• RWD

  • Ben's blue 73 144 "Bubbles"

I thought I would start a thread to track the progress of work on the new old girl. I've attached some photos taken on Saturday afternoon, the day it officially made it home.

I thought I would take some time to slowly get to know it before doing any major works. I have a few cosmetic updates in mind first, but I may need to rethink that tact. Mechanically it was as rough as can be when I first got her. I had the break lines flushed (x2), new points, plugs, timing tweaked, oil and filter. It has made a big improvement and it now moves along more respectably with traffic.

The good:
- A few of the typical problem areas with rust, but other wise a very straight body.
- Interior is very tidy. Back seat is faded in comparison to the front seats (fronts had covers) but overall looks like a 20 year old interior. Back seat looks rarely used and the front is fantastic.
- Exhaust system and brakes are sound.
- Intermittent wiper dial (didn't know that they had this).
- AC system (no belt hooked up and surely not charged)

The not so good:
- Auto transmission.. that is all.
- Single strongberg carb.
- Idles at about 900 in drive or neutral but will idle at about 2000 in park? I've played with the idle a bit but compensating for the park idle will cause it to stall in drive.
- Unfortunately, a compression test was done and it revealed the the 4th cylinder is running at about 50%.
- Assuming related to the above; it now seams to be burning off oil which is evident at the tail pipe. In fact, when I started it this evening there was a good splatter of oil over the driveway at the exhaust tip!

The car has 317,000 km on it,has been sitting un-driven for the last 5 years and no service history was available. So what to tackle first? In spite of the 4th cylinder issue I was prepared to limp around for a while, but tonights oil blowing out the back makes me think I need to whip the head off pretty quickly. If I head down that road though, I know I am going to be tempted to do a full rebuild (with money I don't have :( )

Meaning of the name... I had a little helper join me on my inspection of my 144 last month. My 6 year old daughter Lucy was immediately taken with this "gorgeous fashion car". When I asked her what she meant by fashion car, she said that it was the sort of car movie stars would drive :) So I asked her to give my car a name... she paused for a few seconds and said "Bubbles!" Actually fitting I think.








That sucks about the compression. A replacement motor couldn't be too much that wouldn't have as many issues? But it is a straight and clean bodyshell which is always a bonus!
It might just be valve/tappet? They are designed to be readjusted pretty regularly and generally haven't been.
egads;18685 wroteIt might just be valve/tappet? They are designed to be readjusted pretty regularly and generally haven't been.
Thanks for that thought. That was checked and unfortunately that is not the case :( The oil residue blowing out the back is definitely concerning.

Bugger. Sounds like you could do with a complete driveline. I might be able to help either in rough or not rough form.
I had a chat with John at Voldat and he thinks that the oil residue out the pail pipe is purely carbon build up. The fact it was sitting here for so long and it been so rainy of late. Figures it will take some driving around to blow all the gunk out. If that is the case, that is definitely a relief! Thanks for the offer for help. I am hoping the smoke I thought I saw may have just been the cool Melbourne night playing tricks with my eyes.

I am going to put it in club permit and that still needs to get sorted. Once I've done that I can drive it around and get a feel for it. How that 144 of yours trucking along @egads ?
Sounds like it needs a combustion chamber clean and new plugs then?
I have new plugs in and I am the combustion chamber could use a clean. Since it's only running at 50% I am sure that 4th needs some specific attention. If I do it myself, it will be a real learning experience for me. Never gone inside the head before... I am pretty green when it comes to major work. Tune ups have been the extent of my experience so far. I feel like I need to buy a B20 for dummies book!
They are a dead easy motor, if you need guidance to rebuild the motor, I have some experience with engines as a diesel mechanic and know machinists etc to be able to help with a rebuild.
The greenbooks section of kjet.org has the factory manual which is pretty good..
Vee_Que;18740 wroteThey are a dead easy motor, if you need guidance to rebuild the motor, I have some experience with engines as a diesel mechanic and know machinists etc to be able to help with a rebuild.
That's awesome Vee_Qee thanks.

@egads (she/her) I will purchase a copy. I am sure it's even more in depth than the old Haynes manual.

I am now down to copies of years of cars I actually have so have no paper ones spare. Maybe get the PDF's from kjet.org and get them printed up? You can't get them from Volvo anymore.
egads;18766 wroteI am now down to copies of years of cars I actually have so have no paper ones spare. Maybe get the PDF's from kjet.org and get them printed up? You can't get them from Volvo anymore.
Thanks for the tip. I was able to download the 74 manual from kjet.org. which should be almost identical to the 73. The greenbook manuals are double the content (500 vs 255 pages) compared to the Haynes manual.
13 days later
Could be a rooted valve causing the low comp mate.
Most likely someone didn't put in valve saver additive after leaded fuel was no longer available, and the valve seats have been eaten away. Very common on engines with cast iron heads.
Doubt it Flash lube used in the car by me and the previous owner.
6 days later
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.
a month later
I had the car out on the weekend running a few errands and I found myself at Bunnings late Sunday afternoon. A guy stopped me on my way in to tell me how happy he was to see my car on the road. He spoke knowledgeably about the car and sighted the 240 one of the best cars on the road ever. On the way back to my car there was a family gathered around Bubbles smiling. The dad saw me approaching the car and yelled "just loving your car!" Shook my hand and proceed to tell me about how had a die cast 140 as a kid. Fun to see people react with joy in seeing the humble Volvo!

Minor celebrity status comes with old volvos....
Love the car!
2 months later
Manual conversion and engine work is in the near future, but for now a Photoshop experiment. Refreshing the Sirius wheels with black and looking at lowering the suspension. Has anyone had experience lowering a 140? Can I achieve this sort of an adjustment on springs alone? Or will seats, shocks etc need to be updated as well?

BEFORE


AFTER
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.
What a great run down of your old 144! The fact that you still remember all the details surrounding the upgrades you made 20 years ago, is a testament to your relationship with it. I bet you even have a few photos of it some where??? If you do please upload!

Stock suspension on a 40 year old car has a lot lot of room for improvements to be sure. Once the mechanical stuff is sorted I would like to follow the majority of your suggestions here. Although my current motivation for lowering is purely aesthetic, once I get her runningn I intend to, a full suspension rebuild will likely be in order. What sway bars and springs will you be looking to for Xoe?
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.
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.
Those KVFL-06's appear to be variable rate front lowered springs, according to the King Springs master catalog.
If they're BNIB, that seems a fair price to me.

The catalog lists only the KVRS-01 available for the 140 and 164 at the rear, which are variable rate and standard height.

OTOH, the Pedders website lists only rear springs for the 140, but not fronts. Heh.

And it's a bit disappointing that no one wants to mention what their spring rates are.

It may be worth mentioning at this point that 240s have increased rear suspension travel over the 140, so the spring rates and free length are different.

EDIT - Here's a website for working out spring rates.
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
2 months later
Ben, don't forget that I've still got a steering wheel of yours in my car :)
I want that wheel...
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