Round three in the 145S restore project finished.

Just got 'er going again after getting auto tranny and driveshaft rebuilt. I'd thought about finding a manual gearbox w/OD to put in, but lack of time was more of an issue than money. Besides getting a used man tranny and OD unit rebuilt was not likely to be too cheap either. Fixing the existing auto tranny was the path of least resistance. Tranny was leaking pretty bad and shifting action was way harsh and out of tolerance. The last straw of round two was when shifter linkage broke. Couldn't find replacement parts and had to fabricate a link with heim joints. Turned out that u-joints and driveshaft center bearing were in pretty poor shape so these got replaced and the assembly balanced to boot. Cost of tranny: $1200 cost of driveshaft rebuild $150 plus more for misc parts like driveshaft center support rubber and bearing. Shifts great and runs smooth.

Next projects are replacing bushings on front suspension, new rear springs already procured from RPR Volvo (need spring perches from an early 240), and rebuilding the exhaust system.

When I got it, the car had a header on that was badly cracked and leaking. There was a spare header in the car, but it didn't fit well at all - one of the downtubes interfered with a boss at the bottom of the block. Since I didn't want to sacrifice my block for the sake of crappy header, I took a sledgehammer to the header via a block of wood. (Was told that both crappy headers came from IPD. Caveat emptor!) Now it's almost leak free, but it makes a tremendous amount of buzzy noise - from the engine compartment not from the tailpipe. I'm gonna try and find an exhaust manifold and downpipe from a B20E (fuel injected engine)and get 'er fit up with a 2" or 2-1/4" pipe back to a flowmaster muffler in the back. Poor little B20 needs all the help she can get.

After this the chassis and drivetrain should be in good shape. Car has 250k miles but only about 30k on engine rebuild w/ Volvo parts. I had the head redone after round 1 with extremely loose valve guides - which doesn't speak well of the previous engine rebuild. I'll keep my fingers crossed about the bottom end and sooner or later get a back-up motor rebuild under way. I've thoroughly rebuilt the brakes (in hindsight I'd recommend Volvo reman calipers at about $100/pop unless you've got lots of free time). Also got new shocks and tires all around.

Then for body and interior work. Probably end up with about $7-10k into this damn car. Hope it's gonna be worth all the trouble.

Later,
Al