Thread: 240 General: - New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244
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Old Feb 10th, 2020, 09:14   #29
loki_the_glt
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First off, thanks to John Wigley for the vote of confidence.

Moving on to more relevant matters. The headlamps can be exchanged relatively easily among generations of 200-series cars, but you'll need the appropriate grille if you go for the later style of rectangular ones. Both lamp surrounds and grilles are secured to the bonnet landing panel by plastic turn-buckles so are simple and quick to fit.

You might(!?) come across a Hella grille with a set of driving lamps that would fit the early - pre 1981 - cars on eBay but that would mean fitting 7" headlamps.

The auxiliary lighting would benefit from being rationalised: fit the fog lamps as close to the end of the bumper as possible; if you keep the driving lamps then relocate them above the bumper so they're in line with the headlamps. As L.S. remarked they need to be wired through main beam. Search among the older posts by Mike Brace for a very useful guide to the electrical fitting for them.

On the nearside wing you'll find the headlamp relay that you can power these from; there should also be a black-covered bus-bar with 7 male Lucar terminals that are permanently live and will provide power to one of the relay terminals for your auxiliary lamps.

US-spec cars had 7" round sealed-beams originally, then 4 5.75" round sealed beams, then 4 rectangular sealed beams before adopting the European-style headlamps. The sealed beams were Federally-mandated for ALL cars until the early 1980s so John Doe could replace a blown lamp anywhere rather than having to find a dealer - most sensible IMO.

The Virgos should run 195/60s but I have 195/65s for ride comfort as the GLT is more firmly sprung than the other versions.

The factory sun-roof is a slide-only one unfortunately; the 7/9-series cars have a tilt feature.

It's nice to know you've "named" the car - they DO have personalities.
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