Rob's Supercharged '73 164

OldnDecrepit;129497 wroteWell you better get your act together as that's not much time for that list.

Are you going to find an overdrive for the gearbox or just replace it altogether?
I was talking to Peers today and GLT haven't done a 4sp auto into a 164 but they did put a 5sp Celica box into one.

Will you drive it down to Benalla or trailer it?

Will replace the box. Not sure yet what with, have a few options/ideas.

The plan is to drive it.. We shall see.

ab1;129900 wroteI'd be very interested to see what you did with the alternator modification as I desperately need an upgrade to cope with the sound system and e fan

No problems. Will be pulling it off again in the next day or 2 for painting so will take some pictures and show what I did. Is your alternator mounted on the rhs?

I have always loved the 73's. I much prefer the corrected wiper swing, nicer dash (in my opinion) newer tail lights etc, but love that it still retains some of the earlier features like 1/4 windows, the much, much better looking fuel cap and the skinnier bumpers and rear stone tray.

That being said i think Volvo made a big mistake going away from the early 164 front bumper, it looks really nice yet the straight bumper doesn't seem to cut it. I understand it was somewhat of a stepping stone toward the big bumpers being introduced in 74, even the bumper rubbers were changed to more closely resemble those that were coming a year later.

For some time i have been considering fitting a early front bumper.

My concerns
1. The rubber on the bumper is solid, whereas the 73 is grooved (the rear one is obviously grooved also)
2. Grille would need to be changed and the early aluminium grille will foul on my intercooler.
3. I have the late tail lights and as much as I prefer them I am afraid it may look a little unbalanced.

Possible solutions to above issues
1. Fit a solid rubber style rear bumper
or Fit the grooved rubbers off a 73 bumper to the early bumper
2. Fit the early grille spaced forward
or I could Fabricate a 1 off '73 style plastic grill that fits the larger opening.

After much deliberation and measuring I figured if I were at designer at Volvo back in 73 i would have retained the early bumper and updated the grille , this is still fitting with the theory that it was a stepping stone model.
I decided to just get stuck into it.

first up a change of rubbers for the early bumper
these are not bolt ons, the early rubber is held in place with a bunch of nuts around its perimeter, these are cast into the rubber. the 73 rubbers are fitted to a steel reinforcing plate that ir retained by four screws. Additionally the grooved rubbers are longer, meaning that when fitted to the bumper they protrude out into the opening formed by the drop down section of the bumper. I reshaped the curve of the reinforcing plates essentially moving the rubber further around the corner and away from the drop, only a little trim of the top corners is required. it only needed about 20mm. 4 new holes in the bumper on each side and the rubbers screw on nicely.



Next up is removal of the old bumper, grille and grille surround to allow removal of the filler panel that is fitted to the later cars in order to allow them to run a smaller grille. this is held in place with 5 spot welds. my filler panel had already been modified slightly to fit the intercooler years ago.




I then fitted the grille surround from an early car, it fits in place nicely but the screw holes at the top are in a different place and need to be redrilled. My intercooler pipes also foul on this slightly so this area required a little trim.

I took a couple of 164 grilles and chopped them up, then spent many hours plastic welding and shaping and rewelding, the lower corners took some real work as there was not a piece that shape to weld in, I had to fabricate them from nothing. finally a bit of primer, a rub back and a coat of silver as close to original as I could get.
The grille slash is also a challenge... one which I am not yet happy with, it is just not long enough to reach and a join is required. ... still working on this.. will come back to it. Apart from that I am really happy with it.













Fits like a glove using the original screw holes at the top and pins at the bottom.

Still have some final assembly to do and am hoping I can find a cleaner early bumper as this one is a bit twisted. but overall pretty happy with it. Still looks very 73 but with a little more character.


BEFORE:


AFTER:




.

Time for a long overdue update.

Well, I have just returned home from a 5165km round trip to Melbourne and just about everywhere in between. Due to fuel consumption, noise, cargo space etc We chose to trailer the car for the most part. I did clock up around 750 miles though, which is still a fair hike.

Pretty happy considering the bunch of work done to the car in the weeks before the trip.

I have been running 15x5.5's on the front and 15x7's on the rear for several years. The time came for some new tyres so figured I would look into fitting some bigger rears at the same time.

Bought a pair of 15x8 bands and after quite a bit of measuring and test fitting welded them up and. Also took to a pair of 5.5inch wheels with the grinder and removed an inch from the width.







Finally, had them blasted and powdercoated. The colour is not what I expected but I don't hate it, it is growing on me.
It is silver but tends to look white sometimes. They do look silver against the white car and white walls.




I am still running spacers on the front for the moment, it is my intention to do away with these though, next job on the list is to fabricate some longer front control arms and tie rods.

New wheels are 15x8 +22 on the rear and 15x4.5 +27 on the front (although corrected offset is -18)

While I was in there I fitted a set of Koni Red adjustable shocks and 240 style rear springs and upper seats. I need to fit some better (heavier ) springs as these ones tend to compress a little more than I like when the car is loaded.

I have long suffered with a strange vibration on take off and occasional tailshaft/floor contact so I also fabbed up some adjustable upper control arms to allow me to correct the diff snout alignment, thankfully this has sorted my issues. I ended up adjusting about 7mm out of the them.

found a better front bumper... Well, it was wasn't hit or twisted, it did however have a large split on the underside and was badly sandblasted. I had the split welded up and sanded and polished the bar until it was nice and shiny. Pretty happy with it considering it was my first attempt at polishing aluminium.



also fitted a pair of Italian Market front indicator lenses and clear/red indicator lenses on the rear. These were purchased from Scandix at great expense.




after these photos were taken I fitted some fancy chrome 'invisible' amber bulbs. they look much better as you cannot see the amber bulb behind the lens.

Fitted a 100 amp alternator from an 850. took a little bit of time and effort but managed to get it in there without it fouling on the steering box or exhaust manifold :)

new custom alternator bracket.

OldnDecrepit;c-138303 wroteAs usual excellent work there Rob. Can't say I like the clear lenses but to each his own.

i am not sold on the rear ones i will admit. I love the clear fronts though.

carnut222;c-138309 wroteLooks great Rob! Now get started on that SSVC mag section so you can get it to me on time! ;)

:)

OldnDecrepit;c-138314 wroteRob, I've started writing a piece on my 164 similar to the one I did on my 740. I was hoping to complete the gearbox mod before I submitted it. If you need more material for the Magazine , let me know.

I have enough for this issue. We can certainly use it in the next one :)

jlfents;c-138317 wroteCan't wait to see these changes in person!

I get this isn't a performance car, but that's super skinny in the front. Care to explain why?

No reason tbh. I just like the way it looks. I still have the 7s here so always have the option of fitting those to the front too.

It does drive and steer so nicely with the skinny wheels on the front. I have been running 165s all along so the tyres are actually no skinnier than they were.

How it sits now

Vee_Que;c-138581 wroteOnly 750 miles on it? Why not fix the exhaust so it's not a trailer queen? It is pretty loud.

Nice work otherwise!

If it wasn’t a family holiday I would have driven it.

It’s not real loud ;)

Raebird;c-138576 wrote

Rob;c-138300 wrote
credit to Dave Barton for this little number

We may have to do this to my 240... ?

Let's do it.