After a Volvoless year and a half, I picked up a 1972 1800ES from Ontario and am getting to know the car and its quirks. The first thing I'd like to address is the buzzing M41 shifter - the knob is securely screwed onto the metal shifter, but there's a lot of play where the shifter attaches to the gearbox selector rod. I want to verify the steps before proceeding - is this correct: Remove carpet trim, remove 4 attachments holding the boot to the tunnel, remove boot (does it just pull up?)...then is there a set screw or something that holds the shifter to the gearbox? Seems like the shifter will rotate around and never fully tighten.

This car was owned for 13 years by a member of the Canadian Volvo Club named Greg Moisley...I'll post a photo, curious if anyone reading this can fill in any gaps in the car's history (I know it's a long shot).

More questions to come...Thanks

Zack

Congrats on your purchase! Afraid I'm not familiar with that specific car.

Remove the console (typically two screws horizontally into the tunnel and two others into the floor through the console "wings," the work the shift boot out of the carpet (it's usually not mechanically attached) and up the lever. You'll see a large nut-like fitting that holds the shifter down -- unscrew that (large channel-lock pliers works for me) and pull the stick away.

There are two pins at the base of the stick that fit into slots in the transmission cover extension. Those slots wear with use and the whole thing becomes sloppy. The cover slots are not difficult to fix -- we'll come back to that if that's your problem -- but the transmission needs to come out of the car to do it.

Off the top of my head (I'm not 100% sure -- the E/ES is different from earlier models -- but I think there's also a plastic bushing in the rod the very end of the stick slides into. Those crack and fall out, leading to sloppy metal-to-metal contact where none should be. The bushing is available very inexpensively and replacement does not require removing the transmission.

Assuming the car is completely stock, you will need to remove the center console like Phil said. 2 screws into the tunnel, 1 on each side of the console and 2 screws further back that are easier to access if you lift the lower seat cushions, 1 on each side and then you can slide the center console back and off. I find it a little easier to remove the console if you can unscrew the shift knob and if the shift knob comes off, you can then easily remove the shift boot which will make it easier to access the shift handle assembly nut, but this only applies to the original shift handle as the later shift handle does not screw on.

Also as Phil said, the shift boot is not held down with clips or fasteners, but should just be slipped under the carpet, but be careful not to pull too hard on the center section of the carpet as it is possible to damage the heater box drain hose which goes through a hole in the carpet. There shoudl be some snaps holding the carpet down which when disconnected will give you some more slack to move the carpeting over the tunnel. And you have to pull the heater box out and apart to change that little f#$%ing hose if you break it.

If the shift cover is the original 1, then you will need a large pair of slip jaw pliers to remove the 8 sided nut that holds the shift handle. If by chance the transmission and/or shift cover is from a 1973-1975 4 cylinder Volvo, it will have a circlip holding the shift handle assembly.

I usually have both the upper and lower shift handle assembly rubber bushings in stock. It is also common to need the plastic ball shell disc under the shift handle nut and sometimes the shift handle nut as well.

Phil, for some reason, only the early short shift covers with the long shift handles like the ones used in the PV, 122 and early 140 Volvos, get damaged from the steel pin going through the pivot ball. And although it does happen, it is no where near as common a problem for the long shift covers with a short shift handles used in 1800E/ES, 164 and later 140 Volvos. But what I have been replacing a lot lately is the large retaining nut for earlier style of short shift handles. For some reason, the underside of the large nut at the opening for the steel shaft of the shift handle stub gets enlarged with wear to the point where a new plastic ball shell will almost fall through. Curiously and fortunately, this damage does not occur on the nuts with the long shift handle and as they are the EXACT same large nut, I can re-purpose them for use on the short shift handles.
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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com