240 General: 240(245) Minor restoration

[wooble]

Looks like a good one to me! As I'm sure you've found tan interior plastics are a nightmare to find in good condition, they're all brittle and cracked by now.

Alfa seats are an excellent mod, so esy to fit and match the car pefectly. here's mine:


Personally I wouldn't bother with the adjustable spring perches - they're going to be a pain to whack up and down just for towing, especially after a year or two when they've got dirt and grot and salt in them.

Have you considered going the standard 40mm drop all round, and potentially fitting air shocks to the rear for towing? sounds like it'd give you the versatility you need without having to spend ages under the car with a coilover spanner cursing the world.

Also, where did you find the SEM paint in the UK? I've been looking for it off and on for a while, but had no luck finding it outside a US supplier. I'm guessing you used the Camel colour? I have a black dash in my tan interior and its been annoying me for years.

[john h]

Hi,

That looks a nice car. Nice bonus having LPG!

I can't advise on towing, but if you load the caravan carefully to get the correct nose-weight, the extra load on the rear springs shouldn't be massive.

-40mm all round works very well on my car. It sits level, which I prefer, and is sporty but not too low


I have very similar Alfa seats (from a 147) in my 245.

The 147 (split-folding) rear seats can also be made to fit the 240, but it's a big job! If you want the door cards to match, Volvo 140 ones are quite close and can be modified to fit.



Photos of the install from this page of my thread:

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showth...159425&page=35




Keep up the good work, and keep the photos coming!


John

[presario85]

Thanks for the support guys, I wasn't sure whether the 40mm drop could handle the caravan, but it is the look I want. I suppose there's no real way of knowing other than to drop it, hitch up and see what happens! I keep the caravan fairly empty when towing and keep most weight over the axle anyways so I reckon it should be fine. 40mm drop all round it is then, now to find the best deal!

The Alfa rear seats are definitely something I wanna look at a little further down the line, it looks brilliant. Expect me to be torturing you with questions about that in the near future!

The sem colorcoat was a nightmare to find. It doesn't come up in any google results from UK suppliers so I resorted to emailing paint shops and accident repair companies. In the end I got through to a company called nationwide smart repairs. They could get some so they listed it on their website for me to buy as often as I needed. If you google them then type the paint code into their search, its in their catalogue now. £10+vat per can and it arrived in 3 days. I was well chuffed. Colour match is amazing too!

[Jack Spaniel]

It's obviously only me as nobody else has commented. The photos from the original poster are coming out huge on my screen and I have to tab all across the screen to view, and cannot get the whole picture on screen. What am I doing wrong? Pictures from other posters are fine.

[presario85]

no, that one is entirely my bad - images werent resized before putting onto the forum and i apologise. Next batch will be links.

For these ones, if you just zoom out (hold ctrl and scroll your centre mouse button), you can see them on all once.

Michael

[Datsuncog]

Looking very nice indeed! Kudos for giving this 240 the love it deserves - and looking forward to seeing how this resto/upgrade progresses. If you're planning on keeping the original Virgo alloys - I've always thought this paint option looked good (and wish I'd had the enthusiasm to spray mine!)

[presario85]

Cheers Tim!
Planning on keeping the wheels but that paint looks fantastic!

I've found a local who will shot blast and respray for £150 for a set of 4 (though I'll have 5 needing done). So I may have to give him a shout - dont think I'd be brave enough to risk painting the wheels incase I mess it up!

[presario85]

My impatience has got the better of me this week and I've removed the seats from the Volvo. they came out with ease, no stuck bolts, no hassle.

Removing the rails from the Alfa seats, however, proved nigh on impossible using the tools I had. After 4 hours of blood sweat and tears I'd only removed 2 of the 12 which I needed out (6 on each seat). So this morning I caved in and took them to a mechanic friend - took him 30 seconds with an air drill! Need to get me one of those!!

Hopefully get the Volvo rails mounted tonight and get the chairs back in by the weeked. I'll post some photos when this is done!

[classicswede]

240's tend to end up with the back end dragging on the floor when you load them up or start towing. Yes they will take the load but sitting on the bump stops. I have tried a few different makes of lowering springs and will all of them once you have stuck a couple of adults in the back the rear end is scraping on the floor. This problem is the only reason I bothered making 40mm lowering springs for 240's. With LPG tank you would find the generic 40mm lowering springs worse as the tank + fuel will add 60kgs alone.

The air shocks are not a bad option and graystone spring asisters are another think you could consider using when towing to help hold the back end up.

BTW it is a nice 240 that one and was in good shape. Nice and clean underneath

[presario85]

do you sell those air-shocks or spring assisters? I'd be very interested in getting a package deal from you if so!

thanks,
Michael