Elegant and well sliding brick for Finnish winter - Volvo 240 '86

R.A.

R.A.

Active Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2014
Messages
106
Location
Finland
Car(s)
Toyota Supra MKIV TT 6spd 1994
After selling BMW E30 316i at the beginning of 2017 I sort of decided that i wouldn't get any cars from '80s. 11 months later I realised that Finnmeet 2018 is very soon and I (/we) need a car for that. Initial thought was to get an AWD/4WD vehicle but then I remembered what I've wanted to have for a long time: Volvo 240.

At the time I found only one suitable car: re-built engine with stronger rods, Spartan-locker LSD and didn't look too bad in pictures. This is how it looked.

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I was pretty hangover that day, so I test drove it and after all seemed to be pretty much working I was just like "yeesyees, it's excellent" and gave my money away.

Well, of course it wasn't completely mint. Alternator voltage regulator was done in couple days and few weeks later I realised that front brake parts were completely done, right front wheel bearing was making noise and left lower control arm rear bushing was cracked. So it was time to get hands dirty:

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Some slighlty worn out parts :D

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And some new parts. Naturally, I couldn't stop myself painting those new brake calipers with gold paint.

After some garage time it was ready for Finnmeet:

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(Will add proof picture as soon as I remember to take it!)
 
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I didn't realize this was a new addition to the FinalGear garage. Excellent and slightly terrifying car!
 
When we went to fetch this, I just thought "OK..." and gladly drove ahead in my Renault. Only after Finnmeat I really started to respect the Volvo as it did a 1500 km road trip and ~100ish km on ice driven by many people and it didn't use a single drop of anything but gasoline and washer fluid. It needs to be told what to do, literally, then it's a blast to hoon around :D It even has a removable rear exhaust pipe ;)

A better synchronized gear box with five gears forwards is a very needed upgrade. Other than that, it only needs the "huoranportaat" on the back window and plenty of driving.
 
To be honest, for the first few weeks I was thinking that why in the world did I buy this thing. I was already planning that as soon as Finnmeet is done this car goes away no matter what :D

Eventually, as I drove it and thought it more, I slowly started to realize the potential it has. And actually, after some snow fell from the sky and first slides were done, I was sold. Finnmeet just clarified this even more!

So I guess this will be kept for a while at least. Because, like Posmo put it together: it has all the cliches (only missing ”hookerladders” as Polkky already mentioned) , it’s very easy to make even better and most of all it’s just awesome sliding machine.
 
I still need a test drive at some point. Never driven a rwd Volvo and I was too busy during the icetrackmeet to drive anything else but few laps in my own cars.. :D
 
You’ll get to test drive it, I promise!
 
Cool to see another 240 on the forum. 1986... You got the facelift then and use the same body parts as mine. Tho it's pre-1987 so it's not galvanized.
Fun cars though, especially on snow :p But can be hard to hill start as they're not that heavy in the ass, so if ya ain't got good tires ya might struggle a little bit.
What engine though? it's a '86... so is it carbed? I know ya could get the B200K in '86, my first car, a '85 244DL had one. :p
Or is it a 2.3?

I got one too, but mine's a wagon... and it's a '93, so I even got airbag :p .
ZCX0XLD.jpg
 
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This one is with B200K and sone Weber carburator. Engine was built by previous owner. He installed stronger rods and lowered head almost 2mm if I recall right.
But I’m quite tempted to swap B230FT/FK in it... :D maybe for next winter if Supra doesn’t burn all of my money during summer.

it is awesome on snow! That is partly because of the LSD which previous owner also installed. To my surprise Linglong studs have offered plenty of grip, but it’s also very easy to get decent powerslides done.

Your wagon looks very nice! :)
 
The rear side window on that wagon is like four times bigger than on my car, and I’m fairly sure they’re the same size ish bumper to bumper.

It’s like an optical illlusion.
 
R.A.;n3545680 said:
This one is with B200K and sone Weber carburator. Engine was built by previous owner. He installed stronger rods and lowered head almost 2mm if I recall right.
But I’m quite tempted to swap B230FT/FK in it... :D maybe for next winter if Supra doesn’t burn all of my money during summer.

it is awesome on snow! That is partly because of the LSD which previous owner also installed. To my surprise Linglong studs have offered plenty of grip, but it’s also very easy to get decent powerslides done.

Your wagon looks very nice! :)
Click to expand...

I kinda have a weak spot for the B200K, as my first car had one. :p
Though I didn't have the luxury of a weber carb, instead I had the intake and carb from a B21, as the stock carb on the B200K is garbage.
In addition mine had been converted from automatic to manual with a M45 gearbox, aka 4 speed manual, gearing in rear axle still for the auto though, so the car accelerated really well for only like 101hp, but low top speed of 170km/h :p
Also sounded like a rally car, where something, I think maybe unburnt fuel or something, was igniting in the exhaust or something, because when I let off the gas after accelerating, it was popping angrily, people thought i'd tuned the thing :p

If you're going for that swap, You might have to also swap the wiring harness for the engine and such, I think those old ones are LH2.2, while newer ones are LH2.4
Some info here: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=84817&highlight=chips
 
Yeah, this one was also with automatic gearbox originally. Now it has the same M45 4-speed gearbox, though I also got M47 gearbox and driveshaft with the car.

Friend of mine is sort of Volvo-specialist, so he immediately informed me about wiring harness etc. He also had plenty of ideas what to do with the car :D

But so far it serves the purpose well as it is. Everyone who drove it on icetrack-meet were just telling how fun it was to drive.

For a 32 year old car it survived icetrack-meet surprisingly well: Approximately 1600km in total and it only needed fuel. And on the icetrack gas pedal was on the floor about 3/4 of the time :D
 
R.A.;n3545793 said:
Yeah, this one was also with automatic gearbox originally. Now it has the same M45 4-speed gearbox, though I also got M47 gearbox and driveshaft with the car.

Friend of mine is sort of Volvo-specialist, so he immediately informed me about wiring harness etc. He also had plenty of ideas what to do with the car :D

But so far it serves the purpose well as it is. Everyone who drove it on icetrack-meet were just telling how fun it was to drive.

For a 32 year old car it survived icetrack-meet surprisingly well: Approximately 1600km in total and it only needed fuel. And on the icetrack gas pedal was on the floor about 3/4 of the time :D
Click to expand...

They are fun to drive, the '85 I had was great fun, I kinda miss it, the '93 model I got now has real long gearing, feels sluggish compared to the old B200K one, and it's got a B230F. :p

But with a locking diff, they are incredibly controllable, I got to test drive one and even just in the wet you could drift it as easily as driving straight forward.
So I bet people liked yours if yours has a LSD or welded diff :p
 
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