Builds The Volvo C304 restoration. (1 Viewer)

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13 January 2018

The workshop is closed for the weekend so I elect to drive 365k up to the boat factory drop off Adam's Volvo Axles for his Volvo and help them strip my boat and collect the 2JZ-FSE and bring it down for mods it needs before we install it.

Takes me 4 hours to get to Butterworth (Penang) the traffic was hell.

So we only start work at 11.30am on the boat.

By 4pm we had the boat stripped with only the seat left to cut out.
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7pm we finally offload the Volvo Axles onto a pallet then we run through my 2JZ engine sitting on the boat shop floor. The list is compiled and then its loaded onto the Isuzu for the drive back to KL. So after the previous incident with Volvo 2's engine and gearbox and the polis I decide to return home in the dead of night. 8.30pm I leave Butterworth after the fisrt 100k after the speed camera's are over I really step on it and reach KL at 11.15pm in time for a meal and a beer in the pub.

Sunday is a rest day.
 
Saturday 20 January 2018

Sleep in 6:08am on the road. Traffic for the last 90k was hell trucks being arseholes. Had breakfast at

7:40am and then at the workshop at 8.30 to wait for it to be opened. I have the overhead console with me which I collected last night it looks ok maybe.

A quick fit trial shows it's not in good enough condition and needs to be remade with a different style so no welding is needed inside.
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We bend up the top panel and the bottom panels. The bottom panel is trial fitted and looks ok.

I go out in the afternoon and collect new speakers and then spend hours preparing one speaker to fit the panel.

8.00pm decide its time for food and the hotel.

Sunday 21 January 2018

8.45am start

The bottom panel is trial fitted and looks ok.
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8pm I get assistance from the boat builder and we work on the speaker panels again. All 4 base plates are cut away to fit nicely. The 4" speaker holes are expanded for the 6" speakers and we trim a tab off and a test fit reveals they fit nicely. When finish they need to be stripped and re powder coated.

We test fit the chair. I already have bolted in the middle panel and spent the afternoon getting all the holes drilled some 80 rivnuts and been drilled and installed incpuding redrilling the speaker rivnuts from 4mm to 5mm.
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Then its time for a dash review and we set the drivers seat in then start the dash panel layout design.

However its 8.15pm and its really time for home.

Dinner before I leave Ipoh at 9.30pm for the 190k drive home. It's a 2 hour drive home.

Friday night - weekend is a bust. I wake up on monday with diaroeeha from dinner sigh then wednesday afternoon I'm down with the flu from the office. Any plans for the weekend on the volvo have gone out the window.
 
It could be worse - fighting Jakarta or Manila traffic!! You often can't go 300 k in day, there are not enough hours! Your resolve is amazing though. Some days I don't feel like simply walking out to the garage.
 
Wednesday 31 January 2018

Public Holiday

4.08am I'm on the road and miss the holiday traffic. 1 hour 20 minutes later i'm at breakfast then the workshop at 8.30am. There is 3 of us working on the Volvo. One on the console. One on the air cond ducting and me I first convert the speakers from 4" to 6" holes.

I have assistance Raj the new guy and Brett the owner.

I pull the starter motor so it can be converted to 12v. OMG I realise the SUMP has to be removed to pull the starter.

So I drain the oil and pull the sump off. Then pull the starter motor.

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The passenger side of the ducting is ready.
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and the middle piping is alomost finished.
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Then it's time for home at 6.00pm I have the 190k drive to go as I have to look after the cats as wife is in

IPOH visiting her mum.
 
Thursday 1 February 2018

Another public holiday 5.30am I'm on the road I sleep in. I drive fast for the 190k - not saying how fast but the Isuzu spends most of the time on the wrong side of 150kph.The 190K whizzes by to the dulced sounds of Creedence.

Quick Breakfast and at the workshop 7:55am it's a workday in IPOH. Oh crap yesterdays worker Raj has dissappeared.

It's decided the 24v starter and alternator are to be removed and dropped down to 12v. So it's sump off damn to get the starter out else its engine out. We decide sump also needs to be trimmed and that prompts it being remade to chop the remaining sump wing and then fix it up so it can have the 2.5 litres we havechopped out.

The sump will be remade Friday.

I scoot the Starter down to the nice sparky shop. They say come back 5pm it will be ready converted to 12V.
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The sump before it gets chopped (already chopped for front prop shaft) and hacked into its new shape.
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Time for home at 6pm 2.5 hours later I arrive home damn traffic was horrible
 
Saturday 3 February 2018

Sleep in, way in I hit the road at 6:08am and hit the 6am saturday traffic the trip is hell 190k takes me an hour and, 40 minutes.

Some idiot in a showpony V8 Landcruiser really gets up my nose pass then pull in and slow down then I have to pass over and over. He decides to try and flash pass me at 160kph on a long uphill as a truck pulls out in front of me and we slow rapidly to 80kph. Pissed I let him pass, I pull up beside him at 160k on the downhill and goad him into racing me. He cannot resist I slam the brakes on at 160k and he races past the speed camera at 160k then flash flash then he decides to slow down I pass him with a BIRD salute lol 13k later it's the IPOH turnoff.

Fast breakfast then its 8.30am at the workshop

First install the radiator back in with its new metric pressure cap welded on last night in Kuala Lumpur at 8pm. Check everything and trim hoses etc to stop any rubbing.

They have remade the sump to retain the 2.5 litres lost when cutting the sump wings off and spend the morning welding the new bottom to the top.

I re-fit the second air compressor after the workshop destroyed the previous one and leave it for them to re-wire.

I have to pull the 12v and 24v alternator today and then take the starter down for conversion.

I get the 12v alternator and brackets stripped off. Then pull the 24v alternator. Down to the auto sparky shop. Get a 12v replacement for the 24v alternator. They convert the old pulley to the new alternator I wait an hour for this to happen.

Meantime I go find cotton canvas for inside the Volvo cabin and oil for the engine. 5pm I return to the workshop and the compressor has been wired in and sump is sand blasted ready to paint.

I collect the powder coated items and fit the door lock covers.
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Meantime Raj has built the removeable drivers dash panel template (access to clutch and brake fluid) ready for them to now make the swingaway instrument panel.
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Tomorrows work fit these.
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Compressors all fitted and wired in again.
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The sump is completed and sandblasted and now ready to be painted Monday.
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Sunday 4 February 2018

Workshop 8.45am fit the starter and by 12.00pm it's all installed and I have hopefully made it waterproof and the engine sump is cleaned ready for the sump install.

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Lunch then the fone goes - office I pull the work laptop out. I get the alternator installed with 3 turns

holding it in and the office calls again the day is a bust and by 5.30pm I have done no work on the Volvo all afternoon except stare at office computer screens.

The trip home is not worth talking about Sunday night traffic hell. Blondie gets a workout on the stereo along with ZZ Top.
 
Saturday 10 February 2018

God is it Saturday already can I sleep in for 4 more hours - its 4am - No then sleep in on the road eventually 6.08am. Stuff it I floor it and arrive in IPOH 190k away in 1 hour 15 minutes the speedo rarely under 160kph.
Some idiot really annoys me this time in a BMW for miles guess these idiot don't like being passed by a beaten up Isuzu pickup. I eventually get him back with him getting a speed camera ticket at over 160kph in the pitch black the double flash lights up the morning darkness lol. He stops annoying me.

Breakfast and arrive at the factory 8am ready for work. Funny no Mr Brown at the gate. He's on the trailer shaking. I thought he had been poisoned jump the gate and find he is Caught by his collar on the metal grill he is frantic. He is all over me when I free him.

I work on stuff outside the cabin while Raj finishes the air cond ducting mounting points and drivers vents.

I try and get the windscreen trimmed to make it fit. It's a bust they need to be remade as tempered glass cannot be trimmed.

Raj starts on the flip up instrument cluster to on top of the dash cover he has just made.

I manage to finish the top panel it all lines up and bolts fit perfectly.
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Sunday 11 February 2018

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By lunchtime I have the middle panel fitted and it is almost finished just the window trimming to go.
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By evening I have all the rear panels fitted nicely and have 1 hole to weld up and 2 holes to relocate to avoid the speaker panels.

Cleaned up the panels look ace well worth the effort.
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I fit the wifes seat to see how it will look.
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Home time - next weekend is CNY so no work on the Volvo I have been confined to KL
 
Saturday 24 February 2018

Wake up late really late 5:50am on the road. Make it to breakfast 190k away at 7:10am. In the workshop at 8.30am. THey have redone the complete roof lining and created a new front top panel and finished the dash pod.

We go get a new UHF radio and some interior lights and organise new battery for the Volvo.

I spent the day getting a template cut made for the UHF radio while Raj does the top panel and a visit from a friend who was a little stunned by the amount of custom work to the Volvo.

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I fill the engine with oil and head out for much needed food and accommodation. No leaks cool all ok.

Sunday 25 February 2018


Workshop 8.30am and see the puddle of oil on the floor - cry sob nooooooooooooooooo!!!. Its done the landrover thing and marked it's territory.

So my days work is decided. Drain the oil. Kitty litter on the oil slick. Then when all cleared undo the sump - 2. hour to remove the sump. Find the leaks and leave it for welding.

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TRy to find the hinges for the engine cover cannot spend hours looking for bolts/hinges and still they are missing I know they are around I stripped them back to bare brass.

Finally 8pm comes around and its time for home. There is next weekend.
 
Will you stuff insulation between the aluminum panels and the outer body?
Any attempt to seal the panels to prevent rattling?
What an effort, they really look ace!
Thanks for posting, it's really coming together!
 
Will you stuff insulation between the aluminum panels and the outer body? Yes trying to get sound proofing material in IPOh since my local shop closed up shop and moved to new zealand sigh.

Any attempt to seal the panels to prevent rattling? yes looking at sticking sound proofing to the back or light thick foam to stop the alloy resonating. been there before it can get very voisy lol.
 
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Saturday 3 March 2018

Alarm goes off 4am I sleep through it eventually I'm on the road 5:20am 190k to go. Its all soon a memory as 1:30minutes later I'm sitting at breakfast.

Then it 8.30am to the workshop for the 9.00am open up.

They have finished the front console and the centre window wiring channel. The goal today is to get everything cleanedup and down to the powder coating factory next door.
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The sump is finished and is ready. I leak test it later in the day and it fails again. It will be fixed next week.

I strip the gearlever panel and make the plate ready for powdercoating. The engine cover is restripped then taken to the powder coating factory immediately for processsing.

The other dash panels are given final welding and making sure evedrything fits perfectly and final sanding.

We order a sheet of alloy to remake the windows templates it eventually arrives and I get help from the boat factory boss and we cut out new templates.
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They make a list of stuff to be made during the week as they are putting 3 workers on it:
Fire extinguisher holders - 2
Relocate batteries to give me a dirty straps bin.
Make new winch wiring due to the battery relocation.
and a lot more.

I try to fit the new clutch master cylinder but it fails as it's the wrong one it sits 30 degrees to the left sigh and it needs a new one again.
We fail to get everything ready or powdercoating as they have not made the top centre console.

Sound proofing is ordered from the new stereo shop.

Soon its 6pm and its time for home I have a birthday dinner to attend to and My Orphangae kayaking training program starts tomorrow so I only have 1 day a weekend now on the Volvo.

There is so little left to do once all the panels are bolted in.
 
jst read through this entire thread, nice build mate! this thing will be a weapon when completed.

It's been a long project the end is in sight.
 
hi I’m curious if you ever gave any thought to lengthening the wheelbase slightly via moving the rear axle back 6-8”. If I recall the current wheelbase is 90”.....almost exactly the same as an fj40.

Im looking at a c303flatbed and am thinking about pushing rear axle back to 98” if it’s not too difficult.

Whats the interior length of your cargo area?
 
hi I’m curious if you ever gave any thought to lengthening the wheelbase slightly via moving the rear axle back 6-8”. If I recall the current wheelbase is 90”.....almost exactly the same as an fj40.

Im looking at a c303flatbed and am thinking about pushing rear axle back to 98” if it’s not too difficult.

Whats the interior length of your cargo area?

Hi. Mine is 100" wheelbase not 92". Yes u have and the drama I need to go through is not worth it at present. These are C304 on the rego cards not C303. Inside is 8 feet by 6 feet and a bit. The service hatch is 18 inches.

However my Volvo 2 is being shifted to 108" . You can see the build in the hard-core section.
 

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