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Wanna see a $150 240?

DropMy240

New member
Joined
May 14, 2018
My wife is a graduate student in Houston. Last summer, we were preparing to move up to Alaska for a year for her required research. A week into our trip, a student one year ahead of her just posted his 240 for $150 firesale and I bought it site unseen knowing I wouldn't be able to drive it for a year. He had just returned from abroad, graduated, and was moving back home w/ his wife and new baby. We lost 50% of our storage in the hurricane later that year but the Vo was saved. I flew home to deal w/ the damage and felt fortunate I have some wheels at all. It was pretty rough looking when I first saw it but so was everything else around me at that moment. I decided it was worthy of a detailing and tune up though.

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WAAAAAA? Okay, so now I'm hooked. What did I get myself into?

I grew up w/ classic air cooled vws. Learned to drive on my mom's Thing. Lowered and learned to tune on my 66 bug (first car). Drove across the Nevada desert in my Vanagon. Came from car families on both sides. But that was years ago. It's been boring a-to-b transportation ever since. Look at that engine bay!?! But you guys already knew! Where have you been?

Tuned up now. Sounds like a tractor. Familiar. I was only home for a week and lent to a friend who lost everything. He's grateful but does not appreciate what I see. Boring. Anyway, I'm happy it's being used. We're in Alaska for the next 4 months before driving back so we only have one other vehicle atm. This is to be a (limited) daily driver, eventually the third car. I want it to be absolutely done to perfection. I'm not really a speed demon at all and wouldn't be allowed the budget for it. I like pretty things. I don't need turbos, that's silly. I do need to custom design and custom make my IMs and headers. Why? To polish afterwards. I'm gonna take much of the front clip out for to paint and engine swap. It has to be painted, inside and out. I can live with the blue interior if I can paint the body a pretty color. That white is just killing me. That's gonna be a pain to do affordably though. Might as well do it myself and put in sound dampening then too, huh? Just makes sense.

I'm not gonna put much effort in the redblock. It runs perfect but just doesn't do much. I love it about that. I'm not gonna put a turbo on an 8v. I'm not going to junkyarding some obscure porche-designed 2 part head either. They look really cool but I'm trying to be simultaneously down to earth and crystal clear.

I'm gonna junkyard-hunt this momma some proper accouterments (roughly in order):


  • Front and rear springs - to chop, duh
    replace shocks/struts w/ something a slight bit more sport
    960 5 spokes (gonna investigate narrowing the front 2 by an 1")
    740 grill mod (i really hate my grandma grill, would love to go flat hood but keeping it reasonable/cheap)
    Tach

As far as engine, I got time. Basically the list above will be done within the first 1-2 years, which is easy. I'd like to do the engine swap by year three. Until then, it's gonna be teachable moments between me and my 5yo, who's been a trooper through all this moving. I'm gonna try to acquire the engine as soon as I have a garage to put it in. It'll sit on a stand and we'll slowly go over checking and cleaning the block. I am very unfamiliar w/ turbos and very hesitate in general. I appreciate the power potential but I personally don't think they look very good. I'm gonna do a white block but I'm inclined to do an N/A 2.5 or 2.9L. I'm not really looking for more than 200-250hp and superb bottom. How's the clearance on the 6? Belts to fan wise? Anyone got some basic measurements of different whiteblocks? I'd like to draw this all up in Blender and Bricscad as I go, help me decide body and engine color schemes, maybe test some other wheels. I'll share blender files if I ever get around to any of this.

This guy has pretty much given me a blueprint for how I want to go about my engine.

I would love to have some ecu tuning ability as well. It'd be sweet to have an 'eco' and 'sport' mode.

So you've heard my initial impressions of what I want to do. Sux that I won't be able to do the first thing for quite a while. I'll be looking more into each of the items on my list to figure out which ymm's I'm looking for. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
 
Please don't ruin that car with your "list".It deserves to be stock
 
Damn. 240's haven't been under 1500 here in Texas for a decade. You seriously scored, and then hit the lotto again by not having any flood damage to it. Congrats.


Return it to stock and just drive the thing for a million miles Irv-style....
 
Damn. 240's haven't been under 1500 here in Texas for a decade. You seriously scored, and then hit the lotto again by not having any flood damage to it.

Turds can be had for $500 or under( I haven't paid more than $600 for a 240). Even decent ones can be had for under $1000 but you have to be quick to buy them.
 
If you're going to mess with the suspension, get IPD springs and the GAZ struts from Josh if you want the cheap option, or call Ben if you want the good option. Don't cheap out on those bits.
 
Give it time. With his "list" it'll be a $150 Volvo in no time.

:nod: On a good day.

* Put car up on jack stands.

* Rip it all apart.

* Post tear out parts in For Sale.

* Sell just enough so it won't go back together, but don't make any money.

* Buy an engine that doesn't fit.

* Discover it doesn't fit.

* Post whole dead 'project' in For Sale.

* Get mercilessly trolled.

* Call the junkyard, and discover they'll pay $80 if you can drive it there.

* Push it out on the street and abandon it for the city / county to tow if you were smart enough to not put it in your name so the tickets go to the PO.

* Wait for a nasty email / letter / phone call from the PO anyway or live with a permanent lawn ornament, until said city / county serves you notice for an abandoned car on your property.

* Pay tow truck company $200 to haul it to the junkyard and do not pass go.
 
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@crushMy240

<marquee direction="left">Any thread about cut springs, & or +T on a college students budget shall be sent to OT, flogged for 24 hours, participants in said thread shall point the OP in the correct thread link while simultaneously shaming them </marquee>
 
I started out with air cooled VW and Porsche. The engine sounds like a tractor because the exhaust leaks aren't fixed. A 92 LH 2.4 engine should idle smoothly and quietly. You can add a nice bit of power with some affordable upgrades like a better cam like an A or B cam and a tune on the ignition ecu. After that if you aren't a speed demon leave it alone and it'll serve you well for a long time.

If you are going to lower the car use lowering springs or even better use what is suggested above.
 
I started out in the ACVW world as well. The ACVWs are different than Volvos though so don't think some of the items are as simple as a VW.

For the suspension, look into the IPD springs, swaybars, etc paired with Bilstien shocks. Simple and works.

Wheels, yeah have fun with whatever you want. Plenty of options as your wallet allows given FWD offsets and adapters.

The whiteblock swap is an undertaking, but can yield substantial power levels. It is a good motor for the 250-350 range IMO. Lots of information on that.

I would leave the interior and exterior alone. The Stormtrooper look is the haut right now.
 
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