Joe's '84 240

240Joe

Well, I’ve been around a while and love seeing what others are doing with their cars, so it’s time for me to post some of my Volvo story.

As the tale goes I had my dream car back in 2006 which was a 97 V70R. It was great but expensive for me at the time, I soon realized I didn’t have the money to look after it the way it should be looked after. This was mainly because I had NFI how to do anything mechanical at the time.
It was very tidy. :)
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So I decided to get smarter with money, sell the R and buy a cheap get around car.
My requirements for the car were simple, a manual 240 that goes. So I saw a 2 line ad in the local paper (back when they had ads in papers) saying only “84 240 Volvo, man. $1000, Ph...”. I was away for the weekend but the car was near my parent’s house so I took a punt and got them to go and buy it sight unseen. (I had had an 84 manual 240 in the past and loved it, so that helped with the decision.)
Day 1 - 2007
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As the idea was for it to be cheap I soon learnt basic things like how to service it. My older brother helped with everything and had a few ideas for improvement. As he shared ideas I began researching and learning more, this included getting on turbobricks at the time. The idea of the car soon changed from being cheap to being FUN and I slowly started collecting parts.

At first I focused on getting the car as healthy as it could be, and put on a few bits and pieces I’d already collected. We pulled the engine and gear box to freshen up seals, gaskets, belts, etc. and put a M47, lightened flywheel, H cam and adjustable cam gear in at the same time.
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Flywheel before
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After
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This is why you should change/clean your flame trap. Clean out the breather box under it too if you ever have the engine out.
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I had a long lasting problem with the clutch which ended up being that the previous owner had put a Saab pressure plate in instead of a 240 one. Before changing it I went through forks, slave cylinders and slave cylinder rods to try and get it functioning properly – rookie mistake.
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Got some Geminis, Bilstein HDs, lower king springs and 25mm sways.
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Also an original Group A spoiler. The PO had put it on the boot lid a bit far forward but I never got around to moving it.
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It developed a lump so I removed it, drilled a small hole in the bottom and heated it. Most of the lump has gone down but it still needs some work.
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A random dirty pic
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I bought what I was told was an EL falcon front sway bar, but it wasn’t and ended up being too short for the 240, it did this.
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Random night pic
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Put in a short-shifter from Homer on Turbobricks along with some RSI bronze shifter bushes. It made a huge improvement.
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Got some DVS fronts springs, they also made a big difference to the feel and look of the car, I’ll get them for all my 240s …one day.
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The front end had a dodgy repair by the PO so I finally got around to changing it last year. While I was there I did a few other things like relocating the horn, painting the rad support, freshening up the headlights, new panels, flat bonnet, etc.
Before
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During
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After
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More recently I came to the conclusion that I have too many cars that I don’t drive & enjoy enough, and that I have heaps of parts that I’ll never use unless I start breaking things! So I joined a local car club that participates in rallies but also holds regular autocrosses and motorkhanas. At the moment a mate and I are driving in the club events which have been a hoot and we are steadily improving our skills with some OK results. :)

Here are a few pics from the events.
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So far the only damage is to a front spoiler and sump guard when my mate went through a stack of 3 tyres at about 70km/hr, then we split a heater hose a week ago.
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I’m currently working on a steady camera mount to get some good in car footage, I’ll post pics when I’m done.

A_Volvo_Driver

Awesome Joe :) mechanically our cars will be very similar after I organise the work.

Ben

Very nice!

240Joe

I took the 240 out yesterday to the first club Autocross for the year. Autocrosses in my club are usually once a month however the track had been resurfaced over the Christmas break (which is a good thing) and needed some substantial rain to compact the new dirt which was nearly 1m deep in some places. After waiting for the rain it then got too wet to race one month and with the recent warm weather we were ready to go this time.

So yesterday was understandably a bit slippery in some places as we swept the track on the first few runs. This along with being a bit rusty in the skills department meant for a few butt clenching, out of shape moments. By the fourth run I had wiped 10 seconds off my time and began looking competitive, but as you’ll see in the in car footage I still have a large amount of room for improvement.

Here’s some outside the car footage to give an idea of the track layout. This is my mate driving, he's the one responsable for smashing up the sump gaurd above. The good news is I beat him yesterday. :)

This is one of my better runs of the day, however I got a 5 second penalty for hitting the tyres with my rear end when I got out of shape towards the end of the lap.

A_Volvo_Driver

That looks like a lot of fun Joe. You can really see the 'oh shit!' moments during the in-car video :)

240Joe

I have those moments in most runs. :) A mix of the thought of wrecking my car and my competitive nature definitely make me want to drive better though!

Get that manual gearbox in your 240 and come and join us, it's only around the corner and the more the merrier!

YLD244

Nice Bit of driving there Joe!
You running an LSD?

A_Volvo_Driver

240Joe;20356 wroteGet that manual gearbox in your 240 and come and join us, it's only around the corner and the more the merrier!

I'd be hesitant to do that in my daily driver.

240Joe

YLD244;20384 wroteNice Bit of driving there Joe!
You running an LSD?

Cheers Marc. It's still 1WD at the moment but I am hoping to get that sorted before the end of the season. I might need to grow a bigger pair before then though!

A_Volvo_Driver;20385 wrote
240Joe;20356 wroteGet that manual gearbox in your 240 and come and join us, it's only around the corner and the more the merrier!
I'd be hesitant to do that in my daily driver.

That's a good reason to have a spare one. ;P

A_Volvo_Driver

It'll be a reason to keep the Tickford

240Joe

Well, the car is going again and a lot quicker. I'm not entirely sure what has contributed to this but the things I did were; change the alternator, a new coil and new in tank pump. :-?

I also noticed that the main fuel pump is wired to always have power to it, this isn't normal is it??

Here's a video of a motorkhana test today, I really need to learn how to use the handbrake. Heaps of fun! :)

A_Volvo_Driver

Good times