Johnno's Big Red Box '88 240GL
Johnno_ I think if cost is the same I'd go with the new stamped parts, as these pans while they aren't rusted out, they aren't perfect and the panel beater would spend more time prepping them than new parts.
I think for a floor pan I wouldn't lose sleep over it being a non-OEM panel, if the shop has to massage them a bit to get them to fit right, you'll never know it.
jamesinc Yes that was pretty well what he said too. Easier to work with new ones. Another advantage is the new panels don't have a drain plug hole and are completely solid. So you don't have to worry about sealing in a new plug and having it lose the seal, leak and rust out over time.
Thanks for the offer. Still have to drop off the grille. Sent you a PM last week.
New cubby for the centre console gives the interior a bit of a lift.
Time to replace a few bits of vacuum hose and work thropugh the evaporation vapour lines. Good for me as I had a chance to learn how the evap vapour/vapor system works. That boy racer silicon hose is OK if there's an overall theme but a bit naff if used in only a couple of places.
Current set up. Blue silicon on the FPR. Garden hose to 2mm(?) plastic bend to 6.5mm vapour hose, 3mm blue silicon hose for evap vacuum waving in the wind.
Off to Repco for some replacements. I believe they are 3mm & 6.5mm, I just hand them a sample and asked for 2 metres of each.
First step replace the fuel pressure reg hose.
Next step. Drop the evaporative canister. Three x 10mm bolts holding it in. All bolts were liberally covered with sound deadener which required a lot of scraping to get a good working surface.
How it works courtesy of Tubobrick forum. New to me. Fuel tank vapours end up venting to the canister. Vacuum from the throttle body opens a small purge valve that allows to vapour to be burned. It's sort of the same principle as a Zippo lighter
Drop the canister. Blanked off "Air" nozzle, tank vapour line (middle), throttle body lines (right)
Pull off the hoses. Lot's of sound deadener & a couple of mud wasp nests. Rochester part number 17056292 AM Volvo part 1276694. Made by Rochester USA and no longer available. I did a few checks around and the canister is no longer made but is very similar to Torana, Kingswood and Commodore canisters at the time.
Type RB30 available at Vintage Commodore part 17075847-FX looks like it will do the same job.
https://www.vintagecommodores.com.au/vl-rb30-vapour-canister-3-outlet-6-cyl-efi-gm-17075847-fx.html
Scraped off some of the deadener & the wasp nests. First thoughts it was a later patch up but it looks factory. The galvanised frame was well preserved underneath. So I didn't go too hard after realizing 1/2 way through I'd probably hit it with deadener again.
Anyway, it cleaned up a little better than before, I wasn't going for a show look and will hit it with some deadener again anyway. The purge valve was working with a quick suck through some hose. I pried off the bottom of the canister and there was some intact fibre material. Looked OK with a slight whiff of fuel.
Removed and threaded through the new 6.5mm purge vapour line. The vacuum line to the evap cannister looks like a 1mm air line, and there's a 3mm air line & nipple on the throttle body. I was worried that it should be 1mm or 3mm hose all the way but it looks like Volvo went a short length of 3mm hose (part 16) that fitted over the 1mm line. So I just did the same…..but not in blue silicon hose.
Connected all the hoses and poked it back up there.
Engine bay looks a little better. Looks like I missed a small blue vacuum hose coming off the rear of inlet manifold. I'll remedy that today
I'll pull the canister out again to replace the oversize 38 year old zip ties. It looks like the deadener has preserved them pretty well. But I didn't have any that large around.
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Cars & Coffee at Picton on Sunday. Big Red came up all right, courtesy of Capture By Steve. Organizers said take a decoration so Vinterfint from Ikea took a spot on the roof. I almost drove off with him still up there.
A trailer load of toys for the local kids courtesy of all the attendees. It was a good morning but got a bit hot with all us "car guys" in black t-shirts.
It was a beaut drive down in the breaking dawn. Really enjoying this old 240GL now so many things have been sorted.
Wow. I've only just stumbled across this thread and quickly skipped through. Looks like I need to have a proper read as your works seem very similar attention to detail and works done on my 240 which I sold earlier this year.
Love it 
morch_66479 Wow. I've only just stumbled across this thread and quickly skipped through. Looks like I need to have a proper read as your works seem very similar attention to detail and works done on my 240 which I sold earlier this year.
That's really nice. The interior looks very tidy.
Still a way to go with mine but this morning's round trip to the airport was lovely! It was a lovely quiet rattle free ride.
Just had a Black Friday box arrived from GCP…..about the size of a steering wheel. So more to come.
Morning John
Would that be a steering wheel for airbag cars? If that part number 3516352 is correct, that steering wheel takes an airbag (1993 240 with airbag option)
Bugger
I was hoping I would be wrong.
Also, new non airbag steering wheels are no longer available
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Update over Christmas. Big Red didn't have much work on it. I can usually tell by the amount of RED pics on my phones photo list. Anyway, took her for a quick loop to Wiseman's Ferry. She was surprisingly agile, it was a lot of fun. No pics…
My Benz was on loan to my step daughter with some pretty strict conditions. I really haven't missed it much as I've been using the V40 on the really hot days as the A/C is a bit more robust…..240 for the fun days.
Step daughter got the C280 washed before return, car wash guys shattered the rear screen.
Rear screen repaired and took the C280 for a run up to Newcastle & got a shot of the stable while they were all sort-of clean.
Big Red took me on an early morning photo shoot around the new Western Sydney Airport and the massive development around the area..
Got the dates screwed up for some work at Voltek in December. Rebooked for last Thurday. Headed off with a boot full of spare parts including a Black Friday alternator from FCP. Battery light came on, Big Red sputtered and stopped. It was pissing down. Had to get a NRMA tow from a right hand turn bay on Mamre raod. The emergency flasher got faster and fater antil the battery died. Issue was a broken wire on the alternator. Arrived at Voltek 3 hours late.
Couple of simple jobs have turned out problematic for Stu. Rear brake lines were 'crumbling away" when fitting the new brake hoses. Front shock inserts were all cross threaded and thread were ripped off. So currently taking up valuable real estate at Stu's shop. Should be back soon with some pics.
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And things have come full circle. Big Red makes it to Rolling Magazine (top right). I'm feeling kinda chuffed today. There's a judge trying to look inside at the black interior through the dark tint. Next show I'll roll down the windows.
It's come full circle. I picked up Big Red on Easter Tuesday 2024, had it for a day and flew to Adelaide to my parent's place. They introduced me to a guy over the road in the S.A. club who had a maroon 240. He gave me a copy of his Rolling magazine to read on the trip home. Never thought I'd grace the pages!
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Big Red gets some work done at Stu Oldfield's workshop, Voltek.
Up on the hoist. Stu makes it look good underneath. He installed the new Skandix splash pan using the kit supplied by James, it fitted up nicely.
New rubber bushes in the middle and at the end links of front sway bar, new bump stop and bellows, and new front brake hoses. The front shock threads were flogged out from a previous fit-out so a new set of KYB front shocks were also fitted.
The new splash pan looks the part and sway bar bushes.
New front ball joints.
New rear brake hoses. The hoses supplied by IPD were male instead of female on the originals, so Stu was just going to reverse the fitting on the brake line side. The brake line was crumbly when he was flaring them out…..so a new rear brake line was also fitted. Should get many more years of use.
New brake hose to brake line bracket.
Shot of the the new lines this morning.
Overall, the front feels tighter and a lot more "European" in character. Firm and direct with none of the slight sloppiness before. Quite a lot more connected. Took it for a run with some badly patched and corrugated roads around Western Sydney Airport and was very pleased with Stu's work.
I think brake hoses that have one male end are for early 240s, maybe pre-86?
IPD had them listed as suiting '78-93 pre ABS.