Greg's 79 245GL Barn Find

carnut222 · 2018-07-29T03:42:39+00:00

After cleaning it up, it sat in mum's shed until July 2018, when I finally got it shipped down to Daylesford where we live.

carnut222

Ex850R
If possible get a set of Wūrth drills , I have recently found the boys at work buying from Bunnings and nothing there is any good for steel never mind stainless.........And , he fitter has a BIG box of all sizes in his bench but I think thats our secret......
Wurth stuff isnt that expensive and IS GOOD , its certainly hit and miss with other supposed good brands , Sutton can have good sets. (BTW , a 5" variable speed grinder I got from Wurth is working way better than any other supposed good brands too , I do look after it and its ONLY for my use.....)

Went over to dinner at the neighbour's last night and mentioned I needed a 5/8 drill bit...he had a look this AM and loaned me one so good to go!

carnut222

Got the tow bar tongue all set up and added an extra bolt-on piece of steel to accommodate the safety chains. Ready to go pick up my window flashings when they're completed and going over to the neighbour's this afternoon with the trailer to pick up some used sleepers they no longer want.

Took the car out in the rain the other day for the first time - tried rear wiper and it got stuck mid-sweep on the return sweep. Got out of the car and manually pushed the wiper past centre and it fired up again but was making a clunk-clunk-clunk noise every time it went past centre. Pulled it apart today and found that when I had installed the number plates, I had used about 20 mm long screws and the one in the top RH corner of the plate was fouling on the wiper link rod when it moved past. Cut the screw short and now all sorted. I was glad it wasn't the wiper motor as I had already swapped that out once.

Ex850R

Ha! Lucky!

You have any wheels of Volvo that fit the trailer? Old Holden hubs for the win!

The old farm gates on the trailer are probably worth more to a collector than the whole trailer is worth!!!!

If you consider painting said trailer , grab some Wurth galvanising spray cans ( maybe in tins? ) the cans are so heavy with gal in there it is really Kool!

carnut222

Ex850R
Ha! Lucky!
You have any wheels of Volvo that fit the trailer? Old Holden hubs for the win!
The old farm gates on the trailer are probably worth more to a collector than the whole trailer is worth!!!!
If you consider painting said trailer , grab some Wurth galvanising spray cans ( maybe in tins? ) the cans are so heavy with gal in there it is really Kool!

Yeah this trailer is a relic...inherited from Wayne's dad, and it was pretty old when he bought it. Appears to be made from an old caravan or something as it has wind-down frames at the back. The sides are fairly thick stainless steel...floor is a bit rusty (plain steel)...the rear gate was rusted shut at the hinges and that took a bit of work getting unstuck. Wayne started painting the frame with dark grey anti-rust paint. She's a pretty beat-up old thing but gets the job done. This yellow wagon is the first car I've had with a tow bar so kinda excited! :)

carnut222

PS yes I have some Volvo wheels - I think the stud pattern is the same - but we just put new tyres on the old trailer steelies when we moved Wayne's mum down to Ballan, so it'd be a pain to swap them over now. I'll save my Volvo wheels for my half-cut wagon trailer! :)

Major Ledfoot

Yes, 5x108 wheel stud patterns were also used on HK to HG Holdens, and are very popular on trailers too.

I ended up buying @paul0075's box trailer and its hubs will be converted to 5x108, meaning I then only have to carry a single spare tyre instead of 1 for car,1 for trailer.

Your tale of the rear wiper is a reminder to us all that we need to consider what's behind the panel when using replacement screws - many times, we can get away with it, but not all.

carnut222

Just gave the 245 its first wash. Didn't look that dirty until I washed it LOL! Ready for a drive down to Tyabb tomorrow for meet-up with Volvo Club of Vic members. I bought another set of NOS headlights on eBay this week (SCORE!) so I removed the plastic headlight covers as I hate the way they look. I had only put them on as I was paranoid I'd break a headlight, but now I have a spare set.

Ex850R

There's always the plastic film you can put on, I'd use double thickness.

ramrod

https://www.altrex.com.au/shop/light-skinz-universal-for-glass-headlights-2-x-450mm-x-200mm-x-1-5mm

carnut222

Got up bright and early (for me) to head to the other side of Melb. Shot of the EV and the yellow 245 as I approached the shed with the sun rising behind me. Funny how distorted the camera phone lens is...makes the yellow car look pretty wonky LOL!

I drove from Musk Vale to Moorabbin East...departed around 7:20AM and arrived around 9:35AM...major traffic snarl on the Westgate freeway from the Ring Road over to and through the Burnley Tunnel. Reminds me of why I like living in the country! The reason for the trip was two-fold. 1) Volvo Club of Victoria "Coffee & Chat" morning at the Naked Racer Cafe (and museum) in Cheltenham and 2) to drop the yellow car at Alex Auto Electrical in Moorabbin East (http://www.auto-electrician-melbourne.com/) to get the A/C system evacuated and gassed with R134a. Alex is a great guy - he loved the 245 and said he and his wife had Volvos and his kids learned to drive in them. Alex has done the re-gas on my 91 240 wagon and also the C30 when I had the stone damage to the condenser. Very happy with his work and highly recommended! Hitched a ride from there to the breakfast with John Johnson (Voldat) and Mark Richardson (VP Tuning). Thanks to Mark for getting in a pair of 240 sedan sun visor clips for me and also giving me a yellow 850 Hot Wheels car (I hadn't been able to find one locally).

Had an enjoyable breakfast and chat with fellow club members and the museum is something else. Other than the traffic, it was a good day out. The only minor annoyance with the 245 is the passenger seat rattles when there's no passenger in it - seems to be the backrest. Oh, and the car jumped out of 4th gear twice. Seems to happen when there's no load on the transmission whilst simultaneously hitting a bump. The only thing I can think of is either the rubber gear lever boot is too tight, the engine/trans is out of position due to the HD RHS engine mount, or there's something internal with the transmission (worn gears or synchros or springs or something - could that cause it?)

A couple pics from the museum at the Naked Racer Cafe (https://www.nrmotoco.com/). Good food and coffee and attentive staff. Worth a visit!

Ex850R

carnut222
Got up bright and early (for me) to head to the other side of Melb. Shot of the EV and the yellow 245 as I approached the shed with the sun rising behind me. Funny how distorted the camera phone lens is...makes the yellow car look pretty wonky LOL!
https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/856/KRK5PLYW686I.jpeg
I drove from Musk Vale to Moorabbin East...departed around 7:20AM and arrived around 9:35AM...major traffic snarl on the Westgate freeway from the Ring Road over to and through the Burnley Tunnel. Reminds me of why I like living in the country! The reason for the trip was two-fold. 1) Volvo Club of Victoria "Coffee & Chat" morning at the Naked Racer Cafe (and museum) in Cheltenham and 2) to drop the yellow car at Alex Auto Electrical in Moorabbin East (http://www.auto-electrician-melbourne.com/) to get the A/C system evacuated and gassed with R134a. Alex is a great guy - he loved the 245 and said he and his wife had Volvos and his kids learned to drive in them. Alex has done the re-gas on my 91 240 wagon and also the C30 when I had the stone damage to the condenser. Very happy with his work and highly recommended! Hitched a ride from there to the breakfast with John Johnson (Voldat) and Mark Richardson (VP Tuning). Thanks to Mark for getting in a pair of 240 sedan sun visor clips for me and also giving me a yellow 850 Hot Wheels car (I hadn't been able to find one locally).
https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/360/188EALHR8WS6.jpeg
Had an enjoyable breakfast and chat with fellow club members and the museum is something else. Other than the traffic, it was a good day out. The only minor annoyance with the 245 is the passenger seat rattles when there's no passenger in it - seems to be the backrest. Oh, and the car jumped out of 4th gear twice. Seems to happen when there's no load on the transmission whilst simultaneously hitting a bump. The only thing I can think of is either the rubber gear lever boot is too tight, the engine/trans is out of position due to the HD RHS engine mount, or there's something internal with the transmission (worn gears or synchros or springs or something - could that cause it?)
A couple pics from the museum at the Naked Racer Cafe (https://www.nrmotoco.com/). Good food and coffee and attentive staff. Worth a visit!
https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/352/XQRMUA7NIGGH.jpeg
https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/110/DZWEY9N8CJQR.png

Nice!

Yes,we are avoiding the Ring Road and if possible most other freeways where even the hint of the massive road upgrades all over Melbz is seen,the rail level crossing removal is also a bottleneck but the ones already done are brilliant.

So much more traffic and numpty "drivers" out there too.

Was glad to see two cops on foot at traffic lights nabbing idiots on phones. The fools that sit there at a green light further causing traffic delays.

Roinik

My fridgie mechanic recommends propane in old R12 A/C systems and not 134a. He reckons 134a leaks out through the hoses and seals. Propane is good to -30C, not far off 134a.

carnut222

Roinik
My fridgie mechanic recommends propane in old R12 A/C systems and not 134a. He reckons 134a leaks out through the hoses and seals. Propane is good to -30C, not far off 134a.

Hi Ian...I agree with you if the system was designed for R12 originally, but this car has the 93 240AC system complete that was factory designed and gassed with R134a (the only year the 240 used R134a). I retrofitted my 1800ES to use R134a, but didn't change all the hoses/seals and it does have a slow leak somewhere. Couple years ago I had it gassed with HyChill (propane-based) and that didn't last too long either so time to investigate that system one day. I also have HyChill in my 91 240 wagon - it's worked fine for about 8-10 years, but the compressor does seem to be leaking oil from the front seal (same on my ES, which also has the Sanden rotary compressor). Fun and games!

Ex850R

......and people reckon new ovlovs are too much trouble......

carnut222

Because you can never have too many wagons! :) Note I just used the yellow 245 to move the car trailer in the driveway to unload the 80 wagon (for organ harvesting this afternoon). Didn’t tow the car on the road with the 245 as it would have been a wee bit too heavy LOL!

arebee

You may have gotten away with it 20 years ago (I know I did!). But the tow capacity / tow ball weight these days, not so much..

I once used a manual 240 to tow a 122S on a large car trailer (trailer and car combination mass about 1800 Kg) from Sydney to Ocean Grove in Vic about 15 years ago, I reckon these days you'd probably get nabbed...

carnut222

arebee
You may have gotten away with it 20 years ago (I know I did!). But the tow capacity / tow ball weight these days, not so much..
I once used a manual 240 to tow a 122S on a large car trailer (trailer and car combination mass about 1800 Kg) from Sydney to Ocean Grove in Vic about 15 years ago, I reckon these days you'd probably get nabbed...

Yeah, I wouldn’t want to risk it more for fear of damaging my car due to overloading than getting a fine. Wish I had bought an XC90D5 about 2 years ago...getting too late now as I want to get out of the wrecking cars hobby!!

carnut222

OK, so today I took the beast to the dyno day in Croydon - two hour drive and all I could hear was that damn passenger seat going tick-a tick-a tick-a the whole time, so when I got home I removed and de-trimmed it. Found exactly what I thought it sounded like - a spring came off the upper part of the seatback wire mesh and was dangling down and ticking against the seat frame. Fixed up the seatback mesh and reinstalled spring and trim. Hopefully no more tick-a tick-a tick-a to drive me insane.

Re: the dyno results, the car came in pretty much where I expected it to be. The previous car I had the SC installed on was a B230F (85 kW) and this is a B230FX (100 kW). Previous car was about 50 kW with SC switched off, and 70 kW with it switched on. This car about 60 kW with SC off, and about 80 kW with SC on. There were a couple 240 turbos there in the 112-125 kW range, so I’m looking forward to my next project (91 240 wagon with B230FT). Another ~50% power boost will feel nice! :)

carnut222

EDIT - this was sitting in my drafts - from a couple weeks ago! Problem turned out to be a poor connection on the ECU coolant temp sensor causing the car to flood. When I checked the temp sensor resistance value back at the ECU, it was way off...jiggled connector and it "came good"...jiggled again and it was off. Anyway, a zip tie to hold the connector pre-loaded a bit seems to have cured it for now! Car is back home safely tucked away with the ES.

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Well, the car let us down this week. Wayne was taking it down to his mum’s and it wouldn’t start, so I reached my hand up behind the glove box and fiddled with the fuel pump relay and it finally started (coincidentally I believe)...he made it down there and the car sat for a couple hours (ran fine on the trip). Then I get a call “car won’t start” to which I replied “time to buy a Tesla”...anyway, next day we drove down and I did some troubleshooting. First pulled the codes (LH2.4) and got only one - 2-3-2 “Fuel trim (lambda control) too lean or too rich at idle fuel mix out of spec rich/lean at idle”. I tried to start it and on the first crank it fired up but then died almost immediately. Tried cranking again and nothing. Strong petrol smell out the tailpipe, so I pulled the plugs and they were wet with fuel. I pulled the fuel injection/pump fuses and cranked it a bit with no plugs and we let it sit for a bit, and dried plugs. Reinstalled everything and finally got it started but ran very rough until it finally cleared. Oil smells a bit of petrol as well so time for oil change. The car drove home fine. Just thinking what it might be, and my plan is:

1) check ECU coolant temp resistance at ECU...note it is a new temp sensor so odd that would fail.

2) check fuel pressure. Vintage 1993 B230FX fuel pressure regulator; no fuel coming out vacuum/boost reference hose.

3) wondering whether the injectors I used are too high flow rate, causing flooding at low ambient temp? Note they’re only a tad higher flow rate than the original B230FT injectors that would have been used with these turbo ECU/EZKs.

4) swap spark plugs out for a set of NGK BPR7ES that my dad sent over. I think the original plugs should be BPR6ES...but the 7 may be OK for testing? The plugs I have in there are NGK Iridium...you’d think they would be OK. New cap, rotor and plug wires when I did the rebuild FWIW.

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carnut222

It’s been a while since I gave an update...the poor petrol cars have been relegated to the shed since we got the new EV. We have an issue with the shark fin antenna in the new car not being properly sealed (in for warranty repairs today), so the other week when we had the monsoon rains and “floods” we took the 245 down to Wayne’s mum’s house to clean out the water in her garage. It bucketed down on the drive down there and while we were there. When we got home there was quite a bit of water on the driver’s floor tray mat. I did some investigation and discovered a poorly-sealed joint in the lower driver’s door hinge pillar. I think this must have been leaking from day dot as the car had a bit of crusty rust in the driver’s floor pan area. Anyway, I checked out my cut-up 91 body shell to see what it’s supposed to look like and bought some marine polyurethane sealer and fixed it up. Note the rusty-coloured stuff in the pic below is cavity wax spray that I had sprayed in there when I originally did this build. Put it all back together again and hopefully won’t see the issue again. It does look like a rather poor design as it’s a reverse-shingle joint. I think it has inter-weld sealer but I suppose if that’s not properly applied (ask me how I know - I worked on “Australia’s own” cars) it can lead to water leaks and rust.

We plan to take this car to Broken Hill and Adelaide for the Easter SA Cruise (assuming it doesn’t get COVID-cancelled!) so it’s nice to continue with the shakedown runs! :)

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