A Cult Car

This is a blog on refurbishing a Volvo 240 Wagon-- a cult car that is legendary for its durability. The 5 speeds manual transmission in particular gets great fuel economy, 32.5 mpg is attainable at speeds of 60 mph. Both the sedan and the wagon have plenty of rear leg and head room, even for tall people. Additionally, a tall person can sleep in the back--it is 77" long if the rear seat bottom is removed.

Thick sheet metal make it durable--so is the motor. Volvo took a V8 truck engine cut in half, to make this 4 cylinder engine. It has bearings and rods are designed for much heavy loads and this makes the engine nearly impossible to kill. People can get literally a million miles between rebuilds with regular oil changes and normal preventative maintenance.

The 5 speeds cars are fun to drive. Their durability means it is a smart economic choice to put money into them--they will last indefinitely if maintained. Parts are cheap. They are easy and simple to work on. Police just don't ever pull them over. It is because they like to stay at legal freeway speeds and purr along at 60 mph--so police expect them to be driven slowly. Finally, they are safe--built around a full roll cage. These are the reasons why there are so many are still on the road today.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Power Mirrors

As you can tell, I'm adding the options that I want that are not on the car. One thing I wanted was power mirrors. I found a wiring harness for this on eBay, and bought two new heated power mirrors at the same time. I have the mirrors installed and the wiring run, but I'm having difficulty making the connections. I've tried various combinations and can't get all the mirror functions to work at the same time. So I made up a table of every possible combination and I plan to check all 24 variants. I hope my switch will work with these mirrors. It is possible that they won't.
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