• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Dorango Brown - 'Brownie' - 1980 242 DL

On the topic of oil pans... If you're wondering how I get them so clean... I use a 5 gallon bucket filled with 1:1 mix of purple power & water. I let the dirtiest side soak first for 24 hours and then I pull it out and rinse with water and resubmerge the pan on the other side for another 24 hours. I rinse it off the next day and just wipe it down with a blue shop towel. The pan will flash rust pretty fast so I apply a light coat of oil with a shop towel to prevent the flash rust. This pan already has a bit of rust on it for some reason(maybe moisture got into the pan somehow, sands off easy enough). With this method, you can clean 2 dirty pans. I do push it to 3 pans but its gets pretty mucky on the third one. I was thinking about filtering the mucky water and pushing my luck submerging other parts. 2.5 gallons of purple power is $12 at Wally world.

Dirty pan:

50023453563_8132fb57b1_c.jpg


Clean pan:

50023453198_80462517ca_c.jpg

50023453843_da3febe7f9_c.jpg
 
The high for tomorrow is 90 degrees. So it is imperative that I get what I had planned done because I believe the weather is going to change(getting some rainy days). I've done engine swaps in rainy days. I remeber the last engine swap was in a rainy day. It literally takes about an hour to install when the car is stripped down like it is now.

Plan tomorrow:

Remove original strut assemblies, remove the old manual steering rack(for sale if anyone wants one), remove old ball joints. That is suppose to be the easy part but we'll see.

Install new strut assemblies that have nice Volvo strut mounts(kyb strut inserts). Install new ball joints( I bough some closeout trw ball joints on rockauto). Steal zf rack from another project car (it has new lemorder innner/outer tie rods). I have the rack looped with a hose so no fluid shoots out. Install rack and then install steering column.
 
The high for tomorrow is 90 degrees. So it is imperative that I get what I had planned done because I believe the weather is going to change(getting some rainy days). I've done engine swaps in rainy days. I remeber the last engine swap was in a rainy day. It literally takes about an hour to install when the car is stripped down like it is now.

Plan tomorrow:

Remove original strut assemblies, remove the old manual steering rack(for sale if anyone wants one), remove old ball joints. That is suppose to be the easy part but we'll see.

Install new strut assemblies that have nice Volvo strut mounts(kyb strut inserts). Install new ball joints( I bough some closeout trw ball joints on rockauto). Steal zf rack from another project car (it has new lemorder innner/outer tie rods). I have the rack looped with a hose so no fluid shoots out. Install rack and then install steering column.

Shows 20% chance of rain last time I looked Plus its north texas so yeah.....
 
As luck would have it, we had some torrential rains but only briefly. I was backed up on work so nothing was done today to car. I did pick up some parts that I was having modified.

Stock 240 turbo intake pipe modified to use a bov(recirculating of course). This will be powder coated with a bunch of other parts.

50026493833_812185cf55_c.jpg


Modified 740/740 turbo oil cooler lines to accept 3/8 hose. You don't have to worry about trying to find the 240 turbo specific lines. This was done very carefully and slowly so no damage was done to hose.

50026493688_3c24a0284c_c.jpg
 
I needed to do some end of spring cleaning. This is my overflow unit. Basically where all the large parts go(engines, transmission, body parts, seats, tires/wheels). Everything here for the most part is designated for a car I'm working on. I don't really keep extra stuff, just what I need.

50027029496_f8fd3e90b2_c.jpg


5 years of accumlated alternators(every single one bad), ac compressors(some good, some bad) and starters(I've never really had a bad one, these are all good, believe or not). I will keep a few around for cores(junkyards try every avenue to dig into your wallet).

50027293352_1f23665107_c.jpg


Luckily there is a scrapper in the next aisle over. I called him over and he took all my scrap. I don't scrap anymore as it isn't worth the trouble. He even took 740 rear wagon seats(and plans to use them!).

50027292737_27c4385a01_c.jpg


I threw away a bunch of 740/940 stuff, not worth mentioning. A weight has been lifted! I hate to have crap accumlate.
 
Purple power worked pretty well for me too. for the block, oil pan etc. aluminum not so good.... lol. I am the dope that soaked the rear main housing and lower timing plate. Ate right through them. Just some experiential knowledge... cool car.
 
Purple power worked pretty well for me too. for the block, oil pan etc. aluminum not so good.... lol. I am the dope that soaked the rear main housing and lower timing plate. Ate right through them. Just some experiential knowledge... cool car.

Man, I learned the hard way too. I dipped some turbo compressor wheels and they were destoryed. You technically can use on aluminum but not overnight, maybe a few hours. It's best not to even risk it. For small aluminum parts, I've been used Berryman chem-dip. This stuff comes in the small 1 gallon size. I want to move up to a 5 gallon pail but its very expensive for that size.
 
Diassembly went okay for the most part. One tie rod did want to come off so I cut it. Reassembly was not without problems. Doing this while its raining of course. One of the studs on strut mount came loose. Had to weld in place. These kind of things make you lose so much time.

50032716148_195a4819f6_c.jpg


Got everything installed. Power steering rack is looped with hose so it doesn't puke fluid. I painted crossmember and its looking fresh.

50032716248_a954c1a559_c.jpg


Steering wheel installed. Now I have keys that match doors and ignition.

50032716088_a78dcf4835_c.jpg


Original e brake was not working, didn't bother messing with. Just replaced with a good one.

50033511607_14bef23cab_c.jpg


Next is to fix the holes in floor. The brake lines are a bit crusty so I think I'm going to replace all of them. I have all the brake lines from a 91 sedan that I had been saving. It has the non leaky junction distributor. At the same time, I will install fresh front calipers with new brake hoses.

I will also have install the fuel line that comes from the rear to the engine bay since the k-jet stuff has different fuel lines.

Once that is done, I can give the engine bay a good clean and get it looking nice and shiny and then proceed to install engine/trans. These are the tasks for the week.
 
This is what the water looks like after soaking 3 oil pans. It's safe to say you can do 2 oil pans with 1 2.5 gallon containter of power purple. I did push it to 3 but the water is very mucky. The third pan got clean enough that I can do the rest by hand.

50040561887_e498cfc95d_c.jpg


I was able to go and pull the rear end from the junkyard. I will swap out the rear end this weekend. Got lucky, the previous owner previously changed trailing arm bushings so far now I don't need to replace them. Once the car is running, I will reevaluate my decision and replace if necessary.

50039744613_b423ca37e7_c.jpg
 
On Friday I took it easy and just painted parts. Got the rear coil spring plates ready as well.

50056799453_5d7a99c77b_c.jpg


50057614652_e25aa312c7_c.jpg


And then the removal on rear end(Sunday)... I didn't take pictures of the old one. Gas tank was crusty. All the brake lines were no good. This was all to be expected so it was all removed and trashed(junkyards want the 'core' rear end back and its $35 bucks back into my pocket).

Crusty tank

50057370291_beac377060_c.jpg


Crusty brakes lines. As luck would have it, brake lines were right in the way of where floor pans needs repair.

50056799783_66f4371fa8_c.jpg


Installed new brake hoses, ran a new fuel hose for main pump(correct 12 mm fuel hose).

50057370686_c9da798535_c.jpg


Installed rear end with new brake pads and shocks. Basically the rear end of car is done. Make sure to clean all of your hardware. I didn't install rear sway bar because I have to pull it off my 242 turbo(21 rear sway bar).

50057614947_07a22863b6_c.jpg
50057370631_d098c49b64_c.jpg


This week, rust repair commences. Once that is done, then I can run new brakes lines and fuel hard line(tank to engine bay line). I will repair front floor pan first and then I can plop in the engine/trans sometime this week.
 
So... I haven't been able to work on this car 3 weeks(which sucks). My daily died again(not throwing money into it again so its being parted out). Been busy parting out 3 cars(1 car left). Huge weight off my shoulders(can't save all the Volvos). Front floor pan repair was done today. I also washed engine bay(needs more detail cleaning). In the next couple of days I will plop the engine/trans in. I got rid of my janky engine hoist and bought another one(second hand of course) so dropping engine/trans in will be a piece of piss. I picked up a beater f150 as my new daily(and towing vehicle). It's nice to have ac and not wonder if the car will start/not start.

Since I have more rust repairs to do, I just sprayed some etching primer to cover todays repair. All repairs will be sprayed down with epoxy primer and painted over. I'm slowing down a bit on working on car so I don't have to rush through everything now.

Before I started repair, I removed the sound deadening material(at least an 1 inch around from where new piece will go). I cut the rotted piece of floor(no picture) out which was the easy part. Did a rough trace on fresh piece that I cut out from a junkyard car and trimmed it down. I weld on basically the lowest setting. I'm using a Titanium 120v flux core welder(dc inverter welder) and it works great for this type of work. As I tack the piece down, I trim piece wherever it needs it. Make sure to grind the edges on where you will weld(where you cut old piece out and the new piece that's going in). I did not use weld thru primer.

50128253822_6dae0be8e7_c.jpg
50128253622_4b9b4ca442_c.jpg
50128032406_646401f7ef_c.jpg
 
Bigger update coming... but small update today. Assembled 19t turbo(found this on a kia optima and it needed some modification to fit of course) and fitted down pipe to a mock up motor. Everything looks awesome.

50216625842_a92dbb47fa_c.jpg

50215744313_f2af98f88a_c.jpg

50215744248_f5ce129b4e_c.jpg
 
I had been waiting to pick up my powder coated parts for a little while. Could I have painted these parts? Sure, but we're in the hottest part of summer right now. Wasn't going to happen. Powder coating these parts was money well spent. Some of the parts are for other projects but a lot of them are for this car(control arms, headlight housings, intercooler piping). I modified control arms and choose to do it 'taxi style'(these type of control arms can still actually be bought new from Volvo) vs yoshifab plate style. I didn't drill hole before dropping parts off but will do it before install.

50217114652_4253946d01_c.jpg

50216887911_65ffeac390_c.jpg
 
Looking great. Can't wait to see it all put together. Gonna be too nice to drive!

I put a lot of effort into all my projects but they are all meant to be driven. No trailer/garage queens here. Once they have been passed on, I want the new owner to enjoy the car and use it. What's the point of having a nice modified car that sits all the time. Get out there and do autocross or get out to the track. At the very least, take it for some drag racing(which I will definitely do).
 
I had to get up at the butt crack of down to put in motor/trans. It didn't go as smoothly as planned but I managed to get it in there. After installing, I realized this is an early 240 so it doesn't have one of the threaded holes for the transmission crossmember(not a big deal, just have to buy some rivnuts). Once the summer heat winds down at the end of this month, I can really get into gear with this car. The engine is b230ft from a 91 740T(low mile 130K, rebuilt head with an 'a' cam). The transmission is a low mile aw71(I don't know the actual mileage, did accumulator mod as well). I also had enough time left to install gas tank(not new but a clean used tank).

50219749882_be11e18354_c.jpg
 
Nice save on the car and great project so far. Glad to be joining in right as things are getting interesting and the engine is in. Keep it up!
 
Back
Top