240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Now this is something I do know about (I'm a surveyor by profession), what you are describing is called precession, and it manifests itself in a way that we can measure by true North wandering around a bit (magnetic North also wanders around - but for not exactly the same reasons).

The world will change quite a bit, regardless of what we do it it, and one day there will be another ice age (well, there will probably be lots of ice ages over the rest of the life of the Earth - another 4.5 billion years or thereabouts to go). That does not mean we should not be wasteful (we should not - all that flying people to the other side of the world on holidays and to attend climate change conferences is wrong), but it does mean that the Green's stuff will not save the world... but that is another story.

The Skoda (being FWD) is pretty sure footed in the cold weather, it would grip a bit better if I reversed up the slope outside my house - but that might be a bit dangerous as I got to the T junction at the top!

I'll try the BW box second gear trick sometime - it should work on the slope (the BW may not have enough torque to pull away uphill in second though).

Alan

Glad to hear there is a technical term for my ramblings! I'll look it up later and try to learn a bit more about it. I vaguley remember plate tectonics from school so i imagine that comes into it somewhere alng the lines and i know magnetic Poles shift around somewhat.

I'm not a fan of FWD in ice, if you lose grip on the driving wheels you lose your main steering and braking wheels too. With RWD if you lose grip on your driving wheels, you still have steering and braking - unless you get into a 4 wheel skid in which case just let go of everything and hope!

The torque convertor isn't just a fluid clutch, it also multiplies the torque, infinitely variable between 1:1 and 2.08:1 if memory serves. As such, pulling away in 2nd won't be a problem, just a tad slower than 1st then 2nd but that's better in ic as you're less prone to wheelspin.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

... or a BV206 (like the Royal Marines have) - I think both might be going a bit too far for the groceries run to Morrison's store John :-)

........... or a C202...........



You can even fit it in Morrisons car park!

[loki_the_glt]

Original tyre sizes for the 240 were 175/80/14 for the saloon and 185/80/14 for the estates, or 195/70/15.

The 144 ran on 15" rims though I don't know what section - probably 165s which have almost the same rolling radius as the 175/14.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Glad to hear there is a technical term for my ramblings! I'll look it up later and try to learn a bit more about it. I vaguley remember plate tectonics from school so i imagine that comes into it somewhere alng the lines and i know magnetic Poles shift around somewhat.

I'm not a fan of FWD in ice, if you lose grip on the driving wheels you lose your main steering and braking wheels too. With RWD if you lose grip on your driving wheels, you still have steering and braking - unless you get into a 4 wheel skid in which case just let go of everything and hope!

The torque convertor isn't just a fluid clutch, it also multiplies the torque, infinitely variable between 1:1 and 2.08:1 if memory serves. As such, pulling away in 2nd won't be a problem, just a tad slower than 1st then 2nd but that's better in ic as you're less prone to wheelspin.

It is quite a steep slope.

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

Original tyre sizes for the 240 were 175/80/14 for the saloon and 185/80/14 for the estates, or 195/70/15.

The 144 ran on 15" rims though I don't know what section - probably 165s which have almost the same rolling radius as the 175/14.

Yes, that is what my BofH says.

I don't know when the RB was converted to 15" Virago wheels (someone suggested it could have been from new as a dealer option, but I have no way of knowing whether that is so).

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

It is quite a steep slope.

Alan

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised Alan.

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

Original tyre sizes for the 240 were 175/80/14 for the saloon and 185/80/14 for the estates, or 195/70/15.

The 144 ran on 15" rims though I don't know what section - probably 165s which have almost the same rolling radius as the 175/14.

It could well be the 144 i'm thinking of, i'm fairly certain my 144 had 165SR15s on it.

Originally Posted by Othen

Yes, that is what my BofH says.

I don't know when the RB was converted to 15" Virago wheels (someone suggested it could have been from new as a dealer option, but I have no way of knowing whether that is so).

Alan

If you can find a helpful Volvo dealer, they may be able to look it up on their website Alan. The local dealer to me unearthed a couple of things about mine that i wouldn't otherwise have known.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

If you can find a helpful Volvo dealer, they may be able to look it up on their website Alan. The local dealer to me unearthed a couple of things about mine that i wouldn't otherwise have known.

I rather suspect the wheels are newer than the car Dave. They have been nicely powder coated recently, but aside from that they look in better condition than I'd really expect from 40 year olds.

It doesn't really matter either way whether they were fitted from new - I'm entirely happy with them and think they look really smart on the RB :-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

I rather suspect the wheels are newer than the car Dave. They have been nicely powder coated recently, but aside from that they look in better condition than I'd really expect from 40 year olds.

It doesn't really matter either way whether they were fitted from new - I'm entirely happy with them and think they look really smart on the RB :-)

I forgot to say Alan, there's usually a date code on them as well, if it's still present (and not sandblasted off) you could read that.

As you say, it's not really that important now, they suit the car and you like them.

[loki_the_glt]

I have just consulted the Haynes manual for the 164 and it quotes the wheel/tyre arrangement as 5.5J X 15 rims, running any of 165 HR 15, 175 SR 15 or 175 HR 15. I would hope no-one would be stupid enough to run a mix of these sizes, but wouldn't put money on it!

I also remember a road test, of what I cannot recall, where the wheel diameter was given as 14" and the tyres as 15", which must have made for problems with sealing.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Errrrr, yeah - me!

What do you think of these manual tyre changers Dave:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Manual-Po...QAAOSwh1xe~vOx

They seem quite easy to use:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J_2SD-snd0

I'm not sure about using them on alloy wheels, but for steel I think they would be fine. For £50 it seems cheap enough to take a punt. I have a covered area with a concrete floor behind the garage that would be a good place to bolt this down (pretty permanently). For bike wheels I have some rim protectors that slide between the wheel and the iron - they might work with this for alloy wheels?

I have something similar for my bike wheels, which makes changing bike tyres quite straightforward.

What do you think?