So, we now have 2 vehicles up for sale actively, and another two to go...

  • PV544, Mike Harrison's road rally car: the YouTube video has been viewed 112 times
  • Amazon 132, Amy's road rally car: viewed 24 times
  • Still waiting for me to sort out videos
    • My lovely and hugely amusing 142
    • Our much loved Kawasaki Z1A that I've been riding for 23 years now

We turned around two cars this week, both with significant work...

  • Stewart's early B18 Amazon
    • suspension replacement: springs, bushes, shocks, steering joints
    • now all those creaks have disappeared!
    • Propshaft rebuild
    • and the rest of the service
  • Ian's early P1800S: "just a quick service before I go to Le Mans" was the instruction, but truth to tell it was not entirely as Mr Volvo intended
    • Fuelling sorted
    • steering sorted, new joints and geometry set
    • overdrive we got working, but very weakly, and it drops back into direct drive when the engine is under load
    • fuel smell: the rubber hose connecting the filler to the tank (sited in the boot) had split, see photo
    • rear wheel bearings replaced
    • front calipers replaced

 The 245, which we haven't named yet, is on the ramps now...

  • really easy to get the fittings stripped away ready to slide the gearbox & bellhousing back and off the car
  • but surprisingly difficult to get the starter motor bulge on the bellhousing to clear the transmission tunnel, I eventually resorted to dropping the downpipe off the exhaust manifold, and getting Emma to lever the back of the engine to the R.
    However, I anticipate refitting being a bit of a tinker...
  • a fair amount of oil on the inside of the bellhousing, so I whipped it off the gearbox and sure enough the front gasket was the culprit. Whilst there I replaced the nose seal, and will give the new gasket a light spray of Hylomar before reassembling.
  • The LUK clutch is excellent value, we always liked LUK but sadly they stopped making the B18/B20 clutch kit about 10y ago, so we have to supply Sachs units now.
  • The gearbox mount is actually not too bad, but I shall still put a fresh one in.
  • Thinking ahead to Emma's planned trip to Istanbul (umm, Iran, but she hasn't accepted that plan yet)
    • We shall delete both the front and rear antiroll bars, since there is a good chance of finding ourselves on rough surfaces, and very little chance that we shall do a timed lap at the Nurburgring en route.
    • The towbar needs to go
    • I can find no evidence that the cambelt was changed at 100,000 - although with full dealer servicing it would be surprising had it not been. Anyway I'll change it.
    • Fit Lambda boss to the downpipe and check that the carb, which appears to be running nicely (an Achilles heel on the 240 these days) is in fact working efficiently.
    • Fit a USB power outlet - in fact I have an hour before the end of the week is officially here, so let's get going...

Leave a comment about this article: volvo@amazoncars.co.uk

Back to News

 
Top