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Dorango Brown - 'Brownie' - 1980 242 DL

white855T

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Location
Dallas,TX
So a guy posted on facebook about some Volvos that were left on his mothers property. I contact the guy and he ends up sending me a bunch of pictures. Right away I notice this guy... Being a Volvo addict, I struck a deal with the guy for multiple cars(others were just parts cars).

This is how I found the car...

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A week later I go to pick it up... It was all suppose to be easy. 80 miles one way and 80 miles back to my parking storage. Halfway back this happens...

I'm towing the 242 with my 945 wagon.

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The passenger caliper seizes up and starts a fire. I immediately know something is wrong because I can feel one of the tires wobble as I'm towing the car. I pull over as the tire blows out. A piece of the tire flys off and starts another fire off the side of highway. Firefighters come pretty quickly as passerbys report the fire. What a day!

I did not try to tow this car with original tires(they were junk). I always bring good rollers(not with worn out tires). Frantically I get out my floor jack and jack the car off and bust off the tire as quick as I can. The fire is still happening. I was able to put the fire out(don't ask me how). I let it cool down for about an hour and then proceed to remove caliper/rotor. I had more rollers in my car and install another one as soons everything has cooled down. At this point, I called a wrecker to tow car the rest of the way. The car makes it to its resting place.

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I've never been been a fan of the single round headlight setup so that stuff was put for sale. The flat hood I remove it for my 245. This car was originally going to just be a parts car but you know how that goes... It will have a coffin hood with quad round headlights.

The next day, I go to to clean out all the trash. I didn't take to many pictures because it was just too disgusting. The only thing worth keeping was the rear door cards. The car did come with 2 pairs of door cards(cardboard wasted but vinyl covers still good).

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The entire interior is thrown out. Swapping to 81+ dash. The only pieces I keep are the seat reclining mechanisms(specific to the 242 seats).

I take the car to loca car wash and wash it inside and out, engine bay and boot. Don't worry we are in Texas, everything dried out by the time we went back to parking storage(well mostly, parking is 2 miles down the road). Whatever water was left, I used towels to soak it up and by the next day, it was completely dry. Blank slate ready for design.

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I will try to make the building process more cohesive. I plan everything out and execute but a lot of things were done at different times. I've only had the car for 10 days. This will be an accelerated build. Essentially a running project that somone else can finish it off. I will get it pretty far and somone else can take all the credit(I have way more projects and this one had to be saved).

The passenger quarter glass, rear windshield, driver side door glass was shot out by the grandson of the owner of the property. Luckily after cleaning boot, I found another quarter glass under all the trash(score). I snag all the 91-93 rear windshields that I can from the junkyard so I always have those on the shelf. I installed rear quarter glass and rear windshield myself. I find the closest windshield place to go to for the sake of convenience(ended up being a mistake) to have the front windshield replaced. They don't have it in stock so I have to wait a day. The guy comes out and puts it in(I left to run an errand). When I come back the windshield is installed($185). It was taped up so I couldn't see if it was done well. After 3 days, I take the tape off and the windshield was poorly installed( you can see new windshield in picture). So I will have to get this redone. Hopefully this isn't a huge headache.

I always have a few sets of 15 inch steel wheels on the shelf, So I go to my powder coating guy. I wanted to do chocolate brown for the wheels to match the body but he said he would have to order the powder. It would take about 4 days to get powder and then another few days to have them finished. Instead, he offers alternative colors that are popular. I settle on a metallic brown. I know its not to everyone's taste but I like them. The wheels will have center caps, I may add beauty rings. Here's how it sit today.

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The rear door cards were beige and it would be next to impossible to find a nice beige interior. I had recently sourced seats from a 1988 240 sedan(brown diagonal pattern). The 86+ seat back frame has to be modified so you can add the recline/fold over mechanism(don't have pictures of the process now but will add them later). Its not hard to fix the seat frame, just time consuming. I'm doing the same interior in my other 242(rose beige exterior). Here is a picture(not good picture sorry but you get the idea).

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So I decide to refinish the door cards with sem cordovan brown. I will do the front door panels but this will be later on. Added power windows/mirrors before I start to mess with door panels.

This is after I cleaned the door cards, Whatever cleaner you use needs to be rinsed off very well. Just let them dry in the sun

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Spray adhesion promoter and then you can spray the color you want.

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I have no use for the original drive train so all that has to be pulled out. Have complete m45 setup if someone wants it. I was lucky that I have one of those super rare air cooled redblocks(koolaid man made an appearance at some point).

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I originally wanted to stay manual but that is proven to not be easy. I have plenty of m46s but its been pita to find a drive shaft so I scrapped that plan. I have a Volvo replacement m47 with drive shaft but I can't source a lh 2.4 flat flywheel(don't want to use a dog dish flywheel) so that idea was scrapped because of time constraints. It's going to have a modded aw71 and that's all I have to say about that now. This week I will go to junkyard and pull an 86+ 3.73 rear end since it has the speedo tone ring which I will need so I can have a working speedometer.

The plan for the rest of this week is neutralize the little bits of rust on floor pans(using ospho) and doing some patch panels(just needs minor patches, I will take lots of pictures). I will spray epoxy once all repairs are completed. I need to complete this work before reinstalling wiring loom and interior.

Before doing this work, I need to remove the entire wiring loom for car, dash and ac/heater box. That stuff will go to the trash. The plan is to swap the entire wiring loom from a 91 240 that I parted out. I have a rebuilt ac/heater box and new seltec ac compressor on the shelf. Will need to buy a new condenser. I will be making all new hoses for the a/c. That is all for now. I will only make big updates. Stay tuned. In a couple of weeks, I will have made a tremendous amount of progress.
 
Very cool. I want to see it before you sell it!

question: what epoxy primer are you gonna be using after the panel work?
 
I've used eastwood gray epoxy and spi white epoxy. i have had good results with both of them. I have a devilbiss finish line HVLP gun and a HF purple $10 HVLP gun. Believe it or not, i get better results with the HF gun.
dean
 
I'm going to be using spraymax epoxy in can. Its just minor stuff(I'm probably going overboard). Getting the spray gun out and all that jazz is a big headache. You guys that have nice driveways or garages can afford to take your time.

MrV. we think alike. Both products I have used and like both of them and would recommend them to anyone starting out in bodywork/paint.
 
Needed to make quick yard run to make sure the rear end I needed was still there and pull a cylinder head. It was nice and golden on the inside. Score!

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Before I went on a Volvo road trip, I did this... I still have to get the driver seat ready(later this week).

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Covers have to be removed and cleaned individually(its a huge pain but it is what it is). You can see the nastiness before vs. after. I wash each cover on a gentle cycle with hot water. By the time the washer is done, the covers are mostly dry and can be reinstalled immediately. You also have to remove every single wiring rod from the covers or they will get mangled in the washer.

Before:

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After:

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Purchased your typical consumables that are needed on every roached 240 plus other goodies.

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Front strut assemblies are already ready to go with new strut inserts, nice mounts(modified with longer studs), ate slotted rotors.
 
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Saturday I met up with a guy from San Antonio(south Texas). He had been parting out a 242 gt on facebook. The story was it was used a display car somewhere in Austin. The building was built around car so there was no way to remove it easily when the owners decided to get rid of it. The drive train had to be removed, rear end as well. The roof was chopped off because it wouldn't fit through door way. So the guy I met with somehow acquired the car and was selling parts. I bought 2 doors(nice and straight) and a deck lid with a matching key($60 for all 3 parts). Will add pictures later. These were big and bulky parts which I wasn't going to haul around so I did have to take them back to my storage back in my area. Lots of driving but what can you do.

That was my first stop on my road trip. After leaving body parts, I headed back south to Belton,TX. They have a pretty good sized yard called Wrench-A-Part. They don't get many red blocks but its usually worth the drive. This yard is a 160 miles from where I live if that tells you anything. I'm a gambling man and it pays off(well, usually but not always).

Central Texas is dry like a mutha... As we approach summer, the temperatures are rising and you got to get an early start(of course I didn't). Knowing this, I brought my pop up tent 'cuz I ain't gonna fry! There was also a 93 240 but it was roached beyond what I usually come across and to be honest, there wasn't much to pull from it so I let it be.

940 se - got a lot of goodies here.

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First load: intercooler with piping & mounts, ecu & ezk, 24 mm sway bar, exhaust manifold, passenger headlight assembly, 2 oil cooler lines. - $175 out the door. Not too shabby. Not the best pricing but nothing to complain about either.

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The following day I was in Austin. Austin has 2 really good yards. LKQ which is on the south side and Wrench-A-Part on the east side(sadly no redblocks). The LKQ seems to get a fair share of redblocks. Some get picked over, some don't. A mix of 240,740 940 cars this time around.
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Looks like it was getting for paint but someone gave up.

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They tried their hand at upholstery.

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A failure of a different kind. Someone was trying to remove glass but bodged it up??

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Like I said, I always try to grab the 91-93 240 sedan rear windshields. At $30 bucks a pop. That's a steal!

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Working on other projects but this is the basic process of prepping block for paint if anyone is thinking about doing it. I start by cleaning block. I use a flat head screw driver to loosen all the built up grime. You can place cardboard or an old piece of carpet under block to catch/absorb all the muck that comes off. Spray down the block with a degreaser(many products out there, I use purple power). Agitate all the muck with a wire brush and then rinse with water. You will have to do this many times until you are satsified. I usally repeat the process about 3 times. Forgot to take pictures of this part but luckily the block wasn't very dirty. I then go over the block with a wire wheel on a drill. This really cleans the block very well and gets into all the nooks and crannies. After you are satisfied, rinse block again and let it dry


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Before applying primer, I chase all the threads on the block(you want to be sure the threads aren't stripped),Then I tape off areas that don't need paint(top of block and front) Once everything is taped off, you can apply primer( any engine enamel primer works fine). You don't have to actually use primer if you don't want to and can skip this step. If you do use primer, follow instructions on spray can. I did use primer this time around.

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Engine paint - can be any brand(I've used VHT and duplicolor). For this engine, I used Volvo penta engine red(original color of block). This paint is very high quality but it is not cheap($15 per can). With this paint, you are able to achieve a very glossy finish.

Apply first coat lightly, followed by 2 medium coats. If you haven't achieved the glossy finish you want, give it another coat. It takes a whole can to do just the block. Buy 2 cans as you will need to paint oil pan. You don't have to use the Volvo penta engine paint. VHT or Duplicolor offers a universal red that is pretty close to match.

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Dropped some heads at machine shop. Got them back them same day. One turned out to be junk(sucks I have to return to pick n pull).

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Finished disassembly. Took out dash, ac/heater box and the entire wiring loom. Swapped out passenger side firewall panel. Firewall panels were repainted before being reinstalled. Removed sound deadning to determine the extent of rust on floors. Really not too bad at all.

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Wow. You really are making fast progress. Great write up on the block prep and paint, that’s the right way to do it and last.
 
Wow. You really are making fast progress. Great write up on the block prep and paint, that?s the right way to do it and last.

This will be the only car I work on for now. Summer temps are here and I need to do all the laborious jobs. I finished up at around 2 PM yesterday and I've spent the rest of the day just recovering from working outside. The motor and trans will go in Sunday. The next big job will be swapping the rear end. I will pick up rear end from junkyard on Monday or Tuesday then it will get swapped in as soon as I'm able to install then the trailing arm bushings. Probably on the weekend.
 
So I was planning on going back to the junkyard one way or another. The head I bought last week looked like this(I've been having the worst luck with heads lately). Look like it had a few resurfaces in its life(no bueno). That give me $80 in store credit.

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The other heads turned out fine.

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I needed a steering column. When this car originally came in the junkyard, it had the keys and I grabbed them of course(I wanted to have a set of matching locks with key). The 242 had no keys so this solved 2 problems(now I can lock car). I have no idea if brake booster is good or not so I pulled it from the same donor car. The e-brake lever on 242 was not working, didn't bother with it and this car had a working one with a brown handle. I also grabbed hood cable, intermediate shaft(needed for motor) and engine crossmember. I was able to get pretty much everything I needed minus the rear end. I will go back for rear end in 3-4 days. The rear end is so easy to pull. It literally only takes me 30 minutes to pull off.

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