Beater Volvo 240 and it's quest against the odds to visit all 50 states

[v6buicks]

Let's get to this weekend. The weather has been awesome, so we have been taking some longer trips in this car. Here's Moose over an hour away from home.

Nicer weather means hot weather is on the way. I want to go back to looking at this AC system again. Talk about a pain. First of all, there are four or five different systems that came on these cars. Second of all, Volvo sold special retrofit kits that could be installed by the dealer. I have one of the crappier systems, and it's been dealer retrofitted as confirmed by the pile of old receipts. That's about as far as I've gotten.

I heard most older 240 systems don't have a high side fitting. I have one. ?‍ However, I am unable to attach my gauge fitting to it. I have no idea how anybody else did because the accessory bracket is majorly in the way. I'm going to have to replace this with a 90 degree adapter. As for the low side fitting, it is much smaller than any low side fitting I've ever seen. It's also completely round, so and shows no obvious ability to be removed. I didn't want to, but I think this compressor is coming out... I'd be more excited about diving in here if I knew for sure that I was going to find some good news. I have a feeling that I once again have some goofy parts that will be a pain to service. Wish me luck!

Oh, yeah. To make things even more confusing, there's another fitting next to the receiver drier which I haven't figured out either. It's way bigger than any AC service port I've ever seen.

 

[v6buicks]

Okay people, sorry for all the lack of action in this thread lately. Today I will begin to deliver! Since I left off with the topic of AC I'm going to skip yesterdays escapades and come back to it later.

I got some seemingly decent quality AC conversion fittings from O'reilly's, removed the old ones and installed the new ones. Luckily the old fittings weren't super tight, so I was able to remove the rounded low-side fitting with some grippy pliers. Compressor removal was not necessary like I planned. I also noticed that one of the old fittings had a messed up shroeder valve which would have caused a leak. That's an easy one! Might as well see how she does right?

I'm starting to get the hang of this AC stuff. Good gauges and a cheap vacuum pump were a good investment.

What do you know! After having the pump off all night, this was what my gauge looked like in the morning.

I'm going to go to Rural King to grab a couple cans of refrigerant and dye, but I will replace the receiver/drier and pressure switch before I just fill it up. I'm assuming that the Volvo dealer tech who did the conversion years ago replaced the TXV to the correct r134a calibration, but there's no way to tell without removing it and all the nasty insulation around it. I'll take the risk. My bigger issue is the leaking heater valve anyway. Honestly, we need AC in this car to overcome that obnoxious heat coming out the vents all the time. One thing at a time I guess.

 

[v6buicks]

This car calls for 2.9 lbs of R12, so let's do some math. 2.9 x 16 = 46.4 oz. We want to charge that to 80% since this car is converted. 46.4 x 0.8 = 37.12 oz. Since it's better to underfill than overfill, I bought 3 12 oz cans of r-134a with the intent to use all of them. I also got some ester dye. The receipt said that the system was filled with PAG 46. However, ester is compatible with both PAG and mineral oil, so I figured I would get more use out of this.

Once I was home from the store, I started replacing the receiver/drier. I noticed that the new one did not come with the foam strip that fills the void between itself, the mounting bracket, and the core support, so I got a little crafty while I was waiting for the freshly wire wheeled and painted bracket to dry.

A little bit of foam window seal was perfect for this. While I allowed the glue to stick for a minute, I started replacing o-rings. I was surprised to find that my new r-134a pressure switch came with a black o-ring, and the receiver/drier came with none at all. All were replaced with green o-rings coated in ester oil.

I was still waiting for paint to dry, so I decided to address the hot elephant in the room.

Sorry for the lack of visuals here. I was sweating my *** off and pretty excited to finish this. Take my word for it when I say that the cable was not adjusted correctly which allowed the valve to stay slightly open with the controls pegged cold. Why would a heater valve need adjustment? Good question! This is not the original valve. The previous owner was very proud to say that he swapped it out with the updated unit which eliminates a lot of issues. Too bad he created another one, by not installing this one properly! Oh well. Overall, he saved me a lot of work, so I'm thankful that he did this. The cable adjustment was easy and rewarding. No more 130+ degree heat blowing out the vent ALL. THE. TIME.

By then I was finally ready to start the IV. The thermometer could say 80 all it wanted, but it sits in a nice shady spot on a cold wall. I should probably move it. My point is that it was a bit warmer outside. I only ever use pure refrigerant! Sealants and other additives just dilute the formula, add cost, and add impurities to your system that can do much more harm than good. Plus, if it's not pure refrigerant, how much are you actually supposed to put in? ?‍ This stuff was on sale for $4 a can at Rural King. The bottle of dye was $10 and bigger than I'll ever be able to use. It's about a half gallon and you only use about a cap full per system!

Nice! All full.

And the money shot! I'll take it.

I drove the car to work today. Since it rained last night, it was too cool for AC this morning. I'm sure it will get a work out on my way home though. 39.6 degrees isn't too bad considering how little I did, but it's not too good either especially for a wagon. These old Volvos as well as most other European cars have pitiful heat exchangers. I could replace the condenser with a later version, but that would require custom lines that I'm not equipped to make. I could also swap this whole system out for the factory 1993, r-134a, accumulator/OT system, but screw that! Even if I could justify the coin, the process requires replacing the whole HVAC box behind the dash. No thanks. This isn't Texas. 40 degrees will be plenty cool enough to get us through mid-western summers.

Edit: I just found this picture of the messed up low-side fitting I replaced. Yeah, that's gonna cause a leak for sure!

 

[v6buicks]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I had a fun Volvo break down on Tuesday! Back story is required to understand all these first world problems and colossal waste of fuel, so here it goes...

That first picture in post #26 was taken at my girlfriend's parent's house which is a good distance away from home. The reason we were there was because her grandma passed. I was along for emotional support, but there's only so much help I can provide. After being there for two days, Allie basically dismissed me and sent me home even though she would be without a car. I drove home alone, and she drove home the next day in her mom's car.

For the funeral, Allie left a day early in her mom's car. Since my mom came from Lisle for the funeral, we stayed at my house and drove separately to the funeral. That way we could dip out, head home whenever, and leave Allie with a car. On the way, Mom and I stopped for breakfast. As we were sitting there eating, I was dwelling about the 240 not acting right. We were still close to the house so I decided to turn around after breakfast and grab the C30. As it would turn out, my hunch was more than a hunch, and I wouldn't have a choice in grabbing a different car. Moose refused to start after breakfast.

Since I'm in a suit and have no time to spare we just abandoned the wagon, and my mom drove me to the C30. I knew right away that I was not telling Allie about abandoning her car in a small high-traffic parking lot.

After the funeral, I left Allie with the keys to the C30, and she didn't suspect a thing. Mom drove me to the house where I changed clothes, packed a backpack full of tools and water, and headed over to the car on my bike. Mom felt bad for leaving me knowing the situation I was in, but I told her not to worry at all. I chose the roadkill life. This is my new normal. She laughed and made her way back to Illinois.

I lucked out! In typical LH2.4 fashion, the non-weatherproof fuse holder sitting right-side-up under the crack between the hood and the fender (engineers are smart) corroded, causing heat, and eventually melting. This fuse "protects" the whole EFI and ignition system.

I'm glad that this was the first thing I checked, and I didn't have to be out in the hot sun for too long. Victory pics!

I still love this car. I managed to break it, abandon it, come back to it, diagnose it, rig it, and drive it home all before Allie could ever find out. A new weather proof fuse holder is on the way, AND she has AC now. I hope my hard work helps ease the pain of her loss a little. It's definitely been a long week for both of us.

 

[v6buicks]

I'm not gonna lie. Throwing a new fuse in and recharging the AC has been super rewarding already. I didn't realize how much the car was suffering with that sad fuse prior to giving up. The new one woke everything up! Honestly, my love has very much gone away from the Camaro and I'm all in on the 240. Part of me wishes it was mine, and part of me doesn't care because I'm definitely buying it off Allie when she's ready to upgrade!

Speaking of which, it's her car. She can do what she wants to it. I probably would have refrained from this because I think the car looked right the way it was. We can always revert back anyway. This is not just a sticker. I still had grilles from my old college car in the basement, so I swapped the whole thing out! Allie has always been a fan of the prancing moose logo. She'll be surprised when she comes home from her hair appointment!

Yes, I'm in love with Volvos all over again, but I'm not even going to pretend that this car is perfect. These items are next on the list.

Ever heard of a car with accessory bushings? Now you have. I don't know why Volvo did this. Maybe its a vibration dampener. It could be that the belts don't need to be adjusted as often. Either way, it's about to become a problem. I haven't decide if I'm going to go with poly replacements or aluminum, but it probably won't be rubber. Don't worry. I'll be doing some cleaning and painting while I'm in there too... ?

Then there's this. Ever notice in previous pictures how the rear end of this car is giving you the just had a stroke look?

"Okay... just realign the bumper."

I'm afraid that it's a bigger issue than that.

The steel and the aluminum do not agree which makes finding replacement bumpers a nightmare! I had a plan for decelerating the issue last year, but it's way too late now. This car needs a bumper. There's a lot more corrosion hidden back there as well.

 

[v6buicks]

I woke up this morning to my girlfriend telling me that she's taking my car to work. The 240 wouldn't start again. ? I guess I'm not doing an oil change and interior detail on the car I'm supposed to take to Chicago today.

That's fine. The 240 is more rewarding to work on anyway, and the new weather proof fuse holder just came in the mail.

Dang! I wasn't expecting an aesthetic upgrade, but the black fuse holder blends in so much better than the original white.

Ahh yes. That's much better. I like when working in a certain area of the car gives me an excuse to clean up. No more thick film of oil and no more crimp on butt splices!

After a long cruise, I'm amazed once again at how much I was missing out on due to the weakend electrical system. The cruise control works like normal and the engine feels way stronger than any NA B230 I've ever driven. I guess that goes to show how poorly these cars tend to be maintained and how little they complain about it!

I think poly accessory bushings and a new compressor belt adjuster are next on the list. I didn't think about it until recently, but these may be why the power steering is so weak until you give it a little gas.

 

[v6buicks]

I'm back to my normal unnormal schedule. lol This means I'm back to having ultra productive Mondays in the garage.

I was not expecting to get this job finished so quickly, but it was by far the car's biggest issue. It's also a daily driver, so not having it in service is a bit of a problem. Let's hammer down and see if we can rig this bumper back on! Worst case scenario, I'll have to go get some lag screws and a 4x4.

These little push clips didn't put up as much of a fight as I expected. I bought a bunch of new ones to replace them all anyway.

Typical. This was why my last 240s bumper was held on with hood pins when I got it.

Removing the studs went way easier than expected.

Dang that's nasty. I was able to lightly pound the studs out of this side with a hammer. It wasn't held on by much.

Not good

I used a hamburger disk to clean up as much of the corrosion as I could. Then I washed it.

The bumper shocks needed some attention as well.

I found it funny how some of the holes no longer looked slotted. So much corrosion built up that the holes were filled up!

What a mess! And to think that people thing say aluminum doesn't rust.

While I waited for paint to dry, I started making brackets. This was the part I thought would take forever, but turned out super simple. 1" flat stock fits perfectly in the upper channel! 1 1/4" flat stock fits nicely at the bottom without contacting the cover. Score! Now I just drill a couple holes, weld some bolts into them and bend the thing into shape.

Paint is dry! Now I can focus on the bumper itself.

 

[v6buicks]

Yep, the bumper got painted too. I don't want steel against aluminum again. That's what got me into this mess! Next time I'm going to have to buy a whole new bumper and that's not going to be cheap. I hope this lasts a while. Don't mind my welds. lol

Before I got too excited. I wanted to take this opportunity to give all the plastics a good renewing treatment. The bumper cover was in pretty good shape, but that diffuser just soaked it up like a sponge.

BAM! After reinstalling the bumper cover, aligning the loose bumper, and driving the new nuts home I am very pleased with the results! No more gaps or sagging.

 

[IceCreamAssassin]

Love your updates

 

[v6buicks]

Thanks! I definitely try my ass off to make my junk less junky. Lol

We actually want to road trip this car up to Traverse City for a camping trip this August, so my goal is to eliminate all the known issues before then.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

This is very cool. I would have probably kept my Volvo if it were this era and not an 06. It was a cool car just a pain in the jimmy to keep running. I think these are way simpler and besides they swap a 5L pretty well from what I've heard.

 

[v6buicks]

This is very cool. I would have probably kept my Volvo if it were this era and not an 06. It was a cool car just a pain in the jimmy to keep running. I think these are way simpler and besides they swap a 5L pretty well from what I've heard.

Yeah, I bought a 2010 C30 T5 hoping it would hold the same sort of charm as my old 240 plus some power and modern amentities. Once Volvo switched to FWD, all the charm went out the window. I don't know how else to describe it. It's been a good car. It has 174k miles on it, and very few things have gone wrong with it. It's also got enough balls to get into trouble. It's just boring. What kind of 06 Volvo did you have?

I'll probably change my mind a million times, but as of now I don't want to swap the 240. I'm not even sure if I want to boost it. Taking away the reliability and simplicity of the red block would do the whole car a disservice imo. I've always liked the idea of doing a 16V conversion and just leaving it on stock 16V computers. Then I'll keep reliability and have the top end power that these cars desperately need. Besides, the stock 9mm con rods in this NA engine aren't going to be forgiving under ANY detonation. The only major stuff I would dove into is the suspension. Making 240s handle like they're on rails is hilariously fun no matter how slow.

5.0s used to swap easy when there were lots of parts available to support it. Making mounts are easy, but the Diesel, PRV, and aftermarket 28mm sway bars are pretty much unobtainable now. Theose are a pretty critical part of clearing the 5.0 oil pan. Its a lot easier to go LS now because you can do it with all off-the-shelf stuff. The STS Machining swap kit was designed to fit a truck engine under the stock hood with stock manifolds, truck accessories, and no pounding of the firewall. It's all a simple, cheap, bolt-in affair. I'm not an LS swap fan, but I have to admit that it's super painless and makes a lot of sense.

I happen to have a custom made 3800 swap kit for 240s and whole bunch of other goodies that will never make it's way to the Camaro, so if I were to swap anything it's going to be that. ? Yeah, I'm a freak. I think 30 mpgs, over double the HP, and weepweep noises in brick would be pretty amazing though.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

I had an XC90 V8. Solt it to the JY for 400 bucks. Wish someone would have B8444Sed something with the engine. Probably get made into a hyundai with my luck.

I really liked the ergonomics and styling of it but the electrical system and the accessory drive were major weak points. Made it to 149K and change before I threw in the towel and drove it to the yard.

 

[v6buicks]

I had an XC90 V8. Solt it to the JY for 400 bucks. Wish someone would have B8444Sed something with the engine. Probably get made into a hyundai with my luck.

I really liked the ergonomics and styling of it but the electrical system and the accessory drive were major weak points. Made it to 149K and change before I threw in the towel and drove it to the yard.

Ahhh yes. I hear you there. Those engines are really cool, but the rest of the vehicle was mostly a mechanical disaster! I too think it would be neat to swap that into something else. Yamaha designed, but didn't The Noble M14 use one with twin turbos or something? I'm not sure if the first generation XC90 or S80 T6 is worse. Fun fact: When the S80 T6 first came out it utilized a 4T65e except Volvo had some cheaper parts put in it. Imagine a twin turbo 2.9L I6 pushing through something worse than a 4T65e!

 

[Mr_Roboto]

I was talking with the trans shop guys when I got mine he said the opposite and there were special bits in there to help things out; That said I would consider it a trans that wasn't designed for what they did with it especially with an XC90 weighing in at 4500 lbs.

 

[v6buicks]

Interesting. They put the 4t65e in the XC90 too?

 

[ragingclue]

Yeah that'd be a neat swap... has anyone done one of those? I'd imagine it'd be worse in every measurable way as opposed to the LS swap but cooler IMO none the less.

Also in regards to loving the AC working again, I never did bother to fix the leak in mine (not even sure where it is) since the head rests with open windows seems to douse you pretty good with air.... as long as you're moving. If you're not moving, yeah it sucks.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Interesting. They put the 4t65e in the XC90 too?

Yeah and I believe AWD at that too.

Someone's getting thoughts in here about a weird AWD trans swap. Wonder if the parts would bolt into a W-body and you'd have to figure out how to get a driveshaft back......

 

[v6buicks]

Yeah that'd be a neat swap... has anyone done one of those? I'd imagine it'd be worse in every measurable way as opposed to the LS swap but cooler IMO none the less.

Also in regards to loving the AC working again, I never did bother to fix the leak in mine (not even sure where it is) since the head rests with open windows seems to douse you pretty good with air.... as long as you're moving. If you're not moving, yeah it sucks.

haha I can't argue with that. I really only think I'll do it if the B230F shits the bed and I have no replacement ready to go. The 3800 would be cool, but I'd rather keep my Volvo a Volvo. I think the plan for now is to get my 350 running for proof of condition, sell it, and find a 93+ B230F engine (oil squrters). I'd then try to do a nice 16V conversion. I've always wanted to do a mild red block build, and now I really have the itch again.

Does your car have foot well vents? I hear that helps a ton.

 

[v6buicks]

Yeah and I believe AWD at that too.

Someone's getting thoughts in here about a weird AWD trans swap. Wonder if the parts would bolt into a W-body and you'd have to figure out how to get a driveshaft back......

I've thought about it, but don't want the headaches. My idea was Pontiac 6000 STE with factory AWD and a GP 3.1 Turbo swap. The Rendezvous and Saturn Relay have a similar AWD transaxles too.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

 

[ragingclue]

haha I can't argue with that. I really only think I'll do it if the B230F shits the bed and I have no replacement ready to go. The 3800 would be cool, but I'd rather keep my Volvo a Volvo. I think the plan for now is to get my 350 running for proof of condition, sell it, and find a 93+ B230F engine (oil squrters). I'd then try to do a nice 16V conversion. I've always wanted to do a mild red block build, and now I really have the itch again.

Does your car have foot well vents? I hear that helps a ton.

Yeah that's my biggest problem even thinking about swaps right now (well besides the fact I just don't/won't have the money for a while).... Of all the shit that's rotted or broken, that damn sewing machine just keeps chugging along without issue. Mine's got 285k, 30k of which I've put on it since acquiring it from Ma, and the only things that I've needed to replace engine-wise were the FPR and a battery.... I think that's it. One time it did complain profusely about gas I got at the Lorenzo Rd exit BP (off of 55), but other than a knock sensor code for that tank it was fine. Was commuting 70 miles each way without a care in the world for a year too. Now it needs mounts and an alternator but again the b230 itself won't die.

I'd also love to do a mild build of a '93+ B230F, add 16V and turbo.... but I'm not sure I want to molest the '85 GLT since it's kinda fascinating (only year they did intercooled 240 and plus it's got the k-jet wizardry), and the '90 DL is just too shit to care about for the most part (rust). So if I did build something, I'd probably have to get another brick.... not sure how to get the wife to be on board with that but thankfully they're cheap as hell and pretty common still.

The '90 does have footwell vents, yeah. They do help a lot, otherwise your feet feel like they're in ovens. Luckily the commute I was talking about never hit any real traffic so air was always moving, and the surface area of the glass is actually kinda small and upright, so you don't get a real bad greenhouse effect. Plus cloth... it didn't bother me not having AC except for that one time I got stuck behind a truck that flipped and blocked everything for over an hour until I could turn around.

White block swaps are cool too. Like the dude who works for Koenigsegg... if only I had the money to do something like this, I would in a heartbeat, except on a wagon:

Turbo Bricking It: Riding In A 740hp Volvo - Speedhunters

There’s a strong chance this could be one of the best Volvo 240s in the world. I’m serious, I wouldn’t joke about something like that. There has been plenty of fun poked at the boxy 200 series over the years, but as a long-time 245 owner myself, I’m not even sure why people jest at all. Maybe...

www.speedhunters.com

EDIT: Sorry to hijack your thread BTW

 

[v6buicks]

After owning a T5, I got the white block thing out of my system. It's not a bad engine by any means, and it IS cool to see them in older Volvos. It's just not my cup of tea. Maybe I'm getting soft! Engine swaps are cool as hell, but damn is it a lot of work to get everything right. The Camaro is burning me out in terms of getting a heavily modified car to jive with itself, and it's not even swapped!

One thing is for sure. I'm not doing any performance mods on this one until I have a solid stage 0 done and the body is repaired. It's not bad. I'm getting a lot of satisfaction out of just fixing what we have, so I'm going to ride that out as long as I can. Besides, it's still not my car. ? Lol

 

[Mr_Roboto]

After owning a T5, I got the white block thing out of my system. It's not a bad engine by any means, and it IS cool to see them in older Volvos. It's just not my cup of tea. Maybe I'm getting soft! Engine swaps are cool as hell, but damn is it a lot of work to get everything right. The Camaro is burning me out in terms of getting a heavily modified car to jive with itself, and it's not even swapped!

One thing is for sure. I'm not doing any performance mods on this one until I have a solid stage 0 done and the body is repaired. It's not bad. I'm getting a lot of satisfaction out of just fixing what we have, so I'm going to ride that out as long as I can. Besides, it's still not my car. ? Lol

If I swapped a white block into something I would sure as hell not want the stock ECU going in with it after the issues I had with the B8444S. Electrical is a serious weakness on the later vehicles IMO. The V8 was awesome except the oddball parts for the accessories, the durability of the accessory drive but the killer was the electrical by a good margin.

What's the limits on a T6 engine in terms of SBE power?

 

[v6buicks]

If I swapped a white block into something I would sure as hell not want the stock ECU going in with it after the issues I had with the B8444S. Electrical is a serious weakness on the later vehicles IMO. The V8 was awesome except the oddball parts for the accessories, the durability of the accessory drive but the killer was the electrical by a good margin.

Yeah, they definitely struggled with that through most of the Ford era. I'd like to think that the major issues were fixed when Geely took over, but time will tell I guess. My C30 is 10 years old with 175k, and so far the only gremlin I haven't been able to easily fix is the AC blend doors. I just keep it on auto so that it doesn't spaz out. lol