My Dream Project

When I think of Volvo I always have a picture of a 240 in my head, but when I think of the perfect project I see a 142. I did a little research and decided a 72 would be best for me. I wanted the 71/72 front end and the short shifter. My plan was to make a street legal race car with a B230ft and stripped interior.

I found this 71 on cl and went with klr142 to have a look. I knew it had the long shifter, but figured I could cut the tunnel and put whatever I wanted in. When we showed up we saw a beat up looking 142 with a near perfect interior, so the idea of stripping the interior went out the window.

I'm now the happy owner of a 1971 142E. I've barely started to work on it and learn something every time I turn a wrench. So far I've fixed a starter issue, put on 4 new ball joints, IPD 164 progressive rate springs in the front, painted the IPD sway bar, and put 245 rear springs on. Hopefully I can have the money to get a basic paint job this summer and upgrade to 164 vented front brakes.

These were the pics from the cl ad:


The po primed the sides of the car(which I now have to fix):


I got quite a few extra parts. All of the trim and emblems and ac gear were in a box.







Then some small work:




Turns out I have HDs in the rear

cant wait to see how it turns out

what color are you thinking about painting it?
any plans or thoughts about the motor and stuff?

Wow that looks clean!

faruk850 said:

what color are you thinking about painting it?
any plans or thoughts about the motor and stuff?

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I'm debating between painting it a dark metallic red or going back to the factory metallic blue. The first time it gets painted I'll be doing it on the cheap, so I'll probably pick out some sort of enamel. When I can afford to strip everything off the car and get every surface painted is when I'll worry about what color it is.

I'm not sure of any specifics on the engine yet. My goal is to get as much as possible out of the engine bay and go with a wire tuck style bay. I'll also be signing over a few of my paychecks to RSI

I got half way though putting on a new tranny mount today. I'm guessing the po replaced it a little before he sold it to me. The mount itself looked ok, but it was missing a bolt holding the bracket to the tranny. The missing bolt meant the tranny could pretty much move as much as it wanted. So I'm putting on a new mount anyway and bought a new bolt to go with it.

I've also decided that I'll need to jack the car up in the street and pressure wash(low pressure) the whole bottom side of the car. It looks like none of the previous owners ever took a hose to the bottom of the car. Anything near the engine is covered in oil so parts and tools keep sliding right out of my hand.

you now need to change your name to mblue142 this car will suck you in and ruin you for all others, just ask b4ford, and I have the same problem I would rather drive my 73 142 than my 93 245 or my 90 745. they are great fun to drive
Eric

JERIC said:

you now need to change your name to mblue142 this car will suck you in and ruin you for all others

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Nope M. Blue 240 is the name of my 240, the name for this car is The Dream(since its been my dream car). The next car will be named Double D

mblue240 said:

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whoa whoa whoa, hold the phone....is that negative camber....on the BACK?

JERIC said:

you now need to change your name to mblue142 this car will suck you in and ruin you for all others, just ask b4ford, and I have the same problem I would rather drive my 73 142 than my 93 245 or my 90 745. they are great fun to drive
Eric

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(I'm considering something newer than my '72...)

b4_ford said:

(I'm considering something newer than my '72...)

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Don't do it!!!!

Nice car! I have a 1971 144s I am restoring. I will be looking for an update on this thread . What are the future plans for this car?

For right now the plan is to keep it running and drive it on the weekends while I save up for a paint job. Then someday buy a bigger house/garage so I have the space to pull the motor and rebuild everything.

mblue240 said:

For right now the plan is to keep it running and drive it on the weekends while I save up for a paint job. Then someday buy a bigger house/garage so I have the space to pull the motor and rebuild everything.

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The future plans for my car are to keep it running driving with the B20 then swap in a B230FT later on and upgrade the suspension, also I rated your thread.

I found a spare valve cover at the jy and even got a rubber gasket with it. I only grabbed it so I could paint it without having any down time for the one currently on the car.

I got in gear this last week and did a few odds 'n ends. I pulled all the speakers out of the car(cd player will come out later) since I want the interior to look original. I also replaced the door cards(since the old ones had holes for speakers), changed out the buttons on the door handles to chrome, and changed the tail lights the red/white/red variety.




(old style on the left, new on the right)

Mike, like your license plate frame... Hope to see said 142E sometime in the future.

-J

damn, what a find, i was close to getting a orange 144 for 100$ runnning, then found out i have like no room for it and my neighbors already hate me for working on my car in the driveway and parking in the street once in a while

245GT-Turbo said:

Mike, like your license plate frame... Hope to see said 142E sometime in the future.

-J

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Now that its running smooth it should be at every event, so next time you're down here you'll see it for sure. The license plate frame has always been on my Mom's car, but she stopped using it once it didn't fit on the 240. I finally got a car that it fit, so I thought I should put it to use.

goducks2014 said:

damn, what a find, i was close to getting a orange 144 for 100$ runnning, then found out i have like no room for it and my neighbors already hate me for working on my car in the driveway and parking in the street once in a while

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Screw your neighbors. My neighbors park as many cars on the road as they like and don't care what I think. We have a dead truck, car and boat on our road, along with several dead cars in driveways.

you should just do what this guy did to his white 140, hella cool, http://www.ipdusa.com/blog-59

goducks2014 said:

you should just do what this guy did to his white 140, hella cool, http://www.ipdusa.com/blog-59

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Which part of what he did?