still going strong!
Some small updates. Over the last 2 years it has remained my DD (and still is!). Worked on a few things to make it better suited for that.
At a huge music festival campsite, ideal car for that! Loaded with bikes, camping gear, drinks, food, tools, etc etc! Saw more 240s there, damn hippies!
Bought a Truetrack from
www.bakaxel.se. Not installed yet
High preload version.
Turned a set of new bearings into set-up bearings. The material was surprisingly easy to cut (removed ca 0.03 mm IIRC) and gave a very good surface finish. Thanks Volzuki!
Autumn 2012 I repaired the rear brakes. Dust covers were ripped etc.
New inner tie-rods at that time too.
Autumn 2013 I replaced the front wheel bearings. They were filled with mud and the seals were worn.
Found out why the rear end was so noisy:
Severe cracks in the poly bushings of the torque rods. They were used since 2007 and roughly 30K miles? Replaced them and that improved things. Still need to make spherical bearing inserts for the trailing arms, those still have rubber bushings that are worn worn worn!
While I replaced the front wheel bearings it was time to give the calipers some attention as well. The inner pads were worn to the last 0.5 mm and the outer pads were still fine.
Pistons cleaned/polished, new seals, new covers, new bleed nipples, pads, mounting hardware etc. The braking imbalance between left and right mostly is gone now!
The pedal is slightly soft after a good bleed, not sure where I can find the culprit. I think the pads wear evenly now but to be honest I haven't really looked hard. Nothing was wrong when I changed wheels so. Oh speaking about wheels, I bent one of the Polaris rims. Pothole+high speed+very stiff sidewall = damage. Now cruising on borrowed Multi-X.
Everyone likes shiny parts!
For now good enough, never needed more brake. This only cost a little money and lets me go on for enough time. Then I can see what to upgrade to when the engine is making more power.
Other small stuff:
-Removed the cone filter and fitted a 240 Diesel airbox. Made the intake piping from some old stuff that I had laying around so i need to address that. Car runs much better now the AMM isn't soaked in oil. The cone wasn't to blame for that, it was the short distance between the PCV return and the AMM.
-Switched from E85 to normal gasoline/E10. First I didnt change the chip and LH adapted well to it. Now I made a new chip for better WOT mixture (around .80-.85 lambda is what I shoot for, was .75). Car pulls well even before the chip change, 5.9s 0-100 km/h with a careful launch (to keep the engine mounts and clutch in one piece). Found out that it is pretty well matched to a 535D haha.
-Brodit charger/phone holder installed.
-Stuff I forgot.
Plans:
-Better speakers (and small subwoofer in trunk)
-Some soundproofing (doors, floor, dash?)
-Spherical bearings in the trailing arms of the rear axle. Have designed something, just need to find time to make it.
-Install truetrack, paint rear axle
-Remove rust on right side near rear wheel
-Paint side trim on doors and attach one that is falling off
-Install the new shadowline stuff
-New windshield
-New/better catchcan. After new airfilter this was just ziptied near the radiator
-Install windshield washer reservoir.
-Some homebrew bracing for the front axle
-Repair bent Polaris rim
Right now the 240 has a few quirks and things to improve but nothing too serious. Gives me time for other projects as well! Multiple projects lined up, Amazon, 760 T6, maintaining the fleet of family cars, improving the workshop etc!
I can't resist to post a pic of one of the nice workshop upgrades, a real milling machine. At 4500 Lbs, 5,5 hp and over 3 feet of travel it is quite a serious mill. Now completely disassembled for repairs.