• RWD

  • Scott's 1984 240 GLE "The Moose"

The Moose was originally bought by accident, and nearly didn't happen...



Originally, I was looking for a set of Virgo's for my wagon, but at the time, there weren't may sets on ebay. This car was for sale for $500.00, and I thought that I would swap the wheels, and I would put it straight back on ebay. 15 minutes after I sent off my bid, my friend linked me to a set of powder coated Virgo's for sale on ebay. The Virgo's were cheap, and I didn't need the GLE. I tried to get out of the auction, but I was committed to buy it.

I picked up the car, not wanting it, but on the drive it home, I fell in love with it. I have always preferred wagons, but was instantly impressed with how much better the GLE drove than my wagon. I figured I would take it in for a roadworthy check, and see what it would need...

What it needed: Amongst minor things, it needed a new windscreen, set of tyres, passenger side mirror, and rear discs. The gear selector surround was missing, so I installed the one from my wagon. I got some 205/55/15 Falkens and the rest from the list, and got it on the road for a bit under $3,000 (including registration).

The roof racks and mud flaps (one was missing) have been removed, but the car remains as is. I have also installed a driving hat onto the rear parcel shelf.









The front brakes are squealing like a pig, and I am going to try some new pads to see if it stops being noisy. If not, it will need machining/new discs. The noise is so bad, that I am not driving it to work (it isn't the high pitched "you need new pads" noise, this sounds like I'm driving a truck). The old man thinks that it might be a vibration? The engine runs alright, though I'm only getting about 350-400k's from a tank (mixture of freeway/local driving to work). Any ideas, or is that normal/expected?

Plans: I bought some springs from Ash @ DVS, and will get them installed when I buy some new shocks. I will be getting my spare set of Virgo's re-powdercoated. That reminds me, I should move them out of the boot of my Fairlane - the clanking is annoying!



Maybes/ideas: Manual conversion. Cam upgrade, and maybe some other things to give it a few more horses (but nothing too expense/outrageous). Respray - while there is no rust (apart from a couple of spots), the paint on the roof/bonnet is very tired - might just do a closed door respray to get the green back to how it was.

A new stereo/set of speakers would be nice too!

Some ideas/comments would be most welcome from you guys... I am a complete noob, so please excuse the silly questions that will spurt out of my mouth :)
I like it! Green 240's are the best 240's. I suck at kjet, but there should be some cleaning out of crud from the intake and fuel filter changing and the general stage 0 stuff.
The squealing could be cooked pads so is very worth changing.
Rattray Engineering in Braybrook do wheels for $60 each in many powder colours. Do a nice job too.
Thanks @Ex850R for the recommendation :)

My car will be needing a new exhaust in the near future too, as it has a blow in the front, and a hole somewhere in the back. I am thinking a 2.25" or 2.50" headers-back with just the one muffler. Is there anything else that the Bruces would recommend?
@A_Volvo_Driver
A_Volvo_Driver;2232 wroteThe front brakes are squealing like a pig, and I am going to try some new pads to see if it stops being noisy. If not, it will need machining/new discs. The noise is so bad, that I am not driving it to work (it isn't the high pitched "you need new pads" noise, this sounds like I'm driving a truck). The old man thinks that it might be a vibration? The engine runs alright, though I'm only getting about 350-400k's from a tank (mixture of freeway/local driving to work). Any ideas, or is that normal/expected?

Plans: I bought some springs from Ash @ DVS, and will get them installed when I buy some new shocks. I will be getting my spare set of Virgo's re-powdercoated. That reminds me, I should move them out of the boot of my Fairlane - the clanking is annoying!
I've found that Volvo branded brake pads squeal a lot, but since using EBC pads I've had no problem. I use cheap disks from ebay and they have been fine for me but others on TB only use specific brands. You might find that your disks are below the legal thickness to get them machined, that has happened to me a few times.

I tend to get about 400km per tank of 45L or so, so your numbers seem ok. Have you serviced it yet with plugs, leads, rotor, fluids, filters, etc? this will help with the fuel consumption as well.

Are you planning on putting the shocks and springs in yourself?
A_Volvo_Driver;2250 wroteThanks @Ex850R for the recommendation :)

My car will be needing a new exhaust in the near future too, as it has a blow in the front, and a hole somewhere in the back. I am thinking a 2.25" or 2.50" headers-back with just the one muffler. Is there anything else that the Bruces would recommend?
I've just put a new exhaust on my '84 240 and went for a 2.25" with 2 mufflers and extractors. A lot of people say that 2.5" is too much for an NA 240, so I went with 2.25. Initially I had one muffler on before the diff and it was LOUD & would crackle a lot when slowing down. It was fun for about an hour, the next day I went and got an additional muffler put on. We tried a few on when the car was running to get the right volume, now it's pretty quiet with a deep note.

I was a bit disappointed with the new system though, because it barely made a difference to power. It could be the mufflers, but I don't think the bigger exhaust would have made a difference, there was barely enough back pressure with the one muffler.
5 days later
I spoke to my exhaust guy today and like you said Joe, recommends that I keep the resonator with a 2.25" system. I took my Fairlane there a while ago and he is real big on keeping his customers happy ( he changed the muffler after I was not 100% pleased with the first one) - smart business, as I'm going back with the Moose, and I have referred him to a few mates/family also.

I have ordered some shocks through DVS and should be getting the suspension done and the squeaky brakes looked at soon. I'll be looking to get the Virgo's powder coated this week too :)
a month later
I got these back from the powder coaters today and am really pleased with how they turned out. I can't wait to get them put onto the Moose.

Very nice! It's good to see the powder coater didn't lose them & came through with the goods.

Are they black or dark grey?
what do they charge to powder coat wheels?
They have been painted with satin black and are the same colour as the bumpers ( when they are clean). They cost me $60 a wheel.
Scott , did I you use Rattray,s? I would expect most blast and p,coat places have a big range of colours as Rattray do @Rob.
20 days later
Looks good. Will look better in a couple of weeks when lowered :)

looks excellent.
Very nice, loving the green against the dark black tyres wheels and trim! Now you just have to lower that front!
Cheers guys. The plan will be to refurb all of the black pieces so that they match the satin black of the wheels. Eventually I will get the 30 years of dings heated out and give the car a fresh coat of ugly green. A work in progress. There is still much to do :)
13 days later
First up, I special thanks to @240Joe who let me use his garage, tools and doing most of the work :) We had a few hiccups, but got there in the end.

The Moose has been lowered! We've put on the DVS special springs with Bilstein B6 shocks in the front and Lowered King springs with Bilstein B4's in the rear. The car drives much better now, and I am really happy with the stance (more aggressive with the nose slightly lower than the front). We measured up the sway bars too, and I have 23mm in the rear and 21mm in the front.



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