240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[john.wigley]

Nice work, Alan. Just a thought; have you considered adding a gauge to supplement the light? My GLT had a supplementary OE instrument pod with oil pressure and temperature and outside temperature gauge. At this distance in time I can't recall the set-up, but I imagine it was a simple 'T' piece in the warning light take-off.

Regards, John,

[Othen]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

Nice work, Alan. Just a thought; have you considered adding a gauge to supplement the light? My GLT had a supplementary OE instrument pod with oil pressure and temperature and outside temperature gauge. At this distance in time I can't recall the set-up, but I imagine it was a simple 'T' piece in the warning light take-off.

Regards, John,

Thank you John,

I had thought about adding a few more gauges (voltmeter, oil pressure...), none would be very difficult and there are lots of remarkably cheap aftermarket parts, but then where do I stop? heated gear-knob... , solar powered ash tray... ? Actually, I'm quite pl;ease with myself this afternoon, the RB looks the same as previously but has a better solution for the electrical circuits under the bonnet for next to no cost.

Smug smile :-)

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

You've done a great job there Alan! Should last a nice long time!

Knew i'd spotted one somewhere :

https://www.tradera.com/en/item/3022...rboinstrument-



The various gauges come up on ebay from time to time too.

[Othen]

The last few bits of tidying up were completed after Bob's first walk this morn. I shortened the loom by about a foot on the exhaust side (must have measured it wrong) and put some shrink sheath over all the connector ends - it is as well colour coordinated as Victoria Beckham's wardrobe now.

I feel quite pleased with myself.

Motorbiking today with a few ex-Army mates - Airborne!

[loki_the_glt]

The only slight headache with the Honourable Laird's post is that the item listed is for a LHD car; more fundamentally the auxiliary gauge pack is fitted to cars with the later dashboard, with the radio dropping down to the slot in front of the gearlever.

The attached thumbnails show the RHD set-up, as fitted to SFSS, including the oil pressure sender unit. (There are two different oil pressure gauges available for the cars - a 3Bar and a 5Bar one.)

[john.wigley]

That's very like the one that I had, 'loki', except I seem to recall that mine had an oil temperature gauge where the volt-meter sits in yours. Perhaps memory is failing me, or maybe the previous owner specified differently. Whatever, I've also liked an oil pressure gauge, as when the low pressure warning light illuminates, the damage is frequently already done. There was one fitted as standard in my Mini in 1978, so it's omission on a Volvo cannot be down to just the cost!

Regards, John.

[loki_the_glt]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

That's very like the one that I had, 'loki', except I seem to recall that mine had an oil temperature gauge where the volt-meter sits in yours. Perhaps memory is failing me, or maybe the previous owner specified differently. Whatever, I've also liked an oil pressure gauge, as when the low pressure warning light illuminates, the damage is frequently already done. There was one fitted as standard in my Mini in 1978, so it's omission on a Volvo cannot be down to just the cost!

Regards, John.

The gauges were all optional even on the GLT (although US-spec GT and Turbo cars seemed to have them as a standard fitting). Mine were originally in a 245GL that I scrapped. The oil temperature gauge was a rarity - I've only ever seen brochure pictures of one - but the various gauges could be fitted in any order, with the clock dropping down if a vacuum/boost gauge was fitted. The only gauge lacking from the brochure was an ammeter IIRC.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

That's very like the one that I had, 'loki', except I seem to recall that mine had an oil temperature gauge where the volt-meter sits in yours. Perhaps memory is failing me, or maybe the previous owner specified differently. Whatever, I've also liked an oil pressure gauge, as when the low pressure warning light illuminates, the damage is frequently already done. There was one fitted as standard in my Mini in 1978, so it's omission on a Volvo cannot be down to just the cost!

Regards, John.

I has thinking more of adapting something like this for about £20 John:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-in1-Vol....c100752.m1982

... very boy racer!

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

I has thinking more of adapting something like this for about £20 John:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-in1-Vol....c100752.m1982

... very boy racer!

Alan

Nice idea Alan but i'd advise against the use of cheap Chinese gauges, many of them will fail in short order and/or not be accurate to start with.

The thread on your oil pressure switch is 1/8"-27 NPTF so you'll need a T-piece with one male and one female thread for that and the third with the right thread for the oil pressure sender on the oil pressure gauge sender/sensor. No indication in the ebay item listing of what thread they've used. Something like this :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VDO-230-0...F/303162955176

I'm not sure but i think the instruments in yours are VDO originally, for the sake of posterity that would imply using VDO gauges for your add-ons but they are only available secondhand now. That said, most VDO gauges of the era had orange/red needles and i'm fairly sure you have white needles on your instruments?

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Nice idea Alan but i'd advise against the use of cheap Chinese gauges, many of them will fail in short order and/or not be accurate to start with.

The thread on your oil pressure switch is 1/8"-27 NPTF so you'll need a T-piece with one male and one female thread for that and the third with the right thread for the oil pressure sender on the oil pressure gauge sender/sensor. No indication in the ebay item listing of what thread they've used. Something like this :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VDO-230-0...F/303162955176

I'm not sure but i think the instruments in yours are VDO originally, for the sake of posterity that would imply using VDO gauges for your add-ons but they are only available secondhand now. That said, most VDO gauges of the era had orange/red needles and i'm fairly sure you have white needles on your instruments?

I'm not sure how serious I am about this one Dave - it might look a bit boy racer-ish for the Royal Barge. The instrument needles are indeed white on the RB, and I quite like the simple look:



... the centre console is quite crowded, so there is nowhere obvious to put the extra instruments:



... unless perhaps I put something here on the dash, as you may see someone has attached something previously. I suppose a couple or three gauges neatly set into some 2" holes in the dash (I don't know what is behind that area) would look okay and hide the wires. I'm not sure it wouldn't look a little bit naff though, what do you think.



This adapter would seem to be the right part, and is available in the UK:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adapter-F...YAAOSwsypey-Vt

Space might be a bit tight because of the oil filter and alternator?

I think this is one of those 'wait and see' projects, I'll mull it over for a few weeks, if I manage to convince myself it makes sense then it would be a good job for the winter break.

Stay safe,

Alan