friday night. It looks pretty cool with it's green and red lights.

Underneath from the rear

Roof and grill. Still need to make a air scoop for the radiator.

 

[piratexpress1369a]

That is way cool

Sent from my SM-A530W using Tapatalk

 

[geckoadventure]

10 November 2018

Trying to work on the Volvo at the workshop. We finally got a cleaup run at the raditor testing and flushing last weekend. 1 hour idling away watching the temp run up and down and the fan cutting in etc. Did about 5k in High Range and then low range then it got permanently stuck in LOW) and tested the radiator at high revs low speed etc. All worked fine. Now have to pull the leaking waterpump sigh. Installed the second window wiper arm so finally it has 2 complete window wipers next is window washers. Tested the wipers in the usual afternoon rain.

The front wheels shaking with the power steering is still not solved. We have aligned some parts better and then discovered water in the fluid. We are now removing the power steering hoses etc to flush it all out and try again. This and a return brake pedal spring are needed then it can go for inspection.

Hunting down parts is totally frustrating in KL's horrific traffic everything is so far apart lost 4 hours yesterday chasing parts all over town. Left the 24 bolts for the rear seats sitting in the bolt shop and it was too late to go back when I realised. Still trying to find a upholstery shop (Kussen shop here) locally to get the gearlever cover made and get them to come and try and cover the tunnel.

Still have the lack of power issue to sort out the turbo cuts in then you can feel the power drop away. A boost gauge needs to be fitted to see what happens.

The gecko footprints are to be continued down and along onto the battery box and along the fuel tank with 2 new panels to be cut and bent up in the coming weeks. I have a air intake shroud to make also to force air into the radiator.

Progress is slow and frustrating.

When I compare Volvo 1 and VOlvo 4 one realises how far Volvo 1 has progressed.

It looks good just needs a coat of paint.

We went for coffee and went in the UBER Pinz. Very nice very smooth very noisy lol just like a Volvo.

The previous harness seat belts plastic covers broke in our humidity and so bought a new set but the thread on the eye bolts down not match damn IMPERIAL vs METRIC. ANother visit to the bolt shop is needed.

Finally 2 wipers are on the Volvo. Window washers to go.

After going home early due to a very unhappy stomach the big 8kg cat decides to sit on my chest and asks how was my day. Crappy I say.

 

[geckoadventure]

20 November 2018

Public holiday.

Progress is slow and frustrating. Losing so muuch time trying to obtain door rubber seals so far 2 saturday morning. Finally have some clues as to where to get door seals for older vheicles in Kuala Lumpur. Even the bolt shop is 20 minutes away on a good day. Still yet to find a Cushion shop to do work for me.

The power steering is still an issue and a whole saturday was lost trying various remediations to stop it shaking. We have now drained the power steering fluid out aws it appeared to have awater in it and refilling and removed the power steering hoses and replacing with new ones.

Went to buy 2 more seats for the rear only to get way out to the shop I use to discover it closed 2 months before. Now have to find another seat shop which sells seats.

There is only 2 items to fix before we can get the inspection done:
Power steering shaking
Brake pedal return spring - done fitted
Rear cabin seats 2 to buy and get all bolted down.

Spring for the brake return fitted.

Seats and frames being bolted in and the spare parts etc being removed from the rear cabin.

Now I'm away on and off for 3 weeks on holiday first 4 days are doing delivery of 30 Orang Asli kids back to their remote jungle villages from the orphanage schools they board at in Kuala Lumpur. We have already lost 1 4x4 yesterday due to a rollover during a foodrun in the terrible terrain.

THen I'm off fishing by myself on the boat for days and then river fishing in Thailand with an armed ranger per pair off fisherman.

I have also gone and bought a 80 Series Landcruiser and will be selling the mighty little Isuzu after it gets some much needed TLC.

 

[geckoadventure]

29 December 2018

After a frustrating period of off road charity work and broken annual leave getting called back to the office twice when less than 100k from the lake with your boat on the back is no fun).
A jungle fishing trip in THailand which resulted in a trip to the hospital for 5 days
Tossing the timing belt on my new 80 Series Landcruiser hence causing massive damage and many other incidents its been a frustrating non-holiday.
Volvo work has slowed till they sort out the pesky PINZ which is still causing huge manpower issues 3 times the transfer case has been removed and replaced and now it needs to come out again as they cannot find the errant bearing - ME I think it's a bearing in the rear DIFF in the PINZ SPINE.

So back to the Volvo we have stripped the power steering off the Volvo so we can do the inspection, Saturday morning was spent getting the remaining seats for the Volvo. The distances in KL aare causing huge logistics issues rounding up components. THen off to the local hydraulic shop to get hose made to go from power steering pump back into resivoir. He saw me coming and charged me more than double the IPOH costs for a hydraulic hose.

Calculations for the power steering pump and the steering column unit and the hydarulic ram are also being done to see where the issue is. I have already found the washers on the banjo bolt are .6mm too thick resulting in lost throughput on the hose.

Seat belts were fitted. Remaining 2 steats fitted then I realised I had bought 4 narrow and 4 wide seats and the wide ones are also taller - oops.

A test run still has the gear change issues - we think the bend put in the linklage is causing some issues - further investigation is required.
Also the issue of HI/LO from the same gear lever (R/1/2/3/4/HI/LO on the gear lever) and leaving the truck in LO is still being investigated we think the BENT linkage is the issue. I'm looking at a electric servo arm to go HI/NEUTRAL/LO and eliminate the gear lever change. We are also going to explore CABLE linkage change and dispense with the linkage arm.

I also need to find out why it looses a small amount of coolant from the radiator each week.

We have the HORN and Brake issue to fix then it can now go for inspection.

Then it was time for the Volvo to earn it's keep as a stepladder.

Seatbelt connection.

seatbelts

Rear seats all fitted but now I need to do some moving and matching.

seats

The cabin is a mess while I wait for the now late gear lever cover.

A short video of the VOlvo moving back into its kennel.
http://https://youtu.be/Keb3sFjzSGE

[youtube]Keb3sFjzSGE[/youtube]

 

[Deleted member 9101]

Uhhhh...are the people in the back going to get any windows?

 

[geckoadventure]

Uhhhh...are the people in the back going to get any windows?

no the top panels of each door are removable.

 

[J!m]

Epic. Build.

Hat is off to you and your crew!

 

[Gren_T]

Excellent build. many thanks for taking the time to post

 

[geckoadventure]

1 February 2019

We have been beavering away on the Volvo as much as one can in a open air workshop when it's 34 celcius. I have all the rear seats now bolted down properly and the final 2 different seat bases adjusted to fit.

The carpet for the cabin floor has been done with the passenger seat floor complete. The driver side needs a mistake corrected but will be installed on 1st Feb 2019.

The brakes have been an issue and finally after rebleeding the brakes awith my trusty new assistant which necessitated the removal of each wheel to reach the bleed nipple sigh. Then the retest and still we had no brakes.

Last weekend we took all the wheels off and ran the Volvo on jacks,, that was scary. Hmmmmmmmmmmm problem found. The vaccum was not working it's shared with the PTO and the 4x4 via 3 T-joints so we direct connected it to the brakes and we had brakes. But it still will not lock the wheels up so further attention is being paid this coming weekend.

We looked at the HOrn and tried to connect the wiring to the steering wheel with no success. A separate dash switch is being setup this weekend.

Once these 2 items are completed we can attempt the dreaded re-registration inspection.

Today is a public holiday so I'm working on the templates for the rest of the carpeting in the transmission tunnel and footwells etc.

Giving the new sidekick the wheel nuts to undo. At 44kg the tire is heavier than her lol.

Last row of seats bolted dpown properly.

Working on the carpet templates to take to the cushion shop.

Zing clinging to me in a 2 hour thunderstorm he hates thunder.

Preparing the floor for the velcro to be glued down

The front row of seats almost ready for the last seat to be bolted in until I cut the wrong lugs off and had to reweld them in lol. Felt such an idiot.

The passenger seat with the floor carpet fitted

The passenger seat with the floor carpet fitted

Just to prove the lights work.

Today's goal is to get the tacho working via the page instruction guide and the carpet templates to the cushion shop.

 

[geckoadventure]

3 February 2019

Well 2 more days on the Volvo has brought success and total frustration. Weve had FRI/SAT/SUN this week on it.

So to start off on a healthy manner I had breakfast a waffle and ice cream at our health shop near the workshop lol.

My electrics whiz buddy turns up and we install the HORN button. Wahoo only BRAKES left for the inspection.

Then we try and get the TACHO connected. Cannot reach the tach wire from the fuel pump - oh crap. Go to use the "P" of the alternator only to find its a PETROL alternator and no PINS are available. Order a TOYOTA DIESEL Alternator from a friendly mechanic - delivery after 11 Feb. Then onto the SPEEDO. The halls effect unit is already installed on the driveshaft. However we find one of the l;ocking nuts has vibrated out. More issues to solve cannot get a nut bolt shops are all closed until the 11th.

A rebleed of the brakes made no difference so we elected to just pump a lot of fluid out of the brake lines, OOps suddenly black fluid came out oops so we decded off come the front callipers for a full rebuild even though the brakes were contracted out to be rebuilt a few months ago.

The end result was some very sick looking callipers with 6 of the 8 pistons not moving and all the holes blocked up.

Meantime Andrew had completely stripped the Pesky Pinzgauer rear tandem axles completely apart to find the mystery whine only to find a single diff bearing gone!. It's CNY he also cannot get any parts until the 11 Feb.

Meantime the second calliper is in the 12v battery charger and baking soda cleaner and enormous amounts of crap come out.

The callipers are installed after we get the rebuild kit and special order of isuzu truck window washer nozzles are obtained after they close for the CNY celebrations until the 11th February and reassemble the callipers.

Meantime I have most of the carpet templates cutout mainly because the Volvo will not fit under the Kussen/Cussen/Cushion/Upholstery workshop everythng has to be done remotely. Only a few remain for my assistant to help with tomorrow.

A last minute brake test run of the VOlvo is a failure it takes 2.5 street lights to stop over the normal 1 and a bit and then the engine starts dying - no fuel. We realise the electric pretank pump is no longer clicking but its working slowly. Strip it out and find its 24volts. Damn they forgot to change n the 12v conversion it's browned out.

Sunday

My trusty assistant turns up so she gets the carpet templates to complete. We have to finish Volvo 1 before we can recomence work on Volvo 2 and Volvo 3 (is going to be started side by sde also).

She is kinda tiny and flexible and works unconventially lol.

However, by 6pm she has all but one carpet template completed ready to see if the cushion shop might be open Saturday since they are not chinese owned lol.

While she did that I got the window washers roughly connected and tested successfully in several test positions as we are trying to avoid drilling holes in the cabin.

The end of a frustrating 3 days.

Tuesday and Wednesday is CNY. So I will be back on the Volvo on Wednesday, wife has told me to keep working on it to get it finished.

 

[R Thomas]

Thanks again for the time and effort you spend posting your progress. Considering the amount of aggregation these projects have caused you, the effort to keep us in the know is even more appreciated.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[geckoadventure]

7 April 2019

Got my little sidekick to help out but since he is recovering from his motorbike accident he slept all arvo instead

Then the arvo thunderstorm rains started and we all headed for the treehouse and talked ******** for 3 hours and drank tea.

Pulled the window washer and checked for leaks.

The carpet is slowly being installed.

Drivers side is a mess while we fix up the brakes issue

Slowly the carpet is installed.

Rubber Door seals installed.

 

[geckoadventure]

28 April 2019

Made an Anderson plug jumper lead to made jump starting very easy and cried over the state of the batteries today's plan to start the truck again was shattered.

 

[geckoadventure]

1 May 2019

There's not been a lot of real activity on the Volvo 6 weeks of weddings, birthdays a sick friend the passing of my 15 year Rawang Toyota Professor Mechanic. Collected the Landcruiser finally from IPOH 200k away then more issues with the Landcruiser breaking down several times since causing the loss of 2 Saturdays. Then the breakdown of the RED jungle truck and trailering it 70k from town since I no longer have my Toyota professor he did however before he passed recommend a new mechanic 70k from town.

Now back to the Volvo's

We have progressed in the brakes issue to purchasing a 80 Series Landcruiser twin diaphram booster and master cylinder and now im waiting for Andrew to mount it remotely. However the pesky PINZ still torments us and only on the 1st did they get the pesky PINZ back together with all new bearings in the transfer case and the rear differentials and wheel bearings etc then upon testing late on 1st it was still making a whining noise leaving work on the Volvo's stopped.

The window washer was removed as we thought it was leaking it's not now we are finding a new location for it as the 80 series booster is going in that location.

The carpet is slowly being installed.

I have made a bracket for the radiator overflow and mounted the overflow bottle.

We have worked on fitting the doors correctly and straitening a hinge out has sorted out the passenger door bottom. The top is having screw issues preventing the door being bolted down flush.

All the front door seals have been fitted and removed.

We lost the 3 batteries when they suddenly dropped to 2 volts overnight. They are now in a battery revival shop.