1983 245 GLT Resurrection

[302ftw?]

Hi All,

It's been just about 13 years since I last posted here. At that time, I built me a 'Murica/holset powered 745: https://turbobricks.com/index.php?threads/jakes-745-5-0-turbo.217307/

Fate has brought me back to the Volvo world. I found this orphaned 1983 245 GLT Manual through a mysterious craigslist post with no picture and a 2 sentence description describing a "freshly painted but abandoned" 245. This led me to calling "Mike" who was the owner of a body shop and of the car. He proceeded to tell me a pretty amazing story about a customer who was dead set on restoring this 245 he brought back from California and deposited at the shop for a glass-out repaint. Mike followed instructions and painted the car in the original color with correct single stage paint. Upon finishing the job, he reached out the customer to pick up the car, only to find out the customer had vanished. Apparently, in NH shop owners are required to take ownership of a and register a vehicle that is sitting for a long time. So, Mike now owned this 245 whether he liked it or not. That was 2012.

The car sat in an open-air car port for the next 11 years, getting started occasionally moved around the yard. Mike would post the car on CL every year just to see if there was any interest. Mostly he got dreamers and scammers. That was, until I stumbled upon it. These are the pictures I received from Mike, and this is what led me to drive 4 hours from NY to NH with a trailer.


Fun fact! NH does not require a title over ~20 years old. NYS is notoriously dickish about vehicles that don't have a title. This car did not have a title. Mike ended up digging up his registration from 2012, the original California title, and together we figured out the combination of NH forms and NY forms that would get me ownership in the great state of NY. Registration was a success, my title is on its way.

So now, what do I do with this thing? My goals initially were to make it a hot-rodded daily with all IPD goodies and big turbo, but now not so sure.

CONS:
-I am extremely unfamiliar with K-Jet and while it runs and makes boost, I am sure the Fuel Distributor and WUR needs rebuilding which is probably beyond my skill/patience level. Cold starts are rough and it seems the cold start motor bypass thing is inoperable. Help?
-This was a California car and the dash is ROASTED along with all of the weather stripping
-I know the heater core leaks, so likely a new dash will need to go in. (Side note, is there any issue with putting in a later model dash instead of the early one? All the in-tact dashes I seem to find are the later style...)
-Needs at the very least new pads and rotors, probably lines.
-Power Steering leaks like a civ. Not sure if its lines or the pump
-The interior smells....not great. The years being in the car port with no rear glass or hatch probably did its number. Pulled the hood insulation and found a dead mouse inside that looked like it was alive when mummification was in its infancy and they didn't quite have it down yet. I have started to pull out the interior in hopes I can revive the carpet and rustproof the floorboards. So far only found one tiny pinprick that needs to get welded up.
-Needs a rear seat that matches the later-style front cloth seats
-Carpet is all different colors from fading
-The headliner was partially removed from when the hatch was taken off and never put back on. There's mold on it and things were living between the roof and headliner...I'm going to replace it.
-Trim is all there, but in all kinds of states of discoloration and warpage.
-It doesn't have the pop-up rear seats and that is a requirement if I am going to keep this thing. My kids will love it.

PROS:
-Its a rust-free 1983 Turbo Manual Wagon.
-It has fresh(ish) paint and no dents.
....
-Did I mention its a 1983 245 GLT Manual?

So I need the wisdom(??) of all you Turbobrickers to help me figure this thing out. So far I bought the Bentley manual and working on a parts list. I talked to a local body shop and they are going to paint the hatch and hood for me.

QUESTIONS:
-What do I do about the black part between the rear door frame and the rear glass? Is it actually supposed to be black? SEM Trim Black?
-I know the later style gaskets are better for the rear glass, but what about the hatch? can I also use a later-style gasket?
-The microswitch on the drivers door that actuates the rest of the door locks when you pull up looks like it will disintegrate if I touch it, is there anywhere to source that part with a pigtail attached?
-As above, can I swap in a later dash and still retain my cluster/gauges/hvac?

PARTS NEEDED (that I feel like TBers might have):
1. Rear Glass
2. Hatch Glass
3. Dash
2. Rear Bumper
3. Rear seat to match front seat
4. Rear wheel arch carpet (mine was too gross/moldy)
5. Headliner
6. Center console thingy...mine has the structural integrity of.... volvo door pockets (OOOO sick burn)

Recent photos:

 

[RecycledEuropean]

I looked at that car, was a nice project, I think I was one of the dreamers because I have a couple of projects, but I thought Mike did a nice job with the paint, and the car will be amazing when finished, I wish you luck. I was just wondering if you also bought the orange parts car, as that used to be my car, I would love to know what's happening to it, will subscribe for updates.

 

[RKNL]

11 year old fresh paint. Interesting. It does look very pretty in the pictures. Nice project

 

[jhabeeb]

im parting out a 93 wagon let me know if you want me to pull any of those needed parts for ya!

 

[302ftw?]

I looked at that car, was a nice project, I think I was one of the dreamers because I have a couple of projects, but I thought Mike did a nice job with the paint, and the car will be amazing when finished, I wish you luck. I was just wondering if you also bought the orange parts car, as that used to be my car, I would love to know what's happening to it, will subscribe for updates.

Mike is planning on scrapping that one...you might want to reach out before he does if it has sentimental value. Pm me for info!

 

[302ftw?]

11 year old fresh paint. Interesting. It does look very pretty in the pictures. Nice project

Thanks! Progress will be slow...2 small kids just starting school and lots of family stuff coming up. I think it will really get going in January. Till then will be mostly cleaning and removing old interior stuff.

 

[302ftw?]

As mentioned….progress is slow. Since my last post I:

-Removed the dash
-removed the front carpet
-removed the ac suitcase
-took it apart and cleaned it in prep for new
-heater core
-heater valve
-evaporator
-fan motor
-all new hoses and lines
-removed a bunch of the sound deadening
-welded some holes in the floor
-painted driver and rear footwells with rust encapsulator

Still have to chip away the pass front but I feel like I am moving toward putting things back in. Excited to lay down new sound deadening (noico 5 mil) and get all my heater parts in.

Shout out to @pat244ti for awesome deal on all new ac stuff!

I have to resize pictures, will post up some tomorrow.

 

[242Bleek]

Love the car. I have an 83' manual turbo wagon and got it right around 13 years ago and have been messing with it since.

The later dash will drop in. However you will need to add the drivers side knee bolster as that dash is designed for it.

The heater cores seldom leak in 240's, i would check the heater control valve first as they will leak often. It's a good idea to pull the entire ac box out and go through it because they are gross after 40 years.

The "black part" you mentioned is the C pillar and yes it's supposed to be black, there's also a long black stripe that goes under the entire length of all the cars side glass, they removed it and never put it back after the repaint. You can add it easily. All window trim on the turbos was black.

These years 240's have bad wiring. You will need a new engine harness for it if it hasn't already been replaced. They were experimenting with eco friendly soy based wire insulation back then on alot of European cars and it backfired horribly. Not all the cars wiring has this, however the drivers door lock actuator pigtail does.

Lastly please keep the car K-jet, it really is the essence of the 240T. It's a solid system and people here will bash it. We can walk you through alot of its quirks.

Good luck.

 

[302ftw?]

@242Bleek can you elaborate on the drivers side knee bolster? Picture or part number reference? I don’t see I’m that it came with the replacement dash I received.

Also, wondering if anyone has any spare dash receiver grommets that insert into the firewall and receive the dash alignment dowels. One of mine broke upon removal.

Also, I did confirm the heater core was leaking…very apparent after I removed the ac suitcase.

 

[242Bleek]

Any dash after 90 or 91 I forget the year uses a drivers side knee bolster. They only come in black too from my experience. They use an additional bracket that mounts under the dash that holds the lower portion of bolster. Here's a link to one.

88-93 VOLVO 240 WAGON SEDAN DRIVER LEFT LH KNEE BOLSTER 3540483 1364305 | eBay

Bolster was removed from 1990 Volvo 240. Bolster is in good used condition. no cuts or missing sections. Bolster is OEM for1988-1993 Volvo 240 vehicles with a driver side air bag.

www.ebay.com

Your best bet is to match up the interior color with SEM color coat interior paint. As long as it's not brittle you can make all of it look brand new.

 

[302ftw?]

Some random pics of the floor work.


@242Bleek it looks like the knee bolster in that link does not come with the additional bracket. Thanks for the tip!

 

[302ftw?]

Cleaning! a Timelapse of cleaning the suitcase

 

[302ftw?]

Progress! Using Noico 8 mil. Still have to do the drivers and passenger footwells and seat mounting area. Then trunk and roof. Then the AC suitcase goes back in! And then and then and then.

 

[wht_245wagoon]

That's on my todo list for my wagon.