In november of 2008, a good friend of mine was reeling from the economic downturn. He was needing money for his mortgage so I bought his disassembled 144. The motor was toast, the transmission had a mini-ecosystem growing in it. The interior was out...kind of rough. I started in earnest working on the car in January of 2009. Although it wasn't quite finished, in June, with 10 miles (yes, 10) I took off to the VCOA MidSommar meet in Tulsa...about a 600 mile round trip from Dallas. The only gauges that worked were the volt gauge and temp gauge. No speedometer, no tach, no fuel gauge, no a/c. I built the car myself; the motor, the transmission, the brakes and the paint. The seats are from a 91 240. Rear seats fit perfectly. For the front I had to weld the sliders from the 140 to the base of the 240 seats.
The motor was taken down to the bare block, freeze plugs and galley plugs removed. The good news was the cylinders were flawless other than a little surface rust. I was able to use standard rings, bearings and pistons. The motor and car only had 106k on it. Had been in a barn for 20+ years. I converted from DJet injection to dual SU HS6 carbs, added an Isky VV71 cam, milled the F head .065, used SBC lifters with longer push rods. Had the head fly cut to accept dual heavy duty springs...again from Isky. Steel timing gears. The transmission was totally dismantled and cleaned...new input and output bearings installed. The gears and synchronizers were in great shape. The rear end was fine so I merely cleaned it out and filled it up. Skandix lowering springs with KYB Gas-A-Just shocks. New clutch and pressure plate, throw out and pilot bearings. IPD sway bars. Some pics...
This as the day it was towed in...pretty sad

Brought it inside and started disassembling the motor and transmission. The motor looked bad before cleaning...

After cleaning...

Check that honing job!

Installed the crank

And the oil pump...

Time for pistons...I use pieces of fuel hose on the rod bolts to keep from scuffing the cylinder walls and crank



After the head was milled, I did a lot of combustion chamber work. Also, pics of the heavy duty springs...these valves won't float!!


Smaller, lighter valve lifters...

head installed on the painted block, fuel pump installed too...

On to the transmission. If you are going to tear down a manual transmission...the M40 is a good one to start with...

That's the whole thing

Lots of cleaning needed


Empty case...

reassemble

final product

More to come...

 

The easy part...
motor and tranny set in

installed Skandix bolt and play exhaust

primer time...

Final color coat


Seafoam green, #109...Locally, the car is referred to as "The Gekco" so I had Dave Barton do me some one off emblems...

The engine bay currently...a/c installed!!

At the meet in Tulsa...

15" DeVino Razor wheels

15" Black powder coated Virgos


16" Hydras

17" Voxx MGR's

The interior




At the meet in Tulsa...competing against 164's is like cadillacs competing w/ chevy's! I got third place...

Lots of work in 6 months, in between customers!! It's my daily driver currently.
Artsy PS pic...

Full HID lighting, led's in dash...

 

Exhaust sound byte here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WirmpDyTsCA

 

Great job, looks awesome!

 

Thanks! It was a lot of fun building it. I had forgotten how much WORK it was until I just started restoring an 80 242GT. The GT will definitely be my last!!

 

Drove the 144 down to Galveston last weekend. Ran super! Driving a car like this makes you appreciate some things like cruise control, overdrive (car has neither!). Still, I got 25+ mpg pulling 3800 rpm's in 4th!

 

That's what I said after my Platinum, which I'm still working on, but after a few months I forget the pain and I'm ready for another (a 242GT would be real nice with a B5234T/T5). But I didn't have to do any body work and that's what kicks my butt.

Nice Job and it sounds great. If you ever need any upholstery drop me a PM

https://volvoforums.com/forum/album....pictureid=2392

Nice ring compressor too, did you make it. looks easier than the ratchet type that I seem to need just one more click but can't get there.

 

Nah, that's an old school ring compressor...the kind that stays where you put it! I'm no expert with body work...it just take patience. When it looks good enough, just sand and prime it a couple more times!! As for the upholstery, I wish you were closer...GT seats are 30 years old now. I have two complete sets, I'll mix and match to get the best.

 

I just say this. Looks sweet! very nice work

 

 

that thing is awesome great work, good to see a classic volvo back on the road

 

Well, I've been driving the Gekco quite a bit lately with the weather having improved. Swapped on some powder coated Virgo's I picked up last year. Traded a long block turbo motor for 'em. I didn't need an extra engine and he didn't need an extra set of wheels so it worked out well.




Stock wheels for comparison...

 

Nice work, it's great to see old cars being brought back to life. I love the color especially with the stock rims.

 

Well, I'm not really a big fan of o.e. wheels being painted colors other than the way they came from the factory. I always think the wheels were messed up and somewhat took a rattle can to them because they couldn't afford to do them right. These were powder coated so the color won't be flaking off. I had intended to paint them back silver but I have to admit the black looks pretty good with the green. Old, huh? It has 30,000 less miles than the car in your sig!!

 

HI

How did you instal that kind of gauges? What are his dimensions or diameter?
have you photo of the back of the console with the fix system use for the gauges?
May be I will be insterested do that in my 75' 242 DL the console are equal.

 

Well, I have no pictures of the back side. The gauges are stock 52mm Volvo gauges found as options on turbo 240's and many GLE's. Typically, the toggle switches there are spaced out, with blanks between each toggle. I simply moved the toggles to the left, freeing up space. I reversed the gauge and, using the outside circumference as a template, drew two circles w/ pencil. Then I drew a second circle, approximately 1/4" smaller in diameter, within the original circle. A Dremel took care of the rest. Nothing special about the wiring under dash. The volt gauge wires to any convenient key on power source. A purist would run it to the fuse panel but there are other sources closer. For lighting, I merely piggybacked onto existing dash lighting. All the instrument lights were replaced with LED's with much less current draw than o.e. so the two extra bulbs are negligible. To the right of the gauges I removed the seat belt reminder light and used that space to mount the toggle for the driving lights. No real secret to it...probably one of the simplest tasks I did. On a pre 81 240, your gauge locations are equally limited. Other common locations for your car include removing the center vent/clock unit and locating up to, I believe, 5 52mm gauges there. I've seen people mount a defrost vent above it and connect that to the a/c duct to retain air movement! Another option is a gauge pod that mounts in place of the center radio speaker cut out on top of the dash. That pod was originally an R-Sport option and now occasionally reproduced by a fellow in Puerto Rico. None of those options are particularly simple; that's why on my 80 GT I'm swapping in an 81+ dash with the capacity built in, for 5 52mm gauges.

 

Intersting solution, I am thing do the same
Thanks

 

Where did you get your motor components? I know bout ipd, but they are out of everything. Also see your in Dallas. Would be cool to meet up and check out your gecko.

 

Just saw your note...PM'd you.

 

This thing is looking really good!
Good job getting it up to par!