Hello Swedespeed. I purchased my 164 back in 2009 but it is only recently that I am able to really dig into it. I'll start with a short intro about the car and my current plans on what I'd like to do with it. Then, I'll post a few recent pictures. My plan here is to pseudo document my work on the car to get some ideas, help with trouble shooting, and frankly just to talk about working on old Volvos. I felt a 164 thread was appropriate to balance out all the 140 builds.
The car:
I'm working on a 3-speed, 3.31 rear 1973 164E that's mostly original and, surprisingly, rather well documented. The original owner bought and drove the car until 2008 with occasional stints in storage. I have a lot of info regarding what the first owner did to the car. The major items that were done were complete underseal from new, new upholstery front and back, and rear wheel well rust repair. In 2008, the second owner bought it and l tucked it away in his garage. He had it for only about a year when I bought it in 2009. Since then, I've driven it about 10,000 miles, stuck it in storage for 3 years, and driven/dragged it across the country. I've blown the transmission and original fiber timing gear in the process and had my fair share of D-jet issues. The car has about 105,000 miles on it.
My plans:
I want to do a complete restoration of the car as best as I can and modify a few things here and there. I'd like to do most of the work myself, too. If you haven't already seen it, I take a lot of inspiration from John H's 164 build thread on the Volvo Owners Club forum out of the UK (see link). Currently, my plan is to freshen up the engine and suspension, drive it for a bit while the weather is still nice, then take it back into the garage for the resto work. Detroit has a lot of cruises that I hope I can get the car out to before starting the major resto items. Regarding the restoration, I will keep the look of the car mostly the same but I'll put my own touch on a few things (Mega Squirt conversion and more sporty styling). It'll be full road trim and I plan to keep the Volvo powertrain as much as possible. No turbos or blowers under the hood. I expect this will take something like 2-3 years of hard work and lots of my paychecks.
I've had the transmission rebuilt since blowing it a few years ago. I'll be sticking with the 3-speed for a little while, at least.
John H's 164 build: http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=60815
Also, I would like to:
Design my own Type R ish gauge cluster (perhaps Speedhut? VDO?)
Add front (and maybe rear?) spoiler(s)
Add Virgos (I have a nice set already)
Swap D-jet for Mega Squirt (lots of info from one of the 140 threads, plus D-jet stuff is sooooo scarce). Looking at an MSII kit.
Lower ride height
Replace all suspension bushings and ball joints
Respray the car the same green color
Go back to leather seats. Currently I have cloth seats (non-original). I'll post a photo soon.
Add fog lights (have some OE fogs that need some TLC)
Maybe tweak bumpers
Delete some OEM chrome trim
Retrofit R-12 A/C to R-134a
Here are some photos of the car to give you an idea of what I am working with.
The car:
I'm working on a 3-speed, 3.31 rear 1973 164E that's mostly original and, surprisingly, rather well documented. The original owner bought and drove the car until 2008 with occasional stints in storage. I have a lot of info regarding what the first owner did to the car. The major items that were done were complete underseal from new, new upholstery front and back, and rear wheel well rust repair. In 2008, the second owner bought it and l tucked it away in his garage. He had it for only about a year when I bought it in 2009. Since then, I've driven it about 10,000 miles, stuck it in storage for 3 years, and driven/dragged it across the country. I've blown the transmission and original fiber timing gear in the process and had my fair share of D-jet issues. The car has about 105,000 miles on it.
My plans:
I want to do a complete restoration of the car as best as I can and modify a few things here and there. I'd like to do most of the work myself, too. If you haven't already seen it, I take a lot of inspiration from John H's 164 build thread on the Volvo Owners Club forum out of the UK (see link). Currently, my plan is to freshen up the engine and suspension, drive it for a bit while the weather is still nice, then take it back into the garage for the resto work. Detroit has a lot of cruises that I hope I can get the car out to before starting the major resto items. Regarding the restoration, I will keep the look of the car mostly the same but I'll put my own touch on a few things (Mega Squirt conversion and more sporty styling). It'll be full road trim and I plan to keep the Volvo powertrain as much as possible. No turbos or blowers under the hood. I expect this will take something like 2-3 years of hard work and lots of my paychecks.
I've had the transmission rebuilt since blowing it a few years ago. I'll be sticking with the 3-speed for a little while, at least.
John H's 164 build: http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=60815
Also, I would like to:
Design my own Type R ish gauge cluster (perhaps Speedhut? VDO?)
Add front (and maybe rear?) spoiler(s)
Add Virgos (I have a nice set already)
Swap D-jet for Mega Squirt (lots of info from one of the 140 threads, plus D-jet stuff is sooooo scarce). Looking at an MSII kit.
Lower ride height
Replace all suspension bushings and ball joints
Respray the car the same green color
Go back to leather seats. Currently I have cloth seats (non-original). I'll post a photo soon.
Add fog lights (have some OE fogs that need some TLC)
Maybe tweak bumpers
Delete some OEM chrome trim
Retrofit R-12 A/C to R-134a
Here are some photos of the car to give you an idea of what I am working with.