My name is John and I might as well share my problem too.

[filthyjohn]

VOLVO NUMBER 8:




Crap picture I know but it was only bought to tow that beautiful HB viva home (couldn't get the 360 ready because the engine's out LOL).
740 GL
B200E... Fail,
Automatic... Fail,
Saloon... FAIL.

Still, the price was right and it tows well (if slowly).
Oh and the viva's me brother's first car. Beat that.

[volvosneverdie]

Looks like a nice HB John.
Hes a lucky tinker.

Mine was a 56 morris oxford.
And it was only last year!

[whiskeyonesix]

My 2nd 740 was a waft-o-matic. Was like driving a motorised sofa - great for motorway trips, tho as you say, not too good if you wanted to get anywhere in a hurry!
As with other volvos ive owned - couldnt really fault it......

Thats a nice looking Viva, you dont see many around these days in that nick (u could say the same for the 740 )

[Chris_C]

Viva of WIN! Dude that is awesome.

[trabitom99]

I wouldn't have recognised that as a Viva. I vaguely remember the last version with the thin, long rear lamps, from waaay back.

A nice car to learn in!





Tom

[MCHUDD]

Hi mate.
glad to see someone saveing a viva. My first two road cars were HC models and were great cars. you could full a lever at the side of the seat and you were instantly in bed. Those were the days.
Cheers Mark.

[filthyjohn]

...last version with the thin, long rear lamps...

Yeah, HC was what we were looking for originally, but you can't find any decent coupe ones. Then when the B came up on ebay he couldn't say no. Loving the 'coke bottle' line and the shape of the rear panel.

Cheers for the comments all, I'm properly jealous of our kid now. It and the 740 are a bit rougher than they look in the photo, but he's got 3 months til he's 17, and a while after to get his licence, so we'll have it ready for the road by then.

To do (viva):
minor welding to driver's footwell,
convert to discs at the front
fit some seatbelts
bin the rostyles for some revolutions or alleycats

To do (740):
figure out what the little button on the gear lever is that makes the car faster, like an overdrive but opposite. Sport mode maybe?
And nothing else, it's a bit scruffy and faded but it's just a utensil to me, a piece of equipment for fetching cars about. I might even sell it as I don't really feel any love for it.

[trabitom99]

...last version with the thin, long rear lamps...

That's the one! They probably all got trashed on Top Gear

To do (740):
figure out what the hell's going on with the little button on the gear lever is that makes the car faster, like an overdrive but opposite. Sport mode maybe?

A button in the middle of the gear lever? I thought that was overdrive ...

Tom

[filthyjohn]

Nah, it's a little button on the side, where your thumb rests. I thought it was o/d but when you press it the revs go up, not down. haven't checked whether it holds the gears longer when accelerating, but the autobox seems really reluctant to kick down. towing around 50, boot it hard when it struggles on a hill, and it just holds 3rd. Even when you press the button, the revs rise but no kickdown.

I drew what appears on the dash when you press it:

[V6 Man]

It is overdrive (of sorts), but in the autos it's permantly on and the button turns it off. It's officially called the '4th gear lockout' and is to be used to enable manual control of the 'box.

Btw, when towing that should ALWAYS be switched off/out/no 4th etc. this keeps the revs high and thus the gearbox input shaft spins faster so the input shaft driven oil pump pumps the gearbox fluid around through the oil cooler quicker and so keeps the ATF temps down.

[whiskeyonesix]

What he said I had the same gearbox on my 740SE. The kickdown cable has a tendency to stick sometimes I found. Bugger to change as well, Bottom of gearbox oil pan and filter has to come out..

[Ronnie]

I've always had a rather large soft spot for the 700 - jam a spoiler on that boot lid - it mitigates the mobile greenhouse look somehow

[jtbo]

We had two of those Vivas as family car, father tested crash safety of first one with another Viva in city and after that he got another, which did get stolen and this was at later part of 80's

One of those had hole in bottom so you could see road from floor at rear seat, also windshield wipers did fell out if you put it to faster speed, can't remember much from those cars as years have taken toll of my memory.

Hopefully that blue one will be better individual

Can't say much of 700, I have sit in one probably more than 200 000km but it always have felt bit clinical to my taste, anyway those should be bulletproof

[volvosneverdie]

My old man had a 1800 magnum, with a beford van engine dropped in.
think it was 2.2 or 2.3 (thats what he told me as a bairn anyway.) actually, now i come to think of it, do bedfords and vivas even SHARE the same block?
Was that just one of those 'dad lies?'

Anyway, it wen like stink off a fresh poop, and got written off by a drunk yuppie in some kind of Porsche.

Thoooose were the days.

[filthyjohn]

^^^ Aye I think the slant 4 appeared in bedford stuff too. This is an 1159cc OHV though. It needs a bit of welding but there's six months to sort that out.
ALL the electrics work though, and even the chrome is pretty shiny.

That 'underdrive' function is pretty interesting though, I think I'll have it activated all the time, to stop me pulling my hair out in frustration at the slowness.