Greg's 79 245GL Barn Find

Roinik;c-155779 wroteI'm so jealous of your workshop!

Thanks Ian. Yes I’m definitely spoiled with the hoist. Makes some things a lot easier. It was my retirement dream and I am fortunate to have been able to make it happen.

Ex850R;c-155785 wroteYou need a forklift or loader attached to tractor, save pulling more out just to get scrap car to roll.
Dolly's?

I wanna be able to push it out and then have somebody take it away on a trailer.

Unfortunately my driveway is unsealed so it’s all it impossible to move anything on it unless it has big rubber tyres. :)

Got my “new” clutch kit from Classic Swede in the UK (along with RHD turbo downpipe for the other 240)...well, I think he found the pressure plate with the wreck of the Titanic...awaiting Dai’s reply on what he wants to do about it. Not really wanting to just try and clean off the corrosion given I paid 80 pounds plus a bit of extra shipping for it. Grrrr!

Got fuel tank out of 93 donor car. All looks good and it was so much easier than wrestling the half-full tank out of the yellow wagon whilst on my back on the floor. I’ve learned a lot about removing tanks from doing it on the parts car, the yellow wagon and the 93. The 93 has a new design rubber grommet where the fill neck enters the body on the tank side. The grommet pushes out easy before removing the tank. The old 79 car just had a bulky rubber/foam surround that pressed up against the hole in the body...unless it’s a wagon vs. sedan thing, but the body sure looks identical on both sedan and wagon in that area. Also learned that you can push the rubber spill lip/grommet at the filler end through the hole in the body before removing the tank, then the whole tank and filler neck (including both grommets) slides out with no tugging, cursing or bending anything. We’ll see how it goes back together, but it appears the spill lip grommet can probably be put into the body opening first then insert neck through it when installing tank, probably with some Vaseline? ;) Otherwise maybe just put tank in then push spill lip grommet over filler pipe and press into the body. I may test that with a spare filler neck I have. I’m always thinking “How did they put this car together” and if you can figure that out it’s a lot easier. You can be sure they weren’t cursing and forcing things when they put it together LOL!

I really SHOULD pull the sender ring off and check the in-tank pump, sender and hose while the tank is out...but is that tempting fate as it works now? Hmm, guess I’d better as it’s so much easier with tank out. Gonna power wash first to remove the dirt and dust.

Making more progress. I might rename this thread “how to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse”...throw money at it! Got old rear suspension/diff out of the yellow wagon and put donor diff in. Still need to put the new Kings springs and Bilsteins in, and pop in the Panhard bar and upper torque rods. Next I’ll put the old axle in the donor sedan and time to swap places - yellow wagon onto the hoist to finish it up. Donor sedan will be ready for interior and wire harness removal for the swap then. Had an “oh shit” moment with the hoist. Was letting down the donor sedan to access the boot. Looked over and saw front of the car was about 50 mm off the front hoist arms. My first thought was is it tipping? Raced around the front and saw the transmission jack holding up the front under the front suspension. I forgot I had the transmission jack sitting under the front with a drain pan on it to collect some brake fluid from when I undid the brake lines from the distribution block. Oops! Could have been a catastrophe!

Silk pursification in progress...

New rear suspension in along with larger GT rear sway bar. Also disassembled the 93 handbrake mechanism, cleaned and lubricated and fitted the black 79 handle cover. Installed and adjusted. Never knew how the handbrake mechanism worked in a 240 so I learned something new today! Got old suspension put in 93 so I can roll it around. Just need to re-fit handbrake mechanism to 93 so we have a way of stopping it when we push the two cars out to swap positions. Coffee break time!

Tassie6er;c-156026 wroteGreg, I assume the springs are Kings? Are they normal height or lowered? I'd be interested in a stance picture when you have it on the ground.

Yep, Kings lower for 240 wagon...I have Kings lower on my 91 240 wagon (also with Bilstein HDs). The Bilsteins have a lot of pressure so it doesn’t sit as low as it would with standard non-gas-pressure shockers. IMHO the front sits a bit high on the 91...will drop a bit when I do the turbo conversion I suppose. I think Ash @AshDVS sells a special slightly lower front spring for the 240s that’s probably a bit better. Here’s a pic of the 91. Will def. post pics of the 79 wagon here when I get it going.

Sorry pic won’t attach, but if you look at my thread on the gold 91 wagon, the first few pics with the Polaris wheels are as it sits on Kings lower springs with Bilstein HDs.
https://ozvolvo.org/discussion/9745/gregs-gold-1991-240gle-wagon-b230ft-to-be

Wayne helped me swap the yellow wagon onto hoist and gold donor sedan next to it, so good to go. Got the fuel tank, fuel and brake line bundle and rear brake hoses installed. Also replaced fuel filter. Found the impact wrench trick worked great to undo the banjo bolts, and fortunately none of the nylon lines split. Whew as I didn’t order that spare to have on hand. Decided to have a look inside the tank at the sender and pump, but then couldn’t be bothered when I tried removing the ring (half-hearted effort LOL!) It ran fine so don’t touch it. At least the sender is a bit easier to get to on wagons so if I need to access later, I’ll do it. Amazingly every hole for every clip etc. is there in the 79 body (identical to the 93 body) with the exception of the main fuel pump wiring pass-through grommet hole. On the 93 the hole is larger and in a different place, so I replicated that on the 79 body. Now on to front suspension swap and re-build.

Got a bit more done today. Realised I hadn’t properly seated the rubber grommet around the fuel fill pipe near the tank where it enters the body. That’s going to be a pain to try and access without dropping the tank again, but might have to if I can’t wriggle around from inside and pull it through. Will sleep on that for a day or a year LOL!

Got front suspension and manual rack pulled from wagon, and front struts pulled from donor sedan. Need to clean up the donor parts then put the new Bilstein HDs and Kings springs in. Hopefully the Billies will fit OK. Worked fine in our 93 wagon (the EV) and our 91 wagon, but I have heard some people having trouble fitting them - possibly on cars that have ABS in the states? I know it’s a tight fit in the tubes, and also hard to get much engagement on the gland nut IIRC. Not looking forward to that! Need to pull the PS rack and pump from the sedan, clean it up and replace the LH inner tie rod. RH seems fine but LH has play. Always seems to be the LH one that wears out - maybe because it’s on the edge of the road and more likely to hit potholes and bumps? My experience anyway!

Debating about whether to replace the upper strut mounts. They don’t have any cracking in the rubber and bearings seem OK. Probably just use them as-is. Will be fitting new ball joints and lower control arm bushes, and sway bar end links. Haven’t decided yet what to do about front sway bar. May pull the ipd one off the EV as it probably doesn’t need a big one with it being more rear biased in weight distribution. That would make it a 25 front and 23 rear on the yellow wagon, which I think would work well.

Also thinking about what to do re: wire harness. Will use front end and dash harness, fuse box and engine harness from the 93, but thinking maybe I’ll keep the existing wagon rear body harness. Reason being the sedan doesn’t have the rear wiper or washer circuits and the rear demist harness will be in the wrong place. However I will need the wires for the diff speed sensor. Will pull it all out and have a look. I noticed the wagon has a separate harness in the dash for the rear wiper/washer circuits on the stalk, so that may make my decision easier (i.e. leaning towards keeping wagon rear body harness). Just need to see how it all integrates in the sedan as I haven’t pulled the carpet or dash out yet...that will be next step after I finish up the suspension work.

Keeps me off the streets! ;)