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Duder's Beige Brick - ARUNDL - 1981 242 DL +B230FT

I got the metal ready for painting with POR-15 "Metal Ready" (go figure). I'm not sure if this is phosphoric acid or something else, but it neutralizes any remaining rust and turns it into a black-oxide-like substance. Paint was the Master Series moisture curing urethane that I used in the sunroof tray. I like this stuff; it's nice and thick and levels out well so applying with a $0.69 foam brush is no problem.


Rust_12 by Chris Floren, on Flickr


Three coats of rust preventive paint for now, color matching later.


Rust_13 by Chris Floren, on Flickr


Final results are promising. There were several other pitted areas on the flange but nothing else rusted through, so these were all ground, sanded, prepped and painted like the main trouble spot. The big strip on the passenger side is all that will be visible with the new windshield installed.

I'm going to upgrade to the later flush-style windshield seal to prevent future crud buildup, and get new glass to spoil myself a bit. That, and the original glass broke upon removal.

The old tenacious black sealant goo was cleaned out of the rest of the frame with "Goo Gone," paper towels, and a tongue depressor that I cut at an angle to make a scraping tool.

Next up: dash replacement.
Status: in progress.


Rust_14 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
 
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Nicely done. Is there a tutorial in the threads anywhere about upgrading to the later model flush mount windshield? I'd like to make that move for mine. Time to search I suppose...
 
amazing job, well from waht i know.. and i do know that you spent hours sanding :(

Nicely done. Is there a tutorial in the threads anywhere about upgrading to the later model flush mount windshield? I'd like to make that move for mine. Time to search I suppose...


Thanks; it was a good deal of work. I started last month, working on it nights & weekends and just got the final coat of paint on a few days ago. Slow and steady paid off for this project.

As for the late model 240 flush windshield, Redwood Chair installed one in his '82 wagon and has detailed postings showing all the steps. Start at post #545, and keep reading onto the next page: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=198069&page=22

I'm planning on calling around to various mobile glass shops to see who has the nice OE-quality Pilkington glass. I'll let the pros do the install while I watch & learn.
 
I should add that the new style windshield will install in the older cars with no problem. The steel frame didn't change enough through the years to make a difference apparently. Hooray for Volvo stubbornness! :-D
 
I've also heard that the new windshield 'footprint' is larger than the old one which means that there shouldn't be any areas that were previously covered under trim that would be exposed after the move to the newer windshield. But -- not sure about that - hopefully the thread referenced above will address that.

Suppose if I were going to add some dynamat/generic sound deadener to the roof - the time to do it would be with the windshield out - so I could take the headliner out through the front glass opening.
 
I've also heard that the new windshield 'footprint' is larger than the old one which means that there shouldn't be any areas that were previously covered under trim that would be exposed after the move to the newer windshield. But -- not sure about that - hopefully the thread referenced above will address that.

I believe that's correct - I know the new style seal is thinner, but to me it looks like they overlap the body by approximately the same amount as the old style seal when installed. Some of the black gooey sealant and other crusty stuff is still stuck on my car around the windshield frame so if it shows with the new glass & seal installed, I'll just need to use a little more elbow grease getting it off.

Suppose if I were going to add some dynamat/generic sound deadener to the roof - the time to do it would be with the windshield out - so I could take the headliner out through the front glass opening.

Yup, that would be a perfect time. I popped out the rear glass for my headliner replacement, which was easy to do. I would've waited until now to do the headliner if I would have known I'd be pulling the windshield though. Should work fine either way. I suppose you could also just drop the headliner down into the cabin and work around it, if you don't want to remove any glass to install your dynamat.
 
A few weeks ago I bought a gorgeous brown dash from Dave Barton, with no cracks and very little fading. Decided to splurge a bit since having the windshield out was the perfect time to do a dash swap for easy access.

The typical Volvo wiring spaghetti mess was obvious once I pulled the old dash out:


Dash_during by Chris Floren, on Flickr

So I did a bit of cleanup, re-routing some wires and vacuum hoses and zip-tying everything together that I could in order to reduce rattling noises while driving. The zip-tied wire pictures are more boring than a bag of rocks so I won't share them here.

Once the new dash was in I called around to various mobile glass distributors until I found one with access to the OE-quality Pilkington glass, so I went with that since it was only $20 more than the cheap stuff.

Getting the pinch-weld / flange ready for glass installation with a final cleaning:


Dash_in_before_windshield by Chris Floren, on Flickr

(the old black gooey butyl tape is the stickiest stuff I have worked with in a while and didn't come off without a fight)

Mr. Glass Man painted the pinch weld and the inside edge of the glass with fast-drying primer, squirted a bead of urethane windo-weld with his nifty electric caulking gun, and set the glass in place.


Primed_and_gooped by Chris Floren, on Flickr


One-man operation:


One-man_install by Chris Floren, on Flickr

This guy said he has been installing glass since the year I was born. He did a good job.


Viola.


windshield_installed by Chris Floren, on Flickr


Back to the dash swap... for comparative purposes here's a "before" shot of the original dash, formerly brown, cracked, painted black with a blue glove box:


Dash_before by Chris Floren, on Flickr


Aaaand...here's the spanking-new (looking) awesome crack-free brown dash installed with matching glovebox. Also please note the matching center console & kick panels that I found in the junkyard a few months ago, and the inside of the new windshield:


Dash_after by Chris Floren, on Flickr


My reversion back to nice brown-interiored beige sleeper mobile is almost complete. Mwa ha haaaa...
 
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Thanks - I'm happy with the way the dash & windshield turned out. Really ties the car together. I ordered some touch up paint in the "Artesia Beige" code which I'll use to finish over the silver primer that shows at the bottom corner of the windshield frame.

The later flush-mount rubber seal ends up overlapping the body by almost exactly the same amount as the earlier seal did. There are only a few small spots where rubbing/grooves from the old seal are showing on the paint.

The Beige abides.
 
Small update with a few pictures. The 242 is seeing daily driver duty right now while I rebuild my pickup. I installed an older Blaupunkt head unit in the lower spot, and two late model 240 door speakers with the black plastic shells and steel perf grating (HT-204 I think) after spotting some in the junkyard. Mainly just an experiment but it gives me tunes for now and the housings should easily accept better speakers down the road.

Went to Davis and had a great time at the autox and the show, despite the rain/cold/hail. Had dinner & beers at Sudwerk on Saturday night but somehow missed all the other tbrickers that were there at the same time.


Recent picture of the beige barge, after the cowl rust repair and new windshield:


05-26-11_3a by Chris Floren, on Flickr


Oh yeah, I also scored an awesome set of 5-panel taillights in the junkyard. They have '78 date codes but look brand new; no fading at all. The reverse lenses are nice and clear, and the rubber gaskets are still fresh. They must have been recently installed, because the donor car wasn't that nice. 60 bucks!


05-26-11_4 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
 
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Also thought I'd steal some pics from the Davis autox thread just to keep them here in case they go down at some point. These are not mine, just re-posted.







Obviously, I have done nothing to the suspension recently.


Apparently I hit 5 cones on one run, which was a 1:19. I think my best overall counting cones was 1:21 +1.



There it is!













This one's mine:


IMG_2466 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
 
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Non-eventful update on this car, only since it has been so long since I've posted anything:

It's still performing daily driver duties as I rebuild my Toyota pickup. The Volvo has been ultra reliable for such a high-mileage car that had been neglected for at least 10 years. Clutch is very close to the end of its life though; very shudder-y on takeoff. Usually a quick clutch dump at just above idle speed will engage it without any drama. Still jumps out of 3rd gear sometimes but I haven't replaced the trans mount and won't, until I do the driveline swap.

Removed the rear muffler since the tubing at the bend just before it had almost completely rusted out, giving me a free 16 lb weight loss in the rear and a nicer throaty exhaust note. It's loud enough to hear but not excessive. Makes me wonder why it was there at all.

Passed smog a few weeks ago with no drama. HC's were higher than average and NOx were lower than average, making me think it's running a bit rich. Also the burbling and popping from the exhaust on overrun between shifts could be explained by a fat mixture. It's not spewing unburned fuel or anything so I'm leaving it as-is. I probably won't bother with a wideband O2 sensor until after it's up and running with the B230FT.

Before the engine swap though I need to get some baseline numbers: weight, 0-60 times, braking distances, skidpad speed, and so on. Basically the stuff I posted on the first page of this thread. I want to get a real quantitative value of the major improvements I make to the car which requires some initial data...no matter how laughable that data will be.
 
Apparently I have too many projects. 7 personal cars, a Lemons car, and 5 motorcycles will do that to a guy. You could call it automotive ADD.

My pickup is done and running great. Our E36 Lemons car took months of my free time and now I don't want to even touch it for another year (even though it is incredible to drive; late braking passes after apexes were way too easy and fun with 275 RT-615Ks). A micro-turbo Honda bike project is on the front burner at the moment, but might be pushed aside in favor of the 242 very soon.

And speaking of the 242, I just ordered a ton of parts to finally do the suspension on this thing. I'm going to upgrade in stages with baseline testing, then re-testing after every phase of upgrades. It would be easier to go all in and do coilovers immediately but I'd like to compare & contrast. And of course I'll do writeups along the way.

As you can see by the pics I posted above from the '11 Davis Autox, anything would be an improvement!
 
It's all good - I need a reminder to get back to this project every once in a while.

Thanks for the compliments on the truck. It runs way better than any carbureted 22R has the right to. Like magically going back in time to 1986. Pulls really well considering it's not broken in yet and even though it's now running 31s.

Grand unveiling::spin:

EB324E64-65E8-43A6-A631-3D9E5CB6ADCE.JPG
 
I've had a set of light, forged 5zigen GN+ wheels for sale for a while, but no takers yet. So I finally decided to do a test on the 242. The wheels are 17x7.5, 5x100, et+48 with 235s on them currently. Thinking of getting some adapters made up if they don't sell soon.

Thoughts? Opinions? Unending ridicule? Feel free to let me know...this is just a quick photoshop to lower the car since I had it jacked up to prop the wheels under it.


242_with_5zigen_GN+ by Chris Floren, on Flickr

I kinda like 'em. The matte bronze color works ok with the beige, and the spoke style is just square and chunky enough to compliment the 242.
 
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