My first brick... 1989 240 DL Wagon

Not a huge fan of major stretch, and even less a fan of poke. I like the tire to still function as it should without the risk of blowouts. I guess at that width though, there will be meat to tires haha

You won't blow out tires because of stretch. Blowouts happen when you ride on the tire because the pressure is too low (14psi or less) if kept at 35psi + you'll be fine. 205/50/16 looks pretty nice and you'll actually be able to fit them on the car.



as far as adapter size you'll want 40mm to have it sit right and by that I mean not touching the strut.

VeroDubs said:

Little less meat... I don't want to look too aggressive with my overly powerful n/a redblock haha



These things can have cruise control!?! and Thanks, really excited to get the wheels cleaned up.

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Yep, my 1991 245 has cruise control. Great feature to have on a 240!

So I picked up some stuff to replace on the Volvo. Hoping this will help this car run a little better.



Also stopped by a local Volvo guys house and he had some stuff for me. Cost me $200, but I think that it was a pretty good deal. I am not to knowledgable when it comes to used stuff. It's a V Cam, iPd Cam Gear, and a custom bored throttle body that is supposed to be 4mm larger with a custom made butterfly.









And I like to show off my son, he loves coming out to help. Now that he writes, it's even better because he can mark parks and write short notes for me. Kind of awesome!





Him marking the timing belt-



So this is where I started last night-



And this is where I ended-



Have all my shim measurements, just have to go pick them up today so I can reinstall everything tonight!

So I borrowed the shim kit from another shop and it was a good thing. Even though I took the measurements probably 3 times, they were still off once the cam was in and I had to switch two of the shims for different ones.





I got everything reassembled and it fired right up. It ran so nice and quiet, then I walk around to see this.



Couldn't figure out what I did, then found this next to the tool cart...



I really thought that was the problem. The belt got chewed up a little running off the pulley, so I got a new one, then after reassembling everything again, I had the same issue. Turned out I needed to space the cam pulley with a spacer. After I made a spacer and reassembled everything, it ran great.

I put on the throttle body while it was apart and fixed some air leaks. The only thing I am noticing now is that I have a pretty high idle. Will need to do some tweaking. Otherwise the car runs great. The cam and pulley definitely make a difference.

You got a smoking deal on the cam, gear, and throttle body.

I'd still run the cam straight up though. Been proven that stock grinds are best like that.

As for the gear, I'd get the teeth re-anodized. They tend to wear.

Friday I spent the day cleaning the mess I made, re blacking all the exterior plastics, and washing and waxing the car. This was all in preparation of a small get together in Orlando that took place Saturday.

I have a few methods for blacking trim, so I thought I would share in case it can help anyone out.

First for hard plastics like the grill, mirrors, and side moldings at the bottom of the door. (Can also use this on all the black surfaces around the windows.) I use wipe new after getting it really clean. You can pick up Wipe New up at any CVS or Walgreens, it comes in a yellow box with some clothes, a little sponge brush (which is great for the grill) and a glove. One bottle can do an entire car. The nice thing is after it dries, it sheds water very well and prevents water spots. It is not a paint, it is clear, but it can be seen if you get it on other surfaces, so take your time! (If you do get it on paint, just wipe it away before it dries, not a huge deal)

Her you can see I have applied Wipe New to the top left section of the grill and not the lower section.





When it comes to bumpers and mud flaps, I have a little different method. I only do this because they usually become pretty grey and faded. I want them black before I put on the Wipe New. I have a bottle of MAP Gas with the trigger. All you do is evenly heat the bumpers and flaps so that the grey surface begins to blacken. You are essentially melting the faded layer. You will be amazed at how it looks after this. But it will fade back again in a few months. If you apply Wipe New over it, it will keep the black for a long time.

Here she is after being all cleaned up and polishing all the chrome too.



Then Saturday there was a little meet in orlando. We all had a great time and the car did awesome. Had some time to do some spirited(ish) driving and it felt great.









Now I have to get back to working on the wheels!

harribert said:

You got a smoking deal on the cam, gear, and throttle body.

I'd still run the cam straight up though. Been proven that stock grinds are best like that.

As for the gear, I'd get the teeth re-anodized. They tend to wear.

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I will look into the re anodizing. As for the advance, everything I read said you lose a lot of power running the V cam straight up. That the low end felt sluggish. Did I understand that wrong?

So I was cruising to work last week when my CEL starts flickering. I thought, hmmm that's strange, the cars been running so nice since the cam.

Well sure enough I come to a light, and feel the car shudder and shut off. Morning traffic behind me and a dead car... I was like, damn.

Managed to get it start and move about 20 feet to the side of the road. After a little inspection, I pull of the CPS wire and what do you know, dangling behind the block is the CPS and half of the bracket along with it.



Looks like the P/O broke it and glued it back in with a hard epoxy. Well hard epoxy and vibrations do not mix. So I did what any logical person would do... cleaned it, scuffed it, and glued it back where it goes! (but with appropriate adhesive that will absorb engine vibration)



Shes been rocking around since with no issues! Loving driving this car around!

So I believe my cat has come loose inside the exhaust. My remedy is going to be make my own exhaust. From the research I have done it looks like 4 90* Bends and a bunch of straight pipe and a muffler. Is there any reason I should run a resonator? I was planning to weld up a 2.5" system with a Magnaflow

Cant stand the rattle I have going on.

I ran a glasspack where the cat was and did a turbo muffler behind the gas tank. Sounds good, no drone and straight out the back is lightest. I went with 2.25 and have essentially the same mods you do, no AC, e-fan.

Well it has been awhile since an update. Been driving this car everywhere!

I have done a bit since my last post, so I will just fill this in quickly-

Fixed my trip meter because my 1 year old thought he could pull the reset button out of the cluster



Have built my self a new splash guard because the stock one was cracked and wired up. This thing is solid and awesome!!!









And lastly, have cruised to a couple shows and had some fund taking some pictures, so enjoy!

Can't wait to go to some events and roll with you when my car is back on the road. Nice progress.

MrBrown said:

Can't wait to go to some events and roll with you when my car is back on the road. Nice progress.

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Well Mr. Brown... after perusing your build thread, I think I will have to come visit you and pick your brain! I can tell you come from a VW background. It's hard to explain, but I can see the difference between VW and Volvo people and can see when people have been in both worlds by what they do to their cars.

Where in Florida are you? I am assuming your in Florida anyways haha

Lol that is funny. Here is my bus I just let go a few years ago


And my bug I had as well



I live in Middleburg but mainly I'm in Jacksonville and Green Cove. It's all so close together. You are welcome to roll out or pick my brain but don't pick hard cause I have no knowledge on anything. I just throw stuff together all Ghettto like.

Ok enough thread jacking but PM me your contact info and we will get up. There's some more guys around here with bricks and its growing. You may even know some of them. Keep up the work. I want to see those wheels mounted!

Oh and you can have my whole cruise control set up I pulled out if you want cruise control...

If I am cruising up that way, i'll hit you up. Are you on the Florida Volvo Community Page? And you thinking of going to No Dough Weekend in Daytona? We will probably cruise up to that show beginning of April.

Little shot from Home Depot recently.

I'm on that forum but rarely. Won't be making any shows with my car for some time.

The forum is very slow. Their Facebook page is a lot more active, but they have some meets here and there. And I am definitely interested in that cruise control... will it work with the +T setup? haha

Sure will. We can hook it up in no time.
I unfortunately I do not have Facebook so I won't see what's going on but James (Sharingan19) usually tells me.

When I get this T5 bolted in and situated with a new drive shaft I will be down for sure.