JW's 1991 240 wagon

New spark plug cables! Finally! With the Bosch 2x2 coil fitted between the strut tower and the firewall I used some old Volvo cables and they barely reached the plugs. A few weeks ago one broke at the plug boot, that was the final straw to get new ones! Talked to my long time (Volvo) friends at Bijlsma Technical Innovations and they made me a perfect set. Car runs noticeably smoother with them!
Only need a set of plug boot sleeves and some flexible tubing to protect them from the local wildlife, some animals seem to love spark plug wires!

Also got a remap for the EZK from them, the previous map I used was much too aggressive at heavy load (boost) 3000 rpm up! I've always heard a small rattle inside the boost meter, especially at higher speeds.. As suspected that was detonation when the boost was building. With the Nylon tubing used for the gauge it works like a crude det can.
Lower gears it wasn't a problem, higher gears with the engine loaded up more and hotter the ezk successfully pulled timing I guess but that came at the cost of reduced performance. Engine runs much smoother now, less angry tractor motor! And most noticeably faster at highway speeds.

Also another experiment, an oil restrictor for the turbo. Not as small as the restrictors for a ball bearing turbo but at 2mm much larger. The steel SAE fitting on the turbo (same size as AN-4 but a bit stronger) was tapped for M5 thread (partly) and a small set screw drilled to make be able to exchange/remove the restrictor.



Still need to test how it works but people running similar turbo's on the Ford forums have reported good results, some cars even had them stock.

Oh and the exhaust rusted through right above the axle. Going to fab a new pipe between 1st and 2nd muffler from stainless steel.

Beachee said:

Love your DD. Looks alot like mine.

<a href="http://s1084.photobucket.com/user/Beachee/media/My%20cars/Volvo%20240%20-86_zpsqnh1re5l.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/Beachee/My%20cars/Volvo%20240%20-86_zpsqnh1re5l.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Volvo 240 -86_zpsqnh1re5l.jpg"/></a>

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Nice, never seen a later model 240 with so much chrome like the earlier 240's! Looks good, like the Polaris!

Soo another small update.



This rust spot had been bothering me for some time (more than a few years actually) and never got around to fixing it. This sill had another rust spot that I fixed at the same time.




So I made a short section of repair panel from some leftover steel, I think 1.5mm thick, a bit thicker than original.




And voila, finished. Had some Brantho paint left that I used to paint it, silver for now (the silver is aluminium powder which works great against rust and abrasion). New clips for the trim ordered. Will paint it black next week or so. And then Mike Sanders grease in the sills this summer, rust won't get a chance!


Other maintenance was to fix the leaking exhaust. The over-axle tube had a split where it was welded right over the axle. Temporarily welded a plate over the rust to prevent the exhaust from falling off. Last week I finally found some motivation to fix it, found some other holes. Mufflers look good, tubing is bad. Still not that bad, 5 years in use now with many short trips (commute those 5 years was 10 km one way).
Ordered stainless steel tubing to do it properly this summer. Maybe two new mufflers in stainless steel as well, they aren't that expensive.

For the rest, thinking to get the alternator rebuilt, it behaves like most of the diodes are bad. Cold engine voltage OK, after 30 minutes of driving and some heat soak, not so good. Voltage drops at idle etc. Maybe that causes some of the rough running too, sometimes it runs rough, sometimes very smooth.


And working on spherical bearings in the trailing arm bushings:



SKF GE20-Something bearings. I am aware of the beautiful option one can buy at Kaplhenke. But with the lathe here it is a nice little piece to make, together with a trailing arm bushing puller. I hope to be able to make these parts quickly, the trailing arm bushings are very worn..

Nice Jan Willem, and uhm... a waterjet at work, can we be close friends from now on

Chilm said:

Nice Jan Willem, and uhm... a waterjet at work, can we be close friends from now on

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Hehe, yeah of course, 'sad' thing is I work at a different place now! And they have nice(r) machines but no easy to acces waterjet. The waterjet operation and maintenance was basically a shared responsibility between my colleague and me so i could waterjet a lot in theory, in practice it was either too busy for me with many many other tasks, the machine was running for customers or the machine was down for maintenance
It was a very very nice thing to have around, for sure! In my utopia dream workshop I'll have one as well, one can always dream!

Small update. Finally got around to fitting this R-sport/Momo steering wheel. Replaces the original one of which the rubber/foam was like twist-grip throttle haha.






Due to change of job i have been using the 240 a lot more. 2 hours a day heavy traffic (12000 traffic lights on a yearly basis only for commute). No real issues. Very happy that i get around 30 MPG.

Did fit a 984 ECU with chip from Bijlsma Technical Innovations due to the original ecu going bad. Fuel pump relay was not actuated or was buzzing. Got home with a piece of cardboard forcing the contacts closed. Now with the new ecu and chip runs better, much better. Still have stuff to improve of course but this already works very good. WOT nice 0.80-0.83 Lambda. Also checked and corrected valve clearance, hushers still good after 50K turbo (ab)use, needed a couple of new shims. Most of them are still above 4mm thickness!

Next plan is suspension. Pair of Kaplhenke quick steer roll correction spacers is high on my wish list. New tires. Brakes. etc. Oh and maybe the clutch is close to the limit, slipped a few times in 2nd gear. Keep breaking stuff.

Time for some updates. Managed to get some stuff done between fixing other cars and countless other things. And happy new year!


Most important thing is the torque rods. Made a set of adjustable ones. One end Fluro M16 rod ends, other side sized for poly (or stock rubber) bushings.





Radiused the bolt heads on the lathe, just because.




The Poly bushing side. Made the wall thickness of the shell 5mm. The stock ones were getting oval.. Seamless tubing used.
Bolts that were welded to them made from a weldable alloy (hot formed class 5.6).




Primered. Rod ends LHD, bolts RHD. Adjustable when installed.





Spacers. Some high gloss paint too. And hopefully these rubber thingies keep the salt/water out.

Still need to properly adjust them but first impression is very good. Less slop in drive line (duh), less vibrations (old ones were stock, non adjustable), no noise, axle feels more planted, follows bumps in the road better, especially when road inclination changes (like sideways speed bumps, driveways).
Still need to test high speeds and adjust them but the first short trips seem to be promising!


For the rest only small stuff. One day the car didn't want to start. Coolant temp sensor open circuit. Had replaced the original one with an aftermarket one years ago. Now got the proper Bosch one and car runs better, more consistent. Warm-up different, takes longer to get to closed loop.

Kaplhenke quick steer roll correction ordered but need to wait for new ones to be made. No biggie. Curious how it will improve the handling! Especially since I can address a slight knocking noise right front as well at the same time (ball joints OK/new/good: Volvo/TRW/Heid brand).

Saving up for a Do88 Grp A intercooler. Wanting to drop the rear axle, install the Truetrack that has been in storage for a few years, new in-tank pump, some fresh paint, fix some rust, re-do exhaust (with silencer bypass probably).

Oh a new Pilkington windshield has been fitted too! No rust whatsoever to be found so happy. The installer did a great job so no scratches or anything. Nice to be able to see the road again, the old one was very pitted and had various cracks.




Fitted a set of H4 headlight bulbs. First I didn't want them because of the 6000K color but with the current prices I broke down and just got a set. Works good. Need to adjust one side and will post some pics of beam pattern when that is done. They fit great in the 240 (version with fixed aluminium cooling fins, not braid, no fan). 25 Watt per side, claimed 4000 Lumen, 6 Lumileds for low beam, 6 for high beam, per side.
Light output vastly superior to the H4's I was running (just normal stuff, not super old). One thing that is also very noticeable is that switching between low- and high beam is instant.
EDIT: one year on, still going strong! Only drawback is radio interference.



Same with the BAY15D-sumpin rear brake/drive lights. Direct drop in, no bulb out indicator issues and noticeably brighter than the old stuff that came out of the lights. Build quality seems to be good. Hopefully they last long too. Tho for the low price one can't complain anyway!
EDIT: also working fine after 1 year.

Niiiice

Happy New Year en goeie sh*t Jan Willem.
So nice to have- and to know how to work with a lathe.
Good to see some progress man, still got the Volvo fire burning inside.

Cheers...

I really like what you're doing. Great work on the torque rods!

whoa nice.. the first H4 LED on TB in europe...

Where did you purchase it? How much?

Chilm said:

Happy New Year en goeie sh*t Jan Willem.
So nice to have- and to know how to work with a lathe.
Good to see some progress man, still got the Volvo fire burning inside.

Cheers...

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Yes happy new year to you too!
And the love for Volvo's is incurable (i think its called an addiction)

Arn02 said:

I really like what you're doing. Great work on the torque rods!

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Thnx, yes, i'm really happy how these turned out. Took me way too long to finally make them. Especially now I experienced how much better the rear suspension works now.
Motivated to get the rest of the rear axle done too now!

MadDog_945 said:

whoa nice.. the first H4 LED on TB in europe...

Where did you purchase it? How much?

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Yes, probably 1st!

I got them from Aliexpress. Around 28 euro including shipping
So many versions, suppliers and changes in suppliers that a link is outdated in 2 weeks haha.
For 700/900 series you probably better get the ones with braided copper heat sinks. Those can be tucked in the reflector housing. Delivery time was approx 2 weeks. Same for the brake lights.

Today I replaced the headlight reflector clips/holders. On the right side those were broken so I could not adjust the beam properly. I noticed that the bulb has a little bit of play in its holder/adapter (between led and H4 adapter). Luckily the Ecode light housings have a rubber bellow that holds the lamp in place so it wont vibrate etc. Still something to keep in mind, this stuff is all built to a price.
And I noticed the right side bulb may have been installed wrong (its a squeeze between the air box and the lamp, didn't check when it was finally in place) so maybe the glare was caused by that. Will find out tomorrow!

Nice work! I am intrigued by the LED bulbs, especially for brake lights.

i've seen a few tests with the led bulbs and you've got the good ones with the little reflector on it. the ones without the reflector cant aim the beam at the top of the reflector and will blind oncoming traffic. i have been thinking about these lately but have gone with the oldschool yellow h4 bulbs but after seeing the pic from inside the car, i might swap to led aswell.
nice craftmanship btw, looks good.

oldschoolvolvo said:

Nice work! I am intrigued by the LED bulbs, especially for brake lights.

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I'm running LED lights on my 245 in the rear. The trick is only use white light bulbs with high SM emmiter counts. The more the better.

meh... those wouldtn fit in 940s cause of that clampring you need to get the H4s seated in the reflectorhousings..

oldschoolvolvo said:

Nice work! I am intrigued by the LED bulbs, especially for brake lights.

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Thanks! Yes bit more visibility was high on my priority list. Did you see the wiring mod to have the fog lights work as brake light as well? Pretty easy with some diodes.

tjek said:

i've seen a few tests with the led bulbs and you've got the good ones with the little reflector on it. the ones without the reflector cant aim the beam at the top of the reflector and will blind oncoming traffic. i have been thinking about these lately but have gone with the oldschool yellow h4 bulbs but after seeing the pic from inside the car, i might swap to led aswell.
nice craftmanship btw, looks good.

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Thnx, yes, seems like the right H4 bulbs work really well. Wanted to go for the yellow lights too but this was too cheap to pass up. I agree that the suuuper white light is a bit strange for a 240 but meh, at least now people on the highway think for a second a modern car is coming haha. Esp with the instant hi-beam signal.

Noticed the cooling fins are a tight fit against the rubber bellow, maybe these are a better fit for a 240:

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/D2S-...lt&btsid=f87e4397-0084-42ef-ac27-9665bbe7c022

And a bit more power too prob since they have more led chips.

MadDog_945 said:

meh... those wouldtn fit in 940s cause of that clampring you need to get the H4s seated in the reflectorhousings..

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Yes, tho I know a few people who use them in 940. Need to trim down one piece of the holder/reflector iirc. Easy fix

Oh and one bulb was fitted wrong. No more glare now. Will get a pic of the beam pattern soon.

Anyway. After this led upgrade i will focus more on real mods again! Need more boost, more road holding and more stereo.. haha.

mh.. yeah.. maybe someday when the core get smaller i will fit them into my 16v.. they are not appropiate for my nato dailybitch.. that thing has to work and be easy replacable..

/edit

Maybe these could fit... http://www.ebay.de/itm/H1-H3-H4-H7-...hash=item3d26211a80:m:m7AZZWGD_Xa_WRtheuDvCGA

Work like forever

MadDog_945 said:

mh.. yeah.. maybe someday when the core get smaller i will fit them into my 16v.. they are not appropiate for my nato dailybitch.. that thing has to work and be easy replacable..

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Especially for a DD needing every day reliability and safety H4 led is an excellent upgrade. No need to worry about easy access/replacement. Those lamps will - in comparison with stock H4 - work like forever...

Yeah! Dropped the rear axle.



Doesn't look too bad, still pretty rusty and the big trailing arm bushings were cracked. Rear axle never felt really planted. Koni Yellow dampers... Quite rusty after 6 years, not living up to the reputation those used to have. Still working fine though.



TQ-rods!



yeah looking forward to removing that




Many hours later. Pressure washed and open-air sandblasted. So. Much. Grit. Everywhere.
Mostly done. Need to de-rust the brake backing plates and some details of the trailing arms, still.




Brantho Nitrofest primer. Still need to press out the bushings and stuff so didn't bother with the details, primer will need touching up after those jobs anyway.

On the lookout for the aluminium diff cover with filter like found on the later cars.
Will put some new underbody coating on the bodywork/floor too. Maybe drop the tank for a new in-tank fuel pump too, though i think i need a break from working on cars after this


Exhaust is on its last legs.. The Simons straight trough silencers JT used are still quite good. The piping they used is meh. First time I had to fix/weld it was in 2015, when it was in use for just 5 year. For now fixed with some hose clamps and alu foil.
Thinking of 2 solutions. Either re-use one muffler and make a side pipe.
Or buy two Simons stainless steel mufflers and fix it for good. Including a cutout valve for bypassing the last muffler.

nice to see you keepin' your car in a good shape!
keep it going