'92 240GLE - The Brapwagon

jamesinc · 2017-06-03T09:43:15+00:00

You dont by chance still have the tail lights?

jamesinc

Those damn urethane bushings are squeaking like there's no tomorrow! Weird I use the same bushings on the 244 and after 7 years they're yet to make any noise. I must not have lubed these ones properly. Oh well project for a sunny weekend.

THIS weekend was the weekend I was forced to stop procrastinating about the water ingress around the wiper motor shaft. Curse you Volvo grommet #1372215! I did have new butyl tape for the outer seal, but did not have a replacement for this grommet, so I just cleaned everything out in between waves of pouring rain and then refit the grommet with heaps of RTV. Should do the job, I'll give it a few hours to cure then test with the hose on the windscreen.

The cabin smells so unbelievably bad you guys, I think if this works I will pull the carpets and pressure wash them with soap they are truly horrible.

Edit: it's been absolutely pouring rain all night, went and checked the cabin this morning and there's no new water in the footwell, woo!

jamesinc

Kaplhenke spherical strut mounts and spherical trailing arm bushes ordered and now I have no money, but the G80 axle might FINALLY leave the floor of my garage. All that's left to do now is make up a bushing extractor.

jamesinc

I've had a bit of back and forth with STS Machining and I think the squeaking bushings have been solved by packing the centres with silicone grease. They're sending me another set of sleeves just in case. It looked like moisture had got trapped in the void space inside the bushing.

jamesinc

Maaaan that was a bit of an effort. Decided to tack some braces in which made the job much easier.

I machined some bushes to help with the pressing. I removed the old trailing arms but cutting the shells with a hacksaw then tapping them out.

carnut222

What’s that copper colour? Never seen that on a 240 axle before???

jamesinc

carnut222
What’s that copper colour? Never seen that on a 240 axle before???

Weld-through primer

jamesinc

After much hammering of the inner strut tower, the Kaplhenke strut mounts are in. I opted to not use luxe steer, I run a 330mm steering wheel, it is a touch heavier than stock but so far it's been good to me.

jared244

James. Did you hammer the strut tower to allow more caster/camber adjustment for the Kaphenke strut tops?

I didn't need to make any mods for mine to work (stock diameter coils), but there was no adjustment possible, ie a few mm one way and the spring contacts the wall, a few mm the other way the strut top contacts the wall.

jared244

I also went with the Kaphenke rear trailing arm spherical bearing, and the Kaplhenke torque rods... the rear end feels amazingly planted... hard to describe, but it just feels like it grips!

jamesinc

@jared244 I think if you run the luxe steer perches as you did, it puts a bit more space between the spring seat and top of the strut tower, so no clearancing required, however I do have a fairly good range of adjustment on mine. I have the strut tops switched left to right from what the Kaplhenke site says

jared244

That’s interesting James. I’m going to pull mine out again tomorrow and change struts.

I’ve got Bilstein touring struts in there and they are a smidge too long. The DVS Low coils don’t quite have enough tension on them and can move around a bit at full extension. I’m getting some front end noise as a result.

I’ll take a pic of the way my strut tops are on and confirm how they are set up reference yours.

jamesinc

The axle is finally in, and I installed braided lines while I was at it.

The new axle is sick, the Kaplhenke bearings are great, handling is super responsive at the rear now. The G80 is alright, though this diff being freshly shimmed its waaaay less sloppy than my old axle.

ramrod

Where did you buy those brake lines?

carnut222

ramrod
Where did you buy those brake lines?

Those appear to be the Technaform ones available from FCP Euro...just be aware if you’re buying ones for a 93 240 (at least both my 93s) you will need 2 off of the rear ones for an ABS 240 even though they don’t have ABS here (mostly).

carnut222

Further, the lines (Technaform) seem pretty well made and are inexpensive. Also DOT approved so technically I think they’re OK for ADR.

jamesinc

@ramrod @carnut222 was right they are the FCP lines. Yeah very inexpensive, they do have the DOT stamp on them, and they comply with ADRs as far as I understand them. The main thing I know from past experience is that braided brake hoses can't have the braid exposed, so these like any decent braided line have a transparent laminate over the braid.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-brake-hydraulic-hose-rear-240-244-245-242-260-stainless-steel
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-mercedes-volvo-brake-hose-front-stainless-steel

jamesinc

New sway bar bushes. Old ones were Superpro too, didn't realise that, but they are fairly worn as you can see.

Philia_Bear

Time for roller bearings?

Fred

Just quickly went through from where you linked in that other thread to the end and have one question:

Is the G80 modified? :-D

They're pretty decent modified (not perfect, but 200% better than open), but average/annoying when unmodified. I have 3, two in cars, one on the bench awaiting bearings/time/tools.

I love that medium-dark metallic grey on your car, looks sweet.

jamesinc

Fred
Just quickly went through from where you linked in that other thread to the end and have one question:
Is the G80 modified? :-D
They're pretty decent modified (not perfect, but 200% better than open), but average/annoying when unmodified. I have 3, two in cars, one on the bench awaiting bearings/time/tools.
I love that medium-dark metallic grey on your car, looks sweet.

My G80 is unmodified, wanted to see what it was like stock before I did anything I couldn't take back. It seems to work well, it does make more noise at low speed but not too bad really, and I've kicked the back around a few times in the wet and it's locked the wheels nicely

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