My 1992 240 sedan...

240 · 2015-09-14T12:17:29+00:00

Another question - my car doesn't have an electric antenna, but I may have the opportunity to get one. Will the wiring already be in place in my car (meaning...

familyman

I was wrong! Pulled the leads off and measured them for you. 1, 2, & 3 are 25.5" long. Cylinder #4 is 30". Coil lead is 21.5". All measurements are the full length, including the caps, of the original leads that came with the car when new. (And my coil is mounted behind the power steering on the strut tower, and distributor is on the block.) I'll edit my comment above. At least I can partly save face by assigning some blame to SCA.

240

familyman;62396 wrote The leads on my car (also original - you know why) have "Bougicord 403 Class C" on them in white,

Pulled the leads off and measured them for you. 1, 2, & 3 are 25.5" long. Cylinder #4 is 30". Coil lead is 21.5".

Thanks so much for doing that!
I just had a look at the new ones I was sent and I think what's happened is that I've just been a complete moron: "Bougicord 403 Class C" is what they say on them and I took them out of the box and lay them down, and one was longer! So I should have just had a closer look in the first place!
I also measured one and it was indeed about 25.5".

The box also contains two leads for the ignition coil, both of different lengths - which would, I suspect, be to do with what James said about the early 240s having the coil in a different spot.

So it looks like it's all my fault then - so sorry about that - I have learnt something at least though.

Slowbrick

240;62437 wrote The box also contains two leads for the ignition coil, both of different lengths

Correct. Early 240's had the coil on the driver's side next to the brake booster. The lead for that is the extra long one. The shorter one will be the one you need which is for the coil on the passenger side.

240

Just changed them over and indeed the shorter one was the correct one.

All works fine now.

familyman

Vee_Que;62412 wroteLeads gain resistance with age, as a general rule you change them every 100,000km, or 5 years.

Hm... 1991 - original leads - 40,000km. That's only 19 years overdue. Surely I can get another 10 outta them? :-?

BradC

Measure them. That's what specifications are for.

Ex850R

Bougicord.
They have magic properties it seems!

240

Well, I have read that they are the best ones to get. Which is why I got them. But what in particular are said "magical properties"? Just better performance/durability?

jamesinc

I like the OE style ones.

familyman

240;62747 wroteBut what in particular are said "magical properties"?

I think he was referring to the post that I found and linked to... the guy that implied they never need replacing - therefore must have 'magical properties'.

240

OK, time for an update I think - albeit not an overly eventful one.

I've been doing various smaller jobs on the car - fixed up a couple of interior bits, cleaned throttle body (which was very dirty!) and AMM, etc etc.

Changed one of the headlight reflectors which ended up being much harder than it needed to be - one of the nuts had rusted to the bolt. And the plastic clips that hold the reflector to the plastic housing were so brittle they just disintegrated. I needed the car working though, so online replacements weren't an option - so I had to fork out $77 to the local Volvo dealer. (For a pack of 10 actually - so if anyone needs any spares, let me know!) All good now though.

Did the airbox mod, removing the thermostat and hot air hose, and then blocking off the hot air intake in the airbox.

Did the fuel filter, which ended up being annoying because of how tight the bolts were in, but got it done.

I also installed a set of gauges in the dash, which was fiddly as I had to move the stereo to the lower position which involved fabricating a bracket/housing etc for it - but I'm happy with the result.
One problem, though, is that for some reason the CD player didn't want to load a CD when I inserted one. The bottom line is, there's now a CD in there that's not inserted properly, so the eject mechanism can't eject it. How can I get it out?!

Virgos went on too. Improves the look of the car dramatically!

If there are any suggestions as to what else I should be doing to the car (keeping in mind a very minimal budget), or if you have any other feedback, let me know.

Here are some photos.

Have a good Christmas everyone!

egads (she/her)

Nice work mate, looking sorted :-D

lasercowboy

looking fantastic! how did you get the black external trim looking so black and shiny?

240

I'm assuming you mean the trim that runs along the doors? If so, it must be the light in the photo - because it actually looks rubbish, it's quite grey and hard. I'm on th elookout for replacement pieces. The front passenger side piece of bumper trim looks black and shiny but only because it's the older style chrome strim, that I painted black, so it still doesn't match perfectly.
In fact, if anyone's got any tips to rejuvinate the dry, grey trim on the doors/boot, I'm open to suggestions!

familyman

Difficult to say exactly how to get the CD out without seeing in person how it's jammed in. You *might* find a thin-enough pair of tweezers - but I doubt it. If you can find some thin enough, you could also try pressing the eject button along with using tweezers - although it probably doesn't recognise the CD is in there, else it would be trying to eject it already.

I'd just remove the stereo, remove it's covers, and push the CD back out. If you do that with a VCR, you can knock the timing of the mode switch out and the functions are now all messed up. But I don't believe CD players have such problems. (I might be wrong, but not much use with a disc stuck in there anyway.) If it doesn't accept the CD after you get it out, it may think there's a disc still in there - so you might have to turn the power off, and insert the CD again manually - only without jamming this time obviously - then apply power and hit the eject button. Hopefully that will reset it.

Also (and plenty more on there):

Anyone tried the heat gun method? Did it last?? Maybe test the worst one, then regularly apply a vinyl & trim protectant to keep it that way.

BradC

I follow the "Redwood chair" method. Vinyl inflatable boat cleaner from BCF to remove the oxidisation, and Silicone oil/grease to keep it looking nice. Keep the silicone away from the paint though if you ever intend to re-spray.

240

Well it's probably worth giving one of those products a shot before going to too much effort to find replacement trim, I guess.
In addition to the "trim restorer" products, I've also seen black trim paint. Presumably I'd be best off trying the restorer products first, if they don't work, then I could try the paint.

The black on the doors (as in, around the windows - so just the top half of the doors) also isn't great. Perhaps the bumper/trim paint would be better for that?

240Joe

Get the bumper dye from supercheap. I've used it in the bumpers, waistline trim, trim at bottom of doors, outside window trims, windscreen trim, grille, pretty much everything black. Put a few coats on to make sure it's even and it lasts longer than a year.

familyman

240;65055 wroteThe black on the doors (as in, around the windows - so just the top half of the doors) also isn't great. Perhaps the bumper/trim paint would be better for that?

Yeah, it never is. Even on my car, where everything else looks new, it's 'wearing through'. They must paint that section so thin. The previous owner never washed the car. He only wiped it with a microfibre cloth, kept it in a garage, rarely drove it. I only washed it a few times and could tell about wash #3 it was revealing what's beneath the paint.

Luckily it's a different colour - black - so no colour matching required. i.e. You could sand it yourself, and probably have it redone by a spraypainter for a couple of hundred at the most. Maybe they'll reduce that further if you tape up everything in his carpark first to protect from overspray.

If I ever have a car resprayed, I'll probably paint that section the same as the rest of the car.

timbo

If there are any suggestions as to what else I should be doing to the car (keeping in mind a very minimal budget), or if you have any other feedback, let me know.

Ring me at Ike's (6281 0554) before you call Rolfe for parts! You will be surprised what we have on the shelf eg: we keep the headlight clips in stock and sell them individually

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