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Stock 245 turbo strut

245TIBoricua

New member
Joined
Jan 29, 2005
I remember years back that i had removed the stock 1982 245 turbo wagon struts and they were orange in color that had the Volvo logo and the part number next to it. My question is are the bilsteins heavy duty any stiffer than these? What would they compare to, if we were to compare them to the Bilsteins heavy duty, Bilsteins touring classics, Turbo boge etc?
 
turbo 240 gas shocks.

The gas shocks that came in the turbo 240 series are comparable to the Bilstein Touring Class or the Boge Turbo Gas shocks. The Touring Class Bilsteins are just a bit stiffer than the Boge Turbo Gas. The original gas shocks feel closest to the Boge Turbo Gas in my opinion.

The Bilstein HD are much stiffer and give a bigger, better handling improvement than all of the above mentioned shocks. You'll also have a firmer ride with the HD Bilsteins but it's still a comfortable ride in my experience.

Best regards,
 
Seem to recall something about the OEM's being DeCarbon brand or something like that. Bilstein HD's are gonna be a touch stiffer than those, though still an awesome ride. Once you put in stiff springs it starts getting a bit harsh though.
 
I've owned several 245GLTs and two of them had the black struts that said "deCarbon" in blue lettering while one had the orange struts that said "Volvo" in black lettering.

Today, my 1984 245GLT has Boge Turbo struts & shocks and my 1982 245 GLT has Bilstein HD struts & shocks. In my opinion, the Bilstein HD feels exactly like the black "deCarbon" struts while the Boge Turbo feels like the orange "Volvo" struts.

Needless to say, the Bilstein/deCarbon struts give a much more controlled ride then the Boge Turbo/Volvo struts. The Bilsteins can be considered harsh by more then a few people; the Boge Turbos feel just about "right" to just about everyone outside of the true "boy racers."

The only problem I've run into is that the Boge Turbos have a lifespan of about 60k miles while the Bilsteins go over 100k plus. When you factor in the labor cost (or your own time if you're a DIYer) and the necessary alignment needed after you install struts/shocks then it's worth it to simply ante up the extra 1/3rd it costs for the Bilstein HDs. They simply give you more for your money over the long run. The only problem, for some, could be the stiffness of the ride. On poor roads they can simply "pound" you, but the handling is simple surpurb and is definitely several steps above the Boge Turbos.

On a personal note, my '82 with 75k on its Bilstein HDs feels "newer" and gives a more controlled ride that my '84 with 38k miles on its Boge Turbos. The Boges have definitely worn out some over the course of 38k miles (they've gotten softer and less able to control the ride) while the Bilsteins feel almost like new with virtually no loss of performance by the seat of my pants.

Cost-wise, over the span of 100k miles, it really pays to go the Bilstein HD route over the Boge Turbos.
 
After ~50k, my Bil HD struts were leaking, but still rode fine. I had them rebuilt/revalved to match stiffer springs, but they were ready to be serviced anyhow.
 
R-Sport Struts for the 240

The black struts were for the GT/GLT models and were R-Sport parts. Early 140 R-Sport shocks were bright yellow and had both the 'DeCarbon' name and Volvo R-Sport logo on them. The 'DeCarbon' brand is a racing shock maker and IMHO, the DeCarbon are much firmer than Bil's HD. This was from some tests I did on a '78 242GT.
The word 'DeCarbon' means in French, 'of carbon', or filled with CO2 gas. The Bil's use Nitrogen gas. The compressibility of nitrogen is greater than CO2, and thus under hard damping pressures, the CO2 gas will deflect less than a Nitrogen shock. The DeCarbon shocks are the choice of motorcycle racers for this reason.

I believe the DeCarbon struts are still available, just recently looked up Volvo p/n 1229575, and are ~$150 ea.
 
I looked for available deCarbon struts/shocks for Volvo 240s and couldn't come up with anything. Where did you find them? Also, I've read on several forums that there were different types (or models) or deCarbons used on the Volvos. What ones, if the aforementioned is true, were you referring to that cost $150 (each, I assume)?

Thanks.
 
I know bumpage is stupid, but on my 242, I have orange De Carbon shocks with a volvo pn crappily stamped into the plastic. Would these be the good ones?
 
shocks

The orange struts I have are branded Boge with Volvo part numbers on them. From what Pete has told me. De Carbon made them for Boge to sell to Volvo. The factory gas shocks as used on 242GT and turbo 240s is not as stiff as the Bilstein HD shocks in my experience.
 
Seem to recall something about the OEM's being DeCarbon brand or something like that. Bilstein HD's are gonna be a touch stiffer than those, though still an awesome ride. Once you put in stiff springs it starts getting a bit harsh though.

Yeah. DeCarbon is what the parts supplier I am familiar with sells as OEM too.
 
What about the Koni Sports? Are they really much better than the Bils? It's an extra $160 for the set (not much if you break it down...$40 each) but what do they feel like in comparison to the Bils? Also, my 244T sits ALOT lower stock than a standard 240 of the same year, so what is the effect of lowering springs on the turbo cars?
 
The black struts were for the GT/GLT models and were R-Sport parts. Early 140 R-Sport shocks were bright yellow and had both the 'DeCarbon' name and Volvo R-Sport logo on them. The 'DeCarbon' brand is a racing shock maker and IMHO, the DeCarbon are much firmer than Bil's HD. This was from some tests I did on a '78 242GT.
The word 'DeCarbon' means in French, 'of carbon', or filled with CO2 gas. The Bil's use Nitrogen gas. The compressibility of nitrogen is greater than CO2, and thus under hard damping pressures, the CO2 gas will deflect less than a Nitrogen shock. The DeCarbon shocks are the choice of motorcycle racers for this reason.

I believe the DeCarbon struts are still available, just recently looked up Volvo p/n 1229575, and are ~$150 ea.


Sure this is old but while searching for info on the inserts PN 127 2330 I stubled onto this---shock! the search function worked!

Sorry VVpete, "De Carbon" is the last name of the guy who invented and patented the mono-tube gas shock and licenced Bilstein, Koni, KYB and Showa to make versions of them.
All those and more are design wise virtually identical---and interchangeable internally.
Example a kid in SoCal last year picked up a Misterbitchy Eclipsed rally car and he said not only was it a s dog, but it was bouncing all over and he was asking if I knew where to get internal parts for his Aussie made DMS.
His job was rebuilding and revalving all sorts of motorcycle shocks so he knew how to take junk apart and do things, so I told him I had stacks of Bilstein pistons and shims that I could send him, but thought he must know somebody blowing up Bilstein truck shocks..
3 days later he called to say thanks and said it was simple, just used the piston and shim pack out of some truck shocks, everything fit. (It was NA and still a huge dog)

Anyway, we'll see if these DeCarbons can be revalved pretty soon.
 
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