'88 Volvo 240 Saloon

[acehigh86]

Hi Folks, Had this car a while now,been waiting for some money to get the project going.

Me and a mate bought this off Ben (ben711200) To put the Front on to his estate and for me to rebuild the rest.



Only a few other bits done so far, like 'modifying' the old volvo steering wheel to take a new mountney one.




New engine + box going in.



Makes it sit a bit lower.



But still room for improvement.

Trying some bumpers.



The new front may not be to everyone's taste but I didn't want to re-use the rectangular lights off my mates car, so I cannibalised some parts from the local scrap yard and a few of my previous vehicles to make something retro but different.

+

and a saw equals


How it stands at the min.....



Few more bits of wiring to sort and it should be ready for M.o.T

Be interested to know what you all think.

Lee

[fuglynutlock]

Looking different in a good way but I would have the headlamp surrounds black

[acehigh86]

The inner part will be painted black at some point, but i'll be leaving the 'chrome' outer ring to break the front end up a little.

[acehigh86]

just a small update whilst i prep for the MoT.

Got a selection of grills....don't know which i like best...




Fitted some straps to stop the rear springs unseating when i jack the car up. (think it should pass the MoT like that)
on the floor

In the air


Made the headlight brackets


Got a lower splitter from a 740, but may only fit it for shows not daily driving!


Hoping to be on the road in a few weeks, in time for the 'Beach Party' at Brean.

[speedy88]

Hey, that's interesting. Nice to see that this car is getting some love again too

As for the grilles, I'd go with the below. Almost looks like a hella grille with the spots inbedded within.

[valman]

thats awesome! with the front like this you could call it volvostein... or something :lol:

[acehigh86]

Cheers guys, I've been calling my car 'Frank' for a while as he's got parts off of about 11 cars now.

Just got 2 more grills today, A Mk2 Golf Grill and one off a Yugo, will test them and put up pics later.

[Deleted]

Another +1 for this front end of the options posted. They're all good, but I think this one is the most balanced. The chrome Volvo grille makes the headlights look a bit wideset to my eye. Other option is a grille like above but without the spots, but that's very close to how it started with the the Ben90210eleventybillion front end.

[ben711200]

I'm really pleased to see this getting some love and going back on the road Nice work on the front end, a couple little tweaks and I reckon that will look spot on.

The rear springs always dislocated but popped straight back in again when dropped down so i never worried about it. I can't remember ever getting around to wiring the fronts in though...

[acehigh86]

Cheers for the input guys.

The front springs don't seem to move, but when i jacked up the rear they never sat back down properly and one of the has crushed the spring locator.

Okay, here's all the grill pics........

Selection:


Black Grill:


Chrome Grill:


Modified Mk2 Golf Spotlamp Grill:


Full Mk2 Golf Grill:


Or a Yugo Grill (now black):


Think I like the Yugo grill for simplicity, am in the process of painting the headlight surrounds black with just the chrome edge. More pics to follow...

[speedy88]

Yugo grill would look good with the volvo slash going accross IMO

[haaallloooom]

I'd stick with the modified golf grill & spotlights - just seems to work for me

[oli8925]

Spotlight grille with black inserts is win for me

[acehigh86]

I'm still unsure about the twin spot grill, it may work with black headlight surrounds. Got a nice Volvo badge for the Yugo grill but not the slash, just the writing.

Well I've painted the headlight surrounds pearl black ( was supposed to be satin but I picked up the wrong can) and painted and fitted the yugo grill (for M.o.T so i don't have to wire up the fogs)

will get some pics tomorrow as it's too dark now

[dangermouse]

...would I have seen this driving round Huddersfield a month or 2 ago??

My vote goes for the Golf spotlight one but for extra giggles, put another spotlight right in the middle of the grill.... Cyclops Volvo!

[Violet Vivid]

I can't put into words how happy I am that this is saved & going back on the road ;D

Back when it was for sale I was Expressly banned from buying it by my parents

Bookmarked & watching with interest ;D

xXx

[orangecords]

spotlamp grille here too dude. it looks different enough to keep bods guessing

[acehigh86]

Thanks for all your input guys, i will be sorting out the spotlight grill for after the MoT. But i will probably finish 3 grills in total so i can change them whenever i feel like it.

dangermouse - don't think you'd of seen this one, its been on my drive in Devon for a couple of months now and in a garage before that.

Bit wet for doing any work today, or getting good pics but here is the painted Yugo Grill and headlight surrounds...





Still needs a bit of finishing and a badge but you get the idea.

[trivstom]

Where the hell did you find a grill from a Yugo? lol
looking nice man!

[acehigh86]

Just a small update today before I get on with the repairs.

Had quite a bit of work to do for the M.O.T retest:
-replaced all the front brake lines and flexi hoses
-Fixed brake pipe supports to the vehicle
-Re-installed stock front springs (minus 2 coils)
-Welded up holes in exhaust
-Fix emission by replacing the damaged HT lead (was only firing on 3 cylinders by the time I had got to the M.O.T centre)

was thinking the springs would be easy as we had just done a coil-over conversion on my mates 240 estate, but old cars aint ever easy, spent three hours and destroyed several tools trying to remove the nut from the top of the strut, ended up having to remove the whole assembly from the car, took it to my dads work and put a rattle gun on it.

Removed and repainted the ARB whilst the suspension was out.

Once re assembled, went to bleed the brakes and both the top bleed nipples sheared off both callipers. Ordered new callipers and they had sent 2 left side callipers first off, got a second delivery and they are now the shiniest parts on the car.


Made some new brackets for the bumpers, but the lower splitter needs some more work (only temporary until the car goes lower again)


so after all that, it sailed through the retest and with lower emissions than my sisters 2000 reg lupo

Was on the road in time for the first S.O.S meet of the year..........
........then failed to start when we went to leave

Managed to bump start and get half way home before my lights went so dim I could barley see the road.

This was what I found the next day

an inverted and ground down alternator belt.

Mar 6, 2012 14:12:28 GMT trivstom said:

Where the hell did you find a grill from a Yugo?

Found one that had been banger raced at our local scrap yard, rear end was destroyed but the headlights and grill were fine (just covered in a thick layer of white emulsion.

Going to replace the belts today and maybe start the rear bumper, more updates to come....