240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Othen]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

There was once this chap, Alan by name,
Had a fancy to own a Volvo again,
For reasons sentimental, a 240 he sought,
Then one in green, from Brum he bought.

Pleased was he, with his new car,
Though from perfect, it was quite far,
But nothing major, about which to worry,
Or needed to be fixed in a hurry.

Little things, with which Alan could play,
Kept him busy, from day to day,
That 'orrible spoiler, it had to go,
Now Alan can get it ready to show.

Mirrors on the wing, Alan did not like,
They too, had to take a hike,
Into the bin, they were consigned,
Then removed, when he changed his mind.

The lights, they too required work,
Something that Alan could not shirk,
Repositioned they were, rewired too,
Alan liked the results, thought 'that'll do'.

The tyres, they were a little - well - tired,
But with time on his hands, now he's retired,
Change them all, he did,
And with the old ones, getting rid.

Bob (the dog), with poorly hoof,
Gave the car an appreciative woof,
But Dan (the son), clearly no fool,
Thinks Dad's car, is soo uncool.

And so it is, that great pride Alan has,
When he steps upon the gas,
A grin he has, so very large,
When he drives, The Royal Barge!

Regards, John.

Fantastic John - I have just read the ode to Bob (who was very excited, but perhaps that is walk and dinner times coming up).

Marvelous :-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

... I'm thinking that a really simple solution to the instrument lighting problem might be something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-12V-72...86cdaaf119a780

I don't suppose it would be dimmable (not with a rheostat anyway), but would that matter much? I could just stuck it to the bottom of the dash - just above where the three incandescent bulbs sit now.

What do people think?

Alan

You only want to light the instruments Alan, not Wembley Stadium!

Seriously, those lamps are extremely bright, a mate of mine put one under the parcel shelf of his hatchback and when i opened the tailgate, i had to reach for my sunglasses!

Go with the 12829 bulbs for now or better still, these :

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/col...ction/12vba7bl

The 12829 bulb is also known as the BA7s, that one has a blue LED to match the blue filter.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

You only want to light the instruments Alan, not Wembley Stadium!

Seriously, those lamps are extremely bright, a mate of mine put one under the parcel shelf of his hatchback and when i opened the tailgate, i had to reach for my sunglasses!

Go with the 12829 bulbs for now or better still, these :

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/col...ction/12vba7bl

The 12829 bulb is also known as the BA7s, that one has a blue LED to match the blue filter.

How right you are Dave, I have just this moment ordered a box of BA7s bulbs - it will all go back to standard next week.

Thank you for the info regarding the LED light, the incandescent ones are on their way and I dare say will last at least a decade each, so a box of 10 will see out the rest of my lifetime :-)

Alan

[loki_the_glt]

Just dug out my original 240 manual (Haynes ISBN 085696591X): warm idle is 850rpm, and there's a note saying that a Tecalemit B181 air filter as used on F%rd Granada 2.8 from 1977 will fit the B21; it might be worth checking if this is the case for the Royal Barge.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

Just dug out my original 240 manual (Haynes ISBN 085696591X): warm idle is 850rpm, and there's a note saying that a Tecalemit B181 air filter as used on F%rd Granada 2.8 from 1977 will fit the B21; it might be worth checking if this is the case for the Royal Barge.

The tickover sounds just a little bit lumpy at 900RPM, perhaps I’ve just become used to fuel injected engines controlled by computers. I’ll change the air filter (only £7 for a Bosch one for this car) and change the diaphragm next week, that should make everything nice and smooth.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

The tickover sounds just a little bit lumpy at 900RPM, perhaps I’ve just become used to fuel injected engines controlled by computers. I’ll change the air filter (only £7 for a Bosch one for this car) and change the diaphragm next week, that should make everything nice and smooth.

Alan

Remove the three (or is it two) bolts holding the air filter box onto the carb Alan and move it out of the way. Unscrew the damper from the dashpot, insert the middle finger of your other hand so you can lift the piston up with it and top up the hollow rod in the centre of the piston with ATF - NOT engine oil, 3-in-One or anything else - to about 1/4" below the top of the damper tube.

Insert the damper back in and lower the piston gently so you can remove your finger.
Push the damper gently back in (you should feel a fair bit of resistance) and when you can get to the point of screwing the top of the damper in, do it gently. I always used to turn it anticlockwise until it "dropped" into place in the thread, avoided cross threading this way!
Tighten it up finger tight and refit the air cleaner box to the carb.

Give it a test run.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Remove the three (or is it two) bolts holding the air filter box onto the carb Alan and move it out of the way. Unscrew the damper from the dashpot, insert the middle finger of your other hand so you can lift the piston up with it and top up the hollow rod in the centre of the piston with ATF - NOT engine oil, 3-in-One or anything else - to about 1/4" below the top of the damper tube.

Insert the damper back in and lower the piston gently so you can remove your finger.
Push the damper gently back in (you should feel a fair bit of resistance) and when you can get to the point of screwing the top of the damper in, do it gently. I always used to turn it anticlockwise until it "dropped" into place in the thread, avoided cross threading this way!
Tighten it up finger tight and refit the air cleaner box to the carb.

Give it a test run.

Good morn Dave,

What a lovely drawing - my carburettor is a Pierburg DVG, but the design looks much the same as the Stromberg.

I'll change the air filter and the diaphragm (because I have a couple of spares), clean out the jets and re-fill with ATF as you describe. I suspect that will have the engine purring nicely at 900RPM (the plugs are less that 1000 miles old and the ignition is electronic).

I took the Royal Barge out on some needless errand yesterday eve - the headlamps are quite acceptable now. The instrument lights are a minor irritation - too much light in the middle, none at the edges - but that will go back to standard about Tuesday next week.

I'll get the bits and pieces I need for the fog lamp relay ordered today, and get that fitted sometime next week. If the weather isn't too bd I might fit the driving lamps today.

Bob seems to be completely recovered now. He is wondering why we haven't left for out 06:30 walk (I'm finishing my tea Bob).

Alan

[Clifford Pope]

Holdens are the people for old classic bulbs, etc:

https://www.holden.co.uk/c/electrica...g_lamps/page/2

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Clifford Pope

Holdens are the people for old classic bulbs, etc:

https://www.holden.co.uk/c/electrica...g_lamps/page/2

Thank you for the link, that is helpful. I found the right BA7s 12v/2W bulbs on eBay at a reasonable price - I think £4 for a box of 10.

Alan

[Othen]

It may be that I’m just used to modern aluminium engines that warm up quickly, but it does seem to me that the Royal Barge warms up a bit slowly. I drive in to town to get some breakfast at the Wetherspoons this morn and took a longer route, so about 6 miles. The temperature gauge had only just stirred (about a quarter of its range). Is this normal or could the thermostat not be closing fully? Perhaps my expectations are just more than can be satisfied by a large lump of cast iron? I think I’ve just noticed this recently since reducing the tickover speed from 1500 to 900RPM, obviously I need a bit more of the fast idle now.

I’ll take a longer route home, along the Geddington bypass (about 10 miles I should think) and see if that gets it up to temperature.

I’m planning to change the coolant in the next few weeks (because I don’t know when that was last done) and have a new thermostat in the spares box the PO gave me, I suppose it might make sense to change both at the same time and see if that makes any difference.

Alan