1973 Volvo 145E

Looking for ideas here.

I have a 1973 Volvo 145E, wagon of course, in stock condition. It's got the D-Jet Bosch fuel injection, 4-speed manual trans, and it's in pretty good shape. It has some rust bubbles around the bottom of the front windshield and bottom of the tailgate window. It needs some suspension work, probably tie rods and shocks. It will need the roof resprayed. It needs tires.

I have iPD sways. Plan is to buy Bilstein shocks, maybe new heavier springs for the rear. Tires are another $300 or so.

The work above leaves about $2500-3000 in the budget, so what do I do? My thoughts are to fix the rust, either having a shop weld in new metal ($$$) or maybe experiment with fiberglass myself. I'd like to use it in some form of racing, either rallycross or autocross, with TSD rallies for kicks.

Any thoughts? Pics soon.

Don't glass over rust. It makes everything much worse. Id pay the man, respray, and start driving. Spend whatever is left on what really needs it.

If I was doing fibreglass, I would grind it down to metal prior. Still no good? I have no experience in really fixing rust, all prior cars were driven through winter salt every year, so there was no point.

This is a California car, so the underside is gorgeous, but looks like it was parked under a tree at some point, which caused the lower edge of windows to collect moisture.

Grind it down to bare metal around the repair area - take it to a welding shop (or find nearby GRMer who can mig in a patch. Will cost more like $50 rather than the $100sss a body shop will hit you up for.

sand, prime, plastidip paint for a couple hundred and consider what engine swap or turbo hoonage you could come up with using the rest of the budget.

Well, if any GRMers in the Detroit area want to help a brotha out, I'd certainly compensate them.

If the suspension bushings are close to original age, they'll probably need refreshing. The front upper control arm bushings are a bit tough to get to - especially the passenger side under the intake manifold. The inner bolt for the LCA's can be frozen and tough to get out. If you're planning to replace the shocks and ball joints, this would be the time to replace the bushings as well.

Well, a long winter sit and it fires right up. Not much was done over the winter. Got new tires mounted for about $200, changed all the vital fluids, and that's about it so far.

Still looking around at body shops for the rust repair. I'm going to start digging into the front end for my next project. Looks like it will certainly need bushings, ball joints, the works. I did pick up a front and rear set of iPD sway bars.

That'll look pretty neat on some fat rubber and a lower ride height. Certainly looks like it's in killer shape.

At this point I will be keeping the stock ride height and skinny tires. The wheels are only 4.5 inch width, and even stock height front springs are unobtainium on this model.

I had a 245 with rust starting on the rear windows which is one of the reasons I sold it. I didn't think I could handle doing the repair. Now I kick myself for it. These cars are worth the minor expense of fixing and the car an I would have both been better off for the experience. You have a really pretty car there.

That thing looks mint!

bastomatic wrote: At this point I will be keeping the stock ride height and skinny tires. The wheels are only 4.5 inch width, and even stock height front springs are unobtainium on this model.

Eibach catalog w/ height/diameter specs? Pick and choose?

Wide steelies on the cheap???

...or enjoy it as-is as a now-unique, now-rare driver.

That's sweet. Should be able to shove a SBF in there without too much trouble. They fit in the later 240s. Or just get a later turbo four banger and shove it in. God knows those old Volvo engines don't break.

In reply to Tim Baxter:

No. While outwardly similar to the 240, the 140 series cars are blessed with the same double A-arm suspension and cramped engine bay as the 122 and 1800 cars. Any sort of V8 engine conversion is a PITA involving a lot of cutting.

What an awesome car. You don't see them in any condition around any more, much less in that kind of shape.

I stand corrected. Ian knows.

Thanks guys, it's the kind of car that doesn't attract much attention most of the time on the street for some reason. Suppose because they made 240 wagons til 1993.

Thinking of adding a bumper sticker : "Don't blame me, I voted for McGovern"

Nice car!! Im def watching this thread. i recently found a '73 144 that the owner is basically giving away. even offered a straight trade. good luck w/ the build. i love the lines on these cars.