Ben's blue 73 144 "Bubbles"

Doubt it Flash lube used in the car by me and the previous owner.

Crabolsky140;18829 wrote Thanks for the tip. I was able to download the 74 manual from kjet.org. which should be almost identical to the 73.

You can find the full set here -
volvotips.com/index.php/140-164/volvo-140-service-manual/

The '74 engine is slightly different - it uses an 8-bolt flywheel (or flexplate as the case may be).

Also IIRC the main and big-end bearings are different, but the cam bearings are the same. Plus they went from K-Jet to D-Jet on the B20E. The '74 engine has already got the neoprene seal in the timing cover and for the rear main oil seal, and I prefer them over the '73 and earlier felt affairs.

Vee_Que is correct - they are a dead easy engine to work on, as even a non-mechanic like me managed to successfully do a head swap on one many years ago with no drama.

Minor celebrity status comes with old volvos....
Love the car!

Hi Ben,

The '73 144 I had over 20 years ago was lowered 2 inches. Since the car was being used for clubbies, I used custom-made Lovells springs front and rear, which were 40% uprated from Lovells' then-sport spring settings.
(Sorry; I haven't kept the spring rates). The ride was very firm on the street however.

At the rear, a K-Mac VR2 sway bar was added. However this made the car somewhat tail-happier in wet conditions until a Selby 24mm front sway bar took the place of the skinny original. Boy, did that ever change the feel of the car for the better! (My lap times tumbled as a result, too, but that's another story).

For shocks, I used Konis - a pair of 80C 1931 units up front, and 80C 1932 at the back. These may not have been available for over 20 years, I feel I should warn you. The torque rods, panhard rod, and the big trailing link bushes out back were replaced with Nolathane, as were the upper and lower wishbone bushes up front, plus the sway bar bushes.

When the front end was adjusted to give about 2 degrees negative camber and about 4 degrees positive castor, and the Selby front sway bar was added, it improved the handling immeasurably; the car turned in very nicely with the horsepower it had. But alas, I sadly had to get rid of my wonderful 140 in the early nineties to finance some crazy adventures with locally-made gadgets that went much faster, but was the source of much bad feelings, anger, grief, pain, and frustration - and was never as much fun.

When Xoe gets her new springs and shocks, she won't be lowered two inches - more like 1 inch, tops - and for the road, I'd be uprating the spring rate by about 25% and fitting big,sensible sway bars with Bilstein dampers. The 144 used to bang its 2-inch exhaust on every speed hump and every driveway, and my kidneys over every pot-hole.

But I digress.
To answer your questions -

Yes - I've had experience with lowering a 140. You can achieve ride height changes with springs alone.

No - you do not need to change spring seats. However, there are two types of rear spring mounts that I've seen on 140s, too - one where the bottom of the spring sits on a cup and rubber cushion affair, and the spring has a pigtail on one end only, where the top of it bolts to the floor - and another, where each rear spring has pigtails at both ends. But given the 140's trailing arm setup, it's a personal choice as to if you wish to add an adjustable spring seat. That ought to be an easy thing to fit.

Likewise, you do not need to change shocks - but if you choose to do it, by golly - you will notice a huge improvement in ride and handling.

One thing to be mindful of with 140s - especially when upgrading the skinny sway bar at the front - is that the welds on the lower wishbone brackets where the sway bar mounts to it, often crack. It is prudent to inspect them frequently, especially when using an aftermarket sway bar and/or driving enthusiastically on <s>Australian</s> rough roads.

Fortunately, I kept a list of part numbers and other data tucked away in a folder with the other sins of my youth. :)

A picture of my former 144 (during its last drive in anger in 1990) is the lower car in my profile pic. The orange 142 at top is, of course, the works Volvo 142 rally car from 1973 which appeared on the front of the Volvo Competition Service catalog. It amused me how the works car and my car were captured in similar poses when the shutters went 'click'.

At present, I'm undecided on which way I'll put the money down. Unlike many years ago, there isn't any pressure to have Xoe completed and running by a certain date, so I don't have to rush or compromise this build.

There are a lot more vendors offering goodies and a lot more info around about the Swedish V's these days, which is reflected by the number of choices for front sway bars.

iPD offer a 25mm front bar kit for $145 USD plus shipping.
ipdusa.com/products/8863/100948-front-anti-sway-bar-kit-140-models

Onlineperformance (eBay) have a WhiteLine 22mm front bar available with body brackets for $221.54 AUD + $15 shipping (at present), but that may be a little on the thin side for my needs.
ebay.com.au/itm/120841300533?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

The also offer a WhiteLine 18mm rear bar for $251.54 AUD + $15 shopping.
ebay.com.au/itm/140678992665?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Or bars for both ends (22mm front / 18mm rear) for $445.48 including shipping.
ebay.com.au/itm/360867077025?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

The problem is that I don't know which method the WhiteLine rear bars use to attach to the car. I am not very keen on the method used by the iPD rear bar for the 140 to attach it to the car. The K-Mac bar I had operated in a similar way to iPD's 240 rear sway bar - i.e. it basically joined the left and right tailing arms together, rather than adding U-bolts to the rear axle, and drilling holes in the floor and adding reinforcement plates.

Ideally, I'd like to grab an iPD 240 25mm rear bar, fit it, then go out to a track and and see how it works out. If the car is too tail-happy, 240s have 16mm and 19mm rear bars available as standard, so it may be a case of experimenting with each. One problem with this plan is that iPD only appear to sell their 240 25mm rear bars as one half of a kit. Maybe I can pick up an orphan rear bar on TB or something when the times comes; have to see.

@AshDVS has an adjustable (type 2) Panhard rod available, and I'm thinking that one of these may surely find a home on Xoe's rear axle since the car will be lowered. Being a '74, Xoe's rear suspension is similar (AFAIK) to a 240 - the '73's and earlier do use a different Panhard rod location and mounting to the body, so it may be worth having a chat with Ash about its suitability for fitting one to Bubbles.

Springs - well, I'm gonna go pretty crazy on this car, so I'll probably go with a pair of adjustable spring platforms at the rear and spent some time at a track to see if 150lb, 200lb or 250lb per inch linear springs work best. For the front, I will likely start with 500lb linear rates with adjustable seats, and try 550 and keep working up from there. Since Xoe will be a track car, it will be rather firm. Although there a few better springs available than Eibachs, there used to be a place in western Sydney that also made springs very well, but didn't have Eibach-style prices; hopefully they are still around. I intend to use Bilstein B6 shocks, which appear (from accounts) to work better with a lowered suspension than other shocks.

By the way, after a little investigating (thank you, Gary L and KLR142 at BrickBoard for the info!), standard 140 spring rates are about 305lb/in at the front, and only 90lb/in at the rear. Standard 164 fronts are about 360lb/in. Those rates are intended for comfort, not handling. So, your choice of spring is really going to be dictated by what type of roads you wish to drive the car upon, and what sort of tyres you intend to use - plus your intended budget of course.

For frequent travel on good to average sealed surfaces, I'd probably choose 450 lb/in fronts and 130lb/in rears, with 215/60 15 tyres on 7 inch rims, for my ideal 140 daily driver setup - firm enough to make driving fun, but soft enough that it won't rattle my teeth every time a rough patch of bitumen is encountered. I'd also urethane-bush all the sway bar mounts, the upper and lower wishbones, and the torque rods. I'd also fit a set of these in the lower rear control arms and not allow those voided hourglass-shaped rubber bushes to remain.

Awesome listing!

215/60/15? Wow, Monster tyres!

^ On 15 x7 wheels, they fill out all that surplus wheel arch space nicely.

Some judicious rolling of the inner rear fender lips are required however.

According to this online calculator, the rolling diameter of them is very close to the original.

I have a pair of good as new KVRS-01 for sale, the fronts are KVFS-03

^ Rob, what differences did you notice between them and the OE springs? I presume you had the KVFS-03's in a 164?

Stretch had springs in his 164 that made it really low too that were Kings.

The guys on turbo bricks have good knowledge for spring rates and sources too as they will fit generic sized springs. Just pick the rate.

Even on 15x7. 60 profile is tall if you want to make the handling better. Most end up with 205/55/15 for choice of sports tyres.

They were really good, although they were only fitted for a very short time. They are all standard height and were removed because I didn't want standard height. in fact they were only fitted to get it through a rwc

Ben, don't forget that I've still got a steering wheel of yours in my car :)

I want that wheel...