DaveBarton.com

D A V E B A R T O N . C O M
DAVES VOLVO PAGE

UPDATED: March 15, 2009

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Hi, I'm Dave.. a humble Volvo hobbyist. I've been playing with Volvos (mostly 240s, my favorite) since 1988. My pages here are an attempt to share my experiences with other Volvo hobbyists and to chronicle the knowledge and information I have gathered over the years so it may be passed on to others.

Humble Volvo beginnings..... I think that's what best descibes my 1984 245 Turbo when I first brought it home back in March of 1997. I paid $3200 to who I think was the second owner in Rialto, California. It was completely stock and original. When I started a few little modifications, I really had no idea the direction it would eventually take. This was not my first turbo Volvo, but it was my first 240 Turbo, and I found myself in a strange new world when it came to understand things like K-Jetronic fuel injection. I had no clue what made it tick, but I was learning.

I wanted to modify, modify modify.... But this car was my daily driver, so as many of you know, there are limits to the kinds of mods you can do to a car that needs to get you to work in the morning. For those of you who were into modifying Volvos in the 90’s, you will remember there were not many sources for performance parts. I was no stranger to hot-rodding, having previously owned a ‘66 Chevelle (my first car) and a ’67 BMW 1600ti Alpina former German Group 3 racer... with box flares and roll-cage included. I had been a customer of iPd for about 10 years by 1997 and they were the best source around for Volvo performance improvement items. So mods started getting done, even if they started off slowly.

A funny thing happened about the time I bought the 245.... I got the internet and soon discovered a few other Volvo people out there who also had the internet. Turbobricks was a brand new concept back then and I remember

spending hours reading the email digests and learning new ideas. I learned an enormous amount from others who shared their experiences. The original Turbobricks email list is now extinct. As great as it was, the latest Turbobricks forum has it beat by a long way. I'm still learning about these cars.

          Moving into the present.... you'll notice that my 245 has made some cosmetic and functional adjustments. As it has progressed, I've found it important to work on the aesthetics as well as the performance. The first major step was the elimination of the old original wagon roof rack, which was done by a body shop (all holes welded, roof repainted to match). Then I exchanged the pointed-nose hood for a flat hood and matching flat grill, both of which came from a junked ’83 242 Turbo SE “flathood” I stumbled across in a wrecking yard. This was the special edition 240 Turbo which Volvo bulit 500 of in 1983 to satisfy the FISA requirements for factory homologation for Group A racing (the most famous being the European Touring Car Championship). More info on Volvo's Group A racing effort with the 240 Turbo can be found at Volvo 240 Group A Racing. I prefer the look of the sleeker nose over the traditional North American import pointed hood. And of course, the headlights have been changed to the European (E-Code) dual H-1 lights. They work so much nicer than the US DOT approved lights found on all USA import Volvos back then.

           In 1998 the internet supplied the connections which helped me import the Bross body kit from Sweden, originally obtained from Hallsjo Styling of Sweden.    It's no longer available from them and it became unavailable for a few years. Now there is a company in Europe who currently advertises this kit and others for Volvos at http://www.stylingkompaniet.com/. This site has an English page too.

           When I bought my 245, the originally tan leather seats had begun to dry up and crack like most leather Volvo interiors in sunny climates. I replaced the interior with a custom tweed and vinyl interior that makes me very happy.

By 1999 I was dissatisfied with the performance of the B21FT motor and I began gathering parts for a new 2.6 liter stroker turbo motor. It was based on the B23FT block from the '84 760 Turbo. Due to

the expenses involved, it was nearly two years before that motor made its way into my car in the spring of 2001. The motor was equipped with a programmable digital electronic fuel injection system from Simple Digital Systems in Calgary,

Canada. The turbo was a Super 60 from Turbonetics. And a huge intercooler was built by Spearco to fit in the original intercooler position (more info is available in my Spec Sheet Page).

This car was originally equipped with an automatic transmission and I considered my options for something that would hold up to more power. I settled on a custom race-prepared Volvo AW-71 auto trans built by Art Carr Racing Transmissions in Huntington Beach, CA. Once installed, the new drivetrain seemed to run pretty well, logging a best Zero to 60 time of 5.9 seconds while running about 14 psi of boost. But from the beginning I felt the new motor was not running to its desired high-power potential. The ignition was still stock and I remember spending a lot of time trying to get the primitive boost retard system to mesh with everything else. It never did that very well. As is always the case with modified cars, it's never enough. In 2003 I upgraded the SDS fuel injection system to include a crank-triggered ignition system that was fully programmable. It helped a lot. I also installed a coil-over spring package I got from MVP (no longer available). I was very impressed with the handling improvement. Things were stiffened up substantially, since I opted for 200 lb. front springs and 175 lb. rears. I had a chance to take the car to a VCOA track day at Thunderhill Raceway in Northern California and the coil-overs really seemed to make the handling for the car. There are more photos of this installation in my Spec Sheet Page.

After experiencing some problems with the suped up AW-71 transmission (it started slipping at 11,000 miles... bummer!), I decided in 2004 that I was long overdue for a manual transmission. The Volvo M46 manual (4 speed plus OD 5th), which was normally optioned in a 240 Turbo, simply would not do. The M46 is well known for breaking when subjected to high torque levels. By this time I had found my stroker motor was making well over 300 lbs. of torque at the wheels. Once again, the guys on the Turbobricks forum came though and led me to a great transmission swap based on the Ford T5 gearbox. I chose a brand new Ford Motorsport T5-Z five-speed gearbox from Summit Racing. This gearbox is rated at 330 lbs. of torque and typically survives behind V8 engines with much more than tthat, so I felt it would be sufficient. It was mated to a modified Volvo M46 bell housing with an aluminum adapter plate made by Vintage Performance Developments in New York. Doug Kauer’s 242 Turbo (you can find it here) was the original Guinea pig for this conversion and it worked so well for him that I had to try it for myself. Strangley I had never owned a manual transmission Volvo before this, primarly because I never found the right one when hunting for them. I never knew what I was missing. The increased control and fun factor was no real surprise as I had owned other manual trans cars. The jump in fuel mileage was a pleasant surprise. I knew it would increase a little, as I was used to gas mileage figures in the 16 to 18 MPG range. I suddenly found the car getting 26 plus MPG on the highway... exceptional considering the bigger displacement and my lead foot. I was also surprised at how much cooler the engine ran. The manual trans puts a LOT less demand on the motor.

A car like this is NEVER done.... so to keep that idea alive, in 2004 I installed some nice big front brakes. These were adapted from a 2004-2007 S60R. The photo at left is the mock-up a friend (Paul Jones) and I put together using a junkyard strut assembly, before actually installing the brakes. The aluminum adapter brackets were designed by Travis Kijowski in Maryland (thank you Travis). I had the pleasure of putting together the first 240 on the planet with R brakes. The installation of 13 inch front rotors and big 4-piston calipers from the ‘R’ really transformed the braking on this car. More info and photos about how and why I did this can be found in my 240 Big Brakes Page.

While my 245 is no longer a daily grocery getter, it’s still very much a road trip machine. I’ve made quite a few long trips to meets and shows in California and Arizona, Oregon and Washington and it hasn’t stranded me yet. With so many mods, I cross my fingers each time. In the summer of 2003 I drove in air-conditioned comfort 1,100 miles each way to the West Coast National Volvo Owners Meet in Olympia, Washington. It won First Place and Best of Show in the modified division. It has also made many trips to shows and track events in Northern California and Arizona.

What kind of investment does it take to build a car like this? That’s classified. For all I know one of my wife’s spys could be reading this. My lips are sealed, but I doubt I could offer a very accurate estimate if I had to. More info on the parts I have put into this car can be found in my Spec Sheet Page.

I have owned 9 Volvos since my first one in 1988. Here are some of them..... I bought this blue 1980 242 DL in 2000 in non-running condition. It was a very basic, non-sunroof car, which I actually prefer. The car had been abandoned by the previous owner outside a local repair shop because he couldn't afford the repairs. It was eventually towed away and I found it in the tow storage and bought it for $150. I tracked down the previous owner and gave him a little money for the original keys... which worked out quite nicely. He told me the car had been his daughter's car and it over-heated. I pulled the head off and found it was cracked and warped. After installing a rebuilt head (plus a few minor things to freshen it up, like new vacuum hoses and such), it served as a great daily driver for several years until I bought the black 242 Turbo in 2003. I gave the DL to my son when he turned 16. He kept it for a while and did some mods of his own. After a few years and a few broken transmissions later, he bought something newer.

The first two pics of the DL were taken right after it was towed home and dropped in my driveway. The next pics were more recent after applying new paint (Volvo 139 Scotia Blue), 1984 bumpers, black turbo trim on the fenders, new trim above the bumpers and around the windows, later style headlights (Cibie hi-watt E-code), a "new" junkyard interior, a nice "new" uncracked dash, freshly powder-coated Virgos, full iPd suspension (TME sport springs, 25mm sways and Bilsteins HD's), all new suspension bushings, and lots of other goodies. This car is sadly gone now.

I bought this beautiful black 1984 242 Intercooled Turbo in 2003. I am the 4th owner. The original paint and leather interior are excellent. This car was a rare find and it is a great car to drive and own. It has also gone through a few very small changes... but not nearly as drastic as the wagon. The Eiker rims (Polaris replicas) are from Finland. They are 17 x 7.5 inches and are fitted with 215/45-17 rubber. Before these wheels became available in the U.S., a Finnish friend of mine imported them for me from Finland. The car also has iPd TME sport springs, Bilstein HD shocks and struts, and iPd 25mm sway bars. The engine is a stock B21FT and, other than new having a later style A/C compressor and power steering pump, the car is pretty much as it came in 1984. The rear spoiler was a rare Volvo 240 accessory made by Zender in the 1980's (no longer available).

Here's a red 1990 740 Turbo I bought used in 1996 at San Diego Volvo. It also soon became blessed with IPD sport springs, 25 mm sway bars and Bilstein HD shocks. It was a great driver and it handled beautifully. It eventually got traded in 2002 for a brand new S40.

And here's a pic of my very first Volvo... a black 1988 760 Turbo. I bought it brand new from the showroom floor of Riverside Volvo (now gone) in March of 1988. I added 100 watt killer driving lamps, Fittipaldi 15 x 7 wheels (they were the hot ticket back then and the only aftermarket wheel available for a Volvo), iPd anti-sway bars (rear IRS type that are no longer offered), and a factory Volvo rear trunk-lid spoiler. It was a very nice car. This will tell you how much I knew about Volvos before I bought one.... I thought the 760 Turbo had a 6 cylinder engine until I got it home and opened the hood. I was never disappointed by

the car (except for maybe the killer car payment).

Here's the 2005 S40 T5 I bought new in 2005 after trading in the 2002 S40. It's been a pretty good car. It hasn't been as trouble free as my older Volvos. It suffered from an apparent mis-engineered rear suspension that allowed too much negative camber. I discovered this after burning through the first two sets of tires in under 30,000 miles; first set lasted 15,000, which I didn't question. The second set lasted

14,000... and these were very good 40,000 mile tires, so I was NOT happy. That's when I discovered the extreme wear on the inside of the rear tires. The tires had been getting a regular rotation by the dealer during regular check-ups (every 5000 miles), but still the inside tread area was worn slick, while the middle and outside tread still had 60-70% left! I took it to the dealer and asked them to check the alignment. The dealer first tried to tell me that the camber setting was within spec. When I demanded to know what it was set at, they had to check again.... it was negative 2.1 degrees (this much camber is visibly obvious when viewed from the rear). The camber is not adjustable or correctible on an S40 without changing parts. I was pretty disappointed that they told me the camber was OK and I strongly disagreed. They checked the front camber too. It was negative 1.0 degree, which I believed is what the rear was supposed to have from the factory. Since this dealership was rotating my tires every time I brought it in, I asked them shouldn't their techs have noticed the inside tread was smooth? They couldn't give me an answer.

Evidently not all S40s have this issue.... While at the dealer aguing about this while they acted very unconcerned, I spotted an identical 2005 S40 pulling into the service area. I got down behind the car and could not see as much negative camber. The difference was obvious. I noticed the tires on this S40 were nearly worn out, but EVENLY worn. I then asked the owner about the car. He told me he bought it new 6 or 8 months before we bought ours. He had 40,000 miles on it and those EVENLY WORN tires were ORIGINAL. After I pointed that out to the dealer, they seemed more confused than ever at the significance, so I left.

After researching further, I discovered through a confidential Volvo insider that Volvo knew about this defect and there was a Technical Service Bulletin in existence (but no recall). The fix for this problem was a new, re-engineered set of rear control arms that were available to correct this (apparently common) problem. The dealer still knew nothing about it. After I pointed them in the right direction, they verified there was a TSB in existence and they contacted Volvo. Volvo then agreed to replace the control arms free of charge. I should NOT have had to work so hard to make this happen. Volvo needs to improve in this respect! After being corrected, the rear camber is now negative 1.1 degrees. I believe that since the S40 car shares the same platform as the C70, some of them will be affected too. I had a look at several new C70s that day and they ALL had way too much rear camber.

And then going way back to my very first 240 (my second Volvo), a white 1983 244 DL. I bought it in 1990. Non-sunroof car, roll-up windows. It was exceptionally clean with only 50k miles when I found it in Huntington Beach. It also got a full iPd suspension and loads of other fun goodies. I drove it everywhere for 6 years and put well over 100,000 miles on it. I then gave it to my daughter in 1996 when she got her license. Unfortunately it was destroyed a few months later when some nit-wit pulled out in front of her in a Chevy Caprice and she nailed it broadside. The 240 protected her VERY well considering the impact speed was estimated at 50+ mph. Daughter was OK except for a few bumps and bruises.

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