Poik's 1983 245 DL - The Ultimate Daily Driver (in my eyes)

[Tuff240]

Watch for some 8" rounds for me while you are over there.
Nice score on the squares with wipers.

 

[brendon_ak]

Updates? Your wagon is EXACTLY what I want to do with mine. Not sure about the 16v, especially with ITB's for a DD, maybe something along the lines of what Cameron was shooting for with his 242.

Hope you were able to get some work done on this car, have fun in Sweden!

 

[adomz]

That's cool! Would be a pleasure to have a chat on some ideas i got for my 244 really...

Adam

 

[Poik]

No real updates to speak of. I was in the US this summer and drove the car for about 3 months. Didn't really make any progress on the car, but did have to work on it a little bit. I had two problems with it this summer. First off was that the driver's side strut shaft nut backed off when I was on the freeway and the strut assembly dropped down when I went over a dip on I-5 onto a section that they were repaving. Wasn't exactly sure what had happened at first, but I was able to get off the freeway and park the car. Found the issue, and the next day came back to the car with parts to fix it. Luckily I didn't lose the spring top or anything besides the thrust washers and bearing that sit on top of the spring top. So, uh, I strongly recommend that you use Nyloc locknuts to bolt the strut shaft to the camber plate assembly. The Koni 8611 and 8610 struts come with regular nuts.

Then on my way back from a climbing trip, an exhaust hanger broke on I-90 and the rear section dropped down and started dragging. Fixed it with a caribiner, and pretty much parked the car after that since I was only in the US for another week. The exhaust system needs to be replaced, and I didn't want to spend the last days of my vacation doing it. I have the stock stainless steel cat-back exhaust system from my Evo 9 laying around, so I think I will put that on the car as a replacement next time I have time to work on the car.

 

[Poik]

Bump. I'm still alive.

Moved back to the US in the beginning of 2022 and resurrected the 245 over the past year-ish. First had to dig it out of the blackberries (standard PNW procedure):

So turns out when you leave a car parked for 8+ years it kind of gets gross inside. Took out all the interior to wash and steam clean:

Steering wheel was super gross so I decided to just replace it:

I replaced the battery and it started right up though, but it was running pretty rough. Unplugged the AFM and then it ran just fine. Was able to source a used AFM locally from swedishiron but when I went to replace it it turned out that the problem was actually that intake hose was horribly cracked. So now I have a spare AFM at least. Ordered a new OE intake hose from IPD and replaced that and I was in business. Also decided to do the water pump, timing belt, and alternator bushings at the same time.

Also since my exhaust fell off the car in 2014 I decided to take this opportunity to replace the system. Got a stainless kit from IPD which went on without too much extra work:

 

[Poik]

And then I thought I was really ready to drive this thing around! Took it for a test drive and there was a lot of drag from the brakes. Took the parking brakes off and they looked fine so put them back together. Took the rear calipers off and pressed the pistons back in and they seemed fine. Took the front calipers off and pressed them in but there was a lot of fight in them. Thought I had fixed the issue but after the first brake apply there was again a lot of drag from the calipers.

I had some Evo 8 calipers and S60R rotors set aside for this car, but with what's available today I decided to go with the Brembo 17Z swap for bolt-on-ness:

Also bought some new Michelin PS4S tires for the car at the same time.

I wasn't super thrilled with the performance of the brakes at first, but after the pads bedded in I'm more than happy. So I drove the car around town for like 50 miles and then decided it was ready to drive 800 miles from Seattle to the bay area... Sören wasn't as convinced it was a great idea.

I made it to Tacoma before the IPD exhaust fell off after a pretty rough section on I-5:

Climbed under the car in the rain and put the hanger back into the mount, annoying. Will have to add some sort of retention mechanism so the muffler can't slide out of the rubber mounts laterally.

And then after about 300 miles the alternator stopped charging but I could get it to start charging again if I revved it. Did that until 400 miles when I filled up gas, and when I restarted the car I couldn't get the alternator to charge even by revving it. Nobody within 200 miles had an alternator in stock so I ended up buying 2 batteries so that I could make it within 200 miles of my destination and within my AAA towing range

But we did end up making it down (minus the reverse lenses):

Since then I've replaced the tail lights and added a set of ecodes that I brought back from Sweden several years ago, and gave the car a much needed wash:

I have a bunch of stuff on the to-do list, so stay tuned for the next steps.

 

[Harlard]

Neat. What about the 242?

 

[Poik]

Neat. What about the 242?

It's just sitting there waiting for attention and a less-leaky garage roof.

 

[Scaramanga]

@Poik

Snyggt! / Well done!

 

[John242Ti]

Cool.

The blue 245 got moldy within a couple months of sitting in the cul de sac. So, it doesn't take long for the PNW weather to make a car nasty on the inside.

 

[TooForty]

I love those blueberry bush shots!

 

[towerymt]

Congrats for not having it end up like this one. Only found one dead mouse inside, but all his family had been through. The car sat around 6 years I think.

 

[HiSPL]

I miss the Moonies.....

 

[Scaramanga]

And then I thought I was really ready to drive this thing around! Took it for a test drive and there was a lot of drag from the brakes. Took the parking brakes off and they looked fine so put them back together. Took the rear calipers off and pressed the pistons back in and they seemed fine. Took the front calipers off and pressed them in but there was a lot of fight in them. Thought I had fixed the issue but after the first brake apply there was again a lot of drag from the calipers.

I had some Evo 8 calipers and S60R rotors set aside for this car, but with what's available today I decided to go with the Brembo 17Z swap for bolt-on-ness:

Also bought some new Michelin PS4S tires for the car at the same time.

I wasn't super thrilled with the performance of the brakes at first, but after the pads bedded in I'm more than happy. So I drove the car around town for like 50 miles and then decided it was ready to drive 800 miles from Seattle to the bay area... Sören wasn't as convinced it was a great idea.

I made it to Tacoma before the IPD exhaust fell off after a pretty rough section on I-5:

Climbed under the car in the rain and put the hanger back into the mount, annoying. Will have to add some sort of retention mechanism so the muffler can't slide out of the rubber mounts laterally.

And then after about 300 miles the alternator stopped charging but I could get it to start charging again if I revved it. Did that until 400 miles when I filled up gas, and when I restarted the car I couldn't get the alternator to charge even by revving it. Nobody within 200 miles had an alternator in stock so I ended up buying 2 batteries so that I could make it within 200 miles of my destination and within my AAA towing range

But we did end up making it down (minus the reverse lenses):

Since then I've replaced the tail lights and added a set of ecodes that I brought back from Sweden several years ago, and gave the car a much needed wash:

I have a bunch of stuff on the to-do list, so stay tuned for the next steps.

Sweden? Are you swedish?

 

[t8fanning]

It's just sitting there waiting for attention and a less-leaky garage roof.

Is it in Sweden or the US?

 

[GTJordan]

Still with Volvo?

 

[Poik]

Is it in Sweden or the US?

It's in the US.

Still with Volvo?

Nope, I'm at Lucid now in the bay area, but doing the same stuff.

 

[302ftw?]

It's in the US.

Nope, I'm at Lucid now in the bay area, but doing the same stuff.

Nice! How's Lucid treating you? Couple of my colleagues from BMW corporate ended up over there.

 

[Poik]

Pretty good so far! Working with way cooler products now than at Volvo after the previous Volvo CEO and R&D boss decided Volvo was an appliance brand and not a car company anymore.

 

[Harlard]

Pretty good so far! Working with way cooler products now than at Volvo after the previous Volvo CEO and R&D boss decided Volvo was an appliance brand and not a car company anymore.

But Volvos have always been appliances!