Duder
Watch it man, there's a beverage here!
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2009
- Location
- Torrance, CA USA
Thought I'd share what I've been up to for the past few months, outside of day to day stuff. Helping Karl revive and sell this 245:
Background... Karl bought this 1992 245 about 4 years ago to act as his daily here in the LA area. It replaced this green 1982 244 that I helped him sell for $500, which went on to star in a Hagerty article: https://www.hagerty.com/media/archived/5-breakdowns-58-hours-and-2764-miles-in-a-500-volvo-240/
The 245 already had a B230FT swap that the previous owner had done at a shop, and had an auto trans at the time. It was an original CA car, as built with NA B230F, autotragic, and ABS. The metallic gray paint had been resprayed in the past and was quite dull - almost looked like one of the modern matte jobs, but spottier. He bought it in Santa Barbara.
The B230FT is from an '86 740T, has an original T3 turbo, IPD turbo cam, adjustable cam pulley. Karl added a 940 e-fan, TLAO chips, S70T5 injectors, an MBC and a Turbosmart Kompact recirculating bypass valve, and an IPD sport exhaust system. It runs about 12 psi and pulls nicely in the midrange.
Karl swapped the auto out for a T5 world-class 5-speed from a Mustang which he rebuilt, including a Pro5.0-style shift mechanism and a custom shift lever and knob he made himself. Flat flywheel with a Saab 9000 aero pressure plate and clutch disc from Yoshifab, and a one-piece driveshaft. This thing shifts so precisely and smoothly (if a bit noisy), definitely the best non-Honda shift feel that I've ever experienced.
Karl also built up some custom coilovers with 4130 steel sleeves, 330 lb/in springs, Coleman parts and Koni yellows, added a big 4-piston Wilwood brake upgrade in the front, floating rotors with aluminum hats, an IPD bar, Kaplhenke roll center correctors, and strut tower brace. In the rear he shortened the trailing arms and added adjustable torque rods, panhard rod, spring perches. The wheels on the car were Hydras when Karl bought it but he swapped them out for Evo 8 17x8", with 28mm/35mm adapters. Tires are Hankook 235/45R17.
The interior was set up nicely with some Evo 8 Recaro seats welded to the stock sliders, stock back seat, plastic floor trays, and Volvo OE rear cargo tray and roll-up cargo cover.
I think Karl enjoyed driving the car thoroughly but needed a newer daily to depend on when his work schedule got crazy. Plus the regular attention that a 25 - 30 year old car needs was not fun anymore for him. Project burnout, if you will. So he parked the 245 and it sat.
After a year or so he decided to sell, and it needed some love after sitting dormant. This is where I agreed to help him out. We made a punch list of things that definitely needed to get done, followed by a wish list of things that would improve some long-standing deficiencies of this car.
Definite jobs:
Nice to have, ambitious project list:
And here's what it looked like when I took over. Faded, dusty, and a bit sad. But still a strong runner.
IMG_0016 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
IMG_0014 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
IMG_0015 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
IMG_0017 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
Background... Karl bought this 1992 245 about 4 years ago to act as his daily here in the LA area. It replaced this green 1982 244 that I helped him sell for $500, which went on to star in a Hagerty article: https://www.hagerty.com/media/archived/5-breakdowns-58-hours-and-2764-miles-in-a-500-volvo-240/
The 245 already had a B230FT swap that the previous owner had done at a shop, and had an auto trans at the time. It was an original CA car, as built with NA B230F, autotragic, and ABS. The metallic gray paint had been resprayed in the past and was quite dull - almost looked like one of the modern matte jobs, but spottier. He bought it in Santa Barbara.
The B230FT is from an '86 740T, has an original T3 turbo, IPD turbo cam, adjustable cam pulley. Karl added a 940 e-fan, TLAO chips, S70T5 injectors, an MBC and a Turbosmart Kompact recirculating bypass valve, and an IPD sport exhaust system. It runs about 12 psi and pulls nicely in the midrange.
Karl swapped the auto out for a T5 world-class 5-speed from a Mustang which he rebuilt, including a Pro5.0-style shift mechanism and a custom shift lever and knob he made himself. Flat flywheel with a Saab 9000 aero pressure plate and clutch disc from Yoshifab, and a one-piece driveshaft. This thing shifts so precisely and smoothly (if a bit noisy), definitely the best non-Honda shift feel that I've ever experienced.
Karl also built up some custom coilovers with 4130 steel sleeves, 330 lb/in springs, Coleman parts and Koni yellows, added a big 4-piston Wilwood brake upgrade in the front, floating rotors with aluminum hats, an IPD bar, Kaplhenke roll center correctors, and strut tower brace. In the rear he shortened the trailing arms and added adjustable torque rods, panhard rod, spring perches. The wheels on the car were Hydras when Karl bought it but he swapped them out for Evo 8 17x8", with 28mm/35mm adapters. Tires are Hankook 235/45R17.
The interior was set up nicely with some Evo 8 Recaro seats welded to the stock sliders, stock back seat, plastic floor trays, and Volvo OE rear cargo tray and roll-up cargo cover.
I think Karl enjoyed driving the car thoroughly but needed a newer daily to depend on when his work schedule got crazy. Plus the regular attention that a 25 - 30 year old car needs was not fun anymore for him. Project burnout, if you will. So he parked the 245 and it sat.
After a year or so he decided to sell, and it needed some love after sitting dormant. This is where I agreed to help him out. We made a punch list of things that definitely needed to get done, followed by a wish list of things that would improve some long-standing deficiencies of this car.
Definite jobs:
- Re-seal the T5, which had some slow drips
- Replace a blown rear damper
- Mount two new tires in the front, which had worn prematurely due to excessive scrub
- Raise the rear ride height a bit to help with driveshaft rubbing
- Add more toe, relocate the tie rod ends to the stock ratio, and realign the front end
- Replace the windshield, which had a leaky outer gasket and a big chip directly ahead of the driver
- Thoroughly clean the interior & engine bay
Nice to have, ambitious project list:
- Perform full paint correction and get this bad boy shining again
- Revive the long-dead AC system
- Repaint side trim
- Replace window scrapers
- Replace missing and broken interior bits, like map pockets and various clips
And here's what it looked like when I took over. Faded, dusty, and a bit sad. But still a strong runner.
IMG_0016 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
IMG_0014 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
IMG_0015 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
IMG_0017 by Chris Floren, on Flickr
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