240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Othen]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

It does happen automatically, Alan, but is not, I think, a function of time. It is based on the number of qualifying posts made irrespective of time, hence some are promoted more quickly than others and some not at all.

As Clifford rightly said, there is also a facilty whereby one can change this once one has reached a certain level.

Regards, John.

Thank you for the explanation John and Dave,

I thought there must have been some sort of algorithm that worked out one's rank, but it is not important enough to bother researching.

I'm most happy to be a 'Master Member', but I can't help thinking I've achieved that rank with little justification from myself. I've gained far more (from people like you two John and Dave) than I've put in since I bought the Royal Barge and joined in February. I am indebted to all the helpful contributors here, my knowledge of Volvo 200 cars has increased exponentially :-)

Stay safe.

Alan

[Othen]

Hi Chaps,

I'd ordered a new thermostat for the Royal Barge (B21a), unfortunately the one that has shown up in the mail is an 83C item for a B20a motor (must be the same part # I suppose). It isn't worth returning it, so if it is of any use to anyone it is free for the cost of the postage (or collect from NN18).

I've found the right part and it is on its way (the old one seems to be working fine, but I thought I'd get it changed while I still have the engine filled with water).

Stay safe.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

It's a generous offer Alan, you might have more success offering it in the 140/160 section or even the Amazon section.

Also are you sure it says 83C? That's an unusual temperature, normally it's 88C and sometimes when they're stamped with the temperature part of the second 8 doesn't come out too well, never known why.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

It's a generous offer Alan, you might have more success offering it in the 140/160 section or even the Amazon section.

Also are you sure it says 83C? That's an unusual temperature, normally it's 88C and sometimes when they're stamped with the temperature part of the second 8 doesn't come out too well, never known why.

Hi Dave,

It certainly looks like 83C to me:



... if it had been 88C I'd probably have fitted it.

The packaging seems to support that as well, it says 80-83C NORMAL TEMPERATURE RANGE, which seems (from the Book of Haynes) to be the Type 2 listed for the B20a motor, or maybe a B21e.

The packaging also says it is for 240s from '74 on and 360s from 82:



It is a NOS part that only cost me a fiver. The supplier was very apologetic and offered to reimburse me, but it was a genuine mistake so there was no need for that. I thought I'd put it in my box of Volvo bits, just in case, but first see if some 240 or 360 owner needs it.

Stay safe,

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

If memory serves, the 2 litre engine on the 360 was actually referred to as the B19A or E depending whether it had carb or injection respectively.

The B20 was the older OHV engine as fitted to the 140 and Amazon models. Usually the numbers refer to the capcity and the 360s engine was the same cc as the the old B20 but with the OHC head. As such, there's every chance it is suitable for yours but at 83C (nominally 82C i would guess) is a bit cool for my liking.

Volvo came unstuck a bit with their system for denoting engine types when they changed to OHC, especially when they dropped the 2 litre version of the "new" engine into the 360 as they effectively had a 2 litre engine with a 1.9L designation!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

If memory serves, the 2 litre engine on the 360 was actually referred to as the B19A or E depending whether it had carb or injection respectively.

The B20 was the older OHV engine as fitted to the 140 and Amazon models. Usually the numbers refer to the capcity and the 360s engine was the same cc as the the old B20 but with the OHC head. As such, there's every chance it is suitable for yours but at 83C (nominally 82C i would guess) is a bit cool for my liking.

Volvo came unstuck a bit with their system for denoting engine types when they changed to OHC, especially when they dropped the 2 litre version of the "new" engine into the 360 as they effectively had a 2 litre engine with a 1.9L designation!

Thank you for that.

I was tempted to just fit it and see what happened - but then I thought: running the engine so that the radiator circuit opened up 10C lower would mean it would take an age to get up to proper working temperature, so I decided not to and ordered a 91C Volvo one from Parts Monster for only a tenner.

What do you think Dave? Would it be worth trying this out? I can't really think of any advantages: it would warm up slowly, maybe not get to a proper operating temperature so the tick-over might be erratic, the electric fan would probably never cut in (I think the 50050 switch is 87/92 - but it is on the cooler side of the radiator so it may never get to 92 - it hardly ever does on the RB with a 91C thermostat).

I'm happy enough to offer it free to anyone on the site that might have a use for it, and if not I'll just put it in my Volvo box in case it ever comes in useful (and it won't eat anything). The Book of Haynes talks of both the B20 OHV and the B21 OHC in 240s, I'm not sure when the change over would have been - sometime between '74 and 79 I suppose (in that the RB is OHC).

Stay safe.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Thank you for that.

I was tempted to just fit it and see what happened - but then I thought: running the engine so that the radiator circuit opened up 10C lower would mean it would take an age to get up to proper working temperature, so I decided not to and ordered a 91C Volvo one from Parts Monster for only a tenner.

What do you think Dave? Would it be worth trying this out? I can't really think of any advantages: it would warm up slowly, maybe not get to a proper operating temperature so the tick-over might be erratic, the electric fan would probably never cut in (I think the 50050 switch is 87/92 - but it is on the cooler side of the radiator so it may never get to 92 - it hardly ever does on the RB with a 91C thermostat).

I'm happy enough to offer it free to anyone on the site that might have a use for it, and if not I'll just put it in my Volvo box in case it ever comes in useful (and it won't eat anything). The Book of Haynes talks of both the B20 OHV and the B21 OHC in 240s, I'm not sure when the change over would have been - sometime between '74 and 79 I suppose (in that the RB is OHC).

Stay safe.

I'd stick with the 88C 'stat Alan. As far as i've ver known, part of the thing when the 244 was launched as the replacement for the 144 was the fact it had a more efficient OHC engine so how it got fitted with the old B20 engine i don't know. I could be wrong of course but it was meant to be more than just a facelift for the 140 series.

[john.wigley]

According to Bjorn-Eric Lindh, in his definitive book, 'Volvo - Cars from the 20s to the 90s (p178), the B20A (1986cc OHV) was in fact fitted to some early 2-series cars from the factory, 'L.S.', clearly a carry-over from the 1-series.

Strangely, the B20B (twin SU) wasn't listed, however. Lindh goes on to say that all the other 240s were fitted with the new B21 (2127cc OHC) motor, followed later by the B23 (2316 cc OHC) in GL variants. A smaller version of the B21, the B19 (1986cc OHC), used in 3-series cars, was also fitted to some 240s destined for those markets where sub 2 litre cars were looked on more favourably for taxation purposes.

All is not what it seems!

Regards, John.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I'd stick with the 88C 'stat Alan. As far as i've ver known, part of the thing when the 244 was launched as the replacement for the 144 was the fact it had a more efficient OHC engine so how it got fitted with the old B20 engine i don't know. I could be wrong of course but it was meant to be more than just a facelift for the 140 series.

Thank you Dave.

Where did the 88C thermostat come from? I can't see one listed in the Book of Haynes, just the 91-93C - the same as the one that is fitted at the moment.

My Book of Haynes (it looks like a 1986 edition) has a whole section (Chapter 1 Part B) dedicated to 'Overhead valve engines' (11 pages worth) that is all about the 1986cc B20a and B20e. I can't find any reference to when the change happened. You have much more knowledge of Volvos than I do Dave - I'm just looking at the good book and wondering why it would have included a section on OHV engines unless there was a period when they were used.

I've just looked in my Autodata manual, which has a brief potted history from '74 to '84: there is no mention of the B20 motor at all. Something of a paradox? I'm tending to think Mr Haynes has just made a mistake this time - perhaps just copied across the OHV engine section from a previous book on the 140 cars?

Stay safe,

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Thanks for that John, does your book state whether the UK got any of those very early OHV 240 models?

Just curious as i know there are a few B280E V6 powered 960s around, obviously early models with the "carry over" V6 before it changed into the B6304 that most 960 owners would be familiar with.

Fairly sure the B19 was used in Italy, i know that was a tax-sensitive country on engine size.