Hey, guys!

I’ve wanted to share something really unusual, especially for anyone who’s on the left side of iron curtain. I’m resuming my work on my project car that I’ve brought home back in 2020. It’s a 1984 Gaz 24 Volga.

I’ve bought the car in November 2020 from the second owner who intended to restore the car but had about 15 other project cars and eventually he decided to get rid of it.

It’s in pretty rough shape since the original owner passed away, the car sat for a long time in a field and was never parked in a garage… like… ever. It has some rust issues - flooring has a few rust holes, the rocker panels need replacement and the trunk gutter needs to be replaced as well. Lots of battle scars on the paint over the years, some bondo work visible as well, but it’s structurally and mechanically fine.

General info about the Gaz 24:

The car was manufactured from 1967 all the way to 1991 and the design was kept pretty much the same except for some cosmetic changes and small mechanical improvements. It was definitely not a people’s car back in the day, you either had to be a higher up in the party food chain, a well connected factory manager or a KGB agent to be able to have access to this car. It was the most luxurious car that you realistically get in the Soviet block. In the US this would have been a stripper model in terms of features.

The Volga was planned to have a V6 from the factory but some brilliant party folks decided that was going to be too exotic, so they shifted to a 2.5 liter 4 banger making around 100hp. It’s pretty basic in terms of design, but very reliable. Even if the battery dies, you can start the engine using a crank!

There was a 5.5 V8 available for these cars but it was installed only in KGB’s chaser cars. (Not accessible to the public). These cars were also equipped with 3 speed automatics. With this setup, the cars were capable of 0-60 in about 12 seconds, which was pretty fast for soviet standards back in the day.

After I got the car, I also bought a V8 engine from a Gaz truck, which has a very similar design to the V8 that was used for the chaser cars. My plan is to turn this car from a slouch (currently does 0-60 in 19 seconds!) to something that turns heads and reliable at the same time.

Engine mods:

• 4.7 liter stroker kit (around 289 cubic inches)
• stock heads with 56cc chambers (ported)
• stock pistons with reversed piston offset
• stock valvetrain
• higher flow oil pump
• stock single plane manifold (gasket matched)
• stock electronic ignition with about 20 degrees advance
• 4 barrel Holley 550cfm -2.5” exhaust system with x-pipe

Drivetrain mods:

-5-speed manual transmission (currently it’s a 4-speed) - Dana 40/60 rear end

Suspension mods: - Disc brakes - Bilstein shocks (front and rear)

Please keep in mind that aftermarket parts and kits aren’t readily available for these cars and sourcing parts from Russia is just as hard as flying to the Moon at the moment, so there’s a lot of parts that need to be fabricated (such as the engine mounts).

I’d love to hear your thoughts and input on this project as this is my first project ever and any advice and idea will be greatly appreciated. I’ll try my best to update as frequently as I can.

P.S Sorry if some of the terminology is incorrect, I’m not a native speaker.