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

Spark Plug Wire, Plugs, Rotor, and Cap


I replaced all of these things except the spark plugs early on. More recently, in the last week I replaced the spark plugs. It was running rough at low rpms. I am hoping it is the injector on that one cylinder. I put in a dose of injector cleaner. I had my Throttle Body cleaned when the Air Conditioning was repaired and front struts were replaced. It seems to run a bit rough after that. I'm 1/4 though my tank of treated fuel. I may run another batch of injector cleaner though later on if the problem persists.


Here you can see the plug closest to the firewall is fouled.


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