240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[DW42]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I like the "parking brake" on the white one!

With no MOT or road-worthiness system to comply with, several of my vehicles had the same parking brake arrangement. If parking on a steep hill it requires quite a few rocks or bits of concrete (depending on whether its a rural or urban hill).

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Putting what you've said with what Loki said Alan, i can see a conclusion and the probable real cause.

The "specialist" found the rad wasn't flowing so assumed the rad was at fault. FItting a bigger one solved the problem because all the sand that had been washed away from the castings in the heads (and no doubt damaged the water pumps as well) clogged the radiator.
As such, even a new standard radiator would have solved the problem.

Something i remembered earlier is that Car SOS did a Stag and they investigated the cooling system, going to a Stag specilist as well. They came away with a rebuilt engine and a standard radiator if memory serves.
They proved it wouldn't overheat as well and while they didn't give anything obvious away, they did drop a hint that the engine had been stripped, cleaned and flushed through to make sure all traces of everything that shouldn't be there (hinting at stuff from the machining processes etc) had gone so there was no chance it would overheat.

The conclusion is i think Loki is almost certainly correct, the sand casting techniques Triumph were using for the alloy heads left a residue of sand behind because they either didn't realise or they expected the foundry workers to rinse all the sand out. Alloy/aluminium heads were relatively new back then and not really used commonly.

I'm sure you are right Dave, and Loki also. I have almost no knowledge of the Triumph Stag.

Stay safe,

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by DW42

I found some photos of my old Saabs -- at least they were stylish dead cars in the driveway. The blue one was the runner, and the white one was rusty underneath. I had an additional dead one. I lived in Albuquerque at the time, hence the stucco/fake adobe house.

Wonderful - and very quirky (the cars and the adobe) :-)

Stay safe.

[Othen]

Good morn chaps,

You will all know that I really like the Royal Barge, and will keep it as my long term classic car. That being said, I thought I'd start collecting some useful spares: bits and pieces that may be difficult to come by in 20 year's time, as they become available at a good price on eBay.

This week I've picked up a complete NOS head gasket set for a tenner and a NOS 50050 switch for a fiver. We live in a wonderful world :-)

Stay safe,

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Good morn chaps,

You will all know that I really like the Royal Barge, and will keep it as my long term classic car. That being said, I thought I'd start collecting some useful spares: bits and pieces that may be difficult to come by in 20 year's time, as they become available at a good price on eBay.

This week I've picked up a complete NOS head gasket set for a tenner and a NOS 50050 switch for a fiver. We live in a wonderful world :-)

Stay safe,

Alan

Sounds like a good start Alan! Measure your front and rear discs (diameter and thickness) and look out for some NOS of those, brake pads, air filters and any service parts that might seem plentiful and cheap now. All are likely to become NLA in the near ish future, simply through lack of demand.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...olvo+240+parts

That should get you started!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Sounds like a good start Alan! Measure your front and rear discs (diameter and thickness) and look out for some NOS of those, brake pads, air filters and any service parts that might seem plentiful and cheap now. All are likely to become NLA in the near ish future, simply through lack of demand.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...olvo+240+parts

That should get you started!

You know Dave, I think you are dead right. I suspect we are at the nadir regarding the cost of maintenance parts for the 200 cars at the moment, people are disposing of NOS items because they have been sitting on the shelf for 20-40 years. Once they disappear they won't be readily replaced and will become scarce. I suspect that is probably true for the older (Amazon and 100) cars now.

The brakes and suspension are all quite new on the Royal Barge - but of course they won't be in 10 years time - so you are right, it will be sensible to get NOS spares as they appear (at the right price) now.

Stay safe,

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

A similar approach has worked well for me Alan, i have various NOS bits and pieces for both cars in and around the house. I even have a NOS steering rack for the Rover (all boxed in the original packaging) under my bed! Only place it would fit!

They don't fail often but when they do, finding one is like finding a hens dentist and they are unique to the 827 so i don't mind losing a bit of house storage space for that reason.

I'm sure you'll find various bits for the RB that faill into the same category so you'll work out what's worth having and what you might like but won't necessarily need.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

A similar approach has worked well for me Alan, i have various NOS bits and pieces for both cars in and around the house. I even have a NOS steering rack for the Rover (all boxed in the original packaging) under my bed! Only place it would fit!

They don't fail often but when they do, finding one is like finding a hens dentist and they are unique to the 827 so i don't mind losing a bit of house storage space for that reason.

I'm sure you'll find various bits for the RB that faill into the same category so you'll work out what's worth having and what you might like but won't necessarily need.

That is quite funny Dave: about the steering rack.

It is a really quiet Sunday afternoon, the lock-down means Bob and I can't go out again, so I've been looking through eBay ads for Volvo bits and pieces. I notice one can still buy brake pads for less than a tenner/set. I'm pretty sure those prices will be much higher in the future, so I'll see which ones I need.

I changed the RB back to 20W50 oil a few weeks ago - that is almost certainly what it contained when it left Gothenberg and what my MY 1980 owner's handbook recommends. I had noticed a very slight weep from the back of the engine (you may remember I'd fixed quite a large leak from the cam cover some weeks before). I've been monitoring it and I'm really pleased to report that the weep has completely disappeared.

I'm guessing the 10W30 synthetic that the PO gave me was just too modern for either the rear crank seal or the sump gasket, but 20W50 mineral is gloopy enough to be okay. I've heard that when owners change their older engines to synthetic oils, thinking they are making an improvement, it can lead to leaks which did not exist previously. This has been a really good result - and far more effective than invasive surgery to replace seals and gaskets (and risk other leaks as a result).

Stay safe,

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

I'm not exactly blessed with storage space where i live Alan so under the bed seemed the safest option!

Brake pads are always useful to have, i bought a set of front ones for my Rover about 11 years ago thinking i'd need them soon but i'm fairly light on my brakes so the pads on there have barely reduced in material.

I'm seriously considering putting my 760 on to 20W50 as well, i also have a slight leak from the rear crank oil seal, made worse by using some Triple QX 10W40 semi synthetic once. Long story that i won't go into just now unless asked, suffice to say i won't use it again.

I'll see what's available when i do the next oil/filter change on it and meanwhile if i need a top up, i'll probably use 20W50 instead.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I'm seriously considering putting my 760 on to 20W50 as well, i also have a slight leak from the rear crank oil seal, made worse by using some Triple QX 10W40 semi synthetic once. Long story that i won't go into just now unless asked, suffice to say i won't use it again.

I'll see what's available when i do the next oil/filter change on it and meanwhile if i need a top up, i'll probably use 20W50 instead.

I can recommend Comma X-Flow 20W50 - and it is as cheap as chips at less than £15/gallon:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COMMA-X-F...item440eab515f

It probably won't last as long as synthetic oils, but so what - the RB will only do 2-3,000 miles/year.

I think it is best to use the oil a motor was designed with in mind - even if modern oils last 20,000 miles (they don't of course, that is just the manufacturer's risk management and it won't matter once the car is out of warranty).

Stay safe.

PS. It is certainly worth trying before you start changing rear crank seals. That is a messy job and on an older car will almost inevitably lead to another leak or something else going wrong as a result. I would have been most worried about getting the cooling pipes to that 40 year old auto gearbox ATF tight again.

PPS. I've just noticed the Comma 20W50 for sale at £17.32 for two gallons:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-X-Comma...item23c8184957

... and have placed an order. That is the Royal Barge's oil changes for 2021 and 2022 sorted out for £8.66/year!

:-)