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"Brick in a box" - (1991) 245 "stealth" project car

Im headed to Normandy Saturday morning around 9ish. They have an 85 I need to get some stuff from. A1 in Middleburg has a 91. and as always, Main St has a few 9X's. Hit me up.
 
Another Junkyard score!

MrBrown said:
Im headed to Normandy Saturday morning around 9ish. They have an 85 I need to get some stuff from. A1 in Middleburg has a 91. and as always, Main St has a few 9X's. Hit me up.
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Well, That was certainly a productive day! Hope you and Bob got that wiring situation figured out after you got home.

Normally trips to the junkyard fall into 1 of 2 categories:
1: I go with something specific in mind , but it's not there and I end up finding something cool
2: I don't have something specific in mind, but end up finding something I forgot I actually needed.

The stars must have been in alignment yesterday, because not only did I find what I needed, but a couple other very cool items.
14+-+1


Original plan was to look for a better condition A/C condenser becasue well....FLORIDA SUMMER. I was hoping there would at least be a 199X 240 , but I lucked out and found a 93, with the Volvo R134a system (Not a dealer retrofit). This is significant because instead of the inefficient (unless using R12) large tube and fine style condenser, it had a parallel flow condenser designed for use with modern refrigerants. Ice cold A/C here I come!
20140601_103619.jpg

Old and crappy.....say hello to new and efficient (nevermind the birds nest, hasn't been washed yet)

Having accomplished my true purpose I decided to Before I found it however I happened upon a SC400 that looked like someone's drift project (tociko blues, slotted rotors, vented fenders (crappy), CF hood (crappy), and CF trunk (crappy). In fact the rest of the car was in such sorry shape I didn't believe the steering wheel was real, until I removed it and took off the horn pad....Apparently it's a Nardi Z5 which seems to be somewhat rare. A huge improvement over stock wheel in any case! Best part is they didn't even charge for the adapter, which I should be able to sell to fund one from Kaplhenke, unless Toyota and volvo use the same splines ;-)

Then I found the 92' not much worth taking (for me anyway) since it had a blue interior, there was however half of the uber-rare armrest assembly.....yea HALF:wtf: Someone apparently didn't bring their star wrenches and just ripped off the pad, leaving the mounting structure and hinge. I guess it's time to scour the yard and see what other cup-holder-equipped arm rests I might be able to retrofit.

I found an 87' 244 M47 , again blue interior, but at least it had the front splash guard which my car was missing. I just couldn't bring myself to pay as much in shipping as the part costs from IPD, and now I won't have to.

On the way out I spotted a Porsche 944 and whadaya know....some R-sport syled gauges, ripe for the plucking...
14+-+2

These may or may not be for sale shortly, as I prefer real units of pressure, and there won't be a place for a clock once I find a gauge pod and relocate my radio
 
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Nope did not find the problem. Im tired of chasing wires. Any who, nice finds. I will meet up with you soon, I just finished the camber plate grinding so I will be putting in the shortened struts soon! Very excite.
 
Got around to test fitting the AC condenser today , in 92* heat no less, how fitting. Good news is: everything fits like a glove, despite the 93' unit being a bit taller. The lines, are close enough to work, so it's just a matter of grabbing some appropriate o-rings, and having the system vacuumed and soon I'll be able to beat the heat!
 
That's good news man! My A/C kind of works but I just roll down the window. I can tolerate 95F at 70mph.

What are your plans for the paint job? I tried some TR3 on my car (pictured as my avatar) and it really knocked out the oxidized paint and brought out some nice shine where there was still clear coat. Decided to do a ~$50 paint job w/ rustoleum sand. We'll see how it goes.
 
Jon P. said:
That's good news man! My A/C kind of works but I just roll down the window. I can tolerate 95F at 70mph.

What are your plans for the paint job? I tried some TR3 on my car (pictured as my avatar) and it really knocked out the oxidized paint and brought out some nice shine where there was still clear coat. Decided to do a ~$50 paint job w/ rustoleum sand. We'll see how it goes.
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Yea, I've already slain the A/C dragon on the RX7, the FC3S (second gen) only came with R12, which is a more efficient refrigerant when compared to R134a, unfotunately this meant that they could be more lax with the design of the condenser, and most people complained that no matter what they did, they could never get their A/C as cold as when it was using R12. My solution was to grab a parallel flow condenser from a Honda accord and get custom lines made. Similarly, the vast majority of 240's came equipped with R12, and even the dealer R134a conversions did not replace the condenser (apparently). Fortunately this time around Volvo has already done the heavy lifting and a bolt on solution exists :rockon:

As far as the paint, the hood and roof are done for, the clear coat is gone, the paint underneath has been sun bleached different shades and I doubt Jesus spit would bring them back. They will most likely be getting wrapped as a temporary solution. The sides and hatch are still serviceable, so I'll probably remove the plastic trim, and clean/cut/buff them.
 
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2 weeks, 2 road trips

Last week i went to Tallahassee to visit a friend of mine . This was the first serious road test since going +T . Unfortunately my odometer wasn't working until halfway back, so I didn't get any useful MPG #'s .

This weekend I went down to Orlando for some craigslist dealings, and I made it there and drove around on a little less than the half tank I had left from the Tallahassee trip. I filled up before coming back up, and it seems like I should get about 200 miles for the half tank,

Sound about right?
 
Sharingan 19 said:
Last week i went to Tallahassee to visit a friend of mine . This was the first serious road test since going +T . Unfortunately my odometer wasn't working until halfway back, so I didn't get any useful MPG #'s .

This weekend I went down to Orlando for some craigslist dealings, and I made it there and drove around on a little less than the half tank I had left from the Tallahassee trip. I filled up before coming back up, and it seems like I should get about 200 miles for the half tank,

Sound about right?
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Well, I get 260 miles to a tank average so...
 
Interesting.....because I drove another 50 miles after it hit "R" (on my Dave Barton gauge faces) and my fill up in Orlando was 12.XX gallons and I seriously doubt I was just lucky enough to roll into the gas station right before I ran out.

I wonder if the wagons had larger tanks? or maybe it's a 90-93 thing?
 
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Replaced my fuel tank with what looked exactly like what I had before. What I purchased was 14 gal. - I typically fill up 12-13 gal at the pump.

Did you ever locate a 3 gauge pod?
 
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That sounds about right. Since there is no "low fuel" light (that I'm aware of) I really don't want to test the limits of my tank capacity, especially since I have yet to figure out a reliable MPG avg. For example I knew my RX-7 would get 17 mpg city, no matter what I did, so I'd calculate how many miles I could go based on how much fuel I put in, and fill up accordingly. Good news is, I'm @ 250 miles right now @ just under a half tank, and I know that I've got at least 50 miles after I hit "R". I've got a feeling 30 mpg may be in my future :-D

In other news, another trip to the yard yielded some neat goodies... (This was actually in a sealed bag, I opened it for the pic)
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Found the whole "On Call " kit in the glove box of a 91' 244. Un-used window stickers, membership card and all! Also this car only had 150k and the entire maintenance history (serviced only at the dealer) was there through 110k. Body was straight as an arrow, so I'm not sure why it was there, too bad it was an auto with tan interior.
 
I'm on a hunt for brown interior pieces, if the tan car has door cards in very good shape, please get them for me!

I'll send you the 3 gauge pod if you send me your address, just because I love the progress and am learning quite a bit from you. :) Also, I get 340-375 miles per tank.
 
The interior is tan, I can get pics of the door cards, (I'm assuming you need all 4?) Does it matter if they are vinyl or cloth? I'm pretty sure these are vinyl.

Sweet!, you have PM.
And it seems that's about what I should be getting out of this tank, after driving 100-150 miles on the highway and the rest in town. I"m at about 1/3 of a tank with 253 miles driven so far I'll keep the MPG updated as I continue to make progress. I have some new wheels coming too, but I wan't to get some solid baseline numbers before I start changing things.
 
Thanks for doing that. I'll keep an eye out for senders and additional gauges at my local JY's. I have only seen gauges once 4 years ago and I didn't think to grab them all. The next time I went to that JY the only thing left in the car was the steering column and half the interior destroyed. :-(

If you are moving the stereo to the bottom dash and cannot locate something to hold the stereo in place, I cut a basic black trashcan up and drilled 4 holes to mount with nuts & bolts. No, it's not the sturdiest of setups, but it cost me nothing and looks nice.
 
James, every 240 I have driven, I have noticed the gas gauge is not in equals. By this I mean if you know that the tank is a 12 gallon tank for instance, you put 6 gallons in and the needle should goto half right?, well on the 240s it goes higher than half more like 1/4th from full. This probably explains why when you are at half needle, the tank seems to drain in no time. Its just what i have noticed. I thought it was my gauge at first but it seems it happens in other 240s also. So when it shows half needle, that doesnt mean i have half a tank of gas.. I wonder if its something Volvo did...

As for relocating the radio, i did the same thing before I found the actual Volvo made part except I used some thick plastic sheet from Home Depot. It was like $3 for 8"x8".
 
Thanks for the tips guys, once I might have to do that if I can't find the OEM solution before I get all my gauges together.

As far as the gas tank Mr. Brown I noticed the exact same thing before I had a working odometer. I would be down around "R" and I would put in like 5 gallons and it would go all the way to 3/4, but since I couldn't associate any mileage numbers to that I never really worried about it. It seems the gauge is heavily weighted in 3 positions: Full, one needle width above to one needle with below half, and "R". It will sit at these positions for a fair amount of time, but moves fairly quickly through the rest of the range. All I know is that I can drive 50+ miles after hitting "R" so as long as I can get from 253 to 300 before "R" I should be a happy camper.
 
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The only 240 in which I kept routine track of my mileage was my '89 244 - still LH 2.4, but stock N/A, AW70. It got a routine 23ish MPG in combined driving (mostly rural two-lane highways); I put just over 15 gallons into it a couple of times, at 350 - 360 miles from the last fill. I usually filled it after 280 - 300 miles so that I knew I'd have enough in reserve to get to the next gas station. Apparently the tank is /meant/ to hold 15.8 gallons.

Only experience and calculations can tell you what sort of economy you'll get in your car, though. If it works out to be the 20+ MPG I'd expect, with your M46 with working overdrive, you'll get 300+ miles per tank without draining it down to fumes.

(I love the Tropic Green, by the way, and it's good to see the work you've put into it. This thread is stretching my monthly download cap a bit, and I don't even care.)
 
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