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Canyoneagle's 1979 245

canyoneagle

Striving for mediocrity
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Hi, after selling my '90 740 Turbo wagon last year, I've been missing the Volvo love.

In the past few months I've started a new job that is only a few miles from home, so I've been searching for a cheap and reliable car to use as my DD. A few weeks ago an orange '79 245 popped onto the local Craigslist. I looked at it and bought it that day.
The car looks like it is in decent overall condition - the orange paint is dull, but the car is mostly rust free (the only spot I have seen is the driver's side buttcheek) and I think the paint will buff out nicely.
The car runs pretty rough, but there is no sign of smoke or other potential nastiness.

The M46 seems to be in good shape with what feels to be a fresh(ish) clutch. The OD seems to be OK.

So I have launched into an initial round of work to get it into basic daily driving condition, but I would like to make this a long term project - resto mod.

The initial round involves:
  • Exhaust: original system is shot. Installing new 2.25" (IPD) and cat delete. The original section behind the cat was full of small holes, so I've had a new piece fabbed locally.
  • Cooling: Also shot. New radiator, hoses, water pump and thermostat are going in.
  • Fuel system: after checking locally to see if anyone could test/clean the mechanical injectors (I don't have a test bench) I found it cheaper to just buy new injectors. I'll install a new filter as well. The accumulator, mid pump, tank pump and filter will be another project for the not too distant future.
  • Ignition New coil (Bosch Blue), wires (IPD), rotor/cap, and plugs are going in this weekend.
  • Electrical I put one of Philski's 100A Denso's in the car last weekend. Gotta love the proximity to the oil filter ;-). New alt ground and some re-work elsewhere should suffice for now.
  • General maintenance I've replaced the oil in the diff, tranny and engine, and am installing a new timing belt + alt/ps belts. The front seals all look good for now. I have new ones but will hold off on installing them at the moment. I've installed a new O2 sensor (cheap and easy) and flame trap / hoses. I'll replace all of the vacuum lines while I'm at it.
  • Fun stuff IPD had Hella H4's on sale so I have 4 shiny objects to install. I plan to do the relay mod to alleviate overloading the headlight switch. I like the look of the quad rounds, so no 7" conversion is envisioned.
That is pretty much it for now.
I got started last weekend with tearing out the old in preparation for installing the new. I hope to have it back on the road this weekend.

Pics coming soon! This is merely a placekeeper for now.

My wife and I are closing on a house at the end of the month, so I don't have a workshop until then.
HUGE gratitude to fellow TB'er impolvo for allowing me to use his space
 
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Some initial photos:

Placekeeper for the car as I got it - it snowed the day I picked it up so I need to get pics from the seller.


In the bay, ready for round 1:




 
Step 1 - Exhaust



Had to cut the bolts/cat at the headpipe flange





Old out, next to new. Note old stub that must have been done at some point

 
The old section that ran from the cat to the mid-resonator was shot. I had a local shop fab a section for me, plus a new flanged cat delete. I opted to do a sleeved joint here so I could better align the newly fabbed section with bends, etc.

New cat delete stub:

 
Step 2: cooling and mechanical

The engine bay was pretty dirty. This is how it looked after my initial wipe down. Note: I had removed the old line running from the flame trap to the air box before snapping the photo ;)
There was alot of oil on the lower 3rd of the filter. I hope the fresh trap kit keeps it clean.



I pulled out the cooling system and the alternator/water pump / timing cover and started sussing things out.

The old radiator was ready to retire


Shiny new Denso 100A (Thanks Philski)

 
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As you can see from the photos, the engine bay needs some serious cleaning. I'll do some initial physical removal of the thick stuff with a paint scraper, but would love to see what fellow TB'ers might recommend. I'll scour the forums for cleaning threads.
 
Thanks! I'm digging the orange.

impolvo has a shed full of stuff, including a commando air dam, that I'll be cherry picking for my car. BTW impolvo has a nice collection of Volvos! :)
 
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The interior is pretty good. The typical torn driver's seat cushion is there, and outside of being extremely dirty (I don't think the previous owner cleaned the car much) it looks to be in decent shape. The dash has one very small crack at the instrument cluster bump, the door cards are mostly OK, but even in the dirty state the car was when I picked it up, it felt pretty good.

I'll post some more pics soon - exhaust system is going in this evening.
 
I wondered who managed to snag that. Glad it stayed in the family.

;-)
I knew it wouldn't be up for long, so I jumped on it the day it posted.
I hope to get the initial round of work done this weekend so I can start driving it :cool:

The car had apparently made a journey from its former home in Washington State to NC a couple of weeks before the sale. Story is that the seller is friends with the prior owner, who was leaving the country and drove the car cross country before heading overseas.

I think it is pretty solid overall - just needs some love. I plan to keep this one a good long time :)
 
Sounds good. Since you're semi-local, be sure an introduce yourself in the NC chat thread. We try and do a few get togethers every year...I'm up in the mountains and tend to serve as the unofficial TB mountain base camp. We did a meet at Jordan Lake a couple years back that was a really great time.

Keep an eye on the events section too. We'd love to have you at MountainMeet 2016.
 
Will do!
Several TB'ers that I already know of locally (I'm using impolvo's carport at the moment), so I'll hop over to the thread and say hello.
BTW LOVE your '79 and its many iterations. I'd love to do a T5 swap and either go turbo or twincam up front - but.... that will be at some point down the road..

Sounds good. Since you're semi-local, be sure an introduce yourself in the NC chat thread. We try and do a few get togethers every year...I'm up in the mountains and tend to serve as the unofficial TB mountain base camp. We did a meet at Jordan Lake a couple years back that was a really great time.

Keep an eye on the events section too. We'd love to have you at MountainMeet 2016.
 
Will do!
Several TB'ers that I already know of locally (I'm using impolvo's carport at the moment), so I'll hop over there and say hello.
BTW LOVE your '79 and its many iterations. I'd love to do a T5 swap and either go turbo or twincam up front - but.... that will be at some point down the road..

60347502.jpg
 
Got the exhaust in.
The old flanged section from the cat was shot




The old and the new, with extra length to mate up to the IPD system



MMMMM.... new shiny things



Sorta fuzzy, but hey....

 
Now that the exhaust is in, I'm set to make some headway with the many other things I would like to get done this weekend.

I plan to wire brush/prime/paint the steelies, so I need to slot that little mini-project into the mix.

I would love to de-grease the engine bay. I know it is not good to pressure wash underhood - I'm all ears for recommendations. It seems tedious to hand wipe with a solvent, but that is what I've been doing as I go.
 
Now that the exhaust is in, I'm set to make some headway with the many other things I would like to get done this weekend.

I plan to wire brush/prime/paint the steelies, so I need to slot that little mini-project into the mix.

I would love to de-grease the engine bay. I know it is not good to pressure wash underhood - I'm all ears for recommendations. It seems tedious to hand wipe with a solvent, but that is what I've been doing as I go.

Go to a pay 'n spray, soak the engine bay with degreaser, let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Start the engine, then spray it with water. Don't shoot stuff directly at the distributor and you should be just fine. If the car starts to stumble, stop spraying.
 
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