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The 2 Door that Could

OldCarNewTricks

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Location
Oregon
Hello,

Here's my "finally" project thread. I decided after much thought to keep my 242 and truck and enjoy them separately instead of trading both in for a wagon.

The story with my 242 is that I bought it back in 2016, and it was my first project car. The PO taught me little bits like brake service, and even allowed me to ruin the car by painting it flat black in his shop! He had owned this car for a good long time, and during his ownership, someone rammed into the side of the passenger quarter panel while he was parked. After owning it for awhile, I had an accident in my apartment parking lot where my accelerator got stuck and I rammed into a chain link fence. Little damage happened, but after that I decided to get a different vehicle. My friend used it for some time, but it spent most of the next few years sitting, until I purchased it back earlier this year.

It wasn't running when I bought it, and I had to do several hours of troubleshooting which eventually led me to opening up the ECM case and finding that the resistor that powers the injectors was shattered. There was also moisture in the case, which was likely what caused something to happen to that resistor. I drove it home from the field where it sat, and it is now sitting in my garage.

During my friend's ownership, he "gave" the car to his sister's boyfriend. During that guy's ownership, he was having issues with the transmission slipping. (AW71) He ran trans fix in it, as well as trying a filter change, etc. The actual issue is that it was leaking atf, and instead of repairing the leakage properly, the "fixes" he attempted only made it worse. I ended up pulling out the engine, replacing most of the seals and gaskets, and I also replaced the AW71 with an AW70. The M cam was swapped for an A cam, with an adjustable STS pulley advanced +4 degrees. The engine and trans are now working well.

I haven't driven it much at all since I did all that. The front wheel bearings have an incredible amount of play, and the brakes need serviced on all four corners.

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/lMOFAKj" ><a href="//imgur.com/a/lMOFAKj">242 Paint</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
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Suspension Disassembly Begins

After finally getting the space around my Volvo in the garage organized in a way I can work on it in there, I disassembled the suspension on the first corner of the car (passenger front).

Photos: https://imgur.com/a/DrgdwoA

What I found is pretty normal for a car of this age. The large control arm bushing center is actually mostly seperated from the rubber. The smaller one is destroyed. I'm not yet set up to do the smaller ones, as I still need to go to Harbor Freight and get a shop press for that.

Moving on to the strut assembly, I completely forgot that the P/O had actually cut the front springs, which explains the poor ride quality. Add to that the stock Volvo strut inserts I found in there, it leaves so much opportunity for improvement.

Brake pads wore well and pretty evenly, so this caliper is good for another brake job. Both the front hubs need attention, as they both have excessive play.

Finally, check out the photo of the chopped spring in comparison to the springs from Nordicar!
 
It makes a mess, but you can burn out the rubber on the small ones and then cut through the shell with a hacksow until you can punch/chisel it out.

The Harbor Freight presses don't always get those bushing out as it is. The small bushings on the front CA's and the rear trailing arms are the worst bushings on the whole car. Poly replacements for the fron are recommended for the ease of installation. The rear TA's you kinda want the stock rubber though. That position tends to eat poly, and anything but stock will cause excessive NVH. I'm doing stock rubber on the chassis side and sphericals on the axle side in the rear.

Stock (Volvo) rubber is pretty good though. Especially if it's a cruiser/daily.
 
After finally getting the space around my Volvo in the garage organized in a way I can work on it in there, I disassembled the suspension on the first corner of the car (passenger front).

Photos: https://imgur.com/a/DrgdwoA

What I found is pretty normal for a car of this age. The large control arm bushing center is actually mostly seperated from the rubber. The smaller one is destroyed. I'm not yet set up to do the smaller ones, as I still need to go to Harbor Freight and get a shop press for that.

Moving on to the strut assembly, I completely forgot that the P/O had actually cut the front springs, which explains the poor ride quality. Add to that the stock Volvo strut inserts I found in there, it leaves so much opportunity for improvement.

Brake pads wore well and pretty evenly, so this caliper is good for another brake job. Both the front hubs need attention, as they both have excessive play.

Finally, check out the photo of the chopped spring in comparison to the springs from Nordicar!

Buy the rubber bushings and have a shop remove and install bushings. Just take them control arms and bushings.
 
This is actually a better solution. It takes a real press to do it.

My go to welders who are also machinists happen to have a 50 ton press. I'm trying to acquire the factory drift tools but it's proven difficult. A local showed me the tools he's acquired and reproducing the tools won't be hard. Most people prefer rubber. I like poly but rubber gives you a softer ride for sure.
 
Poly in the front is fine. It's what I'm running and it doesn't make a huge difference in NVH. It is noticably stiffer though.

Poly in the rear trailing arm is questionable. More than a few people have lunched poly bushes in that position, and poly in the rear part of the rear trailing arm is just a bad idea. That joint needs to flex more than poly allows.
 
I was going to go for one of the 20 ton presses. Is that not enough? I guess I could give it a try, and if it doesn't work, my work place has a big boy press.
 
They've been known to defeat 20 ton presses. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Fixturing is the hardest part. There's not a lot of flat area there to press against without bending the control arm.
 
They've been known to defeat 20 ton presses. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Fixturing is the hardest part. There's not a lot of flat area there to press against without bending the control arm.

This is true. Has anyone tried using a ball joint press (c clamp)?
 
Finished the work on the passenger side front today. New rotors and pads, caliper looks fine, pads wore with less than .5mm difference, GT spring, Billy B4 strut, new hoses, bushings and hub recieved new bearings and seal.

Purchased a 20t press from HF today, it actually pressed out the small front control arm bushing with ease. Of course, it helps that I have some old Proto sockets that happen to be just about perfect as press accessories.

https://imgur.com/a/KvjY22n
 
Finished the work on the passenger side front today. New rotors and pads, caliper looks fine, pads wore with less than .5mm difference, GT spring, Billy B4 strut, new hoses, bushings and hub recieved new bearings and seal.

Purchased a 20t press from HF today, it actually pressed out the small front control arm bushing with ease. Of course, it helps that I have some old Proto sockets that happen to be just about perfect as press accessories.

https://imgur.com/a/KvjY22n

I could never get my press to actually move the bushing out. Are you going poly? I recently went to a shop to install bushings on new control arms. It did not go well. The bushings were mangled. I'm trying to source the original Volvo tools to be able to do it correctly.
 
I could never get my press to actually move the bushing out. Are you going poly? I recently went to a shop to install bushings on new control arms. It did not go well. The bushings were mangled. I'm trying to source the original Volvo tools to be able to do it correctly.

Maybe it's just because there's so little rust on this car? Well, aside from the quarter panel I need to replace. I am using rubber bushings. My socket did make a deep impression in the rubber during install, but I don't think it should cause any issues? The special tools would be pretty neat!
 
Getting the Volvo bushing tools cost me a lot of green. But it was well worth the money. Be aware Volvo never made a receiver tool for the rear upper torque arm bushing. They made only the drift. I had one made at a local machine shop. For the front control arm bushings there is a drift and receiver for each bushing. I don't know the part numbers anymore but I can get them if you need.
 
Today I started working on drilling out spot welds on the rear passenger quarter panel. It's definitely my least favorite thing to do. Even with a strip wheel, the spot welds are difficult to detect. I also have a good quality Blair spot weld cutter kit, but it's still slow work. If anyone has any tips, I'd be glad to hear.

https://imgur.com/a/lJScjCK

I also took my Virgo wheels/tires and got a Les Schwab to swap them over to my Adharas. On the way home, my wife and I heard a huge *BANG*. Got home, looked under my bed cover... one of the tires had blown out in the back of my truck :omg: they must have destroyed the bead during removal. Not thrilled. :-(

https://imgur.com/a/MfzOELa
 
Today I started working on drilling out spot welds on the rear passenger quarter panel. It's definitely my least favorite thing to do. Even with a strip wheel, the spot welds are difficult to detect. I also have a good quality Blair spot weld cutter kit, but it's still slow work. If anyone has any tips, I'd be glad to hear.

A mini belt sander is my preferred tool for grinding spot welds. You don't have to be perfectly accurate and you're less likely to damage the pinchweld. You can get them from HF but a decent astro one is only $150 or so

If you're set in drilling, I'd recommend Norseman spot-weld bits. It also helps to lightly use a 3 inch grinder on the pinch weld, it will reveal the low spots where the spot welds are. Get a good chisel to pop them loose. I use the steck seam buster or Mayhew's weld dominator
 
A mini belt sander is my preferred tool for grinding spot welds. You don't have to be perfectly accurate and you're less likely to damage the pinchweld. You can get them from HF but a decent astro one is only $150 or so

If you're set in drilling, I'd recommend Norseman spot-weld bits. It also helps to lightly use a 3 inch grinder on the pinch weld, it will reveal the low spots where the spot welds are. Get a good chisel to pop them loose. I use the steck seam buster or Mayhew's weld dominator

If I planned to do more than just this panel, I would invest in a mini belt sander. I may try the mini flap disk in my off brand dremel kit. That may give me a bit more control. The issue with the 3M drill strip disk is the lack of precise control. Too bulky I think.

I purchased a Lisle spot weld chisel. I'll give that a try.

I really like Mayhew products. I actually have one of their dominator rust and scale chisels.
 
Today I started working on drilling out spot welds on the rear passenger quarter panel. It's definitely my least favorite thing to do. Even with a strip wheel, the spot welds are difficult to detect. I also have a good quality Blair spot weld cutter kit, but it's still slow work. If anyone has any tips, I'd be glad to hear.

https://imgur.com/a/lJScjCK

I also took my Virgo wheels/tires and got a Les Schwab to swap them over to my Adharas. On the way home, my wife and I heard a huge *BANG*. Got home, looked under my bed cover... one of the tires had blown out in the back of my truck :omg: they must have destroyed the bead during removal. Not thrilled. :-(

https://imgur.com/a/MfzOELa

Guess they didn't know to mount / dismount Virgos upside down on the rim clamp and pulled the bead?
 
Guess they didn't know to mount / dismount Virgos upside down on the rim clamp and pulled the bead?

It would seem so. The asst. manager pulled the tire and found that they had torn the bead. My tires were Goodyear Ecopias with ~8/32" tread, so basically new. They are replacing the trashed one, and dismounting the other three to check for similar damages.
 
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