1972 Volvo 164 - project waft-o-matic

[steveandhis244]

Some that know me through my other projects (long term Thor the 244 resto-mod, daily driver turbo'd 240) and those who know me through the facebook groups will probably already know about this car.

Obviously I have been into volvos for quite a number of years now, having inherited my Grandad's (Dad's Dad) 244 10 years ago or so now, and also having bought my '89 240 GLT which I fitted a turbo engine to amongst other modifications. My other Grandad (Mum's Dad) has always had an interest in classic cars (though not so much from a technical point of view, more just a 'show go-er'). He has owned a 70s Dodge Dart, a Rover P5 coupe, a Volvo 1800ES (still within the club - XWS 333K), and a Mercedes 250CE pillarless coupe.

About 4 years ago he decided that he needed to replace the Merc' with something with smaller/four doors as he was struggling to get in/out of it in the garage, and was fancying a change anyway. I talked him into the idea of finding a Volvo 164. I helped him with his research and found this one for sale on car and classic. It was fairly local being near to Beverly in East Yorkshire. It was owned by MP Sir Greg Knight who is a classic car enthusiast and is known to be quite influential on the preservation of the classic car "scene" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Knight

I have seen several articles in various classic car publications that feature a picture of him stood with the 164, even long after he sold it to my Grandad!

During my grandads ownership, I have given the car a full valet, serviced the brakes and given the car a general check over. My Grandad also reinstated the original steel wheels which had come in the boot of the car - it was on a scruffy set of virgos with mismatched tyres when he bought it.

Pictured here with my 240 (and my at-the-time 940) when I was servicing it for him



Fast forward to summer 2016 and my Grandad has been forced to hang up his keys and accept he is not well enough to drive these days. Very unfortunate but he has certainly coped far better than I would. I had previously asked for first refusal when he sold the car, and to my surprise he decided to give it to me, on the grounds that he would be able to see the car improve and be used carefully to go to local shows. For christmas I got him a framed print of the car at a show I took it to, which he liked very much (photo used with thanks from Stephen Evans of the volvotuning facebook group)



I have some long term plans for the car which i'll cover later, but for the time being it will be run "as is" with good maintainance and rust prevention. I would love to strip the car and do a concourse restoration on it, but unfortunately at this point in my life I have other more important things to spend my time and money on, such as buying a house, though nothing is to say that wont happen in the future.

Anyway, all threads are worhtless without pictures! I need to try and get some of the interior and engine bay at some point too.

At retro rides gathering on freshly powder coated steels on new continental rubber...


At a local Northern retro meet up (photo credit to Dave Bools)


Broken down after fuel vaporisation after a bit of an italian tune up up the M62....


Getting some use - collecting the girlfriend from uni in Sheffield


The 240 meets its older brother...


Jessica is pleased I now have a car with chrome that she can polish....






Short term plans include:

-continued maintenance and improvement in standard form - i.e. possibly a carb rebuild, check the valve clearances, all fluids change etc
-continue to clean and feed the leather in the lead up to....
-....re-dying the leather in its original colour
-some cosmetic tidying up - such as get a paintless dent removal guy to go around the car
-obtain/repair fog lights
-four new calipers, along with flexi lines, discs and pads
-find a rear suspension clunk and fix, possibly a full re-bush
-find new number plate light cover and restore the plasti-chrome around the rear lights.

Long term plans (after I have a house, and have finished my other cars)

-buy an adapter kit to fit an AW71 4 speed plus lockup from a 940 - this will make the car much nicer to drive and lower motorway RPMs but still maintain its wafty automatic barge type drive - no visual change at all
-rear arch replacement, some other localised rust repair, and full respray
-fit uprated front/rear anti-roll bar

[minininjarob]

Steve this is a lovely car as I've said before - well done for looking after it.

Is the AW71 the same one that's in my 940? I don't have lots of experience of auto boxes but I do like mine a lot.

[mgmrw]

Nice car. Is that bramall lane or Charlotte court halls?

[Mercdan68]

Real nice looker that,stunning and very straight ,like it!

[dazcapri]

I love this reminds me of my dad's old one that was gold,UNA20K,he also had a blue one and a burgundy (IIRC) one lovely old motors

[peter96]

Absolutely fantastic car Steve. It looks perfect as it is. Looking forward to this thread.

[steveandhis244]

Jan 17, 2017 18:55:41 GMT minininjarob said:

Steve this is a lovely car as I've said before - well done for looking after it.

Is the AW71 the same one that's in my 940? I don't have lots of experience of auto boxes but I do like mine a lot.

Yes that's the one. Apparently there's a company in Sweden that does an adapter kit (but I still need to research that). There are better boxes out there, but in the grand scheme of things I think it's a sensible option.

[steveandhis244]

Jan 17, 2017 18:59:55 GMT mgmrw said:

Nice car. Is that bramall lane or Charlotte court halls?

It's Bramall court. She was there for both the first year and the last six weeks of her nursing degree. She's now qualified and got a job and her own retro (jessandherrenault5 on here)

[djefk]

Nice motor that and how lovely to see something so cherished passed from Grandad to like-minded grandson and kept in the family. I'm really coming round to an old Volvo as practical family transport these days, partly thanks to mylittletony's penchant for such beasts (his blog on running his late 70's 144 estate is worth a read).

Whole-heartedly agree with your plans - I'm sure your grandad would want to see it kept more or less as-is and in excellent condition visually with you enjoying it on his behalf , however you want to actually use the thing in anger with maximum comfort, maximum enjoyment and minimal running costs.

You probably know much more than me but could I indulge in some day-dreaming of what I would spend my money on updating if it was mine, besides regular detailing and servicing?

1) Rust-proofing - wax injection and de-rust / zinc prime / paint / underseal of the entire underside. You seem pretty hands-on but even if you're not confident you have the facilities or knowledge / skill then there are companies that can do this for you for a couple of hundred pounds, I would prioritise it as probably the best investment to make before doing anything else.

2) Replace all rubber seals that are past their best - helps stop water getting into where it shouldn't and hence helps prevent rust also, but additionally there's nothing more annoying than wind whistling through worn door seals etc.

3) For enhanced safety:
a. Inertia reel seat belts if not fitted as standard to this model,

b. Updated headlamp and stop / tail bulbs,

c. A stealth high-level brake light to help protect against inattentive drivers on their phones etc. in traffic (you can buy a very thin strip of LED lights and stick them to the upper part of the rear window seal on the inside facing outwards, then hide the wiring as it runs down the side of the window/seal, through the parcel shelf and splice this into the brake light circuit, therefore it cannot be seen when not on - These ones from Amazon).

4) A modern but carefully-hidden stereo system - this would be more an investment for the car to be acceptable transport for your other half if she's anything like mine!

5) As you're having fuel vapourisation issues I would suggest you get the exhaust manifold ceramic coated (and possibly the downpipe depending on your fuel line routing and whether changing it is an easy option). Not tried it myself but apparently it significantly reduces under-bonnet temps. Again if a car breaks down with the other half travelling in it then that tends to mark its card in her mind, especially if we need to be somewhere.


Once done I'd then look at subtle mods to make it quieter, coupled with better reliability and more economical:

- Extra sound deadening (I've heard dyna-mat is the best)
- Electronic ignition and updated plugs / leads.
- Replace engine driven fan with electric (especially if it's solid mounted currently but I'd imagine it has a viscous coupling?)

The gearbox upgrade you are planning will make a huge difference and is a great idea if it can be made to work and be visually undetectable inside (gear shift gate / indicator etc. all looking original). Old autos without a lock-up feature in top will eat through fuel so I'd be expecting at least a 10-15% improvement once done.

Overall, great car and start to a great thread - Bookmarked!

[mgmrw]

Jan 17, 2017 22:01:12 GMT steveandhis244 said:

Jan 17, 2017 18:59:55 GMT mgmrw said:

Nice car. Is that bramall lane or Charlotte court halls?

It's Bramall court. She was there for both the first year and the last six weeks of her nursing degree. She's now qualified and got a job and her own retro (jessandherrenault5 on here)

Sweet. About 11 years back, exactly where your pictures were taken there was a fat lad parking his 93 plate Ford Fiesta mk3.

Full RST replica.

I thought it was an awesome car, all shiny surrounded by the other students barely legal heaps.

Not sure the neighbours did as my stainless system and xr2i lump resonated off all the walls around the halls. Or at the gate where you had to be buzzed in.

[cesarbarbosa]

Finnally you put up a thread for the Volvo 164...
How are the other 2 240 going?!?!?
Is Thor painted yet?!?!?

[steveandhis244]

Jan 18, 2017 0:10:17 GMT djefk said:

Nice motor that and how lovely to see something so cherished passed from Grandad to like-minded grandson and kept in the family. I'm really coming round to an old Volvo as practical family transport these days, partly thanks to mylittletony's penchant for such beasts (his blog on running his late 70's 144 estate is worth a read).

I know of mylittletony through the volvo forums and through the facebook group "Volvo 240 owners UK". I know he has his brown 245, but i didnt realise he had a blog. I'll have a look

Whole-heartedly agree with your plans - I'm sure your grandad would want to see it kept more or less as-is and in excellent condition visually with you enjoying it on his behalf , however you want to actually use the thing in anger with maximum comfort, maximum enjoyment and minimal running costs.

You probably know much more than me but could I indulge in some day-dreaming of what I would spend my money on updating if it was mine, besides regular detailing and servicing?

1) Rust-proofing - wax injection and de-rust / zinc prime / paint / underseal of the entire underside. You seem pretty hands-on but Even if you're not confident you have the facilities or knowledge / skill then there are companies that can do this for you for a couple of hundred pounds, I would prioritise it as probably the best investment To make before doing anything else.

Yep, that kinda comes into the general maintenance category for me anyway - I have a rule of thumb that all cars I own must be older than me, and I'm 25, so rust proofing goes without saying in my book. The only bits I wont rustproof are the box sections around any parts that will require welding in the future (fire risk). Volvos do have a pretty amazingly thick coating of underseal on them from the factory anyway - one of the reasons they got their reputation for lasting so well! If only they had injected wax into the rear wheel arch seams too!

2) Replace all rubber seals that are past their best - helps stop water getting into where it shouldn't and hence helps prevent rust also, but additionally there's nothing more annoying than wind whistling through worn door seals etc.

The only one that is actually past its best is the sunroof seal - which I'm going to replace soon.

3) For enhanced safety:
a. Inertia reel seat belts if not fitted as standard to this model,

Already fitted in the front, no belts in the back but I'm undecided whether to fit them - its not going to often have back seat passengers

b. Updated headlamp and stop / tail bulbs,

I need to research this. I think later 164s had headlights that take H4 bulbs (which would enable me to fit osram nightbreakers, which i really rate), so i might swap to those instead of my current ones which only take R2 bulbs. Having said that the light output is already better than my 240, especially on main beam. I suppose its ideal having a proper round type headlamp bowl

c. A stealth high-level brake light to help protect against inattentive drivers on their phones etc. in traffic (you can buy a very thin strip of LED lights and stick them to the upper part of the rear window seal on the inside facing outwards, then hide the wiring as it runs down the side of the window/seal, through the parcel shelf and splice this into the brake light circuit, therefore it cannot be seen when not on - These ones from Amazon).

I might fit a proper volvo one out of a 240 saloon. I do agree that they are pretty much a necessity in todays traffic

4) A modern but carefully-hidden stereo system - this would be more an investment for the car to be acceptable transport for your other half if she's anything like mine!

I havent mentioned this as I cant find the photos, but ive already started this. Ive actually fitted the SHARP radio that came in my 244, in the proper slot in the dash (carefully removed so I could easily make it look original again if i wanted to remove the sound system). Back in its day it would have been a VERY expensive radio. Ive then been using this with a belkin cassette tape adapter to plug in my phone and listen to my own music through spotify. I didnt want to cut any holes in door cards or trim so i made some brackets and fitted two speakers high up in the footwells/behind the dash. The only problem with these is that they are old paper type speakers and they arent boxed in so the bass is pretty poor. I might make some small boxes for them and get some upgraded speakers - they're not visible so it wont matter that they look modern.

The only other problem is that I have tried various indoor type aerials which have all turned out to be rubbish. I might end up just buying a high quality period chrome or stainless roof aerial and have done with it

5) As you're having fuel vapourisation issues I would suggest you get the exhaust manifold ceramic coated (and possibly the downpipe depending on your fuel line routing and whether changing it is an easy option). Not tried it myself but apparently it significantly reduces under-bonnet temps. Again if a car breaks down with the other half travelling in it then that tends to mark its card in her mind, especially if we need to be somewhere.


Once done I'd then look at subtle mods to make it quieter, coupled with better reliability and more economical:

- Extra sound deadening (I've heard dyna-mat is the best)
- Electronic ignition and updated plugs / leads.
- Replace engine driven fan with electric (especially if it's solid mounted currently but I'd imagine it has a viscous coupling?)

To be fair, being a silky smooth inline 6, its the quietest car I own anyway! I might look into a 123 ignition system at some point, more than anything to eliminate the need for servicing the points/condensor side of things. Will end up getting some magnecor leads at some point. I would rather keep the viscous fan (which still works well) simply to keep the engine bay looking original

The gearbox upgrade you are planning will make a huge difference and is a great idea if it can be made to work and be visually undetectable inside (gear shift gate / indicator etc. all looking original). Old autos without a lock-up feature in top will eat through fuel so I'd be expecting at least a 10-15% improvement once done.

Overall, great car and start to a great thread - Bookmarked!

Thanks!

[steveandhis244]

Jan 18, 2017 7:21:53 GMT mgmrw said:

Jan 17, 2017 22:01:12 GMT steveandhis244 said:

It's Bramall court. She was there for both the first year and the last six weeks of her nursing degree. She's now qualified and got a job and her own retro (jessandherrenault5 on here)

Sweet. About 11 years back, exactly where your pictures were taken there was a fat lad parking his 93 plate Ford Fiesta mk3.

Full RST replica.

I thought it was an awesome car, all shiny surrounded by the other students barely legal heaps.

Not sure the neighbours did as my stainless system and xr2i lump resonated off all the walls around the halls. Or at the gate where you had to be buzzed in.

Haha! Yeah I usually went there in my 240 (which has a full 3" system, turbo back) and i used to see people coming to their window when i started it up to go home late at night.....

The gatesman always recognized me by by cars

[steveandhis244]

Jan 18, 2017 21:37:08 GMT cesarbarbosa said:

Finnally you put up a thread for the Volvo 164...
How are the other 2 240 going?!?!?
Is Thor painted yet?!?!?

Other two 240s going well. Thor is painted bar that bonnet and front wings. Have a look on the thread.

[dbdb]

What a lovely car.

[mylittletony]

Jan 19, 2017 10:51:26 GMT steveandhis244 said:

Jan 18, 2017 0:10:17 GMT djefk said:

blog

That's probably being generous, I've not updated it much in the past year. I'm sure ste doesn't need any tips from me, he's way more thorough and detailed than I have the patience for!

I'm sure this will be a testament to your skills, your grandad will be proud and has definitely chosen the right new owner.

P.s. Dave, if you buy a volvo you can't take the p*ss any more...

[pologaz]

Love these. I'd love a 165 but I think there's only one factory built in existence?

My dad used to have a 240 DL on a G plate with the B230k engine & 4 speed manual. it drank fuel only like Volvos could, but it sounded lovely for a 4pot. Looking forward to updates on this

[mgmrw]

Jan 19, 2017 10:53:26 GMT steveandhis244 said:

Jan 18, 2017 7:21:53 GMT mgmrw said:

Sweet. About 11 years back, exactly where your pictures were taken there was a fat lad parking his 93 plate Ford Fiesta mk3.

Full RST replica.

I thought it was an awesome car, all shiny surrounded by the other students barely legal heaps.

Not sure the neighbours did as my stainless system and xr2i lump resonated off all the walls around the halls. Or at the gate where you had to be buzzed in.

Haha! Yeah I usually went there in my 240 (which has a full 3" system, turbo back) and i used to see people coming to their window when i started it up to go home late at night.....

The gatesman always recognized me by by cars

Same here. Probably sat watching CCTV laughing as I scraped over the entry ramp.

[cesarbarbosa]

We demand an update...

[steveandhis244]

Small update, I had a really good month at work and the sun was out and it got me thinking....I really miss driving that 164. (I had to temporarily take it off the road because I had to swap the insurance over onto the girlfriends Renault 5 while she learns to drive)

I'm now over 25 so figured classic insurance was now very much possible. A few phone calls later and the 164 was re-insured. I think having 3 cars on the road is very sensible.....

A few jobs needed to be done on the car - the back end had a few bits that let it down. Namely the number plate light holder which was all cracked and painted silver, the yellowing light surrounds, and the curse word aftermarket exhaust tail pipe that sits far too low. 164s should have a tailpipe that juts off to the side, but not as ugly as what this one is. I'm open to sensible modifications so i decided I wanted a straight out tailpipe.

You can see the bits I mention here...





I painted the light surrounds with a special 2k chrome paint I have. Not 100% ideal but itll do until I spot some NOS ones on ebay....

I bought and fitted a brand new number plate light holder too.





I think that looks quite a lot better.

I also did a few mechanical jobs.

Fitted a new thermostat and flushed the cooling system (it had been running a little cold)

Fitted some new fuel hose in the engine bay

Fitted a hidden antenna for the sharp radio (I don't want to drill the bodywork incase I ever want to put it back to standard with no radio)

Also the positive battery terminal clamp cracked, so I fitted a new one, only the first one I bought didnt even get finish getting fitted before it did this! You can see the cracks in the caasting. The quality of some modern parts is shocking!



More soon - I still want some beauty rings and small hubcaps!

Steve