Hi guys,

As some of you know, I bought a 122S on Ebay. I just brought it home today. I've had an itch to buy one that's in not so great condition and work on it myself. I believed the seller when he said there was only minor rust, and only surface rust.

He was honest, except for one place. The driver side rear floor. It's totally rusted through. It's pretty isolated to just there and the spare tire area in the trunk though

I'm pissed off because if he would have said "it's got no rust except that it's missing the rear driver side floor" I would have bid lower.

Maybe it's time to learn to weld.

Any advice appreciated. I know for some of you (hi Craig), this is no big deal. I suspect I'll pull the seats soon and tear out all the rubber floor cover stuff and carpet and clean and vacuum it up to see exactly what I'm dealing with. The cardboard underlay stuff is damp to the touch so I suspect window seals are leaking somewhere.

Other than that, and the spare tire area in the trunk, it's looking very good.



On the truck in Sweetgrass this morning:



Oh no, they're multipying:

there was a very nice looking '69 122 up for auction in japan today. less than 70k i believe. Next time you're looking for another project car...

hope that one works out for you- looks good from far so far!

Keep in mind these cars have 5 digit odometers.

And the steering wheel on the wrong side (most of the time )

While most of the modern volvos are RHD, all of the classic stuff i've seen on auction is LHD. Given the condition the cars are in, and the fact that you can get them for basically the cost of shipping and fees ($2000), I wouldn't be concerned about mileage!

Focus boys (ah, the irony). This is the car that Ian texted me about - thought it may have been mine. Send along some shots and I can pass along some advice. Do you have a welder? Get some replacement panels ordered. DON'T take it all apart first...very bad idea. Just work one piece at a time (thanks Johnny Cash).

Don't you want to take it apart (to a certain extent) to see what you're up against? If the floors rotted through, chances are there are other "fun" areas out of sight, no?

The driver's floor is very typical. Moisture and chemicals from wet boots sits there for days/weeks/months and rots through. It also rots out the crossmember under the drivers floor. Matt's 123 has this issue but is pretty solid elsewhere. It's not necessary to pull things right apart to see if there are issues. If you know where to look, most things can be uncovered...

Not to mention that the plate on the trunk suggests it has rusty floors without even asking.

Hi guys,

It's just the rear floor pan that is rusted. Where the back seat passenger would put their feet, on the driver's side. All the other floors aren't too bad at all. Just light surface rust in places. The trunk seems pretty solid except for where the spare tire goes. The engine compartment is okay.

Don't worry, I'm not going to tear the car apart yet (at least not anything more than pulling out rotted floor carpet and rubber. JP out in Springbank offered to have a look for me for the areas I won't think of so I should take him up on that.

There was a thread a few lines down about that Amazon wagon and how we need to be careful not taking on a restoration unless we really like the car. That's where I'm at now. I'm dying to just get started, but I'm being cautious. The problem is that I don't have much alternative. I can't easily sell a car with a gaping hole in the floor.

To answer Craig: I don't have a welder, but I'm willing to buy a used quality MIG welder if I go ahead. I'm thinking with practice I might be able to weld a floor panel in since if my welds aren't great you don't really see them. Is that crazy? I know you're a super good welder so your standards are probably pretty high. I've got a lot of patience and I'm only semi-stupid so usually stuff like this works out for me.

My goal for this car would for it to be a solid driver that doesn't look too crappy, not some perfect restoration. I'm actually excited to get going, but I know that once I'm $8k in I'll have a $3k car. I love solving these problems though, so I think I'll suck it up and get started.

Dustin

Sure - but I've seen it when someone is keen and gets going at about 100 different jobs at once and then it doesn't go well after that...in fact I've got a Jaguar that is a testimonial to this "method". I was just saying, you know the floors are bad, fix them, put the car together then take the next part apart until you're comfortable with having the car apart.

That area is usually an indication that the windshield leaks...have a look at the floor pan layout, the rear pans are lower than the fronts and if the windshield leaks, the water often ends up pooled in the rear pans (I had one that was toast for this reason). I've got a Decca 135E that I've welded a few miles of sheet metal with and am selling it for $250 if you're interested. Welding sheet metal is pure Voodoo - I own a rattle and have the touch. I can show you, but please practice off the car, when you get good weld up the car. I'm SICK of hearing people say that the "weld will hold, it just isn't pretty" no it wont. These are skills that are hard earned, but worthwhile. I can show you how in a half hour - doing it yourself could take days of practice.

You've got the right attitude. Carry on.

This is great info. Thanks.

I want to take you up on that welder. I assume it runs on 220 and I need to first check into getting my garage wired up for 220. It shouldn't be a problem. Can you give me dibs on that for a few days? I'll just make sure getting the 220 in won't be prohibitively expensive.

I'd be really grateful if you could show me what you can. I'm thinking I could make it down to Lethbridge in a few weeks from now on a Saturday that works for you.

John P out here says your welding is "f***ing magic". I was out there last weekend getting some parts for my "good" 122 and I mentioned I ate pizza with some of you guys recently.

I pulled the front passenger seat out and scraped and vacuumed for a bit. That side is worse than I thought, but not too bad. I was able to knock a couple of holes through where the firewall meets the floor pan, but it's limited to a small area. So it's just that and the driver's side back seat area that I mentioned before.

Me and this car are starting to be friends.

Dustin

What a hoot, thought it was Craig's car being trailered to Calgary,
Looked nice, although I was traveling at 120 kph going the opposite direction.

The welder is a 120V machine, but does like a 20 amp circuit. I'll be up and around in the next couple of weeks. Get some parts put together and I'll pop over and give you a quick lesson or two. I've been sticking stuff together with weld for a long time, you get a feel for it.