As usual, i have neglected to post on here for a long while. When this happens, it usually means that thing have been going on in the background and recording my endeavors gets sort of pushed to the wayside. Recently though I have acquired a new car, one that I think a lot of people will enjoy reading about. Before I show it off, lets recap what has happened over the summer since my last update!
2012 Volvo S60
Almost nothing happened with this car over the summer. In fact it spent most of its time in the garage. It was sold to its new owner in Montana in early September. I wish I had more of a final celebration for it given the fact that it was my first Volvo, and the one that helped launch this blog, but its departure is nothing note worthy. I think I had been mentally over the car for some time, and other cars and projects in my life have taken over.
The final shoot i did with the car. Photo by @itsmackeever
1997 Volvo 960
Its no shock to anyone that this car has taken the place of the S60 for me. I haven’t had to do a ton of work to it, however it has definitely changed in appearance. Early in May I recieved the set of Ocean Mk18 wheels I ordered back in the winter, and ignorant of the fitment for the 960 I attempted to mount them on the car. What I learned was that the track width of a 960 is actually different than the 940. The Mk1 960s, the ones that look more like a 740/760 use the same solid rear axle as a 940. However, the Mk2. 960s (which mine is) use a Independent Rear Suspension (IRS) giving the 960 a FWD type offset instead of RWD. As such, the room to fit a higher offset wheel is lowered.
Using 235/40/18 tires, these wheels still had over an inch of poke. Wasnt the look or functionality I wanted.
After spending the money I did to import these wheels from Sweden just to not be able to use them took the wind out of my sails for a few days. I started doing a lot of searching for 5x108 wheels I could run on the wagon, and finally came to a realization. I still had the set of Ocean Storm wheels from my S60 R Design. I had been planning on selling them, but I found that with some work I would be able to fit them up to the 960. The Ocean Storms have a fairly aggressive positive offset to clear the suspension on the S60 so a 1” (25mm) spacer was going to be needed. With that spacer I would have an 18x8 wheel with a ~30mm offset. With a 215 width tire, the fitment was good enough that it didnt poke and rub was minimal.
Having spent the past few months slowly refining the 960, it was finally time for its ultimate test. A round trip from Greensboro, NC all the way to Daytona Beach, FL and back. I only had 4 days to get there and back, so the 960 was going to be rolling at least 5-6 hours a day in the summer heat. As such, more preventative maintenance was needed. The last thing from my original list of items from back in Sept. of 2019 was to do the timing belt. I had no records of when it was last done, and with the motor in the 960 being an interference design, it was better to be safe than sorry. The engine recieved a whole front end refresh kit with new idler bearing, pulley, water pump, tensioner, and belt. This way I could feel confident the car wouldnt have any cooling issues on its trip.
The straight 6 configuration makes it very easy to access everything for the service.
The trip did go off without a hitch, with one tiny asterisk. On my return trip, only about 20 miles from the NC border, the car did through a Bank 1 Lean code. However, after I cleared the code twice it has yet to return after hundreds more miles of driving. This car does have some weird quirks when it has been running in hot temps for a while. I suspect that high pressure in the fuel rail combined with the heat and a leaky injector contribute to the stumble it sometimes suffers from after doing long highway drives in the southern summer heat. New injectors and possibly a purge valve on the schrader valve of the fuel rail may help alleviate this issue.
Raceday at Daytona!
1987 Volvo 780 Bertone
Well it finally happened, I finally bought a Volvo coupe. While I dont plan on giving too many details here (working on the first installment of this cars blog posts as I write this one!), I can say that this car is an absolute gem. I definitely have a lot of work cut out for me, the interior of this Bertone is in dire need of some TLC, and with the production numbers being so low, replacing panels isnt a cheap or easy option. This may be my first experience with recarpeting and reupholstering a car, as the tan interior has been badly sunburnt from its time in the south east. This car will be my winter project, and hopefully a good flip! No doubt working on this car will be a major learning experience for me, as information on repairs is much more scarce compared to your average 740. Stay tuned, this is going to get interesting.
