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No longer mom's grocery getter(1991 244)

Yeah. :) We'll see. I don't think I'll ever fit anything other than the Tethys anyway so I should be gravy. When I go autoxing,(maybe I'll actually get around to it next year?) I'll try out the 1.5" on the front.
 
I just swapped in a 23mm front bar with new poly bushings from IPD... Was going to change the endlinks' lower bushings to poly as well, but looking at them closer I found that the OEM rubber isn't that bad yet... And the PLAY that I noticed in them, was from them NOT BEING TIGHT! They were snug, but loose enough for the endlinks to move up and down when the suspension moves. THAT was what was causing the bulk of my front end clunking! I feel like an idiot for not even checking that. Damnit. I'm positive there's a bit of clunking in my steering rack too(looks like it's starting to leak internally as well), but oh well.
 
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Wasn't expecting those yet...

Now I know why I got two different quotes, the cheaper quote came with metric studs pressed in, instead of the standard ones that match my current lug nuts and OEM stuff. So I'll have to get some new lugnuts. But, this way I have some nice ones to sell that I was using before... These did come with some nice deep ones for mounting to the car though. I just ordered the tires, and they should be at HM Motorsport sometime next week, and hopefully I can get them mounted and installed on next friday. I haven't checked to see if they're hub centric yet, but they better be(to the car, that is).
 
MMM spacers, wish I had the money for some 'ballin FWD wheels. I'm happy with my MSW's on the wagon though. Lookin good as always man.

You gonna have TJ mount up your tires for ya? He's still over there at HMM. Tell him I said hi.
 
Oh sheet, that's right! I forgot all about that... But I'm having Tirerack ship them there anyway... So, they're probably going to HAVE to charge me something decent because I'm going through them already. We'll see.

I gave the car a wash a couple days ago, and spent a little time on the Rikens, they looked pretty good after a decent wash and some light polishing done on the lips! Sadly I didn't put the car in the garage and everything got coated with condensation overnight, and now they have some light oxidization that got rid of the shine already. Doh! They should clean up pretty nicely if someone spends the time to polish and seal them though!
 
Well, I had a little bit of everybody working on the car... Haha, not really, but I did make sure they had someone else sit in the car while TJ aligned it. My f'n frame or subframe or something though pisses me off, tweaked to one side, or something. Could only get a max of .5 degrees camber out of the driver's side, with like the ability for almost a full degree on the right side. Anyway, for the big disappointment, the new adapters are FAR from being hub centric. I guess that's why I got one quote from one person and another from another. I thought that was just due to the fact that I was going to let them put in metric studs that they usually use instead of the standard studs that I originally asked for in the quote. Regardless, the car shakes. It's lame. Not going to cut it, by any stretch of the imagination. I'll remove the wheels on sunday and reinstall them myself, but I'm not expecting any improvement. The car needs to go lower up front, there's some wheel well gap now! Blah. We'll see what it looks like in the sunlight tomorrow morning.

I think I'll be trying to return these adapters, and going with some known high quality ones that are both hub AND wheel centric. I might even go THICKER on the adapters(in the rear) as I seem to still have room back there... I want to take up every last bit I can! It also seems I could just get a set of 4 8.5" wide wheels with the right offset and run them without issues, depending on what tires I toss on them... All with no crazy fender mods!

This also makes me wonder if the ones I had before actually WERE hub centric to the car, I never really gave it much thought when I had them off. If they were, I sold them for not enough. :)

The boys at HM Motorsports are awesome though, mad props to them. Thanks Jordan and TJ! And Eli for being a talkity talker. And John for sitting in the car while it got its alignment. :nod:
 
Exhaust has been "edited" so that it's about 2" higher where it goes underneath the rear axle, and an inch or so higher in the middle of the car. MUCH better. Got a new downpipe on with a different setup that includes an ovaled 2.5" pipe coming off of the two secondaries. Car still sounds like it has an exhaust leak, which is REALLY annoying because it DOESN'T... It's better though, and it seems to feel better on the butt dyno as well, which is REALLY good. Haha.

The incorrect adapters have been returned, and I'm waiting on a set of hub AND wheel centric adapters to come back from the company. Usually they wouldn't do both hub and wheel, but they're hooking me up because they messed up the first order.

19mm rear swaybar was installed and the PCV system was serviced for the first time ever since I've owned it, tonight. Hopefully that'll take care of most of the oil leaking issues that my car has... My fingers are crossed anyway.

And, most importantly, I HAVE NEW TAILLIGHTS! But damn. If I pay around $300 for a set of new Euro headlights, I'll be happy. I mean, I just spent almost $300 on some new Volvo TAILLIGHTS! Painful, for sure. It had to be done though, my taillights have always needed to be replaced, but the fact that someone decided to bump into my car with there's sealed the deal. Somehow they managed to avoid hitting the actual body of the car, and just scratched the bumper a little bit and broke the taillight further.

A couple weeks ago I also installed some new bulbs for some of the switches inside the car. Yay for a driver's seat heater switch that lights up! And an AC switch(even though the AC needs charging), and the rear foglight switch.

Next on the list:
-oil change
-going through the interior to get rid of annoying rattles
-pulling door panels to lubricate lock assemblies and window guides/motors/gears etc.
-toss in the black door pull knob things to further my black and blue interior
-get some alloy tubing for new lower chassis bracing
 
Since we're missing pictures in this thread, here're some from the Canada meet this year.

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Ps. The tirerack had a closeout on Koni Sport rear shocks, with "fewer than 3" available according to their site. I got carried away and ordered them today, they're already on their way.

Dan, you want the Bilsteins you say? Send me a PM with an offer.
 
And more, cause I want more.

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I can't wait to get some pictures with the new adapters on... The tires are a good bit smaller, but the wheels are pushed out a decent bit. With the axle one turn more centered things should look a little better as well. :)
 
Nice, It's weird I see a blue/blue 240 just like that almost everyday. Except stock and beat up, seeing how my mom has destroyed it. Your car looks good though. I like that black 744 too. The headlights look like they're from a Lancia Delta Intigrale.
 
Heh, thanks. :) I think the 740 has Mercedes E class headlights in it, if I remember correctly.

I'll need to get some pictures after I finish the two tone doors. I don't have black door pockets for the front, but oh well.
 
Me too. They meant to send out hub centric ones(to the car), but for some reason they didn't, so they're going through the hassle of getting me the correct ones. I also asked for wheel centric, so they're doing something they never do normally, and making me wheel and hub centric versions for an additional $30 each. Which still puts me at less $$$ than Fred Goeske's nice ones(wheeladapters.com). But I wouldn't have had to deal with any of this hassle if I had gone through him in the first place. Meh.

I WANT MY WHEELS ON NOW! That's why I didn't swing over to the VW side last night Jordan, lol. Well, that and the fact that I went out joy riding in the white 242, and then my car after that...

Anywho, yesterday I spent another couple hours tinkering with the car. Took off all the door panels, replaced most of the window regulator washers, lubed everything up, and put it all back together nicely with the plastic sheets all as they should be. Also had to spend an hour tinkering with my worn driver's door handle, but it's better now. Yet another step taken to have a like new 244... :)
 
I forgot to mention, when I had the door panels off, I couldn't get the door pull "knobs" off... On my 142 they were relatively easy to remove, basically just pull up. These ones I felt like I was going to pull the door of the hinges and got no where. So they're still blue. It'd look better black... :grrr:

Earlier this week I removed the rear Bilstein HDs and the rear springs. I chopped a smidge more off the rear springs, and made them even, as opposed to one being slightly taller than the other. Then I reinstalled the springs with little 1/4" or so spacers from a 745 above the upper seats. In place of the HDs I put in the Koni Sports on their softest setting. Man, are these things stiff. Up until yesterday it seemed as if they never really compressed unless going over larger bumps. Most of the shock absorbtion was being done by the tires. I felt everything, the car bounces over bumps much like an over damped or over sprung/underdamped car... It felt good, when the road was smooth. My car lost lots of it smooth cruiser feel. I took it on the back roads, and it felt GREAT, much better than the Bilsteins, when the road was mostly smooth. I think the Konis would work better on a wagon, but are too stiff on compression for my application. Yesterday though, I didn't notice it as much. I think they're getting a little better, but that could just be me getting used to them. With 4 guys in the car though, it felt good, and I had trouble bringing the rear out as much as I'd have liked. Needs more LSD and power......... For the price, I should've tried out Bilstein HD front Surburban shocks first. They'd be shorter too. That was the thing that I wasn't expecting, the Konis were, if anything, a couple of mm LONGER than the HDs!

Did the oil change on friday night, along with installed a couple Poly accessory bushings for my alternator. I have some more to do the AC and PS, but the alternator was most important to get done.

Then I "fabbed" up some alloy tubing lower braces. Sadly, I didn't have the best of material to work with, so they're not quite up to the task. They look good, but they're only 3/4" diameter, and really thin walled, so they do flex. I may just go for something that's basically the same as the IPD crap I had on there. Maybe in alloy. Maybe not. Maybe some other material. Who knows. Someday.
 
I'll throw up some pics of those braces you made bud. Just need to recharge my batteries from this weekend... I'm exhausted. Just a note to everyone reading this who has never seen or been in kyle's car in person. It is the single most immaculate Volvo i've ever been in. You don't even have to wear gloves while working on it... it's way too clean. Good Job kyle! :)
 
I don't think I have a comparable before picture, but here you can somewhat see the exhaust being tucked up further. It used to be about 2" off the ground at it's lowest point. It's almost 2" higher now... :)

And then you can also see the wimpy lower braces, too.

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I don't understand how you say the lower braces flex.
They are end loaded tubing and would show signs of buckling if that is the case.
A diagonal brace,or sheet metal would insure that the X member maintains relative position.
 
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