Thanks all for your kind responses.
I hope this stays original!
That is pretty much the plan. I'm not against a few upgrades here and there however.
I do like the Virgos that it came with. They're gonna stay.
So far I have done a fair bit of maintenance related work. And the initial round was a classic case of, "While-I'm-in-there-itis!"
For instance it had a perished left front motor mount when I got the car. So I ordered up a new set of motor mounts and a new trans mount as well. Since I was under the car I also got a new carrier bearing kit for the driveshaft. Upon disassembly I found that the front U-joint had one tight bearing set. So I got a pair of new U-joints and installed them. I also noticed that it was generally wet from oil spray behind the bell housing / trans connection. So I got a new rear main seal and changed out the pan gasket at the same time. Since I had the gearbox out it received a fresh oil change. I noticed that the O/D solenoid wire was hanging freely and rubbing is several spots so I replaced it. I covered it with Nomex woven sleeve and secured it with tie-wraps and rubber hose standoffs at several locations. I also did a general clean up while under there to get rid of the accumulated oil and dirt mess. It has stayed dry since the service (about 1k miles ago).
But wait, there's more.....
While changing the engine right side mount I noticed that there was a bit of coolant residue on the side of the block behind the exhaust manifold. Closer inspection showed that one of the freeze plugs was weeping. So off came the intake and exhaust manifold so that I could get room to work.
The freeze plugs on the driver's side were not weeping but it seemed silly not to replace them all. You know, as long as I was in there.
I ordered up a set of coolant freeze plugs and replaced all of the coolant plugs in both the block and the head. Since all of the accessories were removed from the I/O side of the engine I thought why not pull the distributor and oil breather on the driver's side and then clean everything up nice and treat the engine to a rattle can rebuild with a fresh coat of shiny red paint.
Since all was bare and clean it seemed like as good a time as ever to add an oil pressure gauge so a new sensor was fitted. I had noticed that the coolant and fuel gauge weren't reading consistently so I replaced all of the temp sensors. This had the added benefit of improving the cold-start in the morning. Although better, I'm still working on that. Since the dizzy was out I replaced the ignition and EFI points. Hell might as well fit new plug wires and plugs too. Hey, this would be a good time to adjust the valves. Got a new valve cover gasket.
To replace the front motor mounts I had to lift the engine for clearance even with the bolt-on engine mounts removed. This pinched the heater hoses tight up on the firewall. Since I'm planning a cross-country roadtrip I thought it would be wise to replace those hoses as a precaution against failure out in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. What the heck, I replaced all of the coolant hoses. Belt too. I took the alternator and voltage regulator to our local rebuilder and had them checked. Alternator good. Voltage regulator marginal. So I replaced it.
Since I was into the cooling system I thought a new thermostat would be a good idea. When I removed the water neck I found internal pitting and it looked like a leak wouldn't be too far away. So I replaced it. And since there was evidence of corrosion there I got a new water pump too. Since the pump was off and all of the hoses were removed it seemed that this would be as good a time as any to have the radiator serviced. So it came out as well for a flush and pressure test. Good thing too as several pin holes made their presence known during the pressure test. A new core was installed.
Since I was replacing hoses I replaced all of the fuel hoses. I took the opportunity to paint all of the on-engine hard lines with Hammerite and baked them in the oven. My wife absolutely loves it when I do that. She says the brownies that were baked following paint bake duty tasted just so extra special! New vacuum lines were installed as well.
The previous owner removed the clock for service and never re-installed it. He said that it never kept accurate time. Did I mention that before retirement he was a mechanical engineer that specialized in instrumentation systems. He used the clock hole in the dash to display the 100k and then the 200k miles badges from Volvo. I decided that an oil pressure gauge would be a better use of that location than the mileage badge. So I fab'd a mount plate, painted it and installed a new VDO gauge there instead.
While reassembling things I took the opportunity to clean up a few things. I didn't like the way the large breather vent hose that runs from the breather vent on the driver's side to the bottom of the air cleaner housing on the left side laid across the top of the engine. So I fabricated a little mount bracket to keep it off of all of the rest of the plumbing and causing wear while the engine is running.
The new oil pressure sensor required an elbow fitting to be installed as the sensor can was too long to clear the exhaust pipe. With the sensor hanging horizontal I didn't want it to rotate and leak, or worse, vibration causing the brass elbow to fail. I fab'd a little bracket to support it at the intake manifold brace mount on the side of the engine block.
Back up top side I cleaned up the wiring with a combination of plastic caterpillar sleeve and Nomex woven sleeve that I had laying around and re-routed and tied everything down as best I could. I installed new hose clamps throughout.
I replaced the air filter and gave it an oil & filter change along with the new coolant.
One more quick look underneath and I noticed that the soft fuel lines at the fuel pump were rubbing up against the hanger for the pump. So I pulled the pump, replaced the fuel hose and re-routed it so as not to contact the body. That had the pleasant benefit of getting rid of the fuel pump noise inside the cabin. I took the opportunity to install a fresh fuel filter as well. And as long as I was under the rear of the car I drained the rear axle and replaced it with fresh lubricant. A quick look around under the rear showed that the muffler was sometimes contacting the rear axle. This was what that rattle must be..... The tail pipe was near new but the muffler and pipe back from the resonator were both past their prime. So I replaced them and cleaned up the hangars. No more under car rattles over rough roads.
That initial service took me about 3 weeks to accomplish.