b230ft in 145i Build thread

Good luck with the paint preparations, sanding really blows, but I bet you already knew that.

What kind of downpipe did you use? I've tried to fit a 760 downpipe but it didn't came down quick enough to clear the firewall.

I hacked the end off the stock down pipe leaving about 2 inches on it to be flared out to 2.75 inch diameter. Then i put 2.75 (2 3/4) inch pipe, no cat, all the way out to a magnaflow low resistance muffler.

I wanted to go 3 inch but it would not clear over the rear axle.

Well been paint prepping again and look like the passenger has some cancer as well. not as bad as the drivers side.







So lesson of the day is when your buying a car and checking it out poke them little bubbles! Then ask $250 or more off the cost !

Awesome work on the car, I've got my new pulley and I'm gonna attack the car over the holiday break. Thanks for the detail shots on the mounts. Hopefully Ill have good new to report back with soon.

Oh the smell of metal rust treatment, etching paint and bondo in the morning.

Just keep telling myself, " i will get this done, I will get this done."

So took some time today to sort out the finder lighting restore.

The Issue with all of the volvo lights is that over the years the covers have come off to change bulbs by all the previous owners and the screws have been lost and replaced with non stainless steel screws. So they get all rusted out like this one. And its accelerated because the plastic boot that covers and seals the light housing have lots of holes for moisture to get in.



So after getting all of these bad screws out with only breaking one liens I decided to do some referb and securing with stainless steal.


The other issue is that most of the early 140's i see have missing or broken plastic chrome trim for the front turn signal. Over the years they get real yellow as well.

you can see the glue on this one Ive decided to save.



With some good plastic spray paint for a base and then chrome spray you can get them looking kinda normal. Better than what you have on there any way.



Also youll notice how black the rubber boot that surrounds the light. I got this idea from redwood. I used some silicone spray to clean them up and get the rubber to soak up some life. Then i had an idea of using a real light coat of rtv rubbed in and smeared on the back to plug holes in the boot.
I let it dry for 36hrs before putting it back on the car. It came out perfect.

The last, issue Ive already had to experience, is the loss of a part. Your turn signal light suround and plastic are a target by theifs. Lucy me i parted out a 1969 with some more but having a screw in there is an EZ grab for any one with a letherman. So i thought id make it jsut a bit harder to steal.

Allan head stainless can still be took off but they had better have the supper small allan or the perfect flat head to get at them. I'm not saying its impossible to take but just a bit harder.



Final result for the passenger side.






Its not chrome but way better than what was on there.

Nice looking color, is the whole car painted now? got some shots of the total car? I like it. Is it a primer or a base coat that you've painted with? If its a base coat without a clear coat you have to be very careful with oil and gasoline, in general it has very poor chemical resistance.

Its Olive Drab Green supper flat. First all metal exposed gets etching paint. Then any bondo that's needed goes over etching paint. Then i sand and prime and sand and prime until im happy; Using a wet sanding primer med grade. Then what your seeing is the OD Green on top of that. I still have to sand it lightly in places and paint again OD and sand that with 2000 grit. Its ok paint. It does not take up the oil but the drawback of that is its so hard that it chips EZ but i have cans of it so no worries. chips are ez to fix when you have a good base like i made sure to do. I wanted a cheep topcoat thats EZ to clean and sand for the real paint job coming in a year when i can aford it. I'm currently putting 100 or more away every month into the paint job savings account. When i hit about 1800 to 2200 USD ill get a real paint job.

The sad thing is i really like the OD green. If it holds up I may leave it that way for years. It looks like it will soak up stuff because its ULTRA FLAT

Oh and not its not all painted yet. I just keep working my way back with rags and rubbing alcohol. Try not to over spray on the other dusty panels that have been painted. Did it 2 X and had to sand forever again. Basically i clean the entire car ever time i work my way down. Its a long process but the garage gets used all the time so i cant tie it up for days doing a paint job i have to do it in sections

well up early again. Got the back passenger side windows taped up good. Took awhile to get it correct. Used a flat blade to push the tape into cracks etc. I think i can do the drivers back side in less than an hour now that i know what I'm doing. I'll be sure to post photos later tonight of the entire passenger side painted.

Only 10:15am and i have 90% of the priming done on the passenger side. Taking 1 and 1/2 hr break while the heaters cure the primer.

Well as you can see got the first run on the passenger side done. Still have to sand and respray again but its coming along.

If you notice its still not dry. look at the front fender, then look at the section where fender meets door back. 50% of that blotchy comes out with drying. Another 40% comes out with light sanding. The other 10% left comes out with reapplication and sanding again.

the bondo dirrectly over the rust will last a year or so... so you basically just wasted your time...

2fast242gt said:

the bondo dirrectly over the rust will last a year or so... so you basically just wasted your time...

Click to expand...

herp derp

I like the collor, I'm curios to see it all dun

Fcking baller!

I'm loving the exterior color with the door panels/headliner fabric. I didn't think the red car went with that but now that I see you're painting it, it's fabulous! Kudos, can't wait to see it in person sometime.

Here i am test fitting and bending chrome to fit. I'm spending 66 usd in chrome clips from ipd just to put them back on lol.

Oh if your here in oregon i have tons of extra front and rear chrome bits. Door chrome front i don't have extra. If you want a beat up section its free. No i will not post photos as i have like 20 of them front and back. PM if you want my phone # and address.

So got tired of working on the body and started tackling the seats.

Got two front seats out of a 69 142. I like the fact that i can flip them forward, especially the passenger side. Now i can really fill it up on a trip ETC.

Here is the first one I'm working on.





As you can see there is plenty of un-ripped material to pattern off of. The bad thing is that the car spent so long sitting that its all dry rotted so you have to be careful when seam ripping even with a seam ripper tool.

here is the pile off the seat skin after being used as pattern.



The Christmas tree just got removed from the living room so i had space to lay out all the patterns.
This is what one new seat looks like.



The ACU material you see in the upper right is from an old uniform top. This is to replace this material used on the bottom of the seat.



some of the seam work needed like this one could be difficult but not outside what i can do.



Well wish me luck ill get some more photos for you when i get them sown up.

Well have my 1st attempt with the head rest. learned allot. If i have extra material at the end im going to try again. I had to sow it 3 X i messed up by putting a part on backwards and lost 5mm of seam on the redoo so im not happy with the result but getting there. If i have no material at the end its good enough for me to put my head on.