Bought myself a rare gem of a car.....so I'm being told...?

[Willys]

Well, today I finalized the purchase of a new to me vehicle. No, not a new shiny fancy expensive vehicle, but one that many hold in high regard I have learned.
A 1991 Volvo 240 sedan.
Just over 225,000kms, one small spot of surface rust, like new interior, sun roof(not something I would ask for), a complete history of the vehicle as I'm the second owner( bought from the daughter of the lady who owned it from new), From the 8" stack of service receipts it was a cash cow for a few garages over it's life span so far!!! IF, it looked like it needed something she had it replaced! ( My way of thinking also, why wait....lol   But I do the work myself not pay others to do it for me.

I'll snap a few pics tomorrow and post them up, maybe they will be of some interest....?

Now just to make sure the wife doesn't drive it and say she likes it more than the Grand Caravan we just bought for her....lol.

[MikeT]

Manual, auto? They're not good looking cars as the design goes back to 1966 but they do tend to last! My late father inherited one from his brother-in-law in 1991 and drove it a couple of years then sold it. That one was a 1990 240 DL automatic. A bit dull to drive but reliable.

[Willys]

It's an auto, which is just fine seeing my damned right hip is screaming at me most of the time now a days!  I was told to expect it to be as slow as a wet turd from the Volvo guys.....obviously they haven't ever driven a Smart car....lol.
I'm good with dull as a daily driver if it becomes that. I've done my fair share of more interesting rides.
I was searching deep into the southern states for a rust free vehicle and this fell in my lap 45 minutes away from my house! At far less than what I was thinking of spending below the border.   So, time will tell what happens.....so far very pleased with it.

[MikeT]

Should be good for another 300K km.

[1983JZR3W]

I used to own a 1978 240D.  Basic car, radio, heater, and a/c.  Just a plain 4-speed without overdrive.  One of the best cars I have ever owned and it was as dependable as a stone.  I loved it and would like to finder another two door in the future.

[Willys]

Tomorrow I may start the removal of some of the black liquid tar under coating that was strayed on everything possible. Yes it did it's job, BUT, if you touch the car as in wanting to work on it, you end up looking a little darker than you started out at....lol. I hate this type of undercoating solution. I prefer rust check or crown as they are basically clear and leave you close to the same as you started at.  
I have a power steering hose leak. And it's completely coated in this crap and the steering fluid.....so a messy job.   I have started the hunt for new parts, Ebay, etc, then thought what about the dealer....?   DAMN!!!!!!   And we think MB is bad! $260 for the high pressure hose alone!!!!   $60 on Ebay.....guess where it may come from....lol.
Then i also need to locate two steel rims to install snow tires on. This request has all but had me banned off the 240 sites....lol.   What.....??? You want to drive that beauty in the winter...?  In the SALT....!!!!!    Yes, I do, it's going to be a daily driver if the Smart doesn't like the temps....which sometimes it doesn't want to play nice.  

I have taken a bunch of pics but now my phone won't down load them to my PC so i can move them here.....AUGH....!!!!!    Electronics......no wonder I went after this vintage vehicle....lol.

[Willys]

Well just an update on how it's going.....
I found the leaking lines on the steering rack, they were the transfer lines, they had very small rust holes pits which in one spot was leaking. The high pressure line from the pump is like new so saved on that one. The two transfer lines had to be sourced by a buddy who owns a garage, I couldn't find them anywhere. Even those lines he got for me had to be shortened by cutting the middle out of them to keep the end flanges, the part that are like chicken lips I have found out! In total that cost me $140.
Next issue is/was the tail light housings use a flexible circuit board and it had been butchered by the garage the original owner used for the past 8 years. One of their so called mechanics twisted the bulb sockets and shorted out the circuit board. This caused the board to get cooked and also the interior dash warning light system under the dash to basically burn itself up. There is a work around for that, a few snips with a good set of snips and a few correctly placed jumper wires and Bob's your uncle. I also had to hard wire the tail lights as I refuse to use a well known issue of the flexible circuit board again, why? So now it is hard wired and tomorrow I mate the new wiring harness into the car's wiring harness.
I also needed to find aggressive snow tires and the 14" rims on the car do not get you a good choice so I decided to up the rim size to 15" and get a far better selection of aggressive snows. Found on Amazon , go figure...?  I never knew Amazon sold tires and at a great price.
Next was to locate 2 steel rims that fit the car correctly.....that wasn't easy either....seems they are another item people want to hold onto. I did manage to find 2 very rusty rims for free, he said I could risk it and see so I said why not? I will clean them up and repair them if I can or they will be in the scrap bin and I'll need to search again.

One other thing I did out of curiosity was open the sun roof...DOH...!  Yes it up-set the sealing surface which then needed correcting.....plus I made sure the drains were clear of any debris, they were like new .  I still worried about water getting past the seal so used draft stop to seal it for the winter months and I'll remove it next spring.  Looks a bit ragged but it'll keep the ice and snow out. That will save the head liner if nothing else?

I did replace the old motor mounts just because they were weak and a known issue.

Maybe next week it'll be ready for it's maiden voyage...????   

I will say, it's far easier to work on than the Smart Car....lol.   And I haven't found where the computer plugs in yet......lol.