The learning curve has been steep with my 1967 Volvo 1800S, as Lucas electrical systems, SU carburetors, and Bosch distributors are old to many but new to me. All three make me long for a return to the American cars with which I am much more comfortable, but a car is a car, and we must press on (even when our self-esteems take a hit). “We’re not going to let the Volvo win” has become my mantra, but so far, it’s been doing most of the winning.
In an earlier chapter in my Swedish saga, I found a cracked intake manifold that I attempted to repair with JB Weld, and this time it just didn’t work. Unsurprisingly, as the weather became cooler in the fall, I could no longer keep the engine running without the choke pulled out about half way due to the resulting vacuum leak.
The crack is apparently a commonplace occurrence on the new-for-1967 combined intake/exhaust manifold, as heat cycles eventually took their toll. There are no new replacements, so the only real fix is to separate the two and use a discrete intake manifold, as was used on pre-1967 cars.
This requires a moment of decisiveness. Taking a cutoff wheel and a reciprocating saw to an engine part requires a certain devil-may-care attitude that I do in fact possess, but I wouldn’t call it my primary instinct.
There’s no going back from here.
Now comes the grinding.
Phew! I didn’t accidentally grind any holes where they didn’t belong, and I’m ready for the next step.
This is a remanufactured aluminum intake for a pre-1967 1800S from a Volvo parts supplier. It cost about $155 shipped, and here it is on my garage floor ready to be installed on the car.
But only after a ridiculous escapade of using an industrial belt sander in an attempt to flatten out the manifold’s ridiculously bad factory machining. You can see the ledge in the sealing surface, and the two flanges weren’t even close to even with each other. Obviously, I should have sent it back or taken it to a machine shop, but I had little faith that a replacement would be any better, and I have access to a large belt sander for free. Additionally, I use expensive Remflex gaskets, so it can be 1/16″ out of true and still seal.
This image is after I tried to flatten the manifold on a flat surface with sandpaper. I valued my time too much to continue with that Sisyphean task.
I then ran into another problem. The exhaust manifold flange is roughly twice as thick as the intake manifold flange (which is in itself somewhat thinner than when I had started, thanks to the belt sander).
Because I never buy the same car twice, I’ve learned to glean wisdom from sometimes decades past by reading posts from the appropriate online forum(s) for whatever car I’ve recently bought; after all, many problems are inherent in the car, as my cracked manifold was. Although the number of Volvo forums online is limited, I found a seemingly knowledgeable poster from long ago who mentioned using washers bent in half to take up the disparate thicknesses when using an aluminum manifold. I bent several washers (and cut a couple in half) to give myself a variety of options.
Using a pencil magnet to hold the washers in place (three halves was the right number) while I snugged up the nut resulted in this, a functional if not very attractive way to tighten the two manifolds. In all reality, does this look like an engine compartment of a car that is owned by a man who is concerned with how an engine compartment presents itself to others? I’ll forget the relative ugliness of the repair in a matter of weeks, if and when (when, when!) I can close the hood on this stubborn little thing for more than ten minutes.
This is the moment where I should have been doing a victory lap, but an odd thing happened; the Volvo wouldn’t start, and its spark seemed weak. After what I’ll describe as a several-week-long haze of trying all kinds of things and using my timing light as a scope, my dad came over on a cold January day, and (I swear) his just being there made the thing fire. I have never been able to explain the cosmic good vibes that that man brings to most situations, but he’s a man apart. I’m not superstitious in any meaningful way, but sometimes you just have to wonder.
During those hazy weeks, however, I did take the opportunity to go through a cast-iron Bosch 009 distributor that I bought used last summer to replace the incorrect aluminum Bosch (with its ancient electronic ignition module) that came with the car (and was overadvancing by a LOT). I bought a points insulation kit from a VW guy on eBay, and I did my best to shim up the drive collar, but that is an absolute pain. It’s still a little loose.
I even wired up an auxiliary ignition system to isolate any wiring problems in the car itself. Volvo 1800s use an “armored” positive lead from the ignition switch to the coil to dissuade any hotwiring dirtbags from stealing your sporty little car, but that also means that a mechanic can’t check voltage at the coil’s positive terminal (or run a jumper wire straight from the battery to bypass the ignition switch) because there isn’t one. This is what I had hooked up when my dad came over; he simply held the positive wire to the battery, and his healing touch made it start. It now runs (still poorly by the way, more on that in a minute) on the car’s main ignition system. I’m still not a hundred-percent sure what went wrong, and this is one of those few times where I’m not going to question it. I’m too tired.
Once the 1800 started, however, it was running on two cylinders and showing every sign of a massive vacuum leak. Because there’s nothing like throwing good money after bad, I bought this little smoke machine on Amazon for about $50. It showed me that I had forgotten about a missing threaded core plug on the front side of the intake manifold that hadn’t been there on the factory intake. (Oops.) Installing a plug obviously made it run much better, but it still wouldn’t idle, probably because of the main reason I took the car apart in the first place.
As you can see in the video above, the SU carburetors are shot; the throttle shafts are completely worn out (that’s where most of the smoke is coming from). Before I even noticed the recracked intake manifold, I removed the carburetors to do something about those sloppy throttle shafts. That is when I noticed the cracked manifold, but by that time, I had already removed a throttle shaft to have a look at things. Then, I decided to reassemble the carburetor so I could run the engine and check the intake crack for a vacuum leak, and in my haste, I didn’t get the throttle plate centered correctly. It wouldn’t idle down, even with the idle screws backed all the way out, probably because that one throttle plate was not seating and letting too much air in.
And that is where my Swedish journey has led me thus far. I’ve disassembled the SUs beyond the point of no return, and in doing so, I realized that the new shafts are not drilled for the throttle lever retaining pin, which is not in line with anything else on the shaft. So I’ve sent the carburetor bodies to an SU specialist to fit my throttle shafts and new bushings, and I’ll reassemble everything else when they get home.
Oh, did I mention that while I had the car running, it heated up and pushed out about a quart of antifreeze? I think the thermostat is stuck closed, so I’ll have to add that to the list. But we’re not going to let the Volvo win, we’re not going to let the Volvo win, we’re not going to let the Volvo win…Are we?
Related Reading
My Newly Acquired 1967 Volvo 1800S – “Is That One Of Those James Bond Cars?” (by me)
CC’s Best Of 2025: My 1967 Volvo 1800S Maintenance Log—No Sleep ‘Til Göteborg (by me)
There have been many days where I have wanted to be you, with a cool selection of cars at your fingertips (or at least within a short drive). But today is not one of them.
But I certainly understand the determination that once you are into it, it shall not be given the satisfaction of beating you. And it brings to mind the advice given to me many eons ago about buying a used car that is not running right – if it was easy and cheap to fix, the seller would have fixed it and kept it. Good luck, you know we are all rooting for you!
Thanks, JP. I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to do what I do, make the mistakes I make. There must have been someone in my ancestry who climbed mountains because they were there, etc. I guess my version of that is looking for garage adventures where few would search. Oh well.
In case this helps:
https://colorwiringdiagrams.com/find-your-car/ols/products?page=2&sortOption=descend_by_name
Somewhere I’ve got bookmarks for 1800 service manuals. My husband planned to inherit his father’s ’67, but passed before that could happen
Thank you! I bought one of those immediately; they are very helpful when you’re trying to figure out why the taillights won’t light, etc.
Too bad Irv Gordon isn’t with us anymore. He could have helped.
I think that Volvo owns his car now, which is appropriate.
Volvo is Swedish for “eye roll”. I see why.
No, the Volvo shall not prevail victorious. I say this, alas, entirely apart from the “we” who will see to that (that “we” being you, as it were), but I have faith.
Alternatively, it could be said that “we” (that this time being us) are with you: indeed, I shall say it, “I stand with Aaron.” Thus, we shall not let the Volvo win – and I shall see to it with immediate vicariousness.
Actually, it might be egg roll.
“Eye roll”: nice one!
Thanks for the support and good vibes.
For crying out loud, fix one thing at a time and fix it right. Belt sanding mating surfaces, stacking washers, and loose distributors just build-in more problems. Find a machine shop or friendly home-shop machinist and start over.
I appreciate where you’re coming from, but there’s no chance I’m pulling off a manifold that’s not leaking to spend $200 or more at the machine shop to accomplish the same thing just so it’s done the “right” way. I know I open myself to criticism by doing things as I do and (especially) sharing it on the internet, but I keep a fleet of nine 1953-74 cars running and driving reliably year after year with nearly no help at all except for the occasional trip to a machine shop, exhaust shop, tire shop, and in this case, a guy who does SU throttle shafts. Plus, I have fun tinkering and learning and trying and failing and succeeding in the end, and if you’re not having fun, why bother?
Regarding the distributor end play: The specs say it should be at .004-.010. It’s at .012. I didn’t have a shim combination that wouldn’t put it at right under .004, and I felt that a little too loose would be better than too tight, because that would destroy the fiber washer. If it’s a problem later on, I’ll fix it. I imagine it won’t be. Two-thousandths just isn’t going to matter in this case.
If you can access my email address and know how to use calipers, send me dimensions, I will make a pair of stepped spacers for your manifold.
It’s nice to have the resources to take care of these fiddly things. I use it as an excuse to buy more tools – like a miniature drill press with mini vise to drill holes in the throttle shafts. Having a spare coil with bypass wiring is good when you’re unsure of the original switch/coil. My ’66 wagon has given symptoms of impending failure so I carry these ignition spares as backup. So far the original continues to function satisfactorily after a transient period of weak spark and eruption of wax from the coil’s upper seam. I have had good results welding exhaust manifolds with wire and stick welders. Keep up your valiant efforts Aaron. That beautiful car is definitely worth it!
I am the administrator of a Google Group list full of people who have dozens of years of OHV redblock knowledge. Email me.
Thanks, Evan.
You have people pulling for you across multiple continents (not the least of which are the fine folks at VP Autoparts who would probably be happy to christen one of their shipping containers in your name 😉 ). So yes, you will prevail.
I think someone said in comments to one of your earlier posts about the 1800 that one of the more difficult challenges in old Volvos is winding up being one of the last people in a chain of ownership that has included various folks throughout the years, each applying their own fixes on a vehicle that even when new may not have included the same parts or was assembled via the exact same procedures as the car that followed it on the original assembly line. There’s almost no way to find one of these that hasn’t been slowly turned into a handmade car. In that way, you’re just doing your part…except we here are sure that your part will be making it the best version yet. For sure.
I like to think also that in a while you’re going to have acquired sufficient Volvo-specific…nay, YOUR Volvo-specific…knowledge so that you will be able to keep this thing on the road forever. And that you’ll want to apply it to other orphan Volvos.
So, best to start just collecting random parts (that’s the secret handshake of old Volvo ownership), because you’ll need them for what’s next.
I have made an order or two from VP Autoparts, and IPD, and CVR…so I’m in their computer system for good. It probably won’t be long until I start getting catalogs unexpectedly.
One of the things I worry about when posting car updates is that it sometimes sounds like I’m complaining about my car troubles, and that’s not quite the tone I want to convey. Clearly, these are the choices I’ve made in life, they’re all my fault, and I always assume that if I didn’t want to do it, I wouldn’t. Trust your gut, as they say. 🙂
Thanks for the moral support along the way!
Thank you for keeping the flame going ~ for some reason I tend to gravitate towards old vehicles that don’t run (or run poorly) and spend inordinate amounts of time fettling them, I love it as I enjoy problem solving and working with my hands .
I also crave knowledge and learn something new with every new old vehicle .
I am not clear here : cannot you simply find a complete two piece manifold set and use it ? .
I had a 1970 Volvo 144S, it was very old and tired yet I was able to make it run nearly as new, Volvos are not fast but they’re *very* nimble in the twisty bits and canyons where I like to drive .
I hope you remembered to add blue Loctite to the butterfly screws ? .
I just recently did all this to a pair of elderly BING carbies, happily they’re designed with replaceable O-Rings .
Don”t sweat the ignition issues, once you take the time to go through it step by step you’ll sort it out .
-Nate
Nate, I think you and I have the same attitude about this kind of thing. The two-piece manifold is not reproduced, and a used one is likely to have the same problem as mine did.
I don’t think you have to use Loctite on the throttle screws because they’re “split” screws; the shank is split in two pieces, which are meant to be pried apart, so they can’t come loose. Regardless, the SU guy who’s doing the shaft bushings will install those for me anyway.
You are on the steep end of the learning curve. It will flatten out some,inevitably. Learning something quite new and different is inherently hard. But it’s also rewarding. You will be rewarded. Not making a prediction of exactly when, but it’s now closer than it was before.
Thanks for the pep talk, Paul…I have a gut feeling that it will be fairly reliable come driving season. Luckily, I have at least two months to keep at it, and it’s too cold in the garage right now to work on it anyway. The low Friday night was around -10 F.
You’ll get there, I have faith in you, and glean much knowledge that’ll come in handy with your next Volvo. Or Saab. Or Lancia!
My overall impression over the years has been that the European cars, when running well, run VERY well and generally do more with less relative displacement than many others, but are much more finicky in regard to minor “issues” or “less than OEM spec-ness” due to historically trying to eke out every last bit of power from relatively small displacements relative to Detroit and their “adding a few buckets of cubic inches will take care of everything” mindset and how a Chevy will run poorly longer than most other cars wirll run at all, seemingly designed to still somehow function just enough with bits missing here, an old root beer can used to patch something else, and well, you catch my drift…The European cars simply run more on the edge and some of the technologies/ideas used are sometimes more in their infancy at the time and perhaps not as well developed in hindsight once that tech matures. (The Japanese though, I don’t have any explanation there, that stuff just seems to work!).
Thanks, Jim!
The thing about the Volvo that comes as most of a surprise to me, as a rookie to them, is how British it is. It has British gauges, British carburetors, and a British electrical system (well, a German ignition system). I’m kind of lucky in that regard, because parts are still available for that kind of thing anyway.
Well yes, the British have their own vehicular foibles, often resembling a very useful basket at first glance but with the bottom seemingly purposely cut out of it… The first couple of years of P1800 production were built entirely by Jensen so perhaps that’s the influence there. I’m assuming if you ever are seduced down the dark path of SUV-dom, it’ll now be a Range Rover with the Buick V8 so at least that part will work correctly. (the path is dark due to the Lucas electrics but the upside is the warm beer would be plenty cold in your garage this week.)
You’ll get there, there are still plenty of ebay parts you haven’t bought yet.
Speaking of warm beer, we just started getting Yuengling in Michigan, and their Black and Tan is not bad at all. I have a couple in the fridge for days when the Volvo gets to be too much.
The initial run of P1800 (until 1963?) were built in part by the Pressed Steel factory in the UK.
The bodies were made at Pressed Steel until 1969 or so, but Jensen did the assembly until 1963 (from what I’ve read).
Yes, that’s right. I have gotten to the point where I forget more than I remember.
This adventure brings to mind one I had setting up a guitar with a Floyd Rose bridge. That’s a feature seen on 1980’s heavy metal guitars, the bridge is counterbalanced by springs and string tension on two pivot posts and adjusting ANYTHING affects EVERYTHING else. Where setting up a guitar is normally measuring a few things and making an adjustment to suit, a straight line between two points. With a Floyd Rose it’s like an ever tightening circle, do the same adjustments over and over while closing in on the correct point. At least that was the experience for me, and I’ll never do another if I can help it.
Anyway looks like you are in the same pattern with your Volvo. Fix the same things over and over, make it better each time and eventually you will close in on that sweet spot. And spend a lot of time and money along the way.
That’s it, Doug. I’m regretting my decision to buy this car right now, but I have to get it running to even consider selling it, and once it’s running well, I probably won’t want to sell it. Catch-22, but not as entertaining as the novel. 🙂
I made my son a special tool to pull the springs on his 7 string, but the adjustment hell is his to deal with. I have no patience for that kind of asymptotic infinite adjustment loop stuff!
What a crazy manifold set up. I’m not understanding why the 67 and earlier exhaust manifold couldn’t be paired with the aluminum intake? With the following that those early Vovlos have I’m surprised no one has an aftermarket solution, though I’m sure it wouldn’t be cheap.
Keep up the good fight, you will come out the victor in the end even if a few battles are lost along the way.
Or just say f-it and throw in an LS /S
The problem in my case is that when Volvo switched to this manifold design, they also improved the exhaust manifold with a dual outlet setup, so earlier exhaust manifolds won’t match up to my exhaust.
You know, I remember reading an article from the 1960s where GM stylist Robert Cumberford had a Ford 289 and a C4 installed in his 1800; I have a lot of small-block experience. Not a bad idea!
I’m using a ’72 head and exhaust manifold with a ’66 block and intake manifold. This combination did not need stepped washers. There are more options using Mikuni and Weber side drafts and downdrafts and tubular exhaust manifolds as well.
I almost went with a single Weber setup, Alfred, but I had already bought the SU rebuild kit with shafts and bushings and throttle plates, so I decided to stick with it. Here’s hoping I don’t regret it!
For about “5-6”, years; late ’90’s”….a white one of these hung out in the neighborhood. Don’t recall ever seeing the driver up close.
Car, as I recall went away about “2002-3”.
Given it’s age, didn’t appear to be in bad shape. Exposure to sun had gotten to it though.
Inside, I believe, was blue. A mid “60’s Chrysler”, sdn ((gold)) hung out in the same area for quite some time. Always wondered if there was a connection. “Chrysler”, imo had been repainted.
As the owner of a an old mini that has also benefited from many hands across the years, I can very much relate.
A standard mini also has the combined manifolds, and a common first tuning step is to remove it (the inlet manifold is quite restrictive), and get a separate inlet manifold and “Long Center Branch” exhaust manifold. This leads to shenanigans with stepped washers very much as you describe, although I remember doing it by filing thick brass washers. Each washer was custom fitted, and none of them could be swapped between positions…
Having tried to get my mini running on a worn-out SU (and swapping out for other differently worn SUs etc etc), I very much endorse the “end game” step of sending it to a specialist for a proper refurbish. Hopefully jetting will not be a headache when you get it back.
There’s nothing wrong with a well-maintained points set up, but endlessly fiddling with worn-out distributors is no fun. The “end game” of course is to fit something like a “123 distributor”. Pricey, and I haven’t done it myself, but people who have done it never seem to regret spending the money.
The needles *should* be stock, and the jets will be new, but once I get it running well enough, I’ll slap my wideband on it to make sure. In reality though, after using it all these years, I can kind of tell what it’s going to say before I even look at it.
I’ve looked at those 123 distributors, and they do look nice; plus, there are customizable advance curves. But like you said, they’re about $500, so I’d like to get a baseline with the carbs working reasonably well before going that route.