Sadly, Faye Valentine currently rests submissively under a cheap AutoZone car cover, waiting for gas prices to be kinder and bank accounts to grow sufficiently for her engine rebuild. She still runs fine, but now that classes are over for a while and gas has risen 30% since I needed her so much this Spring, I just can't justify two cars on the insurance. Well, hopefully the Fall will bring some new options.

However, I did recently stumble across a few pictures of some very hot 140s, mostly in Sweden...

















...And finally, our own beloved wagon under an Oregon sky...

Ever since I bought my 145 a year and a half ago I have been somewhat annoyed at how stiff the suspension is, especially in the front. The guy who owned it before me had done all the suspension work, including lowering it, and I figured that well, it's really low, its got stiff springs and shocks---not much I can short of changing out those parts. Then AC began to gently insist that we really needed to find a way to soften it up a bit. So the next time changed the oil I started looking closely at the front suspension and quickly discovered something I should have noticed since the first time I looked under the car: The springs had been cut a LOT, like 3+ inches, but the bump-stops were still at full height, so when sitting still, unladen, the car was resting on the bump-stops, not the springs. No wonder it was so rough! After taking some measurements to make sure the fender wells could accommodate more wheel travel, I took out an old razor blade and carefully cut about an inch off of both stops. The result? Without the extra support from the stops, the car now sits about 1/2"-1" lower in the front, which is great because it closes the gap between the top of the tire and the fender, giving the car a much meaner look---and the best part: we now have over 1 inch (out at the tire) of travel before the lower wishbones hit the stops!!! (Most normal cars have no less than 5" of travel---looks and handling do come with a price). However, the difference in ride quality after trimming the stops is really significant, and handling is actually improved slightly since there is greater sensitivity to the contours of the road. Nice, easy fix. I like.

Really good things have been happening to dear little Faye Valentine. After many weeks of careful saving and many quotes and comparisons at various shops, I finally had the original seats re-upholstered in the original color---and they are BEAUTIFUL. And oh-so comfy. The high-quality vinyl looks a lot like leather too, I was impressed. I did some carpeting on my own and added rear speakers, and I also am working on building some front door panels; baby steps, baby steps...
The steering wheel was an ebay find ($36) and is pretty old (1960s or '70s); a bit battered, but it is still pretty, and it fits the imperfect nature of this car perfectly. I also broke down and bought the clear turn lenses for he front. I LOVE the way it looks. It's all in the details...

I got bored and drew our 145 while sitting in class...we were talking about perspective.

My wagon is turning into a toggle switch car! Since this old brick is my daily driver I can't afford to have it down for any real length of time, and things like headlight switches and hazard buttons are pretty hard to come by; and now that the F---ing California DMV has harassed and threatened us sufficiently to make me get the car registered here (ever though my current tags are still good I am moving back to Oregon in less than a year) I have to have everything functioning for the $80 state inspection. What a DRAG. The switches don't look too bad though...

My cars have role models now. As a vintage Volvo owner I have, of course, been dreaming of all the various cool things I want to do to my cars; how much to keep original, how much of a performance look to give them each, etc. Well, I found this wagon on the Oregon Volvo Tuners site, and though some you may scratch your heads, this pretty much sums it all up for me---it just doesn't any better---a little '60s race car glam, some faded American hot rod bits, and just a little touch of '90s Euro-tuner/alternative rocker thrown in to round it all out.(I would perhaps keep it a little cleaner in the grill area though, and just one color please!):



And when I can finally afford to paint it, this is the selected color:



As for Faye Valentine, she is going to stay an ivory/off white color when I paint her, same color as the one below, and unless I find a REALLY good deal on some REALLY cool rims, she will keep her red and polished aluminum steelies; but in terms of trim, those sweet clear turn lights and finish quality, this one from Sweden sets the standard for my Faye. (I'm not going to air-bag the suspension though!):

Well, I have answered some of my own questions---way too much time researching online---about some of the Volvo parts I have been looking for: VLVworld and Skandix both carry the clear turn lenses; they are spendy, but worth it I think when I finally get a new paint job. I also found the right steering wheel hub for the pre-'73 140: it is made by the Italian company Volanti Luisi, part number 7702, and fits Momo wheels. This is exciting because, despite my earlier complaints I have been able to find used Momo wheels on ebay for pretty cheap on occasion...we'll see.

Volvo 140 Questions

I very much doubt that this blog has enough visibility that anyone reading it will know any more than I do about some of the obscure questions I have, but just in case you do, please impart your lore! (1st: will a 240 steering wheel hub (say, Momo or Nardi) fit the 140 steering column splines? (2nd: Where can I find belt-line chrome for the doors on a 142? (3rd: I am planning a Celica 5-speed conversion. Any advice, helpful hints? (4th: Where can I find those kick-ass clear front turn lenses I see on the 140 pics from Sweden?

Volvo pushrod performance dreams

I thought it might be nice to have pictures on this blog that are not of my own cars for once---so here are a few shots of some beautiful hot-rodded B20 motors, mostly from Sweden.







Those Swedes know how to make an old Volvo look good...and the last shot is perhaps the hottest 145 in existence. I saved the picture from a craigslist posting in the Bay Area. It sold immediately.

Surprisingly, some long and detailed carb tuning, involving a lot of guesswork and a real seat-of-the-pants touch, reduced Faye Valentine's life-threatening illness to a mild cough in the morning and some slight issues maintaining sufficient breath at some occasional inconvenient intersections ('puff-puff, Faye-Faye' -Ed). An added bonus to this this unexpected surge of new life is drastically less tailpipe smoke, partly from a much leaner fuel mixture, and partly from dumping half a bottle of 'Tune-up in a Can' into the engine oil *shudder*. I know that stuff is evil, and murder on an engine, but I guess she is more or less beyond feeling pain at this point. She will probably linger in the twilight of her years for some time, beautiful to the end, and at long last (hopefully months and months from now) she will pass away quietly in the night when no one is around. And in the meantime, I have roughly an 87% chance of making it to class and back for the rest of this semester. But it's okay, I'll chance it. Because it's Faye: 'hottest granny in the galaxy!'

Poor Faye Valentine. First, the conversion from a Bosch alternator (externally regulated, and therefore complicated) to a Chevy unit (internally regulated, three times the amp output and FREE from a friend) has proven to be more difficult than first imagined. However, after several attempts at wiring and getting everything mounted properly, the project is done and healthy. Now there are deeper problems. We must face the fact (she and I) that her piston rings are so badly worn that there is practically no compression left, meaning that the amount of oil she is burning would cause any self-respecting, environmentally-aware person to lose consciousness. Worse than that, the 'performance' SU carburettors are running too rich, and like all English-built automotive components, are a tuning nightmare; which presents the problem that when Faye has been running long enough to be warm, the combination of no compression and over-gaseous mixture means that no amount of coaxing will induce her to start again---until she has cooled down for at least an hour. This makes simple operations such as filling up with gas or stopping for a quick grocery-run a matter of extreme embarrassment and frustration. *Sigh* Well, I guess now I have an excuse for a high-performance engine rebuild...A costly, time-consuming project to slip in between classes, work and SoCal-style living costs. Hmmmm. Maybe I will just never shut the car off. That way, every time I stop somewhere and run inside I can come back past the burbling, sputtering, belching exhaust pipe and count how many bodies have been asphyxiated and fallen twitching to the sticky pavement...

Finally! The wheels are painted and back on the car. I hate to boast, but you have to admit they look prrreeeeeeeettttyyy nice.



Well, here is an updated interior shot; the road-sign-turned-steering-wheel-center is looking decent, and the dashboard is about as fixed up as it can be without a bunch of new parts. Still need to work on getting the seats redone (or install others); and eventually, redo the carpet, door panels and rear seat. But for now I am satisfied. (Most likely suspension and engine work will come before interior, not to mention paint!)

I couldn't get air filters for this car by normal means, and the only ones I did eventually find cost $70! Building assemblies to accomodate washable K & N style filters seemed like a much better plan, soooo...

The necessary pieces:



The remains of the old units after being cannibalized for mounting plates:



A splash of red paint:



The finished product. Not quite as gnarly-looking as I has hoped, but they will do just fine.

More fun stuff with Faye Valentine today; a piece of aluminum road sign makes a great replacement for the missing center on the steering wheel, (alas, no one makes an adapter for the Volvo 140 steering column except MOMO, whose steering wheels go for $200-$500 dollars). Poop. Well, I have made up my mind that this wheel can be cool too, so it's getting some hand-brushed aluminum bling. I'll put up a better picture of the finished job when it's done gluing.



When I got the car someone had broken off the headlight knob, flush with the dash. I could still get my fingernails in there enough to pull it on, but it was annoying to say the least. So I spent some time thinking about the problem and poking around among the random spare parts in the shop when I was hit with a great idea: Volvos run for time eternal, right? And odometers attempt to log this progress toward infinity, ya? Well, it just so happened that my dear old VW Rabbit had one last favor to give: I disassembled her broken speedometer that was still in a box in the back room of the Tack House, extracted one of the one mile wheels (black) and the one-tenth-of-a-mile wheel (white), drilled them out a bit, very carefully drilled a hole straight into the broken-off stem of the headlight switch and put it all together with a long screw. Clever, no?



The first coat of red paint on the wheels. They will get another coat on Thursday or Friday. Then the hub caps go back on so that all you see is a nice little stripe of red between the aluminum cover and the tire.





The air filters are in a bad way...

Scraping off old nasty window tint with a razor blade is not really one of my choice pastimes, but it had to be done. An hour or so later I had clean windows that were all the same color!



The interior is looking markedly better, but I would love to find a steering wheel adapter for something a little more racy (if you know what I mean, and I think you do...)



The car came without rubber pads on the padals, and no gas pedal at all. I found these on clearance at AutoZone, and normally I think they look cheesy, but they look alright in this car---it goes with the vintage Euro-racer look. AND, by an interesting glitch in the system, I got them for only 1 cent. (No joke!)



Amazing, the transformation some soap and water can bring about...





If you want a nice-looking older car, it is all about the details...I am sanding and painting this oil cap which happens to be one of the more prominent things under the hood.

I love the way this car looks without bumpers. I took off the front mud flaps as well, (they were hitting the ground every time I went over a bump), and have been doing tons of little things to the interior and engine the last few days. There seems to be an endless supply of odds and ends that can be improved, but that is one of the reasons I love this car!. A new crankcase breather is a lot better than the old busted PCV valve which was sucking oil into the carbs, and the old vacuum hoses were full of holes. All better now; one of the next absolute necessities though, are front seats, the current ones just won't do at all...