Step 1:Whitey arrives in Lynden

[volvoluvin]

So yesterday John, (The Aspirator) and I bombed down to Tacoma from his folks place in Lynden to pic up the 245 that bought from Ron, THANKS RON!.
As Whitey needs a head job, I had to rent a truck and trailer from the local U-Haul to get Whitey up from Tacoma to John's shop in Lynden...something really satisifying/cool about trailering a car, especially a dope looking 245...I kept looking in the rear view mirror thinking there was a white volvo tailing me...
Anyway, took the better part of the day, so by the time we hit John's, I had time to take some quick pics and head out. Pics below.
Whitey is in pretty good shape for a $600 car...to say the least. Immediate issues apart from the head:
1. Completely rotted floorboard behind the driver, about 1 foot by 6 inches, but it looks easily repairable as it's not in the seams or anything. But that's IT for rust in the car...not a spot ANYWHERE else...the tubs are mint...
2. Front Strut bushings are badly cracked and need replacing
3. New Battery
4. Windshield leaks - (hence the rust behind the drivers seat) - I will upgrade to 90+ windshield
5. Um...that's it...seriously...
I'm blown away, this car is as it was the day it rolled off the dealership,(apart from the polished virgo's, custom sunroof, and chopped springs), it has EVERYTHING still on it...for example, splash guard is in mint shape and still on the car...
Interior is in good shape, I'd give it a B grade, apart from dash cracks and cracked leather, it would be higher.
I will have more and more pics over the next couple of weeks as John pulls things apart and work progresses...
This thing is going to be the best "workhorse" daily driver!





John's Yard ATM!!!

[adrianpike]

How much was the truck and trailer to rent?

[volvoluvin]

Originally Posted by adrianpike

How much was the truck and trailer to rent?

To much...

[The Aspirator]

Alot, but think of it this way, he got that car for only $800 including lunch and a truck/trailer rental. It's still a steal.

Phil we'll purty it up and get some nicer pictures online this week! The car is seriously MINT. And I'm in love with the whole polished Virgo thing, they're beautiful!

[adrianpike]

Originally Posted by The Aspirator

Alot, but think of it this way, he got that car for only $800 including lunch and a truck/trailer rental. It's still a steal.

Phil we'll purty it up and get some nicer pictures online this week! The car is seriously MINT. And I'm in love with the whole polished Virgo thing, they're beautiful!

That's quite the steal!
Oh John, I wasn't sure if I shoud make a separate thread for this, but here you go (I needed a break from studying ):

[Geoff240Ti]

Glad to see that car went to a great owner. $600 is alot of car for the money!

[Poik]

Originally Posted by adrianpike

Hey look it's me! You did that pretty seamlessly, that's pretty sweet.

[RedFridge]

That's a nice looking ride.

[m4ld0.^]

never seen virgo's done that way...and it looks sweet

how was it done? paint or a lot of buffing and polishing? do tell do tell

[volvoluvin]

Originally Posted by m4ld0.^

never seen virgo's done that way...and it looks sweet

how was it done? paint or a lot of buffing and polishing? do tell do tell

According to Ron, lots of hours of hand tool buffing sitting on the porch drinking beer...

[Kjets On a Plane]

Originally Posted by The Aspirator

Alot, but think of it this way, he got that car for only $800 including lunch and a truck/trailer rental. It's still a steal.

I remember it being about that much. I didn't have the time to go get it at the time.
Great looking ride! I remember seeing it at IPD. Want a 90+ for it?

[volvoluvin]

Originally Posted by 945ti

I remember it being about that much. I didn't have the time to go get it at the time.
Great looking ride! I remember seeing it at IPD. Want a 90+ for it?

Hmm...that's an interesting proposition...given that the head is off...I'm sure we could get it on quick and easy...

Thing is, I'm not planning on ANY performance mods for this thing...if anything, I would like to "restore"...keep it all original.

But if the 90+ helps with efficiency etc...why not...

[The Aspirator]

I dunno, we're trying to keep it bone stock (ie, reliable, not that a mani changes that), and it turns out that the silver car already has a 90+ cause it's got a '93 engine in it.

*edit* up to you Ron, they do flow better even in unported form. (wait is that true? James? That tiny outlet can't flow better than a pre-90)

[Kjets On a Plane]

ya...bone stock and reliable is real good.
I'd probably keep it that way too and just fix and maintain what is there. Those would have been my plans for it had I bought it too.
With an 85 and older turbo car, they are really kind of a handful. Sure, you can make them reliable and not abuse them, which goes a long way. But the amount of attention it will need in new seals, wiring and rust repair is non-trivial on an 85 and down car, especially a turbo.
Which is why I'd really prefer a 90+ NA as my daily beater and part of why I ultimately didn't get more serious about the car. Time was the major factor though.
I just threw that out there. I suspect most of what it needs are just good OE volvo replacement parts, and maybe a little update like a 90+ here and there when you deal with the more major issues.

[volvoluvin]

*edit* weird dup thing

[volvoluvin]

Originally Posted by The Aspirator

*edit* up to you Ron, they do flow better even in unported form. (wait is that true? James? That tiny outlet can't flow better than a pre-90)

You callin' me Ron now?

[volvoluvin]

Originally Posted by 945ti

ya...bone stock and reliable is real good.
I'd probably keep it that way too and just fix and maintain what is there. Those would have been my plans for it had I bought it too.
With an 85 and older turbo car, they are really kind of a handful. Sure, you can make them reliable and not abuse them, which goes a long way. But the amount of attention it will need in new seals, wiring and rust repair is non-trivial on an 85 and down car, especially a turbo.
Which is why I'd really prefer a 90+ NA as my daily beater and part of why I ultimately didn't get more serious about the car. Time was the major factor though.
I just threw that out there. I suspect most of what it needs are just good OE volvo replacement parts, and maybe a little update like a 90+ here and there when you deal with the more major issues.

Seeing as rust attention is going to be trivial in this cars case...i.e. it has non, but the one, and after that...I don't care so much as it's a winter driver...
What makes the wiring so terrible in the pre 85?
What makes the seals so terrible in the pre 85? And which seals? All of em?

Thanks
-Phil

[Geoff240Ti]

Why not throw a ported 90+ on there? Or do you really want it look that stock..

I'd have it terminal 11'd and 90+'d ASAP if it was mine.. Would add some decent bang to the stockness for sure!

[adrianpike]

eeeeeeeeek b21 intake!

Want a b230? Free, final offer.

[Kjets On a Plane]

Originally Posted by North Shore Brick

Seeing as rust attention is going to be trivial in this cars case...i.e. it has non, but the one, and after that...I don't care so much as it's a winter driver...
What makes the wiring so terrible in the pre 85?
What makes the seals so terrible in the pre 85? And which seals? All of em?

Thanks
-Phil

Wiring...it is 20 years old and on turbos has had to deal with the inevitable leaks and additional heat in the engine bay. The harness also isn't as well packaged as the 90 and later 240s, but there is less wiring overall.
Same with seals, just old and more tired and again dealing with additional heat, abuse and tighter packaging in a fully goodied out turbo.
On most DD 240s I find they need most of these things:
Bushings bumper to bumper. Shocks. Sandblasting the fusebox and using some dielectric grease on the connections.` Sheet metal under the tailgate painted and rust treated. Seals...usually most all...I just do them with the t-belt/valves anyway. I was lucky enough this last time to have had a 240 where the rear main and trans tail seal were just done 1k ago by volvo. Crankcase vent. Fluids etc.
Anyway, this is by no means set in stone, I just often find that they need many of those things. Some of this stuff isn't "necessary", but I just do it so I don't get stranded or have a dirty leaky car that sucks to maintain.
A 90+, B230 or B21F intake, and relocation of the cat might be good things to add down the road as you sort out all of that stuff to just make it skate around reliably.

[volvoluvin]

Ok...first things first...I want to get this car running and drivable before I decide to do ANYTHING at all beyond what is there...At this point, who knows what problems we are going to find once it fires up...past that...once we get it running, I'm just going to drive it for the rest of the winter. Then come April when I put the silver one back on the road, I will look at any fixes that need to occur to the white one if at all...My tolerance for things being not quite right on the white one are fairly high as long as it get's me around.
I can't let you lot get me all frothy in the mouth for mods and changes...
Different tune with regards to the V-Ron,(silver)...get me frothy all ya want!

Thanks again for the info on pre 85 issues...I'm sure it will be a case of just hitting things as they pop up...

Cheers
-Phil

[The Aspirator]

*smacks hand to forhead* I don't know why I called you Ron, but maybe it's cause we went to see Ron and you call your car the V-ron. V-phil would be easier for me to remember .

[245gti]

Originally Posted by North Shore Brick

John's Yard ATM!!!

Hey...I recognize that shot. Been there a few times myself...

[volvoluvin]

More pics added - Interior shots

[The Aspirator]

POLISHED VIRGOS ARE SO HOTT!!!!!


Some sort of OE/aftermarket sunroof installation. It's been very well done and pretty much looks factory, except for the POS slider that looks like it's just a peice of sheet metal with a handle on it. Unfortunately the sunroof leaked at some point in its life so the owner sealed it up with silicone. Ohh well, still lets in tons of light! And it gives us tall guys more headroom, which is neat.


This is what we're dealing with here, the oil is a nice chocolate milk color. Surprisingly the coolant was absolutely crystal clear! So we've got coolant in the oil but no oil in the coolant, looks like a slight headgasket failure...


Nice nasty turbo here. Good thing is that this thing is TIGHT! And in a wuzzup homie G way. NO shaft play side-side or up-down, spins nicely, overall it seems like a great turbo. I'm thinking that all the oil we see is coming from the PCV system. (come to think of it I didn't check for in-out play yet, I'll be sure to do that cause that's what causes a leaky turbo).


Sweet little hop up part here, only some turbos got these reinforcement cages. It keeps the rubber boot from sucking down when you're really romping on it in higher boost.


Eeek, looks like somebody overheated the car and boiled a lot of coolant!!


Ummmm yeah, compare these two pictures. Looks like somebody didn't change the oil for 14,000 miles. Ouch.


The tailshaft bushing on the automatic tranny leaks, I could see about 1 drip per minute. The fluid level is still actually quite high on the stick.


Here's the nice puddle of ATF after just 4 hours. We have ourselves a leaker. But the engine doesn't leak any oil, so that's a good thing.


Got the head off, it's obvious that #1 cylinder is WAY cleaner than the others. This is a sure sign of a bad headgasket because the intrusion of water into the cylinder sort of acts like a steam cleaner and gets rid of all the carbon and junk. That in itself is a good thing (like water injection) but water in the oil is a BAAAAAD thing.


#1 chamber (right side) is also a lot cleaner and wetter than the rest of them. This head will be disassembled and sent to my machine shop where the first thing he'll do is check it for warp. If it checks out, it'll get thrown in the "dishwasher", then into the bead blasting cabinet, then the dishwasher again. Then it'll get decked. I'll bring it home and lap the valves then assemble it again. It's gonna be purrrrrdy.


Here in the circle you can sort of see where the HG failed. The fire ring has a crease down the middle of it and allowed coolant to get sucked through there into the cylinder. If it's original for 315k miles then I'd say it's lived a good life.


Tomorrow I will bring the head into my machine shop and he'll do his thing. I'll have fun flushing out the block of all that crap-o-la oil/coolant. When I get it all back together I'll be throwing cheap oil in it with a new filter, spin the oil pump with the air drill for a while to get some flow through the system, then drain it. Then I'll throw in another round of cheap oil and a filter, then drive it for a few miles. Then change it out again for the final time.

Phil FYI here's a list of stuff that I logged while working on it:

The exhaust is pretty rusted out, from about mid-car on back. Some of it can be temporarily patched and even as-is it'll probably last for a while, but you'll hear the ticking. Ideally you'd want to replace it sometime in the next year or two.

Automatic tailshaft bushing/bearing is bad as I said before. Just keep an eye on the fluids until you're ready to replace it (I've never done it but it doesn't sound like fun).

Brakes look great, the distribution block is dry as are the front calipers. Rotors are rusty from sitting but that should disappear. Maybe new pads, we'll see.

The factory Turbo+ solenoid is not hooked up, it's supposed to give you more boost above 4500 or something?

Steering rack boots are dead.

I'm surprised to announce that the pistons actually come up exactly flush to the deck on this engine. That means that your "squish" is right around .047", which isn't tight but it's great for a stock engine. And all pistons come up to flush with the deck, so your rods are all straight (or all bent equally haha).

I broke the drivers door handle, but it was already almost broken when you saw it. I'll see if I have a spare.

The water pump spins very smoothly, up to you if you want a new one. The timing belt tensioner also spins nicely. Replacing either of these things would be a "just cause we're in there" sort of thing.

Air filter looks pretty clean too.

I took lots of other pictures that you'll get when I see ya next, but these are all the main ones. ENJOY!

John