Mine have all gotten noisy, in fact so noisy on the first one that I was
scared to drive it home from the mountains of Panama (~300 miles). Romero,
the Panamanian Volvo dealer, fixed it for me (1973) for about $130 but had to
put it together twice because it leaked the first time. It got noisy again
in about 75,000 miles so I changed trannies. That one got noisy in about
100,000 miles. I have been driving it noisy and it works ok except the
2nd gear synchronizer is going bad. I wouldn't say I abuse it but I do drive
it pretty hard and at fairly high revs sometimes. Got an IPD street perf
cam so it torques pretty good at high revs. No clutch popping or really
hard downgearing. Noise is worst in second gear.
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma