I just picked up the oldest, biggest, and cheapest car I've had. I picked it up from perhaps the ideal Volvo owners. They had just purchased a newer car, and so they were selling this one because they no longer needed it. It's been carefully maintained, and the person they took the car to was a one-man-show kind of guy who only worked on Volvos. I got a folder full of records going back to 2013, and the manual had some records from the 90's, which is pretty cool. Paid $950 for it.
The Car
As of 7/16/18, the car has 150k miles. It runs great, feels pretty good, and even looks decent. There's minimal rust, although there are a few spots underneath that I want to address. The plans for the car are to make it as comfortable and solid as possible first, and then make it a but more fun to drive. Don't get me wrong, I love the way driving this car feels, but a bit more umph and a bit less roll would give just that little bit more.
What Needs Done
The two first things I want to do are pretty greedy I must say. The A/C and the cruise do not work. I'd like to get them working, as I have a 12 hour trip coming up in August. So two quick questions: Is there a common weakspot on the cruise control? For the A/C, it's been retrofitted to r134a, but it leaks out pretty quickly (2-3 weeks). There is some well reviewed stuff called Super Seal that I'll probably try. It doesn't harm vacuum machines (and it can't even be detected by the ones which look for sealant), and it doesn't harm the compressor. But if this doesn't work, which wouldn't be surprising, is there a common place where these cars' A/C leaks?
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll keep this thread updated as I have time.
Here are a couple more photos. (Editing--resizing images)
The Car
As of 7/16/18, the car has 150k miles. It runs great, feels pretty good, and even looks decent. There's minimal rust, although there are a few spots underneath that I want to address. The plans for the car are to make it as comfortable and solid as possible first, and then make it a but more fun to drive. Don't get me wrong, I love the way driving this car feels, but a bit more umph and a bit less roll would give just that little bit more.
What Needs Done
The two first things I want to do are pretty greedy I must say. The A/C and the cruise do not work. I'd like to get them working, as I have a 12 hour trip coming up in August. So two quick questions: Is there a common weakspot on the cruise control? For the A/C, it's been retrofitted to r134a, but it leaks out pretty quickly (2-3 weeks). There is some well reviewed stuff called Super Seal that I'll probably try. It doesn't harm vacuum machines (and it can't even be detected by the ones which look for sealant), and it doesn't harm the compressor. But if this doesn't work, which wouldn't be surprising, is there a common place where these cars' A/C leaks?
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll keep this thread updated as I have time.
Here are a couple more photos. (Editing--resizing images)
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