Matcha: The Green 245

[James M]

The car:
1976 Volvo 245 that's been sitting since 2010
B21f with a blown head gasket, reason it was parked
BW55 known for great highway cruising RPM
Power steering and No AC, good thing we have cold California summers….
Brown interior in relatively good shape
Two Cherrybomb glasspacks that need removed
Named Matcha after the tea, i’ve never had it but my girlfriend likes it and says thats the color
Some rust in the hood, cowl and inside the hatch glass, worst of it being up front



The plans:
Fix the head gasket
Wax it properly
Get it running well
Restore it to stock
Smog and register it
Fix the rust

Going to be a DD for my girlfriend, along with a roadtrip/camping vehicle because my wagon now has too much oil in the cargo area
I’ve been told I have to keep this one stock, mods are limited to things that help make it more drivable, no turbo unless its a BAR approved swap for highway merging, no manual swap unless I teach her how to drive manual properly.
Also going to be trying to clean up everything I touch, it comes off the car it's getting washed, degreased, painted (if it should be) or otherwise made better then it was before

Very much needs it:


The story:
So i’ve been messing with some BMW stuff with my brother and we needed a transmission, he went down to Vallejo to grab one we found and sends me a snapchat:



I check the DMV and it's a 76, if it was a 75 I'd be down there with cash in hand in a heartbeat. The next weekend we went back and talked to the owner. It’s been his parents' wagon since new, mom used to drive him to school, dad wouldn’t let him work on it as a kid. He had stories about installing a sedan swaybar to have his mom ask “what did you do to my car...it drives nice” and listed off everything ever done to it. Agreed on a price and to come back next weekend


Went back today and loaded it up, after 10 years of sitting it’s ready for it to see the road again





Got it back and tore the head off. Pulled the drain plug and out came a couple gallons of milkshake, after popping off the valve cover I was greeted by some nice rust on the cam, seems like it will clean up


Also found the only 11mm bolts i’ve ever seen on a volvo, why...just why


Got the head off and it looks better than I feared, good looking cylinder bores and no rust (or pictures). Cleaned up the valve cover and head some, going to try rust remover on the exhaust manifold and see what I can do to clean the different aluminum parts.


Also took a swing at the paint, cleans up well with just a wash, I’ll need to wax it as well. Seller said it was repainted once, it shows in a few spots but overall looks nice






Almost sad it’s not Beige but the green looks great and it should make a good DD, very excited to get it on the road

[122power]

Nice find! Paint will come back its nuke proof, just takes some care. The brake lines are 11mm also.

[John242Ti]

Nice... The Bw55 (Bw35 is the B18/B20/B30 autotragic) is going to be a bit obnoxious on the highway, tho. I'd either consider swapping the 3.91 out for a 3.54 from a M46 Diesel or B21F-MPG car, or hunt down an Aw70 or 71, then make some brackets to shift the crossmember back one bolt hole per side.

The brackets can be the same thickness as the stock spacers used on the auto cars, just need to be three holes long instead of two. Weld a nut to the third hole. Use norma length bolts in the forward and rearmost bolt holes, and a couple longer bolts in the middle holes to hold the brackets and the crossmember to the frame rails.

The only other things you'd need would be the driveshaft, the shift linkage, shifter assembly and OD wiring, if you plan to retain the lockout function for the overdrive, or just the driveshaft, tranny, shift linkage, a solenoid block off plate, and the brackets, if you don't mind that it will upshift to 4th at all times. Driveplate is the same between the Bw/Aw55 and the Aw7x trannies on cars older than 1989.

[volvowagoon]

Nice score. My girlfriend loves DDing her 245. I hope yours does too!

[Duder]

Cool, another pea green wagon. That's how they're known around here. I have a '75 and it's universally appreciated, by car people and non car people alike. Buff the paint out with a gentle compound, nothing super aggressive, and it should come out great. The color completely changes (darkens) when buffed out.

[wishicoulddrift]

Originally Posted by Duder

Cool, another pea green wagon. That's how they're known around here. I have a '75 and it's universally appreciated, by car people and non car people alike. Buff the paint out with a gentle compound, nothing super aggressive, and it should come out great. The color completely changes (darkens) when buffed out.

I can second this. Still cannot decide which way I like it more... So sometime it is green and other times it is white-ish.

[blkaplan]

that is a great color.

[James M]

Originally Posted by John242Ti

Nice... The Bw55 (Bw35 is the B18/B20/B30 autotragic) is going to be a bit obnoxious on the highway, tho. I'd either consider swapping the 3.91 out for a 3.54 from a M46 Diesel or B21F-MPG car, or hunt down an Aw70 or 71, then make some brackets to shift the crossmember back one bolt hole per side.
.

Fixed, thanks for the heads up. I will propibly move to a AW70/71,being at 4,000RPM just to keep up with traffic does not sound fun

Originally Posted by John242Ti

The brackets can be the same thickness as the stock spacers used on the auto cars, just need to be three holes long instead of two. Weld a nut to the third hole. Use norma length bolts in the forward and rearmost bolt holes, and a couple longer bolts in the middle holes to hold the brackets and the crossmember to the frame rails.

The only other things you'd need would be the driveshaft, the shift linkage, shifter assembly and OD wiring, if you plan to retain the lockout function for the overdrive, or just the driveshaft, tranny, shift linkage, a solenoid block off plate, and the brackets, if you don't mind that it will upshift to 4th at all times. Driveplate is the same between the Bw/Aw55 and the Aw7x trannies on cars older than 1989.

I should still have most of the shifter assembly and the driveshafts from my wagon when I took out the auto. Gonna have to reread that a few times when I start collecting parts.

Originally Posted by Duder

Cool, another pea green wagon. That's how they're known around here. I have a '75 and it's universally appreciated, by car people and non car people alike. Buff the paint out with a gentle compound, nothing super aggressive, and it should come out great. The color completely changes (darkens) when buffed out.

I've seen pictures of both your bricks, I'm not copying you a promise.
Towing it back I had two guys in completely restored 50s/60s Alfas honk and give thumbs ups. Defiantly going to get more attention then my other bricks.

Originally Posted by volvowagoon

Nice score. My girlfriend loves DDing her 245. I hope yours does too!

She's already quite exited about it. Got a text after work asking not when I would be home but if I was working on the car, she's got her priorities in the right places.


Paint looks darker when wet, hopefully the slightly deeper green is what shows up after some polishing. Unfortunately the previous owner bent the hood some between the first time I saw it and when I picked it up. Drivers side has a gap, passengers is alright

[white855T]

Hopefully it's not bent and it's just the hinge. First thing you do on an old Volvo is lubricate all the hinges.

On the trans swap, get the overdrive block out plate. $25 on Ebay. Keep it simple so you can enjoy the car.

[James M]

I was hoping to spend the entire weekend on the car but ended up spending most of it dealing with my brother putting his car in a ditch and his friends car breaking on the drive back. Ended up getting a call at 11:30 friday to get the dolly and drive out to the hills. Long story short a 245 will tow an E30 and carry 8 people at the same time

On to Matcha! With the few hours I did have on the car we:

Replaced the drivers taillight lens and vacuumed the interior

Cleaned the Kjet, unstuck the plunger as recommenced by your favorite local junkman


Got the fuel pump working with a few taps of a hammer

Drained the old gas(found another 11mm)

Pushed the rest out with the pump revealing some tasty apple juice

Threw in a spare battery(another damn 11mm!)

Removed and replaced two broken studs from the head, came out pretty easily

Found some more rust under the lifter buckets

Lifter buckets themselves came out after some ATF and hammer treatment, valves didn't even close on their own because the buckets where so rusty



Gotta pull the valves later this week and check the related components, anyone care to confirm 530 lifter buckets, valve springs and retainers will work on a 160 head?

[John242Ti]

Buckets work fine. The B21FT head that's mated to the B23FT block in my 242 has shim buckets from a 1992 B230F in it. The springs are different on later 160, 398, and all 530 heads. What's called a type 2 spring is used on the later heads. The valves are the same size, tho.

[James M]

Got the head town down, little worse for wear for sure. Two broken springs, lots of rust on 7/8 of them. Valves need cleaned up but seem fine. Gonna have to find the 530 head parts I've got bagged up somewhere.







Head itself is covered in rust, got cracks between all intake and exhaust valves, cylinder 1 is spreading into the ports but the others look contained.

[blkaplan]

With how common and cheap a decent 8v heads still are, I would definitely start with something that hasn't been sitting for so long.

[122power]

Yeah i had a turbo 85 245 that sat needed a head gasket i was told. So i did it. Still has issues. Hmm so did more testing and more testing. Finally found the issue. There was a pin hole in the #4 exhaust port. Yipee so back off the head went.....fun times

[James M]

As recommended I got a new head, well a whole motor but the bottom end is only going in if the current one doesn't do well once it runs. New head is torqued down and I started to build it back up before realizing I misplaced at least one bag of bolts, was using rust remover on them at home, now they are gone.

Real progress came in the form of interior work, old carpet was looking more green then the paint before the washes

Pulled it up to reveal some very solid floors, can't wait to get the outside back to this color

In went some new carpeting, from a 88 245 so a little different but fits well and looks much nicer



Tried to add gas but the locking cap doesn't want to unlock,

[oldschoolvolvo]

nice project...color is excellent.

[kampman]

Wow, that old carpet was gross.

[Coupid]

Nice work, I bet that carpet didn’t smell very good either. Thats
the best 240 color imho.

[James M]

Matcha is back together and running


Did'nt get many photos, I need to get a new phone since mine is on it's last legs.
One of reassembly, went well overall. Still needs some vacuum work and an injector Oring, but she runs.

Had some trouble with the EGR pipe coming out. By trouble I mean the rusty f*cker snapped in half


Some booger welds and grinding later its one piece


Made it around town after sucking down two quarts of transmission fluid, running a little above temp but not overheating, hope to get an air pocket out soon. New tires, a whole bunch of suspension parts and some work here and there should put it back on track.

[122power]

Right on! Did you use the engine or head?
Wax that license plate! Lol

[James M]

Originally Posted by 122power

Right on! Did you use the engine or head?
Wax that license plate! Lol

Just the head, original bottom end seems alright and is running strong.
Need to wax the plate along with the rest of the car, and 2 other sets of Cali blue plates, and three other cars...I'm a little behind in the prettying up department

[James M]

Kjet fun tonight, chasing after a misfire
Replaced the throttle body and idle plate gaskets, got better but still missing. Looked at plugs and they all matched. Pulled wires and 1 was completely missing, 4 just a little rough. After pulling #1 injector the spray is more of a trickle.


Anyone try the mercedessource CIS injector cleaning setup? Seems like a good alternative to buying new ones if soaking them doesn't work.

Put on the enkies I was running on my 242, they are tiny on a 245 and the front sits super high with the old set in the back. Pulling the wheels off revealed brakes that have sat for a decade. They faired about as well as the Kjet did. Going to do new pads and rotors, bleed the system a few (dozen) times and inspect the calipers and lines. I've heard the girling calieprs are harder to get parts for, first time I've had to special order pads. Hope they don't need rebuilt/replaced


Can't wait to wax the car and see the paint shine, should look real slick, been drooling over duders wagon since I got this

[IansPlatinum]

No! keep the original steelies! the 75-79ish steelies are a different design, rare, and stronger than later steelies. They perfectly complement the 70s aesthetic of an avocado green station wagon

At the very least, sell them to me....

[Vol242vo]

How did I miss this one? Great looking 245 and color, sure it's not Beige but a strong 2nd favorite for me. You've made some great progress on this.

[122power]

you can flow test those injectors also. Need 4 pop bottles and be able to lift air door on fuel dizzy. Plus you can see the pattern also. Other check is fuel psi also from the pump. I always dump mmo in there also on these cars. 1/2 qt in the tank eh.
The brakes, you prolly know already is the pistons tend to get stuck or frozen and not release if the car has sat.
Wax on wax off remeber your training danielson, lol