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Potential project: '83 Volvo 242 turbo light upgrade

I

I Am A Bicycle

New member
Joined
Jul 30, 2018
I feel like there's two schools of thought when it comes older Volvo's. You can either keep it 100% original it upgrade to aftermarket parts.

I'm the 2nd owner of the 242 and it's in great shape and all stock. My night vision isn't great as it is and the lights it currently has as crap. It's hard to see at night.

What exactly are my options for upgrading? Ive watched a bunch of YouTube videos and have been fascinated by what some of you guys do with your Volvo's. I kinda don't care either way... I just want it to drive well and it looking good is sorta an afterthought. Something I don't have to worry about much because its in good condition. I'm new to all of the maintenance side of things and am trying to learn as much as I can. Any advice or sharing of options would be much appreciated! I'll try and get a picture up of the little sweetie asap.

Thanks in advance!
Robert
 
My advise is start reading, then read some more. A ton of knowledge has been shared in build threads and such, enough that most questions have already been answered. If you have a specific question that hasn't been answered before you can ask that and I'm sure someone can answer. Since you mention lights I'll start you there, get ecodes. They're much better than the US version, then you can drop in good bulbs too. You should have quad rectangles right now, so you could also go with an H4 retrofit.
 
I have quad rectangle headlights but I upgraded to H4 in the low beams and H1 in the high beams. They are definitely better, but still leave something to be desired.
 
How did you mount H1/H4 bulbs in something that resembles the sealed 4656/4651 glass bulbs? I don't want to change the appearance but would like the light of high output LED.
 
The European 1979-80 240 rectangular H4 headlamps seem to be the best option, provided you get a set with good glass and reflectors. See below. Same basic car as t8fanning's externally, except for stock hood.



Install relays on the wiring (I'd tie both headlamp harness plugs together, so the bulb failure lamp isn't on whenever the headlamps are on), then run some 100/90 H4 bulbs. Even with the 60/55 bulbs, they are an improvement over the 4x6 headlamps. I would recommend against doing LED bulbs, though. Those work better in a housing designed for them. From what I've seen, in a normal headlamp lens/reflector assembly, they are too bright, even in daylight.
 
TestPoint said:
How did you mount H1/H4 bulbs in something that resembles the sealed 4656/4651 glass bulbs? I don't want to change the appearance but would like the light of high output LED.
Click to expand...

Low beams are H4 in this pic... High beams are H4651's, but I've since replaced one of them with an H1 housing.



-J
 
I much prefer the 4 rectangle bulb look of my '81 and '82 than the later European style. I did upgrade the wiring by replacing many feet of 16ga wire with 12ga by installing relays in the headlight enclosures. One volt voltage drop across that much smaller wire reduces light output by 8%. Details here: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showpost.php?p=4441895&postcount=6

PC291405.jpg
 
You could convert your sealed beam bulbs to ones that accept H1/H4 bulbs like these. I have used Autopal housings in an old E30 and E24 BMW and with an upgraded harness/relays and bulbs was a big improvement. They are the same housing, but allow you to use H1/H4 bulbs. I don't know how the quad Volvo lights are set up, but the BMWs are designed that the low beams cut off when the high beams are switched on. If the Volvos are designed the same way you can always wire the low beams to stay on when the high beams are on. While it can be accurately said that the Autopal housings are not Hella or Cibie, they are easier to come by and a lot less expensive. The housings are metal and the lenses are glass and I have been very happy with them.

E codes are also a better option.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AUTOPAL-H4...l+165mm+lights&_from=R40&rt=nc&LH_TitleDesc=0
 

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The E-codes actually predate the US/Canadian dual 4x6 rectangle setup. These are not the same as the late European headlamps. While they look similar, they are what the early 260 series cars had in Europe, which is why the headlamp doors look similar to the dual 5.75" round doors that were used on the 1976-77 260 cars and the 1978-80 244/245 cars.

In any case, the drop-in H4/H1 headlamps are available on the 'Bay, as well as through Jonathan Dally (swedishiron.com here), etc. You will have to rewire the low beam plugs, since the H4 bulbs are wired like a 5.75" round sealed beam, instead of how the H4656 sealed beams are. I would stick to name brands like Cibie, Marchal, Carello, Hella, and Bosch. Much better quality, provided they are in good condition.

With respect to Volvo headlamps in high beam mode, if there are duals, all four light up. If only single assemblies, then those switch to the main beam filament.

A good site to check for information, lamps, and other products is:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com
 
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MSGGrunt said:
You could convert your sealed beam bulbs to ones that accept H1/H4 bulbs like these. I have used Autopal housings in an old E30 and E24 BMW and with an upgraded harness/relays and bulbs was a big improvement. They are the same housing, but allow you to use H1/H4 bulbs. I don't know how the quad Volvo lights are set up, but the BMWs are designed that the low beams cut off when the high beams are switched on. If the Volvos are designed the same way you can always wire the low beams to stay on when the high beams are on. While it can be accurately said that the Autopal housings are not Hella or Cibie, they are easier to come by and a lot less expensive. The housings are metal and the lenses are glass and I have been very happy with them.

E codes are also a better option.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AUTOPAL-H4...l+165mm+lights&_from=R40&rt=nc&LH_TitleDesc=0
Click to expand...
This what I did. A member/vendor David Samueles has great info and upgraded harness.
 
^spider eyes do work fairly well. I ran them for a while on my previous 242 before I flathooded it...



Headlamps were the Hella H4 high/low and H1 high beam assemblies.
 
One of the nice things about the rectangle headlights and the bigger volvo square ecodes as compared to a round headlight is the side lighting put out by the rectangle shaped headlights is better. I like the round headlights just something I noticed and like better.

What ever choice of lights you go with. Use the lighting with an upgraded wiring harness. Buy one from summit racing or ebay. Be sure it has connectors for high power bulbs. That way you can use 100w low beam and 90w high beam H4 bulbs and not have any vision problem.

If you still have the stock 55 amp alternator. Upgrading to an 80 amp Bosch or Denso alternator is helpful in the kjet cars.
 
John242Ti said:
^spider eyes do work fairly well. I ran them for a while on my previous 242 before I flathooded it...



Headlamps were the Hella H4 high/low and H1 high beam assemblies.
Click to expand...
Wow man. This is beautiful and I love how it looks! I'll post up some pictures of mine soon!
Thanks for sharing. So did you need to do a conversion in order to run these? How hard would it be to learn how to do it? My dad and I have some knowledge but I'm most definitely not an expert by any means.
 
I Am A Bicycle said:
Wow man. This is beautiful and I love how it looks! I'll post up some pictures of mine soon!
Thanks for sharing. So did you need to do a conversion in order to run these? How hard would it be to learn how to do it? My dad and I have some knowledge but I'm most definitely not an expert by any means.
Click to expand...

They are the stock 240 sedan and wagon headlights used from 1978-1980. A very nice look. This one above also has nice covers over the lights for the classic aero brick look.
 
Here's another example of spider eyes in my '85, with the Hella H1/H4 reflector assemblies, but no stone covers. (Thanks Philski!)
spider_eyes.jpg


The dual round assemblies and bezels are hard to find now (but I think I saw a post that said that new bezels were still available in Europe). You can probably find the Hella reflectors, or similar, on ebay -- they're a replacement for the original one-piece sealed beam bulbs. And you should add a relay or else you'll heat up the light switch and connector.

These bolt right in in place of the original rectangular lights, but you'll need to swap a couple pins on the headlight connectors if you go with the H1/H4 assemblies.
 
^Or use the harnesses from the donor 1978-80 244/245 (or 1976-77 262, 264, 265)... They're already pinned for H4 bulbs.

I Am A Bicycle said:
Wow man. This is beautiful and I love how it looks! I'll post up some pictures of mine soon!
Thanks for sharing. So did you need to do a conversion in order to run these? How hard would it be to learn how to do it? My dad and I have some knowledge but I'm most definitely not an expert by any means.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Pretty much just unbolt the old parts and swap the new parts in. Make sure that if you do this that you either use the black sheathed harnesses that comes with the round headlamps, or build a harness with relays, copying the pinout of the headlamp bulb plugs from the aforementioned harnesses.

-J
 
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John242Ti said:
^Or use the harnesses from the donor 1978-80 244/245 (or 1976-77 262, 264, 265)... They're already pinned for H4 bulbs.



Thanks. Pretty much just unbolt the old parts and swap the new parts in. Make sure that if you do this that you either use the black sheathed harnesses that comes with the round headlamps, or build a harness with relays, copying the pinout of the headlamp bulb plugs from the aforementioned harnesses.

-J
Click to expand...

I sort of get what you are saying but it's still a bit confusing. Where can I get more info on this and realistically how much modification is needed? As I'm starting out i want to take the
Modifications slower and take my time learning.
I've only ever done easy maintenance stuff with my dad and it's my third 240 I've owned since I was in highschool. I've decided I want to fix it up really nice this year and just daily it until the wheels fall off.
 
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