Recommissioning a barn find Volvo P1800ES
Discussion
croissant said:
The clock was the only gauge on the dash that didn’t work, so I decided to investigate what was happening. The owners club wasn’t much help. It seems they all break and everyone just lives with it, but I was determined to figure it out so took it apart.
Absolutely love this. Archaic technology like this fills me with joy. Like the old Nakamichi tape deck which didn't have auto-reverse, they had a physical mechanism to eject the tape, flip it over, and re-insert it so that it could play Side B.
Usget said:
Absolutely love this. Archaic technology like this fills me with joy. Like the old Nakamichi tape deck which didn't have auto-reverse, they had a physical mechanism to eject the tape, flip it over, and re-insert it so that it could play Side B.
It took me by surprise and it was lots of fun getting it going again. Such an overly complex piece of kit for a car clock. There's going to be something oddly satisfying driving along knowing what's going on behind that clock face.It won't be of interest to some, but I'll try upload a video of the mechanism and solenoid winding.
EDIT... I managed to upload it to Vimeo. It doesn't seem to embed on here, but here's a link to the video. Turn the volume up to hear it working
https://vimeo.com/507604072
Edited by croissant on Tuesday 2nd February 17:05
Usget said:
How does the solenoid know how long two minutes is, and why don't they use the thing that tells it, to power the clock! 
Love it - and the rest of the car.
At the beginning of the video you can see the winder solenoid triggering. The winder is connected to the clock mechanism which rotates until the electrical contacts meet. When the contacts meet it triggers a pulse of energy to the solenoid which winds it back.I tried to capture this in the video. Love it - and the rest of the car.
Hopefully that makes sense?!
I guess it's designed like this so the clock doesn't constantly consume power and instead it only relies on a single pulse of energy every 2 minutes.
Another update as some more has happened lately.
With the car running well and with it all insured and taxed, we were keen to take it out on its maiden voyage.
We had only driven it 40-50 yards up and down the driveway and the brakes had hopeful signs of life, so we thought we’d take it for a run to see if we can get the callipers exercised before overhauling the brakes. If we could get the callipers operational it would save a bit cost in replacing them.
Before we took it out I wanted to change the diff oil. There’s no record in the tech log from the previous owner of this ever being done and it was showing signs of a leak, so thought it best to refresh this beforehand. The diff is also quite visible from the rear so I was keen to get it looking a little nicer also.
First thing to do was get the cover plate off and drain out the 50 year old oil. As you can see it was pretty manky and ugly back there.
With the cover off we cleaned it up, gave it a coat of stone chip and fitted it back on with a gasket and a good bead of RTV.
At some point I want to give the whole underside a thorough clean and proper coat of underseal to protect it and make it look nicer. For now though, this will do and the priority was to get it mechanically sound.
It was sub zero when it came to filling the diff and the oil was like treacle. It took a bit of faffing about to make up a pump and get the oil up and in, but we used a foot pump and a Robinsons squash bottle to great effect.
25psi was as high as we’d pressurise it as we didn’t fancy an exploding bottle of oil, but it was enough to get the oil flowing into the diff. It took a little while as we needed to get nearly 2 litres in, but the diff eventually filled and is now leak free.
I didn’t have any faith in the flat spotted, cracked, mismatched and very old tyres so we also fitted the new wheels and tyres onto the car. These are the correct size and it sits so much nicer now. The old chrome rings were very tired also, so we sourced a new set to finish it off.
The first drive was very exciting whilst being pretty nerve wrecking. At first everything was going well. It ran great, the gearbox felt nice, it tracked straight, the suspension all felt good and generally it felt really sorted.
We took it steady and headed straight to the petrol station to brim the tank with premium unleaded, but after that things started to get a little weird.
Although it drove very nicely, the brakes clearly had a major issue. It would stop ok, but the callipers would bind and the brakes would stick on. They would release and free up on their own eventually so we pressed on and were determined to see if we could get them exercised.
We got on the motorway and it was driving excellently. The overdrive worked, it cruised at 70-80mph comfortably with no untoward noises, rattles or vibrations and the gauges showed good oil pressure an no overheating. Very happy days.
But once we left the motorway and used the brakes again they just kept binding up. It was pretty scary at times, so we decided to nurse it home and call it a day.
We covered about 30 miles of careful driving and the brakes showed no signs of improving, so instead of messing about with the old callipers we bit the bullet and new callipers, discs, pads and flexi lines were ordered all round.
This weekend we got the car up on stands and pulled all the old gear off and replaced with new.
As you can see, the old discs and callipers are looking a little past their best. What should have taken a couple of hours ended up taking most of the day as the old discs were seized onto the car and the old lines were a complete pain to remove.
But we got through it and once all the old parts were off, refitting the new was pretty straightforward.
Unfortunately we didn’t get time to fill with new fluid and bleed the system, but we’ll do that soon and fingers crossed it should stop well.
One other issue we noticed whilst driving was that the bottom radiator hose was cold even after a fairly long drive. The car didn't overheat and there was good heat inside the car, but I suspect the radiator is blocked.
Next jobs are to bleed the brakes, check there's no leaks and get these working properly. We then want to pull the radiator out, back flush it and refit with a new water pump.
Stay tuned for more updates soon now that the weather is improving!
With the car running well and with it all insured and taxed, we were keen to take it out on its maiden voyage.
We had only driven it 40-50 yards up and down the driveway and the brakes had hopeful signs of life, so we thought we’d take it for a run to see if we can get the callipers exercised before overhauling the brakes. If we could get the callipers operational it would save a bit cost in replacing them.
Before we took it out I wanted to change the diff oil. There’s no record in the tech log from the previous owner of this ever being done and it was showing signs of a leak, so thought it best to refresh this beforehand. The diff is also quite visible from the rear so I was keen to get it looking a little nicer also.
First thing to do was get the cover plate off and drain out the 50 year old oil. As you can see it was pretty manky and ugly back there.
With the cover off we cleaned it up, gave it a coat of stone chip and fitted it back on with a gasket and a good bead of RTV.
At some point I want to give the whole underside a thorough clean and proper coat of underseal to protect it and make it look nicer. For now though, this will do and the priority was to get it mechanically sound.
It was sub zero when it came to filling the diff and the oil was like treacle. It took a bit of faffing about to make up a pump and get the oil up and in, but we used a foot pump and a Robinsons squash bottle to great effect.
25psi was as high as we’d pressurise it as we didn’t fancy an exploding bottle of oil, but it was enough to get the oil flowing into the diff. It took a little while as we needed to get nearly 2 litres in, but the diff eventually filled and is now leak free.
I didn’t have any faith in the flat spotted, cracked, mismatched and very old tyres so we also fitted the new wheels and tyres onto the car. These are the correct size and it sits so much nicer now. The old chrome rings were very tired also, so we sourced a new set to finish it off.
The first drive was very exciting whilst being pretty nerve wrecking. At first everything was going well. It ran great, the gearbox felt nice, it tracked straight, the suspension all felt good and generally it felt really sorted.
We took it steady and headed straight to the petrol station to brim the tank with premium unleaded, but after that things started to get a little weird.
Although it drove very nicely, the brakes clearly had a major issue. It would stop ok, but the callipers would bind and the brakes would stick on. They would release and free up on their own eventually so we pressed on and were determined to see if we could get them exercised.
We got on the motorway and it was driving excellently. The overdrive worked, it cruised at 70-80mph comfortably with no untoward noises, rattles or vibrations and the gauges showed good oil pressure an no overheating. Very happy days.
But once we left the motorway and used the brakes again they just kept binding up. It was pretty scary at times, so we decided to nurse it home and call it a day.
We covered about 30 miles of careful driving and the brakes showed no signs of improving, so instead of messing about with the old callipers we bit the bullet and new callipers, discs, pads and flexi lines were ordered all round.
This weekend we got the car up on stands and pulled all the old gear off and replaced with new.
As you can see, the old discs and callipers are looking a little past their best. What should have taken a couple of hours ended up taking most of the day as the old discs were seized onto the car and the old lines were a complete pain to remove.
But we got through it and once all the old parts were off, refitting the new was pretty straightforward.
Unfortunately we didn’t get time to fill with new fluid and bleed the system, but we’ll do that soon and fingers crossed it should stop well.
One other issue we noticed whilst driving was that the bottom radiator hose was cold even after a fairly long drive. The car didn't overheat and there was good heat inside the car, but I suspect the radiator is blocked.
Next jobs are to bleed the brakes, check there's no leaks and get these working properly. We then want to pull the radiator out, back flush it and refit with a new water pump.
Stay tuned for more updates soon now that the weather is improving!
What a great 1/2 hour I've enjoyed reading this thread. thanks OP. As someone who has grown up in Volvo's I have always felt they are laughed at by those that have never driven one
My dad had a 240 for years, he's had 2 Amazons, and a 480. I currently have a great 1999 V70 from new and love it.
The P1800 are so rare, I hope you and your brother enjoy it for ever....or sell it to me
My dad had a 240 for years, he's had 2 Amazons, and a 480. I currently have a great 1999 V70 from new and love it.
The P1800 are so rare, I hope you and your brother enjoy it for ever....or sell it to me
Thanks for the kind comments. I'm pleased we're keeping the wheels stock for now. We still have the old wheels and I'm really tempted to do something with these, but we'll see.
The more I tinker with this car the more I realise how advanced it was for its time and the more admiration I have for Volvo as a car maker. I've owned 30+ cars and this is my first Volvo and it certainly won't be my last.
The more I tinker with this car the more I realise how advanced it was for its time and the more admiration I have for Volvo as a car maker. I've owned 30+ cars and this is my first Volvo and it certainly won't be my last.
This is a great read !
I am on my second Volvo, a 1983 metallic blue 360GLS was my first, I am now on my second, a silver C30 1.6 Drive e R design. The C30 has styling cues from your P1800.
My Dad had a white Amazon 122S 'back in the day', it was an early one with the all red rear lights, with overdrive and that famous strip speedo ( really just a cylinder with red markings on if I recall )
Your car does seem to have been 'over engineered" but in a good way of course: the amount of steel in the back of that is amazing compared to modern cars.
Just a suggestion for you: would it be an idea to put "dynamat"? I think it is called under the carpets to add a bit of insulation/sound deadening?
It just looks a bit bare under the carpets !
And do you need any petrol additive ? My 1970 Elan needed Valvemaster Plus to prevent it from 'pinking' as it was designed to run on the old 5 star fuel.
The additive raised the octane by 2 points, so Shell V power 99 became 101 octane... and the Elan ran so much better with that.....as you can imagine !
I am on my second Volvo, a 1983 metallic blue 360GLS was my first, I am now on my second, a silver C30 1.6 Drive e R design. The C30 has styling cues from your P1800.
My Dad had a white Amazon 122S 'back in the day', it was an early one with the all red rear lights, with overdrive and that famous strip speedo ( really just a cylinder with red markings on if I recall )
Your car does seem to have been 'over engineered" but in a good way of course: the amount of steel in the back of that is amazing compared to modern cars.
Just a suggestion for you: would it be an idea to put "dynamat"? I think it is called under the carpets to add a bit of insulation/sound deadening?
It just looks a bit bare under the carpets !
And do you need any petrol additive ? My 1970 Elan needed Valvemaster Plus to prevent it from 'pinking' as it was designed to run on the old 5 star fuel.
The additive raised the octane by 2 points, so Shell V power 99 became 101 octane... and the Elan ran so much better with that.....as you can imagine !
Paul S4 said:
This is a great read !
I am on my second Volvo, a 1983 metallic blue 360GLS was my first, I am now on my second, a silver C30 1.6 Drive e R design. The C30 has styling cues from your P1800.
My Dad had a white Amazon 122S 'back in the day', it was an early one with the all red rear lights, with overdrive and that famous strip speedo ( really just a cylinder with red markings on if I recall )
Your car does seem to have been 'over engineered" but in a good way of course: the amount of steel in the back of that is amazing compared to modern cars.
Just a suggestion for you: would it be an idea to put "dynamat"? I think it is called under the carpets to add a bit of insulation/sound deadening?
It just looks a bit bare under the carpets !
And do you need any petrol additive ? My 1970 Elan needed Valvemaster Plus to prevent it from 'pinking' as it was designed to run on the old 5 star fuel.
The additive raised the octane by 2 points, so Shell V power 99 became 101 octane... and the Elan ran so much better with that.....as you can imagine !
I had thought about some sound deadening, but for now I just wanted it back together in standard form. Good suggestion though.I am on my second Volvo, a 1983 metallic blue 360GLS was my first, I am now on my second, a silver C30 1.6 Drive e R design. The C30 has styling cues from your P1800.
My Dad had a white Amazon 122S 'back in the day', it was an early one with the all red rear lights, with overdrive and that famous strip speedo ( really just a cylinder with red markings on if I recall )
Your car does seem to have been 'over engineered" but in a good way of course: the amount of steel in the back of that is amazing compared to modern cars.
Just a suggestion for you: would it be an idea to put "dynamat"? I think it is called under the carpets to add a bit of insulation/sound deadening?
It just looks a bit bare under the carpets !
And do you need any petrol additive ? My 1970 Elan needed Valvemaster Plus to prevent it from 'pinking' as it was designed to run on the old 5 star fuel.
The additive raised the octane by 2 points, so Shell V power 99 became 101 octane... and the Elan ran so much better with that.....as you can imagine !
I also do need to use an additive and have been using millers vspe multishot along with premium unleaded. It's octane booster, lead additive and ethanol neutraliser which came recommended by the owners club. It's £30 for a bottle that treats 10 tanks and not bad value. The castrol valvemaster is equivalent but costs a little more, so I'm told.
Yes the ValveMaster Plus was quite pricey if I recall, but it was a few years ago. Halfords used to sell it at one time, but I am sure there are cheaper places (!!)
I would be tempted to put a full stainless steel exhaust on yours with a bigger and neater single tail pipe....to me that OEM one just looks a bit 'awkward' some how...!
But that is just IMHO of course.
It would probably give it a bit more of a' rorty' sound as well...
Having never driven any older Volvo ( older than a 1983 360 anyway !) how does it handle ?
If it is based on the Amazon I would reckon it would be pretty good, seeing as they rallied those, and of course the 544 (?) before that.
I would be tempted to put a full stainless steel exhaust on yours with a bigger and neater single tail pipe....to me that OEM one just looks a bit 'awkward' some how...!
But that is just IMHO of course.
It would probably give it a bit more of a' rorty' sound as well...
Having never driven any older Volvo ( older than a 1983 360 anyway !) how does it handle ?
If it is based on the Amazon I would reckon it would be pretty good, seeing as they rallied those, and of course the 544 (?) before that.
Paul S4 said:
Yes the ValveMaster Plus was quite pricey if I recall, but it was a few years ago. Halfords used to sell it at one time, but I am sure there are cheaper places (!!)
I would be tempted to put a full stainless steel exhaust on yours with a bigger and neater single tail pipe....to me that OEM one just looks a bit 'awkward' some how...!
But that is just IMHO of course.
It would probably give it a bit more of a' rorty' sound as well...
Having never driven any older Volvo ( older than a 1983 360 anyway !) how does it handle ?
If it is based on the Amazon I would reckon it would be pretty good, seeing as they rallied those, and of course the 544 (?) before that.
I haven’t mentioned it on the thread yet, but the previous owner fitted a full stainless system in the early 90s at great expense. I’ve got the receipt somewhere in the paperwork, but I think it cost about £300, which back then was a lot. It’s only had a few years use and it great shape. It has a very subtle burble but looks stock. I know what you mean about the odd tailpipes, but I kinda like them!I would be tempted to put a full stainless steel exhaust on yours with a bigger and neater single tail pipe....to me that OEM one just looks a bit 'awkward' some how...!
But that is just IMHO of course.
It would probably give it a bit more of a' rorty' sound as well...
Having never driven any older Volvo ( older than a 1983 360 anyway !) how does it handle ?
If it is based on the Amazon I would reckon it would be pretty good, seeing as they rallied those, and of course the 544 (?) before that.
As for the handling, it was very compliant. It soaked up speed bumps really well and although we didn’t chuck it around, it felt sure footed yet pretty supple. From what I could sense I would imagine it would understeer if pushed, and would take some effort to get it to oversteer. I’ll be sure to update my thoughts on how it drives the more I use it.
Time for an update chaps!
As with many projects, the final 10% of work has taken 90% of the time. Sorry for the lack of pics in this post. I promise there will be more once the detailing of the car happens next.
My last post ended having fitted all new brakes, but we still needed to fill with fluid and bleed. What should have been a simple task took several attempts and of course more parts needing replacing and refurbishing. It's a very complex braking system and it proved tricky diagnose, but we got there in the end.
The rear brake bias valves needed an overhaul as they were seized and blocked. This was pretty straightforward job and for good measure we also fitted a new master cylinder. After sorting these parts we eventually managed to get the brakes bled and working correctly. It now stops very well indeed.
We were now able to safely take the car for a proper drive and very quickly a couple more issues became apparent.
One issue was with the cooling system. It wasn’t overheating at all, but the bottom radiator hose and radiator never got hot after a long run. The other issue was that the overdrive kept engaging randomly on its own in any gear.
First thing to tackle was the cooling system. We had good heat in the car, so the pump was working fine and we knew we had no air in the system, but we decided to pull the radiator and back flush it. A lot of chunky crud came out and we had it flowing really nicely after this. I filled it with boiling water and could feel all the fins were warm so we know it was flowing.
We also tested the thermostat which was fine, so we painted the rad, refitted it and filled with LiquiMoly cooling system cleaner and ran it up to temp. After this we flushed the system a few times until it ran clear and now everything is working as it should.
The overdrive was the final mechanical issue and a little more concerning. Not only was it really annoying, but it ran the risk of wrecking the gearbox and overdrive with its sporadic behaviour. We knew that it worked, but something was amiss with the way it was behaving.
After doing some research we decided the best thing to do was dive in and start pulling things apart. First thing we noticed were lots of loose bolts holding it together and the activating solenoid was only partially screwed into the bell housing.
We dropped the inspection plate on the overdrive unit and surprisingly it was immaculate inside. No swarf and just clean oil. We also removed the activating solenoid and pulled it apart.
We bench tested the solenoid and it appeared to be fine, so we cleaned out the filters and put everything back together properly with fresh oil. To our surprise it now performs perfectly and only engages when asked in 4th gear just as it should. I still don’t know exactly what was at fault, but suspect it was the loose solenoid.
I’ve now done a few hundred miles in the car and it’s performing brilliant. It's such an event to drive! It starts on the button and runs very well, cruises on the motorway decently and absolutely everything is working on the car. It feels really solid and steady and you'd never know it was nearly 50 years old and been abandoned for half its life.
The other task I wanted to tackle was the headliner. For some reason the previous owner removed this from the car and we found it at the back of the garage where the car was stored. It was covered in mould so Aldis finest mould remover was deployed and it cleaned up super nice.
Fitting the headliner proved to be a very challenging task especially becasue of the sunroof. I really really hate fitting headliners to cars! Ours had shrunk over time, but we got it in and looking ok. Unfortunately there’s a few minor tears from when the previous owner removed it, but we’ll patch these up with matching material when we can source some. All things considered I'm happy with how it cleaned up and went back in.
I also got the car up on the ramp at a friends garage a couple of weeks ago just to give it a thorough inspection and I can honestly say there is not a bit of rust on this car and it has survived remarkably well. Every other one of these I have seen on the owners club has rotted and been repaired and ours has never been welded and everything is in top order mechanically. The only thing I could see was a couple of tired looking bushes at the rear, but they’re still in good shape, they're just a bit tired.
The car is now complete, reliable and drives great. There’s a few jobs left to do such as, detailing the engine bay, undersealing the car, replacing some suspension bushes, fitting a new head unit and giving it a proper clean and polish, but these are all things that can wait and none are pressing issues. I'll be sure to post an update as I do these next tasks with more detailed photos of the car.
Ordinarily I would be looking for my next project, but with a couple of good useable classics in the garage to enjoy I’m turning my attention to building a garden room now.
Perhaps later in the summer I’ll start looking for my next project?! Hit me up if you have a classic that needs rescuing!
As with many projects, the final 10% of work has taken 90% of the time. Sorry for the lack of pics in this post. I promise there will be more once the detailing of the car happens next.
My last post ended having fitted all new brakes, but we still needed to fill with fluid and bleed. What should have been a simple task took several attempts and of course more parts needing replacing and refurbishing. It's a very complex braking system and it proved tricky diagnose, but we got there in the end.
The rear brake bias valves needed an overhaul as they were seized and blocked. This was pretty straightforward job and for good measure we also fitted a new master cylinder. After sorting these parts we eventually managed to get the brakes bled and working correctly. It now stops very well indeed.
We were now able to safely take the car for a proper drive and very quickly a couple more issues became apparent.
One issue was with the cooling system. It wasn’t overheating at all, but the bottom radiator hose and radiator never got hot after a long run. The other issue was that the overdrive kept engaging randomly on its own in any gear.
First thing to tackle was the cooling system. We had good heat in the car, so the pump was working fine and we knew we had no air in the system, but we decided to pull the radiator and back flush it. A lot of chunky crud came out and we had it flowing really nicely after this. I filled it with boiling water and could feel all the fins were warm so we know it was flowing.
We also tested the thermostat which was fine, so we painted the rad, refitted it and filled with LiquiMoly cooling system cleaner and ran it up to temp. After this we flushed the system a few times until it ran clear and now everything is working as it should.
The overdrive was the final mechanical issue and a little more concerning. Not only was it really annoying, but it ran the risk of wrecking the gearbox and overdrive with its sporadic behaviour. We knew that it worked, but something was amiss with the way it was behaving.
After doing some research we decided the best thing to do was dive in and start pulling things apart. First thing we noticed were lots of loose bolts holding it together and the activating solenoid was only partially screwed into the bell housing.
We dropped the inspection plate on the overdrive unit and surprisingly it was immaculate inside. No swarf and just clean oil. We also removed the activating solenoid and pulled it apart.
We bench tested the solenoid and it appeared to be fine, so we cleaned out the filters and put everything back together properly with fresh oil. To our surprise it now performs perfectly and only engages when asked in 4th gear just as it should. I still don’t know exactly what was at fault, but suspect it was the loose solenoid.
I’ve now done a few hundred miles in the car and it’s performing brilliant. It's such an event to drive! It starts on the button and runs very well, cruises on the motorway decently and absolutely everything is working on the car. It feels really solid and steady and you'd never know it was nearly 50 years old and been abandoned for half its life.
The other task I wanted to tackle was the headliner. For some reason the previous owner removed this from the car and we found it at the back of the garage where the car was stored. It was covered in mould so Aldis finest mould remover was deployed and it cleaned up super nice.
Fitting the headliner proved to be a very challenging task especially becasue of the sunroof. I really really hate fitting headliners to cars! Ours had shrunk over time, but we got it in and looking ok. Unfortunately there’s a few minor tears from when the previous owner removed it, but we’ll patch these up with matching material when we can source some. All things considered I'm happy with how it cleaned up and went back in.
I also got the car up on the ramp at a friends garage a couple of weeks ago just to give it a thorough inspection and I can honestly say there is not a bit of rust on this car and it has survived remarkably well. Every other one of these I have seen on the owners club has rotted and been repaired and ours has never been welded and everything is in top order mechanically. The only thing I could see was a couple of tired looking bushes at the rear, but they’re still in good shape, they're just a bit tired.
The car is now complete, reliable and drives great. There’s a few jobs left to do such as, detailing the engine bay, undersealing the car, replacing some suspension bushes, fitting a new head unit and giving it a proper clean and polish, but these are all things that can wait and none are pressing issues. I'll be sure to post an update as I do these next tasks with more detailed photos of the car.
Ordinarily I would be looking for my next project, but with a couple of good useable classics in the garage to enjoy I’m turning my attention to building a garden room now.
Perhaps later in the summer I’ll start looking for my next project?! Hit me up if you have a classic that needs rescuing!
A very interesting thread - thanks for your effort in posting.
The black gunge around the instrument glasses would, I'm guessing, be the degraded remains of the rubber isolating rings used to keep the glass away from the instrument surround. They can be replaced with modern equivalents or probably even domestic water plug 0-rings.
The black gunge around the instrument glasses would, I'm guessing, be the degraded remains of the rubber isolating rings used to keep the glass away from the instrument surround. They can be replaced with modern equivalents or probably even domestic water plug 0-rings.
9xxNick said:
A very interesting thread - thanks for your effort in posting.
The black gunge around the instrument glasses would, I'm guessing, be the degraded remains of the rubber isolating rings used to keep the glass away from the instrument surround. They can be replaced with modern equivalents or probably even domestic water plug 0-rings.
Thanks! I suspect you're right about the rubber degradation. Something I want to do is take the gauges out and repaint the matt black trims, so I may investigate further. They're not in terrible shape, but a couple are chipped and blemished and they're right in the line of sightThe black gunge around the instrument glasses would, I'm guessing, be the degraded remains of the rubber isolating rings used to keep the glass away from the instrument surround. They can be replaced with modern equivalents or probably even domestic water plug 0-rings.
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