Flyboy's '86 245GL BATM-wannabe +t project

So, went hunting at LKQ today with Gabe. We scored a 90+ manifold and a smaller coolant reservoir. Also met a fellow Tbricker (though I've now forgot his username). Didn't get a turbo as there were none to be found that were any good. Also did not get a LH2.4 harness like I was hoping. Anyone know if a LH2.4 harness out of a 740 will work on my 245, or do I need one specifically out of a 240?

740 harness is like 3 different harnesses. You're better off finding a 240 one.

Yeah, was afraid of something like that. There were no 240s at the yard today, but 3 740s. Gabe didn't think a 740 harness would work, but wasn't sure. Thanks!

the fenders and hood bold up, you need to pop a couple of spot welds to get the core support out. The fenders line up, no cutting needed. i just did this conversion like 3 weeks ago. become friends with the owner of your local volvo junk yard. to get the headlights wired up, for the old style lights, you just need the plug from your local parts store. all told it took about 6 hours to complete, no paint or body work. the hood will catch on the front side of the cowl, just take care when opening it untill you are ready to do body work.

if you want pics and more info, pm me. i am working on a build thread but cant post photos yet.

So I got a new windshield last week. Its a 90+ style.

And today I resurfaced that yellowed headlight on the passenger side.

Beautiful windshield I needed one so bad in my 242 that i left the trim surround off the windshield as motivation. Never ended up getting it and sold it. Headlights look great. Does the AC work??

spe1983 said:

Beautiful windshield I needed one so bad in my 242 that i left the trim surround off the windshield as motivation. Never ended up getting it and sold it. Headlights look great.

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Thanks! I'm very happy with both.

spe1983 said:

Does the AC work??

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No...

Not sure exactly what's wrong. Its a sad story, really. Gabe and I determined that the R12 had all but leaked out, and that the low pressure cutout switch was keeping the clutch from engaging. We attempted to retrofit to R134 (and when removing the R12 schrader valve no R12 leaked out) but it over-pressurized almost immediately, taking less then a half-can of 134. The clutch now engages but the system does not get cold at all and looking through the sight glass on the Receiver/Drier it doesn't look like anything is circulating.

To be honest, even though I work in Auto parts and am fairly mechanically inclined I am still fairly intimidated by AC. I'm okay with the basics, but now that we've tried the basics and it still doesn't work, I'm at a loss.

Do you have a compressor with the in/out ports on the back? I've got an AC hose set up and vacuum pump that runs off of compressed air you can use to get it going. I think there are convertors for the R12 lines. Ive never been successful with my 240s in getting the AC to work.

Okay, so last week we finally finished retrofitting the A/C to R134a. It was a couple of weeks in the making with many mistakes, but now its all working great, well, on the highway anyway. It struggles at idle but I think it a small e-fan to blow across the condenser when Idling in traffic would cure that. No pics of the retrofit, because there was nothing to take pictures of. It was all straightforward. There was no R12 left (someone has had the AC hoses apart before, and it appears they never bothered to refill it afterwards) so I flushed the lines, compressor, condenser and evaporator, replaced the receiver/dryer and expansion valve, installed an R134 retrofit fitting kit and filled with R134 and some Ester oil.

Now today was a mixed bag.

I took the Volvo in to have the windows tinted. It was there all day, and when I returned to pick her up, they had only done 4 of the 7 windows. Why you ask? Well, they apparently didn't consider the vehicle's age and that their computer that does the automatic cutting for the tint didn't go back that far. The guy that was doing the tint was comfortable hand-cutting the tint for the windows on the doors, but was not up to cutting the back 3 windows himself. Apparently the boss is a master but he's out until Monday, so they gave me the unfinished job and asked me to come back Monday. I guess in the end its okay, though. I let them talk me in to 30% for the front two windows and 20% for everything else, but after seeing 30 vs 20, I think even the 20 is not quite as dark as I hand in mind. If I had my 'druthers I'd have done 20% on the front doors and rear window and 5% on the 4 other windows. Anyway, as it stands, I can live with what they've done, but I think I want the rear side (cargo) windows to be 5% rather then 20% so at least I can get that corrected now, whereas if they had done it all while I was at work (like they were supposed to) I would have had to live with the 30/20. On with the pics:


After work I went parts hunting at the boneyard. I got a 740 "overheat fan". Unfortunately after getting the fan home I noticed some severely rotted wiring, so it'll have to go back. Oh well, it turns out with my discount at works I can get a brand new 12" e-fan for only about $15 more, so I think I'll just go that route.

However I did manage to score a 240 center armrest for only $4 and it was even the right color! Yes, $4!

Pics:
- 20% rear door window and no tint on cargo windows.
- Armrest

WTH? I swear I posted this about a half hour ago but now its not showing up.

Oh well, here goes again...

As it turns out, getting the final three windows done really did make a difference.

Also, I added a pusher fan in front of the AC Condenser, the AC still struggles a bit at idle, but the pusher sure does help.

And here's the wiring for the new fan. Its wired through a relay, with the AC Compressor as the trigger.

If you are still needing the LH 2.2 harness give this guy a call. He lives about 5 minutes from my house and has plenty of volvos to go around. I will be in the Tulsa area later this week to go car shopping with a friend and I could drop it off. There are also a few in the yards around here if you get desperate I could go snag one.
Lamar Automotive Pittsburg, Inc.
769 East 520th Avenue
Pittsburg, KS 66762
(800) 892-8686
(620) 231-8686

I'm using the exact same pusher fan and relay I think.

So... I finally patched the floor. This is really kinda temporary until we can find a decent 240 donor to cut the floor out of, but it came out okay. Not the best job, kind of a kluge, but worthy of TB I'd say (though I didn't use any zip ties)

Finished tweaking the A/C. Ditched the r134 and went with a certain r12 alternative being discussed on the forums lately. Best I ever got out of the r134 was 65-ish degrees at the vents, and that was at night with the outside temps in the 80s.

This was taken on my drive home yesterday afternoon, approximately 105 degrees outside:

Goddamn I'm jealous now.

Srsly. Link plz?

Your last post was 60 degree vents.

Okay 60 degrees then (I did say "ish" in this thread and "approximately" in the other), but still, the previous lows were achieved at night with cool outside temps, and this pic was during the heat of the day!

Either way what I'm trying to say is retrofitting r134 into this thing sucked, but "r12 alternative" kicks ass!

Last night I replaced the alternator portion of my wiring harness and tonight I checked and retightened my grounds, between those two I believe I now have my charging problems solved.

I also effed up another speedometer. FML. (No, I didn't connect the tach wire wrong this time). My old speedo had a smooth sweep through speeds but my "new" one would get stuck in the 60-70mph range. It would stick at say, 60mph, you could speed up and it would stay @ 60 until you reached 70 then jump to 70 all of a sudden, or slow down and it would stay at 65 or 70 until you hit 50 then jump down to 50 all of a sudden. Anyway, I tried swapping the board over from the new speedo to the old speedo body and I effed it up, ended up breaking the black and blue wires, tried mending them with no luck. So... here's hopin' LKQ gets another 86+ 240 soon.