Ok, onto the thorny issue of money...
For your horror and amusement, first of all let's see how much I've inexplicably sunk into this old Volvo:
- I paid £1900 for the car in 2018 (not intending it to become a project
).
- The JT exhaust, iPD springs/arms, iPD ARBs, Bilstein shocks (B6 not B8, my mistake) and panhard bar etc. from Retro Turbo totalled another £2350 excluding shipping and import duties.
- I've spent almost €2000 (again before shipping) on parts from SKANDIX and GCP since 2018.
- Life's too short to add up the various other parts sourced via eBay, Classic Swede, etc. - another grand, at least.
Now, I appreciate as much as anyone that old cars are worth far less than the sum of their parts, maintenance/repair doesn't count for much (because stuff working is expected, obviously), go-faster bits don't add anywhere near their cost to the value of the car (if they add anything), and people do care about cosmetics. And that all Volvos are only worth £500.
That said, there are an awful lot of new parts on this car. Pretty much everything that might let you down except the clutch (alternator, radiator, hoses, fuel pumps, cam+fan belts, coil, leads, distributor, water pump, head gasket, crank pulley, clutch hose, sensors etc.) is new within the last few thousand miles.
There's also very little left in the suspension which isn't fresh - shocks, springs, ball joints, arms, bushes and with the exception of a stud or two I didn't want to fight with, pretty much all the fastening hardware underneath is fresh too - replaced with genuine Volvo parts. Did I mention I replaced all the bushes and wear parts in the gear shifter assembly and it's really nice? Propshaft UJs, centre bearing and guibo are all fresh. Engine and gearbox mounts too. Even the rubbers which support the fuel pump cradle are new.
For £5k you can have the car and (once I've fixed the rack which might be a couple of weeks) drive it away with the M90+prop, 15g turbo, 3" DP, iPD cam, and all the other spares I've got (ECUs, starter motor, brake discs+pads, etc.) loaded in the back of it.
For £4500 the car (once fixed), but no spares.
For £4k the car in its current state if you have a means of moving it. No spares.
Now you've probably all just fallen off your chairs and/or spat tea into your keyboards (because all Volvos are only worth £500, obviously) but any less than these figures and I can't justify selling it. Sorry if you were hoping for a bargain or you think I'm messing you all around. Flame away...