SMB - my daily driver

[Velorum]

Well, after the demise of my S40 I decided to return to owning a 240. With an ebay deal that involved the disposal of my accident damaged S40 (now written off) this very nice G plate auto GL arrived on the drive.



Its great to be driving one of these again!

SMB (as she seems to be becoming known in the household) is a 1990 model with just over 124K on the clock, one previous owner and a FSH. Although very clean she is not mint - and is unlikely ever to be as this is now my daily driver! Although there are no rust issues or major mechanical problems (that I am aware of!) there are a number of small jobs that Ive noted. Some are cosmetic whilst others are minor trim issues.

My first job was to sort out the petrol flap which didnt close properly - details in this thread
http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=171213

I was so pleased to have this sorted



Next was a repair for the cracked dash - looks more noticeable in the photo than in the flesh!



Turning my attention to he engine bay I checked out the automatic flap in the air box and sure enough it was stuck on 'open' thus sucking hot air in from the manifold even when the engine had warmed up. The metal pipe from manifold to air box was binned, the flap assembly removed and the now redundant hole in the box blanked off with the cap from a spray can. Whilst in the engine bay I touched up some areas suffering from minor surface rust with white and black smoothrite. There are still some unsightly areas in there which I will get round to painting in time. The brake servo will be next I think.



Today I decided to tidy up the slots below the rear window as the edges were beginning to show signs of surface rust. The good thing about white paintwork is that its easy to spot the early stages of the rusting process.





By the time I had finished that I was feeling rather chilly so decided to move inside to have a look at the dash. Of all the 240's Ive owned this one has the noisiest dash of any of them - continual creaking as you drive along! Time to get out the rubber off cuts box. After 15 minutes of carefully wedging pieces of rubber cut to fit into assorted gaps etc virtually all creaks were cured.







I took SMB for a short drive along some of the very rough roads we have around here and was very pleased at how quiet things were

MOT time tomorrow so fingers are firmly crossed!


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[Eddy Matthews]

Good luck with the MOT, hope it sails through....

I like the idea of the pieces of rubber to stop the dash creaking, a neat solution!


Regards
Eddy

[loki_the_glt]

A good idea indeed - must have a look for some bits for mine.

[classicswede]

Nice to see you back in a 240 Ian.

[Velorum]

Originally Posted by classicswede

Nice to see you back in a 240 Ian.

Thank you kind sir

Its good to be back!

[kirkwallcity]

I see that your wheel trims are the same as the ones on mine when I got it.

I pulled the centre caps off and replaced them. Got a local metal fabricator to cut out four 5" discs of light-weight aluminium. I then sanded, primed and sprayed them silver, added new black logos from www.davebarton.com and stuck them on.

I think in some ways the black is more eye-catching than the originals and it has certainly livened them up. See attached (poor) photograph.

Well worth a days work.

[Velorum]

Originally Posted by kirkwallcity

I see that your wheel trims are the same as the ones on mine when I got it.

I pulled the centre caps off and replaced them. Got a local metal fabricator to cut out four 5" discs of light-weight aluminium. I then sanded, primed and sprayed them silver, added new black logos from www.davebarton.com and stuck them on.

I think in some ways the black is more eye-catching than the originals and it has certainly livened them up. See attached (poor) photograph.

Well worth a days work.

That looks great

I fitted Torslanda 14" alloys to one of my past GL's but they were a bugger to clean!

I might consider doing something similar to your excellent work

[Velorum]

Well, just failed the MOT on:

• excessive play offside track rod and ball joint
• excessive free play nearside steering system
• headlamp aim too high both sides

Not too bad - no advisories and Im surprised that the discolored headlamp reflectors didnt get a mention - good news I can leave replacing these for a few months!

Should have the above sorted within the time limit for a reduced fee partial retest




.

[Mike1967]

hello stranger ... oh so back in a 240 again Ian . Didnt think it would be long for you to be in one again . Looks a nice one sir !

[Velorum]

Originally Posted by Mike1967

hello stranger ... oh so back in a 240 again Ian . Didnt think it would be long for you to be in one again . Looks a nice one sir !

Thanks Mike

Good to be back

Passed MOT a few weeks ago

New cam belt, alternator and rear pads today

Only problem so far is the mechanic cant get the two central spark plugs out - he is worried about stripping the threads. We had a long chat about this today and decided that we would leave them in situ for another 6K when a service will be due - he will then remove them and if it strips the threads he can get a chap in that can install helicoils without removing the head.

Apart from that one point all is well

I need to tidy up the rear arches (beginning of surface rust - easy job) and remove the headlight wipers when the weather gets better - whenever that will be!

Cheers
Ian