Here is another of my old project that I'm posting for added content.


The visit: When I arrived at the sellers house we were greeted with one of the worst maintained cars I had ever seen. Keep in mind that I have had a hand in repairing some vehicles that have been in very poor condition but none that compared to this. First off the car didn't crank over due to a dead battery and we connected jumper cables the car would turn over but not start. After a bit of head scratching and careful listening I noticed that the fuel pump wasn't priming; after a quick check under the hood I noticed that the FUEL PUMP FUSE WAS MISSING!!!!!! Two minutes the car was running and bellowing white smoke everywhere. At this point I figured it had a blown head gasket but after about ten minutes of running the smoke color changed from solid white to a grey color with a blue tint. "Great I say, its only burning oil, maybe it will need new valve seals or something more labor intensive". The rest of the car was a wreck, trash was everywhere, the windshield was cracked and the front end had been in an accident. My wife gave me the "go ahead nod" and I gave the guy his asking price. When we talked on the way home she said it would be a good project to keep me busy and we never worked on a Volvo together before (My wife is very handy and has helped me do everything from paint cars to engine swaps).

Here are a few pics of what we found.

I haven't decided how far I want to go with this project. I have other vehicles that demand much more attention.

The Arrival:

The seller agreed to tow the car to my home for $50; by that time I had already purchase a battery and some gas. I let the car run for about 30 mins and it never overhead and the smoke completely went away.



I was so ecstatic that I decided to give the car a good overall cleaning. With the help of my wife and 13 years of Marine Corps motivation the car ended up looking like this...........
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So far I have about $950 and alot of elbow grease into this project so far so good.

Engine Detail and IPD Stage 0: I hate dirty engine compartments; they conceal leaks and other potential problems under the hood. After reading up on the performance potential of these cars I decided to cover all the basics and get this vehicle running it tip-top shape before and\y major upgrades. Overall the car was a dog on the road;It wouldn't rev past 3k and would go over 35mph. It shifted hard a bellowing black smoke whenever I pressed the gas pedal. It also had a CEL with read P0172 ambient air sensor (or something to that effect).

I called IPD since it seemed that they are the authority with these type of cars but to be honest they weren't very helpful over the phone. I tried to gain some advice about the CEL and with componemts they recommended replacing but they told me to "check the forums online" so that's what I did (thanks VS). Overall IPD had a solid web site so I placed and order for the following items.

Transmission flush kit
Genuine Volvo Spark Plugs
Haynes Manual
Mahn air, oil (case) and fuel filter
13 Quarts of transmission fluid (Mobil3309)
IPD windshield decal

268.94 + 50.87 SHIPPING OUCH!!! =319.81



Old plugs that came out of the car, can anyone say RICH!!!!!!!




Axle was cake and took about 45mins



The transmission flush was the most noticeable improvement by far, very smooth except for the failed upper mount that I hadn't noticed.I also did an oil change using Royal Purple 5W30

I also ordered a few parts from FCP Groton.
Passenger side axle
Headlight lenses 9E Code)
Bosch MAF for the stumbling (more on this later)
Rear hatch shocks

10% off and free shipping using a discount code!!!!!!!!!

$340

Grand Project total $1609.81

As mentioned before the Volvo have always stumbled while attempting to accelerate and was hesitant to rev. Even after I replaced the MAF the car was still throwing a rich code. So I wanted to start with the basics so I started checking the vacuum hoses etc. Finally after a while I followed some line to this covered junction point; I removed the cover and found this:



I could not believe it, metered air not entering the combustion chamber. The reason why the previous owner sold the car was for this very reason; he was unable to diagnose this problems and gave up on the car. Needless to say I felt incredibly foolish but also excited.

3 minutes later I connected the intake hose to the throttle body took a test drive and felt the full rush of this little beast. I was very impressed!

I finally got around to putting the bumper on and giving the car another wash! This project is almost complete, but I am considering a performance chip and some suspension mods. What do you guys think?

Awesome, any updates?