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1989 244 DD Sortaproject

propav8r

F*ck Edgar
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Location
Franklin, NC
Well I'm back. After selling my blue +T 245, I really hadn't thought about getting back in a 240 on a daily basis. We have the '05 T5 V70 that I've been driving, and my wife was in an '02 BMW 530i.

That was fine up until about a couple months ago when the BMW started being a BMW. A number of relatively expensive failures in a short amount of time led me to fix what I knew was wrong and get rid of it. In the meantime, I've been driving my old '91 Mazda pickup around town, and we just take the V70 when we need to make a longer trip with the kiddo.

I was thinking about what to do for a second car after getting rid of the BMW, and although something new(ish) is an option, I really can't find anything I really like that's worth getting a loan for. While riding to work in the truck, I had a little epiphany that I drive 14-16 miles a day, almost exclusively in town. I don't need something new or even super nice. I just need a 240.

As luck would have it, I was out riding on one of my favorite local roads and stopped to snap a picture of a little creek and bridge. Walking back up, I notice a 244 sitting behind a house, and then I realize I knew the car!

It belonged to a guy I had known previously, and I actually put a fair amount of work into the car 5-6 years ago...water pump, oil seals, timing belt, plugs, ignition, etc.

The last thing I did on the car was replace the ECU...it had a pink 561 in it that died, so I put a white 951 in it.

Apparently it stopped running a couple years ago and he parked it. He lost my number, and didn't know where to take it in town, so it just sat.

He thought the ECU died again, but I'm not so sure. Loaded it onto a rollback and once I got it to the house, I dug into it a little bit.

Can't make either fuel pump run by jumping fuses or the relay (the relay was REALLY crusty inside, I suspect that's the reason it died), so first order of business is to put a new main and in-tank pump in it. The 25A fuse under the hood is good. It's been sitting with ethanol gas in it for about 2 years, so they're probably just varnished up. I have both on the shelf, so might as well do both at once.

It's got some actually kinda cool mesh wheels on it now. They're 15s that he ordered from tire rack many moons ago. They're coming off in favor of a set of GTAs that I sold to a friend awhile back, and just bought back.

Figure I'll cut the springs on it for now and let it ride until I decide what to do suspension wise. I think the best option might be to build a set of compliant coilovers with soft-ish springs and decent, but not super fancy inserts.

Anyway, I'll get it running first and go from there. And since this thread is worthless without pics...

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Tried to get a main fuel pump in it tonight before realizing this car had a parts store replacement on it, and ring terminals.

The Bosch pump I have uses the bullet connectors which are 3.5mm, instead of the 4 mm ones commonly available. Oh well, the right size terminals will be here in a few days.

In-tank pump tomorrow.

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The fuel pump harness comes out easily. Hit up the yard this weekend and pull it. One ring terminal and a 1/4" fast-on terminal, both under the rear seat bottom cushion. One grommet, then the bullet terminals at the pump.
 
The fuel pump harness comes out easily. Hit up the yard this weekend and pull it. One ring terminal and a 1/4" fast-on terminal, both under the rear seat bottom cushion. One grommet, then the bullet terminals at the pump.

The closest yard to me that would have a RWD Volvo is a 5 hour round trip.

I just ordered a box of 3.5mm bullet terminals from Amazon.
 
Got it running last night...turns out it was just a bad fuel pump relay.

Had it running for about a minute, and there's already several drops of oil from the rear main on the driveway :lol:
 
Heyyyy! New fuel pump relay installed and it starts right up.

Got a little rust repair to do (that's towards the bottom of the priority list). Gonna go pick up the GTAs and adapters for it tonight, slap them on, and chop springs.
 
Nice rescue! 17" wheels?
Fuel usually wont go bad in two years. The five year mark is where it starts to get nasty.

Yeah, 17" Pontiac GTA wheels. I actually owned these awhile back, sold them to a local guy, and just bought them back.

The gas seems to be just fine, burns/runs okay, but both fuel pumps were definitely dead. Neither will run with 12v directly applied to them. Kinda strange, but hey, they were parts store specials anyway. Much better quality stuff in there now.
 
Made it's maiden trip to the gas station last night...

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Everything works except the windshield wipers/sprayer and the AC. Temp gauge also barely comes off the bottom of the scale, so I'll check into that too, but an IR temp gun says the motor is right around 180-190 on the head, as it should be.

Guess I'll be pulling the wheels off it this weekend to get them ready to ship. Suspension is predictably floaty, but I think I'm just gonna toss on the coilovers I have on it and see how that feels, and just cut the springs in the back.

I forgot how terrible an M47 is to shift. So vague, like the gear lever is just in a bowl of pudding. The fact that the shift knob itself is loose doesn't help matters. Sometimes it doesn't want to downshift into third, but maybe that'll clear up with more use and driving.
 
So I've been driving the car daily for the past couple of weeks or so just to see if it was going to blow up on me. So far so good.

I've put a bit of effort into polishing up the paint, and have been making pretty good progress. I don't think I can get it that much better than where it's at. It's never going to look amazing, but it can at least look better than it did when I got ahold of it.

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These threads are always fun to read - buy a neglected car, make it shiny, get it back on the road!

Nice job so far. Paint is respectable now for sure. Should look really sweet on those GTAs.
 
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