1971 Volvo 164 » dashboard

Instrument panel voltage stabilizer (Part I)

Colten — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:04:53 +0000

The non-working fuel gauge and temp gauge on the instrument panel has always bothered me about this car. I still may install some third party gauges that are more accurate but I at least wanted the stock gauges to work. I read on a few websites that if these gauges werent working that it was probably the voltage stabilizer on the instrument panel that was bad and would need to be replaced. I read an article here that has a good tutorial on how to replace the old fashioned mechanical voltage stabilizer with a couple $2 parts from Radio Shack that will do the same thing and last forever!

After some exhaustive work I finally managed to pull the instrument panel out of the dashboard without removing the dashboard itself. This wasn’t easy but the good folks at brickboards.com assured me it was possible and they were right. First I unscrewed the speedo cable and then pulled the wires out of the jacks on the back. Once I’d done this I wish I’d labelled the jacks but they look individualized enough that maybe it won’t be such a pain in the ass reconnecting them when I’m done? We’ll see.

I started by setting the whole thing on my desk:

I snapped some photos of the back before I started removing screws:

The little can on the bottom center with the 3 wires going into it is the voltage stabilizer.

This is where the speedo cable screws in:

Here’s some other photos of the front with the gauges portion separated from the speedometer cylinder. Separating these parts is a series of screws and it is very easy so I won’t bother going into the details. If you managed to get the instrument panel this far you can figure out how to disassemble it Just make sure not to lose any of those tiny screws!

OK. Now taking the voltage stabilizer off is a matter of carefully disconnecting the 3 wires that attach to it, which is easy – they are all secured by male/female crimp connectors. The voltage stabilizer is attached to the instrument panel by two metal tongs on the stabilizer that clip around a little rubber nub that is secured to the back of the instrument panel. Pictured here:

Next was the toughest part – I had to pry the lip back from the backplate of the stabilizer so that I could open it up. This I did with some careful work using a pair of needlenose pliers. I didn’t want to destroy the stabilizer housing. When I was done and opened it up it looks like this:

This is as far as I’ve gotten with the voltage stabilizer. I purchased a 5V regulator and a 0.01uF capacitor from Radio Shack for $3 and I will soon solder it to the proper points and begin testing. Hopefully this fixes my gauge problem and will provide a more reliable stabilizer for my nearly 40 year old instrument panel!

Choke cable fixed

Colten — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:37:36 +0000

Since I bought this car I’ve had issues with the choke cable. The entire mechanism would move when I pulled the choke – thus it wouldn’t actually raise the choke on the rear carb. It was just pulling the whole cable back and forth in the hole in the firewall. This week I decided to tackle it once and for all and found that replacing it wasn’t a big deal at all. On mine, the cable itself was fine – it was just the sheath that the cable slides through that had problems. The sheath is clipped on both ends – underneath the dash and then on the other end at the carb. The clip on the carb was fine but the one under the dash was bad. Rather, the clip was fine but the sheath had frayed and the plastic just wasn’t holding it in one place anymore. I took the cable and sheath out of the car by looking up under the dash and finding where it clips to the choke knob.

Click the photo for a larger version. As you can see the cable itself hooks around a little post and about 3 inches to the right of that is the clip that secures the sheath to the assembly. This clip comes off with a phillips head screwdriver and aside from the rather uncomfortable angle you have to reach up under the dash it’s not a big deal to remove. You’ll probably also notice on mine that the black plastic surrounding the sheath has broken and separated. See how there’s no black plastic where the phillips head clip is? That’s why my choke cable was moving all over the place.

I went to Napa and bought a new choke cable for $10. I got a 6′ cable because I wasn’t sure how long I’d need and figured I would be safe. I pulled the choke cable out of the new one since I just needed the sheath itself. The new cable had a sheath that wasn’t covered in plastic but it was the same size and my Volvo cable fit just fine inside it. I did have to trim the new sheath to get it to be the right length and this took some trial and error. I didn’t measure it when I finished (sorry!) but I’m guessing it was probably about 5′.

Unfortunately (like an idiot) I dropped the clip that holds the choke cable sheath to the carb. It fell to the ground and I couldn’t find it. So right now it’s being held on with a set of vice grips until I can stop by the hardware store and pick up a screw clamp or something. Nice and shiny!

The other end (under the dash) clipped on nicely and after adding some silicon spray to the inside of the sheath it’s really smooth and doesn’t move around! In the end I found it was a lot easier to just replace the choke cable sheath and not the whole cable. If your cable is in good shape and you have issues with it moving around like I did just go for this $10 fix. Hopefully it lasts another 40 years!

Here’s what the frayed end of my old cable looked like:

Now I can control the choke without having to open the damn hood and hold the sheath with my hand while I adjust it. That was such a pain in the ass (as well as embarrassing). It’s never cool to have to routinely open the hood of your car in order to get it started.

Found some great links

Colten — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:23:02 +0000

Found these a while ago but thought I’d share again:

How to replace the instrument panel voltage regulator in the 164 with cheap, modern parts

Parts familiarization workbook

Building an in-dash air/fuel mixture monitor

And finally… The Volvo 164 club of Sweden Link Page (aka GOLD)