Our Volvo turns one (plus 41) years old

February will mark the one year mark with our beloved 145, renamed "Betty 2". In that time she has proven to be everything I had hoped for. The idea of getting an even older volvo was to have something I can fiddle with and learn about auto mechanics. This time last year I knew as much as changing oil and flats, and even then I had little experience in either. I have since done the following:
1. replaced and rebuilt the cylinder head twice
2. rebuilt the spare SU carbs, have yet to install them, still running the weber 32/36
3. plugs, rotor, cap
4. new brake pads
5.Rattlecanned the wheels silver
6. Spent countless hours, shaving side lights, removing and plugging trim holes, and gave it the "$50 rustoleum paint job" flat black ( pics on the way, google it for several write ups)
7. Replced right tie rod end, and right side tie rod
8. replaced the oil pan gasket, timing gears and gasket

That last one was my greatest conquest yet, for in order to get to the oil pan gasket one has to remove the oil pan. Simple enough as its held in place by about 10-12 bolts. Problem is you either have to pull the engine or hoist it and drop the front suspension. I started the job not owning an engine hoist or an engine support bar. So I got as far as disconnecting the engine from everything, driveshaft, starter, alternator, clutch cable, etc and then realized that with out an engine hoist I was stuck. There she sat for about 3 months until over christmas break (thats right I called it christmas break) I finally decided to buy the necesary tools and finish the job. Harbor freight was the way to go as far as cheap use ones or twice tools. I spent about $200 in tools; engine support bar (cheaper than an engine hoist) pullers and installers. Finally after about 4 labor intensive days she was put back together and on the road for all of a day...
Transmission leak!
A massive tranny leak sidelined betty for about 2 days while I debated dropping the transmission or simply insta gasking it. I went with latter and its has worked so far. A temporary solution I'm sure but at this point I just wanted to drive her. She was fine for another day until I realized whenever I drove her, my shoes would end up wet due to a...
Coolant leak!
When I yanked, tugged and pulled at the coolant hoses from the fire wall I made a crack in the device I could only imagine regulates the heat blown out from my non funtioning heater core. The solution, pull the heater core and route the coolant from the inlet to the outlet. An old peice of coolant hose did the trick.
My Betty was now on the road for a week, and although alittle bit cooler in the cockpit due to the holes i didnt bother taping up from the coolant hoses it ran like a dream. Then on thursday night I stopped by the central offices of my employer and on my departure she wouldn't start. This was due to...
I had no idea!
Battery was a week old, alternator checked out Ok, voltage regulator was replaced and still nothing. She sat there for over a week as the broncos were in the playoffs that saturday which meant i would not have time to work on her saturday and not be in any condition to do anything on sunday. Since the broncos lost i had the following weekend free, betty was still there and we were about to strap her to our jeep and tow her home when i started poking around under the dash. I replaced a few fuses and then realized a cable had disconnected from the fuse box. Turns out when i removed the heater core a week before, and relocated the fuse box, it must have strained this certain cable connection and it eventually wiggle free. So with the cable reconnected she started up and so far (driven twice) she back to her old glory.

Next steps:
Put the stock roofrack back on
Cut the stock springs
Experiment with SU carbs (trying to figure out while she smoke on hard deceleration, hence the rebuilt head)
Eventually, camshaft, head work rebuilt with hi rev kit from IPD or VPD

Stay tuned.

Starting point

Our (the wife and I) fascination with volvo's started a mere year and a half ago when our current junker, a 93 chevy lumina, died from a bad head gasket. "So that's where all that coolant was going?" Forced to buy another vehicle, our sole source of transportation, we tinkered with the idea of buying a new car, the cheapest thing we could find, the korean made Kia Soul. Once common sense and all decency for automobile styling came back to us we scrapped that idea and decided to find ourselves another beater. Thanks to the help from our friend craig and his ever growing list, we found a 1986 volvo 245 with 220,000 miles. For $600 bucks we drove "betty" for an entire winter racking up 8,000 miles before she wouldnt start. Up until then she ran like a champ. Not willing to invest money into the rust bucket she was but still yearning for volvo safetly, reliablity and unparralled coolness, we took the $350 from the scrapyard and looked to our friend craig yet again.
This time we would find "Ursula", a Volvo 145. Not as popular as the 245, and not as desireable as the amazon estate. It was the perfect mix. So when the mood is right and budget (how ever low) is there, I work to make this 145 one of a kind, ratrod, sleeper wagon.