1981 244 GL High MPG - daughter's first car

[Jack]

You haven't mentioned whether daughter is following the progress, and is suitably impressed. Hope so.

I been keeping her updated, she's very appreciative. I'm anxious to get this back on the road so I can teach her (and son) to drive. In other news my son (15) asked me to get a car drivable for his 16th birthday (I got like 6 months) FUCK, IDK which car yet either
then there's numerous car(s) projects I want to get done....

- get gfs 75 244 back on the road - should be the easiest
- finish head gasket on my truck along with other overdue issues
- get Ken's 1800 going
- finish cutting up a 63 122 auto
- get rid of 242 shell
- make room for a 75 245 coming in January (orange to match Sydneys 244)
- work on the Land Rover (when it's cold and rainy)
- pull 16vT from my 245 and put it into the 220 but ditch the T and go DCOEs

I wont even mention the home projects

Im running out of 2024

 

[Harry Tuttle]

white or black T clips?- I cant remember

You got'em right. White for grill, black for headlight doors

And I echo holy farq. Does she know what she is getting?

 

[Jack]

You got'em right. White for grill, black for headlight doors

And I echo holy farq. Does she know what she is getting?

Thanks, she's excited about it.

Today I coated more parts

I couldnt help myself with the grill tabs

or the Lambda Sond emblem. I added some felt tape behind it like factory

Everything is reinstalled. New impact is coming Monday, I'll pull the late model torque rods then, hopefully coat Tuesday and be done with rear suspension

 

[brendon_ak]

All I can think about is how awesome this process would be on a wagon and how much I'd appreciate this level of work/detail.

Seriously dude, incredible work and I hope she, and your son, drive the hell outta the car (safely)!!

 

[Junkman Junior]

Wonder who’s the favorite kid

 

[240 240]

Wonder who’s the favorite kid

the cat

 

[240 240]

if you didn't powdercoat anything you could have a running car for the boy in like 8 days.

 

[TouzinFish]

Looks sooooo good

 

[Jack]

All I can think about is how awesome this process would be on a wagon and how much I'd appreciate this level of work/detail.

Seriously dude, incredible work and I hope she, and your son, drive the hell outta the car (safely)!!

Thank you! Have you considered working in powder coating ?

Wonder who’s the favorite kid

I DONT HAVE TO ANWSER QUESTIONS!

the cat

one of them

Looks sooooo good

thank you, nice to see you becoming a regular

now back with more uga dugas

swapped the torque rods with the 242T

fixed the external fuel pump wiring

after

NOS clips, new scrapers and powder coated trim

 

[fatcatbestcat]

fixed the external fuel pump wiring

TIL you can resize images in a reply.

I'm a little disappointed you didn't powdercoat the old one. Getting lazy here, Jack.

In all seriousness, new wires are always cozy - especially on a Volvo of this vintage where the old stuff is kinda like overcooked spaghetti. I know I went through that on my 244.

Excited to see the final product!

 

[dl242gt]

On the torque arms it looks like the replacement one has solid rubber bushings. I'd like to get a set of those if possible. Are they the earlier type of torque arms?

 

[Jack]

On the torque arms it looks like the replacement one has solid rubber bushings. I'd like to get a set of those if possible. Are they the earlier type of torque arms?

Left is later style - came off 242t. Those are getting the poly bushings

Right is the early “weak” style” - that’s what came with the car originally

That’s just what I took off and swapped with the 242. I’m blasting them and coating

 

[dl242gt]

Ah so they are the early style. I didn't know they were considered weak. Thank you.

 

[Jack]

Ah so they are the early style. I didn't know they were considered weak. Thank you.

Can’t trust anything you read on the internet. Volvo switched over to these for some reason

 

[brendon_ak]

I powdercoated my front and rear control arm when I boxed them with Yoshifab plates and HOLY SHIT that was a ton of work!! Talk about a quick way to appreciate a different occupation!

 

[Jack]

I powdercoated my front and rear control arm when I boxed them with Yoshifab plates and HOLY SHIT that was a ton of work!! Talk about a quick way to appreciate a different occupation!

Probably like anything else... you just need the right tools and the more time you put into it the better you get. Thank you

blasted the torque rods and got the bushings out

only partially reinstalled the fuel pump bracket because I left the bolt/nut combo that squeezes the fuel pump at work

I looked for about 15min last night for the black transmission speedo gear... turns out the m46 that came out of the 242t already had one in it.

I went to replace the o'ring for the speedo gear housing - left is original, right (installed) is what I got from VP. Vp replacement gasket is thinner and went into the transmission too easily. I dont trust the VP gasket but thankfully I have a suitcase full of various sizes (repost?)

reinstalled the passenger side window trim

 

[tintintin]

What a great o-ring collection!

 

[Jack]

What a great o-ring collection!

PO was going to toss it. Came out a Volvo shop in Alameda, c5 automotive

today
Coated and pressed the bushings in. I also got some oil for this and other cars at Costco. I once again forgot hardware to finish the fuel pump at work

All the suspension is done now. I tightened all the bolts/nuts.

trunk gasket is junk. I pulled one from the 242t, pressure washing it at work tomorrow

started to polish/repair the "new" (ciebie 1996) taillights. Passenger side needs a little bit more polishing. Driver side needs a reverse lens installed and all the mounting bolts are broken off

 

[Jack]

finally mounted the fuel pump bracket

I got a new battery at costco today and started to work on lights.

cleaned the copper connections on taillight circuit boards using this

top is cleaned bottom isn't. I use this stuff to clean copper pots, it's super quick and easy

TURNS OUT the are are at least two different types of circuit boards... see bottom left on both boards. Installed one has a connection for a double filament bulb and the bottom one is for single. I only learned of this after about an hour of bumble fucking around why only one brake light worked. I installed the bottom board after cleaning the copper

one down, one to go

To give you an idea of what I normally do at work, top of the rack is 8ft high. Had to angle it so that it would fit in the oven. Most things I hang by hand, sometimes like for this job I have to use the forklift. Racks get pushed around by hand. Few parts here and there for my cars is nothing

next week we have to fix these; this is about 1/2 of the job. stucco guys fucked it all up. If all goes well it should take about 2-3 days

going to diesel bros

 

[brendon_ak]

Damn dude, nice work! Make sure to hide a rainbow on the diesel bro parts (probably not a good professional decision though)