Just Can't Stay Away 1972 142S

[Coupid]

After a year or so since I sold my 780, I could no longer stand to be without a Volvo.

A few months ago I decided that if I got another it would have to be smog exempt (pre 75) so that I didn't have to deal with the one major drawback to being a car guy in California. I figured buying a project would help keep me from modifying my DD plus I missed all the associated volvo shens.

The initial search was for a 122 but it became pretty aparaent that they are a little too old and expensive for me. This led me to consider the 140. I have owned 240s, a 740 and the aforementioned 780 but I never owned anything that old or carb'd.

My DD is a wagon so I thought a 145 would be redundant and I really like the look of a two door. Since it would be a fun weekend cruiser, I wanted a manual transmission, preferably a M41. I searched all over TB, IPD and craigslist for a few months and looked at a few local cars. Since I wasn't finding what I was looking for I started expanding my search area to include ebay and various craigslists all the way up to Northern California.

Then one day after I got home from work I checked my phone and saw a "1972 Volvo Sedan" pop up in Santa Barbara. I texted the owner within about 2 hours of her post trying to see it that night. Due to scheduling conflicts we decided to meet on Sunday. The two blurry pictures didn't tell a lot about the car but she mentioned that she was the original owner and the engine had been rebuilt 25k ago (at 225k..)


The car did have some rust and the front half of the hood had been poorly resprayed at some point. The original owner was a high school teacher who had purchased the car before heading off to college herself.

After some negotiations the following day I rode my bike out to her house and purchased the car:

Here it is on the long way back home:



When I got it home I immediately took off the seat and steering wheel covers and opened up the trunk where I found about 5 damp towels:



Miraculously the car had been garaged until about 2 years ago. The butt cheeks are intact even though they were stuffed with damp rags:



Today I took it off non-op, put insurance on it and started taking stock of what I bought.

Driving back I could tell right away that it had a rather large exhaust leak. Today I confirmed that:



I see that simmons makes a sport exhaust but I will probably stick with a stock replacement to keep the noise reasonable since without overdrive it probably has to work a lot at highway speeds.

It is super straight:



The interior looks really immaculate....


from that side


First orders of business are getting the exhaust fixed and addressing the paint/rust. Here are some more photos

Before Degreaser:





After a little cleaning:



Some rust:




I am very excited to start this project. The goals are for a slightly sportier weekend driver. I would appreciate any thoughts on replacement exhaust systems. Although it sort of looks like "systems" might be discontinued and I just need to have something welded up.

[Sine Qua Non]

Saw that ad. Lucky for you to be on the west coast

[Jack]

I loved your 780. I saw it few times on the 101 going south when I lived in SB

I have a soft spot for the 140s now. Rare at this point that they are almost obscure. I enjoy very much finding the correct parts for them.

Im building my own exhaust with an R sport muffler I found

Every socal 140 has rust under pass windshield. Mine is bone dry except for that one spot. I wonder why? Parking under trees on l.a. streets for 40 years?

Originally Posted by Coupid

After a year or so since I sold my 780, I could no longer stand to be without a Volvo.

A few months ago I decided that if I got another it would have to be smog exempt (pre 75) so that I didn't have to deal with the one major drawback to being a car guy in California. I figured buying a project would help keep me from modifying my DD plus I missed all the associated volvo shens.

The initial search was for a 122 but it became pretty aparaent that they are a little too old and expensive for me. This led me to consider the 140. I have owned 240s, a 740 and the aforementioned 780 but I never owned anything that old or carb'd.

My DD is a wagon so I thought a 145 would be redundant and I really like the look of a two door. Since it would be a fun weekend cruiser, I wanted a manual transmission, preferably a M41. I searched all over TB, IPD and craigslist for a few months and looked at a few local cars. Since I wasn't finding what I was looking for I started expanding my search area to include ebay and various craigslists all the way up to Northern California.

Then one day after I got home from work I checked my phone and saw a "1972 Volvo Sedan" pop up in Santa Barbara. I texted the owner within about 2 hours of her post trying to see it that night. Due to scheduling conflicts we decided to meet on Sunday. The two blurry pictures didn't tell a lot about the car but she mentioned that she was the original owner and the engine had been rebuilt 25k ago (at 225k..)


The car did have some rust and the front half of the hood had been poorly resprayed at some point. The original owner was a high school teacher who had purchased the car before heading off to college herself.

After some negotiations the following day I rode my bike out to her house and purchased the car:

Here it is on the long way back home:



When I got it home I immediately took off the seat and steering wheel covers and opened up the trunk where I found about 5 damp towels:



Miraculously the car had been garaged until about 2 years ago. The butt cheeks are intact even though they were stuffed with damp rags:



Today I took it off non-op, put insurance on it and started taking stock of what I bought.

Driving back I could tell right away that it had a rather large exhaust leak. Today I confirmed that:



I see that simmons makes a sport exhaust but I will probably stick with a stock replacement to keep the noise reasonable since without overdrive it probably has to work a lot at highway speeds.

It is super straight:



The interior looks really immaculate....


from that side


First orders of business are getting the exhaust fixed and addressing the paint/rust. Here are some more photos

Before Degreaser:





After a little cleaning:



Some rust:




I am very excited to start this project. The goals are for a slightly sportier weekend driver. I would appreciate any thoughts on replacement exhaust systems. Although it sort of looks like "systems" might be discontinued and I just need to have something welded up.

I have a 2.25 with a magnaflow under muffler position #1, then straight all the way to the back. It gets old after 30 minutes. Fun at first. I bought it that way and its spotless so it stays for the time being.

[AndrewNance]

The system on my car is very nice and has the perfect sound for a sporty DD. It's not loud at all but you can definitely hear it. Not sure what brand it is or where Mike bought it though.

[Jack]

Originally Posted by 240240

Every socal 140 has rust under pass windshield. Mine is bone dry except for that one spot. I wonder why? Parking under trees on l.a. streets for 40 years?

Mine does not.. But sb weather gets pretty murky in some spots

Also stop trashing his thread by quoting 39milion pictures just edit them out ....

[240keith]

Good looking car Colin!

Danny, who shares a shop with Advanced Automotive on Aero Camino is supposed to be pretty good, and popular for the hot rod guys.

He did a stainless repair for us for cheap, but I haven't needed to use him on any of my personal stuff (haven't needed yet)

Let me know if you need a hand with it.

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by 240keith

Good looking car Colin!

Danny, who shares a shop with Advanced Automotive on Aero Camino is supposed to be pretty good, and popular for the hot rod guys.

He did a stainless repair for us for cheap, but I haven't needed to use him on any of my personal stuff (haven't needed yet)

Let me know if you need a hand with it.

Thanks for the offer and the lead Keith! They have photos of an URS4-RS2 on their site so they probably like working on unique stuff

Originally Posted by jack

I loved your 780. I saw it few times on the 101 going south when I lived in SB

I have a soft spot for the 140s now. Rare at this point that they are almost obscure. I enjoy very much finding the correct parts for them.

Im building my own exhaust with an R sport muffler I found

Thanks! Let me know how the exhaust turns out

[Coupid]

I was able to source a NOS front exhaust setup to replace the rusted one on the car. I also found a NOS front muffler. Both parts should arrive next week!

[Coupid]

Anyone know where I can get one of these?



All of the lenses are in good shape but this got crunched by some kid in a parking lot.

[hiperfauto]

Did the kid have insurance?

http://212.247.61.152/us/main.aspx?p...e&artno=677746.

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by hiperfauto

Did the kid have insurance?

http://212.247.61.152/us/main.aspx?p...e&artno=677746.

Dayum! Thanks for the link, you're right thats a lot though.

I wasn't clear, the original owner said that some kid tapped it with a like 15 years ago...

[hiperfauto]

I sold this NOS one to a TBer a while ago.



I have this one, but it's not in the best condition.





Place an ad in the wanted section if you want something nicer.

[Coupid]

As I am waiting for the exhaust parts to arrive, I decided to knock out a few little interior issues. The PO put a double layer of steering wheel covers on the wheel. One layer came right off the day I bought it but the other was a little more burned on. Sorted that out today:

Before:


During:



Still needs a little more adhesive remover but it's worlds better than before:

[Old Iron]

Nice car, this will clean up nicely, looking forward to seeing its progress!

[Coupid]

Stuff is starting to show up! The entire will be brand new by the end of the weekend. Just need to steel wool the surface rust off this ole muffler

[Coupid]

I kept on removing bits of exhaust so that it will be ready to go when the rest of the new stuff arrives.

It also got its first oil change in quite some time. Best I can tell the sticker says March 2009 at 254xxx. It is only at 252xxx so I don't think it has been driven much this decade.

[Coupid]

Even though I feel like I'm just talking to myself in here, it will be great to have a record of what I have done.

hiperfauto was able to quickly ship the license plate housing out and I couldnt wait to get it on. I will be removing and refinishing but I wanted to see it on the car:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/x1Umf2]

I think some people would pay extra for that patina... Thanks Hiper!

I also got the rest of the rusty exhaust off using PBblaster, a BFH and a dresser for leverage:



The new one should be arriving from the Uk this evening!

Until then, its up in the air waiting to be put back together:

[JERIC]

You will love this car, I daily drove one for six years, still have it drive it once or
a week now cause it needs some work I haven't had time to do, four kids etc

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by JERIC

You will love this car, I daily drove one for six years, still have it drive it once or
a week now cause it needs some work I haven't had time to do, four kids etc

I'm very excited to get it a little more sorted so I can start enjoying it while I fixed the rest of it.


Today I put on a new shifter boot since the other was in about 7 pieces:



While I was reattaching the instrument cluster the other day I replaced some fuses and plugged in some loose wires. Low and behold I now have a light that tells me when the choke is on AND the clock is backlit!! Love those little improvements

[turbotankshane]

I love your car. Do want, seems like you got a good one.

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by turbotankshane

I love your car. Do want, seems like you got a good one.

Thanks! It's coming along nicely.


I finished bolting up the new exhaust today.

Pro TIP: Don't tighten the collar that holds the exhaust to the body before you finish tightening the 3 bolts that attach the system to the exhaust manifold. I couldn't figure out why I had a huge exhaust leak in the engine bay until I loosened the collar and found that I could tighten that junction even more.





MMM fresh exhaust


I'm assuming I don't really need the preheater hose right?

[AndrewNance]

Not in your climate. I ditched mine too.

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by AndrewNance

Not in your climate. I ditched mine too.

Alright cool, Ill start getting rid of it.

I knocked out a few more little jobs this afternoon

Polished some brightwork:



and cut the tailpipe a little shorter so that I stop bashing my shin into it every time I grab a tool in the garage.



This week I will cut it back a little further and then add a little turn down tip. This is so much better for now since It sits perfectly flush with the bumper: