• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Slow moving build up

mblue240

Well-known member
Joined
May 22, 2007
Location
Portland, Oregon
I thought it was about time that I share my plans for my car. I bought my 240 from my mom when I was 17. Right away I put in new speakers and a cd player, just something to make it different from what my Mom drove. I have slowly upgraded the audio and am very happy with it. The next upgrade will be redoing everything at one time(several $k worth).



This is my car, my little sister's '89 740 GL(sold, now as a 90), and my Dad's 2000 V70(all NA).
Leadermod1.jpg


trunklid.jpg

reardeck.jpg

Picture1012.jpg

Leadermod2.jpg



I sat down and made a list of everything I would like to do with the car. As far as cosmetic, suspension, and audio upgrades I know what I'm doing(for the most part). When it comes to making HP I'm not so sure, so I would love to hear your thoughts on my plans. And no I will not be doing a +T, eventually I'll have a stage 3 850R or a 142 with a b230F+T conversion to make up for the lack of turbo on this car.

Upgrades that have been completed

- Trunk covered with Dynamat Extreme
- B cam w/ IPD adjustable cam gear
- Pioneer 4” speakers mounted in factory front door location
- Pioneer 6”x 9” speakers mounted on rear “hat shelf”
- 1 farad capacitor
- IPD torque rods
- Rear wagon springs with 1.75 coils removed
- 1.5 coils removed from factory front springs
- OMP strut brace
- Bilstein HD shocks and struts
- Large tach/ small clock conversion
- Dash lights switched to blue l.e.d.’s
- Ronal 15” x 7” wheels with Pirelli 225/50/15 P700 tires
- Volt gauge installed under small clock
- Dave Barton Gauge faces
- MSD Blaster 2 coil
- Turbo exhaust, from the cat back
- IPD 25/22 sway bars
- K&N airfilter
- oil pressure and temp gauges
- IPD adjustable panhard bar
- Nissens 3 row radiator
- Removed all AC components
- Denso 100amp alternator
- E-fan from a 940

Waiting to be installed

- 5 bar oil pressure sender
- oil temp sender
- ported intake manifold

The wish list

- coilovers
- Full poly bushings
- Optimum yellow top battery mounted in passenger side spare wheel well
- Stinger battery terminals
- All wiring to battery/alternator/stereo upgraded
- Second skin or Neoprene covering the interior
- 2.5” exhaust w/ custom header, high flow cat, over axle pipe, straight through muffler
- M47 swap


Cosmetics(the last things that will be done)

- Amber rear turn signal lenses painted red
- All dings removed
- Valve cover painted to match exterior w/ white “VOLVO” lettering
- Volan 17” wheels
- Car repainted same color with white pinstripe painted under the clear coat
- Replace chrome trim rings around wheel wells
- E-code headlights
 
Last edited:
cool project. i'm gonna tell you right now, don't waste your time and money with the VX cam, it's just not worth it. it's gonna be a project getting the S60R cluster to work, also, and you may find run-flat tires to be a false economy because theyre so expensive and heavy (ie, not good for performance).

but it sounds like you have a good plan (always a smart thing to have), so you're on your way!
 
This is my car, my little sister's '80 740 GL, and my Dad's 2000 V70(all NA).
Leadermod1.jpg

you wouldn't happen to know the colour code of your sisters 740 would you? (or anyone)

cool car, I always like 240's in that blue. If you really want the N/A engine to preform find or fabricate individual throttle bodies, and or do a 16 valve head swap.

what does a Stage 3 850r consist of? (never heard that reference before.)
 
Last edited:
cool project. i'm gonna tell you right now, don't waste your time and money with the VX cam, it's just not worth it. it's gonna be a project getting the S60R cluster to work, also, and you may find run-flat tires to be a false economy because theyre so expensive and heavy (ie, not good for performance).

but it sounds like you have a good plan (always a smart thing to have), so you're on your way!

Instead of the VX cam what should I be looking for? I know I like klr142's car and he has an A-grind, is that something I can find at a junkyard?

The cluster is going to find the way to the way bottom of the list. It's one of those things that would happen in a perfect world, where I could spend millions on a collection of vintage Volvos.

I want run flats because I fear blowing a low pro tire and damaging the Volan that it would be mounted on. That and I'll be doing away with the spare tire, and I would rather not have to call for help if I get a flat tire.

you wouldn't happen to know the colour code of your sisters 740 would you? (or anyone)

cool car, I always like 240's in that blue. If you really want the N/A engine to preform find or fabricate individual throttle bodies, and or do a 16 valve head swap.

what does a Stage 3 850r consist of? (never heard that reference before.)

I have no idea about the color. Its a sort of metallic green. I really didn't like it when she showed it to me the first time, but it has grown on me.

I would rather not do a swap, I sort of want to show what is capable with a fairly stock 240.

Stage 3 is ecu, turbo, and down pipe upgrades(at least that's what ipd sells). I've seen their kit on the v70 and thought it was great, and fairly simple.
 
Small Things

I now have my hands on a B cam(fixed OP). It is currently waiting in the garage until I can install it in the spring. Klr142 helped me cut and install wagon springs in the rear this last Friday. And I should be getting some HD struts for the front from AndyThrsh anytime now. When the struts go in I'll be cutting 1.5 coils off of the front springs. The tach, clock, and volt meter also went in. The clock works every once in awhile, so I've pm'ed hyatt about a replacement.

The finish on the tach doesn't match, but it only bugs me a lil bit. I'm thinking about getting some covers from Dave Barton, but I'm not sure I want to spend the money on cosmetics right now.

tach.jpg


Aside from the clock not working the volt and clock look great.

guages1.jpg


Watching the volt needle bounce when my sub hits is keeping my stereo volume at a resonable level. I'll get a capaciter sooner or later to help with that.

And biggest improvement is the Turbo sways.

sways.jpg


The springs and the sways make the rear feel great, but now I notice how soft the front end is. Hopefully the cut springs and billy's will help even things out.
 
Last weekend I put new brake pads on, all 4 corners. I got the pbr ceramic pads from IPD and love them. I haven't felt any of what they talk about when they're cold, but they make a big difference when you pound on the pedal. I also put in some led lights. The clock now lights up blue, but the volt meter isn't getting power to the light for some reason. I also put white leds in the trunk light and dome light. I'm going to try and get my led back up lights to work this weekend, along with the shifter light and one of the seat heater switches.

misc023.jpg


misc024.jpg


misc014.jpg


misc001.jpg


Oh and I'm now reppin' for OVT...it adds at least 10hp!

PB290144.jpg
 
I got it from curcuit city. I don;t remeber the exact price, but it was very close to the price at crutchfield.com. Definatly buy a roller and heat gun though...I'm going to do that soon and get it to seal even better.
 
I got my HD shocks and struts from Roversweed in the mail on Monday. And my baby the Sunday before. Luckily I had time to put the back shocks on last night. I pulled off the OEM ones and compressed them to get them off, when I was done putting the hds on the oem ones were still fully compressed. Needless to say the HD's are a big improvement. I also picked up an OMP strut brace this evening.

This thing is killer! Its super light and has an adjustable preload. This also made a noticble difference. And the best part is that my car is the only Volvo I've seen with one of these.

Week1055.jpg


The guy that sold it to me knows quite a bit about Volvos(his cars have been featured in the IPD catalog) and he offered to help me with a few loose ends I have. This coming weekend he is going to help me put the struts in and install my b cam/ipd gear! That and he knows how to run an efan and cold air intake really well, so those will be coming in the near future.

I'm just really excited because I thought i would have to wait 1-2 months to finish the struts and wait until this summer for the cam. And now everything will be done in less than a week!
 
week4019.jpg


Thats the IPD gear hanging out. Lucky(from IPD) watched over my shoulder as I installed the B cam and gear this weekend. I was able to adjust the valves, but have to wait till next weekend to adjust the timing. Because of the timing it idles a little rough, but other than that I love it.

I was able to put the HD shocks on the back, but not the struts yet. The back end feels great around the turns. Now i just can't wait to keep the front outside corner from nose-diving when I turn in.

I also have(being shipped) an oil temp gauge and IPD torque rods. The rods will go on as soon as I have them, but the gauge has to wait. I need a gauge pod, oil temp sender, and 5 bar sender before the gauges can go in.

I'm also looking into painting my tail lights soon, after that I'm done putting money in it for awhile. I need to save up for a capaciter for my amp. When I finally get that I'll be building a custom amp rack to go with it.
 
New wheels

My car finally looks different than when it left the factory! I picked up a set of wheels that IPD used to sell with Pirelli 225/50/R15 z-rated tires mounted on them. The wheels and tires look brand new and they handle amazingly.

l_2c165d48e5320e9a9ffe815025d07b46.jpg


While the weather was nice I cleaned everything up and went for a cruise through some scenic curvy roads. My car handled great and I had more fun than I've had in years. And it just so happened that I brought along my camera.

Week9045copy.jpg


Week9041.jpg


Week9030.jpg


Week9020copy.jpg


Week9018copy.jpg
 
Car looks good man. How easy is it to do the LED conversion? I've never really thought about doing anything like it until I saw your results. I'm thinking about doing the entire instrument panel and over the AC controls. Do most of those bulb packages have instruction? I'm really curious. Anybody please let me know the skinny on this!
 
Every project's slow. Compared to me, you're flyin'. Looks good though, I like how you keep everything neat clean - good work.

One question - why white?
 
You're flyin' dude!
And I did the whole white thing as well - or I was until I decided to sell.
No idea why.

I like the wheels, actually.
Looks like you're putting craigslist to good use!
 
One question - why white?


Just so its clear the car will be staying blue, someone thought I wanted to make EVERYTHING white. I want everything to look really polished in the end, so I'm trying to follow a color scheme. I figured since I'm keeping the car metallic blue I had three choices: black, silver, white. Black would make everything way too dark IMO and it would all blend together. Silver would be the opposite and make everything too shiny. I figure the blue and white contrast is perfect.

This weekend I put the HD struts in. They feel pretty good, but I'm going to go get an alignment before I really push it hard. I also cut 1.5 coils off the front springs...since the new wheels seemed to lift the front of the car this put it back to a stock height. If I ever have the springs out again I'll go ahead and cut some more off.
 
Back
Top