I never found the old single rate ipd overloads all that crazy?
The Volvo 240 replacement exhaust goes over the axle so no big deal there?
Only raises the rear a tiny bit, tho you kinda want the rear to sit slightly low on these for balance, as long as it doesn’t bottom out…
…so ya, little compromise unloaded?
The late model front springs are a bit taller/stiffer 92+ 240s (typical Volvo they finally got the ‘all around compromise’ mostly right after making the stupid cars for 20+ years for snow/breakaway predictability, comfort etc etc right before killing off the model
) & even the late n/a models got a little larger front sway bar, wagons still have a nice small rear bar.
You can do the airbag dance (& Volvo offered it with speshl shocks (I have the pump & controller) , and it can pick the thing up a bit so the headlights aren’t aimed at the sky, but it won’t necessarily make the damping or spring rate appropriate for the load with just a bag alone. Better than nothing?
For that you probably need some sort of hydra pneumatic nitrogen rubber dampened bomb & complicated valving or pump like the Citroen or MbZ wagons used, for better and worse?
Or the very expensive Sachs-Boge branded nivomat sprung shocks used in the Volvo with internal pumps?
Interesting compromise by Sachs/Boge; but kinda sux that the regular spring is so weak in that design for wear parts in the implementation & that the pumping action is part of the shock in some ways (imo just the shock absorber should be the wear part, reasonably priced & rebuildable?…not wearing out other suspension rubber with where the shock is maybe mounted or stressing out other parts & the waste or having to buy essentially a whole pump/shock/spring variable valving thing & have it deflate instead of just being able to install regular junkyard shocks & airbag as needed?