the real 240

[Parry]

Originally posted by Emagdnim
I worked in a shop that specializes in Volvos and saabs for 2 years and would just like to share some of my experience with them. They aren't the easiest to work on( The sweedish like to do things backwards). Parts can be expensive depending on where you get them from. Shops that work on them are few and far between. There is some aftermarket support but not much.

Eh...volvos to me are no more foriegn than Volkswagens, which I wouldn't consider hard to fix. Having worked on my and my family's Volvos and VW's, they're easier for me then Toyota or Nissan. Once you get the hang of it neither of them are very complicated.

There's more aftermarket support then I thought at first. I had the same fear, but it seems you just need to know where to look or who to ask. Unfortunately, I don't yet, but from what I can see there's no shortage. A lot of it's across the pond, so you'll get boned on shipping.

I've driven my old man's '88 5 speed 240 wagon many times, but I'd never pushed it at all seeing how it wasn't my car. I borrowed it last night and worked it through a few corners, and it's really not too bad. The crippling factors are the apparent lack (although they're on there, the freakin things must be made out of spaghetti) swaybars, and the overly soft suspension. It doesn't help at all that the car has 296,000 on it I'm sure.(and still runs great! All those miles and it doesn't burn oil and still has a little go.) Volvo steering is fairly well weighted and linear, and even with the stock suspension it tracks through the corners fairly well. I didn't push to the absolute limit, again it's not my car, so I can't really say much about that but within traction it's pretty predictable.

Braking is dominating. Everything in our car is OEM in good running order, and when you stomp the brake pedal it feels like you just ran into an invisible wall. Pedal feel is solid and direct. The car really overachieves here. Volvos have had 4 wheel disk brakes from the factory for ages...I just aksed my old man, and he thought about it and said "well....my '67 144 had four wheel disks. That's about when they started..."

Surprisingly, they only weigh about 3200 pounds depending on model, right about the same as a camaro. They feel as solid as a vault, and as everyone knows they crash well. Weight distribution is aprox. 56/44, actually better then a Camaro.

Now, there is bad news. Like I said, you HAVE to do swaybars and suspension, or else you're not gonna be getting far. I would grab pretty much every other brace I could get my hands on and try to keep things in a line. The other is that they're not exactly horsepower monsters in stock form, but that can be addressed. Limited slip was available in some cars, as a realitively expensive factory-installed option. Limited slip setups are available aftermarket though.

Another beef, although it may just be me, is the height of the pedals. They're fine for normal driving, and the left-right orientation is good, but I wish the brake was a little lower. You have to squirm around a little more then I like to heel toe, because even when you have all four wheels locked the brake is barely even with the gas. Really I suppose that's due to how good the brakes are(there's virtually no slop), but it would be nice if you could adjust the pedal height to bring it down a little bit and facilitate heel-toe. For all I know you probably can, but I haven't tried soooo.

Although the general quality of the interior isn't bad, and the seats are fairly comfortable, they are ill-suited to spirited driving. YOu can probably retrofit some from a newer model, as they got more side bolstering later on and such. Aftermarket seats are also an option. None of them seem to have tachs either, a real peeve. You could probably make due with one on the steering column if you didn't want to look like a hoser by mounting it on the dash. I'm sure there are also ones floating around with factory tachs you could swap the guage cluster out of.

As far as performance goes, it's possible to pull 160-170 horse out of the 2.3, still normally aspirated. Apparently, all you really need to do this is headwork and a cam. Also, turbocharging is retardedly easy due to all the factory turbo cars Volvo made. You can swap those setups over, and everything bolts right up. The motors are absolutely bombproof, and good for a fair amount of boost and rpm. The weak link is really the transmission, which doesn't take all too well to repeated long term rape. Volvo bellhousings for 5.0 Mustang transmissions can be had, and apparnetly it's not an overly complicated swap. With one of those in place, you're pretty much good to go. With limited slip you can't get enough tire under the rear to shock the diff into giving up, so apparently that's not a problem.

Anyway, that's more or less the story. That was waaaay long. As you can see, I had a lazy saturday reading up and driving these cars. Reading and test driving, not a bad summer saturday

[Vinsanity]

yeah under the hood does look ridiculously simple, but damn if you ever need to buy replacement parts. I would highly recommend getting a good parts car. with prices of European car parts being what they are, I would imagine a parts car would more than pay for itself in time

[Parry]

there is plenty of parts in the junkyard, and you can find parts and donor cars pretty easily.

At least around here. Lots of Volvos up this way...

[05m0515]

actually theres lots of volvos everywhere. here in washington theres a couple of all volvo/saab junkyards, so parts aint nothin...

[Emagdnim]

Its not that there hard to understand. Its that alot of things are difficult to get at. Some bolts seem almost impossible to fit a wrench on. Or at least thats what I remeber, it has been awhile since I've been under the hood of one.

[Parry]

Originally posted by Emagdnim
Its not that there hard to understand. Its that alot of things are difficult to get at. Some bolts seem almost impossible to fit a wrench on. Or at least thats what I remeber, it has been awhile since I've been under the hood of one.

Perhaps. I know some jobs are kinda annoying, but the stuff I've done hasn't been bad. Then again, I drive a Volkswagen, so perhaps my definition of "bad" is a little worse then average The 240's easier then the later transverse-mounted FWD volvos...much more room around the motor. Perhaps you worked on one of those?

[twcfc3s]

some people had tell me that those engines arent that complicated...

[Emagdnim]

Originally posted by Parry
Perhaps. I know some jobs are kinda annoying, but the stuff I've done hasn't been bad. Then again, I drive a Volkswagen, so perhaps my definition of "bad" is a little worse then average The 240's easier then the later transverse-mounted FWD volvos...much more room around the motor. Perhaps you worked on one of those?

yep the transverse engines were harder to work on. The absolute worst though would have to be the older backwards mounted saabs. They used to get oil leaks at the crank pulley, which was up aganist the firewall. So you had like 1.5 to 2 inchs of room to work. I don't have to tell ya they were a nightmare to work on. Not to bad mouth Saab(my parents buy nothing but saabs) they are just as reliable as Volvo's there just a *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored* if somthing does go wrong(usually from owner neglect).

[Parry]

lol I know jack about saabs, and I've sorta always felt I wanted to keep it that way .