Volvo 122S interior

The drivers seat and rear were in bad condition after 44 years; rips, brittle and sun burned spots all over. When I tried to clean the drivers seat it cracked. Time for some new upholstery.
Taking of the vinyl upholstery is an easy job, fitting the new ones is a bit more difficult. I made lots of pictures so I knew exactly how everything was held together with rings and staples.

Old back seat rest Volvo 122S

Wooden bottom old back seat rest Volvo 122S

Old and new backseat rest covers Volvo 122S

When fastening the new cover always start in the middle and then work to both corners evenly. While fitting all the rings en shooting the staples I compressed the springs in the back rest by leaning on the wooden bottom with my knees.

Fitting new upholstery

The seat rest with new cover looked great without wrinkles outside the car, but when I put it back in the car it got some wrinkles at both sides. Maybe they go away after a while, maybe not.. 

The drivers seat was also in bad condition. Fitting back the new upholstery at the bottom of the rest is a bit fiddly, it's a tight fit with the metal pins. But with some borrowed kitchen tools and some @#$%!!#% you can do it...
The black metal parts were already painted with Por15 a couple of months ago.

Fitting the upholstery Volvo 122S drivers seat

Fitting the upholstery Volvo 122S drivers seat

New upholstery Volvo Amazon drivers seat

I also put in new carpet on the floors. Instead of one carpet/rug for the back, two for the front seats and one for the console I choose for 2 long pieces from the firewall till the backseat and 1 long one for the whole console. I made templates from masking paper. Always take 5mm extra when cutting the shape. I used a heat gun to make the corners fit without wrinkles. Don't come to close to the carpet otherwise it will melt. It's inavoidable to have some wrinkles, but after the carpet is glued to the floorpan you can roll most of wrinkles/bumps out with a big socket. I made the holes for the bolts with a soldering iron. It will create nice holes with melted (= stronger) edges.

New piece of carpet for the Volvo

Making templates for the carpet

More carpet templates

Cutting the carpet

"Fine tuning" the new carpet

making the console template

making holes with a soldering iron

I only glued the carpet at the rear floorpans and whole console. So if there's a leak or something in the future it's easy to check under the carpet in the front

Glue

Removing wrinkles with a heat gun and a big socket

Drivers side

New carpet for the Volvo 122S

The kick boards and other cardboard panels got a new coat of paint. I used exterior acrylic wall paint. Flat off white for the rear shelf and satin black for the black panel parts.

Rear shelf / panel

Rear shelf painted with exterior acrylic wall paint

Cardboard panels Volvo 122S

Painted cardboard panels Volvo 122S

Fitting the windlace seals between headlining and body

For now I'll leave the front seats out so it's easier to work under the dash when installing the engine and doors. And I still have to clean the headlining.....

Fitting the windows in the Volvo 122S

Fitting the windshield and rear window is a job for 2 people. You can do it alone but it's way harder.
So on a sunny Saturday morning Myk rocked up to help. First we cleaned the windows and checked which way around the rubber seals had to go.
If you take a closer look at the rubber seals you'll see one slot on the inside that goes over the body flange, one slot on the outside for the window and finally one slot on the outside for the chrome/alu trim.
The rear window was still the original one and is made of toughend glass which is stronger than the front window that was once replaced for a laminated one. We started with fitting the new rubber seal around the rear window.  Because the rear window has strong curves it was hard to keep the rubber in place so we used some masking tape. 

Fitting the rubber seal around the rear window

After the seal was finally in place around the window we applied Sikaflex 227 sealant between the window and the rubber seal. When fitting the window with rubber in the window frame the lip on the inside of the seal has to fall over the window flange, this is a very fiddly job but luckily there's a nice trick that will make the job a lot easier. Just take a nylon cord/washing line and put this in the slot all the way round. Leave the two ends hanging out at the center of the bottom of the window. Lift the windscreen in position and while one person is holding the window in place the other person is inside the car and is slowly pulling the string out which will pull the rubber lip over the flange. Work evenly on both sides, around 10-15 cm at a time. When the window bottom is seated the outsider can move the window so it's right in the middle of the window frame. The corners are a bit harder and you have to be really careful not to cut the rubber seal with the string. We used some thinned dishing soap to make it a bit easier. 10 minutes later the rear window was in place. 

Rear window Volvo 122S fitted with the help of a washing line

To make sure it's water tight I laid a bead of sealant between the body and rubber seal the next day. I used some masking tape to keep the body clean and scratch free.

Masking tape to keep the body clean and scratch free

Putting Sikaflex 227 sealant between the body and rubber window seal

The front windshield was even easier to fit because it's not as round as the rear window.

Fitted windshield  with new rubber seal Volvo 122S

Fitting the side window is a bit different. I also used a string to pull the lip over the window flange. But this time I started by holding the rigid rubber seal (there's some kind of metal frame inside the rubber) on the inside of the car and pulled the string towards me while standing on the outside. 

Rigid seal rear side window Volvo 122S

Fitting a string in the slot of the window seal

Moving the seal in the right position

Using the trick with the washing line

Seal back in place

When the rubber seal is in place it will take only a couple of minutes to put back the window with the 4 bolts and 2 screws.

Window fitted

Done. Next thing to do is fitting the trim in the rubber seal around the windows...

Acrylic Lacquer Paint - Sanding - Buffing - Polishing

Because I used acrylic primer the only topcoat I could use was acrylic lacquer. That's the same as the original paint they used in the factory in Sweden. The Volvo 122S left the factory without a clear coat back in the days, so a clear coat is not necessary. The Volvo colour code for the paint is 99 (medium blue). But watch out when you order it; there are to different solid colours with code 99 for the Volvo. My Volvo is from 1969 so I took the '69-'71

Two different colours coded 99 from Volvo

I used paint (330 acrylic lacquer) and special acrylic thinner from protec. The mix ratio is 1 part paint - 1.5 part thinner. So to spray the car including the engine bay, boot and dash I needed around 6 litres acrylic and 9 litres thinner. I got all my paint, spray gun, compound etc. from Lonsdale Paints. I liked this shop because those people know what there're talking about and always gave me professional info and very useful tips on how to paint.

I started with the inside of the bonnet and the boot to practice a bit. With acrylic lacquer you need to apply double header coats....A double header coat means two coats of paint, the second coat sprayed immediately after the first with no flash time in between.

I applied 3 double header coats of the thinned acrylic lacquer, allowing a 5 minute flash off between coats.

Spray painted inside of the Volvo 122S bonnet

The panels came out pretty good but after 10 minutes or so it was so misty in the booth that I couldn't see a thing...Not enough airflow and ventilation.
So I decided to spray only the interior and some smaller parts and bring the rest of the car to a prof spray painter.

Right side window in blue

Dashboard Volvo 122S with new coat

Craig started spraying all the panels.

Painted panels back in the shed

Two weeks later the body got it's final coat.

Volvo back home

7 fresh coats of acrylic lacquer

With Acrylic lacquer you'll always get some orange peel (the paint finish will look like the skin of an orange).

Close up orange skin - orange peel

To get rid of the orange peel it needs to be wet sanded with 1200-1500-2000 grit followed by a buff with compound. That's why you have to put on 6-7 coats of paint; With the colour sanding, buffing and polishing you'll lose 2 coats.
Sanding with the 1200 grit will be the biggest job in the whole process because this is the part where you're sanding off all the orange peel. The 1500 and 2000 grit sanding sessions are necessary to get rid of the scratches caused by the 1200 grit.
I started sanding really careful and tried to avoid the edges of the panels. I used a soft rubber sanding block (it must have a similar softness as the mouse of your hand..) with a half sheet sand paper wrapped around it. It's really important to keep the panel you're sanding wet and to change your sandpaper regularly. If you use it too long you'll get nasty scratches caused by the build up debris in the paper. Listen carefully when sanding, if you hear a scratchy noise there's dirt between the paint and sand paper, stop sanding and clean before you continue! That's the only job I do without music.. I sanded the panels outside on the lawn because it's soft enough to put the panels on and all the water won't turn the shed into a swimming pool :)

Soft rubber sanding block

The first panel I sanded looked ok imo so I gave it a nice buff with the machine and G3. But.... All I got was a shiny orange peel look.. It needed more sanding. After a while I knew what to watch for. If you see tiny glossy spots in the sanded surface this means there's still some orange peel and the paint needs more sanding.

Sanding Acrylic Lacquer - this panel needs more sanding

Panel getting flat, almost ready to buff

For the buffing I used Farécla G3 and a prof. buffing machine (Rupes) with a sheepskin pad which I could borrow from Craig.

Rupes Buffing machine and Farécla G3 compound

Meguiars Cut'N Shine Sheep skin cutting pad

This Rupes is a pretty heavy machine with a powerful 900Watt 1800 rpm motor. When using it it's own weight is almost enough to do the job so don't apply to much pressure. When you apply to much pressure you can easily burn the paint and it's way harder to control the machine; it will go in all different directions and it's much harder to keep it horizontal. Also keep it moving over the paint, never hold it on one spot for more than a second, the paint will get to hot and will burn (the build up heat will turn the paint in "rubber", see pic below). Luckily I could buff this burned spot out witch some G3..

Paint burned..

Avoid the edges when sanding and buffing... well uhmmm I forgot it for a second... hallo again primer. Luckily Acrylic is easy to touch up. After this and the burned paint I used the Rupes only for the bigger areas, smaller parts, corners etc can be done by hand which is a bit safer...

Sanded trough the acrylic... :(

When using a sheep skin for buffing you'll get swirl marks in the paint. But with some Farécla G10 and a white soft foam pad on the Rupes you'll get rid of them.  The best way to inspect your sanding, buffing and polishing is to check it under a fluorescent light. It will highlight all the scratches and little imperfections. If it looks ok inside then it will look perfect outside :) !!

Swirl marks caused by buffing with sheep skin

Farécla G10 and a white soft foam pad on the Rupes

Polished Boot - now waiting for some wax

Roof sanded with 1200-1500-2000 grit before buffing with G3

Roof Volvo 122S after buffing with Farecla G3

Volvo 122S body shell after buffing with Farecla G3 and G10

Close up after buffing with foam pad and Farecla G10

Now the paint has to cure for a couple of weeks (normally around 4-8 weeks after painting) before I can apply the wax and Glaze. If you put wax on paint that's to fresh the wax will seal the paint and thus trapping the solvents that are still escaping the fresh paint. I some cases it can even cause the paint to lift... So I'm happy to wait a while. Still got lots of other jobs to do on the car.