Rick's Orange 245L Van + LS1

A lot has been happening in the past few weeks... Car is officially mod plated for all modifications and registered! I couldn't believe my eyes when the lady at the transport department handed me these plates! They fit the car pretty well!

On another note, the gent that came around to inspect the car and provide me with the modification plate messaged me a couple of days later saying that someone on the local Facebook community board was looking for a "Red 70s/80s Volvo with a roof rack". I was able to get in contact with the guy advertising and found that he's creating a short film for a local film festival in the next few months, and urgently needed a Volvo within 2 weekends.

After a lot of rushing to tie up loose ends, I was able to hand him the keys last Sunday evening for filming on Monday - Thursday. Keep in mind that this vehicle had only been on the road for one weekend prior so I was stressed but excited to see what the car was going to be used for. On the day of pickup I took the orange beast for a drive and after getting home I noticed a massive pool of ATF under the car - a trans cooler line had split and blew out what must've been the whole pan worth of ATF. Of course it was a Sunday and nothing was open so I got to work fixing the line with some replacement agrihose and leaned on a neighbor for some fittings.

Managed to get the car tidied up and running again; handed the keys over and went back to Brisbane to start work on Monday. Didn't hear from the guy until Thursday which was the agreed return day... As he was driving the car down the highway a massive amount of stream burst out from the bonnet - thanks to his quick ignition skills he turned off the car and managed to get it to the side of the highway about 5 minutes from home.

Turns out it was just a hose clamp that I hadn't tightened enough and the coolant directly hit the exhaust header causing the steam. The old man fixed and filled the car back up and drove it home, thankfully the driver turned the car off quick enough so it didn't cook the engine.

After all that ordeal I've got the car back in better condition then when it left, and I've been informed that the footage taken is absolutely amazing and fits perfect with this short film. If this film is available on YouTube or similar when it's released then I'll post here or I'll post the snippets of the car I get sent before the Jan 2022 deadline for the film. Also, one of the producers on set was none other than Jon Coghill from Powderfinger, which I asked to sign my dash and he did! See pic below.

I've now been for a few drives in the car and there's a couple of things that need additional work - fuel pump doesn't seem to be providing the engine enough pressure when the car gets hot, and one of the thermo fans is blowing a fuse whenever it kicks on. All in all, I'd say the project has been a massive success and even better that I'll have some professional footage taken a week after getting it on the road for the memory. I have to admit, I got quite emotional the first time I drove the car on the road as I was overjoyed I finally pulled it off!

As with most projects, there's always things left to do:

Figured it would be a good time for an updates it feels like a huge milestone to finally get the car on the road!

Cheers

G'day lads

The short film has just been released which features this car in it! Check it out if you're interested:

Might as well include an update on the car as well.

I've been daily driving it for the past few months even with the price of fuel going the way it's going. I've done a couple of tests and it's averaging around 12L/100km but I do a lot of highway driving where the rear diff is probably a bit short for good economy! With the 4L60E and the stock Volvo 3.71 diff she sits at about 2500rpm on the highway. In the statesman it was around 1800-1900rpm if I remember correctly... I've been pondering what I should do - T56 or a diff with more favourable gearing for the highway...

Car has been absolutely flawless regardless of the fuel econ, haven't had a single problem mechanically with it in the past few months of dailying it. It's got the usual 70's car things of rattles and squeaks but nothing stopping me from driving it. I've had a couple of good races (on closed tracks of course) with Commo's, V8 Falcons, Honda's and various 4WDs to which the Volvo has been amazing and broken a few hearts ?

Future plans still haven't really changed; get wider rear tyres, machine the wheels and spacers to suit the standard hubcaps, etc but it's probably going to stay as it is for the moment while I enjoy it. I am planning on doing a track day at either Lakeside or Willowbank this year just to give it a good run and see what kinda damage I can do.

Cheers

Small updates since my last post:

Have replaced both rear wheel bearings and added the BNE studs and spacers to bring the rear track in line with the front! I would not recommend daily driving a vehicle with a wider front track (looking at you V8 J70 series cruisers!!) as it gets really squirly in the wet at speed.

Before:

After:

Also pulled the trigger on a 3D printer! There's a few designs up on the internet for the 240, which I gave a print and it's been super useful for speaker mounts in the front doors, and the inner handles of the doors as well. One of mine was broken so the printer saved the day. Also printed some blanks for the center console as well. These ones are too glossy, but I've got some matte and carbon filament on the way to do some more testing...

They'll need some sanding but it's been super handy so far.

GreenGL

Looks much better with the rear track matching the front.

Does it have much effect on the way the car drives? Aside from increased stability in the wet at speed.

Yep, I don't know if it's a placebo but the first time I took it on the highway in the dry, it seemed to feel more "planted" doing 110km/h. Not sure how else to explain it other than when the track was narrow the car felt floaty just going in a straight line. In terms of handling in the corners and tight turns, I can't really tell the difference, but I'm not any kind of racecar driver. The previous owner had replaced all the main suspension bits with Pedders (ugh), but my other 245 with lowered springs, falcon front sway and thick rear sway definitely handles better.

Update for all the LS people following along... T56 acquired and installed! Just completed a 700km round trip with the new (old) manual box and the car was flawless.

Also changed the rear diff while I was at it, upgraded to the stronger 1031 diff with the 3.31 rear ratio. Car now cruises really, really well.

For anyone that's also working with the T56 in any project car, I found a couple of handy tips along the way.

There's a reverse lockout solenoid on the RH side of the box, at the top of the shifter. It's massive and created clearance issues in the 240 tunnel, and I wasn't all that keen on cutting and shutting the tunnel. After some searching around on the LS forums, there were a couple of posts about reusing the reverse lockout housing, cutting it, welding it and refitting it into the box.

Hopefully the pictures will tell the story:

Making it so you can slim down the side of the transmission significantly, and also keep the reverse lockout so you don't accidently shift into Reverse when trying to get into 5th.

Also, there's a reverse switch on the side of the transmission as well, and from factory they poke out the trans about an inch, and then add the connector and it's even longer. I found that the T56 that comes in most Fords has a shorter and right angled switch for clearance, so it's an easy swap if you need some extra room on the side of the trans too.

Quick update for everyone following - the car just completed a camping trip from North Brisbane down to NSW! She performed beautifully as has been my daily driver for about 2 years-ish now. The whole trip was about 1500kms and not a single problem from the car at all, in fact, one of the 2012 BMW motorbikes that came along had more problems and required roadside fixes to keep going...
Averaged about 11L/100km for those interested, but I was driving it pretty hard keeping up with the 3 bikes that came along. Anyway, here's a couple of pics...