240 General: ideal level of technology

[Othen]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

Yes, I agree; another vote for the 2 - series from me!

I also like Alan's descriptor of 'sweet spot', because that is really what it is; a car providing sufficient comfort and convenience without over complication. Later cars are arguably more efficient, but the 'electrickery' that enables that same efficiency can very quickly become it's Achilles' Heel.

Coming from a succession of 1 - series cars, our first 2 - series (a '75) felt more like an evolution than a completely new design. The (unassisted) R+P steering was much lighter than the earlier car, and I agree with 'loki' in questioning the need for it on the 2 - series; certainly our '81 car felt distinctly 'over-servoed'. In contrast, the later 7 - series with it's standard PS felt much more balanced.

I suspect cars are a bit like music - of one's era. I grew up with the Beatles and the Stones. They define me and I still enjoy their music today. I could probably discuss '70s music reasonably fluently, but ask me to name a group from the '90s and later and I'd struggle. We like and are comfortable with the things that influenced our formative years; I don't think cars are any different.

Rewind 50 years, and my dad bemoaned '60s cars, with their new-fangled monocoque construction (no chassis, for Heaven's sake!) over those that he had been familiar with in the '30s. Until quite recently, I occasionally drove a '30s car with ignition and mixture controls on the steering column and a 'crash' gearbox, but I'm not sure that I would have wanted to do so every day, Now, a nice 240 on the other hand .....

Plus ca change! Regards, John.

Very well put John.

You may remember my liking for the 240 comes from nostalgia for the the first new car I bought back in the mid 80s. Whilst I appreciate the huge advances that have taken place over the past four decades in my other cars (a Porsche Boxster and a Skoda Superb diesel estate), I still really enjoy the RB because, as you say, it is my era of car.

Alan

[classicswede]

240's are easy to steer without PAS but if you want PAS then the systems used on 240's all work very well with very good steering feel.

For a pure reliable and road side fit car the B21/23A with carb are the fail safe choice but do lack on the power side

The K jet cars are still very simple have the best factory power

The late LH2.4 cars are the most complex, they are best on fuel but down on power mainly due to the cam not being any good. Changing the cam fixes the power issue but still with good consumption

For doing miles the LH cars are going to be best but really want the cam changing.

For a weekend car probably the older the better

[classicswede]

Originally Posted by Clifford Pope

A key cut-off point is July 1992. Before that date older emissions rules apply. After it, the cat-test rules are much more stringent. I had a 1993 that reached 440,000 miles. It ran perfectly, but had begun using a bit of oil. Nothing much compared with normal consumption in older traditional cars, but it poisoned the catalyst and it became impossible to make it pass the emissions test. I scrapped the car.

There is a very easy fix for that. Just fit a older engine block and you can then remove the cat and have a pre cat test as the MOT is done to the age of the engine (if older) not the car

[DW42]

My first Volvo was a 1972 145e with D-Jet injection. D-Jet seemed like too much technology for 1972. The car would mysteriously stall when idling sometimes, and it wasn't worth trying to restart for at least 15 minutes. Then it would be fine for weeks.

I like the idea of a B23A with an M46 manual. Here it would need air conditioning, as we have at least 30 days at 30 degrees C each summer. Maybe it could be a retirement project if I ever have enough money to retire...

[heckflosse]

Originally Posted by classicswede

240's are easy to steer without PAS but if you want PAS then the systems used on 240's all work very well with very good steering feel.

For a pure reliable and road side fit car the B21/23A with carb are the fail safe choice but do lack on the power side

The K jet cars are still very simple have the best factory power

The late LH2.4 cars are the most complex, they are best on fuel but down on power mainly due to the cam not being any good. Changing the cam fixes the power issue but still with good consumption

For doing miles the LH cars are going to be best but really want the cam changing.

For a weekend car probably the older the better

Would that be an A cam?

[classicswede]

The LH2.4 cars come with a low lift low duration M profile cam. Fitting almost any other factory cam will improve them a lot. A B D V VX and K profiles all work well as plug and play cams

[Clifford Pope]

It sounds tempting. I've a spare cam from either a B21 or a B230K. Does it say somewhere on a cam what kind it is?
Presumably it's not quite plug-and-play though - surely the valve clearances would need resetting? Or do all cams have exactly the same profile on the side opposite to the lobes?

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by DW42

My first Volvo was a 1972 145e with D-Jet injection. D-Jet seemed like too much technology for 1972. The car would mysteriously stall when idling sometimes, and it wasn't worth trying to restart for at least 15 minutes. Then it would be fine for weeks.

I like the idea of a B23A with an M46 manual. Here it would need air conditioning, as we have at least 30 days at 30 degrees C each summer. Maybe it could be a retirement project if I ever have enough money to retire...

As it happens, 'DW42', so was ours! We bought it for £600 on a whim while on holiday in Bournemouth in 1984. The rest, as they say, is history.

Anyway, back to the 145; I don't recall mine doing any of the things that you mention - perhaps your's didn't like the Aussie climate! Our's wasn't an auspicious start, though. Drove the car 200 miles back to Derby, parked up at my in-laws. Time to leave; car WNS, closely followed by strong smell of burning and smoke emanating from under bonnet. Hastily disconnected battery and called AA.

Long story short; AA recovered us to Volvo dealer in Loughborough (Yeates - now long defunct) who replaced some fried electrics and recharged the supplying dealer in Bournemouth. The fact that Yeates treated us as though we had spent £6000, and not £600, on the car was an important factor in our continuing loyalty to Volvo.

If only customer service was even half as good today ...

Regards, John.

[Bugjam1999]

Originally Posted by Clifford Pope

It sounds tempting. I've a spare cam from either a B21 or a B230K. Does it say somewhere on a cam what kind it is?
Presumably it's not quite plug-and-play though - surely the valve clearances would need resetting? Or do all cams have exactly the same profile on the side opposite to the lobes?

The back side of the cam has a letter stamped into it, difficult to see with the engine in the car as there isn't much space between the back of the cam and the bulkhead, but easy to see if the engine is out of the car and of course if the cam is out of the engine.

https://imageshack.com/i/pokTdyJMj

The base circle of the cam is the same, so all things being equal the cam should just swap in. But all things are not equal and you really should check the valve clearances when you swap it - not hard to do at all.

Cheers

[Bugjam1999]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

Glad to see I'm not the only one who rates the manual rack over the PASfitted ones.

Of course everyone has their opinion, but I wasn't a fan of my 1978 245's manual rack, so I swapped it to a power assisted rack. At the time I had both a 1988 240 estate with PAS and the 1978 without (the 1978 was on standard wheels and tyres, 185-80 14) and I could drive them back to back for a direct comparison.

Whilst the 1978 was 'ok' whilst moving I didn't like the large number of turns of the wheel from lock to lock, and it was annoying to manoeuvre at low speeds or park. The manual rack takes 5.5 turns lock to lock and the PAS one only 3.5, PAS cars also come with a smaller diameter steering wheel.

The PAS equipped car by comparison was easy to park, I preferred the lower number of turns lock to lock and as others have said steering feel whilst out on the road isn't much reduced, if at all.

As an aside I helped a friend convert his 1977 244 to power steering a few weeks back and he said it's transformed the car for him after ten years of ownership.

Just my opinion.

Cheers