Fred's 1987 16v B234F Powered Volvo 240 GL Sedan

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Fred
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Fred's 1987 16v B234F Powered Volvo 240 GL Sedan

Post by Fred »

Yesterday I took delivery of this vehicle that I agreed to buy for parts three months ago, paid for 2 months ago, and got asked to move from the PO's front lawn 2 weeks ago.

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As usual, there was a bit of a mission involved. General planning happened some weeks ago, a lonely trial
mission occurred last weekend when I managed to get it running without much effort, I wrote a detailed
list 5 days ago, and finally yesterday Rob/Corbon and I went with a Stagea load of gear, prepared it, and
picked it up! Huge thanks to Rob for his help! Most appreciated! It was a fun day for me! :-)

Until a week ago, this car hadn't even run in around 1.5 - 2 years, let alone driven. It has a moderate case
of rod knock, and a bad big end bearing. Well, yesterday it was driven about 45 kilometers in about the
same number of minutes without any major dramas.

Peak speed was about 120 on a down hill stretch as a run up for the next up hill stretch. Minimum speed
on the motorway was about 80kph at the top of some hills. Cruising RPM was 2500 @ 100kph through to
3000 @ 120, a couple of accidental kickdowns resulted in bursts of 3500 and possibly once to 4000, no
higher. Didn't want another messy rod exit on my hand or a chance for the coolaid man to appear.

The engine is obviously knackered, but will probably donate some good parts to other projects in good
time. The shell isn't really too bad. It is rough, but it's not very rough, and the interior is pretty good.

So I'm putting up this thread to serve several purposes:

1) To document what I want to take from this car and directly fit onto my gold wagon (sooner or later)
2) To document what I want to take from this car and store as spares for my gold wagon (for later, just in case)
3) To document what would require fixing on this car to get it road legal with a view to a simple and fun repower
4) To give you a place to argue your position on what to do with this car, should you so wish.

The context should be obvious but I'll spell it out: I bought this for a parts car, but am now thinking about
swapping in some other engine and driving it for a while for fun. Volvo 240 cars are fantastic to drive, in
all three body shapes, but I feel a bit precious about my gold wagon, so having a 240 that I don't have to
care about would be nice. This cost me 450nzd and replacement cars are available for 1000 to 2000 regularly.

I'll reserve a few posts for the above, but comments are welcome right here in this thread. No decisions
are final. Nothing much is going to happen in any direction for a little while, regardless. It's going to sit outside
and take up space, no matter what. I have other priorities for now, and no funds, nor time.
Last edited by Fred on Sat Mar 24, 2018 9:38 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Wrapped text for Sim <3
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Things to take from it and directly fit onto my gold wagon!

Post by Fred »

  • Tacho works! Move ASAP.
  • 19.5mm +/- 0.1mm rear sway bar
  • 23.1mm +/- 0.1mm front sway bar
  • Right rear door might be better than mine, but would need a check and respray
  • Headlight reflectors might be better than mine, but aren't perfect, dodgy DIY job possible
  • Passenger seat in good shape, swap my tan leather onto it, and put it into drivers side of wagon
  • Transmission has no whine, but is a bit soft, might donate some parts to mine, if I don't go AW72L or bigger.
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Things to take from it and hoard for my gold wagon!

Post by Fred »

Hoard:
  • Front windscreen
  • Doors, door glass, and door guts
  • All suspension, all brakes, rear axle inc diff
  • Guards, bumpers, panels, except bonnet which was damaged
Attempt to sell:
  • Boot
  • Wheels?
  • Tail lights
  • Rear window
  • Rear side windows
  • Good cond rear seat(s)
  • Front seat covers
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What needs fixing to get it legal for a simple fun repower!

Post by Fred »

  • Rust centre top front of bonnet, peeling etc.
  • Rust above lock passenger front door, peeling etc.
  • Some lower door rust to clean up and/or hide
  • Front rotors - seem to be recovering, though
  • Front sway bar end links
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A place to argue your position on what to do with this car!

Post by Fred »

Comments welcome, may the debate begin!

Pluses :
  • The interior is decent
  • The thing is mostly rust free
  • No need to strip it completely ASAP
  • I could daily it without worry/fear/nerves
  • Chassis is nice - big sway bars, fresh shocks, fun to drive
  • Engine is toast and carbed, so no guilt putting in some other random engine...
  • Keep a 240 on the road a bit longer as the population slims
Downsides:
  • Time better spent on the other 10 :-)
  • Money better spent on the other 10 :-D
  • No time for such dreams due to the other 10 :-p
Your 2c welcome.
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Re: Fred's 1987 Volvo 240 GL Sedan - Notes and Debate

Post by Fred »

Live diary notes fresh from IRC just prior to the birth of this thread:

(16:09:09) Fred: took the 244 for 3 more short drives, checked ATF, dry, put 1.5l in, drove, checked again, very low on dipstick, another 1.5l in, drove, overfilled, so it has 0.5 to 1.0ish extra litres in it, probably
(16:09:15) Fred: but now it drives fairly normal
(16:09:36) Fred: must have been insufficient ATF for the TQ converter to function properly and/or the clutches to get enough pressure behind them
(16:09:52) Fred: didn't see any of what i put in leaking out, either
(16:09:53) Fred: weird
(16:10:05) Fred: brand new full 4.0 of ATF came with the car :-D
(16:10:10) Fred: so i guess he knew
(16:10:50) Fred: clattery noisy piece of junk, but drives smooth and nice, and even the brakes are doing OK
(16:11:33) Fred: other things to take care of right now, but i guess i'll make a list of things to swap onto the gold car and things to fix on the blue car for a WOF and then think about it
<snip>
(16:18:35) Fred: I'd feel the same taking the 245 or even the sweet 740 to a trackday, too. I'd be scared for it. Different on a track at 150-250 than a carpark with soft cones. In a 244 I'd give zero f***s and push as hard as I could.
(16:19:21) Fred: I should get the 23mm sway bar I have for the 740 into it. I knew what a sway bar could do to a car, but I guess I'd forgotten at some level, because suddenly I'm motivated :-)
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Re: Fred's 1987 Volvo 240 GL Sedan - Notes and Debate

Post by Fred »

And a few tweets/pics from yesterday:

Image

Image

Image





And today:

Image
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Re: Fred's 1987 Volvo 240 GL Sedan - Notes and Debate

Post by Fred »

Found where the ATF makes its final escape. Didn't trace it back to the source, yet, though.

Image





Drove it again today, up the hill and back. Contemplating a different plan of attack...

Put my good bottom end into it, and reuse the head already in it. FreeEMS it. Try mods out on it, instead of molesting the 245. Once mods tested good, swap over to the good car. To that end I did a bit of cleaning on the good bottom end last night and got all the grit out of the top ringlands, now it looks like this:

Image
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Re: Fred's 1987 Volvo 240 GL Sedan - Notes and Debate

Post by Fred »

There's a puddle of ATF under it since yesterday when I moved it into the driveway to get it off the grass. I'll have to figure out where it's coming from (not obvious without cleaning it, I don't think) and if possible stop that. Or put something under there to catch the drips.

In other news: viewtopic.php?p=42620#p42620 I'm trying to make this car #40 :-D

I have only Friday and Saturday left to make it happen, so we'll see what happens, but I'm trying.
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Re: Fred's 1987 Volvo 240 GL Sedan - Notes and Debate

Post by Fred »

Tweet tweet:

(19:05:32) Fred: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 7200961536
(19:05:38) diyefi-bot: Fred Cooke on Twitter: "Rex Bendix #B230K ignition coil in the 87 244 https://t.co/eK6URwNGuH"
(19:05:40) Fred: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 4467977216
(19:05:46) diyefi-bot: Fred Cooke on Twitter: "Rex Bendix #B230K GM MAP sensor in the 87 244 https://t.co/v4yOlowLiY"
(19:05:48) Fred: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 8288249857
(19:05:54) diyefi-bot: Fred Cooke on Twitter: "Rex Bendix #B230K crank sensor and "missing hole" wheel in the 87 244 https://t.co/fsN6HB6zGC"
(19:05:57) Fred: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 6484589568

Inlined:

Image

Image

Image

Image





And one for sim: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 9545773058

Image
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